July 31, 2013

2 Big Firsts for Reagan!

Last week Reagan had two big firsts!
My little guy is sure growing up fast.

(1)
He had his first ever trip to the dentist.  We had been reading books about the dentist and talking about it regularly, so he was excited to go. We went to a children's dentist and boy was it cool.  There were TVs on the walls playing kid movies, Lego tables, video games, etc. They gave Reagan a full tour of all the bells and whistles. He thought it was pretty awesome.  He did great with x-rays, the exam, etc.  And the dentist was so cute and took a few pictures with him so that he could take it home for his scrapbook. We did walk away with a few new tidbits though. 1) We needed to cut out fruit snacks from his diet. It was typically Reagan's go-to snack but they are terrible for his teeth. (He's been really good about cutting them out and hasn't asked for them once! Maybe I should use the "dentist" for other things?!) 2) We were told to start having him rinse with kids' ACT fluoride each night before bed. 3) I should start taking the twins at 1 year old! 


(2)
You may remember how Reagan "bombed" his eye exam at his 4 year well child exam. Well, we took him to the eye doctors and yep - he failed that too. I mean. He's not blind, but boy does this kiddo struggle to see!  His eyes were like 20/100 (whatever that means!) Poor guy. He never complained about it or anything, but clearly the world is fuzzy to him.  So we ordered him some glasses.  You may have seen them on my insta-gram. He is pretty darn adorable. They take a week to come in and boy, he can't wait.   Now if only I could keep them in tact and not breaking at school! 


July 29, 2013

Trendy Tot Tuesday - The Kids Go Back to School!


This past Wednesday the kiddos had their first day of school.
Reagan is in his last year of pre-school and the twins started the nursery at the same daycare.

The night before I had everything all set up for a successful morning.
A little photo prop, a back to school gift for Rea Rea, and a new school bag for the twins. Isn't it so cute? I just love it!



Here are the 3 kiddos before I dropped them all off at school.
I could just eat them.

Harper's outfit was from Gymboree.
Hudson and Reagan's outfits were from Children's Place.



Reagan had a great day back. He was so proud to report that he had no time outs. Thank goodness. A time out on the first day of school would have been rough. Ha!

The twins had a little bit of a harder time.  I cried like a baby dropping them all off in the morning.  And I gave my phone number in a card to his teachers and ask them to text me photos and messages.  They both refused to nap and were cranky and tired.  I think it's going to take some getting used to.

The rest of the week wasn't much better.  Each evening when I came to pick them up, I could hear them crying. Breaks my heart. Oh and three days in and the twins have already caught colds. Geesh- the joys of daycare! I know things will get better and I am so thankful that the twins have each other there. 

Monday Made It #5


Hi friends!
Sorry I've been MIA in blogland lately. 
I spent most of last week in my classroom, working like a maniac. And when I got home it was full on "mommy mode". So my blogging has taken a back-seat. But I hope to get some posts set up in advance to post this week! Thanks for understanding!

Anyway.
Since I was working in my room so much, I wasn't doing a whole of making things.

Here are a few things I've been up to though!

(1)


 Like so many of you in blog-land, I made these cute little birthday gifts for my future students.  I got the straws from Walmart and the printable from here. Thanks to Once Upon a First Grade Adventure for making these! 

(2)


I also made a little prayer ring to keep in my desk at school. I know sometimes I get anxious, overwhelmed, and frustrated and I think being able to pull this out will really be helpful. Do you have any favorite verses of prayers I should add?

(3)


Much of my weekend was working on this! I am going from 3 file cabinets at my old school to 1 in my new.  So I've had to go through files and put them into sheet protectors in binders. Phew. Its been a little $ and time consuming, but I hope it will keep me organized and able to find what I need without digging through boxes. (PS- These pictured are just for math and writing. Phew)  (PPS- I still need to print notebook covers and spine inserts but my printer is acting weird right now!)

I can't wait to check out the link up and see what you all have been making this week! 

July 23, 2013

Summer Play Dates and TTT

These past few weeks we have had a few fun play dates with friends.

2 weeks ago we met up with the Scottsdale Moms Group for a play date at our church.  They had tons of activities set up for the kids. It seriously was mad chaos but the kids LOVED it.  We had a handful of friends there so luckily I had some help wrangling my kids.  Hudson and Harper wanted to get out of their stroller and be a part of the action, but there wasn't a safe area for babies.  We tried to keep them on the carper playing with blocks... but they were off in an instant. Thank goodness for sweet friends who lent a hand in holding these wild ones.  Reagan had a BLAST running around like a crazy man and playing with everything!

