Wow. I never imagined you at four. I guess I just thought you'd be my little baby girl forever. You are so grown up and such a character that I have a hard time keeping up. First, I can never promise you anything because you have the memory of an elephant. You will bring up something I said in passing months before and hold me to it, or even more so you will point out some way a friend at school wronged you "yesterday" (last year) and use it as an excuse for a way you acted today. Song lyrics, books, tv shows, you can recount back to me the plot after just one time.
You say you're going to be an engineer (because you want to come to work with ME all the time), but I don't think so. You will likely be one of four things. First, an attorney, a trial lawyer to be exact. Because you argue up and down and use big words like "ridiculous" and have that crazy photographic memory. Second, I can also see you in sales / marketing of some sort. You are the opposite of shy and have a habit of sidling up to any adult you see and telling them your deepest darkest secrets, getting them to trust you. And you are an amazing liar. I have to drag it out of you 3 or 4 times before I get the truth because your cover story and deadpan face is just that good. So that trait could contribute to either of those potential careers.
There is a whole other side of you though, that leads me to think you could be a nurse/doctor/veterinarian or an actress. You have such a caring way about you when you attend to your puppies, your dolls, and the affection you show to me (well lets face it everyone) is nothing but love. You exude personality and are always coming up with something crazy that you just love and are so passionate about that you want to implement it into every aspect of your life- your artwork, pretend play, and stories. Currently, Powerpuff Girls, My Little Pony Equestria Girls, Paw Patrol, Barbies, and of course the Disney Princesses (namely Jasmine) take the lead in all of your fun. Let's not forget JEM, of course, whom after you themed your birthday party. Though hesitant at first, you loved getting up and singing on the stage and totally got into the songs you knew well. Every morning when there's a spare minute before school you and your brother are in the living room pounding away on the piano or fighting over the harmonica or karaoke machine.
Just this week you moved up to the Pre-K room at school, your very last transition ever, and I can barely contain myself. Less than a year and a half and you'll be in kindergarten! Having gotten stellar marks on your preschool progress report (including helping others and inclusiveness, which I LOVE to see), you were finally a bit challenged in your first day. Even socially, it took some adjusting as you hovered around the classroom "queen bees" and decided you have your bff but the others you don't have time for because they say mean things to others like "stupid". I'm proud of you for standing up to them and not allowing yourself to be intimidated, even being the youngest in the class.
We had your birthday party a week late because I was away for work on your real birthday weekend, but it was worth the wait. You wanted a JEM themed party with singing and dancing on stage so we had it at a local performing arts company. It was a bit awkward at first, as karaoke always is, but you and your friends got really into it and it was amazing and hilarious to watch. You have such a spunky personality and a passion when you sing (even if you are a bit tone deaf just like me) that it entertains and enthuses everyone around. All of your friends and their parents talked about your party with smiles on their faces, a great time had by all. And when you're older and you're at a karaoke bar at 1:30 in the morning, with half of your friends wanting to leave for pizza, some wanting to keep singing, and a handful falling asleep, you'll understand just why you guys were so entertaining. We love it!
Finally, my mommy guilt got to me for being away for your birthday and I made you a big promise which I delivered on just this past weekend. We got your ears pierced. You spend the entire week leading up to it talking to everyone about how excited you were and when Friday finally came you were ready. You went to dance class even though you asked if we could skip it because you were so eager to get your ears done. After dance you rushed me out, nervously talking about how if it would hurt that's ok because it's just a pinch. When we got to the kiosk in the mall you spend a long time selecting the perfect pair of earrings to remain in your ears for 6-8 weeks. I tried to guide you to some simple studs but you finally came to rest on a pair of gold princess crowns that had just enough sparkle in them. We selected two other pairs to have after you could change them and gave everything to the lady to ring up. You climbed up into the chair, excited but anxious and looked at the bowl of lollipops on the counter, reaching for one like you owned the joint. When the ladies told you to go ahead you popped it in your mouth and didn't notice them approach with the guns. They marked your ears with the markers and you proclaimed it didn't hurt at all. We laughed and got right to the piercing. For about 15 seconds you said "owie owiee owieeeee" then asked for the pretzel I promised you. I proclaimed how beautiful you looked and told you about how brave you were since I'd cried when I got mine done when I was 5, and you included that little tidbit forever after in your response to people asking if it hurt when you got them done. I love it how you were so proud that you didn't cry, my toughie.
