FAIL!

It seems like I have been doing a lot of that lately!

For the last two weeks I could pretty much count on Miley taking a 3+ hour nap in the afternoons. Today I needed that nap time more than any other day because I have a lot I needed to do this afternoon. But today happened to be the day where nap time was a complete failure. Gage pulled the blinds down in his window, Maisey was supposed to be resting on her bed (she's staying up late with me tonight for our YW nutrition night!) but instead I caught her playing Barbies under her covers, and Miley was awake after 20 minutes, just enough time for me to send an email that has been on my to-do list all week!

GAAAAH!!! 

Miley will be ready to go back to sleep just in time for us to leave for Maisey's dance class. Not sure how those "healthy" french fries for tonight are going to make themselves!!!

Flashback

I plugged my phone into my computer the other day to get pictures off of it (I've never done it this way before, I always just email them to myself) and it automatically sent over all of the pictures on my mini-SD card, which I totally forgot I even had in there. Some of these pictures are 5 years old (when Maisey was a baby!) and they go up to about Gage at 7 months. There are over 200 pictures on that little card, so I'll spare you all of them and just post my favorites! Some of these made me smile and some of them almost made me cry!

 Maisey and Papa

 Maisey 

(but it totally looks like Miley to me!)

 Maisey - 2 years old

 Baby Gage - love the scowl

 Maisey at a BYU Basketball game with Papa!

Maisey and her friend Tori - 6 months old

 This one made me smile because I never remember her getting into things when she wasn't supposed to. Maybe there is hope that I will forget about all of the things Gage has done!

 Maisey in Papa's chair. 

This was the day her and I took my dad to the hospital. :( I remember every detail of that day like it was yesterday.

Maisey reading stories in Grammy's rocking chair in her classroom.

 Baby Gage

 Shayla and Maisey at Burgerville, Feb. 2008

 Maisey's first time eating carrots!

 Gage playing on his toy mat 

 Gage - this one looks like Miley to me.

 Gage

I miss this sweet innocent stage!

 This was the age when they didn't fight with each other yet!

 Maisey was "helping" mommy entertain her brother.

I like this one for two reasons. 1) I remember how proud Maisey was when she climbed in his bed for the first time, and 2) I can see the football wallpaper on the wall in his room still! Another couple of months later and it was all ripped down.

 This one really makes me smile. I mostly remember Gage as a hard baby who cried all the time, so it's fun to see a picture of him so happy!

 Maisey and Daddy used to do this all the time! 

 *LOVE*

 Sibling story time!

 I remember Maisey picked out that Elmo shirt for Gage she would get so excited when he wore it. Miley also looks alot like him in the picture.

 Ready for the rain!

Nothing's changed since this picture, that's how we walks around now!

We used to take a lot of wagon rides and Maisey would always look at magazines and Gage would try to take them and eat them.

Halloween Costumes - 2009

Love this one! - November 2009

It was a fun trip down memory lane. Looking back at all of these makes me want to keep my kids little forever! I can't wait for Miley to have some of these fun experiences that they have.

Super Star

Say hello to kindergarten's Super Star Student of the day today!

She is one proud girl!

Miley: 4 months

Loves playing with hair. She will grab anyone's with in reach!

She is also losing hair like crazy. It's all over her crib sheet, her blankets, her bouncy, and my shirts. 

 She started sucking her thumb this month!

 Her aunt Kate is so proud (Kate sucker her thumb until she was at least 12, but maybe until she was married!)

 Now that school has started for both big kids, this girl pretty much lives in her car seat. Luckily she doesn't protest too much anymore.

 She played in the exersaucer for the first time this month and LOVES it! She can spin herself around in the seat to reach the different toys and she likes to put the toys in her mouth. This thing keeps her pretty entertained for a while.

 She discovered her feet this month and loves to play with them.

She also discovered her voice!!!!! She was *happily* screaming and squealing all of Sacrament Meeting last week.

 Shaun gave her her first taste of food the other night. It was my homemade applesauce. At first she wasn't impressed but then she squealed until daddy gave her another tiny bite.

 She is really into her toys. Her favorites are this bear that giggles and, 

this little dollie.

 She enjoyed all of our trips to the park this month. This girl likes to be in the fresh air!

 She is just all around a cute and happy baby!!!

 Enjoying a daddy-daughter story time!

A little bit more about Miley:

* She won't take a bottle anymore. :( But she is back to nursing like a champ!

* She gets her last feeding of the day at 8:30 pm and goes to bed around 9:00 pm. She doesn't get fed again until 6:30 am or after. If she wakes up in between (which she has every night this month except for one) then she puts herself back to sleep or Daddy or I go in and pat her. We're hoping she starts sleeping all the way through the night again soon

* She has started taking crazy long naps, like sometimes up to 4 hours long. For example, right now she has been sleeping for 3 hours and 45 minutes. I always go in to check on her to make sure she is still breathing.

* She likes to sleep with her silky blankie right up to her face, which makes me nervous. I remember Gage used to do the same thing too.

* We put her in her crib for naps and at bed when she is wide awake and she falls asleep all on her own.

* She is a major Mama's girl! When Daddy got back from his trip last week she cried when he held her. She also cries when she notices other people are holding her besides me.

* She has the cutest little giggle and does it a lot more often now.

* She has started spitting up a little bit less in volume, but not really in frequency. 

* She drools a ton and is always chewing on her hands, my hair, a toy, etc. Whatever she can get in her mouth.

 I might be a little biased, but this little girl is SO.DANG.CUTE!!!!!!!

I just can't get enough of her!

School Update

After a little cuddle time with Grandma,

some Lime Berry,

and some flowers from a friend, we survived our first few days at the charter school.

We decided to stick with it for now. 

We figured if we sent her back to the normal school I would pretty much be teaching her reading, writing, and math at home, but she would be having lots of fun at school. But if we kept her in the charter school, she would be getting all of the academics she needs at school and so when she gets home we can focus on fun learning activities. So this is what she says, "I go to real school in the mornings, then I have fun school with mom in the afternoons." Our new routine looks like this:

Mondays: Mom's school

Tuesdays: Mom's school

Wednesdays: Quite rest time on bed (she has dance in the afternoons and will be dead tired!)

Thursdays: Kinder Enrichment (a program at the charter school that you have to pay for)

Friday: Mom's school

So yesterday was our first "Mom School" day. We read a book called "The Doorbell Rang" and then acted it out with princesses and our toy cookies. While acting it out we did some math activities and found how many addition problems we could make that equaled 12. Then we played memory with the toy cookies and talked about shapes and how many sides each shape has.

Then we read "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" and did some comprehension activities.

And then we got to make chocolate chip cookies to have that night for our FHE treat.

I think we have a good plan in place to have a successful Kindergarten year. I am very thankful that my mom is a school teacher and can help me come up with activities that will help Maisey remember that learning and school can be fun.

Gage is LOVING school and is really sad that he doesn't go every day like Maisey. He still has to bring his backpack in the car on the mornings that he doesn't go to school. His teacher made a fun collage of pictures from his first week. It was so fun to hear him telling daddy all about it. 

Top (L to R): Water table, bristle blocks, silly putty and counting bears (which he called "funny putty"), painting (comes home with 5 pictures a day!).

Bottorm: Swinging, playing kitchen, painting the play structure with water, digging in the sensory table.

Top: Making letter necklaces, sliding, play doh, reading

Bottom: Playing cars, blocks, kitchen, vacuuming

And a picture of him snitching cookies. . .