Annual Fireworks

We had a beautiful night for our fireworks. We were talking about how it has been our tradition since we moved here. The first time we went, we were staying with my sister, waiting for our house to be available. We had no kids. I've been pregnant, with little babies in carriers, with toddlers, and now with 2 big kids that I had to make wear glow stick necklaces so I could find them in the dark (they thought it was cool, too). All they want to do is hang with their big cousins. They want very little to do with us.  

 Look at this picture. Total perfection. 

 This was the best family picture we got. Leah stuffing an Oreo in her mouth and Juliet showing off one of her birthday presents from Aunt Nicole. I let them pick out their treats before we went. Leah chose gourmet popcorn. Juliet chose Oreos. I chose beer. 

End of Kindergarten/Summer Nights

 Leah's Year End Kindergarten Celebration. This is the only picture I got because I spent most of the program crying. The woman next to me took pity on me and was handing me kleenex. Leah is in the front row. Her teacher picked her to give the music teacher flowers at the end of the concert. Leah was so excited because she LOVES her music teacher.

Leah had a great year in Kindergarten. We both loved her teacher, who I felt had a very special connection with Leah. Leah loved school. Her teacher gave each kid a writing journal for the summer. If they complete the journal, they get to go back to Kindergarten and have a pizza party with their teacher in the fall. For Leah's first entry, she wrote about how much she was going to miss Kindergarten and how much she loved her teacher. 

 Here she is with 3 missing teeth.

A few weekends ago we were playing outside and C was taking turns swinging with the kids. It was so cute that I had to get a few pictures. Leah was all about being a daredevil and trying to flip off Chris, and Juliet was all about the snuggles and making sure Leah wasn't getting any more time than she did, before it was her turn again. It was so cute and it made me so thankful that they have such a wonderful Daddy.

The last day of school! To celebrate we went to Old McDonalds for lunch and went to Finding Dory in 3D. The girls loved it!

Dance Recital

 Juliet was thrilled to participate in her first recital. All year she was so excited that she was in dance too. She couldn't wait for the recital and to wear make-up (no mascara, though, that's much too scary). She was so happy!

 Leah was the experienced professional. This was her third recital so she told Juliet all about what would happen and what to expect. She was such a trooper during dress rehearsal. I had packed up all of the necessary supplies and her costumes. Somehow, I left the garment bag containing her other costume on the kitchen counter. The rehearsal is way out in BFE, and she was in the 5th dance, so there was no way for me or Chris to get it to her in time. She was upset, but pulled it together and was so brave about having to rehearse one of her dances in the wrong costume. At the actual recital one of her friends came up to her and said, "Leah, you're in the right costume!". Leah was so annoyed. She was so brave. I still get a little choked up thinking about my Mommy fail. Her teacher probably thinks I'm crazy because I started crying when I explained the situation to her. She found me later to reassure me and I started crying again. I know it's not a huge deal, but I had so much guilt about feeling like I failed her. 

 Juliet hasn't learned how to adjust her eyes in the light, so I never got a great picture of her. 

 Juliet and Anna had fun in the same class. I bet they do it again next year! 

 The best family picture Aunt Renee could get. Look at Juliet's face. Speaking of Aunt Renee, here was another Mommy fail. I told Aunt Renee the recital was on a Wednesday (which it was originally scheduled for--rescheduled in the winter). We were just finding our seats when I texted her to see if she was close. She, of course, had no idea what I was talking about. Being an amazing Auntie, though, she just got right in the car and booked it over. We didn't tell the girls she technically missed their first dances. We recorded them on C's phone, though, so she got to see them. She saw Leah's second dance. It's too bad, though, because the number she saw got all messed up. Somehow the kids were lined up wrong. They got on stage and no one knew what to do. 1/2 the class ran off stage. Leah stayed on stage, but had a confused look on her face the entire time, trying to recalculate where she should actually be positioned. 

Random pictures

 Leah lost her first top tooth. It was very jarring to see how different it made her look. It also made me a little misty. I feel like loosing teeth is a huge step toward being an actual big kid. She let me enjoy the one less tooth look for about 5 days until she lost the other top one. She got $6.25 for the first top tooth because it was such a monumental loss. The second top tooth only got her $1.25 and she was slightly miffed about that. Then she broke Juliet's Prince CD so she had to use all her money to buy Juliet a new one. Now she has 1 more wiggly tooth and is keeping her fingers crossed that it brings big money because we are going back to the American Girl store in August and she has big dreams of getting Lea's Treehouse (it is $400, so she needs to loose her entire mouth of teeth!)

