The Good Child

It's rare that the girls are in trouble at the same time. Here's why. They like to be viewed as "the Good Child."

This morning Audrey was standing on a stool (stage) and performing. Julia came up and started swatting at her. While Julia was getting lectured, Audrey was seen twisting around on the stool with an expression that can only be described as a "sad smirk." She was being the Good Child. Audrey's sad smirk turned into a smiling smirk when Julia was ordered to give her a hug.

Another time, Julia was in trouble from freaking out during homework time. Matt was in Julia's room calming her down, and Good Child Audrey came skipping down the hallway (a great big smile on her face, of course) and hugged me saying, "I love you, Mommy." She even batted her eyelashes. It was all I could do to keep from laughing.

I needed a Good Child Audrey picture to go with this post. Our first shot wasn't too bad.

But, of course, I couldn't leave well enough alone and continued the photo session.

I'm not looking for silly or crazy pictures, child! Let's try again.

Almost...

Ahhh, there we go! That's my Good Child Audrey!

Then, there's Good Child Julia. She shows up quite often too. Just the other night, Audrey walked to the dinner table and was unhappy with what was being served (AK would be happy if a peanut butter spoon was served for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.) Audrey threw a fit and was sent to her room where she continued to cry and cry. The 3 of us left at the table got ready to pray. I asked Julia is she wanted to pray (to which she usually responds, "N. O. spells NO!") but on this particular night she replied, "N-- YES! Of course!" See, it's a Good Child thing.

Good Child Julia often shows up in the late afternoon when Audrey's fits are more pronounced due to tiredness. It is very hard to keep Audrey from falling asleep in the 5 o'clock hour and she's often in a FOUL mood. Julia, on the other hand, likes to walk around saying things like, "Daddy, I just want to snuggle with you. I missed you so much!"

Photo shoot time for Good Child Julia.

They fight a lot. They push. They shove. They tattle.

But sometimes, I see it. I see what I've wanted for them since the time I found out I would have 2 little girls. I see love. I see hugs. I see close friends. I see sisters who will likely share a relationship with each other longer than they will share with any other person ever... any other person ever!

Turning 29 for the 2nd time??

Milestone birthdays (no matter how dreaded the birthday may be) should be commemorated with a few pictures, don't you agree?

Happy 30th birthday to me!

I probably shouldn't mention (but I will) that at 11:55 p.m. Friday night, as the clock steadily ticked towards the inevitable, I started crying. I don't like 30, I don't want to be 30. I figured tears would accompany this birthday, and I was right. It's silly, yes, but that's how it is. Now, on to better thoughts...

My mom came to visit this weekend. She came to celebrate my birthday, see Julia cheer, and to bring leftover Christmas presents that we just didn't have room for when we came back last month (our family has a history of being extra generous). Thank you, family!

A picture with cheerleader Julia and her very unqualified coach ;)

Ok, so my dear husband has been hassling me about turning 30 for over a year now. The first thing he said to me the morning of my 29th birthday was, "Welcome to the last year of your 20's!" He's been drawing attention to my gray hair for months, he's recently gotten the girls to refer to me as an old lady, and his Facebook status this week was "Trying to decide if it would be inappropriate to buy my wife's 30th b-day card from the "sympathy" section." So it's understandable that I would assume that the present pictured below would come from him.

But that present didn't come from Matt; it came from my mom. Thanks, Mom! Thanks so much... (sense the sarcasm)

After I opened presents, Audrey posed with me for a quick picture.

We hung out the rest of the afternoon and enjoyed dinner out that night. After dinner, I forced everyone to take pictures with me. I'm sure they just love it when I do that!

Me, the girls, and my mom

Me and Matt

Since Matt didn't bother to smile in that first picture, he had many more taken... including this closeup - YIKES!

Have I mentioned that I kind of like taking pictures of myself? Well, I do.

Ahh, now finally, let's talk about that vital part of any birthday celebration... the cake. My mom brought cupcakes with her when she drove down. She brought an assortment of flavors, but the kind I chose for myself was salted caramel. It was fabulous!

