Dance

Well the costumes are out for this year's recital and the theme for the recital is

Elements of the Earth - Rain, Fire, Wind and Flora. 

I'll give you one guess as to what Jillian's class's part is??

You got it!  Rain and they are dancing to I love a rainy night by Eddie Rabbit.  Isn't that original?  (and Daon my studio is charging $4.00 for an email of the song and $6.00 for a CD of the song.  Isn't that insane?  Luckily Jillian's teacher picked such a pathetic song that I can find it on itunes for .99 or youtube for free)

We have submitted our recital fee, costume fee and class fees and are so happy that we have to wait until JUNE 22ND for the recital.  Seriously?  Isn't that so late??  I am on summer time by then and could care less about a recital.  Oh well. 

Not much else going on.  I took some pics of the kids after church and I am in love with this picture.....

Doesn't she look so angelic (you know better, right?)??

This tells exactly how my Roc is.... ha!!

And my sweet Jilli who refuses to cut her hair. 

I feel like I have been taking pictures like crazy lately because I want to remember how they are right now because it has been so much fun lately.  They make me laugh like crazy!!  (and pull out my hair at the same time!)

Random Information part 2

So I am OBSESSED with this blog.....

Pinterest Told Me To

Seriously I love this girl.  She is so clever.  (She also knows the bachelor this season so she does some hilarious posts about that).  She is totally fashion thinking (which I love).  She is obsessed with finding sales and does her homework (which I double love).  The bad thing is that I feel VERY FRUMPY when I read her awesome posts.  I seriously need to completely revamp my wardrobe. 

Which brings me to the following.  I LOVE ETSY.  I like it as much as pinterest but I can buy the stuff.  Totally dangerous.   I love the thought of etsy that is supporting and buying from little Mom/Grandma/Sister businesses.  Giving small local businesses some much needed business! 

I am digging this hat for summertime.

Everyone seems to have a bubble necklace except me.  I like this pink one.

I am also into fabric flowers and this one is combined with a necklace.  cute!

Loook at this adorable little girls dress!  SO yummy!!!

I also love this combination!!!

And I have already told you about my yarn wreath obsession and this one fits the bill for March.

Finally, to end this post with all randomness.  Let's talk about ......apraxia!!!

For those of you who are not familiar with the word, I copied this from wikipedia.......

Apraxia is a disorder of the brain and nervous system in which a person is unable to perform tasks or movements when asked, even though: •The request or command is understood •They are willing to perform the task •The muscles needed to perform the task work properly •The task may have already been learned

Apraxia can be physical and/or verbal. 

Hadleigh's OT wants me to take her to a neurologist and see if she has this disorder or to rule it out. 

Hadleigh is doing sooooooo much better in all aspects of life but still struggles with some "quirks."  She still falls if she is on an uneven surface, she still drools (not as bad as she used to), she favors her right side (arm and leg) and she has some severe inflexibility.  Basically she needs lots of baby yoga because her muscles in her legs are sooooooooooooo tight that she cannot sit criss-cross applesauce.  She can't even get close which is why she sits in a W position (feet to the back, knees to the front). 

Sooo her OT "thinks maybe" she might suffer from some sort of apraxia where her brain knows what to do and she understands what we are asking but her body can't do it.  I don't know.  I have been googling all day and I don't think she has it.  I don't think she shows most of the symptoms.  But of course I am not a doc.  I just don't know why I don't feel like taking her to a neurologist.  It doesn't feel necessary to me but then I think "What if she does have it???"  Obviously, we would need to know so that we can properly prepare her for school or if she needs some kind of accommodations. 

I am just rambling because I don't know what to think??    Anyways if you made it this far, thanks!  You now need to check out the blog for fashion advice and go to etsy for some cool stuff!

Reading to the 100 days party!

The librarian at our school challenges all students to read 100 books by the 100th day of school.  If a student reads 100 books then they are invited to a huge celebration in the library.  This year her theme was medival times.  If you read 100 then you were knighted.  200 books = lord/lady.  300 books = prince/princess.  400 books = king/queen.

Today was the celebration and Jillian was recognized as a queen.

While Bryan and I took her picture, guess who climbed up on the counter to steal Valentine's candy???

This was the photo booth at school!

She won at medival bingo!

She won this game too!  Not sure what it was called??

She did not slay the dragon.  She almost missed the entire board.  Ha!

She picked the right cup that had a hidden dragon!

Lots of fun with friends!

During our mission to read 400 books, Jillian was on a mission to read every princess, Fancy Nancy, and Pinkalicious book in the library.  I am pretty sure we succeeeded in reading EVERY princess book there ever was.  Ha but we found a lot of books that cracked us up and I thought I would share.   

This book is HILARIOUS!!  Rapunzel is hard of hearding and instead of throwing our her hair she throws a lot of other things. 

This book isn't funny but the pictures are so beautiful.  Actually this book was a little awkward b/c the prince visits Rapunzel and the witch finds out he is visiting b/c Rapunzel's dress doesn't fit anymore.  Uh-hem.  You know, she is knocked up.  I kind of rushed over that page and skipped ahead.  BUT the pictures ARE beautifully done!  Ha!!!

We discovered Mo Williems.  Everything he writes is HILARIOUS!!  Very sarcastic humor!!  Our favorite are his pigeon books. 

We discovered Pete the Cat and he is a very cool cat.  Get the audio version for a very cool Pete the Cat song that will NOT get out of your head. 

Jillian LOVES Miss Spider which honestly is kind of weird.  Her books are for older kids with lots of poetry/prose but Miss Spider's wedding book is pretty cute!! 

Finally, this book my kids love because you have to say underpants like 100 times.  Ha! 

