Gemma dances

She is a dancing maniac!

Gemma dances

To grandpa's band

Gemma's favorite number

Gemma is so so pleased to be 3! It has become her favorite number. She would now like 3 of everything. There needs to be 3 strawberries on her plate. She would like 3 spoons to eat her cereal with. She would like to check out 3 books from the library and go down the slide 3 times.

At dinner in the last week, she wasn't eating, but playing with her food. I told her she needed to eat 1 more bite of something (I suspect a vegetable) on her plate. I was confused when she started crying. After she calmed down, she was able to tell me she was mad about taking 1 bite. She is 3! Now! She wanted to take 3 more bites!

Who can argue with that?

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Gemma works the system

This post mentions potty training. There aren't many details, but I wanted to warn you. It is a pretty funny story that illustrates how smart our little girl is, but if bathroom talk makes you uncomfortable, then don't read.


Gemma is working hard at potty training. She is doing so well! Everyone else is helping too by encouraging and celebrating with her success. There have been a number of dance party celebrations in our living room to celebrate her success.

Briefly, every time she has a success, she is rewarded with praise and a small treat.

She quickly mastered the pee portion and has been dry since the end of May. We quit "treating" her for the pee as it wasn't needed.

The other part (poop), has been harder until this week. Suddenly something has clicked and we are having more success. Not tally there, but so so close (I will write another post soon about this. I have many feelings.).

Treats are very much used when she manages to accomplish poop on the potty.

Friday night at dinner, Gemma picked at her food. She didn't eat much, which has become a trend for her lately. William and Amelia finished well before her and had a small treat before leaving the table.

Gemma saw their treats and asked for hers. I reminded her that she needed to eat her healthy fruit and vegetable before she could have a treat. She surveyed her plate and then announced she needed to go potty.

As I was helping her in the bathroom, she matter of factly said, "if I make poop, then I can have a treat."

So, our little smartie figured out that she didn't need to eat her dinner to get a treat.

3 years old and already working the system.


** she did poop. And I did give her a treat. I knew you would want to know that. I am so ready to be done with diapers.

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Face painting at festival

There is a face painting booth at the local 4th of July festival. It is manned by a local church group looking to meet and reach out to new people. The good news is it is always free! This was our second round of face painting: William picked spider, Amelia picked a heart and Gemma wanted a pint heart (pink heart).

As we were walking away, I noticed that Amelia decided to have her design on her calf. For some reason, this brought forth the image of Amelia coming home years from now to show us her new tattoo. I'm not ready!

(We don't have anything against tattoos. at all. But, imagining my precious 6 year old with a tattoo is a jolt.)

Meeting Elsa and Anna!

Amelia and Gemma got to meet their favorite princess sister set at the 4th of July festival!

More girls 4th of July

They were so cute!

4th of July float

Here is William with the float. He is above and to the right of the word one.

Fruit of the labor

Here they are with some of the finished product!

Good morning!

Strawberry jam

We love strawberry jam. I usually make my own every few years and store it in the freezer. This last week, I went down to grab another container of jam and found there wasn't any. None. It was practically an emergency. The last time I made jam was in 2012.

Usually we pick our own strawberries, but this year they aren't quite In season anymore.

I settled for farm stand berries and started on the jam process. Of course, my three trusty helpers wanted some fun too! They were very very helpful for about an hour and then, one by one, they wandered away to other pursuits.

This brings back many fond memories of growing up. Picking strawberries for hours upon hours in the blistering sun without food or drink (my mom assures me there were plenty of snacks and it was only a short picking session. I do not recall it this way.) was a tradition most summers. We would then take our 100 lbs of strawberries (or 1, spending on who you ask) and slave over the hot stove for hours and hours (I suspect my contributions were not as lengthy as I recall) to produce gorgeous red jam. Of posse, I want the same for my kids.

Which is why I enlisted their help with my project.

4 hours and close to 25 pounds of sugar later, we now have a full freezer stock of the yummy strawberry jam.

Amelia's cartwheel

You may recall Amelia started gymnastics this May. Like, 3 months ago May. Imagine my surprise when I looked up and found her doing this!

Hair raising

It was a hair raising experience!

Magic house day

We are squeezing in as much summer fun as we can! We took the whole family back to the magic house on Saturday for some kid fun!

Braid bun

The Internet it a great invention. It is full of information. For example, there are hundred of different tutorials showing how to execute hairstyles. Lucky for me, Amelia is game for trying out most of them.

Shark carrot

Look mom! My carrot looks like a shark!

Gemma

John and were scrambling to make dinner. It is the most stressful time of the day. Kids are crabby and hungry. John and I tag team many days in the kitchen. Someone breaks up a fight and someone else pours milk. Then we switch. Someone cleans up a spilled cup of milk and the other attends to a bathroom emergency. Many nights this goes smoothly, but many more nights it is a frustrating one step forward and two steps back type process.

Last night, Gemma came running in crying. She was holding her arm.

Mama: Gemma! What is the matter?
Gemma: I hurt my arm!
Mama: what happened?
Gemma: I don't know.
Mama: what were you doing?
Gemma: something crazy

I started towards her to check out the injury. Before I took two steps, she spied a toy in the next room and took off to go and play.