Well munch, I think I've covered it all. You are a big girl now, 4 years old. Maybe you'll stop sucking your thumb like you've been promising for a year now? It's ok if you don't though, you know I'll always love you no matter what. And I know, that no matter what you say to me during your little moments of angst (which I can't believe happen at this age already!), I'll just keep replaying your sweet little voice in my head I'm thankful for my family! I have the best family ever. Best Mommy ever, best Daddy ever, best brother EVER. Don't forget, YOU are the best too Lobster. We love you more than you'll ever know.
Love,
Mommy
My favorite meal - mussels!
I get into the part when I play sleeping beauty
Creativity center... making markers!
Getting Blessings and God from my best girl!
Loving nights in with mommy and my brother.
Yes. That cake is made of krimpets and chocolate cupcakes. Gee, thanks mom.
I LOVE jewelry making!
My Jasmine outfit is the BEST
What I chose to wear to school on the day we celebrated my birthday
My Aunt is the BEST for taking me all day on my birthday!
I love being at grandmom's too!
And i'm really not to shabby of an artist either... Powerpuff girls!
So excited for my JEM party
JEM is outrageous!
I'm really into it.
Happy Birthday to ME!
All my pals
These speak for themselves. I may have started off timid, but I rocked it ;)
Oddly enough, this turned out to be my favorite present, even though I have like 5,000 tents...
Dressing my girl up!
I love coming to mommy's work because I get my nails did...
I started writing this entry a few weeks ago. I wasn't too wrapped up in the emotion of my boy getting older because I was so wrapped up in other issues as I last posted. But now that I'm finally giving this a title and all I'm starting to well up. I remember writing his 6 month letter and it seems like yesterday. And now we're 1/3 of the way to 18. PLEASE slow down, time.
Dear Gobbles,
Your 6th birthday came this year amid a flutter of chaos in our house but still you handled it with the grace and maturity of a much older kid. As always, I am incredibly thankful for that. Buddy, you seem so grown up right now, only in kindergarten but already my little helper with chores and your sister and just an all around good guy. When we get home from school you hop out and get the mail, let the dogs out, bring them back in and wipe their paws, feed them, and start your homework. Sure, you put up a bit of a fight with the homework but I get it, you don't get home til after 6 and you're hungry and tire and it's the last thing you want to do when there's tv to watch and you just want to unwind. But you're good at it, you breeze through it and I'll just give it a quick check and you're on your way. Like me, you spend more time fighting over doing it than you spend actually doing it!
School is going well for you, academically I have no worries as you're already interested in math up to multiplication and you're reading all the books school sends home. The fall has been a bit touch and go with your friends. You have two bffs you've had since you started in the infant room and I think the rule of 3 is coming in when you guys are deciding what to what to play at recess. Batman vs Star Wars (you fighting for the latter) between two stubborn kids and the tiebreaker. You've branched out though and I've heard you talk about other kids you've become friends with. You also have your girlfriend D who you know I love and your sister is bffs with her sis (and her mom and I get along famously). You are always so sweet with her, holding her hand and sharing your stuff, even holding doors with her. I love it.
And speaking of sweet, you have the biggest heart of any 6 year old I know, always drawing pictures for me or making extra airplanes for your sister. I am so incredibly proud of you for what you decided to do for your birthday party this year. We found out you could have parties at the local SPCA, so we asked you and of course you jumped all over the idea of having dogs and cats at your party. I gave you an option of getting presents from your friends like normal or requesting donations (presents for the dogs and cats) instead. You didn't even hesitate when you said Mommy, the dogs don't even have homes, we need to bring them presents. Your intentions were so sweet and my heart is still swollen with pride. Your party ended up being a big success, with other kids loving the animals just as you do. Despite the offer though, no one went home with any live party favors!
