A.J.: the "Lost" Christmas Pageant Pictures and Other Stuff

Alright, so first of all, as I continue in my efforts to catch up with what has been going around here lately, I need to share these couple of photos I found on my small camera after Disney.  I guess after the performance part of A.J.'s Christmas Pageant last month, I put the big camera away in favor of not breaking the thing and I switched to the little point and shoot that lives in my purse.  Back when I wrote about the pageant I could have sworn there were photos from the reception but for the life of me I couldn't find them.

Duh, Jen, check ALL the cameras.  Oops.  

So to begin with, you can remind yourself about A.J.'s pageant here.  And then now that you're caught up, you can look at the following photos from the party afterward.

Daddy's girl much?

The different classes made centerpieces for the tables.  These trees were from A.J.s class.

Pinterest FORTHEWIN!!!!

Oh, and Lucy and I were there too.

Lovely smile darling.  Just exactly how many Christmas cookies do you have in your mouth there anyway?

More recently, A.J. has just been keeping busy in her own little way.  She's doing okay at preschool.  She still screams about going sometimes but usually (thankfully) with less vigor.  She still loves books and carries them around with her everywhere and memorizes the stories so she can "read" them back to us.  She also loves stuffed animals and usually has several of these with her where ever she goes too, along with all the books.  It's a little exhausting really, trying to keep track of it all.

She is also getting very particular about her music choices.  Katy Perry's "Roar" isn't the only pop song she knows the words to and will randomly sing to us.  Now she has added selections by Adele and Miley Cyrus as well, just to name a few.  Mommy is going to need to be more careful about what she listens to in the car I think....

She also now takes 2 dance classes each week and asks me basically every other morning if she can go again.  

She is absolutely still not making any progress on potty training but we continue to revisit the topic every few weeks to urge her into becoming ready sooner rather than later.  She is ridiculously stubborn about it though, so we'll see.

And actually, if that child ever starts using the potty without my need to be institutionalized, well, that will be surprising.  

But, shes totally hilarious and is constantly doing the most random funny things.

I think maybe God gives 3 year olds these random silly sides to ensure their survival.  Because after weeks and weeks of being exasperated about their defiance and screaming you just can't help but smile and giggle at some of the things they do.  

Like for example....

Last weekend the park we were at had this big huge sand box.  And A.J. played in it for awhile digging and kicking sand around like she is a puppy for a bit until suddenly she layed down on her back and just started making "Sthnow Angels."

It was hysterical.  Especially since she was in shorts and a t-shirt, and barefoot and the better part of our friends and family back East were buckling down for another Polar Vortex to freeze them all half to death.

Fun though it may be now, I don't even know what I'm going to do with my children should we ever move to a colder climate.  A front blew in yesterday cooling our temperatures down into the 50's and they haven't stopped complaining about how cold it is.  

Peter Lately

I don't know where the last couple of weeks have gone.  Basically since we got back from Florida it's kind of been a blur.  I don't think we've been any busier than usual, but Lucy hasn't been sleeping and well and therefore I haven't been sleeping well and yet our daily lives have gone on and on.  It's giving me a headache actually just thinking about how tired I've been and all that has gone every day regardless.  Also, last Sunday afternoon I was so tired I laid down right after church to take a nap and, well... so much for the rest of my weekend.

Anyway, so big stuff known as their every day lives and their growing up has been going on with the kids despite my lack of rest and I'd feel bad about it later if I didn't lift my head out of this fog for a moments to address what has been happening with each of them.

So... Peter.

First of all, he's humongous.  But, I mean, in a good way.  SO tall.  Seriously.  Just a minute ago he stood himself up against the wall where we mark their heights each year on their birthday and he is a good inch or more taller than he was last July when he turned 4.  I suppose that was 6... almost 7 months ago now, but, still.  I  don't know why I am surprised.  I just had to go and buy him a couple more pairs of jeans because those I got him last summer are all too short now.  

In other news, this past weekend, we took his 5-point car seat in to Babies R Us for the trade-in event and used the coupon to get him a high back booster instead.  He was old and tall enough to switch to a booster at his last birthday but I left him in the other seat for as long as he fit because it is the safest option.  However, he was suddenly becoming too tall for his other seat, in that his head was starting to be higher than the back of the seat.  Seriously.  I keep feeling like all I am talking about is how tall he is.  But he is.  TALL.  One of the tallest in his class even though he is also one of the youngest.  (In a minute there will be a couple pictures to prove this.)

Anyway, so obviously, I took pictures of the car seat/booster thing....