 We also went strawberry picking. Both girls had fun. We made a pie. We didn't make jelly this year, which Juliet reminds me about often. She really liked our homemade jelly. She went through a 2 year phase where she wouldn't eat jelly. She actually loved the homemade kind. We ran out and bought new kinds, but she always reminds me that she liked the homemade kind the most. I keep saying we should go back and pick some more. We will see. :)

 Leah had crazy hair day at school. We looked on Pinterest and decided on cupcake hair. The picture of Leah didn't turn out. I have a good one on my phone, but don't know how to import it. Oh well. 

The Birthday Girl!

 My Sweet Juliet,

Today was your special day. You turned 4. You've been talking about it nonstop for the past 2 weeks. When we've told you your birthday is 3 days away, you've moaned, "4 days?! That's a lot!" You were so excited that your birthday fell on a school day. That meant I got to go to school with you! It was so much fun. You danced and pranced and jumped around on your tip toes all morning. You were so excited it was your birthday! 

For some reason, I decided to let you have a friend party--your sister didn't get one until she turned 6. Your party was at Jungle Java. You were again on your tip toes prancing and greeting every guest. You had a lot of fun playing with all your friends. Sometimes you got jealous when they would follow Leah instead of you, but you snapped out of it pretty fast. We went along with the Jungle theme and got jungle cupcakes and goody bags. I got this dress for a surprise we have planned for you in September (I can't write about it because Leah sometimes reads this!), but it also fit in perfect with the theme for your party, so you wore it today. You showed off your dress to everyone at school. 

You are such a character! You love to keep us entertained. You make funny faces and tell funny stories. You love to make people laugh. You are giving to a fault. If someone wants something you have, you give it to them, even if it makes you sad. You don't like telling your friends that you don't want to play a certain game or if they are making you feel sad. However, you hold a grudge. You remembered that a little girl from your class snatched a toy from you on the first day of preschool this year. When I told you she was coming to your party, you said you would prefer for her to stay home because she doesn't play nice. According to you, there's been no further snatching incidents since September, but you'd rather error on the side of caution. You remember everyone that wronged you. However, today your teacher's told me you are incredibility self-sufficient, and never need redirection at school. You never stop talking. Ever. Daddy and I laugh about it all the time. 

 You love your sister so much. She is your best friend. You love to be "matchy-matchy" with her. You play together all the time. You love to make forts, watch movies, listen to music, and play various made up games with her. The recent games involve Strawberry Shortcake. 

 You are smart. You know all your letters and pretty close to all your letter sounds. I don't know how high you can count because you like to pretend that you need help. You'll say, "1, 2, 3, 4, mac a cheese!" Your favorite number is 18. You also like to count, "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 18!". You love to listen to me count. At night, I rub your back and count. If I forget you shout until Daddy or I come back and do it. You can write your first name easily and your last name if we practice spelling it before you write. You sometimes like to write the numbers 1-10. We are starting to read beginning readers. You have great 1-1 correspondence and get SO EXCITED when you read a book correctly. You love to sing. You sing all the time. You also love to dance. You dance all the time. You have been begging to go back to gymnastics, and I've promised you we could go back this summer.

You love to eat "mac a cheese" more than anything else in the world. You are prickly about what kind, though. Your absolute favorite is Annie's in the blue box. You also love Panera's version. You also enjoy cereal, almost all fruit, carrots and corn, chicken nuggets and fries, and peanut butter and jelly. You went a long time where you refused to eat jelly, but you remembered that you like it, and are back to eating it. You have a pretty big sweet tooth. For your birthday you asked me to make you a chocolate-chocolaty birthday cake. I made it from scratch. It was the first time I ever did. I think it turned out pretty good! You were more interested in opening up your presents than eating it. You love vanilla almond milk and chocolate milk. You always like to drink water after eating sweets because AnnaNana told you how important it is to rinse the sugar off your teeth. 

You kept changing what you wanted for your birthday. You are at the great age where you don't really care what you get. You just want toys. Mama and Dada got you some Strawberry Shortcake toys (your newest obsessions) and the party. Your other favorite gifts from the day were a CD player and microphone from Grandma/Grandpa L, Kit's Reporter Dress, Aladdin, some Sophia the First toys, and all new bath toys. 

 You love your "Big Girl Room". You can go up there and play by yourself for hours. You love to dress up. It's not uncommon to find you when tights on your head, socks on your hands, and some random long sleeved shirt tied around your waist. You love to play with your babies and dolls. You love babies. One of my biggest dreams is for you to be a big sister. I know that you would be amazing at it. You love to nurture. 

