73 months

This month always starts out with Christmas Day. The girls were up bright and early to see what was waiting for them under the tree. I could sense a little disappointment in the downsizing of Christmas but J was excited for her new pink scooter (and immediately said Santa forgot the elbow and knee pads).  She rode it in the house some before taking it to the street, she did pretty well for a first timer, with some practice she will be zipping around like a pro! The day was pretty quiet and by 8pm everyone was stuffed, exhausted and ready for bed!

Later that week we went to Legoland with all the cousins and the kids had a great time, it was no Disney but lots of fun was had! I couldn't bribe J to ride one of the roller coasters, instead she rode the small riders with the little kids. She liked posing with the figures and was excited they had the girl Lego's. We had Christmas round two on New Years Day and this time the house look liked it puked toys! They were all happy and excited for their "amazing" gifts, but upset we didn't let them open everything to play with. The girls got Hatchimals and what an experience that was hatching their eggs (it was more of a competition for the mommies to see which egg we could get to hatch first!). We went strawberry and tomato picking in the cold (it was cold this week and not the sunny Florida our Georgia cousins were expecting) and went to Nana's work for open gym to let the kids get their wiggles out. This was the first time J had been there, at first she was timid and shy but finally came out of her shell and tired the bars and balance beam, we do not have a future Olympic gymnast on our hands! It was great to have all of the kids together, even if it was a short time. The kids found out they will have a new girl cousin joining their pack in May. I know three little girls who are going to want to help Aunt Boo weather she wants help or not and are gonna be all up in her business!

Lego's are J's toy of choice right now. She can put them all together with minimal help and my buffet has been over taken by them! We are busting at the seams and mommy had to find a new way to organize them all. They loved picking out new Lego sets when we were at Legoland and as soon as their cousins left couldn't wait to dive into building them, I don't think they were out the door 10 minutes when they asked to do them.

We ended Christmas Break with a girls trip to Disney in the freezing cold weather, not sure what I was thinking, we had to bundle up and wear three layers of clothes! But even in the cold we had a fun and magical day. The park was still somewhat decorated for the holidays so it made the cold a little more tolerable, along with some hot chocolate. Mommy figured out a new FP trick so we got to ride lots of rides and meet lots of characters, even Ariel had to put on an extra layer that day while in her Grotto to keep warm. We didn't stay long enough for the afternoon parade (by 3pm we were tired and beat the traffic home) but did get to see the castle show and the Move It Shake It Dance Party, they heard the music when we came out of lunch and made me rush them over to dance their little hearts out. It was a day of no fighting, meltdowns, tantrums or whining, maybe we should just go to Disney every day so we can all be happy!

 

J got back into the groove at school and the "click" everyone with older kids told me about pretty much happened. This fall our sweet girl was a bit sassy, tired and out of her sorts, a week or so into the new year and our sweet girl is mostly back! I guess Kindergarten is really exhausting! She is doing great with her sight words and reading. She passed her favorite color the pink list and has moved onto the white list. They also did their mid-year testing on the computer program (iReady) they use at school in both reading and math. At the beginning of the year the teacher told the kids (and us parents) that the computer system is individualized for each kid and they should not be comparing themselves to what their friends are doing. Well after almost a week of testing and J telling me two days in a row (and feeling a little self conscious) that she was the only one still on the reading section (everyone else was already to math) I messaged her teacher to see what was going on. Well to our surprise her still being on reading was a good thing, the teacher said the better they did the harder it got and the more questions they would get. She got the highest score for her class and I think the most point gain for all of Kindergarten (81 points), I'm still not sure what all of this means but she is doing very, very well. She didn't sweep the awards this quarter but did get the PBS Award for her Gator Baits and having a lot of them (she tells us she has the most in her class). We are so happy and proud of how she has adjusted and is excelling in Kindergarten. She did remind us at end of second quarter that she was only two quarters away from first grade...I'm not ready for that just yet!

We took a last minute weekend get-a-way to Disney for MLK weekend. We hit up Epcot this trip for the Arts Festival (and to get our free print for being pass holders) and because it is where we could get FP's and a dinner reservation at the lats minute! We drove over in the AM, stopped at the outlet mall on the way, had some McDonalds for a quick lunch and were in the park just past 1pm. We rode most of the rides that afternoon (we finally got J back on Soarin) before making our way to the counties to see Princess Aurora and have pizza for dinner at our favorite spot in Italy! We called it a night before the fireworks because it was cold and the girls were a bit cranky! We did see some from a distance as we drove to the hotel, enough to please them but not mom! Monday AM we went to Disney Springs to walk around and do a little shopping before we headed home. It was a 24 hour much needed get-a-way and some uninterrupted family time, it's nice to live so close and we can plan a last minute trip on a Friday night!

Here are the pictures from the month.