Punkin's First Day of Kindergarten

So the day has finally arrived. Our little Punkin has grown almost instantly into a smart little kindergartner. I always thought I'd be ready for this, I was wrong. I had a lot of emotions play into the preparations of her starting her school career. I cried a little at the kindergarten round up back in May, found myself getting misty eyed at the kindergarten assessment a week ago, and holding back everything on the first day. I realized as Peanut and I were walking home from walking Punkin to school that my emotions weren't because she is my baby growing up (too fast). It is that in each of those three situations I watched my usually overly emotional, drama filled red head exude so much maturity and confidence that I was just filled with pride. I was so excited to see her walk into her classroom and find her desk and watch the teacher intently while she helped the other students find there desk. She has been so ready for school for so long.
I was lucky enough to take the day off of work to take her to school. We had a typical morning, I made sure Punkin looked extra special for school. Of course she had to primp one last time. The outfit of choice was one of her denim skirts, her pink ruffle sleeve shirt with a big glittery butterfly, and her silver glitter flats. We decided a simple down hairstyle with a few extra curls on top would work nicely. She rarely gets to wear her hair down so this was a special treat.

Next we stepped outside for our first day of school photo shoot.

 And as usual, Peanut had to get in on the action. Such little posers, but cute ones that's for sure.

  And then we were off. My cute girls walked to school hand in hand and I had a slight vision of them when they are older going to school together. They are such great friends right now, I only hope and pray they stay that way, especially as teenagers.

 And finally, in the classroom. She found her spot and waited patiently for the learning to begin.

After Peanut and I walked over to the school and got Punkin we went for ice cream so I could hear all about her day. It was just how I'd always imagined my child's first day of school would be, but never thought possible. She was beyond excited and thrilled to be there.

Sadly, I don't get to take off work everyday, so on her second day I had to rely on the people I pay to take care of her while I work to make sure she got there on time and in one piece. Luckily, she has two little friends who go to her same daycare that she can pal around with and make sure they get on the right van. So far we have finished day three with out much problem and since tomorrow is my day off I get to walk her to school again. And I'm actually really excited for this new phase in our lives.

2011 Dance Recital

Here is the video and some pictures of the girls dance recital. The second clip is my cousin Ricci who owns and operates The Movement Dance Center. She is a fantastic teacher.
We couldn't be more proud of the girls. Punkin has gained more confidence since starting dance last June. Peanut started the first of January and considering that she just turned three and has only danced for about 5 months she did a fantastic job. Enjoy!!

Peanut getting her hair done. The required hair style for all dancers was a little to complicated for my fumble fingers so it was necessary to higher it out.

I think it made her look so grown up!

Punkins turn.

I did not pose this, I just looked over and she was chilaxin with her short hair style guide.

Gorgeous!

Punkin was workin it!

 

 

Dance Preview

Tonight is the girls first dance recital. Last week they were invited to perform at the Northridge Drill teams collage. So here is a little peek..............

 

Peanut is the far right and Punkin is the third from the right.

Punkin's First Dance Program

Punkin had her first mini performance Thursday night. It was so cute - but hysterical. She did a ton better than I thought she would. I was slightly disappointed that she was the only one the was dressed for the performance. I felt so dumb. I just added red ribbon to her tu-tu from her Halloween costume a few years back. But I have to say, she looked adorable and did awesome.

Ricci is the dance instructor at the studio, and she's also my cousin. She's amazing! She is so patient with the little kids and does a great job teaching.

Happy Birthday Punkin!!

Today is my lil' Punkin's Birthday. She's 5! FIVE!! Where have the last five years gone??? I realize most kids her age have started kindergarten, and she won't get to start until next year. She's certainly ready for that - I'm not. This day came waaaaaay too fast. I'm amazed at how much she's grown up in the last year. Sure we still have the morning meltdowns and she can lose it in the drop of a hat if she hasn't slept well, but all in all she's a pretty great little girl. She has shown great maturity when dealing with her little sister as well too. She has become more patient with her and they play great together. It's not to say that they don't have their moments, but they have decreased as of late. I feel so blessed to have such a sweet, soft-hearted little girl as my daughter. Not to mention, beautiful. I just love her and am so happy that I get to be her mother.
Because she was turning five it was time for her first friend party. We held it at the local bowling alley, brought in Pizza, Cake and Ice Cream. She invited her cousins and some of the friends from daycare. It was pretty fun, we had 8 kids total - 4 sets of sisters all very close in age. I can't say that a friend party will happen all that often because it's quite a bit of planning, but it was totally worth it.
This year Punkin chose the Hippie Chick party theme. I have to say that it was totally my favorite. I made a daisy shaped cake, I know, not nearly as cool as the princess cake from last year, but still fun. I had the my girls in outfits that fit the theme. None in pictures of course, but they involved pink tu-tu's. I made the cutest little party favor bags out of plain ol' lunch bags, some inexpensive pre-cut paper flower pieces, and jute. I made flower clips for each of the girls and included a little rice crispy treat, glow bracelet, pencil, and flower shaped sunglasses.
Sunday we had my family over for the rest of the cake and ice cream and to do her presents. Today after we got off work we took her to Olive Garden for her Birthday dinner and Farr's Fresh for ice cream after. This morning I actually called the radio station for the Birthday Shout Outs and they played a recording of me announcing her Birthday while I was doing her hair. She thought that was pretty cool. We also sent a pinata to daycare for her to share with all of her daycare friends. All in all she had a pretty eventful Birthday. I'm going to have my mom take pictures while they are at Build a Bear and share those later.

