Theme Week

This week was Read Across America week at school and production week at dance. For school and dance we had a different theme each day...talk about a lot to keep up with! I did manage to get some pictures here and there.

Monday: Silly Hat Day and Dress Alike Day

Thing 1 and Thing 2! A dance friend let us borrow the wigs!

Their friends Emma and Evelyn also had shirts that matched but unfortunately Evelyn was sick.

Tuesday: Crazy Sock Day and Pajama Day

Wednesday: Wacky Wednesday and Rainbow Wear Day

Thursday: Wear Green and Superhero Day.

Friday: Favorite book character and Dress Rehearsal

They both wanted to be Hermione. :)

Ready to go to dress rehearsal! Ellie is a child of garland and had to have a slicked back bun and Emmie is a troll and had to have teased/messy pigtails. 

It has been a wild and busy week but we SURVIVED and we can't wait to see the girls in Red Riding Hood tomorrow!

Father/Daughter Dance

Tonight was the Father/Daughter dance at school. Emmie and Ellie were so excited. We went in early January and they picked out dresses and I LOVE what they picked!

It was Emmie's turn to pick where they went for dinner and she selected Olive Garden.

The kids seemed to have a great time although they were both worn out when they got home....lots of dancing!

Ruthie wanted to get a pic with daddy too. She was feeling pretty left out tonight so we had our own little party at home.

Water Fun!

We have had such lovely weather the last few days. After a really cold winter these spring-like days are wonderful. Today the kids wanted me to fill up the water table. They had the BEST time playing in the water (and getting sprayed by the hose).

Then they decided it would be fun to make a mud puddle at the bottom of the slide...they were hilarious!




Suffice to say everyone will sleep well tonight!

Ruthie goes to Summerville/Disney on Ice

Last weekend Ruthie got to have a special weekend all by herself with Gigi and Papa in Summerville. She was SO excited about her trip! She got to visit some of Gigi and Papa's friends, went on a bird scavenger hunt in downtown Summerville, got a shark's tooth (she was very excited to show her sisters!), went to the children's museum, and went to a park.

It is always so strange around our house when one of the kids isn't there. We all missed Ruthie. Ellie asked to facetime with her on Saturday afternoon, all the kids asked about her multiple times a day, and Ruthie got some REALLY big hugs when we picked her up Sunday!

For Christmas my parents gave us tickets to Disney on Ice. We have already seen the Frozen show and we knew we wanted to do a show that wasn't all princesses so I've been watching the Disney on Ice schedule to find a show close to us that met our requirements. Last week I realized there was one in Charleston on Sunday and it was one we wanted to see. It worked out really well because Sunday was when Paul's parents were planning to bring Ruthie home so instead we met them in North Charleston for lunch and then they came to Disney on Ice with us! We saw The Wonderful World of Disney on Ice show and it was really good! Among other things it had lots of princesses, Nemo, Buzz, and best of all it had Lion King (JP's current obsession). All of us had a great time!

I was thrilled with how great our seats were! When I selected them online they definitely didn't look that close!

Valentine's Day

We had a wonderful Valentine's Day today!
Paul had left gorgeous roses and chocolate for me this morning and he also left each of the kids a rose and a little bowl of Hershey kisses. We all loved our surprises! (And I failed to take pictures)

The big girls took valentines to school today for their friends. We can't send candy so Emmie took applesauce that had an "I think you're awesomesauce" label on it and Ellie took teddy grahams with a "bear hugs" label. Ruthie has her party tomorrow and I melted down old crayons into a heart shaped silicone mold to make her valentines.

This evening we gave the kids their valentines present. I tried to come up with things that they really wanted and that would be very special for them.

Emmie got new matching pajamas for her and mousie. She had recently told me she wanted new matching pajamas since she has outgrown the last set.

Ellie got this fun sequined pillow and a sequined keychain. She has been obsessing over these pillows for weeks!

Ruthie was my hard one. I could NOT come up with anything. Then the other day she very sadly told me she had outgrown her slippers. DONE. So she got some new Minnie mouse slippers. They are super padded on the bottom and she thought it was so funny that she couldn't feel the floor.

JP got a stuffed Simba and a Lion King book. He is currently OBSESSED with Lion King and goes around telling everyone "me Simba!".

The kids were all thrilled with their gifts!

