watching dad

I caught the kids standing on the window sill watching Jason clean off the patio tonight.

they were trying to get his attention by knocking and shouting for him. 

All I know is that they both sure love their daddy! 

Lauren's TV time

Lauren's favorite shows these days are: (in order of preference)

1. Jake and the Neverland Pirates (she now has an imaginary friend or two named Jake that does everything with her along with her parrots of course)

2. Dinosaur Train

3. Doc McStuffins - aka "Bi-rets favorite show" (Violet's favorite show)

3. Team Umizoomi

4. Mike the Knight
5. Super Why

TV has gone from a given activity in the day to something Lauren earns now. She gets "tokens" for good behavior and can buy TV time or a treat. She loves it and Jason and I enjoy rewarding her good behavior rather than giving consequences for her poor choices and actions (although that still happens too).

Interestingly enough, Lauren had 2 tokens tonight and chose to spend both of them on treats and skip TV time. She colored instead and had her gummy worm and gummy shark.

funny words Lauren says

Make-ed = naked

Emma-Emmas = M&Ms

big girl/boy milk = cow milk (as opposed to baby milk=formula and mommy milk= nursing)

ice cream milk = cow milk

bathing soup = bathing suit

She has also started saying "her" instead of "she" frequently. For example, "Her needs food. Her is hungry". I am not sure why this happened because she didn't do this before.

making music

Lauren found the box of noisy toys today (I guess I didn't hide it very well!) and she and Colson had so much fun making music and dancing together. Colson was laughing so hard and dancing the best he could.

I love watching these two have fun together. 

We also played with pipe cleaners, beads and colanders today! 

fawl in wud

Tonight Lauren's "dinner dress" was the yellow Belle gown, complete with her "gas sippers". She wanted me to call her Belle and only referred to me as "the Beast".

me: Lauren eat your corn please.
LF: I am Belle, not Lauren.
me: Okay... Belle, eat your corn please.
LF: Sure Beast. I will always eat my corn for the Beast.

Then we had to "fawl in wud" (fall in love). I asked her what that meant and she said, "its where you spin around and love each other". Okay, so we spun around and around and fell in love a few times tonight in the living room.

oh, to be three...

Drama

We have been talking to Lauren about not having so much "drama". We told her drama is making a big deal about something. Today when Colson was upset and crying, Lauren says in an exasperated tone, "Mom, Colson IS drama!"

hahah

at the breakfast table

This morning while we were eating breakfast, Lauren dropped her spoon on the floor. Before I could reach down to get it, she said, "Don't worry mom, I will get it. I need to put my sooba diber mass (scuba diver mask) on and I will go underwater to get it. Just wait mom..."

I played along and watched as she pretended to put on a mask, hold her breath and go under the table to dive for her spoon.

such an imagination and it is always going...i love it.

kisses goodnight

Colson loves to give Lauren kisses goodnight...sometimes she isn't too happy to get them though. He is one persistent little brother though and finally pinned her down to get his kisses! 

playing together

Popsicles and water balloons on the porch after dinner tonight...I love summer. 

I couldn't actually get a picture of them throwing water balloons because they did it so quickly. 

Then they played "hop scotch" and were just so silly! 

still my baby girl

I loved these pictures because Lauren looks so young in them...

she will always be my baby girl, but she is just getting so grown up these days! 

finding Nemo

We had to go tot he doctor today for Colson's appointment and as soon as we got in the kids ran to the fish tank. Lauren couldn't wait to find Nemo and Dory! She even saw Sebastian and Flounder today! This really made her day. 

Ariel in chalk

Lauren drew Ariel in sidewalk chalk today and I thought she did a great job. She had the red hair and drew her facial features, bathing suit, and mermaid tail. I loved it and she was very proud of herself. 

so impressed!

I know she is my daughter, but I was pretty proud of this picture. Lauren did such a great job coloring this picture of "Tangled" and Eugene. 

love it! 

