Archive for January, 2012

Serenity in January

Tuesday, January 31st, 2012

Serenity in January 2012

 

1/28/12

Serenity has started making up little songs =)  They are cute and tend to get stuck in your head.  For example:
One little bunny, hopping around,

I don’t think so that’s what I found.
Two little bunnies, hopping around,

I don’t think so that’s what I found.

 

And on and on it goes, up to ten. =)  Then trees start dancing around.  I liked that it rhymed!

She sang another song that might have come from school, we’re not sure.  But it was cute.  She doesn’t sing a lot outside of the ABC’s and Twinkle and Jingle Bells so I like this new stuff. =)

 

Bee, bee, bee don’t fly at me

Go somewhere else and make honey!

 

We had another meeting with her teacher about whether she should get another year in the 3-4 year old class since she’s a bit young.  We decided she would stay with Ms. Parent another year to give her a little bit more time to mature.  She still absolutely loves school.  I woke up Tuesday hearing her voice on the monitor: “You guys, you guys!  It’s the sun!  It’s Tuesday!  It’s a SCHOOL DAY!!!!!”  So excited =)  She played in before care for a few minutes while we had our meeting with Ms. Parent.  Ms. Parent was all ready to reassure her that she knew kids in there, but Serenity popped right in the room without a backward glance.  I love her confidence and enthusiasm.

 

Here are a couple of cute moments I posted on Facebook:

I said, “Serenity, you may have ONE cookie.” She takes an oreo, pops it open, and says, “Look Mama, I have TWO cookie!” Am raising a smartass.
Playing bridge with Serenity in the room… All of a sudden we notice she is tossing her own cards at the couch and saying “I pass! I pass the cards!” guess she only knows one kind of passing 🙂
1/30/12
Looking back through the pictures from the month there are so many things I didn’t write about!
Serenity got to be the flower girl in Tina’s wedding.  She adored her dress. It has a satin top and a soft tulle twirly skirt, and she’d swish it back and forth to make the dress fly out.  I’d let her practice with basket and petals earlier in the day.  So after she scattered petals around Tina and Colen, she picked up all her petals so she could do it again.  Just like we practiced right? =)  She was adorable!

Twirly Dress

Early in the month USchool had Science Saturday.  We attended and Serenity loved it!  We made a battery using lemons, played with lots of sounds in the music room, and made Ooobleck.  Serenity liked saying oobleck more than actually touching it, but three weeks later she could still remember the recipe for it!  Starch and glue =)  I loved the balloon activities.  We made a pinwheel that spun around using a balloon, and another activity with the balloon.  Mrs. McBride was helping with that one.  She does all the science for Serenity’s class, which is one of Serenity’s favorite things about school!

Serenity and her friend Emerson

Science Saturday with Mrs. McBride

Football with Daddy, Casey and Barrett! The pink football was a Christmas present for Daddy

Eric is blocking for Serenity =)

The huddles =)

 

Learning chess. She sat there for a long time playing the game!

 

 

Practicing her gymnastics flexibility =)

 

She still loves the pencils from her book club =)

 

=) Love this picture

 

 

Practicing her writing skills she is

Donovan is Seven Months Old!

Sunday, January 8th, 2012

Two teeth on the bottom!

 

1/7/12

Donovan is seven months old!  He’s soo close to crawling.  He used to sit for long periods of time playing, delighted that he could sit up on his own.  But now he must feel he’s mastered that and it’s time to move on, because he lands in tummy time almost immediately when I set him down these days.  He’ll reach for a toy that’s just too far, and be almost on hands and knees.  He’s not quite there though.  He’s also very happy to stand if you help balance him by holding his hands or waist.  He just wants to move!

 

He’s been eating solid foods for a month now.  By that I mean he sits in his high chair at regular intervals grinning at me with his mouth closed.  I feel like I’m trying to sneak in bites when he tries to talk.  It’s like playing mini-golf and trying to get the ball past a door that only opens for a second.  The first day he opened his mouth wide for the spoon, but since then he’s just not that interested in baby food.  The one exception was baby bananas.  When I gave him that he actually finished an entire jar!  I’m not sure they sat well with him though so we’re taking a break from that.  Ironically, he’ll open his mouth if Serenity is holding the spoon.  So she’s fed him a time or two.  He loves puffs and is getting pretty good at picking them up.  We might just need to try him with tiny chunks of actual food, maybe it’s just the baby food he’s not a fan of.  Not even applesauce!

 

He’s talking up a storm these days, lots of Mamamama (which he said for the first time over Christmas), Dadada and Bababa!.  And Hi =)  Eric thought he might be trying to use Mama the right way, but I don’t think you can really tell for sure yet.

 

His favorite toys are still his crayons.  They are just right for gnawing on.  He is drooling like crazy so probably teething, although he is still pretty calm about it. He wakes up pretty early wanting to snuggle Mama, but he calms easily once I get him.

Mmmm Dr. Pepper

Can almost stand holding onto the couch... but when I let go it's a spectacular wipeout =)

December 31st: Happy New Year!

Sunday, January 1st, 2012

December 31st: New Years Eve

 

Countdown gymnastics style

We tried something new this year!  We turned our Christmas tree into a New Years Tree!  I hope this helps me get motivated to clean things up a little bit sooner, as I’ve been known to leave the tree up until February sometimes.  With kids around, I want the space back a little sooner.

Our New Years Tree

Daddy and Serenity are still camping out

Giggling children, my happiest sound =)

It was a lot of fun!  Serenity helped me pull all the old ornaments off the tree, except for the blue balls.  Then we added some blue lights and a ton of streamers we inherited from Don.  One rainbow ball at the top and the tree was done!  It was so much fun Daddy added a wall of streamers for us to run through.  Later in the evening we made party hats, and we celebrated the New Years Countdown Rio De Janeiro style.  Serenity loved watching the minutes and then the seconds count down to zero!  She wanted a round number =)

 

We also did some shopping with the Christmas gift card Papa got Serenity to Toys R Us.  We went through the whole store letting her pick whatever she wanted, and then we lined it all up to choose things that added up to the amount on the gift card.  We loved what she chose!  Chutes and Ladders (princess style.  She originally had super heroes but then Daddy offered the princess one and she went with that)  The Richard Scarry airplane game, which we put away for a couple of weeks so we have something new when the weather turns bad.  A book, a Dora puzzle, and a pool/slide for her Strawberry Shortcake girls.  Oh, and a craft kit.  Great fun!!!  Thanks Papa!

 

We also had lunch at Olive Garden.  Both kids were awesome, although I think Donovan made the most noise I’ve ever heard out of him, they were all happy noises.  The restaurant was noisy and I think it made him excited. =)  Serenity loved choosing her food from the menu, and she ate with a fork and everything.  Yay!