Slow down, buddy! Slow down!!!!
Adelie and Staley's World
Sunday, January 17, 2016
Slow Down!
Briggs has added "kitty", "sissy", "night-night", and "Grammie" to his vocabulary. He is a voracious eater, and will sometimes out-eat his sisters at mealtimes. He loves to play hide and seek. And now he's realized that he can crawl up the stairs and onto low furniture.
Friday, January 15, 2016
Five Years
Disclaimer: This is my annual long, detailed post to help me remember who my children are at each age. Feel free to skip this post if it's more information than you really care to read. This one is mostly for me. :)
It's hard to believe that my baby is already 5 years old. She is growing up so fast! She now weighs around 40 lbs and is 42" tall. (I know this because she wants me to measure her almost every night so that she knows which rides at Disney she is going to be tall enough for. :)) She is wearing 5T clothes from the toddler section and XS (4/5) clothes from the girls section. It makes me a little sad that she has almost outgrown the cute little sizes and is growing into the big kid sizes. She is in size 9 shoes. Staley never, ever, ever naps, although she does "rest time" every day at home, which is basically just playing on her own while her siblings nap and I get some things done. She sleeps for about 11-12 hours at night, with bedtime between 7:30 and 8:00. She still has occasional (maybe once or twice every couple of months) night wakings where she has a hard time going back to sleep, but hasn't had any of her night terrors in quite a while. She remains my opinionated, independent, thoughtful, helpful, sweet, loving little girl.
Likes: Staley has a plethera of interests. Current favorite play activities include playing Barbies (and Barbie horses), figurines, putting on shows (dressing up, singing, dancing, playing musical instruments), doing arts and crafts, and pretending. Always, always, always pretending. (This morning Staley and Adelie spent over an hour pretending they were going to Disney World.)
Staley loves going places--preschool, the library, kid's choir, swimming, the zoo, museums,... but is also very content to play at home. She has a variety of little friends at church (Laynie and June), pre-school (Chloe, Josslyn, Magnolia, Bella, Dylan), for play dates (Kyli, Makinley, Avery), and in the neighborhood (Annalivia, Emmaleise, Daniel, Peter, Brody, Blake), but her best friends are Adelie, Lila, and Liam. Although of her cousins she is closest with Lila and Liam (who are both her same age), she LOVES all her cousins and enjoys spending time with them. She also loves playing with, and helping with, her younger siblings. She and Adelie are two peas in a pod and play together really well. When I interviewed Staley, she said that Adelie is her best friend. I love that!!
Staley is an animal lover, especially cats and horses. And she loves to play with her stuffed animals. Of course, Yellow Bear (now called Teddy) is her most favorite. She still sleeps with him every night. Staley has never been a big doll girl, but she did get an American Girl-type doll for Christmas and has really been enjoying playing with her. She got a few little doll outfits for her birthday and insists on putting her doll in pajamas every night and then dressing her every day. (As if getting herself ready each day didn't take long enough. :))
Outside, Staley likes riding her bike, playing on our playset, and going to the park. Doing "big kid" things at the park is a big interest, and Staley enjoys trying things like sliding down the pole and doing the monkey bars (with help).
Staley has also started wanting to take showers instead of baths, and gets so excited about them. Staley is a good eater and eats most everything, although she doesn't really care for veggies. Current favorite TV shows include Little Einsteins, Blaze and the Monster Machines, Little Charmers, and Paw Patrol. Favorite movies are generally Barbie movies. Staley still really likes Disney princesses. At this moment, Jasmine is her favorite, but when asked, she will often list Jasmine, Merida, and Pocahontas at the top of her list. (She also likes Ariel and Elsa.) Staley loves to read! She has many books memorized and will "read" them to Adelie. She also likes to make up her own stories and songs...and has gotten quite good at both. She currently really enjoys reading the Rainbow Magic fairy chapter books (they are awful!) with Zach. But she's not too picky. She'll sit and listen to me read books as long as I'm willing.
Dislikes: Staley is still picky about clothing textures, preferring knit dresses and skirts with leggings. She will occasionally wear soft pants, but not jeans or khaki pants. She doesn't like vegetables, except cheesy carrots and corn on the cob, but will eat her veggies when requested. She does not like to be told what to do, preferring when things are her own idea. (That's one of the reasons I dread family pictures--telling Staley what she has to wear and how she needs to pose don't always go over very well.) Staley is still sensitive about "scary things" and will request parts of movies or TV shows with bad guys be fast forwarded, even though we don't watch anything even remotely scary. (She can't even make it through a movie like 'Toy Story' or the Disney princess movies or even some of the Tinkerbell movies without fast forwarding. She even closes her eyes at some of the scenes in the super-benign kids shows she watches on Nick Jr. or Disney Jr.) She is getting better about not covering her ears with the mixer or hand dryers, but still does not like loud noises like sirens and fireworks. Staley can get a little pouty or bossy when people don't want to play how she wants them to, although I feel like this has been getting a little better lately.
