Oh no! There’s only a week and a day until Christmas. Scott’s off next week so we’re looking forward to a fun-filled week, starting with Elisabeth’s dance recital Sat & Sun. We’ll post pictures from the recital and all of our Christmas news soon. In the mean-time, we wish each and every one of our friends and family a Merry Christmas. We miss you guys!
Wow. I can’t believe that it’s already October. We had a busy, yet FUN September. I think that it’s safe to say that the kids are well established in school as well as their lessons. Benjamin seems to not only to enjoy piano, but has shown quite the talent for it. He can tell you which note each key is without hesitation and easily remembers the notes to songs. Elisabeth also enjoys her dance class. She’s the smallest and youngest in her class, but mostly, she holds her own. It’s not unusual for her to spend a few minutes making faces in the mirror or to pull her tutu over her head in the middle of her class! Her first recital is coming up in December and I’m sure that it will be a night to remember!
Scott & I are doing great as well. I’ve been crazy, busy getting the kids to all of the places they need to go and the housework has suffered a bit. It’s a good thing that 1)Scott’s great at pitching in and 2)I don’t let the state of the house bother me much. 😆 If you talk to Scott anytime soon, be sure to ask him about his new TV. He’s quite proud!
Today while Elisabeth was in preschool, I took Benjamin to breakfast. He’s always so polite and the waiters and waitresses are usually amused with his questions and nice manners. Today was no exception. We went to a local bistro called One the Rise. They’re a bit upscale and pricey, but the menu is relatively safe for Benjamin and wow! The food is AWESOME! Just before the waitress arrived to our table, he asked if he could use the grownup glasses for his water. Of course, I let him. The waitress was very accommodating and only filled the goblet to halfway. We ordered his pancake and while we waited for our breakfast, he ate the whipped cream from my cafe mocha. When his pancake arrived, he insisted on opening, then spreading his butter by his self. I almost teared up watching him working his knife and fork nearly as well as an adult. Each time our waitress came to check on us, he politely referred to her as “Miss” – he was SO charming!
In all honesty, you probably had to be there to appreciate the “specialness” of everything, but I will say as a mother, it will definitely be one of those memories that stick.
Our church recently started a new children’s program that both kids absolutely love. They are so excited to go to church each Sunday and talk about their lesson throughout the week. I’m helping out with the much-older kids (I get enough of preschoolers at home, thank you very much!) so I miss out on the cute “isms” that preschoolers are prone to blurting out in class. Recently, they did a small series on the disciples and how they were friends of Jesus. As part of the lesson, they talked about who their friends are and why they are important, etc… etc… During one Q&A Benjamin told the teacher, “I have a LOT of friends, but one is a very special friend. She’s my sister!” He then gave her a huge hug. I love that he thinks of her as his special friend – it makes my heart melt.
I can’t believe that it’s already August 1! The kids only have 3 weeks before they start school – woohoo! Oops, did I say that? We got Elisabeth signed up for dance class, which starts on Monday. Benjamin will start piano in September and we’re looking into giving him private swimming lessons as well.
We went to a swimming party today and the kids had a blast. Elisabeth spent most of her time moving water from one part of the pool to another with her little bucket, while Benjamin played on the stairs. Towards the end, Benjamin finally got the nerve to start jumping in and walking around in the 3′ with his nose and mouth poking out. I keep telling him that he would have a much better time at the pool if he always had this kind of confidence, but he tends to wait until it’s almost time to go! I’m hoping that a few hours of private lessons will alleviate this problem.
We’re looking forward to a fun weekend with Daddy at the water park and maybe, just maybe, Mom can get some school clothes shopping in… without the kids! We hope that everyone’s enjoying their summer!
The Poests 😀
I know, Scott & I are terrible about updating this thing. It seems that we’re constantly on the go. I guess that’s the way life is when you have a busy 3 and 4-year old, huh? We’re having a fantastic summer and as bad as it sounds, I am somewhat looking forward to the Fall. We’ll start with the summer news.
We decided to invest in Big Surf Season passes this year and it has been worth every penny. In fact, we have gone more than enough to pay for the passes so the investment had already paid off! The kids both love playing in the kiddie pool and sliding on the kiddie slide. They are so cute running around with each other. Benjamin loves to slide down the slide a bazillion times while Elisabeth is perfectly content filling her bucket and dumping it on Mommy. They’re both getting more comfortable with the wave pool, but Elisabeth spends most of her time in the ankle deep waves. Benjamin gets braver with each trip and has progressed to waist-deep water during the waves and chest-deep water with the waves off.
