The Last Day of Preschool

And just like that Will and Erin's first year of school is complete.

They had an awesome teachers, Miss Debbie and Miss Karen. The kids loved school and have learned so much this year. I love to listen to them play school (it's usually in the bathtub too). Erin's usually the teacher and Will is the Star Student. I find out exactly what they are doing and learning at school. They sing songs, do calendar, count and pick out the wand for the Star Student. They also have show and tell and read stories. It is hilarious to watch them play. Erin licks her finger when she turns the page in the book (which means Miss Debbie must do the same thing).

 

(Will wanted nothing to do with getting his picture taken. He has blankie and Blueberry too) 

Sometimes I'll be the naughty student who doesn't listen. It's funny to watch Erin (and sometimes Will) handle it. I know that they have awesome teachers because of the way they play school. 

Will and Erin will attend 4 year old preschool in the fall. They'll go 3 mornings a week and they'll have the same teachers. 

Happy Easter

Warning- There are a lot of pictures in this post. 

We spent Easter weekend with Aunt Sarah, Uncle Marc and baby Austin (who is getting so big and cuter every time we see him!). The kids had fun playing together with Austin's toys. Funny story- We passed on a bag of Will's old clothes to Austin. Will saw some of the clothes and would comment that he has the same shirt, shorts, etc at his house. He didn't know that these were his old clothes. I'm glad because otherwise, he would have wanted to take them back home with him. 

On Saturday morning, I got in a 4.5 mile run (I'm training for the Bayshore 10k in Traverse City on Memorial Day weekend).  My phone died at mile 2.5 which was a good thing because I was spending too much time worried about my pace, music, etc. I took it as a sign from above that I just need to run. And I did. And those last two miles felt awesome. 

Later that morning, we got bundled up and everyone went to the Detroit Zoo. It was 25' and sunny. Many of the animals weren't out because it was too cold out (the temp has to be over 50'- who knew). But, we still had fun seeing some animals like the peacock ( spread its feathers and sound it's mating call) and giraffes. The zoo was great and we'll have to go back when it's at least 51'. 

After the zoo, we went back to Sarah and Marc's house. The kids made gluten-free cupcakes with Aunt Sarah and grandma. Mark and I made our traditional (every time we visit Sarah) trip to the Great Lakes Crossing Mall. It was nice to spend time on a mini-date. 

Sarah and Grandma Pam made a delicious ham dinner. We followed it up by watching the Spartans loose by 20

Points to Duke in the Final Four game. It was painful to watch, yet we couldn't stop ourselves. 

The kids woke up at their normal time and we're excited when they realized it was finally Easter. The bunny pooped (the kids words) eggs all over Aunt Sarah's house. And he left them each a basket filled with some goodies. We went wrestled the kids into their Easter clothes, went to church (where they were very well behaved and made us proud- thanks grandma Melanie for teaching them how to act in church) and took a few pictures. We had brunch before everyone went their separate ways. Pam and Bill took Mark and Clark home so he kids and I could go spend the night at my dad's house. 

The bunny stopped by their house too. He left eggs (filled with fruit snacks) all over their house too. We had a fun 24 hours visiting, relaxing and spending time with my dad and Connie (who is recovering from knee surgery). When we left on Monday, Will said "I wish we could play longer at Grandpa Paul and Grandma Connie's house." 

As I finish up this ridiculously long post, I am thinking about how thankful I am for our families. We are so blessed to get along and enjoy spending time together. I always say 'it takes a village' and we are incredibly lucky to have an amazing village. 

I wasn't planning on wearing a dress. I had on pink capris and a white blouse. Erin saw me and took me that I didn't look pretty. She said that Easter is for dresses not pants. So thankfully, I had bought a new dress the day before. I changed and Erin told me that I looked better. She said that I looked pretty now. She was very sweet, cute and honestly concerned with me not wearing a dress on Easter. 

Erin was insisting that we needed some Easter decorations. We went shopping with grandma Melanie to see what we could find. We went to a few places, but we couldn't find exactly what she was looking for. We ended up going to Dollar General where Erin found exactly what she was looking for (at the price point I liked). Erin was so excited to come home and decorate the house. 

Will's garbage truck was hauling the Easter eggs that he and Erin were hiding. 

4 Year Update

3/23/15 

I say it every year, but how is it possible that another year has gone by. Will and Erin turned 4 yesterday.  I went back and reread their updates from the past three years and so many of the things I said then are still true now. So here it goes.

Will
He LOVES Matchbox cars, trucks, cars, motorcycles, trains and anything with wheels.  I think he has over 100 Matchbox cars that he plays with all of the time.