He had absolutely no idea what was happening nor why I was taking pictures.

It was weird how sad I felt to see his other seat go.

I promise I only started to cry a little bit.  I couldn't help it.  I just couldn't stop remembering my panic when he was 4 months old and I realized he (being a humongous chunky baby) was rapidly outgrowing his baby carrier car seat.  And then when it arrived and we installed it and the first time he ever rode in it.  We were gong to the Farmers Market to get gyros on night for dinner.  He had on Footie Pajamas with little frogs for the feet underneath his big navy blue winter bear suit.  Hahah.

Hang on, actually, I'm sure I took pictures.

Yup... Here.  This was the first time he rode in that car seat. And that post says we went for eggs and lettuce.  Hmm.  I thought I remembered it pretty clearly and I would swear we got gyros.  Hmmm.  My memory might not be as good as I think it is.  Thank goodness for this blog to remind me then.

*sigh*

Was that really 4 years ago already?

Peter was very confused when they took away his old seat.
He was even more confused when I told him to turn around for another picture
while the guy wrote it up, which explains the look he gave me.  

So then we took him over to where they had the boosters.  I already knew which one I wanted as it is fully adjustable height wise, and has the snap off back for when he gets bigger and came in several colors for him to choose from.  That way he could feel like he had a say in the matter.  Some of the other Mommies are always talking about how it is important to let your children learn to make choices for themselves.  But, don't they know what sort of control freak I am?  Letting him choose his own clothes and what he eats and even, let's face it, who he plays with is HARD for me.  So he could pick the color.  Haha.  Baby steps.

Also.  ALSO!  On the shelf, they had green and red.  I think it also came in black, blue, purple and maybe, like, orange or something.  But, whatever, so he had red and green to choose from.  And he broke my heart picking green and NOT red.  How very un-GoBUCKS of him.

Psht!

Anyway, so when we got out of the store, obviously if we wanted Peter to ride home with us in the van, we needed to get the seat right out of the box for him to sit in.

Luckily, it wasn't too complicated and before long we had Peter buckled in and ready to go in his new booster.

So big.

 Also, take note of A.J. in the back of the picture behind Lucy's car seat.  She wanted a booster seat too!! :(

Cool as a cucumber.  Maybe it is the lime green color he picked.

Also:

Oh goodness also.  Look closely at the seat over his right shoulder where the belt comes through.  Do you see anything special or strange there?

Yeah.  I didn't either.  But Peter sure did.  We were standing in line to buy the thing and Peter was studying the box and he pointed to the picture where the belt comes through and kept getting all excited because he thought there was a light there.  And I was like, "WHY would there be a light there buddy?  There's no light.  Those little lines in the picture are just showing us where the seat belt comes through."

Um...

What do Mommies even know anyway?

No.  

There ARE totally lights.  Yes plural.  As in, on either side of his head, by his shoulders, there are little click-on LED lights that he can turn on to read or play games or... something.

OH EM GEE.

So now he keeps asking me to take him places when it's dark out.

Anyhow, after getting the seat we went to get lunch.  And then because the restaurant we chose was by the one mall we went in for a bit.  That mall has a dance store and I wanted to get A.J.'s feet measure for her tap shoes.  She's been saying they pinch her pinky toe.  Actually she says that about a lot of her shoes.

Turns out she has almost-wide feet.  

Like, definitely not wide enough to severely limit her shoe choices and/or special order shoes, but enough to necessitate her going up a half size most of the time to accommodate those pinky toes of hers.

So we got her some new tap shoes.  Again.

And then we took the kids to the little playground in the mall.  They played for a bit before Matt was like, "You know, it's a super nice day out.  Why don't we get out of here and take the kids to a REAL playground."

So we did.

To one they've never been to in fact.  This one is in the neighborhood, um, next to but across the major street from the other half (new part) of our neighborhood.  (If that makes any sense.)

So that was fun.  Matt and the kids played.  I mostly sat with the baby.

And before I knew it, the little game of hide and seek Peter and his Dad had going had been joined by a half dozen or so other totally random children that happened to be at the playground too.  

It was hilarious.  Matt was just there playing with his kid and then all these other kids were all "Can we play too" and not wanting to be mean he said okay and then he's trying to organize the game and keep it fun and fair and safe and also not appear like a creeper.  Haha.  And meanwhile I'm across the way on a bench with the baby laughing with the other mothers about how all their children were playing tag with some random other kids dad who happened to be my husband.  

Why does that always happen to him?  Everywhere we go, if Matt is out playing with our children, other kids join in.  And actually, it used to happen sometimes before we even had kids.  Random littles would just  want to hang out with him.  

