Dancing

Paige had her first little dance recital for her jazz/ballet class. It was through the community, and I thought they did a great job with the girls. . . especially for 20 bucks! 7 dance classes later, I'm not sure that she'll be a prima ballerina, but she sure had fun!

Relaxing after a hard day of pirouettes and plies. (Don't ask her if she knows what those words mean. . . I can guarantee that she doesn't.)

She earned that cookie!

She stuck her tongue out through the whole dance!

Swimsuit giveaway

Need a new swimsuit? The girls at on my perch are GIVING one away. . . it might be your lucky day!

Goodbye Old Friend

Sunday night, I decided to bribe Paige away from her blankie. Blankie is an old friend, one of the oldest. Been with her since the beginning, the crib days. She has hauled Blankie to the movies, on long car trips, on airplanes, to Disneyland, and even out of the country. A stalwart pal, but a negative influence, none the less. Blankie, you see, is the tempter of thumbsucking.

"I promise I won't suck my thumb if I can keep my Blankie," she said frequently with doe eyes. But time and time again I came to find her with her thumb hidden behind that Blankie.

"Paige, I'll trade you your Blankie for that new Ariel polly that you've had your eyes on," I said with intended excitement in my voice.

"OK!"

"Now, you know that once we make this trade, you won't get your Blankie back. I don't want to hear any whining about the Blankie, or I will take the Ariel away. "

"Then I won't have a Blankie or an Ariel?" . . . .Short pause. . . . "OK!"

The Blankie is in the bottom of the tub of baby boy clothes. We won't be getting that out any time soon. Shane let me know that this wouldn't be the end of this conversation come bedtime. Sure enough. 8:00 rolled around and we tucked her in.

"Please, Mom, I really want my Blankie."

"Nope, we made a deal."

First came the crying. Real crying, mind you. The kind that breaks your heart. The poor kid. After all, Blankie has been with her through thick and thin. A kid's best friend. A true comfort. Even when she cut Blankie with the scissors, or threw up all over Blankie, there was no question that Blankie would stand by her. (or lay in a pile by her. . . whatever.)

Then came the wailing and knashing of teeth.

"IEEEYEEE WAAAAAANTT MYYYYEEE BLAAAANKIEEEEEEEE!"

"Was this your idea?" Shane asked.
He warned me that she would put up a fight, after all, she's been fighting since day 1.

I arranged all of her animals around her in the bed, but 2 minutes later she was standing in the living room with those doe eyes on again.

I layed with her until she stopped crying and fell asleep. The first night since she was 5 months old that she slept without that Blankie. I felt so sad for her. It's the end of an era. . . the Blankie era. My little girl is growing up.

Paige and Blankie after a long night's sleep

Paige and Blankie with friend, Macey

Blankie and Paige at Ghiradelli Square

Paige and Blankie on the long flight from Memphis to Cali

Paigey, Blankie, and me at the Idaho Falls Temple on Marilyn and Ryan's wedding day.

Paigey and Blankie enjoying an episode of Elmo's World.

need a laugh anyone?

I read this blog called "The Meanest Mom." This post had me laughing out loud. . . that's right, all by myself, laughing out loud. Judge if you must, but sometimes you just need a good chuckle.

Here it is

You may want to take a trip to the bathroom before you settle in. I'm serious.



An UPDATE

For anyone interested, the whining experiment is going great. I asked her to tell me what whining sounded like. She didn't even know. I demonstrated. It wasn't pretty. She stared with her mouth open. Needless to say, there has been minimal whining for 2 whole days. . .and that includes a grocery shopping trip. Not bad, not bad at all.

Whining

I can't take it anymore. I have one unmentioned child who has an excessive whining problem. I'm talking to the point of meltdown. This child whines about snacks, whines about what to do, whines about what to wear, whines about what is for lunch, whines about what is on TV. This bad habit must be stopped. Let me reiterate that this is a Good child with a Bad habit.

Begin experiment A

We'll call it "Break the Whining Habit During Spring Break or Mommy is Having Herself Committed."

Actions include. . .

Stopping the child EVERY time whining takes place and CALMLY saying " I would love to listen to you when you can ask me in a normal voice." After being asked in a normal voice I will respond with "Good, now I would be glad to help you."

Also, hubby will be schooled in the ways of dealing with said whiner.

After experiment A has been tested for one full week, feel free to approach me and let me know how my results are fairing.

Experiment B involves thumb sucking and TWO children. That's a whole new post.

disneyland

Last weekend we made the trek to Disneyland with Summer, Spencer, the kids, Grandma Barbs and Grandpa Har. It was perfect weather, and the kids had so much fun!


Tyler found his bravery (and his soprano voice) riding on Space Mountain for the first time. He also somehow came to the conclusion that if he pulled his tooth out, he wouldn't have to get braces on the following Tuesday.


I guess Disneyland can't make ALL of your dreams come true.

Here's a nice before and after. (Braces and lovely monthly payments as of Tuesday March 3rd.)

Mo had her first ride (outside the womb) on the carousel. She also rode Pinocchio's ride, Roger Rabbit's crazy ride, Buzz Lightyear, the Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean.

Summer and I thought it was so cute that the girls stopped to pet their horse goodbye when they got off the carousel.

Macey, Maddie, and Paige just LOVED the princesses.

Tyler and Max are the best of buddies. They played hard all 3 days and Tyler was so sad to see Max go.

Paige says that her favorite things at Disneyland were, Mickey Mouse, the princesses, and Toontown.

Here she is at toontown. You'll need a closeup of that face.

Scary, eh! What a goofball!

Waiting in line at Pirates of the Caribbean.

By the end of the night, all of the kids had crashed except for Tyler. He waited in line with us to go on Indiana Jones. He always was a little night owl.
What a fun trip!