Wholy Cow!

Has it really been a whole month since I last posted? I have been busy, but really, does my blog deserve such neglect? Anyway, I'll give you a quick rundown.

Dallas and I have been busy working, he's been very active in his program, so we've been trying to balance it all. I started teaching again the first of May. I really do enjoy it but have decided that I have to take a day off here and there to keep my sanity. Otherwise, the yard and house get seriously neglected, like my blog. We finally got our new sofa and love seat and I'm totally twitterpated with them. They are so comfortable. The store we bought our furniture from is not on my good list. They delivered our bedroom furniture the next day because they had it there, but our sofa and love seat took almost two months. I want to go back to them and give them my business because they are the little guy but their service sucks! By the way, we are still waiting for the extra nightstand. :[

A couple weeks ago, for our monthly girls night, we went to my cousin Ricci's first studio dance recital. She opened her own studio The Movement Dance Center in October. I took Punkin with me to see if she would be at all interested in starting dance. She loved it! I realize that there are plenty of dance studios around here but we really wanted Ricci to teach her because; 1) she's my cousin 2) she doesn't to competition dance, just recitals. Punkin is hard enough on herself, she's not like me where competition drives her, it just makes her feel more self conscious. I do have quite the drive on Thursdays now. I have to go from work in Roy, to daycare in Plain City, then back down to West Point to her studio and then drive to North Ogden in afternoon traffic. She went for her first lesson this week and it was sooo worth it. She payed such close attention, did everything she was asked, didn't get distracted by the other little girl swinging from the bars like a monkey. All the little girls were sooo cute. The funniest part was Peanut, she stood to the side (most of the time) and copied everything they did. Eventually, one of the other teachers came and got her and asked her to join. I'm very excited for her to have something outside of daycare and home.

I took the girls to get hair cuts Friday. Punkin just got a trim, but Peanut got a chop. Doesn't she look cute?

New Motivation

Today we started a new motivation for Punkin to be a little more focused. She gets so bored with the day to day and needs some direction. We had a rough start one morning a couple of weeks ago and after a long chat with my mom she helped me come to a hopefully effective solution. Punkin is not a morning person. She will kick, scream, yell, and fight me just to get out the door. I realize it's near child abuse to wake a 4 year old up at 6:00 am every morning but, that's the way life has to be in our house. Anyway, my mom and a good friend of mine gave me a couple of great ideas that I can use together. My mom sent me a link to a website called FatBrainToys.com. It was a responsibility chart made by Melissa and Doug. It was fairly inexpensive and looked like a great solution to our problem. I ordered it as soon as I saw it. Next, my friend Bonnie told me about Daddy Dollars. I googled it and found several blogs that talked about it. First you go here and upload a photo of your husband/yourself. You can choose from several denominations and lots of currencies from several other countries. We will be doing US $1, $2, $5, and $10. For every goal that Punkin accomplishes she'll get $1, if she does something everyday in the whole week she'll get a bonus $5. Here's the kicker, once she earns enough money she'll get to spend the money at the Mommy Mall (market, mart, what have you). We'll be using the money for everything from going to the park, computer time, one on one time with us, and even sleep overs. They will also be priced appropriately. I may even hit up the dollar store and get her some actual things to buy. We are really hoping that this will give her motivation and purpose. I've decided that I may not be so great at this parenting thing and I really need to focus more on my job as a mom. In light of the economic "crisis", I focused so much on my job this last year that my job as a mother was put on the back burner. And don't think I've forgotten about our (mine and D's) issues as well this last year, that certainly didn't help matters either. I'm really hoping that this year will be better for all of us. And I'm very excited to start working with Punkin and making her responsible for her bad behavior as well as the good. As a matter of fact, tonight we went over the chart one by one, and as I asked her if she accomplished each thing she seemed to understand and didn't get too upset that she didn't do it all. I'm hoping she'll see the benefit of the reward system at the end of the week as well. I'll keep you posted as to if it's working, but in the meantime, wish us luck.

