January Extras

So, January was a good time.  Minus the week where we survived temps in the negative forty-degree range.  It was all we could do not to pack up our bags and just LEAVE.  Trust me, J and I discussed it.  But mother nature smiled on us and brought us back into positive temperatures and attitudes and we've been enjoying life in this snowy state once again.  Peach got ice skates for Christmas and is surprising us by what a natural she is! 

So much so that we signed her up for skating lessons with our sweet, sweet babysitter.

 

The "American Girl" dolls that the girls asked Santa for have been dressed and re-dressed, taken everywhere, and generally played with enough to justify spending a little more than we normally would have at Christmas time.

Sparkle has gotten brave about the potty....with no regularity, but.....baby steps.  :)

game after game after game after game after game of old maid puts this one her in her happy place.

now if she could just figure out how to HAVE the old maid without being a dead giveaway.

daddy braved the crowds and took all three to a play place while mommy was away with some ladies from church.

firing up the oven for warm cookies on a cold day?

yes, please

Peach has gotten her writing groove on, asking how to spell EVERYTHING and sounding out what she can. she came home from our church's Wednesday night King's Kids with this in her pocket.  

be still my heart.

finally, a pre-school screening for this one where we found out what we already knew:

she's a smartie....and a character.

we had to wait a while in the play room while the teacher finished up with another assessment.

Tulip found this in the dress up bin and asked to wear it to her test.

the teacher was happy to oblige and ended our meeting by saying, "she's the first kid to ever wear a costume to her pre-k screening".

you know us.  we like to blaze the trail.

with that, i believe i can honestly say that I enjoyed January as much as humanly possible and as a reward, i think that spring should just quit delaying the inevitable and GET HERE ALREADY.

Tooth fairy

it happened.  she got her first wiggly tooth and she worked that thing back and forth for weeks until one day.....

she had had enough and asked for our help.

i tried the gentle route, but it just wasn't happening.

then in walks daddy and with one swift motion, he had that teeny, tiny little thing between his fingers and a huge smile that can only be described as PROUD spread across her face.  

although she was totally pumped about the MONEY that would be left for her, she wasn't too sure about the tooth fairy actually coming into her bedroom while she was sleeping and digging around under her pillow.

and to be honest, when i saw the size of this little thing, i knew there would be no sure way to keep it safe with her and her sister giggling and goofing about in bed at night.

we had this little monster pillow made and hung it on the doorknob and everyone was at ease.

despite all the fancy ideas out there on pinterest, J and I opted to set the bar reeeeeeeaaaaaaalllllll low and go with a $1 prize, hidden in the monster's mouth the next morning.

i know, i know - there's the fairy dust and the packages of gum and the books and the treats of all sorts and the glitter and decorations.

but i googled how many of these little gems will actually be falling out in the coming years and quickly found the answer:  20

per kid.

that's 80 total in our house.

and older, wiser friends have shared that although that first one is memorable and fun, pretty soon these things start falling out like rain in a thunderstorm.

i figure if we're going to keep up with it, we better make it realistic.

sorry, babies...no glitter and glam for you.

but i do promise to always have $1 on hand.

sometimes consistency is better than grandeur.  :)