Little Devious

Tonight, Jim was putting Reagan to bed and he watched her sneak her iPad upstairs. He didn't say anything at all to her. But she walked it upstairs behind her back and watched her put it in the bonus room under a pillow.
So after reading some books and saying prayers, he said "so is your plan after we read and snuggle and pray and snuggle to fake sleeping and wait until I think you're asleep and then go into the bonus room and get your iPad to play on it?"

Busted!! Her face was priceless.

Love her.

Really cool thing

Part way through the day today, we got an email from the girls school about Reagan. She had been helping (teaching) one of the kindergarteners and had been doing very well. She apparently does great job explaining works and how to use them. Such a proud moment. I love seeing how good she is with other kids and helping.

Headstrong

My oldest is quite headstrong. She has very specific ideas about how things are supposed to be. It's fun to watch but can be hard to handle sometimes. Tonight, she worked hard to get her bricks set up. Maddy hit one of them by mistake and she had a complete meltdown. It was so hard to watch. Her emotions are right on the edge at all times. She is getting better, but sometimes we all need a little break. She usually can take some time in her room and then come out refreshed. Tonight, she actually let us take her baby rail off of her bed. When we got it off, she said "wow it makes my bed look so different." Yes it does. I'm so proud of her for trying. Love her.

Gymnastics girls

Reagan loves her gymnastics. She had her second lesson today and came home smiling. She was able to ring the bell because she mastered something. She was able to get her hands down onto the balance beam for the first time on one leg. So proud of her.

While Reagan is in classes (Maddy has to wait). Maddy loves to practice at home. She has been putting on her leotard for weeks and wanting to workout with me daily. She gets on the mat and will do all sorts of summersaults and fun stuff - her exercises. :) Love watching her have fun.

Catching butterflies

The girls have such an imagination. They both grabbed their bug nets tonight and proceeded to catch butterflies in our living room. I don't recall seeing any in the house, but ya know... it happens. I had a cage for them with two doors. They ran around screaming until they caught one. They'd then show it to me and then keep going. Sometimes they were too big for me to keep. They'd have to put those back.
So cute and fun... and loud.

Lost another tooth - really?

Tonight, the girls and I were hanging out in the basement. Reagan walked into the bathroom and walked back out with a weird look on her face. "Mom, should I have lost another tooth already?" and handed me a tooth.  What the heck?

Lost another tooth and spitting

Oh geez. This kid loves to mess with her teeth. I noticed that it was loosened, but she was playing with it. A lot. Within two days of me asking her to quit playing with it, it was out. I picked her up today from school and she was beaming with pride - it was gone.
She was so happy the whole way home.

In contrast, this was the day that Maddy got in trouble at school for the first time. She was a little frustrated and threw some things on the floor. When she was confronted, she spit on her teacher. Geez really? When I got there, she was fine until I confronted her. She started freaking out and crying. She took a long time to settle down. Once she did, we had to talk about why. She didn't have any answer except she was upset. Sigh.

So following up with the tooth - I totally forgot the tooth fairy. We woke up the next morning and had totally forgotten to put money in her pillow.

Rosie Revere

Reagan came home with her first invention from her Destination Imagination team - a cup with an extended straw. I'm not 100% sure what it does or why it is the way it is, but it was hers. And it was cool. I giggled out loud when I watched her stick it in her juice and start drinking. I couldn't help it. We all did. But she loved her little invention.

First night alone

My girls had a sleepover at my parent last night. They were so excited. They packed up half of their rooms and gladly took a bath before going on their adventure. When I called to check in, they were happily playing Princess Pop-up - a game they had gotten for Christmas.

It was a strange evening for us. When we got home from the movie, we had no kids to worry about. Just us.

This morning is even stranger. No fighting at the breakfast table. No begging to get dressed. Just silence. While it is nice, I do miss it.

New Years Day 2015

This year has started off quiet for us. I welcomed that of course. Life always seems to be hectic and I am thankful for the quiet days with my little family. Today we all slept in. It was wonderful. Reagan came downstairs into our room after midnight after a bad dream. She snuggled in the middle of us and went right back to sleep.
While I woke up at 8:00 am, the rest of my world slept in past 9:00 am - some until 9:30 am. Maddy was immediately ready to workout with me - a real one. She had gotten her ballet leotard and tights on and was expressing the need to workout in the backroom immediately. I smiled.
We got dressed and went downstairs to hang out. We played barbies and played around for a bit. I didn't want to turn on the DVDs - they might wake up the others. So we waited and played.
After everyone else woke up, we quickly went into the backroom and got ready to get our sweat on. :)  Maddy got into her square and Reagan got into hers. We all did Les Mils Pump together. Nice.
Once I got going, the girls bailed and went into the other room to watch TV and eat their breakfast.
We had a nice day of playing board games and relaxing. Maddy napped for the first time in over a week. She needed it.  She still loves to snuggle on me to go to sleep. She lays in the crook of my arm and snuggles with her slicky blanky. I love that.
Reagan and I played mouse trap and a few other games before it was time for us all to take a nap - quiet time. Once we got moving again, we broke out the Disney Infinity game. Reagan got into it pretty quickly. She got into it much easier than me and informed of this as well. Maddy couldn't quite get it, but still seemed to love it all the same.
My girls are like oil and water. They can be on and really get along - be belly-laughing together and playing wonderfully. The next minute it can turn into an all out war. It doesn't help that Reagan has a bit of a mean streak. She is very loving, but can strike out quickly. Maddy likes to deal with things physically. I think it's the little sister thing. I've heard it a lot from other parents. It's nothing new. It makes me breathe easier at times.
I just pray that they are super closer when they get older.

