Dentist

Both of the kids went to the dentist last week and they both did great!

We were super proud of Alex.  He was very brave.  This was his first dentist appointment where they did EVERYTHING.  Super huge deal for him, and he enjoyed it which was even better.  

We are also super proud of Rhoslyn.  It was her first time at the dentist.  She was a little skiddish, but dad said she did a great job.  They did x-rays, scraped and cleaned her teeth and they did fluoride.  She wasn't too sure about the water and the sucking hose.  The dental hygienist let her take a drink and she thought that was super cool.  It was game on after that.

Both kids are clear of cavities!  Alex's teeth are still in nice and firm.  Dentist doesn't think he will be losing any too soon.  We have already been told that Rhoslyn will for sure need braces.  Nothing like hearing that when your daughter is only 3!  I am sure both kids are doomed... they have moms mouth.  I guess dad and I better start a braces savings account.

January Photos

Our New Years Eve was celebrated with the kids having Sparkling grape juice and ice cream sundae's.  It was perfect!  We watched a movie and the kids were in bed around 8:00.  Mom went to bed around 8:30.  (I am cool like that)

I made homemade chocolate cake and frosting for Billy and Uncle Rob's birthday.  The kids enjoyed licking the frosting off of the beaters!  

We LOVE chocolate!!

Happy Birthday Boys!!  They each got their own candle to blow out.

Alex drew this picture and wrote this sentence.  Don't you love how he spelled house?!

And that has pretty much been our January so far in photos!

Time Flies..

I am finding it more and more difficult to keep up with this, but have no fear... I will continue!  Time seems to be in fast motion lately.

How about I update on some little things that are going on with our family?  (Which we all know usually means the kids, right?!)

Alex just figured out how to whistle!  He has been trying and trying... and finally he got it.  This is what he told me Wednesday after school.  "I practiced at school, but my teacher kept catching me."  Gotta love him!  I told him that he was probably being a bit disruptive and it might be a good idea to save whistle practicing for recess time.

Rhoslyn is moving up to the preschool room at daycare.  Her current teacher is sad to see her move up, but all of the kids spend time together in the morning and afternoon.  I am excited for her, yet sad at the same time.  Getting this information made me realize just how fast she is growing.  To top it off, we will have to school aged children this fall.  I am finding it even harder this time around.

Our children amaze me everyday.  Although it's hard to watch them grow up before our eyes, I love seeing them grow.  Daddy was gone all week for work, so I declared last night as movie night.  Mom needed a night to sit back and veg out.  The kids were showered after school.  I put chicken nuggets in the oven and even hopped in the shower myself.  I asked Alex to get the ketchup and ranch out of the fridge.  Not only did he do that, but he put it on our plates, filled two cups with water and one with milk and Rhoslyn set napkins out on the table.  I got dressed and was so pleased to see how much they helped with getting dinner together.  Also, Alex is making his own toast now!  He puts it in the toaster, gets it out by himself, butters it, and even puts cinnamon and sugar on it.  He is becoming a little man.

Alex can also read a little.  We have some early reader books and he has read two of them all on his own.  We are also enjoying the Magic Tree House books.  It's crazy to me that he is requesting for me to read chapter books more so than picture books. I am enjoying it though.  

Rhoslyn is our little social butterfly.  As soon as we walk in at daycare she has at least one or two friends just standing there, waiting for her to play.  The other day at daycare she was the prayer person (one of her jobs) and she thanked God for one of the kids at daycare.  It pretty much melted my heart... and her teachers too!  She writes her name so well now.  She can also right Nan (her teachers name), Kerri, Dad, Mom, and Alex.  Her favorite books right now are the David books.  She looks through them and has most of the pages memorized.  She has mastered zipping her jacket.. which is awesome!  She loves doing puzzles and playing the matching games.  Her favorite toy right now would probably have to be her ponies and pony dolls.  She loves playing with Alex's toys and watching him play Skylanders.  I'm sure it won't be long before she is asking to play.