We spent July 4th weekend and the following week at my mom’s so that Scott could work on the trailer. Besides, we like to escape the craziness that is the Lake of the Ozarks during all holiday weekends! The kids had a blast at Grandma’s, of course, and Scott accomplished a ton of work. We’re so close to the dang thing being ready for us to actually stay there! I can’t wait! The kids are thrilled too, but they may change their mind when they realize that staying at the trailer means that they won’t be staying at Grandma’s anymore!
Alas, the summer will soon be over. We plan on spending as much time in the water as possible and getting some use out of our play yard, however, we have officially started preparations for returning to preschool. Benjamin went last year, so it will all be “old hat” for him, however, this year I will be losing my baby, Elisabeth, to preschool as well. What will I do? Benjamin will attend M-W-F and Elisabeth will go on Tues and Thurs. It’s only in the mornings, but it does mean that I will officially be taking children to school every weekday for the next, what, 15 years… or is it 16? It hurts my brain to think about it.
I’m sure that Elisabeth will enjoy preschool, especially the social aspect of it. She’s definitely a princess fairy girl. She loves to play and dance. She even told Scott recently, “watch,dad, this is the most beautiful dance you have ever seen.” Oh boy, are we ever in trouble with this one! She’s recently taken to playing with her dolls and stuffed animals like you would expect any little girl to. She’s constantly putting them to bed and caring for them in various ways. It melts my hear to see her little maternal side. She starts dance this fall and we can’t wait to see how she blossoms!
For those of you who don’t already know, Benjamin is reading. Not repeating the words he has already memorized from us reading and re-reading certain stories to him. He is truly reading books. According to his preschool teachers, some of his sight words are at a 2nd grade level! We try to stimulate him, because he LOVES it, but we’re also trying to let him be a boy as well. He’s pretty good at doing “regular” boy things like playing with his trains or trucks, but most especially, he’s good at tormenting his sister. Hey, what are brothers for, right?
I’m really looking forward to when school starts and I’ll have only one child each morning. They’re so close together in age that they’ve both missed out on special one-on-one time with Mommy. It will be nice to have some bonding time!
I am bound and determined to write more here! As I think of things, I’m just going to POST POST POST! I’ll try not to get too hung up on grammar and spelling… and that’s HARD for me! So, I’m starting a new thing. I want to write just cute little tidbits about the kiddos as I think of them. I’ll even try to delve “way back when” and get some cute and fun post-worthy stories!
****Elisabeth has always called buttons “uppons”. It’s sooo dang cute. She once even told me to “uppon your uppon, Mommy!”
****Benjamin loves his little white blanket. A few weeks ago, we left it at Grandma’s and he was so sad. Every day, he wanted to go to grandma’s to get his blanket. We finally made it back this weekend and he’s over-joyed! He played with it for the first hour we were there.
****According to Elisabeth, every thing is “so cute!” I’m so cute, the froggy and turtles we see are “so cute”, heck daddy’s dirty leg is “so cute”. Her cute little voice saying such cute little things cracks me up!
Aside from the fact that we’re freezing in our nearly zero temperatures, we’re all doing great. Scott’s scrambling to finish his finance class, then he only has two more classes before graduating! I’m so proud of his hard work. We’ll all be glad when he’s done and able to spend more time with us than the books 😀
Benjamin is still such a big boy! He’s getting to be quite the smarty-pants in his old age. The other day when I told him to get his shoes, he told me to ” get them yourself”. Even though it was a little naughty, I couldn’t help but to laugh at his growing independence! He absolutely loves his train set and is always asking me to make him super-cool tracks. Scott & I have been known to put some pretty neat configurations together after the kids go to bed too! Scott’s been working with Benjamin using the computer and like his daddy, he loves to play games and has caught on to using the mouse and keyboard pretty quickly.
Elisabeth is at that age where she learns something new almost every day. She’s talking in well formed sentences. She says, “I pooped in me pants!”, ” I want a snack, PLEASE!”, “I don’t like it!”, “I want to wear me hat”, “I missed you (followed by a cozy hug)”, and MUCH MUCH more! She definitely takes after her brother in the language department. So far it doesn’t seem like her being tongue tied has affected her speech. The only thing I’ve really noticed is that she calls buttons, “uppuns”. She also says that everything she eats is “delicious!”, which is pretty cute coming from such a tiny little thing! She has recently started counting to ten and can identify some the alphabet. We’ve been working on the ABC song and she’s getting pretty good, but still won’t go through the whole song in one sitting. Usually, she sings little portions at a time – her favorite being, “QRS!!!”