Can you see the craziness!?!

I love this picture. You can totally see my sister Meg trying to get Hudson before he escapes!


Wednesday we met up with our friends Sarah, Chase, and Kennedy at one of our favorite museums.
Normally I don't think I would try a children's museum with all 3 kids by myself, but this particular one has a baby area that keeps the little ones from being trampled on.  Luckily I have awesome babies and they were very well behaved.  Reagan had a BALL running around and playing with everything.


 The twins in the baby area.

 Kennedy, Harper, and Sarah

Chase and Reagan



Love this picture of the boys 2 years ago at the museum and this week at the museum. So fun to see how they have grown, but how they still look so much alike! 

Thursday we had a play date with our friends Megan, Noah, and Owen.
We went over to play at their house and have some lunch. The boys always play so well and its always a treat to gab with my old friend! 

 They are "babysitting" a friend's bearded dragon for a few weeks so it was very cool to watch it- especially when it was eating crickets for lunch!  (The boys were highly impressed!)

It was so cute to watch Hudson so badly want to be one of the "big boys".  

 One of the few moments all 5 kids were playing together.
It was pretty darn cute!


Hudson
Shirt and shorts from Carter's 

Harper
Dress from Gymboree
Bow was a gift 

Reagan aka Rockstar
Outfit from Macy's

Don't forget to link up your kids' outfits over with Megan and the girls for Trendy Tot!

July 22, 2013

Goody Ouchless Ribbon Elastics

Have you seen these new Goody Ouchless Ribbon Elastics?

I may live under a rock because I had not seen them until recently.
First I saw the house guests wearing matching "bracelets" on their arms during this season's Big Brother. Nick and I both commented that these must be the new "friendship bracelet" trend. Uh duh. Again- see, living under a rock. 


And then literally the next day I got my package from Influenster that included a set of these Goody Ouchless Ribbon Elastics. 
It hit me-  oooh these trendsetters are wearing hair ties! 


I tried one out and immediately fell in love.  They work better than my regular hair ties. I'm not even joking. I have a head full of long, thick hair. And these puppies hold up my mane without leaving a single "dent" in the hair.  
It works for pony tails but my go-to look is my hair thrown back into a messy knot.  
You know the look. 
I've got 3 kids under 4 years old I'm trying to wrangle.
 Blow drying and straightening on the reg ? 
Ain't nobody got time for that. 



Anyway. I just thought I'd share about this awesome new product I recently discovered. 
Have you tried these yet?


Monday Made It #4


(1)
I loved this "noise meter" from Lucky to be in First
I was so excited to print it and make it magnetic for my class white board.  I think it will be great to help remind the kids what kind of voice they should be using.


(2)
I made this bucket full of brain breaks for my class to pull from throughout the day.  
Everyone loves a good brain break from learning! 


(3)
A couple of friends that I used to work with wanted to get together before school started up, so I had them over for an informal get-together Saturday afternoon.  Everyone brought a little app or dessert to nibble on while we caught up. I didn't do a whole lot of party prep since it was a laid back gathering, but I did find these adorable "school paper" napkins from Target and banner from here.



I love these girls.
So glad that we had so many years working together!

July 20, 2013

Kohls Coupon Code for YOU!

Hi readers!
I hope you are having a great weekend! 

A lovely lady from Kohl's read my post about Reagan's past 4th of July outfits and she loved that I mentioned one of his Kohl's shirts! So to thank me and you for liking Kohl's, she has given me a coupon code to share with you!

Use this 10 % off blogger code at Kohls.com  - BLOGIT10 .
You can use it until September 12th.
It can also be used to stack savings with another department code.

Happy shopping!

July 19, 2013

Favorite Pins Friday

Today I'm linking up with Cara over at The First Grade Parade for her Friday Link Up- Favorite Pins!



If you follow me on Pinterest you know I am a late night Pinterest addict. I lay in bed just pinning away on my phone. Totally romantic, right? 

Here are some of my favorite funny pins from this week!

Things That Crack Me Up

This is funny because I totally threw a 1st birthday party for my dog Lily.
She even had dog-friends come as guest.

Yep. Story of my life.
I totally need to be a better friend.
If I'm not knee deep in taking care of my kids, I curl up and turn into a hermit. The last thing I want is to talk to anyone. Sorry friends.

 You have no idea how true this is. Seriously. I may be a tad bitter that your healthy and all, but I don't really want to see your food pictures.

Amen.


 How many times have I done this or seen this?! Love it.

 Haha.
Story of my life.

