Carley's First Dance Class

Carley started a dance class this week. She took it very seriously. I've never seen her so focused before, you would have thought she was trying out for the Bolshoi Ballet.  There's not too many things cuter than a dance class for three year olds.

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Girls' Day Out

Since Martin Luther King Day is a holiday and there's no school and I didn't have to go to work, it was the perfect day for a girls' day out.  Lindsey, Carley and I took the train into the city and met up with Cindy for lunch and a movie.  We saw Beauty and the Beast 3D.  We had a totally terrific day.  It's so fun going out with my girls.

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TGIF

It's Friday evening before a 3 day weekend and all is well in our little world.  We've not only survived the 1st two weeks of school, but Sammy and Lindsey have done better than I thought they would.  They both have jumped right into the new routine and seem to be really enjoying school and like their teachers. 

The only problem has been that Sammy has hurt himself twice now on the school playground.  The first time was during Kindergarten orientation when he ran into a bar and the second time was yesterday when he tripped and face planted on asphalt.  He cried for so long that they called up Blain to pick him up because they said he was okay but inconsolable.  Even after Blain got him, he kept crying for his mommy so they called me at work when I was in a meeting so I could talk with him.  Fortunately it was a small meeting and I have a very understanding boss.  I was able to talk to him and calm him down. 

On a more positive note, Carley seems to have had another growth spurt and for the first time is able to reach the light switch.  She's growing up so fast!  I love my feisty and fun little girl, but she's a handful.  She definitely has a mind of her own and isn't shy about expressing herself.

1st Playground Injury

And it only gets worse - 2nd playground injury

It doesn't look like she can reach the switch...

But she can!

1st Day of Kindergarten for Sammy

Kindergarten starts locally one week after all the other grades, so even though Sammy had Kindergarten orientation last week today was his first real day of school.  We walked down to the school bus stop together and he got on board with Lindsey.  They both sat together and waved to me from their window as the bus pulled away.  That just made my heart melt!

I updated the slideshow from last week and have moved it to today's post to include pictures from this morning.

First Day of School and Best Kid Quote of the Week

Today was the first day of school.  Lindsey is now a first grader!  She rode the school bus by herself for the first time (which we followed in our car for the first day just to make sure it well and to take pictures, of course). 

Last year we were driving her to a charter school across town.  This year we decided to enroll her and Sammy in our district school.  Turns out our district school did better in test scores and parent satisfaction than the charter school.  Plus the kids can catch the school bus just down the block.  Wunderbar!

Lindsey had a great first day.  She loved eating lunch at school.  Now that she's in first grade, she's in school for the full day.  Sammy starts Kindergarten next week but we did have a 1 hour Kindergarten orientation this morning.  They took the kids out to the playground so the teacher could talk to the parents about what they will be doing this year.  After a few minutes, in comes a little boy with an ice pack on his head.  It was Sammy, of course.  Poor kid ran into a pole on the playground.  That's our Sam.

On a side note, the best kid quote of the week and maybe even the month.  Yesterday, probably because of the excitement and nerves of school starting, the kids were crazy wild and misbehaving.  At one point I put Lindsey in a "time out".  Her response was, "FINE, then I will NOT say excuse me when I fart!!"  Well, I guess she told me off.  I had to turn away quickly so she couldn't see the expression on my face.  Shades of a quote from an old Monty Python movie, "I fart in your general direction".

School Bus

Lindsey with her Teacher

Sammy's Kindergarten Roundup

We went to Sammy's Kindergarten roundup today.  We got him officially registered, then saw his classroom and met one of the Kindergarten teachers.  They even gave him a treat of crayons and a coloring book.

Lindsey came along as well to see the school because we've decided to pull her out of the charter school at the end of this school year that we had her in for Kindergarten and put her for first grade in our local district school along with Sam. 

I  had always assumed charter schools were automatically superior to non-charter public schools.  Plus I got so caught up in the whole lottery system on getting into one.  We struck gold with the charter school we got in because it's an "arts academy" and the most sought after charter school in our area.  Just wish I had that kind of luck when playing the slots in Vegas!

