Scott's Preschool Extravaganza

Scott just finished his second year of preschool with Miss Cathy, and last Friday was the big show for all the parents. Last year, Scott was not so excited to be a part of it all. He sat on my lap the whole time refusing to participate. This year was a different story. He didn't necessarily participate fully in the whole performance, but he did at least stand up there with the other kids. And he did sing along with his favorite song - 'I want to be a dog'. Yea! Scott really has come so far in these two years with Cathy and I am so grateful to her for the amazing love and patience she had shown towards my sweet little boy.

It is hard to believe we are only a couple of months away from kindergarten...

Another swimming lesson adventure

I had VERY low expectations for Charlotte's participation in swimming lessons. She never wants to go in the water, and when forced in she will cry and whimper the whole time. Here is a shot of a serious glare thrown my direction during last year's lessons:

So even though she technically was too old for the parent-participation swimming classes, I signed her up for the baby class (again) since I knew there was no hope of getting her in the water without one of us. Amazingly, she liked it! No tears or tantrums at all. Of course she did not want to go under the water or blow bubbles, but we have definitely made progress.

Why the change? I think 2 reasons: First, I promised another visit to Chuck E Cheese. It is totally worth $5 for tokens. Second, she LOVES wearing her 'babysuits', so she was excited each day to pick the one she wanted to wear. And boy, did she look cute! Be sure to watch the video of her telling me about it all:

Posting like crazy...

Yes, I am SO behind on my blog! I haven't even written about Charlotte's birthday 2 months ago. She is already feeling the effects of middle-child syndrome. So I did manage to find some time today to do several posts, and will hopefully finish up a few more in the next few days! But since I am taking this time to blog, that means I now have about 4 baskets of laundry waiting for me to fold tomorrow...

First smiles

Trevor is now giving us his first adorable smiles! Although the poor baby wasn't smiling much the past 3 days... He's had a miserable fever that at one point hit 104 and we took him to the ER. But with some time, love and Tylenol he is now doing much better. But back to the smiles... I haven't managed to get the best ones on camera, but I'll keep trying! Thanks to our cute friend Rebekah who was able to get him to smile for this photo:

Happy Memorial Day!

Having a husband who served in the military has dramatically impacted the way I feel about honoring our veterans... Rather than just another Monday off work or out of school, it was special day for a specific reason. Drew took Scott to a Memorial Day celebration in Fair Oaks. The rest of us would have joined, but poor Charlotte and Trevor are getting over their nasty fevers. Scott was not thrilled about the event (unfortunately there was no cotton candy), but it was an attempt to start teaching him about the time Daddy served in the Army, as well as how we honor those who sacrificed their lives for our country. So thanks to all my friends and relatives who have given so much to serve in the military!

Charlotte's Pee Pee Party

It was a glorious day... The sun was shining, the birds were signing, and Charlotte reached the milestone of going 2 weeks without diapers. YEA!!! So as promised, we had a big fiesta at Chuck E Cheese, complete with princess cupcakes and Grandma and Grandpa in attendance. Does she look happy? I really should have taken a picture of happy Mommy and Daddy:

We probably spent about $5 in tokens so Charlotte could do this game over and over:

I've got to give a plug to the Chuck E Cheese rewards calendars that you can get online (Thanks, Crystal!). Go to http://www.chuckecheese.com/promotions/rewards-calendars.php and they have all sorts of charts that you can print and use as motivation (aka bribes) for kids. Besides potty training, they have calendars for sleeping all night, stopping thumb sucking, homework, and a bunch of others. Bring in the complete calendar to CEC and you get 10 free tokens. Brilliant!

Campin' with the boys

Friday was the annual ward father/son camp out. Scott was really excited to go this year, especially when I showed him the food I bought for them to take: Oreos, pop tarts, gummy worms, stuff for smores, capri suns... I can't tell you any of the details about the trip since I wasn't there, and all Drew and Scott will say about it is, "It was fun!" That's it. No additional information. Like father, like son. But these pictures make it appear as if they were having a great time!

A proud moment for a fake blonde mom

Why does my first born child love me? Yes, he loves my black hair. For those of you not familiar with the term "partial highlight", let me explain. When I get my hair highlighted, I only have the top part done, leaving the hair underneath the natural (ugly) color. Scott has always been obsessed with my hair, but he especially likes to play with what he calls my 'black hair', or the non-bleached part. Yes, my natural color is sadly that dark now. Isn't that a touching Mother's Day tribute? In case you are wondering who is Mario, Scott continues to give himself a different name every day or two. Last week it was Mario. Today it is Birdo. I guess you have to know something about Nintendo video games to get it. Charlotte's gifts for me were a candy necklace she made in nursery, and that she willingly wore this adorable dress and cute red shoes that I have been trying to convince her to try on for weeks.

Watch out, Tiger!

Scott has been SO anxious for his first golf class! It was a huge tragedy last week when the rain forced the cancellation of the first scheduled class, so we counted down the days until Monday. He was pretty quiet during the class, but really did try hard to listen to the teacher and his other coaches, Grandpa and Daddy. But the real evidence that he enjoyed golfing was in his prayer tonight. He probably said he was thankful for about 10 things, 8 of which involved golf class. The other 2 he mentioned were dinner afterwards at Costa Vida and Mario Kart (a standard an any Scott prayer).

Babysuits

Charlotte and her BFF Heidi LOVE to wear their "babysuits", regardless of what the weather outside may be. Why did I bother to buy so many cute Gymboree outfits for this summer when all Charlotte wants to wear are a couple of cheap swimming suits from Target? But don't let this love of swimming attire fool you into thinking this girl likes the water... Stay tuned for next week's posts which I am 99.9% sure will be about the drama surrounding Charlotte's swimming lessons. If she gets in the water, it will be a HUGE victory. But at least she looks cute:

Great reasons to be proud of my kids

Today was a great day! Here are the things my children did today to make me proud:

1) Trevor slept 6 hours straight last night!

2) Charlotte is well on her way to FINALLY becoming potty trained! She's gone 2 days in a row doing everything on her little potty. She's very proud of herself. And needless to say, I am thrilled.

3) Scott tried sausages for dinner tonight! WOW! I was taking a nap at the time, but he said afterwards, "Mommy, they were so yummy I want to eat sausages and macaroni and cheese every night for dinner!" So with the sausage success, I'm hoping to get him to try hamburger next.

I'm sure you fellow moms out there will completely understand and rejoice with me over our amazing day...