Today you, Today I (Ainsley)

(just found this post saved in the draft folder and didn't want it to get forgotten)

Today was one of your last days of summer before you start kindergarten/pre kindergarten at Casner.  Before breakfast this morning, you chose to wear a flowered shirt and flowered shorts and said you were wearing a garden.  Today I saw your creativity and love for all things that are pretty.

Today was Bailey's first day of gymnastic for the year so you and I had a rare and wonderful morning together alone with Caroline. Today you were such a good, caring, nurturing big sister to Caroline and stayed in the car and kept her happy so that I could go into gymnastics with just Bailey.  Today I could see what a great mom you will be one day. Today you were such a big helper to me and even though I'm thankful for your help, today I am mindful that I don't want to ask too much of you. You are the oldest but you are still only five.

Today you wanted to play High-Ho Cherry-o during Caroline's morning nap. You kept patiently waiting while I started the laundry, did the dishes, and pumped for an upcoming trip. You followed me around during all of this saying that you didn't want to me to be lonely while I did lots of  "mommy work."  Today I loved having your small body follow mine around.  While you were waiting you drew a picture for Daddy and asked me to take a picture and send it to him so that he knew that we missed him since he has been out of town.  Today I saw what a thoughtful, loving spirit you have and it made my heart sing.

Then Caroline woke up from her nap early and we didn't get to play our game. Today you didn't mind and were excited to play with Caroline instead. Today I saw your easy-going positive spirit and it made my heart feel so thankful for your flexibility, but today, I was disappointed that I didn't prioritize better and missed an opportunity to share a game with you.

Today you worked hard to string a necklace of small candy beads.  Even though it was difficult for you at times, as soon as you got done you took all the beads off the string so that you could make another.  Today I saw your determination and what a hard-worker you are.  You kept asking me how many candy beads you could eat and today I let you eat more than I normally would.  Today, your excitement about this made me smile.  Once you were finished making your necklace again, you were so proud to wear it, but were mindful to take it off when you played with Caroline so that she wouldn't get upset that she couldn't share it.  Today I was once again impressed with what a thoughtful child you can be.

Today you asked me to have a dance party with you. You played music on the kitty keyboard and instructed me on how I should dance. Today I made you laugh so hard by dancing goofy and silly and completely different than how you wanted.

Today during your quiet time you laughed, sang and talked to yourself loudly. Today I didn't mind hearing your sweet, playful voice.  Today, it just made me smile at your childish innocence and I resisted shushing you so that you wouldn't wake up Caroline and Bailey from their afternoon naps.  Today your loud games did end up waking Caroline from her nap.

This afternoon Bailey got upset when he couldn't get his superman hat on right and since I was nursing Caroline I couldn't come help him immediately.  Today you were a loving big sister to him and helped him fix his hat without being asked.  Today you were also sure to tell me that you helped him.  But despite that, today I got to see your tender heart and I'm thankful for the love you shower on Bailey and Caroline.  

Today you were recreating the movie Frozen with your Elsa and Anna dolls on the couch in the living room.  Today you caught me watching you and stopped your play and got embarrassed and said "what?"  I told you that I just liked to watch you play and that you were doing a good job of acting out the movie.  Today, that answer was sufficient for you and you went back to playing.  And today I was reminded of how quickly you are growing up.

Great Norma's Jewels

When my mom was visiting in September she brought a special box of my grandmother's costume jewelry that my brothers and I played with when we were little.  My grandparents are cleaning house and have passed down these treasures to me and my children.  It was such fun to walk down memory lane with these shiny accessories and I am so thankful to have these fond memories and to get to share the fun with my three little people!  It all feels so surreal!  Below are two of my brothers with me in the middle in all our jewels!

Before I shared the box with the big kids, Caroline and I went through them because I was excited to see them all for myself first.  I'm glad we had this quiet moment because it took a lot of monitoring with the older kids.  Plus this way Caroline got first dibs which rarely happens!

