School supplies have been purchased and labeled. All of the requirements have been met. Paperwork has been filled out. School registration is next Wednesday and Thursday. I just CANNOT believe Tiny Dancer starts kindergarten in less than a month. The summer flew by and I'm more nervous than she is (at least right now). My husband told me I needed to remember to exude calmness on her first day. To be honest, I'm not that worried about myself during the time... I'm more worried about Dad! He's the teary-eyed one when the girls do something new. I mean, he got choked up at kindergarten roundup! I'll be fine when we take her and breakdown once we're in the parking lot. That's typically how I roll.

We're still working on sight word flash cards. She is so not interested. I don't know how to make her interested. She's smart, but I'm worried about her not applying herself. And I get it, she's in kindergarten, but I don't want a lazy worker in school! That won't bode well for if (when) we eventually make the change into homeschooling. I don't have the patience for lazy workers!

Hopefully, once she gets in there, the reality will set in and she will work hard. Hopefully, once she gets there, the reality will set in that I have a KINDERGARTENER. Because right now, it just does not seem possible that Tiny Dancer is old enough for kindergarten. She's still wearing a 3T swimsuit for goodness' sake.

Ch-ch-ch-changes!

I decided as opposed to keeping my blog private, that I'd make some changes to it. First, my children are no longer referred to by their names... They will go by, forevermore, the following names:

Tiny Dancer, Little Monster and The Baby.

Yeah, I didn't get to creative on that last name. I don't post a whole lot of pictures, so hopefully I don't experience any problems with them not being private.

Oh, and I changed the name of the blog! Sweetness of little girls just doesn't work for us anymore now that The Baby is here. I hope by giving Dr. Seuss credit for his lines from One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish that I'm not doing anything illegal. I love those lines from the book. :)

Summer, I'm Already Missing You

Wow, where has summer gone?! I've just finished up Tiny Dancer's kindergarten requirement appointments. She needed her 5 year physical (she did great, had to get 2 shots and one finger prick.. she wasn't a fan of the shots, but I told her 3 shots, so she was happy...oh, and she has grown almost 3 inches since Christmas... she's eating like crazy, so I knew there was a growth spurt going on!), a dental appointment (we haven't been in a while because our dental insurance changed then was cancelled, but I chose the only pediatric dentist our new insurance covers and it was a GREAT choice... no cavities, good teeth, bottom teeth are moving up so she might get some loose teeth soon, a little crowded, but we'll watch it), and an eye exam (she is borderline for glasses, so we have to take her back in about 9-10 months to be checked again to see if they got better or worse).

I have a mental picture of what she will look like when her big top teeth come in... it's pretty funny. The dentist showed me her x-rays which showed her baby teeth of course but also the big teeth underneath, which was really neat. You can see her bottom adult teeth moving up in preparation for pushing out those babies. And you could see the huge chompers she'll have up top. Poor kid. I had horribly big buck teeth when I was little.

Now that summer is coming to a close, I'm trying to fit in all of the things we didn't do earlier in the summer because we were taking advantage of swimming and laying around doing nothing!

We've been trying to do fun family things every week. And we have a major budget, so we do pretty good. We went to the NASCAR Speedpark at the St. Louis Outlet mall last night. Tiny Dancer, Little Monster and I rode a little ride together, then Daddy and Tiny Dancer did the go-carts. She loved it!

And last week, we went to the Drive-In which was absolutely amazing... just such a good time together.

Little Monster had a doctor appointment and dentist appointment when big sis did too. She had a finger prick at the doctor and got her teeth brushed at the dentist - she's one brave little 2 year old. The Baby has his 9 month doctor appointment this Friday and Dad is OFF so we are hitting up the zoo after followed by another bout at the Drive-In.

We can't get enough drive-in movies - $6 for our family to get in for 2 movies CANNOT be beat! :)

Tiny Dancer's 5 Year Questions

Tiny Dancer - 5 years old - 20 questions (2013)

1. What is your favorite color? Pink and purple
2. What is your favorite toy? Dress-up stuff
3. What is your favorite fruit? Peaches
4. What is your favorite tv show? My Little Pony
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Mac & cheese
6. What is your favorite outfit? My long white dress
7. What is your favorite game? Pin the tail on the donkey
8. What is your favorite snack? Fruit snacks
9. What is your favorite animal? Horse
10. What is your favorite song? My God Is Not Dead
11. What is your favorite book? Spring is Here!
12. Who is your best friend? my cousin (A)
13. What is your favorite cereal? Honey Nut Cheerios
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Play on the swings.
15. What is your favorite drink? Milk
16. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? My blankie
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Honey Nut Cheerios
19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Cookies
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? A pet doctor

Birthday Catch-Up

The past 2 weeks have been so crazy! We celebrated Tiny Dancer's 5th birthday, then the girls' combined birthday parties, then our 7 year wedding anniversary followed by Little Monster's 2nd birthday. Whew! The Baby's birthday should be much easier. :)

Tiny Dancer turned 5 on Monday, June 24th. I was babysitting that day, so when the girls got there, we had an "Tiny Dancer Day." She chose to watch a movie, bake some cookies, play some games and watch another movie. That night, I made homemade pancakes for dinner and we had some family/friends over to celebrate. We put some candles in her pancakes and sang happy birthday to her, and ended the night with some dessert at Chill Out, the girls' favorite ice cream place. She loved being "spoiled" for the day... we let her decide what we did and let her do whatever she wanted (within reason, of course...).

On Saturday, June 29th, we had the girls' birthday party. Tiny Dancer wanted a Tangled theme, where everyone wears pajamas and watches a "drive-in" movie. My mom went overboard and made it pretty exciting. Separate post, with pictures, to come later. The girls' ended up with tons of toys and movies and other goodies and we had a blast with all of our friends. It was such a great time!

Monday, July 1st was our 7 year anniversary. I can't believe we've been married for 7 years! It doesn't seem possible... Tiny Dancer had a softball game that night, but my husband's parents volunteered to watch the kids so we could at least grab a bite to eat alone. We went to Applebee's (because, well, we just didn't have a lot of time and we were far from dressed up!). It was weird, but nice to be alone.

Friday, July 5th was Little Monster's 2nd birthday. We celebrated by going to Raging Rivers. It was me and my 3 kids (yes, I was alone, no, I'm not crazy, yes, it was fine, but no, I'll never do it again!), 2 of my sisters, and a few of our friends, plus all of their kids. This was great because the kids were able to play together, but the babies made it a little difficult, at least mine did, only because it's not like he could do much and I had to hold him the whole time (or someone did). While they were taking a nap, I was able to take Tiny Dancer down a big slide (she hated it) and the girls on the lazy river a few times (they both loved it). All in all, it was a great day! But when we got home, we were all so tired we didn't do much.

However, yesterday, the 6th, we got up and packed a picnic and took the kids to the park for a while, followed by a free movie at the theater in the afternoon. We all had a blast. Free family fun days - can't beat 'em!