All in all, my 4th decade started marvelously.

Let's quickly count some blessings!

361. spending bday with my girls

362. spending bday with my husband

363. spending bday with my MOM! This was the first birthday spent with her since my 22nd!

364. Fun time cheerleading this week

365. Facebook birthday messages lighting up my page

366. Presents - lots of new clothes :) thanks!

367. Birthday cards- thank you!

368. Phone calls from family

369. Lazy Sunday afternoons for me and the girls.

370. People actually reading this far down my blog page. Thanks, and have a great week!

Pics: 1/15/12

Julia's Cheerleading Debut

2 videos of Julia's "halftime show". Notice at the end of video 1 Julia throws in a spirited jump and high kick - cuteness! The end of video 2 is also cute, listen for Matt's "woohoo". Daddy's have to cheer for their daughters!

Report Card Day

Despite Julia's less than stellar approach to homework...


...she brought home a fabulous report card today! Good job, little girl!
We got a Sonic slush to celebrate her hard work and good behavior. Then we went home for me to actually look at the report card.
Here we go: G (good), S (Satisfactory), or N (Needs Help) in 48 different subcategories, yes 48! She earned 47 G's and 1 "S". In case you're wondering, Julia's "S" was under Social Development - Maintains an appropriate attention span. :)

These 2 pages made me smile, but the next page was even better! Julia's DIBELS scores from December have far surpassed the END of Kindergarten goals. (DIBELS is a way to monitor reading skills for No Child Left Behind.) My baby is learning so much! It's so great to see how proud she is of herself as she is able to read more and more. I like to have a big reaction, "Who told you what that said??!!" To which she replies in her high, squeaky, excited voice, "No one! I read it!"

Mama Bear's going to have to make a copy of this report card!

351-360

351. A sweet husband willing to take the girls to the zoo on their last day of Christmas vacation. We decided to go ahead and get a membership. As long as we go 2 more times in the next year it will be worth it. We figured we can stop by on our way to or from the beach!

352. A $13+ money maker at Rite Aid this week!

353. A sweet daddy/daughter pic

354. The cuteness of my 3 year old. She's been extra sassy this week (both in a good and bad way!)

355. A special kiss from Audrey. Audrey and I welcomed 2012 spending the night on the couch because she had a stomach bug. She really wanted us to snuggle, so we threw the back cushions off the couch and slept next to each other. She did a really great job of waking me up to get her the "throw up bucket" when it was needed. After one of those times, we had just snuggled back down and closed our eyes when I felt the sweetest, most tender kiss on the forehead. Oh. I melted. What a way to say "Thank you. I love you."

356. Matt having a friend to help change the Jeep's alternator last Sunday. Can you imagine if I had had to "help" him???

357. A fun (and long!) day of cheerleading today. Julia and I loved spending time with and getting to know our team!

358. Eating lunch with an old preschool friend who cheers on another squad.

359. A birthday party for Audrey and Matt to attend while we were gone today. I'm so glad AK had something special to do too! The birthday girl is a special friend from both church and preschool! Her dad is the one who helped Matt with the alternator.

360. The kindness of the birthday girl's mom to send Julia a treat bag even though she didn't attend. Matt and Audrey also came home with a plate of leftover cake balls. Yum!

Julia refused to put on a certain pair of pajamas tonight because (in her words) they made her look fat. She said "If you look in the mirror you'll see. My stomach is fat." She was in tears! Oh, dear child. Please! I'm not ready for that kind of talk. I've tried to steer clear of body image comments in front of the girls, but I've obviously not been very successful.

My child. My Julia. You're perfect.

Finishing up with Christmas posts... just a little late!

Our Elfie found a few other ways to get into mischief this year.

He roasted marshmallows.

He decided to write on a family photo.

Finally, although he went back to the North Pole after our early at home Christmas, he decided to visit us again in Tennessee. He just missed us too much!

Oh, Elfie. I love the excitement that you add to our Decembers! Your years with us are limited, but I think we'll continue to keep you around even after the girls get older for memory's sake.

Lord, do my girls really have to get older? Can't we just push pause?