So ridiculous.

He was "It" a lot.  Oh, and the rock he's sitting on was home base.  

So that was fun.

In other news, this week has been Catholic Schools week.  So Peter's school has basically been having Spirit week.   Monday was school shirt day, Tuesday was Super hero/Patriotic/Camouflage Day, Wednesday was... um, I don't remember right now what Wednesday was.  But then Thursday was Pajama day and today (Friday) is regular dress or uniform because they're celebrating Grandparents and having them come visit if possible.

(Insert guilt trip for Gramma for living so far away. Because that is her fault after all.)

Anyway, so on Tuesday I guess they had a special visit to the school from... wait for it... BATMAN.  Peter's teacher emailed us parents these pictures afterward.

Except she said that ALL the boys were being super doubtful.  They kept saying he wasn't the REAL Batman, that he was just some guy in a suit.  (Are we really old enough for such pessimism already?)  And she was sort of sad that they didn't believe so she asked Batman if he could prove he was real and he was like, well, "Do you wanna go and see my Bat Mobile?  It's parked out on the playground?"

And so the teacher and Batman marched the whole lot of them out there to see the Bat Mobile.

And then naturally everyone was thoroughly convinced that he was the real deal.

Awesome.  

My kid's school is wonderful.

And finally, one more thing.  The other day Peter came straight in after school and marched right through the house and on out the back door declaring he needed to practice his exercise.  I was totally confused and followed him only to see what he meant:

(I still only know how to post videos that play on windows.  So if you're on an apple computer or ipad sorry!)

My son.... my big amazing, growing up way too fast 4 1/2 year old son, has learned to pump his legs and swing himself.

I am both so proud and so, like, hoooo-huuuuuummmmmm.

Every day it's something I guess.  I got the letter yesterday scheduling his screening for kindergarten.

And the next thing I know it's going to be college isn't it?

Lucy at 4 months

Lucy had her 4 month well-baby check-upS this month.

Notice that is plural.

Back in early November, after her 2 month appointment I'd scheduled her 4 month visit for that fist Monday back after the holiday break.  And I knew about it and I planned for it and we were all good to go until I was all nervous and worked up about transitioning Peter back into his school routine and that morning I TOTALLY forgot.

Oops.

Thankfully, they were able to squeeze her in the Wednesday afternoon before we left.  Matt was off that day and I was able to take her in without the stress and drama of dragging along the others.  Thank goodness.

So, she's a growing girl.  I try not to be sad about it, because of course we need her to be healthy and growing, I just sometimes wish the teeny squishy normal part could last just a little while longer.  Like, and forgive me here because maybe I'm biased of late, but why can't they be teeny squishy newborns for a lot longer and difficult, stubborn, headstrong impossible obstinate three year olds a lot LESS?

I'm just saying.

Her head was 40.6 cm around.  That's 46th percentile.  How refreshing not to have to worry about that this time around.

She weighed in at 14 pounds 3 ounces.  That is about the 47th percentile.
She measured 25 3/4 inches long (tall.)  That is about the 92nd percentile.

I would have thought she was heavier actually because she's getting the best baby fat rolls on her thighs and her wrists but actually she's pretty much middle of the pack.  The pediatrician said really she isn't that big. She's just "tall" so she seems big.  But her weight for her height ratio only puts her around the 10th percentile. Interesting.  Knowing she's really just long sure makes it easier for me to swallow the fact that I just had to dig out the 9 month size sleepers for my 4 1/2 month old baby.

*Sniff*

They just grow up so fast.

Literally in her case.  UP.  Hahah.

Maybe someday she'll be 5'10" just like Cindy Crawford.

The doctor seemed unconcerned about anything else developmentally with her.  She was impressed with her strength (she's rolling both ways, all around my house already) and her head control as well as charmed by her sweet giggles and smiles.

We discussed her dry skin some more and decided to delay her shots for a couple weeks since we were getting on a plane the very next morning.


So then on Tuesday this week I took her back in for her immunizations.  4 more shots and the one they drink.  Poor Baby.

I'm so grateful that she is healthy.

She is actually, a miracle.

Florida: The Trip Home

This is the very last picture I took in Floriday.

