Milestones!

Since my last post we had a big milestone. Grandma turned 50!! 

I collected cards from friends, family and neighbors. She loved reading them!

 Sydney sat and helped her open them all. 

A few days later we had a surprise party for her. 

 Except, we had to call it a surprise non-party because she kept telling us she didn't want a party. We had a Qdoba hot bar and some neighbors over to celebrate her big day.

This pretty much sums up every picture we take. 

We hit a MAJOR milestone at gymnastics this week. Maddie climbed the rope and rang the bell. 

She got to write her name on the wall and she was so proud of herself!

I was so proud of her too. She's been wanting her chance on the rope. At her second class they tried the rope and she couldn't do it. She told me that night that she was the "worst in her class." She is the youngest (she's with 8 and 9 year olds) and doesn't have all of the skills that some of the girls have that have been in her level longer. But, she's been practicing, practicing and when it came time to try the rope again, she did it! Go Maddie go! She's super close to doing a backbend kickover and she very rarely falls off the beam now.

We ran to the mall this past weekend for a Disney Store trip. We got to the store a few minutes before it opened and were treated to a fun surprise.

The first child there gets to help "open" the store.

They put on Sorcerer Mickey's outfit, wave their magic fingers, and say the magic words. The rope drops and the store is "open." Sydney didn't wear the outfit but she did get to help with the magic fingers and magic words. Both girls also got a lanyard!


When tia comes, her discount is too good to pass up!

We went to K and D's for chili and, for the second weekend in a row, we were twinning. 

Maddie her her first First Grade field trip. We went to Jefferson Memorial Forest. There's always a ton of parents who participate at our school, so I only had one kiddo in my group besides Madeline. 

The kids got to pet a snake, a turtle, a bunny and more.

We went on a nature hike to look for animals. When we went over rules for what to do if we saw a snake, I texted Chris and said, "You will really enjoy this field trip when you come with Sydney." I don't do snakes. Fortunately, the only ones we saw were in aquariums or being held by a guide.

Mads and Murphy standing outside the bathrooms. And, by bathroom, I mean hole in the ground.

The kids got nets and scooped out salamanders and tadpoles.

Fun with my big girl!

These monkeys were sitting in the grass the other day talking to each other and I had to snap a pic at their same poses.

Finally, it's been awesome getting the last of my October packages out the door. This was a busy, milestone, travel month! My biggest month ever - 30 families have traveled, are traveling or will be soon, all before this month wraps!

Sydney's Four Year Well Check!

Last week, I took Sydney to her four year well check aka the WORST well-check ever. Because, if you have a child who is older than four, you know that's the one with all the shots. Sydney had a finger prick for a CBC and then four shots. She cried but honestly, did much better than I thought she would. 

Showing off her first (of 5!) band-aids.

She looked like quite a little warrior at gymnastics later that night.

Dr. Trace and I did a lot of talking at the appointment about my concerns with Sydney. While she still hasn't chosen a hand (she's likely a lefty) the doctor watched her write and color and since she does equally well with both hands she didn't think we needed to refer her to an occupational therapist yet. It's very interesting, she literally switches easily between the two and writes and colors the exact same with both. 

We also talked about her frequent croup and decided to put her on nightly breathing treatments through Winter. This will hopefully alleviate having to get steroid treatments every 4 -6 weeks for croup. Those are harder on her than the nightly maintenance medicine. At this point, it's still to early to do a pulmonary function test, but we are keeping a possibility for asthma in mind for future.

In terms of her growth, she's right on track!

Sydney Stats

4 Year Well-Check

Weight: 37 lbs (67.2%)

Height: 39.75 in (52.01%)

 *******

We had a fun week with friends. The girls did some hill-rolling.

We had Claire and Collin for supper one night. 

Maddie and Claire cheered at the South Oldham High School Football game. They had an absolute blast. Their teacher, Ms. Canady, actually let them do a cheer in front of their class that day after they told her they were performing. We had a great time at the game and recognize this is probably how we will spend our Fridays in 8 years! 

 The funniest part was when the cheerleader assigned to Maddie told me that she was BORN the year we graduated, in 2002. Chris and I laughed at first and then later were like "OH MY GOSH WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN TO US?"