Finally, since I missed the entire fall a few updates on you.
-Your favorite color has shifted from yellow to red because you are a jr sith lord who was emperor palpatine on Halloween and Darth Vader and now Kilo Ren are your heroes. We saw Star Wars a few days ago and you sat agape the entire show, enthralled for over two hours. You still have an immense interest in science and planets and all that fun and seem to understand the big picture when we explain things like season change and even day and night.
-You got your report card and of the nearly 90 ranked kindergarten assessments you received 3/3 on all but 3 of them. You know you're a smart kid but please, always remember to work hard and not give up.
-You've currently changed your career choice from engineer to dog rescuer. You don't care that Daddy and I told you that wasn't really a "career", because that's what you're going to do. Yes, you have gotten a bit more argumentative in your old age but if you didn't I'd start to wonder where you came from.
-You already eat like a teenager in terms of quantity and love fruit. Your palate has recently expanded from just ordering pizza or mac n cheese at restaurants to burgers and more. You haven't stopped talking about the chicken parm I made for you and you even ate loads of clams Daddy made on New Years Eve. Keep it up, always be open to new things because you never know what you'll like.
-You may or may not become the next american ninja warrior. You can climb trees and monkey bars with ease and can maneuver yourself on top of them in ways that I even can't. Just please be careful up there buddy.
Well my favorite time of the day is almost here - when I pick you guys up from school and you greet me with the best hug and Hi Mommy! in the world, usually followed by Look at this ___ I made today!
I love you more than you'll ever know! (and yes, as you told me when I said this on your birthday Mo-om, you ALWAYS write that....)
Love,
Mommy
You made star wars puppets during after-care one day. You made your sister put on a puppet show with you and it was awesome.
You loved this horse so much you asked if we could get one.
Yup, that's an adult order. No problem for you.
A boy and his best friends.
You do still go back to your old faithfuls.. Make your own pizza? Every. Time.
Just a leisurely ride through the neighborhood.
this is you (in the blue) after I told you to NOT go as high. To me this is still too high!
A sick day at my work, you made no complaints about doing some math too...
You prefer apple pie (or cookies) to cake...
She loves you so much.
One of the many things to decorate your mini-adult room. Others include more posters, a lightsaber lamp, star wars decals, and a full size bed complete with Star Wars comforter.
Best birthday party ever. As you've been told!
A random weeknight with your girlfriend.
Your favorite Santa gift - the Force Push
I forgot to mention what a great helper you are with putting things together. Here you are taking apart the daybed/crib to move out of your sisters room.
Legos = awesome!
Day 2 of Christmas break at grandmom's house. yikes!
Day three of Christmas break at work with me. That day you told one of my coworkers how funny it was when Spoons jumped on you and it "tickled my wee wee..." yikes again!
Your new old favorite game, chess.
Finally! A seafood eater. Yummy clams.
Your New Years' Kiss at midnight!
I have a feeling this will get a lot of use this summer!
We have been quite busy this year with a million things, that Halloween crept up quietly and was gone in a flash. Luckily, I was prepared in that both kids wanted costumes that were readily accessible so I didn't have to handmake anything.
The big pre-Halloween festivity this year was the Princess Poozer's 3rd Birthday Party. It was held at the same place her first one was, a seasonally-appropriate, adorable local pumpkin patch. It was extra convenient for us this year too since we never managed to make it to Linvilla.
The day was cold but the kids didn't care, the weather seemed to align with the Frozen theme of the party. First, the kids had their faces painted- Anna from Frozen for the Lobster Roll (to coordinate with her cousin Elsa of course), and Gobbles selected the seemingly random Iron Man. His makeup turned out a little creepy, and I couldn't help but gasp when I first saw him! After eating, singing happy birthday, and playing with the pinata (where the lobster and her cousin insisted on putting every piece of confetti into their bags), we went on to explore what the farm had to offer.
