Valentines Day 2016- Family Pics

We spent part of Valentines Day taking pictures with our little loves.  These are some of my favorite pictures of our precious little kids. 

Kindergarten Fun!

The week before last the Kindergarteners performed at the Kindergarten Round-Up at Bent Tree.  They were dressed in western looking clothes and did a great job.  I have some pictures and videos of the performance.

Her class is so small, which has been a huge blessing giving Emerson more one-on-on time with her teacher, Mrs. Pye.  Emerson loves school and loves her teacher.  She does not like her homework that we have to do each week, but it is unbelievable to me to see how much she has learned.  She is reading sentences by sounding out words and learning more and more sight words.  She is improving her handwriting and has gotten to great with writing lowercase letters and not just uppercase.  Now she is also spelling words and writing from memory.  Her math skills are also crazy impressive to me. She does word problems, addition and subtraction, counts to 100 (also by 5s, 10s, etc)  I'm so proud of her!

This past week they celebrated 100 days of school by dressing as 100 year olds and brought containers filled with 100 of some item.  We chose beads that we put into a jar.  She wore a dress and cardigan that we already had, I bought some $1 glasses from the store and used baby powder in her hair.  :)

Performing Happy Trails

The Presidents Song

With her teacher, Mrs. Pye

Finley's 4 Month Update!

Sweet Finley is already 4 months old.  What a wonderful little baby she continues to be!

This month has been much calmer since we are past the holidays, but it still went by so quickly.  At the beginning of the month I noticed Finley would appear to try to roll over and that worried me, of course.  Ha!  So I decided to go ahead and unsaddle her arms.  I knew it would be a transition, but I just did not want to worry about her rolling onto her face.  In hindsight, I probably should not have worried as much, but I still can't help it.  :)  It wasn't an awful transition, though. It took just a few days to start sleeping a little longer.  I also started just picking her up to sleep with me when she woke up earlier than anticipated and have continued to do that.  She was still recovering from a virus  at the beginning of the month so I liked being able to listen to her breathing and she sleeps so well in the bed close to me.  I'm extremely careful as I know the dangers of co-sleeping.  I don't want to do this for months or anything, though it is comforting to be able to listen and hear her so close to me.  Usually she sleeps until 3:30-4 before waking up and sleeping next to me.

Finley's day usually begins around 6:15-6:30 when she wakes up and has a 6 oz bottle.  Though, sometimes she sleeps until 7.  After she is done she has started hanging out in the high chair sometimes or she will play on the mat on the floor while the kids eat breakfast. Being baby #3 is tough because we need to take Emerson to school every day and Cam 3 days a week.  So in the car seat she goes and usually stays while I run an errand or two before feeding her again.  We are on the go quite often it seems, and she has started to get a little irritable in her car seat.  I try to be good about making sure she has lots of time to stretch out and play on her mat, and am increasing tummy time as well.

She eats around 6:30-7 am, 10 am, 1:30 pm, 4:30 pm, 6:30 pm and 8:30 pm.  Some bottles are 6 oz and some are 4 oz.  She naps in her crib or pack and play (in addition to falling asleep usually in the car seat during errands) around twice a day.  Sometimes her naps are short 30 minute snoozes and sometimes an hour or longer.  No consistency yet.  :)  Bedtime is around 9:30... we have been trying to lay her down sleepy, but not asleep yet.  We were definitely rocking her to sleep each time before.

She's still very social and so so happy.  She's a big snuggle-bug... loves her cuddles.  I've gotten her to laugh a lot more now.  She thinks I am pretty silly it seems, which is true at times.  She's reaching for things and grabbing toys better and better.  She also drools more now and it seems like it is an early sign of teething that is to come.

She is wearing size 3-6 months or 6 month clothes.  Some of the 3-6 month clothes are a little small actually, but we are squeezing them on her so we get some use out of them.  :)  She is wearing size 2 diapers.

Stats from her 4 month well visit:
Weight: 14 lbs 3.5 oz (75%)
Height: 25 1/4 inches (75-90%)
HC: 41.6 cm (50-75%)

Love her so much.

Sweet sisters :)

Growing baby girl

Some tummy time!

Precious baby feet.

Twinkies!

More tummy time practice.

Trying out her high chair for fun.  Also talking to her monkey friend.  :)

Cuddles with CC.

A New Adventure for Emerson!

This past Fall we started doing Girl Scouts with Emerson.  I have wanted to do this for a long time as I like the message the girls get through GS and the memorable experiences.  I looked online and was excited to be able to check into troop options.  I started the process before Finley was born and was connected with other moms in the Bent Tree area thanks to the area coordinator.  We couldn't attend our first meeting until after Finley was born, but Emerson has really enjoyed it so much!  Her troop has the sweetest girls and they have already earned several patches! We meet every other Monday usually and have some extra fun activities planned for the Spring.

Here are a few pictures so far.  :)

A New Year! Let's Go 2016!

I have to be honest... It's February 2nd and I am trying to get to this post.  While I know it is unlikely, based on my historical record thus far, that I will achieve all of the goals I set for 2016, it is still somewhat important to me.

The other day in my Mom-to-Mom meeting at church we talked about resolutions and goals and who has them and who doesn't believe in them.  I feel the new year is a good time to reflect and think about your hopes and ambitions for the next year.

Our 2015 was truly a special year.  We've had some tough years in the past with sickness, loss and stressors.  But this last year brought us happiness, health and our littlest love, Finley.

In reflecting on the goals we set, we didn't do so bad!  I still have not completed that damn family history book, but I did do many projects around the house and stop biting my nails.  I lost weight at the very beginning, though not enough, before getting pregnant.

Frank did not lose weight, but he did play a little more golf (he will dispute this) and he won the President's Cup and was the Club Champion.  He qualified for the Texas Amateur as well and had a great first day before fatigue set in!  :) And he has been an amazing dad with our kids.  He is loving and silly and is always making them giggle!

Cameron did get potty trained (that seems like forever ago now!), but he is not at the mastery level with his ABCs.  We are still working on that.  He has grown so much, but he is still my little sweetheart.

Emerson isn't in to riding her bike as she's been afraid ever since she fell, but she most definitely has mastered writing her upper and lowercase letters.  It's crazy how much they can learn in a year!  We also are not flossing as we should and now our poor baby has to have 4 cavities filled!!  Yikes... She is such a joy to be around with her stories and giggles.

So, what is the plan for 2016?

I'm going to read more books, get healthy and happy with my body, continue making memories with my loves and be the best me I can be.  Oh, and that family book... I will get to that one of these days! Maybe it's cheesy, but instead of being super specific, I am being descriptive.  I hope I look back at this year and feel like it was a happy and thankful year filled with special memories.

Frank's goals are always sort of the same... in addition to being healthier maybe he will begin pursuing his MBA... we will see.  :)

Cameron is going to learn to be more independent and learn to write the alphabet.  Hopefully we can also tech him how to ride a bike.

Emerson is going to continue learning how to read, do her homework more independently, stay focused and maybe we can get her back on to that bike!

Finley is going to slow down because she's already growing so fast.  :)

2015 was a great year.  I hope 2016 will be just as wonderful and more!  We already have some fun things planned... for me hopefully a girl's trip in May and in June we are going to Gulf Shores with my family for a beach vacation!