Then the next day, Ainsley and Bailey had such fun with them!  When I was little, I remember being amazed that my grandmother had so many beautiful things and it was so fun to watch my kids enjoy them as much as I remember enjoying them.  

 Bailey wanted to put on as many as he could and tended to like the golden ones the most.  We even caught him trying to sneak them off in other hiding places instead of putting them back in the box when it was time to clean up! 

Ainsley loved all the ones that were shiny and the locket.  She kept making big exclamations like "Ooohh!  This is the prettiest one I have ever seen!" and "I just want to wear these forever!" and "Normally I only like to wear one necklace but these are all so pretty that I just can't decide!"  It was really sweet to watch her love them all so much and it brought back a lot of memories.  

Baby girl just loved being part of the action and everything she could get her hands on went right in her mouth!  But I know that soon enough she will be more involved in the fun!

Thank you Grandma/Great Norma for sharing your treasures with us! We love you!

This and That

I'm so behind on blogging about all the big things that are happening, that I often forget about capturing the day to day sweetness and craziness of life right now.  So here are a few pictures of the daily life with these munchkins....  Above is Bailey and Caroline... This day Bailey asked me to take a picture of them.  He really is so sweet with her.

Below is Caroline loving the bath!  It might be the happiest part of her day.

Every now and then Ainsley will go over and beyond helping us clean or straighten and so we give her a dollar for her hard work.  This would just happen randomly so we didn't think much of it and so the other day when she brought down all her money for me to help her count, I was blown away that she had almost $40!  This included her birthday money too but still!  (I was also surprised to see that some of her dollars had been cut in half so that "there would be 2 and not just 1."  I understand her logic but we worked on getting that straight!)  She was so excited to pick out an Anna barbie and a rainbow barbie dress to buy with some of her money.  I love how proud she looks in this picture!

For a while Bailey went through this phase where he was constantly asking me to make boats (out of tin foil) for his super heroes.  Then he would play these elaborate games with them at the water table.

 My little baby bedhead!  All that pretty hair causes some problems at times!

One day during afternoon naps, I caught this sweet picture of my boys snoozing in the same way.  They are such buddies!

Before summer ended, George and I took a special morning and went to a local child-size amusement park called Kiddie Acres.  It had several vintage carnival rides and was a lot of fun for the kids.  Ainsley's  favorite was getting to ride on the real ponies and Bailey's favorite was the choo-choo train.

The two monkey's one morning at school drop-off.  These big kids love each other so much and play amazing well together.  It's sweet to sit back and watch/listen to them interact.  Of course they fight, but the majority of the time they are best buddies, and I'm super grateful for that!

My beautiful big girl who from time to time insists on hats and purses.

This night George and I got takeout and had a date night on the foundation of our new house.  Parts of the walls had just gone up but there was no roof so once it got dark we laid on our backs and looked at the constellations.  It was a really sweet and exciting evening getting to dream about what it will be like to actually live here!

My littlest beauty... overall such a happy baby!!

My 32nd birthday!  It's hard to believe that I'm this old and young.  No big celebrations but George was proud of this awesome cake he bought and then the next night we went out to a delicious dinner at Uchi, this amazing sushi place.  I'm a lucky gal!

Volcano!

The other day Bailey and I had a fun stay-at-home volcano making date! Bailey had minimal activities this summer, so he spent more time than usual at home with me and just became my little buddy.  With him at school more mornings this fall, I was missing some of my time with him, which made this date morning extra special.   I didn't really plan for it to be involved as it was but it was super fun!  First we made the volcano mountain out of flour and oil and a small soda bottle.  

We put baking soda and maybe some red food coloring (can't exactly remember now) inside the bottle and then added vinegar.... and watched the magic eruptions!  Bailey loved it!

Because of the clay-like mountain form, we were able to keep adding more baking soda and vinegar so that we could see our volcano erupt over and over again.  It was awesome and Bailey was so proud of his mountain!

Then once we were done with the volcano, Bailey had almost just as much fun - if not more - playing with the doughy mess!  It was a great morning with my lil man!