First the kids bounced in a moon bounce and slid down a giant inflatable slide, then it was time for the hayride. The hayride took us to the pumpkin patch where each child could pick out a little pumpkin. The Lobster Roll immediately selected the first one she saw. And the second. And so on, impulsively picking up and discarding pumpkins any of which she'd be happy with. Gobbles, on the other hand, was very selective about his prize. He examined each one thoroughly for symmetry and a lack of bruising. He tended towards the larger ones when we reminded him it needed to be something he could carry himself. It was then when I noticed a pumpkin, still on the vine (or whatever they grow on), still half green and very healthy. I pointed it out to him and his face lit up over the unique-looking but perfect gourd. He did not stop talking about it the rest of the day, how he was the only one to get a green pumpkin. Later, when we carved the pumpkins on mischief night, he deemed it magic because it had ripened into a bright orange perfect for a jack-o-lantern.
After the hayride, the kids rode the cow train, the ponies, and finally played on the haystacks. Hubs took them over to the apple shooter where Gobbles in all his serious accuracy came so very close to landing the target they were aiming for. Again the Lobster was fine with the fun of firing the apples and as long as they whooshed through the air and smacked onto something afar, she was happy. Finally, party came to an end, just the beginning of our Halloween celebrations.
A week after the party, the Halloween spirit was in full swing when we got "Boo-ed" for the year. The kids excitedly rifled through the bag of stuff and plotted their plan to boo other neighbors. Considering they each have about one kid their age in the neighborhood, the selection wasn't surprising. So my next trip to Target included a few extra things to put in boo bags. I printed out the obligatory poem at work and when we got home that night it was off to boo. Gobbles was an old pro having done this last year with hubs, but the Lobster was still a little timid. I turned off my headlights and watched Gobbles run up to the house, knock on the door, leave the bag, and run away. He scrambled back into the car and I shut the door behind him as he giggled quietly. When we got to the Lobster's house choice, she chickened out completely and requested that Gobbles do that house as well. I'm not sure how hard he knocked on this one because I saw no reaction at the door, so they might have had it sitting on their step all night, but oh well. The kids had fun and that's all that matters!
Up until the night before Halloween, the pumpkins the kids had gotten at the birthday party remained untouched. At the last minute I decided it would be fun for the kids to carve them, something I've actually never done before. Since the pumpkins were on the smaller side, we didn't have a template or any fancy design that would fit, so I just kind of winged it. Each kid scooped out all of the pumpkin guts and described to me exactly how they wanted it carved. Gobbles chose circle eyes, a triangle nose, and a smiling mouth with four teeth on both the top and bottom. The Lobster requested heart shaped eyes, a circle mouth with teeth, and a circle nose. Then Gobbles went back and asked for eyebrows and ears. Then the Lobster added stickers on hers. Then it was dinner time, so we admired the lit Jack-O-Lanterns for a millisecond, ate dinner, told them goodnight, and went to bed. It was then I realized you're not supposed to put the lid back on when they're lit. Whoops.. A bit of burnt pumpkin smell on our sunporch but not terrible. They'd be outside the next day anyway.
On Hallween we woke up with a purpose- so many stops to make on a strict time schedule. First, we went to my sister's to see baby Z all dressed up for her first Halloween. Of course, in the costume department my sister outdid herself and had an awesome-looking Princess Lea along with a somewhat behaved Darth Puppy. The kids showed off their costumes and filled their Trick-or-Treat pails for the first of many times that day. On the way home, we stopped at my work so my little Jake and the Neverland and the Pirate Princess Fairy (because why be just one of those things) could show off their costumes and, of course, collect more candy. We then went home to nap before heading off to school's Halloween Parade.