We'd gone back to the house after our day Animal Kingdom, had dinner and put our exhausted older  children pretty promptly in a bath and then to bed.  Lucy however, had spent a large part of her day snoozing in either the stroller or the Baby Bjorn and was not tired at all.  She was much more interested in finally being free of all the adorable pink satin layers of the fabric that made up her Minnie Mouse dress and the confines of baby carriers so that she could roll around on the floor, stretch out her little arms and legs and play.  We tried to snuggle her and coax her to sleep sooner, but as you can see in the picture, she was wired and WIDE a awake.  That figured.  I'd kept up with the laundry and cleaning during our stay, but I still felt like I had a zillion things to clean and pack up before we left.

Our flight the next day was leaving around 11.  Orlando isn't a particularly crowded airport, but it was pouring rain again and we had to get gas and turn the rental car in and everything too, so we bid Jon and Kelly farewell around 8 and were on our way.  

DO NOT get Matt started on the Toll roads and the confusing exit ramps.  Haha.  

The line to check our bags was stupid but thankfully security was not back up at all.

We had plenty of time to find our gate and enjoy breakfast again before we boarded.

One on the plane, Matt was with the older two while Lucy and I were across the aisle.  Lucy nurses at take off and then slept for about the first aisle.  Then, something got her going and she decided she needed to talk for the remainder of the flight.  LOUDLY.

Except, you know, she's a 4 month old baby and she doesn't know how to talk.

She doesn't even really do much babbling yet.  She mostly just sort of hums or says "Aeeeeeh"  A lot.  A Lot a lot.

So for the last hour and a half of that first flight she sat on my lap and went "AAAaeeeeh!  AAAaaaahhh!

EeEEEEhhaahahahahee!   EEAAEEEaaaeeehhh!"

Wonderful.

We had plenty of time between flights to find our gate and eat.  By the time we boarded the second flight, all the kids were plain exhausted and the all basically slept the entire way.

It was good.

And good to get home.

Florida: Disney's Animal Kingdom

On our last day in Florida, Monday, we all went to Disney's Animal Kingdom.  

Matt and were pleasantly surprised when we went through the parking kiosk and the man working there informed us we were getting something special just because.  (Matt showed his military ID when he paid the parking fee, so maybe he chose us because of that, but there is no way of knowing for sure.)  Anyway, so he gave us a "Magical Moment" card, which is I guess this thing Disney randomly does where guests are given random special treatment.  Our card said we were getting Magical Moment parking.  Unsure of what that meant, we were told to follow the blue line to the handicapped parking lot but to continue straight to the front when we got there and not go into the handicapped spots.  We did as we were told, followed the line around and there at the absolute closest to the entrance part of the parking lot was the sign we were directed to look for and 6 special parking spots for special random people.  We arrived to find 5 of them already taken and Matt pulled in to take the 6th and final one.  Weird.

And also, OMG we couldn't have gotten closer parking anywhere ever, even if we'd tried!!

:)

So that was weird.

We unloaded the car and we on our way to the tickets and entrance.  Jono and Kelly were going to meet us around there some place as well.

We found them, got our tickets and were in line to enter when they officially opened for the morning.

That's always nice.

Mini Minnie Mouse did not seem impressed.

Right as we entered they had several people with little bug boxes that the kids enjoyed looking at.  Creepy Crawling things really.  Tarantulas and Praying Mantises and Hissing Cockroaches.

Just... yuck.  But, I'm glad  my kids are braver than I.

Also, these pink spoonbill birds were cool.

So then we headed on in, making our way to the Safari Trek ride because I've heard it is best earlier in the morning and also the line would be shorter and to get this "must do" out of the way.

On our way, we stopped in front of the big Tree of Life and got a couple family pictures.

It would seem A.J. was not interested in smiling for the camera.

Peter mostly stuck with his Uncle again.  He probably could have cared less if I was even there.

When it came time to get on the ride, Mini Minnie Mouse went into the Baby Bjorn with me.

On the truck, A.J., of course, sat with her Daddy.

Lucy and I took the middle of the row.

And Peter sat at the other end of the row with Jono and Kelly.

The safari ride was pretty good.  We saw lots of cool animals.  

And for added fun, the family behind us had some fun British sounding accents.  And so the whole time behind us these sweet little voices of their children were ringing out saying things like "Look Mummy, gir-offs!" and "OH look Daddy!  zeb-brahs!"  Haha.  British accents are the best.  

We should totally move to England so my kids can pick them up.

Or maybe it wold be easier to just hire a British Nanny.

My just be cheaper still to make them watch a lot of BBC America though.  

Hmmmm.

Anyway....

A hippo

Jono and Peter looking at a lot of hippos.  What do you call a bunch of hippos anyway?  A herd?  OH!  Google tells me there are several acceptable terms, including a "Bloat."  Hahah.  SO there we have a bloat of hippos.  :)

A giraffe

Jono and Peter and some long horned cow type things....

