First day of school

Last week, both kids started school.

On Monday, Miller had her first day of Pre-K. Although she's 2 years younger than Colby, she will only be one year behind him in school. (which still seems so weird to me) Miller's teacher is Ms. Susan, who she knows from Summer camp. Miller did not hesitate to walk on into the class, hang up her back pack, and start playing. She was confident and excited about her first day.

Colby's first day was Thursday. The Kindergarteners have a staggered start, so 1/3 of the class went Wednesday, 1/3 went Thursday, and 1/3 went Friday. His teacher is Ms.McCartney and she's supposed to be a wonderful teacher. I am very very happy!

My silly boy ready to go

They are always this sweet to each other. I am so lucky.

Running to the bus!

The bus stop gang....Eddie, Trudy, Mia, and Colby.

Excited and ready to go...

He made it!

I didn't think I would be emotional, but I did get a little teary eyed watching him walk onto the bus. He was so excited getting off the bus at the end of the day and had a big smile on his face. I did't get much information out of him other than who he sat next to on the bus and the fact that his teacher let them make cookies. However, his teacher e-mailed and said he listened well and seemed to really enjoy himself. Can't ask for much more than that!

Jumping bean and birthday traditions

Miller is addicted to the diving board. When we go to the pool now, I plant myself on the side of the deep end and make myself comfortable. She even likes to jump off the side and swim all the way across....in 11 foot water!

Here she is on the first jump I caught on camera.

A new tradition that we started with the kids this year is that for their birthdays, they get to spend a whole day and night with Nan and Pop doing fun things. Not both of them together (Lord, no) just one at a time.

Colby's weekend was a few weeks ago, and he started off his day with a visit to see Peepie Miller. From there, he went out to lunch with Nan and then to Toys R Us where he picked out a race car track. After playing with that at Nan and Pop's house for a while, he and Pop played a (very short and unsuccessful) game of putt-putt. Pop realized that wasn't going so well, so instead they went to the golf course where Colby got to drive the gold cart. SCORE! After that, they went out to dinner and then Colby got to stay up late and watch the Olympics. After a breakfast of bacon and eggs, they brought a tired and happy little boy.

Today was Miller's day. She started off her day with a visit to Peepie Miller.

While there, I learned something new. I asked Miller if she wanted to have a boyfriend. Her response:
"Honey, the men around here are just looking for a nurse and a purse."

After a nice visit, Miller and Nan headed out for their big day.

First, they hit build-a-bear, where Miller created a psychotic multi-colored rainbow bear in princess attire with sparkly shoes. (It's a bear only Miller and her Nan could love) From there, they had lunch and then headed to the pottery painting store. Miller painted an Aerial figurine that we will be able to pick up next week. From there, they went to the cupcake store where Miller picked out a vanilla cupcake with purple decorations on top...she said that was her favorite part of the day. (shocking) Their last stop was a trip to the golf course where Pop let Miller steer the cart. In Miller's own words: "Pop let me steered it. We went fast! And we saw pigeon poop!" Last, they headed home and had endless amounts of split pea soup- Miller's favorite. She slept like a log and then had a breakfast of bacon, eggs, and cinnamon toast, which was my favorite when I was little.

Thanks Nan and Pop. The bar was set high for next year!

Big Day

How many kids can say they first jumped off the diving board on the same day they got their first hair cut?

That's just the kind of day miss Miller had.

First, the hair cut.

Before.

During. She was VERY serious.

After. Big girl bangs!

Pretty girl with her stylist Jessica.

Later the same afternoon, Miller was at the pool and decided she was ready to jump off the diving board. And jump she did- about fifty times. Pictures soon!

Fudge. A true story.

You know that scene in the movie A Christmas Story where Ralphie drops the F-bomb in slow motion? Yeah, that just happened to me in Whole Foods. With Colby. It went something like this:

Colby: Oooh! Soda! Can we have that?
Me: No, you can have milk.
Colby: Oh FUDGE!

Only he didn't say fudge.

I froze. I stared in disbelief. Did I really just hear that? I kept staring at him and then he slowly cracked a little smile.

Me: WHAT did you just say?

Miller: He said Fock! (she was close)

I took a deep breath contemplating my next move. I decided to remain calm. I squatted down to his level and thought very carefully about what to say.

Me: Colby, where did you learn that word?

Colby: Dadda. Dadda says it. He says it a lot.

WOW.

But really, Lee has never intentionally said it in front of Colby. He mumbles it under his breath at various times during the day when he thinks no one can hear or no one is listening. He is in disbelief that Colby learned it from him.

