The kiddos

We've been keeping busy lately doing whatever it is we do. 

Ryan is talking a ton now. He uses complete sentences often these days is pretty good at using words, when he's not horribly mad or sad, to ask for what he wants. When you ask him something requiring a yes or no answer instead of answering "yes" or "yeah" he always says "suh" (sure). Not sure where that came from, but it's cute. He is also our narrator. He narrates our entire life. "Mommy going downstairs. Ryan stay upstairs." "Ryan see a tractor over there!" "Red motorcycle go bye bye." "Daddy's sleeping, Annie's sleeping, Rachel's sleeping, Mommy's awake, Ryan's awake!" (This occurs all too often as he is our 6am riser. Thankfully the girls sleep until 6:45 or they're super cranky. 20 or 30 more minutes for me is all I really want but his personal alarm clock is set and he's not changing for anybody.) 

He loves his push car (and his bike) and rides them all the time. His car is a favorite because under the seat there's a secret compartment that he can fill with all sorts of treasures. He'll put his cars in there, stuffed animals, food, even sippy cups. And if it doesn't fit, he doesn't really care. He'll ride on it even when it won't close at all.

Unfortuately, like I said, he puts everything, including food in there. He had been carrying around magnetic letters in there for a few days when he decided to add some animal crackers. Then some sidewalk chalk. And when he had a sippy cup of milk he wanted to bring along he'd put it in upside down so it would slowly drip over the animal crackers, turning them to mush. Lovely. Yesterday I hosed out that nastiness and gave the letters at the bottom a good scrubbing. Some had started growing mold, what with our nice warm weather, and the moisture from the spilled milk. Science at its finest for our budding scientist.

Along with talking in complete sentences, Ryan is singing whole songs on his own sometimes, too. He had just sang the whole song, I am a Child of God, with me hiding in the kitchen listening, when I pulled out the camera and tried to get him to do it again. Not completely successful, thanks to his obsession with the camera and showing off, but pretty good.

Ryan is not ready for official potty training yet, but likes to practice on occasion. The girls convinced him to come watch a movie on his potty the other day. He has a short attention span, though, so he got up and wandered, found some cutting boards, then when I threatened to put a diaper back on him he ran back to sit on the potty some more.

Ryan is our little navigator in the car and tells me at every intersection, "Go that way!" Then gets mad if I don't follow his directions. He's very aware of his surroundings and can tell me how to go to gymnastics, swimming lessons, our house, and Grandma and Grandpa's house. Of course every time we get in the car he requests "Go Gramma's house!" And if we're driving on Kolb and I don't turn onto the street that goes to their house he gets mad at me.

Ryan and Annie are still having a hard time getting along for more than 5 or 10 minutes at a time. If Annie says anything in a mean tone of voice Ryan will go up to her and pinch her just to make her mad. If they are in the same room it feels like I'm spending 75% of the time keeping them away from each other and breaking up fights. I am so ready for this stage to be over with. Annie is slowly learning (and only remembers occasionally) that if she talks to Ryan in a sweet, kind voice and ask him to be soft, he will. But mostly she forgets and yells at him, so he pinches and pokes.

But there are those 5 or 10 minute spurts when they do get along and have fun and laugh together.

The love this cabinet and get in there often. A lot of times Annie will climb in and when Ryan comes to join her she closes the door and tells him, "No. This is my house. You go get me a toy, buddy." And he runs off to do her bidding. But sometimes she lets him join her for some fun.

We were playing and I told them to smile for the camera.

Nice smile, Ryan. He just wanted the camera and wasn't about to smile if I was holding it instead of him.

Annie is suddenly super creative and quite the story teller. She comes up with great stories or "dreams" that are very intricate and totally random. It's pretty entertaining to listen to her stories. She is finally taking an interest in learning letters and can point to them correctly if I ask "Where's the ___?" But pointing to a letter and asking which letter it is she only gets it right about half the time. But still, that's pretty good progress for her. She and Ryan have been watching the Leap Frog Letter Factory a lot lately (one of the few movies Ryan will sit and watch all the way through, so I put it on when I want to shower in peace), and Ryan's getting some letters down, too. W and F are his favorites.

Annie is drawing and coloring a little more these days, too. She drew this the other day after we had been practicing letters on the white board and told me it is Grandpa Jolley.

 Unfortunately the girl has a deep love for markers. On the carpet and on her arms. And without lids. One day Rachel will learn to keep her markers hidden if she wants them to last... maybe.