Apparently she was just fine?

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Cookies

We bought a cookie to share after lunch.

Gemma ate most of her piece, and then started offering chunks to daddy. Breaking the cookie up was making a huge mess. I grabbed a napkin and started cleaning up the mess.

Which is when Gemma turned to me and said, "I'm saving all these crumbs for a mouse-y. The mouse-y will eat up all these crumbs!

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The wave

We rode the wave ride and then William and Amelia wanted to get drenched on the bridge. Mom and dad weren't interested in getting more wet. Just behind the wave ride is the very intense roller coaster I talked both kids into riding called "boomerang".

6 flags

Here they are on another ride.

William and Amelia

Ride the swings.

We went to 6 flags this last week. The kids were awarded free tickets from school as part of a reading program. William has been asking to go for the last 2 years and we just haven't been able to make it happen. It is expensive, hot, and not really the place you want to bring a baby (Gemma). We also weren't sure how many rides our young kids could ride. This year, we felt like we were in a good place enough where we could go.

At the last minute, our friends offered to watch Gemma and we took them up on their offer.

We had a very fun day. Our big kids were so much fun! They went on many of the little kid rides and several of the more intense rides, including a very intense roller coaster! Mom and dad had fun too, although one of us has a little trouble with rides now. John will just have to take some Dramamine next time we ride rides.

Toad the wet sprocket

One of the bands we heard yesterday at the festival was Toad the Wet Sprocket. The kids liked the music, but none of them enjoyed how loud it was. They were much happier on the other side of the field at the face painting booth.

4th of July parade

Daddy took the girls to watch the parade while mom walked the parade with the Boy Scout float.

Note my adorable girls in their outfits. I told myself I could dress them matching as long as they don't mind. I have to quit if they don't agree. So far, they ADORE matching each other which makes me exceptionally happy.

We ran out of candy twice during the parade and one do the dads ran to a store along the parade route and purchased more candy. Which only lasted a few more blocks. Sweet William knew they were running out of candy, so he put a sucker in his pocket. Not for him. He was saving it for Amelia. The girls were alllllllll the way at the end of the parade route as it is closer to our house and walkable. William waited until he saw his sister and then pitched her the sucker from the float. (I'm going to ignore the fact he didn't save one for Gemma.)

I was pulling a rolling cooler full of freeze pops. I was able to save 2 freeze pops for my girls at the end of the route as well. They were very happy to see us!

Nothing to see here

Just reading a book. No big deal....

Yes I can

Gemma was playing at the park while we were at the lake of the Ozarks. There was a climbing wall as part of the playground. Gemma was climbing it and requested a little help (in reality, she did not need help, she needed someone to spot her and reassure her). I stood behind her and she turned her head back towards me and said, "mom, you are too big to climb this wall. You cannot do this. You are to big."

I waited patiently for her to climb down and move on to the next thing before I went ahead and proved her wrong.

She came back to check out what I was doing. I like to think the look on her face here is one of astonishment, envy and respect for my climbing skills.

Busy, 6 weeks in review

It has been a busy few weeks. Or month.

The kids school year ended in May, but I still was teaching class for a few more weeks. Our usual babysitter was out of town for the last week of class. Wrapping up the end of the school year is always work to close up the books and file away the paperwork. Without complaining too much, this work needs to happen outside of class, which means adding one more piece to an already complicated puzzle.

Graduation was a proud moment for me as I watched 8 of my students walk the stage this year. It doesn't seem like many, but when you see the impact on their lives, the impact on their confidence, the result is amazing.

In the thick of it, we went camping for a weekend with the Boy Scouts. We went camping with a poor kid who was covered in hives from an allergic reaction to penicillin from an earlier bout of strep throat.

This month Gemma decided she was ready and willing for potty training. We have all worked hard with her and she is doing very well. We aren't all the way there, but we are very proud of our big girl!

I have also been asked to do some teacher training this summer by the state. I will be presenting workshops to adult education instructors around the state this summer and fall. This is new and exciting for me. I look forward to this new opportunity and what it will bring.

A few weeks ago I traveled to Kansas City to present and then to Springfield Missouri for another presentation back to back. Daddy stepped up and wrangled kids solo for 2 days. I enjoyed the work, although the driving piece wasn't my favorite. I was very happy to see everyone when I got home! Pictures here are mama and Gemma snuggled up in her bed after I got home. It was good for both of us to have some time together. John snuck in to take a picture. He was certain I was asleep. I'm pretty sure my eyes are just shut for a moment.

5 days later, we packed the whole family up to go to the yearly Adult Education conference at the Lake of the Ozarks. I presented a workshop here as well, which I think went well. The kids enjoyed park time, mini golf and relaxing while mom worked.

Which brings us to this holiday weekend! William and John have been working hard on building the Boy Scout parade float. William has been disappointed the last 2 years as he hasn't been able to be in the 4th of July parade with his friends. He was so excited to ride the parade float for the first time this year. (Pictures to follow)

We enjoyed the local festival with rides, music and friends.

The big kids are signed up for camp next week, which means it will be mom and Gemma again during the days together. Summer is just slip sliding by!

Honey bee

Sometimes you need to stop and smell the flowers. Or stop and find the port a potty for a kid.