This week's chart

This week's chart

surfing on mom

After dinner tonight, we were playing in the playroom and Colson came and tried to stand up on my back. Lauren and Colson took turns trying to balance on my back and "surf". They thought it was the greatest thing ever... so easily entertained! 

new dress

Thank you Aunt Jeanie for Lauren's new dress! She opened the box and had it on within minutes of its arrival! She loves it! 

take my picture

My former camera-shy daughter has been begging me to take her picture lately...crazy hair and all. Here are a few pictures from the last week of requests!

tent time

Two kids in a tent...

having fun.

Lauren bowling

I surprised Lauren and took her bowling today.  Lauren told everyone we saw at the gym this morning that she was going bowling. She even invited a few people to come with us! She was so excited to go and was even happier when I told her that Kalle was meeting us there!

Lauren and Kalle standing still for half a second...

Showing off her bowling shoes- she was quite disappointed they didn't match her dress...

Trying out the bowling shoes for dance shoes

"Mom, get out your eyes so you can see this!" Lauren says.

"Yeah!"

making progress

Lauren had another pretty good week! 

some favorite things

Colson is obsessed with this canister of bows that we have. He asks to play with them all the time and is forever entertained by shaking them and then dumping them out everywhere...then putting them all back in. This is definitely one of his favorite activities right now!

This afternoon Lauren decided she wanted to sit with him and share one of her favorite snacks...blueberries. 

They sat and played and ate together and just had so much fun....that is my favorite thing!

too funny

hugs and kisses

Colson loves to love. For the last 6 weeks or so, when I asked for "hugs and kisses" he would say "awwww" and lay his head on my shoulder while hugging me. I have been trying to teach him that that is a hug and demonstrate what a kiss is so that he knows the difference.

So now when I say "Can I have a kiss" he says "mmmmm" and kisses me- but you never know what you are going to get - closed mouth or open, slobbery or not... and maybe a little tongue! I can tell him to kiss daddy good morning or Lauren good night and he loves to do it. Sometimes he just hugs and kisses on his own.

He loves to give everyone hugs and kisses - even the animals in the books he reads. There are a few books that take 3 times as long to read because he has to hug the animal on every page...and he gives long hugs!!

He also loves to give high fives and gets so excited when someone asks for one! He also makes a noise or tries to say something when he hits... Lauren and I say "bam" so I am guessing that is what he is attempting to say!

He is just as sweet as can be though. I just love him!!

just doing what sister does...

While we were swimming yesterday, Lauren did something that got her on time out (I can't even remember what it was now!). She was so upset that she had to get out of the pool and then cried and whimpered that she was so cold (it was 95 degrees out!). Anyway, she was her normal dramatic self on time out for a couple minutes until she realized she wasn't getting off time out until she calmed down. So shortly after she got back in and started swimming again....

But then Colson gets out of the pool, walks over to where Lauren was on time out, sits down and starts fake crying/whimpering. Lauren and I looked over and I asked her, "Did Colson just put himself on time out?" and we started laughing so hard!!!

Today while we were swimming Colson did the same exact thing - but hadn't seen Lauren on time out today. For some reason he just thought it was time to go sit in that spot and "cry". so funny. He really does want to be just like Lauren!

water balloons

Lauren finally got her reward for her sticker chart...water balloons! 

She was so excited at the idea of playing with them- she didn't realize that most people have water balloon fights and fill them up only to pop them! 

Jason filled a bucket up and we threw them at each other this afternoon. Lauren and Colson enjoyed it a lot.  Colson was quite perplexed he threw them and they popped...then was equally as confused when they didn't pop! It was so fun to watch. 

Lauren wanted to save a few to actually "play" with. She saved two larger ones and a small one she named Lucy. She carried these water balloons around all afternoon and even napped with Lucy (who told her not to fall asleep!). She even had Jason babysit them while we went to the gym. 

She definitely has a maternal instinct...! 

Weekly Chart July 1-7

So we definitely need to work on a few things... and Lauren is so inconsistent. 

Friday was probably one of the best days we have had in a while, but today was one of the worst!!! I think Lauren spent at least an hour or more crying in her room today. 

princess tea party

Lauren has spent a lot of time playing with her doll house lately...but instead of the dolls that fit in the house, she prefers to play with her princesses. They all attended a tea party tonight! She has very lengthy conversations while playing with her dolls...I just adore this age!