Terrible Five's?

Is there such a thing as the "terrible five's?"  Now we've all heard about the "terrible two's" and how a toddler tests the sanity of her parents, but at five years old?!?  If this continues, I won't make it through the teenage years.

Yesterday as I picked up the girls at daycare, one of the teachers walked out with a sad expressioned Grace.  The teacher explained that Grace had a very good morning.  But things took a turn for the worse at naptime.  Grace explained that she was trying to put her boots on, the teacher saw her kicking a fellow child.  Then the teacher opened a baggie with a big ol' chunk of hair in it and said Grace had pulled this out of another little kid's head.  Now we've had some tangles in Grace's hair that took out a sizeable chunk, but nothing nearly as big as the wad of hair in the baggie.  Grace would not explain why she did these things.  I loved the way the teacher talked to her...with not even a bit of tension in her voice, even giving Grace a kiss when she was done explaining.

On the way home, I'm in the car asking myself what I'm doing wrong, what's not working.  Perhaps I need to head my heine over to the library and check out some parenting books....what I'm doing ain't working for her.  Deep breath in....and out....

Christmas 2010

We opened some presents at our house before we went over the river and through the....prairie to Douglas.  Santa brought each of the girls a pillowpet; a ladybug for Grace and a bumblebee for Anna.

 Anna seemed to be more interested in the peanut M&M's that she found in her stocking than her pillowpet.

Anna in her new boots reading one of her new books.  She wasn't all that interested in opening all the presents.  Once she got some good stuff, she was good to go.

As usual, I forgot to take pictures during the chaos that is opening presents at Grandma and Grandpa's.  The girls got quite the haul of goodies and Jeremy and I didn't do so bad either J

On a totally unrelated note, we refinanced the house, dropping 2% on our interest rate, which was our little present to ourselves, I guess.  Dave Ramsey and I need to get reaquainted again after the new year.

Another one?

I believe I may have harlot tendencies...now before you go to yourself, "Oh, My God, Jeri's gone off her rocker," read this blog.  It's a hoot!  Anyway, I started another sweater.  This one is a baby sweater in sock yarn in a lovely yellow color....baby is still in the oven and the timer should ding in April....so I think I'll have plenty of time.  I'll get a pic posted once you can start seeing the pattern.

I had to make a phone call to Santa the other day.  Grace is on the naughty list....

Christmas program

We did a pre Christmas program "photo shoot" so we would have some pictures of the girls in their pretty Christmas dresses.  Be prepared for cheesy smiles in the following photos!  We took video of the entire program (well most of it, technical error on my part at the beginning).  So if you want to see little kids sing, 2 year olds fight over a microphone and lots of waving to mommy's and daddy's, come on over and I'll show you the video.  J   

 With Daddy...seriously, does the man ever smile for a picture?

 With Mommy

 Outside the auditorium, Anna in her "costume"

Grace has been talking about wanting to talk to Santa.  So we went to the mall and she talked to Santa.  She didn't sit on his lap, but told him she wanted cowboy boots.  Santa suggested some songs because she likes to sing, especially Taylor Swift.  I think Santa's a mind reader or he really does exist....how did he know she likes to sing and likes Taylor Swift?  Anna said "no way" at the prospect of sitting with Santa.  And Santa, if you do exist, I realize after taking some more pictures lately, I sure would like an SLR camera.  I have been good.--Jeri

Ice Fishin'

Just some random ice fishing pictures from the last excursion during Grace's birthday.

 I don't think there's much fishing going on in this picture, just a lot of movie watching on the portable DVD player!

 A whopper of a walleye that Grace caught.  Notice the beer can for scale.  I'm assuming there were a lot of empty beer cans laying around as it was the most handy thing to measure scale with.  That fish sure was tasty a couple nights later with some bacon and butter!

 What a beautiful sunrise/sunset.  Not sure which.

 This picture was after they got home, Grace on the back seat out of the Expedition, laying with Clyde.  Please do not notice all the other junk in the background of the picture!

Grace and her birthday cake after a good scrubbin' to get all the dirt off.  Again, please do not pay attention to all the junk in the background!

All the pictures are courtesy of Jeremy.  I still can't find the fun in sitting on a block of ice waiting for the fish to swim by the bait you threw down a hole.

I think I might need to start a serious declutter campaign in the house.  The basement's out of my control, but seriously, something needs to be done upstairs.  I need another closet to cram all the stuff into, HA!

Pictures, Pictures

Not much exciting or news worthy has been happening here lately.  I thought maybe you'd like a picture post instead.

Here's a picture of Grace modeling some socks, but I think they might be a bit too small for her and will become Anna's sooner rather than later.

I'm working on a sweater for Anna.  Not much to see yet.

I'm working on a sweater for myself.  I'm working on the body now.

Our Christmas tree, look at all those presents underneath!  The bottom half may be more highly decorated due to the majority of the people decorating were short.  But it sure is a good-lookin' fake tree.

Maybe they watch a bit too much TV.  When I went to download pictures, there were several that looked similar to this.  They love Dora and Diego!

They have a Christmas program through their preschool on Tuesday.  There has been a lot of practice singing around here lately.  I'll probably be able to sing along to all the songs.

Happy Birthday Grace!

Five years ago today I became a mama. Today my Grace turns 5 years old. I remember it snowing that morning as we went to the hospital, then it being bitterly cold, below zero cold, after she was born. I could see the bank thermometer from my room window. She requested a purple cake for her birthday. Here is the purple cake, ready to be dug into whenever they get home.

Milestones

There are days when a mother is so proud of her children her heart just bursts with pride. I'm sure the accomplishments will get bigger as my girls get bigger. Now they are small things like getting dressed themselves, brushing their hair and teeth (by golly, not with the same brush!). Someday it'll be driving, graduating, the first job. But hold on to that, I want them to be little for a little longer yet.

Anna is on her way to a milestone. Remember about the potty game. Yesterday she peed in the potty at preschool. Her teacher was so excited to tell me about it! I brought some bribery candy to preschool for her teacher to use when Anna goes. However, last night at home, she sat on the potty and nothing happened. The day of no diapers is looming large.  I'm so proud of my Anna!