For those of you who follow me on facebook you might remember that a few weeks ago Emmie counted up all her money and told me that she had picked something out of the Kroger ad that she wanted to get for Paul for Valentine's Day. So I took her to the store and let her get her daddy a present. She picked out the Hershey's bar, paid for it at the cash register (and was thrilled that she got money back!), and tonight she was so excited to give it to Paul! She made sure to tell him that she bought it with her own money so he'd know just how special it was. :)

(The other kids gave Paul a bag of M&Ms)

After everyone went to bed Paul and I had a nice dinner of cheese fondue and Korean beef. It's always nice to have a (mostly) adult dinner!

Ruthie Grows Up

Ruthie had her 4yr old well visit today. You may remember that we have really struggled with keeping her weight up ever since she had pneumonia 2 years ago. At one point in the last 2 years she even fell off of the growth chart. Also, I had a major battle with the insurance company last April because they didn't want to approve her tonsillectomy but she kept losing weight because she wouldn't eat because her throat hurt. Well I'd really like to call them back and say "I told you so!". My little bit weighed in today at 31lb 10oz!! AND is in the 19th percentile! She has almost always been under the 10th percentile! The doctor and I were both quite excited! It makes me so happy that she finally feels well enough to eat whatever she wants.

She even got a smiley face from the pediatrician!

She also got her 4 year old shots today. She knew they were coming and she was pretty nervous. Let me tell you, little girl did AWESOME. She flinched a little when they did the first shot but she didn't cry a bit...until she sat up and saw the nurse putting the bandaid on. THEN she freaked out. Funny girl. But man is she tough! We went and got Krispy Kreme to ease the pain and suffering. :)

Ruthie has also been busy doing lots of other fun things.

She just finished up soccer at the Y. This was the first time any of my kids had played soccer and it was the perfect setup. Indoors, practice right before the game, perfect. Ruthie went back and forth throughout the season about whether she really enjoyed it but I think overall she did. She was pretty funny to watch play and she really liked her coach and she had a little girl from her preschool class on her team. Paul and Emmie went with her to her last game this past Saturday and Ruthie was SO excited when she got home because she got a trophy! She is so proud of her trophy and couldn't wait to put it on the bookshelf beside Emmie's dance trophy.

Ruthie was very adamant at the beginning of the school year that she needed a lunchbox. Since she got the lunchbox she hasn't said anything about wanting to stay for extended care and the whole idea makes me nervous because extended care is not peanut free. Well last week she finally told me that she wanted to take her lunch to school. So this past Thursday she stayed for extended care. She stayed until the very end so that I could just pick her up on the way to get the big girls from school. She had SO much fun! She loved having a lunchbox and she loved all the extra playground time she got. She told me 3 times in the first 5 minutes after I picked her up that she couldn't wait to do it again! She loves anything that makes her feel like one of the big girls and taking her lunch to school and staying all day like they do just made her week!

So happy when I picked her up from school!

Changes

It has been a big week around our house! Last Wednesday we started potty training JP. At our house we do the 3 day method where you go straight to underwear all the time and stay at home for 3 days and work really hard on going potty. The first 3 days this time were AWFUL. I was so ready to give up but figured we'd give it through the weekend. JP was always more willing to cooperate for daddy so I put Paul in charge of him over the weekend. By Sunday JP was doing MUCH better and today he did AWESOME. He has gotten really good at telling us when he needs to go potty and he has stayed dry almost every day through nap time. I am SO proud of him...the first few days were really tough but we powered through and now our house is DIAPER FREE! Currently he is only wearing a pull up at bedtime. (We were doing naps too but today he refused to put it on.) We're still working on the pooping but making progress. Since we're diaper free our nasty, stinky diaper pail is going in the trash truck in the morning and we are all celebrating!

After 8 years and 1 month of having someone in diapers (minus about 2mo between Ellie and Ruthie) we are DONE!

Ruthie has been rear facing in her carseat her whole life. She was 2 1/2 before she was consistently over 20lb and then she was just so tiny that I felt like she was safer being rear facing. Plus the newest recommendations were rear facing until 4. When she was close to turning 4 I told her she could turn around when she wanted to. She has always been happy being rear facing because she and JP sit in the middle row and the big girls sit in the back so because Ruthie was rear facing she could see the big girls. She finally decided yesterday that she was ready to turn around. So far she LOVES it and she definitely feels very grown up getting to sit like the big girls!

We've also started working hard on getting her to stop sucking on her fingers. She currently only sucks on them at night and in the car. She has pretty much stopped in the car but bed is hard. She's been sleeping with socks on her hands this past week. It is a long, slow, painful process for sure but we're making progress. It helps that our dentist has bribed her with a bunch of toys!