A little about life......lately.

It seems that I don't post things very often anymore. Maybe it's because of work, or home, or we really haven't had much to talk about. Until today.
I took a few vacation days and spent some much needed time off doing whatever I felt like. Wednesday I was off for my manager meeting. I have my meeting then I'm off for the rest of the day. So I went to Walmart and the chiropractor. Not really too eventful. Thursday on the other hand, I took the girls to daycare and I spent nearly the whole day cleaning my craft room. This room is for me to use for whatever I want, but in the 4 1/2 years we've lived hear it's been a mess. I still had boxes that were never unpacked. I had to clean it because in a few weeks we are getting new windows and the guy couldn't even get to the window for the crap that was in the way. So Friday was errand day, as usual. Saturday I went to S.L.C. with my sis-in-law to a Tranquility Circle demonstration. It's a stress management type kit, I thought it was really neat and we had a fun day out. Later that evening D and I went out on a date to Chili's and then to the AA Camp where he was to receive his 6 month recognition chip. I'm so proud of him. *Sigh* Afterwards we went to Spoon Me and enjoyed some Acai frozen yogurt and headed to Walmart to get the girls a little gift for Valentines Day. Sunday, we just hung out at home. We did go visit with my parents and took them some homemade Valentines that we all made for them in my newly cleaned craft room.
But the greatest day yet was today. We went on our first trip to S.L.C. on the frontrunner to go to Discovery Gateway. I have to be honest, I wasn't to keen on the idea of taking the train down and completely relying on public transportation. I like the security of my vehicle. But D insisted and once he had Punkin on his side I was outnumbered. I have to admit, it wasn't all that bad. We got right where we needed to be and we all really enjoyed the ride. What was really nice is that we got a group rate of $12 to ride. I only wish the Museum was that inexpensive. I had a coupon for buy one get one and it was still $25. The girls had a great time but I can't say that it will be someplace we visit again. We have the Treehouse Museum here in Ogden and it may be a bit smaller but I think for the price it's a way better deal.
(side note: I'm typing this next section for the third time because blogger says it's saving, but it's not really.)
Anyway, after the kids played for a while, we went to lunch at the food court. After that we went to Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory for dessert, (mmmm, giant peanut butter cup). Then we hopped into the Clark Planetarium and explored the free exhibits. After that we were headed home. I had hoped that the kids would be tired enough to nap, Fat Chance! They were really good the whole day until we got to the car. Peanut just fell asleep but Punkin started with her usual dramatics. If you have a or had a four year girl, you know what I mean.
All in all, we had a wonderful day. It was worth the time I took off from work and the money spent just to have some fun family time. I can't wait for our next adventure.

Happy New Year!! 2010

Happy New Year!!! We had a really nice New Years at home. The munchkins are still a bit to young to try to be out at someones house all night and I honestly just like hanging out at home. I'm too afraid to be out late on what one of our patients called "Amateur Night". We bought the Wii earlier this week in preparation for New Years Eve. We. Had. A. Blast. This was the best purchase ever. Punkin loves every game and does quite well, Peanut was just happy to play with any old remote and cheer us on.

Punkin is very entertaining to watch, especially when she boxes. We were laughing hysterically and she just kept going. I think she KO'd 5 guys by the end of the night.

Peanut was in bed by nine and I ended up falling asleep on the couch watching D and Punkin play. D woke me up just before midnight and him and Punkin were still at it. We three rang in the new year watching the ball drop, toasting with our sparkling cider, and watching the neighbors do fireworks in the snow. It really was a great night that I wouldn't have spent any other way.
Here is to a New Year, with happier beginnings!