 We go out to lunch every Monday this year. You love to pick the restaurant and what you will eat. Leah gets jealous that she doesn't go, but you like to remind me to try to bring something back for her. You don't want to go to school all day, and don't want to go to Real Life next year. We found a 1/2 day school in Downtown Plymouth that you are very excited to attend. We don't talk about it a lot though, because I have no job security and my placement could change at anytime. Also, you won't be with your best friend Anna, and that makes you very sad when you think about it. 

 Sometimes you get a little bit of preschool anxiety. You worry that other kids won't like you or won't believe some of the cool experiences you've had. You worry that you are too little. If your get scolded or put in time out, you cry and loudly wail, "So I'm not your little sweetheart any more?!" or my personal favorite, "I'm just a little jerk!" For the record, we NEVER use that language. I'm pretty sure the "little sweetheart" line is from Full House and the "little jerk" is from Home Alone. You have an astonishing memory, and can remember random facts like the name of the guy who refinished our floors 2 years ago, what you were wearing at a random lunch at a Mexican restaurant, or the exact circumstances of when you were wronged (like I said, you hold a grudge!). You are okay with going back to swim class, but are convinced you are going to get a boy teacher with a long beard that's going to scratch you. You bring it up all the time. You've asked me several times to make sure you get a girl teacher. 

 You love to stay up late and watch movies. You love to sleep in our bed. Somehow we've been allowing it to happen most Friday nights this year. You are always asking, "Is it movie night!?". You still beep, but are getting better at stopping. You love to cuddle and be close to Daddy or I. If we are watching a movie downstairs, you want to ride our legs, which basically means your try to balance on our legs while rocking back and forth and watching the movie. You sleep all night in your bed most nights now. 

 You love the idea of animals, but don't like the unpredictable nature of them. If Ollie runs, or Brain tries to cuddle too close to you, you often get scared. You loved the butterflies, but didn't want to hold them. Leah loves to collect worms, but you prefer to just look at them. 

 You love baths, and hate showers. You are getting better at them, though. Lately you are really into headbands. You love to pick out your own clothes and get dressed by yourself. You get so sad if the outfit you selected isn't appropriate and you need to change. 

 You love to nap, and get so annoyed when I have to wake you up to get Leah from the bus stop. The only way you are happy is if I put on a show for you. Your favorite shows are: Shimmer and Shine, Sophia the First, Doc McStuffins, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and Strawberry Shortcake. Your PJ Mask obsession has faded.  

 You are still in speech. Your current goals are pronouns. Your brain and mouth move so fast that you frequently use the incorrect pronoun even though you know it's incorrect. You flip her/she, him/her, and them/their a lot. You are showing improvement, though. We are also working on your pronunciation of "s" and "f". You go twice a week and seem to enjoy it. Your teacher thinks you are making good progress, but will probably need to attend for anther few years. 

You are such a joy. Sometimes I can't believe you're four. But, I also can barely remember life before you. You bring so much to our lives. I know you feel the same way about us, because this weekend in the car you started crying about not wanting to die. You said, when we die, we will all be buried in different holes and won't be together anymore. Today you told me that you never want to grow up because you don't want to live on your own or have to kiss boys. 

Happy Birthday, J. Boo! We love you so ding darn much.

Walk in the Woods

 The girls really enjoy walking in the woods. We haven't been back since fall. It was cool to go back and see little shoots of green everywhere. We can't wait for more!

 Leah collected wildflowers and acorns. Juliet really liked standing on the little make-shaft bridge talking about how she wanted go put on her swim suit and swim in the 3 inches of cloudy, dirty water below. 

 Hello, Spring!

                                                         (Hopefully!)

Juliet's Big Girl Bike

 Juliet has been earning her "big girl bike" for a few weeks now. Last week, she finally earned it. She was so excited to ride it. Once she finally was on, she was a little overwhelmed (as pictured below). She has been going through a phase for a while now where she gets scared from feeling too high, too unstable, things that are too loud, or things that she just deems "too scary". She was crying that she was too high and going too fast on her bike (even though Daddy was right there holding the bike taking baby steps next to it). 

 She snapped out of it after a bit, though. She goes very, very, slowly, and often needs pushes to keep her momentum, but that's okay. She's frustrated she can't take her bike on long walks yet. She got her big girl bike an entire year before Leah got hers, so it will take some time. She loves her bike, though!

 She was happy to arrange her baby in the bike and to pose by it. 

 Leah was pretty unimpressed with the process. She sat in a chair and read. She needed to be reminded to show some enthusiasm and pride in her sister. Stinker.