So that's it!  6 books out of 400.  That is kind of pathetic.  I should have made a list while we were doing it to remember all of the really good books.  Thank you to Bryan, my mom and my dad who all did their fair share of reading the 100 books to Jillian.  Can you imagine the day that Jillian is in 4th, Rocco in 2nd, and Hadleigh is in kinder and we are reading 1200 books?? 

You're right.  I can't imagine it either.

Random Information

There has been a LOT of this in my house this week.  Something (probably cedar or ash pollen) has grabbed a hold of the people in this house and it is uuuuuuugly.  Hadleigh had bronchitis last week and giving her breathing treatments is about as fun as getting a root canal.  She doesn't like it AT ALL!

I currently have an ear infection caused by my head being full of snot.  I have not had that kind of pain in my ear in a long time.  OUCH!!!  My school nurse told me to take my kids' medicine and lots of @dvil and I am currently starting to feel better (well, in a drugged-up kind of way).

This boy has had a ROUGH couple of days.  He had his 4 year old check up and received his shots (Daon, no urine sample.  None of my kids have ever had to do that - thank goodness).  Well, poor thing kept complaining that his leg hurt.  He was limping and asking me to carry him.  I thought he was being dramatic!!!  I was so harsh on him.  Then on Saturday I actually looked at his leg.  It was sooooo swollen.  It had a red rash all around the injection site and lots of bruising.  I felt terrible.  Poor Roc.  I called the doc and started treating it with ice and heat and giving him some motrin/tylenol. Finally on Tuesday, it started looking better.

Then yesterday he fell in the pool at Grammie's house.  He is fine.  Well, cold.

Then we were making his Valentines and I sent him upstairs for more glue and he fell down the stairs.  Hard!!  Poor thing is having a terrible horrible no good very bad day!!!

(and yes, because he was having such a terrible day, I let him have his paci.  I know what you must be thinking.  I know I am not going to win Mother of the Year!  BUT it made him feel better.)

This girl is also having a rough week with a lot of tantrums especially in the morning getting ready for school.  If I hear, "MEAN MOMMY" one more time because I am trying to brush her hair, I might scream!! 

Finally, do you remember what my 2nd daughter looked like at birth?  She was a black-headed chia pet.  Here she is.....

Seriously, the darkest haired child I have ever had.  I used to say Rocco had the Michael Jackson syndrome but I need say that Hadleigh has it too. 

I was looking at her hair last night and it is almost as light as Jillian's.  She is now lighter than light.  How does that happen in the middle of winter?? 

I told you - random information.  Happy Valentine's Day!

The "Baby"

Oh, say it ain't so!  How can my baby be turning 2??  My beautiful blue-eyed girl is starting to want her independence and let me tell you, it ain't pretty! 

 

This is the traditional Hadleigh stare-down.  She has got a wicked frown that she will use at just about anyone especially her Mommy.  This is the first week that this girl has spent some time in time-out! 

This morning, I wanted her to smile and say cheese and she is NOT going to do it!!

 

 

I had to tickle her senselessly for five minutes to get this grin.

 

We had KK this weekend and getting 4 little ones in the car dressed for church is always an accomplishment that needs recording with a picture!  We were only about 15-20 minutes late in getting there but hey, we got there!!!

 

I really wanted a pretty picture of Hadleigh in her new birthday dress. 

 

This is the best I could do!

 

She really didn't want to listen to me at all this morning and as she was running away from the camera, she fell into the bushes.  Ha!

 

Seriously, she is throwing a LOT of fits lately over the littlest thing!!  I love the 2s!!!

 

I made some cute cupcakes for my girl!!

 

She wouldn't eat them!!  I should have just bought some M&Ms.  That's all this girl likes!!

 

Ha Mom!  I am going to pretend I am going to eat one!  Tricked you!!!

 

She got a new baby!  She is OBSESSED with all things baby!  She usually has one in her arms at all times.  She has about 5 in her crib at night. 

 

But what she REALLY loves are books!  She loves to sit and point to all the pictures and have you tell her what they are.  She could do that for hours!!!!

 

Right now, I just peeked in on her and she is sleeping with her new baby.  Happy birthday princess Hadleigh!  I can't wait to see you grow into a little lady!

What Super Bowl?

I did not watch the game.  I do not know who played.  I did not watch Beyonce.  I am over her. 

I did see a picture and she looked liked she should work in a brothel.

But it seems un-American to not go to a Super Bowl party so we packed up the kids and headed to one of Bryan's high school bud's house to enjoy the festivities. 

These four besties had not been together in about 5 years and it was so fun to see how they have multiplied.  The group of 4 now have 9 children and counting!!  Isn't that crazy?

Even without the Super Bowl, it was a very fun evening!

Wiederstein Student of the Month

Bryan opened up Jillian's backpack one night last week and found this amazing letter (I, of course, already knew about it.  Perks of the job, you know.) 

So this morning.....everybody got up super early to see Jillian receive her award - Wiederstein Student of the Month.  As a mother, we always worry about our children but I am so beyond blessed to see on a daily basis that my child's school loves her almost as much as I do.  She got this awesome yard sign so that EVERYBODY in the neighborhood will know she is a super student!

Here she is with her very proud grandparents!

It is hard in these situations to be the Mommy and the Teacher but I left my students for just a moment to be in a quick pic with my girl!

This has been a very hard year for me professionally.  (I won't get into the reasons on this joyous post).   So I cannot say enough that the fun of having Jillian with me and during the day I can see her and check on her and share fun things with her has been my SAVING GRACE!   Her teacher came into my class and brought me this.  Last week, when we were studying the life and teachings of Dr. King, Jillian's class worked on this....

On the bottom, it says, "My dream is a priz (prince) wut (would) cum and resq me."  With a pictuere of her with her loooooooong blond hair and pink dress.  Yep, that sums up Jillian very simply.  HA!!!