The Arts Academy was an okay school but overall I expected so much more and I was disappointed.  So for next year I did a little more research and found out that our local elementary school ranked in the top quarter in the state in both test scores and parent satisfaction while the charter school was right in the middle of the pack.  In other words, we were driving across town for a mediocre school while we lived 5 minutes away from a great school in our own district!  Plus they can ride the school bus which will pick them up a block away instead of us having to drive them back and forth through rush hour traffic.  For next year with one child in half day kindergarten and one child in a full school day, we would have had to go to the school 3 times daily and that would have been over 60 miles total and about and hour and a half out of the day.  In the end after I had found out our district school was better, basically it was a no brainer to switch. 

Skating Lessons

Lindsey started a six week "Learn to Skate" program last week at our local skating rink.  Today was her second lesson.  She's so cute to watch as she scoots back and forth across the rink.  She was pretty caution tonight but she fell a lot less than last week.  They even had the kids skating backwards which was basically just wiggling going backwards but it worked.  Surprisingly she skated faster backwards than forwards and she said that was her favorite part.  As long as she's having fun and getting exercise, it's all good.

St Valentine's Day Party

We have a new record!  Blain and I had two nights out in a row without kids!  I think that's the first time we've done that since becoming parents.  We met up with friends last night for dinner and then met more friends at a local bar to see a band called "66 & Main".  Here's a shout out to the band who did a great job, especially to Cindy, one of the singers in the band, who was one of the friends we met up with last night.

Sammy's First Time Skiing

Today Sammy tried skiing for the first time.  He did great!  He went up the chairlift several times and he learned to turn and do a wedge stop, although he realized pretty quick it was also pretty effective to just sit down when all else failed.  It was Lindsey's third time skiing, she went twice last winter, and she started right where she left off - going up the chairlift.  She really progressed with her turns and skied much more in control this year.

Blain stayed home with Carley and since it's been exactly a month since my surgery, skiing is out for me for this winter.  But our good friends Cindy and Brian came along to help with the kids.  Brian tried snowboarding in the morning and it was his 4th time to try.  After getting beat up too much by the mountain, he came to the decision that snowboarding was not for him and switched to skies in the afternoon which he enjoyed much more.  Cindy was on skies the whole day and looked like she was having so much fun I got a little jealous I couldn't join them.  But it was fun watching the kids and Cindy and Brian coming down the mountain.  And you can't beat the scenery!

Getting Ready in the Ski Lodge

Sammy's First Time on Skis

Brian's Last Time on a Snowboard

Ski Bunny Lindsey

Ski Bunny Cindy

Lindsey's "Goulash"

Lindsey cooked dinner tonight for the first time.  I supervised, of course, but she did all the actual cooking herself except for the rice (gotta give Blain credit for that part).  I thought it turned out great especially for a five year old's first time.  I'm so, so proud of my big girl.

It's About Time!

For whatever reason, we have never taken our kids to the movie theater.  Plenty of DVDs and TV and other type of outings but never actually gone out to see a movie.  Lindsey and Sam went to the movies with their daycare last summer so I feel bad I missed being with them for their first time.  Anyway, we finally all went as a family and saw the new Disney movie "Tangled".  And the reviews are in.  Sammy declared it "too girlie" (I think Blain backed him up on that) and Carley got bored after about an hour which I thought was a decent enough attention span for a 2 year old.  Lindsey and I really liked it.  We all enjoyed, though, getting out of the house together on a rainy and cold January day. 

They had previews for "Cars 2" coming out this summer so the plans are that will be our next family movie and one that won't be too girlie.  And in case you didn't know, Sammy is a HUGE Cars fan.  I've lost count of how many Lightening McQueens we have floating around this place.

Carley's New Hairdo

I took Carley to an African American hairdresser today to get her hair done for Christmas. I was thinking something along the lines of braids or rows with beads. I ended up getting hair extensions put in because it would last a month and the other styles only a couple of weeks. I'm having surgery on my neck in early January to fuse 3 vertebrae together and I'm stressed about not being able to take care of the kids on my own for 6 weeks without someone else being around.

