Halloween!!

Also late, lol!  Oh, well!  I think Halloween is one of my favorite holidays!!!!

Halloween collages!

Venily wanted to be a butterfly this year and Haven wanted to be a pirate girl and a butterfly.  I was a butterfly as well!

Here are some pics from pumpkin carving!  Venily and Haven BOTH drew their own faces on their pumpkins and Jason carved them out for them!  I was really impressed with Haven's since I just handed her a marker and told her to draw a face!!!  She drew 2 mouths one on top, one on bottom, so we had to connect them, but other than that it was completely drawn by her!

(Venily's on the left, Haven's on the right!)

Venily had a pajama party at school to celebrate Halloween.  They also had a Halloween party in her classroom.  

THEN, they had a school-wide Halloween party AFTER school from 5-8pm, for all the students and their families!  I was impressed.  They had free pizza, punch, cupcakes, candy, and games, and a costume contest!  Jason threw a costume together last minute w/ stuff we had around the house and won 1st place for the adult costume contest!  I laughed so hard!!

On Saturday we went trick or treating at Spooky City in Burlington at all the businesses in town.  We had my niece and nephew with as well.  The kids had a lot of fun!

Saturday night, my niece and nephew spent the night and the next day we had more trick or treating fun around Lily Lake!  Venily decided to do her own makeup for that round, lol!  It was kind of cold, windy, and rainy, but the kids had fun nonetheless!  (except maybe Venily who fell and scraped her knee on the rocks in our driveway and insisted on being in the stroller the whole time.... :(

Overall, it was a great Halloween!  We did miss out on going on any hayrides this year... have to remember that for next year!!

I also have a Halloween clearance addiction! :)  I have gone out 3 different times and got a TON of stuff!  I just love it, a bunch of it I am giving to the girls for Xmas (new wigs, new costumes for dress up, etc).  We also got new hair color in every color imaginable!  (which we use all year round, lol) 

Venily- 4 year old updates!!

Obviously this is a little late, lol!  She turned 4 on October 13th! :)

I can't believe I now have a FOUR year old!!!!  Ahhh!  Happy 4th birthday Venily Autumn!!!!

PAST COMPARISONS:

3 1/4 year update:

http://youngmommyandwife.blogspot.com/2011/01/venily-is-3-14-years-old.html

3 Year Well Check:

http://youngmommyandwife.blogspot.com/2010/10/venilys-3-year-well-check.html

_________________________________________________________________________

Her measurements at 3 years:

HEIGHT: 39 inches (85%)

WEIGHT: 32 pounds (62%)

Her measurements at 4 years:

HEIGHT: 42 inches (92%)

WEIGHT: 35 pounds (62%)

Interesting that she stayed the same %ile for weight, but increased in height by 7%!

At 4 years old, Venily is a sassy, funny, always singing, always dancing, goofy, loveable, silly, passionate, crazy, caring, detail-oriented little girl! ♥   She amazes me each and every day with how smart she is and how well she can drive me nuts, lol! ;)

I always talk about how the nursery rhyme that fits her EXACTLY- and it is still as true as ever!!!

There was a little girl who had a little curl

right in the middle of her forehead

And when she was good,

she was very, very good

And when she was bad,

she was horrid!

LOL!  (Well, besides the curl part). :)  She can be SOOOO good and she can be SOOOO bad!  Luckily she has always been good at school so far and her teachers love her!  She saves her naughtiness for at home!  Sleep is definitely the #1 culprit, but sickness and hunger bring on her naughty side as well!

Venily and I definitely have had our issues this past year.  Our personalities don't quite mix as well as I'd like, but that's what keeps things interesting and fun, lol! Right?!  I love her with all my heart and she was the first person who taught me what being a mom was all about. ♥

She skipped terrible 2's all together and made up for it with the Terrible 3's for sure!  Now that she is 4, all that is going to change.  (at least I can hope so!)