Both kids love playing with the kitchen Santa brought Elisabeth and the appliances that Grandma & Grandpa gave them. They love the new table for crafts and it’s so cute to see them rocking on the teeter totter from Grandpa Carl and Grandma Pam! I love that they’re starting to really play together. It’s really cute to watch them interacting.
I’m doing really well with my Tastefully Simple business now. I just got back from St. Louis for a conference and came back loaded with information and excited to grow my business! Scott & the kids always have fun together when I’m off at a party, so it’s really a win-win situation.
We’re off to get ready for the Super Bowl tomorrow. We’re going to make some dips and other appetizer-type foods and then we’ll have a picnic in front of the big screen. Both kids like to watch football, which is a good thing considering how much Daddy likes to have it on during the season! Elisabeth likes to scream, “NICE!” at the top of her lungs and Benjamin yells, “He dropped it! I can’t believe he dropped it!” I wonder where that came from? I’ve taught both kids to say, “Go Cowboys” just to annoy Scott 😀 Of course, having lived in Chicago for several years, we will NOT be routing for the Bears. Go COLTS!
We spent the day at my mom & dad’s house today. The kids had so much fun opening presents. They both got shopping carts with food and little kitchen appliances that actually work. Elisabeth got a Pound Puppy, while Benjamin got a cool saw that makes realistic sounds. Of course Benjamin’s loving the appliances and Elisabeth’s enthralled with the saw. Benjamin knows that tomorrow is Christmas Eve and is super excited about it. He knows that Santa’s coming and bringing more presents, but I don’ think he really “gets” it. Today he asked if Elisabeth is Baby Jesus 😆 We’ll be going to church in the morning and candle light service tomorrow night. Benjamin and the kids are going to tidy things up so that Santa won’t skip our house, and I’ll be finishing up on some baking.
We will definitely be checking with with everyone again before the New Year. Merry Christmas!!!
We’ve all been enjoying the fall weather and all of the activities that go along with it. A few weeks ago we took the kids to the Pumpkin Patch Festival and the they had a blast – pictures will be posted soon! Both kids participated in the scavenger hunt, painted a little pumpkin, and made a spider bracelet. This was the second year for both kids to attend, but it was Elisabeth’s first time to actually participate. They were both adorable!
This week I took the kids to Summer’s End Farm ( www.summersendfarm.com ) with our play group and we had a great time! It was awesome. The only bad part was that I somehow, for the first time in my mommy-life, forgot to bring a camera! I couldn’t believe it. There were so many great photo opportunities too. DARN! The good news is that the kids had a ball. We got to go on a hay ride and walk through a corn maze, plus, LOTS more. We’re definitely going back next year, but I think we’ll take Daddy with us next time!
We’re getting geared-up for Halloween. I think we know what both kids are going as, but we’ll leave that as a surprise for when we post pictures 😉
Both kids have grown up so much since the summer. For those of you don’t already know, Benjamin is 100% potty trained – and has been for quite some time. He’s able to count using one-to-one correspondence up to 20 and is infatuated with letters. He knows at least one word for every letter (i.e. A is for airplane, M is for mitten and Mommy, etc.. etc.. ). His drawings are starting to show meaning. He makes little marks for letters and really tries really hard to draw them correctly. He’s also into drawing houses. I think Scott taught him how. He sings all of the time. He knows the entire Blue’s Clue’s song and can do all of the hand gestures that go along with it. We really need to get it on video so that we can share it with everyone. It’s soooo funny!
Elisabeth is a little pixie running around the house singing, dancing and trying to be as big as Benjamin. She has tons of words and is starting to talk in sentences. Just this week she’s taken to going around the house yelling (and sometimes crying), “Mommy, where are you?” It’s so cute, but I feel bad knowing that she’s really freaked out looking for me. She loves to scribble with her colors and when I ask “who wants to go outside?” (or anything else), she answers, “I do!” After she wakes up, she stands in her crib singing The Itsy Bitsy Spider, hand gestures and all. She’s still only in the 3rd percentile, but the Ped did some testing and thinks that she’s just going to be a skinny-Minnie. She’s still in a size 12 months, but some of it’s still too big for her!
We’re all looking forward to the holidays this year. With our family complete… and growing up, things are just getting better and better!!!