Our Merry Christmas

This year has certainly had it's ups and downs. The last couple of months have been on the upside thanks to my husbands new found sobriety and love for our family. I honestly was a little worried about how our Christmas would turn out. D came through as he has been for the last little while. Slowly but surely he is determined to show me what kind of husband he can be.
I had taken Wednesday off of work to spend with the kids and for a little mental health. D had found out earlier in the week that he would be getting off early and asked me to stay out of the house until about 3 pm. Sounds easy enough right? Wrong. I had the girls out since 8:30 am and Peanut with no nap until 3 makes for a not so fun day. We went to the daycare to see Santa, delivered Christmas gifts to my coworkers, hairdresser, and nail lady, had lunch and then hung out at my parents house for a little while. D finally called and let me know when I could come home. I was a little miffed only because we were all tired and I knew I had a lot to do at home since I had been gone all day. So we finally get home and he walks outside to help me with the kids, or so I thought. He told me to go ahead and go inside first. I walked up to our door in the garage and there was a card and a big red bow on the door. I read the card and then went in. It was like nothing I'd ever seen before. The best Christmas present I've ever gotten from my husband in the ten years we've been married. I was in complete and utter shock and my jaw hit the floor. It was really more than my senses could handle. The smell and sight alone would send anyone into a tizzy. Would you like to know what I had been kicked out of my house for? He cleaned the house! THE WHOLE THING!!! I know what your thinking, a guy cleaned the house, so what, he shoved things in a corner and vacuumed and maybe did the dishes. NOPE! We are talking scrubbed the showers and tub, cleaned off the whole desk, dusted, vacuumed, mopped (even the bathrooms), cleaned up the kids rooms and made all of the beds, washed all of the bathroom rugs, did the dishes and cleaned the entire kitchen. Yes, he even cleaned the basement bathroom that I hate going into, that I never use other than to use the washer and dryer. It's HIS bathroom and it only gets cleaned when he feels like it. I was so thankful and when we got the kids in the house and settled I stood in the kitchen and looked around trying to figure out what to do. I just looked at him and said, "I have nothing to do". Just then Punkin asked me if we could do the Christmas activity book I had bought her weeks ago. I happily said yes. I was able to say yes because D had given me the greatest gift of all, Time. I laid on the floor in the family room next to Punkin doing her activity book with her, without a hint of guilt thinking that I should be doing something around the house. It was the best Christmas present I've gotten in a long time.
So with that said, the rest of our week has been so enjoyable, only because everything was caught up and I was able to enjoy our Christmas weekend to the fullest. Christmas Eve we went to IHOP for breakfast, which the girls thoroughly enjoyed, then out to a couple of stores for last minute items. Then we came home and hung out for a while and then made a nice dinner, went to Willard to see the lights on the Bay, we came home and opened our Christmas Eve PJ's and bathed the girls. Then we made a gingerbread house, sprinkled our magic reindeer food, and put the girls to bed. D and I were up till about midnight playing Santa. We really had the great time that I've been longing for in our family forever.
Christmas day was very exciting for all of us. Punkin and Peanut got so many nice things from us and Santa and Grandma and Grandpa and also their Aunt and Uncle. Punkin received a Leapfrog Tag System from Santa that is really the neatest thing. She has shown so much interest in reading but Punkin and I both lack the patience for her to actually learn. Tag is making it fun for her and I don't have to be so involved. She also got a toy guitar, a littlest petshop daycare, a 12 cd set of stories and nursery rhymes, and some much needed clothes. Peanut got the Leapfrog My Pal Violet from Santa. Now, let me tell you how stinkin cute this little pup is. You can plug it into your computer and upload songs and certain details that pertain to your child including their name. She loves it and I loooove it even more. She also got a snap n style doll, a baby with a stroller, and a huge Mr. Potato Head package. They received some super cute joint gifts too. My ultimate favorite was the little table and chair set that Santa picked up at Ikea along with and Igloo tent. My dear hubby was daring enough to buy me some clothes that I so badly needed and he got some clothes and truck accessories as well. We really had a great Christmas and we are looking forward to so many more like this.
I can't tell you how grateful I am that the year is ending on such a good note for me. It was by far not looking so hot about half way through, but if I had to go through that much bad to get the great things I'm receiving now I'll gladly accept it. I thank God for trials and blessings that I have received this year and hope I can continue to learn from them.
I hope you all had as wonderful a Christmas as I and an even better New Year.

Finally.....I Have Pictures!

I have never been so behind on getting my girls pictures done. I love pictures and I want to remember everything when I'm old and I know having pictures is the way to do it. I have gotten the girls pictures taken religiously since they were born. I'm only a couple months off and the older they get the less they change in such little time. So here are Punkin (4) and Peanut (22 mo.) in all their glory. Peanut was not the most cooperative this time but they turned out cute anyway.

On another note. I also have some way sticking pictures done at their daycare. Our provider's sister took the pictures for this years class and individual picture and they turned out way cute. I only wish I had requested one of them together.

This is also some video of my girls and two of my nieces dancing to our new Alvin and the Chipmunks soundtrack. Too Cute!