So true.
Even Reagan says it.


July 17, 2013

Midweek Randoms

Tonight I'm linking up with Megan for her weekly "Midweek Randoms".



I have a whole bunch of randomness floating around in my head right now... so this is perfect!
Ready. Set. Unload.

(1)
Reagan had his 4 year old check up this past week. He is 42 inches tall and weighs 42 pounds. He also bombed his vision test! Dun dun dun! We don't have vision insurance for him, so we need to look into how much that Dr. appointment is going to cost. Can you just imagine him in glasses? I'm just picturing the kid from Jerry McGuire. Did you know the human head weighs 8 pounds? I will keep you posted!

(2)
I having been working on school stuff every.single.night. I think my poor husband is dying for me to get this teacher corner moved back to the classroom and out of our dining room! Oh really hubs? You don't want sheets of laminating, sentence strips, and Popsicle sticks all over the kitchen table? I'm not going to lie. I've been in my happy place.

(3)
Because I have been working so much on school stuff, I have not done a single thing for the twins birthday party. Oh my word. I know you are shocked. I am the girl who plans birthday parties a year ahead. Time is ticking Mama. Get on that shiz! 

(4) 
I'm going to set up my classroom next week. I can't wait to get in there and get my hands dirty.  Oh ya. And my amazing family is coming to help. Yes. Even my dad took off the day to help me move in. We are cleaning out the storage unit, baby! And you know I will keep all 8 hands of ours busy.

(5)
I had a mini panic attack today that I still have 11 things left on our summer bucket list. I was staring at my planner thinking "how on earth am I going to cram all this in?" I literally had to hash it out in my mind (and with my mother) that technically summer is not over just because I am returning to work in a week! You know I hate to leave things unfinished... so we'll be working on this friends. Hopefully without sending me into cardiac arrest.

(6)
Big Brother. Are you watching? I've officially hit that point of the summer when I am obsessed. I actually woke up this morning thinking, "Yes! Big Brother is on tonight!" I know. I need a life.  And can you believe all the racial things going on this season. Aaryn is going to DIE when she sees what America thinks of her behavior! 

(7)
I finally took over the Que on our Netflix.  I seriously must have been half dead because I never thought of it before. Week after week I would cringe when another one of Nick's movies would show up. Really? There is only so much of that crap I can take. And I actually really like boy movies! Then one day it hit me - log on and add movies you want. And then move them to the top! Whoo hoo! So last weekend we watched "Safe Haven". Ha Ha. Fooled ya! And he actually watched it. Boom.

(8)
And for a totally random bullet point.  Reagan asked me if I hide my "peanuts" (aka- what he calls his penis) behind my back when I pee because he couldn't see them. I'm still rolling from that one. I mean really. This is coming from the kid who told me, "Mom- you know I'm not a girl because I don't have long hair. That's the difference!"

(9)
Reagan starts back up in preschool next week. 
Pre-K here we come!

(10)
Which also means the twins start day care next week.
Oh my word. Someone else holding my sweet babies all day? Bring on the tears. Oh. And bring on the germs. Ick. 

July 16, 2013

The Twins 9 month Update

The twins are 9 months!
So much has changed since last month.
Let's see if I can do a good recap.


Food:
We've continued to make baby food this past month but have also introduced pouches for when we are out and about : Yogurt, puffs, cheerios, mangos, avocados, pumpkin and broccoli. 
You've also started experimenting with finger foods such as cut up strawberries, blueberries, grapes, pancakes, and bread.  You are doing pretty well with the sippy cups of water but I think you enjoy throwing them off the high chair more than anything. You are still drinking about 25 ounces in your bottles a day. At 8 months you were still having a combination of breast milk and formula.

Clothes:
You wore a combination of sizes.  You've worn but 3-6 and 6-9 months. Hudson still fits and wears 0-3 shorts if I don't have anything in the right color/size. He has such a small bottom half!

Diapers:
You are both still wearing size 2 diapers.

Other fun tidbits from the past month:
You both crawl everywhere! So we put up "baby jail" to keep you in a certain area and keep you safe.  As the month went on, we have started to let you guys just crawl everywhere...but for when I need to do something, I keep you in the pen.  You both got your first two teeth this past month.  First trip to the splash pad, You both started sitting up unassisted.  You both started pulling yourself up on everything and standing.  You spent a week in a "day care setting" while I taught VBS.  There were only 2 other babies besides you in the church nursery, but I think it was good for you to not have me all the time.  You both sat in a high chair at a restaurant for the first time and sat in a shopping cart for the first time. I ordered the amber teething necklaces because I was so nervous about teething.  We wore them religiously for the first few weeks.  Hudson had a horrible teething experience so we kept his on to see if it helped any (and I think maybe it is?!) but we took off Harper's because I don't think it made a difference with her.