Guess what dadda? Someone is listening. All the time. And he thinks you are super cool. So you need to find some rated G language to mumble under your breath.

Shots

Miller had her four year check up today. She was supposed to get five shots, but I asked the doctor to break them up and only give her three. I wasn't sure how she was going to react....would we be calling in extra nurses to pin her down like we did with Colby last year? (Colby did not have shots this year) Would she lay perfectly still, cooperate, but just cry tears like she did last year? We talked about it beforehand, and she seemed a little nervous. We talked about how it would pinch, but it would only last for a second and then it would be over.

When the nurse came in, Miller wanted to take a good hard look at the needles. They didn't seem to scare her. Then, she decided she would lay down instead of sit, so she laid back on the table. The nurse told her to take a big breath, so she breathed in and out. I held her hand and stared at her face as the first shot came. Nothing. No facial movement. No tears. No grimace. No reaction at all. And she did that with ALL. THREE. SHOTS.

I could not believe it, and neither could the nurse. She said she could only remember one other time that a four year old did not cry or get upset at all.

Boy, am I proud. She may as well have won the Gold medal in the Olympics.

Miller weighed in at 48.5 pounds and 43 inches. "Way above the 95th percentile", but on the same path she has always been on.

She spent the rest of the day pulling up her dress to anyone who walked by to show off her bandaids. She was proud, too.

The Girl is four

Wow, and now my girl is four. How can this be true??

Recently, people have been commenting that Miller looks like me. That's a new thing, as no one has ever said that about Colby or Miller. (usually, they tell me that Miller looks like Colby). But me? So I dug up an old photo of when I was Miller's age.

See a resemblance? (don't ask me why this is upside down- I can't fix it) I sent this picture to Lee on his phone, and he thought it was Miller. (and probably wondered why I dressed her up like Holly Hobby)

At four years of age, it's no secret that Miller's best friend is Charlie. Often when they play together, we find them upstairs either in pajamas....or their birthday suits.

Miller is a true water bug and loves to swim. I think I'd go so far as to say that swimming is her favorite thing. She's been in swim lessons since she was a baby, and she actually swam a length of the pool freestyle this summer with her swim coach Lizzie.

At Colby's last swim meet, she was brave enough to down the giant water slide!

So naturally, she had a pool party for her fourth birthday. It was supposed to be outside, but the weather was looking bad the morning of her party and I scrambled to find a new venue. Fortunately, I found an indoor facility we could use and it actually turned out to be perfect.

So excited!

I've never seen Miller as excited and happy as she was at her birthday party. Her friends were all there, she was playing in the "awesome" water park, and cake was on the menu. She was in her element.

She and all her friends (classmates from last year) played several rounds of ring around the rosie. So cute!

Another round with her favorite boys Jackson and Charlie.

Miller and Charlie having a moment under the water fall.

Cute tush. She ran around with a wedgie the entire party.

After an hour of swimming, we took a break for pizza and cake.

The princess cake.

So tempted to steal a little frosting. (which they did)

Sweet birthday girl

And wouldn't you know, Colby found a way to steal a little thunder during her party. His bottom tooth was somehow knocked out right in the middle of eating pizza. (we never found it)

We returned to the water for more swimming, and then headed home to open presents.

On the actual morning of her birthday, Miller got some more presents from mom and dad.

Mostly princess presents, of course.

And lots of arts and crafts.

Happy fourth birthday to my sweet, happy, smart, confident, funny, and sassy little girl. I couldn't be more proud to be your mommy.

The Boy is 6

I can't believe my little boy is six!

He kicked off his birthday week with Kindergarden camp, which he loved. (according to him, a few other boys were put in time out but he was not...we'll take victories where we can get them!)

Birthday morning

He can't get enough of his military toys (just like his daddy)

His big present was a basketball hoop, although he seemed more excited about the actual basketball.

He had a "nerf gun party" at the local bounce house place.

Always the jokester, he pretended to stick his nose in the candle (and almost burnt himself)

Miller was allowed to have one guest at Colby's party, and of course, she chose Charlie.

The boys heading out to battle

Colby ended his birthday week with his last swim meet of the season.

He improved both of his times and got first place in his heat for freestyle!

His freestyle time:dropped from 44:10 to 40:38, and backstroke dropped slightly from 45:42 to 45:72

At Colby's 6 year appointment, his height was 48 inches (90th%) and his weight was 54 pounds (also 90th%)

Happy birthday, to my sweet, smart, funny, outgoing, curious, and determined little boy. Did I mention active? Yeah, that, too. I think this year's going to be a good one.