Happy 9th Birthday Phoenix!

Happy 9th birthday Phoenix! You are such a joy to our family. You are smart and witty and cute and petite. You'll only be the baby of the family for a few more months so enjoy it but then you'll even have a more important role, big sister. I can't wait to watch you flourish and grow as a big sister. I'm proud of the young lady you are becoming. You definitely are not a baby anymore. Keep up the good work. We love you!

Baby Phoenix on the right

Phoenix's 1st day of kindergarten

My beautiful ballerina, 2010

July 2011

The birthday table all set for the birthday girl

The birthday girl on her way to school this morning

Made In America

Last night was Phoenix's "Made In America" program at school. It was very cute and very entertaining with singing, speaking parts, props, and dancing. It also was just 30 minutes, the perfect length for a performance in my opinion. Phoenix is the first speaker at the beginning of the video. The song is the entire 3rd grade singing but I did zoom in on Phoenix during the song. She is in a red skirt, white shirt, and brown knee boots. Enjoy!

My Jazz, Tap, and Ballet Star

Phoenix's dance recital was on May 1st but with our big move I never got a video posted. Without further ado, the highlights from Phoenix's three performances:

A 2nd Grader's Dream and a Parent's Worst Nightmare

I was one of the "chosen" ones, one of the parents who got one of the coveted few spots on the 2nd grade field trip to the Star Spangled Banner Flag House and Fort McHenry in Baltimore. I am only kidding about it being my worst nightmare, well kind of.

I really did have a fun time and my daughter was so happy I could come it really didn't matter. Some of those kids don't listen at all and they were screaming non-stop on the bus so loudly that I felt like throwing myself out the window and did I mention they don't listen! Seriously though, most of the kids are good kids but man are they hyper when they go on a field trip. It was also a reminder for me what a hard job the teachers do and that I need to make it a priority to bake them some cookies or something soon since they deal with this craziness on a daily basis.

My experience also made me reconsider my plans for "when I grow up" but likely that is a few years away and I still have time to figure things out. I have been considering going back to school to get my masters degree in teaching and becoming an elementary teacher for a variety of reasons but I've had a little bit of hesitation. We will see though, if I do go back to school it wouldn't be for 4-5 years.

The field trip was a lot of fun and I love history and seeing historical sites so the Star Spangled Banner House and Fort McHenry were right up my alley. We were also blessed with fabulous weather, temperatures in the 70's and all sunshine.

A full size replica of the flag that flew over Fort McHenry during the war of 1812 and that was the inspiration for the Star Spangled Banner.

The kids got to try out some 19th century games

And then were off to Fort McHenry!

This was what a soldiers bunker looked like

And the canons

The top wall of the fort, looking out over the harbor

Fort McHenry

Happy Birthday Phoenix!

Happy 8th birthday baby girl! I can't believe the baby of our family is 8 years old today. Where has the time gone? Eight is such a fun year, still sweet and innocent, still believe in magic, yet maturing and becoming more independent, more grown up with each day. I'm afraid I am going to blink and all three of my kids will be grown up. Here's to celebrating you Phoenix, and the day of your birth!

Can you believe that chubby, bald baby on the right is my teeny, petite girl?

Phoenix on her 1st Birthday

Bath time fun

2006, Brennan and Wynter 5, Phoenix 3

Little FiFi at our wedding, 2008

My beautiful baby girl on her 1st day of kindergarten

March 2010, her 1st trip to Disneyland

2010, my beautiful ballerina

Christmas 2010, looking cute as can be!

Happy birthday Phoenix! I love you!

My Beautiful Ballerina

FiFi just had her first ever dance recital and she was very excited!

I look so tall next to little FiFi

Concentrating on her tap routine

Her whole class

End of the ballet routine

This beautiful ballerina got some flowers after the performace for a job well done.

B, FiFi, Wyn, and hubby after the performace

This Is How We Party

My youngest daughter turned 7 on January 10th. 7! I can hardly believe it. They do really grow up right before your eyes. We made her keep her guest list short but we still threw a rocking party, disco ball, karaoke machine, and all. Here are some of the highlights:

Birthday cupcakes (store bought after this mama ran out of time, luckily I redeemed myself with homemade chocolate cupcakes for her class the next day)

The cupcakes were a big hit!

There is her karaoke machine from grandpa and a karaoke CD from us.

Next we were off to Build-A-Bear, with 6 kids, 2 cars, and 2 parents.

Here is FiFi with her bear, Alex.

And in a snap all their creations were complete and FiFi's 7th birthday party was a huge success.

I love you FiFi! I glad you had such a wonderful birthday!

Not That There is Ever a Good Time to be Sick...

FiFi is my kid who always seems to get sick. It starts like this, perfectly fine, and then bam high fever and not really any other symptoms. She obviously has a weak immune system but they have done tests and can't find anything wrong. As soon as it seems really bad, it takes a break for awhile. My husband thinks we may be on Mystery Diagnosis in 10 years from now. I usually wait out the fever for 3 or 4 days when I finally break down and take her to the doctor almost certain they are going to tell me it is a virus and there is nothing they can do. She has had strep several times in the past 2 years and 1 ear infection so my trips to the doctor are not always in vain though they mostly are.

