Julia is 4!

Sweet, sweet Jules!  Gosh, we love you so much!  When I say that she is so sweet, I am not just saying that-she has such a kind and loving personality and sweet, sweet demeanor.  She is always so pleasant to be around, loves helping others and brings so much joy to our home.  She has a silly side to her as well and loves to make others laugh.  This is a big year for her as she has started preschool and we can't wait to see all of the amazing things that her 4th year will bring!

Here are a few fun tidbits about Julia as she turns 4:

-She checked out super healthy at her well check appointment one September 20th.  She weighed 35 pounds (25-50th percentile, which I actually thought was really strange because I often look at her and think she is a little chunky...just still that toddler chunk that hasn't burned off yet, but I guess that's not the case.). And she is 40 inches tall which is the 50-75th percentile.  

-She is our most precise and organized of the kids.  She likes her shoes lined up, I often find her organizing her toys and is particular about what she wears and how her hair is done.

-She LOVES, Loves, loves to dance and perform.  She is often found singing and dancing around the house and doesn't bat an eyelash when I ask to record her.  

-She loves her kitty and seems to always be asking someone, "Where is kitty?"  Maybe my statement above about her being organized and precise isn't always true since I swear the majority of the time she can't find Kitty who supposedly is the most important thing in the world to her.  ha.

-She is very predictable (not sure if that is the best word to describe this) but for example almost every.single.time that she throws something away she'll ask, "Is it the back trash (recycling) or is it the front trash?"  She also always wants to know what we are doing that day and often the day after and the day after that.  

-She is still going to speech twice a week at the elementary school and just finished up summer sessions privately through Sharp.  We have seen a lot of improvements with her articulation and think that going to preschool will continue to help her.  The best thing about her and speech is that she never gives me any trouble about practicing-she almost seems to enjoy it which makes it so much easier on everyone!  

-She still sleeps one the bottom bunk and wears a pull up to bed; although I think we're getting close to not wearing it.  We talked about it a few times this summer and said maybe once she turns 4 she'll try, so we'll see.  

It was such a special treat to celebrate her birthday with her class on only the 2nd day of school!!  That definitely made going back so much more exciting.  She was so proud and happy to be celbratintn her birthday at school!  

 Her table early in the morning one her birthday!

 We half joke around/half are serious about Julia always getting the "shaft" and living up to the middle child (especially with her being the middle girl) syndrome.  We make it a point to try not to let that happen but for example her birthday fell on a Saturday which meant Rich had a trainginn run with his group and then nElla and Joseph had soccer games and then we had friend's birthday party that afternoon, and, oh the Westwood Club campout was that night!  But, she took it all in stride and we made it as special for her as possible.  We had a big breakfast with her and then opened gifts after breakfast as soon as Rich came home.  We were then off to soccer for the majority of the afternoon nankin then I took her and Ella to Isabella's birthday party (which Julia did want to go to) and then following the party we were going to stop by the campout but the girls were exhausted so I took the girls home and put them to bed.  I think she was just wiped out from her first two days of school plus the excitement of her birthday so she was asleep by 6:45!  She did say repeatedly that "My birthday wasn't that much fun because of soccer," but we reminded her that her party was going to be the following day and we'd have a lot more fun then, too.

 Hanging out at the soccer fields on her birthday.

 Isabella's party was at Color Me Mine which was a neat experience for the girls since they had never been there and they both enjoyed it. Julia was by far the youngest guest there so I hung with her but she loved it and was so grateful that Isabella included her!

 Being silly with my big 4 year old!

 The following day we had all of the family over to celebrate have a party for both her and Charlotte but I figured I'd include these cute pictures of Jules here!  She was so excited about the nerf gun from the Ozecks along with the other awesome gifts (a day at Pump it up with Nani and Poppa, a unicorn gymnastics leotard from the Zicklers and a unicorn purse and nnecklace from Aunt Hollie and Uncle Bubba-so fun!!).

Jules, we love you so much.  You have such a sparkle in your eye all of the time and your smile not only lights up the room but is contagious.  Keep shining bright and we are so excited to watch you grow this year!  We love you!  

Julia's 1st Day of School!

It is finally Julia's turn for preschool!!  She has been waiting patiently ever since Joseph and Ella went back to school and has been so excited.  It's hard to believe that she is really starting preschool!  Technically she's starting a little later than most kids do since she is almost 4 but I've loved holding onto her and having her home these past 4 years anon wouldn't change a thing.  She'll be in the 3 year old class since her birthday falls between September 1 and December 1 so she'll qualify for transitional kindergarten (TK) next year or could go into the 4 year old class, if we decide not to do TK for her.  I had a PTA event at the elementary school that morning so Nani came over to stay with the girls before her meet the teacher and when I got home she was dressed and ready to go!  She chose her "party" dress to wear and was so proud of it that I just had to let her go with it and Nani did two French braids in her hair which she loved.  She practically skipped all the way to school!  

Once there she was excited and loved checking everything out.  It definitely helps that she'll have the same teachers that Ella had and that we love each and every one of them.  

After we had to swing by Starbucks for a pumpkin bread treat (her favorite!) to celebrate this special day!  She has a few more days until she officially starts but she is ready and excited!  

When we got home she was busy drawing so I had to snap a few pictures of her artwork.  Julia's picture of herself and Kitty.  I just love that she loves Kitty so much.  Neither Joseph nor Ella really had a stuffed animal that they really loved so it's sweet to experience.  The good news is that Julia isn't so obsessed with her that if she is missing that she totally freaks out but she definitely loves having Kitty around and Kitty has been a source of comfort for her in new situations and she loves cuddling with her at night.