Will is still a very sweet boy. He is loving towards everyone. He gives lots of hugs and kisses. He will kiss our noses, cheeks, forehead and then do it all over again. And Will gives the best hugs.
He likes to read the numbers on the face clock on our wall.
While cuddling in bed the other night I asked him what he was thinking about and he replied 'loving you mama.'  Tonight, he had to give me a big kiss, hug and tell me 'I love you mama.'  Whenever we leave he wants to run to the door and watch us drive away.  This is after he's given us a big hug and a kiss on the cheek and lips.

I was getting ready to go running and Will asked me if I was going running. I told him 'yes.' He said, 'it's fun when your friends go running with you.' I love that he sees me running and that it's something I do with my friends (not as often as I used to, darn cold weather and lack of sunshine!) He loves to exercise with me. Will likes to walk on the treadmill and do T25 (workout DVD's).

When Will grows up he wants to be Spiderman.

He LOVES to dance, have dance parties, show off his 'robot moves' and listen to music.  Will likes to 'do the butt cheek' where he dances naked and grabs his butt cheeks (yes, too much information, I know).  Will's favorite songs are: Uptown Funk You Up, Peacock by Katy Perry and Happy from the minions. He has a really good ear for music and is often asking us to 'turn it up.'

Will loves to pack his Spiderman suitcase and other bags full of stuff. He and Erin go on airplane trips (their beds are the planes) to "New Nork" (to visit Uncle Matt and Aunt Kristin), to Chicago to visit Aunt Krysten and to Crystal Mountain.  I think that right now there are 4 bags of stuff in Will's room he has packed. Lately, he's been into doing triathalons. Will packs up another bag with a swimming outfit, his Freewheeler Bike Shop shirt and hat, and then his running clothes. He will pack a flag too for us to wave when he runs by. The other day he handed Erin her camera and asker he to take pictures of him as he ran by.  And he always reminds us that we have to cheer for him.

Food- He likes hot dogs (with ketchup and mustard to dip them in) and will ask for a bun, but he rarely eats it. He'll eat grilled cheese, pepperroni pizza, spaghetti, salami/crackers/cheese, strawberries, grapes, berries, and avacados. He loves smoothies too. For breakfast, he'll eat cinnamin sugar toast, waffle (with butter) or pancakes. We try hard to make them different food than we are having at dinner. But, that can be tricky with Will. He can be a bit picky at times.

Will has really gotten good at writing his letters and numbers. Yesterday, we were working on writing the number 6. He came write Will, William, Paul, Erin, mom and dad. He tries really hard to write other words that we spell for him. His people are becoming more detailed too. He loves to play 'mailman' where they write 'letters' for people, put them in envelopes and 'mail' them.



Erin
She still puts her arm up to her mouth and suckles her lips (they never touch her arm) when she is tired. We were in a parking lot about a month ago and I asked her to do something and she said, 'no mama, I'm 'arming.' I looked at her and sure enough she had her arm up to her mouth. I was glad we finally had a name for the action she's been doing since she was one. (She used to suck her pinkie finger until she got her first cold at one year old. Then she switched her 'arming.') We don't know how or why 'arming' has stuck around for three years, but it's her thing and it makes her feel better.

Erin has imaginary friends names Mema, Keeka (we hear about her a lot), Tula, Tila and other names that end with the 'a' sound. She mentions them often and sometimes calls them her sisters. I have no idea where these names came from, but they've been around since last summer.

While going potty, Erin randomly asked me where pirates go potty. Huh? Where does she get these thoughts?

Erin loves to cuddle and watch TV. She would sit for hours and watch TV if we let her.

Food- Erin loves to eat cinnamon toast for breakfast or a bowl of Cheerios (we only have the purple box right now and she wants the kind in the yellow box). She likes strawberries, whole apples (peeled),

Erin has been going through a whining and fake crying stage (which she doesn't share with anyone other than me and daddy- we're so lucky...not!). She is so dramatic and 'cry' about anything. She often drops down to the floor. We're working to help her understand that if she 'cries' all of the time, then we won't know when something is really wrong with her.


Popular games-
Dolls- They have their Bitty Babies (named Skinky and Boy) who were Will and Erin's preemie clothes. It's crazy to think that W and E were that small. The kids love to play with their dolls. They go for walks, shopping, but the babies spend a lot of time sleeping. Erin will often walk out of her room and tell us 'shhh (with her finger to her mouth)' because her babies are sleeping.

Airplane- They've take to packing up their suitcases, bags, strollers and just about anything else to fly places. Erin's bed is usually the plane. They load all of their stuff up and take off.  The other day Will told me they were going to N-nork to visit Uncle Matt and Aunt Kristin.

Making cards- Erin is into making cards. This includes addressing an envelope with stickers and writing. She knows how to use the mini- Cricket machine at my mom's house. She can stamp, embellish and cut the cards just the way she wants. There was a time that she would bring home a whole plastic bag filled with 'cards' she made for Barbie, Stinkey, daddy and me. She will want to mail them too. If Erin's lucky, then my mom will let her use a stamp and they put it in the mailbox to mail it to us.

