Year Five

With all of our sleep issues, I’ve been checking our security cameras in the morning to try to get a sense of when the kids are waking up. On Monday morning, the first video of the day showed Steven grabbing his Captain America necklace which promptly went missing and hasn’t been seen since. We have turned his room, their bathroom and Amaya’s room ups die down and it’s gone! Poor Steven spent the early part of the week distressed about how he’d call Captain America if he needs help. Sweet boy.

In Steven’s words, this week we had “a lot of hairstyles”. I’m still a work-in-progress with my braiding. Amaya’s hair is so, so fine it practically falls out of the braids. Sara told me to try wetting it which helped me a little bit on Monday but I still have a lot of work to do. I should practice on their Barbie head!

Steven wanted a braid, too, which was impossible in his hair so he settled on a “monkey pony.”

Now these kind of braids I can do!!

Steven was SO excited to have “three hairstyles” A banana pony, and orange pony and a blueberry pony.

On Friday morning Amaya was insistent I didn’t have her hair in pigtails (two ponies). She cried and cried and I finally convinced her to let me take a photo to show her.

Trying so hard to smile through her tears for the picture. (Surprise! Two ponies.)

This week Steven discovered button downs. It’s so cute. He loves them!

Taco came for a visit this week when her grandfather was sick. Taco loves her Big friends.

This week the kids got busy with a birthday gift from Megan & family – fairy gardens! They’re very cute and it’s a nice chance for Steven, Sammy and Amaya to follow in their father’s footsteps as 6th Grade Gardening Champion. (And Poppy Steven’s footsteps, too.)

Upkeep!

Resourceful Steven wanted to pick out his own cereal.

Wake-up times got earlier and earlier this week until we finally decided we needed a hard reset on Friday night. For two nights Steven slept in a different room and we also took all of the toys out of the kids’ rooms. The new rule is that they have to stay in their beds until the green light goes on on their clock (and Amaya needs to wait until I come in because she doesn’t like the red light). They can play with their sleeping friends but that’s. it. We’ll see how it goes tonight. Sammy struggles staying in bed and seems to be inclined to wake up Jason. Something had to give, though. 4am is waaaaaaaay too early.

On Friday at school the class made oobleck. New to me! Maybe we’ll have to check out the book.

Saturday was family picture day, rescheduled from 1/13 when Sammy looked like he’d been in a prize fight. The kids watched a TON of TV between 6:30am and 10:30am because I wanted to keep the house clean. So much TV. And a movie.

I’m excited to see the photos! This year we took pictures of the kids with their “sleeping friends” which I’m particularly excited about. Morminer is practically a family member and Puppy and Old Hoppy have been with Sammy and Amaya since they turned one.

It was nice enough to try some photos outside. A little too windy for the kids to get comfortable but we tried!

Amaya was tickling over Daphne’s head to get Sammy to smile, just like I do when I’m trying to get her to smile. 🙂

Remember when Sammy sent a card to Anna? He got mail in return from the Princesses! He was really excited. It’s currently hanging on his wall. (It makes me wonder if I missed a post card for Amaya in the midst of holiday junk mail.)

Sammy ended up with a fever and mild cold this weekend. He’s doing fine but had a headache and was just generally under the weather on Saturday night. No school for Sammy tomorrow but hopefully he’ll be fever free when he wakes up.

Puzzles! They’re getting into more complicated puzzles and it’s interesting to see how they all problem solve. Amaya’s patience serves her well.

New leotard for dance because the old one is already too small! “I want one that’s a tank top, please.”

And ball cards. <3 Stevens at putting his cards in little plastic sleeves to protect them. His favorite team is the Steelers – the “bumblebee team”. 🙂