Annie is getting pretty excited about preschool that she gets to start in July when school starts back up. Yesterday we were at the bus stop waiting for Rachel and one of the other moms said something to her about if she was excited or ready to start preschool. Annie's reply: "Yeah! I get to go to preschool soon! I know how to wipe my own bum!" How nice. She's never really hit the "do it myself" stage for getting dressed (which Ryan is currently going through) or on the potty, so I've been trying to get her to take the initiative. The only thing I've found that works is telling her she has to be able to do things like that herself before she can go to preschool. It has been sufficient motivation for the important things. :)

Over Spring Break we had a play date where Rachel invited a few of her friends from school to come play. Isabella and Isabel came and they had a fun time playing dress up and singing every Frozen song over and over.

Rachel has been into fashion off and on lately. When she feels particularly cute she'll come and ask me to take a picture of her.

I haven't been very good at keeping track of the funny or insightful things the kids say. I always think, "I should write that down." Then forget to actually do it. Except this once. At movie night when we were watching A Little Princess, when Miss Minchin was being a big meanie and Sarah yelled at her that "all girls are princesses and didn't your father ever tell you that?" Rachel commented, "I think she got her heart broken and put it back together crooked." That's probably the case for a lot of cranky people.
Another notable funny thing I was just reminded of that Justin posted on faceboook: "You know the world is changing for the better when your niece sings "Do you want to hide a body" to the Frozen song "Do you want to build a Snowman"...watch out Weird Al, my niece is coming for your career." Not sure where she came up with the hiding a body idea, but after Justin laughed so hard when he heard that, she repeats that version whenever she's looking for a laugh. 

There's a girl in Annie's gymnastics class that has a 6-year-old brother, an almost 2-year-old, and a baby. Since their kids match up with our kids' ages so well and the kids love playing together while waiting for sisters in gymnastics we decided to have a play date. We also invited Jill and Karolee and their kids. So there were 15 kids running around having fun. And most of them piled into the little kiddie pool we have at some point.

It made for a fun summer afternoon. 90+ degrees in April. Blah. That's supposed to wait another month.

Rachel is quite a reader. She could sit around and read for hours on end. Lately she's also (finally) gotten into writing a bit. Grandma Knight gave her a notebook and a cool pen that immediately became her journal. She wrote every single thing that happened to her for several days before she lost interest. Then she remembered these blank books Grandma and Grandpa Campbell had sent to her with her castle that Grandpa Campbell made. She's filled them with her own stories now.

A Princesesses Birthday By Rachel
Once upon a time a princess was about to have a birthday. The next day was her birthday. First friends came over. First they played some games, then they had cake, then they opened presents, then her friends went home. The princess wanted to see her bird friend and pony. First she went to see her bird, then she went to see her pony. She got on her pony, went home and got in bed and went to sleep.

All About Princesses
When a Princess gets up... she puts on a crown, a bracelet, a bow, and gets her wand and umbrella. She gets out of the castle and rides her pony to the village and gets her mail and picks some flowers. She sees a butterfly, a bird, and a bee. With her money she can buy shoes, a brush, a mirror, a blt. She sees a pearl. She goes home, she gets her pillow and goes to sleep.

When I Grow Up By Rachel
When I grow up... I want to be a firewoman. When I grow up... I want to be a vet. I am all grown up. What will I be? There is so many choices. A vet is cool. Or maybe a farmer. I have an idea! I can be an... author and illustrator. What the book looks like: My Job. Finally! The end.

All About Jewelry
I love jewelry. Necklace. Ring. Here are some pretty things that go with jewelry: wand, vase, tiara. Here are some princesses: Belle, Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Jasmine, Ariel, Rapunzel. I love Jewelry. The end.

Pretty good author and illustrator for a kindergartener, I'd say.

Other things we've been doing lately.... Rachel and Annie are still enjoying gymnastics, though I think we'll take a break when school gets out until sometime after the baby is born when we've got some semblance of "normal" and can handle getting places on a schedule again.

We've also been doing swimming lessons lately. My goal was to have the girls comfortable and safe enough in the water by summer time that we can be in the pool without me having to hold them the whole time. We signed up at Sunshine Swim School for a couple of sessions and even though they are more pricey than I like, they have small classes and it really is making a difference. Rachel can now swim across their small pool all by herself. Annie will jump off the step by herself and kick to the teacher on her own, which she would never do before. And Ryan is pretty good at a back float and LOVES jumping in and going under water.

Here's Rachel swimming across the pool all by herself (though with some slight desperation in her breathing), and Annie practicing her back float on the right.

Rachel is still doing piano and does a great job at it. She is usually pretty frustrated the first day when she tries a new piece, but by the time the next week comes around she's got it mastered. We're working on her getting comfortable enough with riding her bike that she can start biking to piano all by herself, since it's just the next street over from our house. The goal is to have her comfortable enough before the baby arrives in July. She's fine riding it, it's just tough for her to start on her own since her bike is a little tall for her. And she doesn't react fast enough when stopping to stop if a car is coming at the intersection she has to go through. She's getting more confidence, though, and is motivated to be able to ride all by herself.

And that is our nice long update of what the kids are up to these days.