This year the school separated the Harvest Party from the Halloween Parade, and with the party being on the weekend, many parents opted to just go to the parade. The Lobster Roll stood out among her class full of Annas (second siblings), proudly holding her teacher's hand and marching around the school yard with a purpose. Gobbles, who had been talking about the parade for a week, was suddenly overcome with a bellyache the minute it was time for his class to parade. The ailment lasted through pictures but magically disappeared the minute the kids started running and playing. Poor guy must have had a touch of stage fright.
Finally, the big night arrived, Halloween Trick or Treat. This year there was no pregame pizza party since there were big plans for afterwards, so as soon as we finished dinner at our house, we set the bowl out with a note, loaded the wagon with beer (and kids) and headed up the street. We hit a few houses in our cul-de-sac when we could hear the shouts of other kids on the other side of the woods, so we cut through to the other side of the neighborhood to make our way around from there. About halfway through trick-or-treating we met up with the little group and continued on with them. Gobbles made sure not to miss anything and kept up with all the kids his age and a little older, while the Lobster started to fall behind and was perfectly content to sit in the wagon, which was fine with us considering both of their pails were too heavy for them to carry on their own.
The group looped back around the 'hood and we eventually made it back to our house, where the candy bowl hadn't even been emptied yet. We recharged the bowl, brought our guys inside for a potty break, and got our chairs so we could head over to the party that was starting in one of the cul-de-sacs. The bonfire was set and the leary trick-or-treaters were drizzling in when we sat down for a beer with our neighbors. The kids huddled together on a blanket on a lawn watching Ghostbusters and eating their candy (so proud of Gobbles who has not indicated any fear since). The temperature began to drop and after a few hours I decided to call it quits and head home with the kids, hubs sticking around to enjoy a few more drinks.
I don't think I'll ever forget getting the kids ready for bed that Halloween night, I wish I could be in that kind of mood with them all the time. They were chocolate wasted and I had a little buzz, and we were all deliriously tired from the long day. Instead of rushing and screaming "get your pajamas on, it's bedtime" like usual, I just sat and cracked up with them as they clumsily brushed their teeth, fell into each other running around the room, and more general silliness. As I was changing them I posed "maybe we should skip stories tonight, we should be getting to bed because... (in my mind i was thinking 'we're so drunk', because we had that same kind of atmosphere as my friends and i do at a girls weekend after going out), but Gobbles reeled me back in and finished for me "...we're so tired", And they were- no arguments about going to bed, and my own Mr. Gobbles slept until 11am the next morning. The Lobster didn't sleep in, but did insist on wearing her pirate princess costume all next day, and since it was that or pajamas, it didn't bother me in the least.
Elsa, Anna, and a half-assed Olaf!
Let's get this party started!
BFFs!
Queen Elsa!
Princess Anna!
...and IronMan?
Happy Birthday Princess!
Two peas in the pod.
Pull string pinatas are genius!
These two very carefully gathered up every little "treasure" they could find!
Party time!
After awhile I got used to his scary face!
This one! No that one! I want them ALL!
Wow Nana, how about this one?
Look Mom! It's green - you're favorite color!
Check us out all pumpkin- patch-y!
One advantage of being smaller than your cousin- you can sit on her lap!
hey there, everyone!!!
mom, can we get a pony?
I agree with Gobbles! I want a pony - I look like a cowgirl!
Careful, don't fall!
See - I'm queen of the hay!
Sure, Gobbles, just shoot away...
I'm king of the world!
Ready too BOO! Oh mom, don't mind the dreads... It was picture day at school and the teachers put them in my hair... ?!?
scoop scoop scoop the pumpkin
workin hard to get these seeds!
hmmm.. now which sticker should I use?
Our eyebrows match!
so proud of our jack-o-lanterns!
Happy Halloween!
yummy pumpkin seeds!
Oh just look at us!
Z says "eff you please get this wig off of me!"
Candy in the office! whoo hoo!
YAY I'm the pirate princess! Oww... my belly hurts.