Dollhouse- Erin loves to play with her Loving Family Dollhouse (which she calls Barbie...sorry Mattel).

March Sayings

3/15/15 While driving in the van yesterday we had this conversation.
Erin- "When I am an adult I am going to live in a house by you and daddy."
Me- "You are?! That would be great."
Erin-"My house will be purple because that's my favorite color. And Willy can live by us too."
Will- "And my house will be green because green is my favorite color. And it'll have an orange door. And mama and daddy your house will be white."
Erin-"Yeah! And my house will have a pink door because pink is my favorite color. And mama, when we live by you we will come over."
Me-"I love that idea. What will we do?"
Will-"We will play!"
Erin- "We won't play we will sit and talk with the adults."
Will-"I want to play."
Erin- "Willy, we will be adults so we will sit and talk with the adults and the kids can play."
There is a pause in the conversation at this point.
Will- "

Our First Trip to the Dentist

Last week the kids had their first dentist appointment. I had one at 11:15 and their appointment was at 1:15. After my cleaning, we went to a local pizza shop for their lunch buffet. The kids each ate two pieces of pizza and four bread sticks! While we were eating I had a lightbulb moment that I should go home and get the kids bears. That way they could show Blueberry and Strawberry how to go to the dentist. My plan worked! They all did great! 

When we returned for their appointment, the kids were a little nervous (and I was too). They had each of the kids set up in their own rooms. Neither of them wanted to climb into the chair (it reminded me of our trips to get their hair cut). They couldn't sit on my lap so we had to use all of our trucks to get them into the seats. Will decided to show his bear Blueberry how to sit in the chair. Once Will was in the hygentist got to work. The other hygentist distracted Erin and got her to 'go for a ride' in her chair.

Off they went and Erin was talking away to her hygentist. They both spent time getting their teeth counted (they each have 20). Will explained to his hygentist that he will loose his baby teeth and then he'll get parent teeth. Then the tooth fairy will come and give him a gold coin (I think he saw that part on Peppa Pig). While Erin was getting her teeth tickled

(polished) she asked her hygentist why she kept asking questions. Erin -" It's hard to talk to you when your tickling my teeth." She's already figured out one of the challenges of the dentist. Overall, both kids had good exams. Erin has a little bit of an overbite.

Dr. Mull talked to Will about trying to not suck his thumb. I just smiled politely and said we'll work on it.   He did ask about Will's yellow teeth. I explained how they are stained from the TPN he was on for 3 months in the NICU. Based on the research we've done, his teeth should come in white. The kids did great and I hope that they are always so excited to go to the dentist. 

Me-"Smile for a picture of your shiny clean teeth!" W& E- "Let's make Strawberry and Blueberry dance!" 

Mark's Birthday

Mark is a New Years baby and we start celebrating him on New Year's Eve. This year, the kids made gluten free cupcakes (Mark found out just before Christmas that he, like his sister, has Celiac Disease and cannot eat gluten- but that's a whole other blog post) with grandma and Aunt Sarah.  We sang Happy Birthday to him (notice Will plugging his ears) at Doug's house before we took the kids back home to the babysitter.

We rang in the New Year and Mark's official birthday celebrating at the base of Crystal Mountain. I don't have any pictures of the Torch Light Parade because it looks the same each year.  A line of 60ish people snaking their way down the hill on skis or snowboards, while carrying road flares and Mark leads the way because he's the birthday boy and well, he's been leading the way for a long time.

It was very windy and freezing cold (notice the awesome outfits, it was all about dressing to stay warm). There was some concern that they wouldn't be able to light off the fireworks because of the wind.  But the show still went on.




In the morning, Will and Erin were excited to give their daddy the presents they picked out for him. Erin gave him a football because he didn't have one (and she was right). Will picked out a Spiderman shaving kit.  He saw it a Meijer and really wanted to get it for daddy because daddy shaves and Will likes Spiderman.

We met the Schafflers and G &G (they were dropping U. Matt and A. Kristin off at the airport) at a bar in Traverse City for lunch. We had a nice lunch and then our family drove around the East Bay to check out the Bayshore 10k course (we are doing the race Memorial Day weekend). It was a cold, snowy and windy day, but it was really peaceful to be driving around looking at the beautiful houses. 

Mark and I left the kids home with G & G and walked to the Kinlochen for a date night. I think it might have been the first one we'd had since our anniversary in July. We get out, but with other people. It was a delicious dinner and nice to not wrestle any kids while trying to eat and maybe talk to each other.

This is what we came home too. LOL! They were wound up and having a dance party. They were supposed to be going to bed but somehow, this happened.  I love random moments like this!