October Fun

So a quick Instagram update post.  These pictures don't really fit into any of my other posts, but show just how busy we've been.  I've really enjoyed October being so busy because it has flown by, usually when you have something HUGE to look forward to that last little bit seems to drag on.  Not this time around!  I feel so on top of my game when it comes to blogging lately, I'm managing to keep up.... how is that possible?!?!?  Ha ha ha


So my kindergartner has gone and grow up on me way too fast.  Up until last Wednesday I was walking her to her class right before the bell rang and then I'd walk back to the car and watch her go into her class room.  (can we say helicopter mom?  ha ha ha)  Well last Wednesday as we are getting out of the car she tells me she wants to try and walk by herself.  It took everything I had not to start crying on the spot.  So I let her go.  I stood at the end of the sidewalk and watched her go off by herself and get in line with her class mates.  I may have shed a tear or two then.  The parent drop off has a loop that I can park the car at the end of the sidewalk and usually Lydia and Quinton just hang out for a minute while I walk her up to her class.  Now I park, get her out, lots of kisses goodbye and let her go.  I still sit in the car at the end of the loop and watch her walk and wait until she goes in.  But it still makes my heart ache to watch her go, even a week later.

Can barely tell, but that's her in the blue/pink back pack and green jacket

**Side note.  We had parent teacher conferences at the beginning of the month.  Natalia's teacher adores her and said, "Natalia is just the sweetest girl, I wish I could take her home and cuddle her!"  She said that Natalia is a great student, listens, does her work, is kind to the other kids and they all love her.  When they did the testing at the beginning of the year she didn't do so great, but it's all stuff I know she knows now.  I've also been trying to push her a little more with her skills book to be sure she's where she needs to be.  Part of it could be, and the teacher did mention, that she's kind of shy at times.  I think she was just shy with the tester and didn't want to speak up.  I'm hoping that when they redo the testing this winter she'll wow them with her progress. I'm glad this little stinker of mine listens to her teacher because at home it's a whole other story!  Ok, she's good most of the time... once and a while she drives me batty though!  We also got to go to her school's book fair and pick out some books with the girls.  I remember LOVING going to the book fair as a kid.  My parents always bought me books to read and the book fair was like Christmas early for me.  We let them each pick out two books and have been enjoying them at bedtime these last couple of weeks.

I have a spot in my closet that I've been marking the girls heights off on their birthday's to show how much they grow.  I also marked them off the day we moved in just because.  I posted this doozy today, Lydia's growth from 2-3 years is almost 6 inches.  The day we moved in Natalia was 3 years 8 months old, and she was an inch shorter than the mark for Lydia at 3 years old.  I know Lydia is tall but seriously.  Her 3 yr well check is tomorrow morning and I'm anxious to see her percentages!

So for our trip we are breaking up the drive into two days there, two days home.  That's four days in the car.  We purposely bought this vehicle with the dvd player knowing we wanted it for family trips, and it will so come in handy on this trip.  But my worry is that with so much time on the road I really don't want them to get burnt out on movies.  So I did a bunch of reading of blogs on Pinterest and have begun my prep work of activities for the car.  I think I'll do a whole separate post on everything I put into my bag o fun just so you can see what I put into it.  I'm quite proud of it!

 I went with Cheryl and Amanda to see Flashdance at the Morrison Center.  It was a great show!  We were pretty far back so it was hard to see their faces and facial expressions but the dancing was amazing!

 I was on my own for bedtime on Sunday night.  Usually I bathe Quinton in his little tub separately and then get the girls done.  We stayed at my grandma's too long and got home late so I needed to get them all to bed stat.  So I attempted a group bath!  I have a cool bath seat I got with Lydia that hooks to the tub but it doesn't work on our master soaker tub. We like using the big tub for the girls because they both fit better in there than in their tub in their bathroom upstairs. So I tried to use the bumbo for him... ha it still floated slightly so I had to use my feet to trap it down.  It worked though and they had a blast.  He was kicking away and splashing the water with his hands like crazy.  Lots of giggles from all three and the girls were so good about not splashing him or being too loud.  I'm going to try and sell my bath seat and get one that is just a seat that suction cups to the bottom of the tub so that we can do this more often! 

Lydia's puff ball jar was full so while grocery shopping last weekend Charlie took the girls over the the toy section so she could pick something out.  He walked her up and down the isles pointing out fun things with in her budget.  What did she pick?  Not something Minnie Mouse related, that would be too predictable.  She chose this $1 rubber snake.  Yup you read that right.  We tried to show her some other small things to add to it since she wasn't near her budget but she didn't care.  This was all she wanted.  

My mom was an amazing seamstress growing up.  She made me tons of frilly lacy dresses, and a lot of my clothes were hand made.  I learned how to use a sewing machine quite young, but never really picked up on it.  A few Christmases ago she gave me a machine and I like to tinker around with it.  I've made some fun things, I'm especially proud of that dress I made for Natalia for her forth birthday, and all the projects I did for Quinton's room like recovering his glider.  Anyway, a fun little easy project was some new aprons for the girls when they help me in the kitchen.  Natalia had a BSU one she got as a gift a while back and I used that as the pattern.  (Now it'll be Quinton's)  Next up we're going to use the scrap from this fabric and various other fabrics I've collected and make fun little travel size pillows to take in the car to Disneyland.  My grandma happen to give me small pillows that need pillow cases and I just happen to have two white pillow cases lying around from when I needed a flat sheet to repair Natalia's ripped bedskirt.  It all came together too easily! ha ha ha

Some mornings I wake up to little voices on the monitor and I know the girls have gone into Quinton's room.  Usually they just sit next to his crib and start playing with the Ipad... this one morning they both climbed in there and snuggled right up to him.  All three of them were so into the show they had started that they didn't hear me come in and snap their picture!  They were seriously cute.  We had to have a talk about it tonight though.  This morning they woke Quinton when they went into his room (usually he's awake and they hear him in his room before going in) so I had to tell them to just come downstairs and quit going into his room, or each other's for that matter.  They could all use more rest and need to quit waking each other up!