AND SOME RANDOM UPDATES:

She still has the absolute most amazing memory.  She remembers things weeks, months, YEARS later that I have to really think about before it finally comes back to me.  She has also taken to reading road signs and memorizing street names (like # and letter roads).  I have only started learning roads in the last couple of years, lol!

Just a few days ago she asked me if she could go back to the IKEA drop off day care place and then went into a detailed description of everything that was there and everything that she did during that one hour she was there (that was last December, lol, over a year ago!)!

Her favorite things to do right now are to color.  She colors CONSTANTLY!!  She also wants to write letters CONSTANTLY!!  In her take-home folder I also get like 5 colored pictures each day from school too! :)

I overheard Venily giving Haven a lecture on "mutual respect".  I kid you not, lol!  I was listening in in the next room and trying not to laugh! :)  I love her school so much and her teachers are AMAZING!!!!!!  I was talking to one of her teachers the other day and she was telling me that Venily (even though she's the youngest in the class) is the most "with it" in the class.  A teacher will ask the class a question and she'll look around like "what, don't any of you know the answer?" before she'll raise her hand and answer.  (Super funny b/c I was the EXACT same way in school!).  She also gives kids "looks" when they aren't behaving or are talking while the teacher is trying to talk.  Is it bad that I'm happy that she's a little teacher's pet?!  Haha!  :)  She gets her 1st report card this Friday!

(And I should add that the 20 hour Venily-free break a week is helping me out a lot!!!!)

She is a great big sister and loves to play "babysitting" where she is Haven's babysitter and takes care of her.  She runs around after her saying "Your babysitter will help you!" and then helps Haven do things that she already knows how to do all by herself, lol!  They definitely play nicely together more often than they fight still, but they do fight on occasion as well.  I'm hoping they are able to keep this same balance for the rest of their lives!

Venily loves all of her friends.  She has a few really good friends from school that she talks about constantly.  She also loves riding her bike and power wheel cars around the block and with her neighbor friends, Hailey and Parker.  Hailey and her parents have been over to our house several times now and the girls love running back and forth between the 2 houses and trading toys on the bus, haha.

One time she was at Hailey's house and her mom made her a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  Venily bit into it and said "I think I'm allergic to this sandwich!".  LOL!  Her mom freaked out, but Venily is only allergic to Amoxicillian, I guess it COULD have been really bad if she was allergic though!  She also asked her one time "Do you have any meat?".  !!!!!!!!!  She wanted to eat meat at their house even though she has been a vegetarian since conception and has NEVER eaten meat!  I am in so much trouble with her!...

She has a sense of style that is all her own.  She would wear dresses and skirts every single day if I let her and loves to combine very interesting pieces of clothing together, lol.  The other day she insisted on wearing tap shoes to shop with me at Walmart.  She also had a T-shirt, wool skirt, w/ pants on underneath and colorful socks, LOL! :)  We went to Jason's grandma's 80th birthday and days before she insisted that she wanted to go as a cat and did her own "cat" makeup before we went, lol!  She also ALWAYS asks me to put colors in her hair.  We stocked up on tons of new colors from Halloween clearance!  I'm so excited, lol! :)

She is doing a little better with the whole "no nap" thing.  She still gets insanely hyper when she comes home from school and then crashes pretty hard though.  On the weekends I can still persuade her to take a nap, so that's good!  She goes to bed between 8pm and 8:30pm most nights and wakes up at 6:45am most mornings.  For a while she was sleeping in even later than that, but with the time change now everything is all screwed up! :(

Tooth #18

Haven has been a crabby patty for the last 2 days straight.  She's been sticking her fingers way back in her mouth, so of course I know it's her darn teeth!  I checked today after LOTS of whining (which is very un-Havenlike), and her bottom left 2 year molar has cut through!  I was thinking it was going to be the other top 1st, but nope.  She is still working on one more on the top and one more on the bottom (they look close).  I'm hoping they decide to cut through soon as well!

Random happenings from the girls!