Friday FiFi comes home from school acting fine. All of sudden, bam 103 fever. I give her Motrin. She sleeps through dinner. Wakes up acting fine. I call Motrin the child wonder drug because it can make a very sick child appear completely fine for hours at a time. I know it is only masking the symptoms and then I have to wrangle a sick child, acting well, into actually resting. I know how crappy I feel with a fever so I tend to give Motrin if the fever is over 101.

So there is never a good time to be sick. My kids were last sick on spring break. Convenient that they did not miss school. Disappointing that my spring break plans did not come to fruition. FiFi is now sick. It put a wrench in our plans for today but we still had a great day. She also missed her first birthday party in Maryland but she never talked about the kid so she will get over it. Now for the drama. The weather is supposed to be beautiful tomorrow. Low 70's, no chance of rain. We really wanted to go to the beach. It is 3 hours away but I have not been to the beach in 9 months and I am itching to go. Not to mention my kids haven't been in 2 1/2 years.

I tried to convince myself that she was not acting too sick and she would be feeling better later today. Surely by tomorrow she would be well. Now it is 9pm and she once again has a 102.4 fever. Rats! I guess I will not be soaking up the sun and frigid I mean beautiful water. My husband has promised breakfast in bed and that they will dig out my garden while I sit in a chair and watch. Considering the full blown ant warfare (for another post) going on in my house right now I may take my breakfast on the deck instead of in bed. I would hate to get a trail of ants right into my bed. Hubby already had a beautiful arrangement of 2 dozen multi-colored roses and a box of chocolates delivered Friday for Mother's Day so I think he is off the hook but someone doing my yard work while I watch may come in a close second to a day at the beach.

Happy Mother's Day! I hope you have a great day!

What to do when kids lie?

FiFi is going through this lying phase. I don't mean the occasional fib here or there but the I got caught in the act, will look you right in the eye, and lie to your face, at least once sometimes twice a day phase. This phase also includes hiding things, being sneaky, and otherwise deceptive. So far this phase has been going on for a few months with reprieves of normal behavior in between.

Currently we are in a two week all out lying phase and mom is not sure how to get through to her. I know B went through this at a similar age as well as other challenging phase such as the terrible twos starting at 1 1/2 phase, the biting non-stop from 1 1/2-2 years old phase, etc. I know all these phases pass and all kids have them even if not the same phases. I cannot for the life of me remember what I did when B was in his lying phase or if it worked. It has been probably 4-5 years ago at this point and my memory just isn't that good.

So if anyone has gone through this and has any wonderful suggestions please let me know. If you just want to encourage me that I am not the only parent dealing with these type of things that would be wonderful too!

So far we have tried taking away privileges such as TV, DS, computer, etc., time-outs (quiet time alone in her room), and positive reinforcement (sticker chart) but she just cheated on the sticker chart to try to get the reward instead of it helping her to be honest.

Thanks! You ladies are great!

FiFi's Birthday Recap

FiFi celebrated her 6th birthday on Saturday. Birthdays in our house have somehow morphed into multi day events. I don't know how it happened but it does.

FiFi with her cupcake cake

It all started with the school birthday celebration on Friday. Of course being the good mom I am I made her treats to bring to share with her class and volunteered to come into her class to help with the festivities. I was not sure how I was going to manage to get Baby Boy in his stroller and hold the cupcake cake while entering the locked school, signing in, and making it back to FiFi's class. This is why I decided to enlist the help of my very responsible 3rd grader, B. I asked B to meet me up front at 1:25pm so I could first wheel Baby Boy in and then go back for the cupcakes. It was a brilliant plan. FiFi's class loved the cupcakes and I even got to read with a couple kids who needed help and staple books for the teacher. Baby Boy played with the kids and ate snacks in his stroller and was very well behaved. Thank goodness!

FiFi birthday round one

Round two began on her actual birthday, Saturday. We had arranged for a party at the local indoor pool that included swimming, pizza, churros, and of course, cupcake cake round two, prettier, and even more decorated. She had a blast, all the kids had a blast, and I vowed to never have a party there again! It is not that I hate having fun but after an hour or so it is miserable for the parents. It is HOT in there and there is not ventilation so unless you are in the pool you begin to feel like you might pass out. That coupled with the high noise level and hyper birthday kids makes for a cranky mom. I told B he can have a sleepover with a couple friends. I hope that is less stressful. Maybe not though.

FiFi birthday cake round two

Max's grandmother has been in a nursing home since September. Prior to that we did weekly family dinners at her house. Now we do birthday/holiday celebrations in the reserved room at the nursing home. It was good to see her and everyone. At this point Max thinks I am a professional cake/cupcake cake maker and should go into business for myself. I am not so sure.

FiFi birthday cake round three

Overall FiFi had a wonderful birthday and got way too many nice presents. Lucky for mom I don't have to do this again until May!