Here is one  of our family...maybe I need to tone down the mascara a bit-ha ha!

And the sun and flowers!  She is a drawing machine lately.

September 5th was the official first day of school!!  She was SO excited!  As we were getting ready that morning she was looking at herself in the mirror and I said to her, "Julia I am so excited for you."  She looked back at me and said, "I am excited for myself."  Awe!!!!  Sweet, sweet girl!!!
She wanted to bring kitty along so I let her do that, and, of course she wanted to wear the cat ears.  Those have pretty much been a permanent fixture on her head since she received them.
Julia's smile brightens up every room and totally brightens my day every.single.day and I can't wait to hear about her spreading the joy and love that she has to give to her preschool friends and teachers.  She truly is such a JOY!!!

She walked right into her classroom like she owned it and didn't even look back.  I had tears in my eyes because I was so proud of her confidence, and, also because I truly am going to miss having her around.  She's been my little buddy for the past 4 years and I've loved every minute with her, but am so proud of her and can't wait to hear about all of her fun this year.  

Charlotte is 2!!

Char Char, Lar, Lars, Baby Charlotte, Baby Char...how can this girls be 2?!?  I mean seriously, wasn't she just born yesterday? And, today she is a very independent, very full of joy, and a good amount of spunk 2 year old!!  

Here is a snapshot of Charlotte at age 2:  

-She weighs 28 pounds, 10.5 ounces which is the 50-75th percentile and is 34 1/4 inches long which is also in the 50-75th percentile.  

-Loves the Baby Shark song.  Actually, she doesn't just love it, she is full on obsessed with it.  Requests it every.single.time that we are in the car or whenever she can get her hands on my phone.  Obsessed!

-She is quite the big girl.  She no longer wants to sit in the high chair and basically wants to do everything that the the big kids do, which sometimes means that she isn't the best influence for others.  I'm afraid that she is going to teach Finn a thing or two-I caught her on the counter getting a banana one day when he was over and he was just watching her with a look on his face that said, "Wow, Char!!!"  We've also caught her on the kitchen table a few times recently as well as the bathroom counters.  She also doesn't like to be buckled in the stroller anymore and often will try to climb out of it or at least sit on the very front edge, which makes walking to school somewhat of a hot mess.  She is busy!  I will say though that she is a good listener and doesn't test limits dangerously (such as running into the street) and although she does test my limits sometimes she normally can be redirected and reasoned with which is pretty awesome for a 2 year old.  

-Thinking that she is so big also allows her to think that she is so independent.  She likes to dress herself which includes crocs only, some days with socks but most days without, and she is very particular about her hair which mostly means that she doesn't want anything in it so basically she looks like a hot mess every day.  Cute, hot mess, but still a hot mess.  

-Snacks/Food.  She pretty much loves all everything that she can get her hands on.  She is a great eater and can throw down anything from a lot of broccoli to yogurt to a lot of ice cream, too.  She has been waking up inn the middle of the night recently and coming into our bed with us (she does not do well at the "cry it out" method and I am tired!!) so, anyways, one night she woke up around midnight so I brought her into bed.  At 2:30 a.m. I hear her saying, "Momma, Momma" and I roll over and she is standing next to me holding a yogurt and says, "Yogurt?"  I about died!!  Half asleep I carried her back in the kitchen to put it away and she started asking for a banana.  Thankfully I was able to convince her to settle with some ice and water but the kids were all cracking up the following morning when I told them the story!!  

-She has recently started referring to me as "mama, mommy".  The kids rarely call me mommy so whenever she says it I always smile.  

-She is talking a lot!!!  And the majority of it is pretty understandable so we are hopeful that we'll be in the clear with speech therapy for her ;), but only time will tell!  She is really good at stringing a lot of words together to make sentences that really make sense without the use of pronouns or prepositions-you can definitely have a conversation with her and know what she is talking about.  

-She LOVES, LOVES, LOVES her siblings!!  And they are so great with her, well, I mean we all joke around that she is kind of crazy but only in a joking way and there is only love for her.  I have loved watching her relationships develop with each of the other kids.  Her and Julia can play for hours together, with the most popular recently being puppy or family while Ella and Joseph are both great with her but play more with her if all 4 are playing together or take on more of a motherly/fatherly role with her.   All so sweet to watch.

-Charlotte gives the best hugs-really squeezes tight and snuggles in.  The best.

Her birthday fell on Labor Day this year so we had the day off which was great!  We had a relaxing morning at home, playing and hanging out and then went to Lake Miramar, where she loves to feed the ducks.  We are doing a joint birthday party with Julia next week with all of the family so will celebrate more then.  

 Happy birthday girl with her carseat turned around to face the front!! Yay!!!

Feeding the ducks with everyone after running/biking around.  

 Joseph has a soft spot for her and she has a sweet spot for him, too.

There are a ton of the following pictures but I had a hard time deleting them since I'd look at each one and decide I loved one of their facial expressions or something along those lines so just decided to keep them all in!  

At this point she decided she was over pictures...

but, I was able to bribe her for a few more!  

 She was so excited to open her presents!  She especially loved her Barbie and guitar!

 
 
 And, she really loved the cake!!  She totally understood that it was her birthday and has been singing to herself for the past few weeks...she'll say "ha eee to mee, ha eee to me" and then even pretend to blow out candles.  She had a little help from Ella with blowing out her real candles but she totally got it and was super excited about it!

Happy birthday to our sweet 2 year old!  We can't wait to see how much you grow and develop this year and are so thankful that you are part of our family.  You are special and bring so much joy to our lives.  We love you Lar!!