I know, I still need to put up Venily's 4 year updates!!!!  Moving to the top of my priority list!  And I'm so behind on reading other people's blogs that I try to keep up with, it's not even funny!  Uhhh!  I just feel behind at everything this month!... Anyway, here is some more random happenings from the girls:

We have a game where Haven and I tell each other how much we love each other.  Here was her response yesterday:

Haven:  "I love you more than all the hair clips in the world!  ...AND all the hair... long AND short!!"

Well, how do you compete with that?  lol.  I laughed so hard!

There was an assembly at Venily's school for bullying and the whole school was together to watch it (4K-8th grade).  Venily was one of 5 students in the whole school that got picked to come up and do stuff in front of the school! lol!  She got to help the guy with a magic trick and then got to bring home a cool hat he let her keep!  Her teachers said they were so nervous for her, lol, and said she looked scared, but I am so proud of her for going out there and standing out there the whole time!  Yay, Venily!!!  ♥

Venily's 4th birthday!!!

My little girl turned 4 years old yesterday!!!!!  HOW?!  We had a great day despite it being yet another rainy birthday!

Venily woke up to lots of balloons everywhere!!!  We made and ate 4-shaped chocolate chip pancakes with whipped cream and chocolate chips on top!  She also got cheetos which she has been begging me for at the store and I told her they were gross, lol!  I also curled her hair for the first time and she felt very grown up. :)  I really need a new curling iron though!!

We decorated cupcakes for her class.  She insisted she wanted "butterfly cupcakes".  I had no clue what she was talking about, lol!  I thought maybe she had them at her school or something before, but no.  I looked up an idea online and made these (Jason frosted them, lol!):

Right before I was about to make them she told me she changed her mind and that she wanted unicorn cupcakes instead, I told her that was too bad, haha!

We bought decaffeinated tea and had a tea party!  :)  She picked out Chammomile tea.  She said it tasted too much like water.  Kylee didn't like it either, but Haven drank hers straight down and wanted more!  :)

We dropped Venily off at school and when I picked her up she said she had a GREAT day!  Everyone loved the cupcakes and Alivin and the Chipmunks even sang "Happy Birthday" to her on the smart screen!  :)

We had to go straight from school to ballet, where she did yet another great job!  Her teacher even came up to me before class and told me that Venily is becoming such an amazing dancer and that she has shown tremendous improvement from the last session she took!

We went to the store where she got to pick out a cake or cupcakes since I only bought one cake mix and used it for her class (totally didn't think that through)!  Jason had to work, but Grandma came over and had cupcakes with us and played with Venily until it was time for bed.  When I put her to bed she said "Mommy, thank you so much for making this the best day ever!"

And she woke up this morning with a HUGE smile on her face and I said "Wow, you are very happy this morning!" and she said "I'm just so happy to be 4!"  :)

Oh, and Venily is almost completely back to normal from her allergic reaction.  She is still itching every once in a while and still wants Benadryl, but I think it's mostly in her head and the fact that she liked having so much attention! 

I am working on and will have her 4 year updates posted soon!

ANOTHER baby!!!!!

NOT mine (of course!), but someone very close to me!  It is still a secret so I can't say who it is, but I am VERY excited!!!  The middle of next year is going to be filled with babies! ♥ 

Makes me want to find a new husband... ;)

Haven is NOT Venily!

Quick story!

We were at Venily's dance class yesterday and we were there 15 minutes early.  They had an obstacle course set up with a tunnel and I told Haven she could play with Venily and the other kids until class started.  Haven was going through the tunnel and Venily was coming in behind her.  Another little girl growled really loudly at Haven.  First of all, Venily yelled at the girl, which I thought was funny (I love to see her sticking up for her sister).  THEN, Haven got out of the tunnel, walked right up to the teacher, pointed at the other little girl and said very loudly "THAT little girl over there just scared me!" (said with complete exasperation)  LOL!!!!!!  It was so hilarious and something that Venily would not have done in a million years at that age!

Venily- 4K Parent Teacher Conference

On Monday (2 days ago), Venily had her 1st parent/teacher conference for 4K!!  It went FANTASTIC!!!!  The teacher had nothing but great things to say about Venily!  She went on and on about how wonderful of a child she is!!  She also said:

* She just found out that Venily was 3 and couldn't believe that she is so advanced already. (there are kids in her class that are 6 already!)