No more Santa

Well, we've been wondering when it would happen. It did. Reagan finally asked the question "is there a Santa". Jim didn't lie to Jordan when she asked. He didn't lie to Reagan.

So now, we have a huge family secret that we must keep from Maddy. I'm kinda sad a bit. It is great she knows the meaning of Christmas. I love that. But it's the passing of time and that she's growing up. Sniff sniff.

My baby.

Halloween 2014

Well my girls went out as Elsa and Anna - big shocker for everyone out there.  They were perfectly set for this combo tonight. Reagan is the oldest and a blonde. Maddy is the younger one and a brunette. Perfect. They walked around together.

They were both super excited. Jim and Papa took them around. Maddy and Papa apparently were running from house to house. Jim stuck with Reagan. Maddy made it all the way down the street and back and called it a night. She was done. She walked in the house, found Mimi and called it quits. Wow

Reagan wanted to keep going. She and Jim took off while the rest of us handed out candy and watched some Halloween spooky shows. Reagan made it almost 90 minutes before she decided she was cold enough. I was pretty impressed. She actually came inside and said "I want to go back out when I get warm". I just smiled. She had enough candy and it was time to settle down.

Both of them were tuckered out from the full day. It was a successful fun time, as always.

Air quotes with a rhetorical question

Reagan has started using air quotes officially. I have no idea where she gets this from, but at least she uses them right. She's really cracking me up all the stuff she comes home with too - little sayings that kids start to learn (nothing bad) and just starting to be a little more grown up.

Oh and the rhetorical question is official. She's used it three times in the right way. That means it can get documented as something she knows. :) And yes, she uses it in the right way and only at funny times. I said something to Jim tonight and he answered. I wasn't really looking for an answer, but he answered the obvious answer. She said "dad, I think that was a rhetorical question" with her look of "duh" that she has perfected so well.

Love her.

Uh-oh

Reagan got in trouble at school. She darted out of the play area ahead of the teacher and (whoops) got in trouble. She got a note sent home - the head of the school was not pleased at all. :(

By the time I knew about it, she had already gone to bed. So I spoke to her this morning. She told me what happened. She didn't lie. I was so grateful and happy that she understood to tell the truth.

Proud mama (for the not lying part).

Green poop

Reagan had green poop this morning. Not just kinda green - electric green. Apparently she had a lot of blue frosting the day before. Wow was it bright :)

My little pianist

Reagan has finally clicked a bit with piano. She got a little bit of tough love with her teacher and she has responded well. She's wanting to please her more and more, which means she is willing to practice for me. Yea. The super cool thing - she started playing with two hands tonight. I flipped out when she did it. It didn't even phase her at all. That was always hard for me - I'm so glad it's not for her.

I'm so proud of her and how she's learning to dig into something and want to do it. I love watching her grow up so much.

Mush.

Surgery, sigh

We found out that Reagan needs to have surgery on her mouth. Because of her age and activity level, her new dentist feels it's best to use a general. Sigh. At least she really likes the doctor this time. That makes it easier. They found a few more things that our old doctor had found and they need to be taken care of fast.

One tooth extraction, one root canal and some fillings on her adult teeth. Plus they'll go ahead and do some sealants and some other things to help get her better of going forward.

This sucks.

Making flowers

Reagan made me a super cool craft today. She sat down on the floor, pulled out her tool kit and started cutting and folding. Before I knew it, she had made me a 3D flower. All from a few pieces of paper, glue and love. Mush.

Barbie Central

Once we got home, the girls decided to camp in the living room. Jim had turned on the football game and the young ones were ready to play. The first started with Maddy's new Barbies that she got for her birthday. When that wasn't enough, they broke out the car. And then, they brought up every Barbie and Princess that they own. They lined them up below the TV - three rows of them. Then Reagan got her car too. It was hilarious.

Then Jim brought in the tube that the rugs were wrapped around.  Then we had a slide.  The took every doll they had and slid it down the tube. Cool slide.  They played for 30 minutes before we had to break up the party.

Tooth gone bad

Reagan has an abseced tooth. We found it about two weeks ago, but was assured that it was just a normal thing that kids get - a mucus seal. When she got stomach cramps on Thursday, we took her to the doctor. They looked at her mouth and said it was an absece. Grr.

Needless to say, Jim got her into the dentist and they said the tooth had to come out. Not a big deal actually, just not a fun thing to deal with.   The infection is below her tooth, there is no root and if we don't get it out, it can damage her adult tooth. Grr again.

Well, I took her to the dentist on Friday afternoon to get it out.  The nurse was the one we don't do well with at all. She is never nice to Reagan.  As soon as we got in there, she started fussing at Reagan for being too fidgety and a kid. Just made me mad.

She started working with Reagan - she didn't get any nicer when Reagan started to get upset. She got an attitude and I let her know quickly that I wasn't interested in her attitude with my kid. She could find someone else to help.

At that point, Reagan was done. She wasn't going to do it. She was freaked out. The doctor wasn't interested at all either. Needless to say, we ended basically getting kicked out with a recommendation.

Ata the end of the day, I'm actually happy about it. The pediatrician gave us a really good recommendation and I am thrilled. He actually gave me a funny look when I said where we took Reagan. Needless to say, as angry as I was and probably still am at my doctor, they just aren't equipped to work with kids.  Hopefully we can get this taken care of next week.