Keeping things in order...

Perfectionism...

This is a trait that we are noticing more and more in Alex and Rhoslyn.  Who do they get it from you may ask... well their Mother of course!  =)

Rhoslyn is working very hard at writing her letters.  Tonight her and I sat on the couch and we wrote out Grandma, Grandpa, Kerri, Billy, Alex, and Tucker.  When she was writing Billy, she messed up her B a bit and started to get upset (totally something I would do).  So I showed her that we could just scribble it out and start over.  I can't believe how well she is doing with writing.  Her "E's" are very cute because she puts a bunch of lines across instead of three.

Meanwhile, Alex and daddy worked on work sheets.  Oh yes, we have been doing a lot of worksheets lately.  Alex more so than Rhoslyn.  Over the weekend I had them each pick out a folder (Rhoslyn is puppies and Alex is sharks.. go figure).  I then went through some of our work books and put some work sheets into their folders.  One side is for work sheets to be completed, and the other side is to put work sheets that are finished. (Auntie Kelly is probably grinning ear to ear while reading this).  When the work sheets are done, I will add more.  Let me just say that Alex LOVES this.  He loves pulling out his folder and working on the sheets.  Rhoslyn hasn't explored too much into hers.

I also typed up chore charts for the kids (with pictures) and laminated them.  When each chore is done they get to check it off with a dry erase marker.  At the end they get $1 for completing the four chores.  Some of their chores are; dusting, cleaning toilets, feeding pets, dishwasher, cleaning bedroom/making bed, wiping table and chairs.  They each earned their dollar in one day yesterday.  I better stock up on singles! 

Stone Soup

Last night we headed to church for family night.  The daycare children had a small program.  Rhoslyn's group sang two songs and did Stone Soup.  It was so fun to watch the kids sing.  Rhoslyn had her mouth wide open and a loud voice for all to hear (as well as the other children).

After the small program we were invited to go downstairs and have soup, crackers, and cookies.  The daycare teachers and the children helped put the soup together.  There were even stones in a few bowls!  We had such a great night.  It really made us realize that we have picked the perfect place to live and the perfect daycare for our children to go to.

Parent Teacher Conferences

It sure is hard keeping up with this now that I am back to work.  No worries though, I will try my best!  I love looking back and reading these.  It's my way of journaling what our family is doing.

Speaking of which... this week we have had parent teacher conferences for both Alex and Rhoslyn.  They went really well!  Alex is doing so well in school.  He is really enjoying learning how to spell and sound out words.  When he is home, you will often hear him saying a word, sounding it out and trying to spell it.  One of his favorite times of the week is Library Day.  He gets to choose three books from the library, and he loves bringing them home for us to read.  He is only in kindergarten and is already not being challenged enough in math class which is not a surprise considering he was already adding and subtracting small numbers in his head at four years old.  He was pretty down about school this afternoon.  He is having a hard time transitioning to going five days a week.  When I asked him what he didn't like about school he mentioned math time because it's too easy.  He has a great teacher though, and I am sure after I speak with her she will start to challenge him more.

I had Rhoslyn's conference last night, and she is also doing very well.  She knows how to spell her name.  She is also writing her name (some letter she has a hard time with, but she loves practicing).  She knows all of the uppercase letters in the alphabet and knows 19 lower case letters.  She is great at counting.  She is also sharing better and being a good helper when it is time to pick up.  She LOVES daycare, which makes mom and dad really happy.  She is a social butterfly as well and has tons of friends.

So far our school year has started out pretty great!  Let's hope it continues!

Dance Class!

Today was Rhoslyn's first day of dance class and she absolutely loved it!

They started with tap and moved onto ballet.  She did such a great job following the teachers directions and she loved watching herself in the big mirrors.

I think she will stick with dance for quite awhile.  She can't wait to go back.