2 Months!

Olive Is 2 Months!



It's hard to believe 2 months have passed!  She's doing great.  She weighs 9 lbs 12 oz and is 21 inches long.

She is very sweet and is starting to smile alot.

Olive finally has her own bedroom!  Grammie made her bedding and it's ready for her to sleep there...when she's ready!!

Johnny had his last day of 2nd grade.  The year was a challenge filled with a lot of new learning experiences in many many ways.  Johnny worked very hard and really liked his teacher; but he was ready for summer.

On the last night of school Johnny and I had a sleepover and watched a movie.  Olive joined us for the movie and Johnny and Olive snuggled while watching.

Cousin Bailey got a new puppy and stopped by for a visit.  She named her "Ellie" and she is the most adorable puppy ever.

The best part is that Ellie the puppy shares a birthday with Olive.  They posed for a picture together!

Tonight while taking Olive's 2 month picture, Maisy jumped in to play with Olive.  This picture was taking shortly after Maisy "helped" Olive roll over.

Below is the very patriotic outfit Maisy selected for the 4th of July.  The snow boots were completely necessary for our day at the beach!  Currently Maisy is a very very feisty 3½ year old.  Some days I would be willing to sell her to the highest bidder, give her away!  She is learning alot and you can see the huge developments she's making; but you can also see the HUGE tantrums she's making too!!

Summer Catch Up

Summer is almost over and I have, once again, been terrible about keeping up my blog.

Because of moments like this, I am too busy chasing little people to do anything that requires me sitting in front of a computer for more than just typing a search for "Lego Batman Video Game" on youtube.

Maisy likes to dress up. She also provides sound effects for all of her dress up clothes. Mostly just "ggggrrrrr"

Here is a rare moment where she is being nice to Don. Poor Don really takes it in the shorts! Maisy chases him all day. She hugs him, she tries to carry him, she bites him, (gross, i know) she pets him - and not always soft touching! But, it's not completely miserable for him. Recently she fed him cat food, one piece at a time, and he ate it from her.

Our front porch is done and Maisy loves sitting on it.


More dress up. Bet you didn't know that spiders growl? Maisy Spiders do!


Johnny was invited to be in the pet parade with his friend Grant and their family. Grant's guinea pig, Frederick, was dressed as Darth Pig. Unfortunately Johnny's storm trooper suit is about 3 sizes too small, but he didn't care. He had a great time and he's hoping he gets invited back again next year. (Gabe stepped in dog poop after the parade. Highlight of MY summer!!!)




Cousin Bailey's mother shops...ALOT. Recently I went through the next clothing size and got out shoes and put them in a laundry basket. Maisy came in the room and excitedly exclaimed "SHOES!". And sat down to play. She LOVES shoes and has spent weeks playing with them. She sorts them, she stacks them, she hands them to you and says "SHOE ON!" or "WANNA WEAR IT". If she can't get them off she says "STUCK". She really doesn't play with toys, mostly she just wants to try on shoes and clothes. I can guarantee that never once in Johnny's 7 years and 3 months has he said the sentence "I wanna wear it". Maisy says this constantly. She loves her cow coat that Darla is letting her borrow and she hands it to Gabe and says "Wanna Wear It" almost ever day. And it's not enough just to put it on. You have to zip it up also.

Here is another reason why not much gets done around our house. Maisy is a monkey. She climbs and swings from everything. (Notice the cow coat she is wearing!) Our house has remained fairly child proofed from Johnny and his parents laziness of never taking anything down. I felt confident that we were prepared for another child. I was wrong. We need a padded room for Maisy. She's climbs everything. She swings from the sink. She recently fell on her head while trying to swing from the oven door at a friends house. She climbs up and through the ladder to Johnny's bunk bed. She jumps off the couch. She likes to sit in her little red elmo chair and lean back until she falls over backwards. Basically, she terrifies me. She has absolutely no fear and is strong enough to do whatever she wants.

We got out the gymnastics bar that momo and papa gave Johnny for christmas. Johnny had a blast swinging from it. So much so that his hands started hurting. So, he developed his own pair of "grips"...spider slippers. They didn't really work, but I was impressed with his creativity.

We went to the Point Defiance Zoo and Johnny gave money to the parrot.

Here is Maisy in the Hermit Crab. Remember her in the crab last year?

Johnny posing with the lemurs

Johnny on a spider web

Johnny and Maisy on the slide

Maisy got to go on the slide herself. She had a great time and eventually got very independent. I would walk her halfway up the stairs to Gabe and then wait for her at the bottom of the slide. Before long she wouldn't hold my hand and went running up the steps trying to get away from me and point out that she could do it on her own.

Johnny continued to do swimming lessons throughout the summer and advanced to level 2. He LOVES swimming and might be the only child in class smiling during his lesson...so much that he gets water in his mouth. He likes to jump into the pool by pretending he's chopping down a tree. He yells "chop, chop, TIMBER" and then jumps into the pool. He recently told me that you aren't allowed to dog paddle in his class. They don't teach swimming to dogs at his swimming class.