When the hairdresser said there would be no maintenance needed for her hair with the extensions for a month I jumped on it. I just didn't realize how much I liked her natural hair. Both Blain and I are having a hard time getting used to the look and feel of her new "hair". She's beautiful no matter what and the new hairdo is cute, but I do miss my baby's hair.

Biking Along the Nature Trail

Sam, Lindsey and I went hike/biking along a nature trail close to our house.  The weather was perfect with just a hint of Autumn in the air.  This was Sam's first time on his new bike that we just had fitted with training wheels.  He did great!  He learned to pedal forward, turn and the all important how to slow down and stop.  By the end he was telling me he could do it by himself without Mama helping and he could.  Lindsey did great too, needing no help from Mama at all.  What a fun ride.

Lindsey Goes to Kindergarten

Today Lindsey started Kindergarten.  She did great.  I'm so proud of my beautiful, grown-girl.

Carley's First Visit to the Dentist

Poor Carley cried and screamed but that made it really easy and quick for the dentist to give her an exam.  The dentist declared Carley's teeth to be perfect and beautiful!  We knew she had beautiful teeth but it was good to hear there were no problems as well.  In fact the dentist gave all 3 kids a clean bill of health. 

And unlike last time, Lindsey and Sam did great!  No incidents of mouths clenched shut or biting the hygienist's hand.  Lindsey even allowed her teeth to be cleaned, although she refused to swallow the rinse water so it dribbled out the sides of her mouth.  I asked the hygienist if it was common for kids Lindsey's age to do that and she said, "No, in fact this is the first time I've ever seen a kid do that".  Leave it up to Lindsey to come up with a new spin on things.  Still it was a major improvement from 6 months ago.

http://blaggiesworld.blogspot.com/2010/02/drama-at-dentist.html

http://blaggiesworld.blogspot.com/2010/03/drama-at-dentist-part-2.html

Carley can't wait to climb into the Dentist's cool chair!

See the drool?

Sam showing off his pearly white teeth

Lindsey's Dance Performance

The Tooth Fairy's First Visit

While I was out of town this weekend Lindsey lost her first tooth.  It had been loose for weeks and on Sunday it finally came out.  So Monday night after I returned home she put her tooth under her pillow and guess what!  The tooth fairy must have come by in the night while she was asleep because in the morning her tooth was gone and Lindsey had a shiny dollar coin.

You can't hardly see where she lost her tooth because the new one was already growing in behind it.  It's the tooth on the bottom middle left.

Carley's First Sentence on the Phone

I think Carley's starting to understand the idea of the phone.  When I call from work to talk to her she'll say hello and then babble away.  Today when I asked her how she was she said, "I wake up".  Blain said she had just woken up from her nap.  Obviously she's a gifted genius child

Carley at Fifteen Months

Carley just turned 15 months old on March 2nd.  She's the typical busy baby  - walking, chattering, likes to carry things (about anything will do), opinionated and very sweet and affectionate.  And VERY attached to her bottle.  She's all along refused to use a Binky so the bottle is a big source of comfort for her. 

In fact, I'm actually embarrassed to admit this, but she only slept through the night 2 nights ago for the first time (unfortunately she didn't repeat this last night).  She wants a bottle or 2 in the middle of the night and is very vocal about demanding it.  For the longest time we were in denial about the comfort factor and convinced ourselves she was really hungry.  But at some point we had to admit she did not have a physical need for a bottle but an emotional one and not having a good night sleep night after night takes it's toll.

We finally did what our doctor had suggested almost a year ago - tough love which we started a week ago.  We endured five nights of lots of crying and Carley feeling oh so sorry for herself.  She got lots of cuddling and lullabies but no bottle.  On the sixth night she slept straight through!  My baby is growing up.

Falling asleep today in her highchair

Where did baby Lindsey go?

Last week I registered Lindsey for Kindergarten for next fall.  Since we don't have a birth certificate for her, I used her U.S. citizenship certificate to prove her birthday which has a picture of her taken in China when we got her at nine months old.  In 2 weeks she'll be turning five.  I looked at her baby picture and thought how did my first baby become such a big girl?