Little miss had fun watching big sis and snuggling with mommy and eating football snacks like popcorn and skittles.

It was a HOT weekend so of course we had to have some ice cream. 

On Sunday we celebrated Sloane turning 3!

 And, when I showed up a bit early to help Danielle get things situated...we had a good laugh! Dressed literally the same, from the glasses on our heads to the flip flops on our feet. We used to do this ALL the time in college, literally at least 3 days a week. We'd walk out of our rooms wearing the same shirts, shorts, and tennis shoes. #besties

I got this pic of all of the paparazzi taking a picture of Sloane blowing out her candle. 

Birthday girl Sloane!

Maddie and Hadley (Sloane's cousin)

And, now it's Wednesday and we're back to normal schedule! So I will leave you with this pic of my sweet gals.

I am the luckiest.

Tiger Trek, Bourbon and Wine, Super Hero Day

After Sydney's birthday week, the fun kept coming!

I had a girls night so the girls talked daddy into ice cream (it's not hard!)

Maddie had Super Hero day at school. We found out the night before and mildly panicked. We're an all-princess house so we didn't have much to work with. That morning, at 6:18 AM, I came up with "Super Maddie." We threw on her M t shirt and fashioned a cape out of a dollar store table cloth. I thought she looked pretty cute.

She got off the bus and said, "Mom, like a million kids today asked why I was wearing a trash bag to school." She was SO put out. I laughed and said, "Oh man, did you tell them it was a cape?" She looked at me like I had four heads and said defiantly "No, I told them it was a table cloth." Ha! 

We snagged a babysitter and went to Bourbon and Wine Tasting, one of our favorite nights!

Mama doesn't get out much.

We celebrated nana's birthday!

Maddie had cheer camp and a birthday party one Saturday so while I was playing chauffeur, Sydney had a daddy date.

Stella got groomed. She gets too nervous to go to the real groomer now so Chris has been trying to manage her at home. 

The amount of dog hair that is shed around my house is staggering.

Maddie had Tiger Trek at School. This is the school's largest fundraiser, and this year they were raising money for Chrome Books. Maddie got 4 sponsors so she got a few prizes and was so excited. AND!! All of the kids designed a flag for their class...and took a vote and Maddie's design won! She got to transfer her design and design the "Class" flag which was displayed on the track for the walk-a-thin. She was so proud!

Starting work on her design. 

I was able to use my lunch and run up to the school for Tiger Trek. Maddie had a ton of anxiety after hearing she had to do 30 - 35 laps, so we were excited to find that they weren't laps round the high school track, but rather a shorter course set up for them. I think we all know, there is only one athlete in this family, and he runs Ironman races. The rest of us...we prefer movie marathons and endurance shopping.

It started off with smiles and high-energy kids racing around the track.

Then they slowed down a little...

Then, Maddie and Madison started dumping water on their heads, channeling their inner-marathon runner.

These two did the whole run together. Madison lives across the street from us. The girls haven't been in the same class at school but they are very tight. They have a long bus ride in the morning together and always sit and play toys, draw, etc.

Maddie's closest friends from school (and our neighborhood!)

Then, after school, we had a princess pizza-tea party. 

I had lunch with Madeline at school for the first time and got to meet her new friend, Emerson.

They loved showing me their hand clap.

Emerson and Maddie each have the same blue Matilda Jane dress. So, once a week, they make a plan to be twins at school. (Which usually means that Emerson's mom, Sarah, and I are texting at bedtime making sure they have the right day!) 

Speaking of Maddie, I got bamboozled and ended up hosting our first sleepover for her. Claire and Maddie stayed up way too late but had a TON of fun. We told Maddie she could have Claire over to play...and the next thing I knew, Claire was hopping the fence in her PJ's. 

Side note: Sydney was not happy that Collin couldn't come have a sleepover with her. That's Claire's little brother who Syd usually hangs with! We had to explain that boys couldn't sleep over and she didn't really get it.

AND!! Finally! We made our Disney countdown! 

Looking forward to being back at our favorite place!