Johnny loves bugs, especially spiders. Gabe told Johnny that he thought he'd enjoy being an exterminator when he grows up. Johnny said "No daddy. I was to be a mad scientist".

Johnny did a camp at the Hands On Children's Museum and made a movie called "One Last Push To Victory". He played a Robot and had a great time. The film is going to be shown at the 6th Annual Olympia Youth - Teen Fest in September at the Olympia Film Society.

Johnny recently asked Gabe: "Daddy, if you are older than Mommy, how come she knows so much more than you?". (he's a brilliant boy, isn't he?!)

Maisy is talking a lot. She also has a favorite TV show. "Mickey Mouse's Club House". But she calls it "Toodles". Toodles is a minor character on the show, but she thinks it's the name of the show. And the name of Mickey Mouse.

She can often be heard saying "hep!" or "wanna wear it". She also likes to tell you she'll "be right back" as she takes off running down the street. You know she's up to know good when she's silent. I was enjoying a moment of peace and quiet when I realized I had no idea where she was. I found her. Quietly coloring on Johnny's bunk bed. (She's lucky! Her brother had colored on it long ago!) Sometimes when she knows she isn't supposed to do something she tells on herself and yells "mama!". You'll find her in Johnny's room holding a pen just waiting for you to see her so she can write somewhere she isn't supposed to.

Maisy thinks that "mama" means she wants something. When she wants something she points to it and says "mama". I'm not sure how I feel about her equating me with the word she's supposed to use to get what she wants.

She also repeats whatever you say. Recently I burned my hand and learned the full effects of what Maisy will repeat. And Repeat. and Yell. And keep repeating over and over again. Until Gabe, in a truly genius parenting moment, taught her to say "shut the door" so now she just says "shut" all the time. And "shutty door". (feel free to add it to your parenting skills!)

1st grade starts Wednesday. Johnny will have Mrs. Crosby and Mrs. Martin and is very excited because Teddy and Grant will be in his class again. He's also going to teach all the 1st graders who only did ½ day kindergarten how to eat lunch in the lunch room.

Here is a video of Johnny swimming. He's actually even improved since this was taken.

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Class of 2021....YOU ARE GRADUATED

...FROM KINDERGARTEN!

Kindergarten Graduation was on Thursday. Johnny had a wonderful time. He was SO PROUD!
He woke up in the middle of the night with a cold and started crying because he was worried he wouldn't get to speak at his Kindergarten Graduation. Luckily he was well enough!

He asked me to arrive early so I could go to recess with him. Little did I know that he wanted me to actually participate in recess with him. He wanted me to play all the things he plays during recess. I drew the line when the boys began playing war and were choosing sides and shooting at each other!

Johnny got a memory book with some of the special art work he made this year. It was amazing to see the difference. In September Johnny couldn't write his name. He could make a "J" and that was it. Last week he got a "gold glitter name"; which you earn when you are able to write your name using the proper "school" letters. I honestly didn't expect that Johnny would get a gold glitter name this year. His main area of delay are his fine motor skills. Writing is very hard for him and in the past his stubbornness has prevented him from working on it. This year Mrs. M. really sparked an interest in him and he LOVES writing and drawing. His improvement is directly related to this and it is wonderful to witness.

Johnny with Mrs. Muzatko

As we left the school parking lot I said to Johnny "Wow, what a great year!" and Johnny replied "Mama! My year with Mrs. M. was my best year ever!". How wonderful it is to see my son so in love with school and learning and his teacher.

Johnny with Mrs. Thacker, the para educator who helps in their class.

After kindergarten graduation we went to Meconi's to celebrate and then to pick up Maisy from Momo and Papa's house. In the evening we went to a classmates birthday party at Skateland. It was a wonderful way to finish the last day of school.

Maisy loved "skating". At least she thinks she did! They had rented the entire skating rink for the party, so she got to run on the floor. She watched the kids for a while and then she would walk a few steps and then dramatically fall down to her knees and stomach. Then she would look up at me and raise one hand in the air for me to help her up; exactly like she'd watched me to with the other kids. We repeated the process all over the floor. It was adorable. Johnny's skating is improving and he only had 1 wipe out!

I suspect in the next few days Johnny is going to be a little sad when the impact of no more school hits him. It has been a much loved activity this year.

Look how much Johnny and Maisy have grown this year.

This picture was taken on the 1st day of school

And this picture was taken, 9 months later, on the last day of school.

Here is a video of his "kindergarten speech". In case you can't understand him, he says "I like kindergarten because I made really good friends".

Tomorrow we are off to watch cousin Bailey perform in her very first ballet recital. She is going to be a bear. When I told Johnny he said "will she growl and eat the other dancers?". I guess my idea of a 3 year old bear ballet recital is much different than a 7 year old boys idea of a 3 year old bear ballet recital. Either way, he's very excited to see Bailey and if the weather is nice he wants to swim in her pool.