Another giraffe.  They were so close we could almost touch them.

A big male elephant.  I love elephants.

A.J. seemed to like the safari trek.  Or maybe she just liked doing it with her Dad.

This one lioness was sitting up atop the rocks.  How very Lion King-ish of her.

A couple of rhinos.

There's this one episode of Bubble Guppies where a lonely rhino named Monty lives in the zoo and needs a friend so he makes friends with a little bird.  None of that has anything to do with anything, other than the fact that A.J. was really excited to see the rhinos and called them all Montys.  :)

Zebras

Another view of the "Montys"

After the ride was over we went on the little walk they had to see more animals.

Lucy stayed in the carrier.  Also, OMG just look at her chubby baby thighs.  Haha.

A.J. like these fish.

When we got to the gorilla area, Peter just had to see how his hands measured up to the gorilla hand prints.

The gorillas themselves were good too.

When we finished the animal trek back there, we stopped for some coffee and snacks before jumping on the train for the area with the animal care facilities you could visit and the petting zoo and things.  

Here we all are on the train.  Except you can't see A.J. because Lucy
 is in the way and Peter is mostly hidden behind Jono.

PS, I love her!

Daddy's girl much?  I love this.  (Also, because I had the baby, Matt
is carrying my bag so please don't judge him based on the flowers.)

In one area they were demonstrating some training techniques.  This box turtle was hidden behind a blinder and then was supposed to find his food.  The lady explained he had been taught that his food would always be behind the dark color, and they were demonstrating this over and over.  I thought the turtle was cute.  :)

Over in the operating room, they were working on a large bird  It had broken it's wing a few weeks ago so they had it in to have the bandage removed, work the limb through some physical therapy so it wouldn't stiffen up and then be replace the splint and bandages .  A.J. was FASCINATED.  She stood there and watched for a VERY long time.   

Then we hit up the petting zoo.  Peter and A.J. loved it.  They always love petting zoos and never get tired of them.

By then it was time for lunch.  Lucy was ready for a nap anyway.

Lunch was so good.  Or maybe I was just that hungry.

Anyway, as we headed towards our next thing, I also took this close up of the animals carved into the Tree of Life.  So cool. 

Then we went to Dinoland.  This was exactly the last picture my camera took before the battery died.  

Darn it.

Thankfully my phone takes pictures too.  Obviously I couldn't let myself be without a backup.  

I really really wanted to buy this shirt.  HAHA.

Matt and I left Lucy with Jono and Kelly for a bit and went to play/explore the little play area.  It was fun but A.J. kept wanting to climb WAY to the top but then was afraid of all the biggest slides and she kept trying to go down the up climbing nets and it turned into a fight and soon enough I had to drag her out of there.  Matt was with Peter and he did better, but he kept asking to go ride rides instead.

As I dragged A.J. out of there she was definitely getting tired.  So she climbed underneath into the basket of Lucy's stroller to rest.  So Jono, Peter, Lucy and I got inline and took a whirl on the Dumbo style flying Triceretops ride while the Matt and Kelly stayed with the grumpy tired 3 year old.

Lucy's first real ride at Disney World.  Not that you can much tell from the selfie.  

After that, it was clear we needed to find some place to take a break.  I mean, seriously... poor tired A.J.

We saw on a sign near by that the next show of Finding Nemo the musical was starting soon so we headed there to sit down and get some rest.  Kelly and Jon went off to explore the Asia part of the park.  We never did make it over there, which makes me pretty sad because that's where the Tiger's are, but next time I guess....

The Nemo show was pretty good and offered a nice break, so then we rushed over to squeeze in on the parade route and see Mickey and some of his friends.  That was fun too.  A.J. was so cute waving at the characters.  

By then, it was only about an hour until the park was due to close for the night so we made our way towards the exits by way of the souvenir shops.  The kids each got to pick a toy.  A.J. chose a stuffed Snow Leapord or something that is probably supposed to go with the Everest ride that we never even got near to, but she doesn't mind.  Peter chose some Toy Story themed race cars.  I got a t-shirt for each of them as well.  

For Lucy I choose a baby stuffed Goofy doll in honor of her Dad's race achievement.  I also really really really wanted to get a sweatshirt, but since I already paid too much money for the race jacket from the half I made myself refrain. Aren't you all impressed?  I exercised restraint where both Disney and shopping are concerns.  GO ME!  

Also, we didn't wind up buying it, but honestly, doesn't Matt really need this hat?

Haha.

It was a good day.