* She has great penmanship. She actually said that it is even better than her own, lol.  Looking around the classroom, I also couldn't believe how few kids actually write their name at this point.  There were only 3 that write their names on their projects, the rest had the teacher write it every time.

* That Venily is very well-rounded and is a friend to everyone.  The teacher says she knows that no matter who she puts in a group with her, she'll be fine with.

* She is very independent and is great with self-help skills and then once she is done with whatever she needs to do, she goes around and helps OTHER kids too. :)  I have definitely noticed this trait in dance class as well, lol! (she is definitely a little mother, haha)

* She is great at sharing and will try to solve her own problems and will only go to a teacher as a last resort.  The teacher said that this is a very advanced social skill at this age and that she expects most children to just come to her immediately.

* She is also really good at listening and even when other people are trying to talk to her like during circle time, she keeps her focus on the teacher instead, lol.

*  She got her MAPS testing scores (tests they took on the computer a few weeks ago) in and Venily tested at the range of an average kindergartner.  Which is great since she is only in 4K and we put her in a year ahead of schedule on top of that!

I am so happy that she is doing so well in school!!!!  Makes me so proud!!!  I only wish she behaved half as well at home as she does at school, lol, but Jason says that he'd rather she behaved at school than at home any day.... I guess I agree if we have to pick one or the other!

Girls' Birthday Party!!!! 2 and 4

We had the girls' birthday party last Sunday, October 3rd.  It was a BEAUTIFUL day!!!  Upper 60's- 70 and sunny.  Just perfect.  We went with an "Under the Sea" theme and I had a lot of fun with it.  I figure I don't have many years left to be truly corny without being embarrassing, so I am making these few years count, lol!  Venily and I made a bunch of sea creature decorations and we had some under the sea murals too.

We invited a lot of family as well as Venily's whole 4K class (of 18 kids).  4 children showed up from her class, 1 (our neighbor) was supposed to but fell asleep at her grandma's and woke up too late for the party, haha.  It was nice because we had the party at a park and all the parents came with their children (and some siblings) and all stayed.  We also rented a bouncy castle and I had a hard enough time keeping track of just my 2 children between the park, 2 pavilions, and bouncy castle and would have really struggled watching a bunch of children by myself!  The children that came to her party from her class were Lizzy, Eva, Nolin, and Vanessa.  (for Venily when she is older, haha).  One of her teachers, Ms. Jill came too (but she does every year, lol)!  The 3 girls are all best friends of hers that she talks about and plays with a lot.  And Nolin rides her bus.  She is ALWAYS talking about him as well, but is also always telling me that he says naughty words a lot and follows her around sometimes, lol.  And another of her best friends, Aubrey, who doesn't go to school with her and her sister Autumn, who is the same age as Haven came too.  As well as lots more friends and family (including all their cousins!) ...  Overall, we had 55 people come (that I counted off the top of my head)!! 23 of which were children.

I made the girls a mermaid photo op station, which was a lot of fun!  Jason made fun of me, but Venily and Haven were so excited about it!  I'd like to make a new one every year for as long as they'll let me, but we'll see! :)  We had different kinds of gold fish crackers and candies I made with fish molds.  I also made blue jello cups with gummy fish and sharks inside (which was a total PIA, lol!).  My mom made the girls' cakes.  Venily got a mermaid cake with a Barbie with a fruitroll up tail and Haven got an aquarium cake.  Overall, I think everything turned out really well and I know the girls had a lot of fun!!

The girls got way too much stuff too!!!  They have been playing with all of their new stuff ever since their party and are having a blast (like they really needed more toys....)!  All the projects and stuff REALLY came in handy when Venily got sick and couldn't get off the couch!!  (And I love all the clothes they got, lol, and the gift cards to Kohl's where I bought them even more clothes, lol!).

Overall, a really great party! :)