Dr. Appointment info:
At your 9 month Dr. appointment all looked well.  You are measuring on the small side but overall the Dr. wasn't concerned.  She suggested we add more healthy fats to your diet to get your weight up but she wasn't overly worried because you are both so strong. No shots this visit for you, just a toe prick to check for anemia - and all looked good!



Dear Harper,
My sweet, sweet, Harper. 
You are my little princess.  You can be so darn serious when you aren't sure about something.  You study everything.  We laugh at how funny it is to give you and Hudson both the same toy.  You hold it up and examine every part of it with your fingers. Whereas your brother pounds it on the ground and yells. You have discovered waving this past month and you get the biggest smile on when you wave to things and people.  You are so cautious when you crawl.  You take little crawls and sit in a doorway looking around before you enter. You love water!  You get so excited for bath time and even gave me a heart attack when you managed to flip out of your bath chair and into the tub full of water.  When you are in the pool, you love to dunk your head. You discovered how to pull yourself up on things this month but again- much more cautious than your brother.  You get a little anxious when you can't figure out how to get down. You caught your first tummy bug this past month and threw up! :(  You have started really "talking" and you say "Dada" and "My Dada" a ton. I try and try to get you to say "Mama" but you just respond, "Dada" with a huge smile. I think you know what you're doing! I just love the way you "coo" and make the best sighing sounds.  Such a little girl. Everyone who sees you in public comments on how you are the most beautiful baby girl. :)


Your hair is still slow to grow in but the color seems to be a medium brown.  Your eyes are still a very dark blue and your lashes are long and dark.  We had no idea you were teething! You were such a champ. Literally we looked in your mouth one day and saw your two bottom teeth were in! So different than your brother! 


You weigh 16 pounds 15 ounces which puts you in the 12th percentile.  So, you have gained 2 pounds in 3 months.  You dropped 4 percentiles in weight.  You are 27 inches which puts you in the 24th percentile.  You gained almost 2 inches but your percentile dropped 26 percentiles. Your head circumference is in the 13th percentile.

I seriously don't think I could love you any more Harper Grace.
You are my sweet little angel.


Dear Hudson,
My happy, wild, little man.
If I have any gray hairs, you are the reason why.
You are a complete wild man.  When you want to be snuggled, you hold on like a little monkey and fit so perfectly in my arms.  But when you want down, boy, you really want down.  You will squirm until you are free to crawl and move.  Diaper changing, getting dressed, and getting you zipped into your sleep sack seriously makes me work up a sweat.  You HATE being held down.  It takes you less than a second to flip over and try to crawl away. You are fearless. You crawl super fast and pull yourself up on everything. When you pull yourself up and can't figure out how to get down- no worries- you just let go and free fall. What on earth. Give me a heart attack why don't you!?! I can't count how many times you have fallen or smacked right into something.  You love to walk around the baby jail holding on to the gate and yelling for us to rescue you. You love to bang toys - especially on your sister.  Whenever we hear her crying we can almost bet that you are holding her down and hitting her with a toy. Hence why we have two baby jails set up. You often need to be separated. You are just like me when you get tired.  You play with your hair and try to yank it out.  You love Yo Gabba Gabba.  A commercial randomly came on and you started clapping and squealing.  We have found the key to your happiness. Whenever you are mad or sad we pop in the DVD and you clap, smile, and dance. It's the best. I need a video ASAP. Even though you are a wild man most of the time, when you get into water you completely chill out.  You are like Mr. Joe Cool and just soak it all in. You don't say any words like Harper yet, but you scream and holler enough for the both of you.  You sound like a monkey hollering from the trees. My little Tarzan! 



Your hair has gotten so long, thick, and soooo blonde.  Your eyes are still really light blue. When your bottom two teeth came in you were in so much pain.  You drooled like crazy and woke up crying for like a week straight.  


You weigh 17 pounds 8 ounces which puts you in the 5th percentile.  So just like Sissy, you have gained 2 pounds in 3 months.  You dropped 4 percentiles.  You gained an inch in length and are 27 1/2 inches long.  You are in the 18th percentile in length. For head circumference you are in the 4th percentile. 

My little Huddy Buddy. You are such a spit fire.
 I love your personality and could just eat you up with a spoon. 
PS. I'm totally ok with the fact that you are a huge Mama's Boy. :)