Friday, June 20, 2014

Big Goals for the Future

Tonight we were driving home and Samantha said, "When I grow up, I'm going to be a mail carrier."
 
I said, "Well, that's awesome.  But, you might want a back up plan - I doubt mail carriers exist when you are grown up."
 
She said, "You know, I don't think I'll be a mail carrier after all.  I plan on being a pop star."
 

Maybe a mail carrier wasn't such a bad idea after all.

Thursday, June 19, 2014

Don't forget to fast

One of the most important days in a Catholic child's life is their first Communion.  You prepare for a full year with studying, classes, and prayer, and if you live at our house you set up the living room into a church for practice and then give your parents several opportunities to practice patience.

For Catholics, we fast for an hour prior to receiving Communion.  The idea is that before you receive Jesus, your body should be as pure as possible, but it's a rule that often gets forgotten in our house.

The morning of her First Communion, Addi was totally panicking about when she should stop eating breakfast.  My mom quizzed her and said, "Addi, do you know why you have to fast?"

Addi said, "Yes. It's so when Jesus is in your belly, he's not like 'Hey, Fruit Loops! Hey, Captain Crunch!'"

I do love the way her mind works.  And because I promised her, this is the last time I'll tell this story.  ;)

Silence is golden


Addi is a screamer, a door slammer, and a crier.  By this I mean there are many times when she runs to her room, screaming and crying about an injustice that's been done to her, and often ends with her slamming her door.  We have alternated our approach from insisting she shut the door nicely, to threatening to remove her door, to our latest approach... ignore her for 5-10 minutes, then when she comes back downstairs give her a snack, wait 10 more minutes for her blood sugar to rise, then calmly talk through the issue.  

Basically, feeding the beast is the most reliable of all parenting tactics.

Luckily those episodes seem to be happening less these days, and my ears are so grateful.  There are many times when I think only dogs can hear the high pitch sounds coming from this child's mouth.  Jay attributed it to her growing up and maturing, and I thought that could be part of it.  However, I have since changed my mind.
 
A few weeks ago Addi stormed off, sobbing, and I waited for the inevitable "Bang".  Ten minutes passed and the house remained silent.  When I could swear I heard a butterfly thinking (it was really, really quiet) I headed up to investigate and saw what had been keeping her so occupied.


The "Note"

The basket for her rations
After reading her sad, sad note I asked her why she wrote it. She said, "I'm staying in my room for the rest of my life! Nothing will make me come out!"  I said, "That's so sad.  But what will you do when you have to go to the bathroom?"
 
She started at me, totally flabbergasted.  I guess stumping her also results in silence.  I'll tuck that nugget into my parenting book.


Summer is here!

The posts have been non-existent and the days and nights have been long... Summer is officially here!

For my own sanity I hope to have a boring weekend to catch up on crafts, blogging, and hanging with the kids, but for now here's a small tidbit of what we've been up to.
Very first race EVER - she was very nervous!


Chloe and Addi's backs spelled out "River City Rapids... Eat My Bubbles"

After her second race - nerves were gone!
Post-meet ice cream - Well deserved!

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Hindsight is 20/20

The first week of May I got an email from our amazing school secretary, Jill.  She said she was going through records and realized she couldn't find the paperwork for Samantha's eye exam (a requirement to register for Kindergarten) and asked if I could send her a copy as soon as I could.  I called our eye doctor right away and asked if they could fax over Sam's records and they said, "We've never seen a Samantha here."

Oops!  I guess it's true what they say about second children - you forgot all kinds of things for them and I guess complying with state guidelines was just another thing on my list.  :)

In order to make sure our school was compliant I took Sam to Walmart for a quick exam the next day.  She had a blast trying on glasses and of course she looked adorable in every pair. Once we were finished she was in tears when she found out her vision is just fine - no Hello Kitty glasses in her near future.  Even when I told her it's basically a given that she'll be blind as a bat in just a few short years, she was still sad.


Driving home I said, "Congratulations Sam! You can go to Kindergarten now!" and expected her to laugh.  Instead, she looked at me in complete shock, then got mad since she was three weeks away from heading to first grade.  Maybe the glasses made her more serious in addition to more adorable.

Six times the cute

A few weeks ago we had a big day here - Samantha Jane turned SIX!!  She was thrilled to have a day week all about her, and why shouldn't she? She's a Ralph woman.  We love our birthdays.

She woke me up at 5 a.m. to let me know it was officially her birthday, then climbed in bed with me.  While she snuggled up she mumbled, "Now that I'm six Daddy says I can dress myself for school and put myself to bed at night, OK?" then drifted back to sleep.

That night we celebrated.  Sam got to decide what she wanted for dinner - she chose the China buffet - and then she opened her gifts.  She originally asked for a puppy (taking a hint from Addi's recent birthday) but when Jay said no way she asked for Uno. This girl is a major card shark - she routinely and legitimately beats us at games.
Ready for Vegas
For her party she had a gymnastics party with the girls from her class.  Fun was had by almost everyone - Addi and her friend Cattleya said it was "boring because of all the little kids."  I didn't see them say no to cake though!

 For the record, Sam did put herself to bed, now that she's six.  It was only one time but I'll take it.
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