She's 5!

Lexi turned five this past Thursday!  It's so crazy!

We had a party for her last weekend (the 7th) because I knew we'd be busy this weekend with family holiday parties.  Anyone want to guess the theme Lexi chose?

Yup.

Princesses.

I had stuff for all the kids to decorate their own party hats.

Ryley kept saying, "I busy!" when I asked her to smile.

Serenity kept trying to get me to take a picture of her.

I said, "Do a mad face." This is the result.

"Do a sad face!"

On Lexi's actual birthday, we let her choose where to eat dinner.  We ended up at the Pizza Pie Cafe in Clinton.  Yum!

I didn't give her a present from us at her party because I knew she'd want to open something on her real birthday.  I was right.

 

This is a Little People Princess Stable.  It's a whole lot cooler than I thought when I bought it.  And all of the kids love it.  I got it for a steal during Black Friday sales, and I wish I would have gotten a couple more for future niece birthday presents.

Here are Lexi's stats:

Height: 41 1/2 inches (40%!!!)

Weight: 40 lbs (40%!!!)

She's grown exactly three inches since last year and gained 6 lbs.  Doc was so happy to see the progress and mentioned that Lexi must have gone through a growth spurt finally.  :D  Yay!

'Tis the Season

We've been getting ready for Christmas!

Some friends came over to help us put up lights because we don't have a ladder.

 Working retail on Black Friday was rough, so we didn't get the tree up until the Sunday after Thanksgiving (usually I'm all over first thing the day after Thanksgiving).

Ari kissing the tree.  She's a lover.

SO EXCITED!

She had to kiss every. single. ornament that she was in charge of putting up.

I promise Ari really was wearing shorts.

All done!

This was one of Lexi's sections.  See all the green stick ornaments clumped together behind the nativity?  Yeah.

I've been really proud of myself because I haven't rearranged the tree at all.  Even when everyone and their dog came over for Lexi's birthday party.

I've been kind of in a shlump this year with getting all the decorations out (for every holiday, not just Christmas), which isn't like me at all.  I think my job has been wiping me out.  I get home at 2:00 AM because of holiday hours and then just don't feel like doing the normal housework plus all the extra holiday stuff.  Anyway, I did finally manage to get our Elf back out.  I wasn't going to, but the kids started asking about him and if he was going to find us in our new house.

Welcome back, Chuckles!

He hasn't done anything "naughty" this year and I'm going to keep it that way.  I think that if the Elf expects the kids to be good, he should be setting the example.  He's mainly just been switching places at night....or every other night if I forget when I get home from work and the kids wake up before me.  I just tell them the elf won't move if they were naughty the day before.  mwahahaha

Time to play!

As I said in a previous post, we've been hit by the sickness bug more than our fair share the last couple of months, which meant we've been trapped inside the house and everyone was getting cabin fever.  The Friday before Thanksgiving, Shane was like, "Let's just get out of here!"  We loaded the kids up and headed to Chuck-E-Cheese, a kid's paradise.

Kaden dancing with the mouse.

The girls were obsessed with these "rides" (that don't give any tickets..)

This one made animal noises and was their favorite.

Shane teaching Kaden to play air hockey.

On this ride, the whole seat moved side to side, shook, and rumbled.

He's focused.

I think they rode this one five times.

On the way home, Kaden said, "This was the best day EVER!" and the girls quickly agreed.  It's the little things, really.  :)

Gone

Shane was gone for a week in San Antonio for work last month.  It's the first time he's ever left without me and I was scared to death to send him into the airport by himself.  He made it through without tripping over anyone or anything, so that was a relief.

While he was gone, though, the kids were having meltdowns the first day about daddy leaving.  Ari was just a mess and started bawling the first time we talked to Shane on Skype on Monday (which made Shane tear up, too...awwwwww).

SO, I decided I was going to distract the kids with so much fun stuff, they wouldn't even realize the week was passing so quickly.  We went out to different activities almost every night.  Tuesday we went to Red Robin with Shane's parents, then had a popcorn pizza pajama party Wednesday, Thursday (?? I think?) we went to Chuck-a-rama with my mom and Kent.

Chuck-a-rama will get us through this, kids.

They spent a lot of time on Friday making a welcome home sign for Shane.  Kaden put a lot of detail into his parts.

I love Lexi's little people

I put it up Saturday morning and made them smile for me.

 We were going to pick Shane up after naps that day, so I decided to take them out one last time.

To Denny's for breakfast!

I was....grateful?...for the week alone with my kiddos.  It helped me realize just how much Shane helps out at the end of the day when I need a break.  It also helped me realize how much cleaner my bathroom stays without a man there.  ;)

Parent Teacher Conferences

Both Kaden and Lexi had their parent teacher conferences last month when Shane was gone to Texas.  They're still early on in their education, so they're both doing as wonderfully as they should be.  Kaden's teacher is always so impressed with him and loves having him in class.

Kaden reading his new book I bought him.

The school was doing a book fair sponsored by Usborne books (who had agreed to give the school a certain % of the profits).  I let each of the kids pick one book and you'd have thought Christmas came early.  Kaden was obsessed with his racecar book because it came with two wind-up cars and inside were three tracks (along with stories) for the cars to race around.

 Lexi's PTC was the next day and Bravo has the parents sit in on the class while the kids show us what they've learned.  Preschool is such a fun age.

Lexi's teacher, Mrs. Hedges, and the students.

Making a spider craft.

 As many of you know, I was in love with Kaden's preschool teacher last year, Miss Brinkerhoff.  For real, you guys, she is the epitome of what a preschool teacher should be.  I talked to the office staff about getting Lexi into her class, but it didn't work out.  I was really, really bummed about the teacher Lexi got when we went to the meet the teacher day.  Mrs. Hedges is nice and all, but she was a 1st grade teacher for years before going to preschool.  There is a big, big difference between how you teach a 1st grader and a preschooler and it was obvious she was struggling with the change.

In the last month, though, I've realized just how perfect Mrs. Hedges is for Lexi.  Kaden wouldn't have done well in her class, but she's exactly what Lexi needs.  Lexi has always been my child who pushes the limits and needs boundaries.  Not that Miss B didn't set limits, but she's definitely more lax in her class than Mrs. H, which is why I wasn't a fan of her at first.  I thought, "These are 4 year old kids!  Don't discipline them like your first graders!"  Then I realized that's exactly what Lexi needs.

I talk to Mrs. Hedges at least once a week about Lexi's progress (not in learning, but in behavioral issues) and Lexi is doing much better at not hitting/pushing the other kids and sitting still long enough for a short lesson, etc.  Lexi is so, so smart and Mrs. H thinks she's probably just bored with a lot of the stuff she already knows.  I've been giving her extra work at home (she's been doing copied pages of Kaden's homework for one) and that has seemed to help.

Anyway, Lexi adores her teacher and I'm slowly getting on that boat as well.  :)