Skills: Staley can ride her bike with training wheels, use her two-wheeled scooter (with one foot on the scooter and one foot on the ground), do somersaults, climb most of the apparatus at the playground, and hop on one foot. When we went swimming on her birthday, Staley was going underwater and trying to swim. She is left-handed, and does really well with writing her capital letters, drawing simple shapes/designs (like stick people, suns, trees), cutting things out, and doing crafts. She has a little sewing machine and loves to sew with it.
Staley is getting really independent with things like getting dressed, tying her shoes, zipping her coat, washing up in the shower, brushing her teeth, brushing her hair, pouring drinks (when the cartons aren't too full), taking her dishes to the counter, and cleaning up her toys. Staley has a great memory and is very bright. She can count to 100 (and more), sounds out words, recognizes most of her upper case letters and numbers from 1-30 (she still struggles with B/D and 6/9), recognizes many of her lower case letters, does simple addition, has a number of Spanish words in her vocabulary, and always remembers what she learned in Sunday School, pre-school, through books/TV shows, and at home. Staley is always thinking and is never lacking for ideas. "I have a great idea" is something that I hear all.the.time...especially after I've proposed something different.
Staley is very sweet and kind-hearted. She is thoughtful and loves to give compliments and make gifts for others. She generally shares really well and plays nicely with her friends, cousins, and siblings. She has a big heart and a sweet personality, but isn't afraid to speak her mind. I am so proud of the little girl she is! My heart is full!!
STALEY IS 5!!
It's hard to believe that my baby is already 5 years old. She is growing up so fast! She now weighs around 40 lbs and is 42" tall. (I know this because she wants me to measure her almost every night so that she knows which rides at Disney she is going to be tall enough for. :)) She is wearing 5T clothes from the toddler section and XS (4/5) clothes from the girls section. It makes me a little sad that she has almost outgrown the cute little sizes and is growing into the big kid sizes. She is in size 9 shoes. Staley never, ever, ever naps, although she does "rest time" every day at home, which is basically just playing on her own while her siblings nap and I get some things done. She sleeps for about 11-12 hours at night, with bedtime between 7:30 and 8:00. She still has occasional (maybe once or twice every couple of months) night wakings where she has a hard time going back to sleep, but hasn't had any of her night terrors in quite a while. She remains my opinionated, independent, thoughtful, helpful, sweet, loving little girl.
Likes: Staley has a plethera of interests. Current favorite play activities include playing Barbies (and Barbie horses), figurines, putting on shows (dressing up, singing, dancing, playing musical instruments), doing arts and crafts, and pretending. Always, always, always pretending. (This morning Staley and Adelie spent over an hour pretending they were going to Disney World.)
Staley and Adelie having a tea party with their stuffed animals
Staley loves going places--preschool, the library, kid's choir, swimming, the zoo, museums,... but is also very content to play at home. She has a variety of little friends at church (Laynie and June), pre-school (Chloe, Josslyn, Magnolia, Bella, Dylan), for play dates (Kyli, Makinley, Avery), and in the neighborhood (Annalivia, Emmaleise, Daniel, Peter, Brody, Blake), but her best friends are Adelie, Lila, and Liam. Although of her cousins she is closest with Lila and Liam (who are both her same age), she LOVES all her cousins and enjoys spending time with them. She also loves playing with, and helping with, her younger siblings. She and Adelie are two peas in a pod and play together really well. When I interviewed Staley, she said that Adelie is her best friend. I love that!!
Staley with her cousins Olivia and Lila
Staley and Avery
(Avery is the daughter of MY best friend, so I love that she and Staley get along so well.)
Staley and Jackie, all ready for bed.
Being a big helper with Briggs on our play set.
Staley has also started wanting to take showers instead of baths, and gets so excited about them. Staley is a good eater and eats most everything, although she doesn't really care for veggies. Current favorite TV shows include Little Einsteins, Blaze and the Monster Machines, Little Charmers, and Paw Patrol. Favorite movies are generally Barbie movies. Staley still really likes Disney princesses. At this moment, Jasmine is her favorite, but when asked, she will often list Jasmine, Merida, and Pocahontas at the top of her list. (She also likes Ariel and Elsa.) Staley loves to read! She has many books memorized and will "read" them to Adelie. She also likes to make up her own stories and songs...and has gotten quite good at both. She currently really enjoys reading the Rainbow Magic fairy chapter books (they are awful!) with Zach. But she's not too picky. She'll sit and listen to me read books as long as I'm willing.
Staley and Adelie reading together
Staley loves to help around the house with everything from cooking to cleaning to folding laundry to watching her siblings. She also likes to exercise with me if I'm going running or doing an exercise video. Staley always prefers to pick out her own clothes. She generally wants to wear a dress or a skirt. Glittery and sparkly are always preferred. Or anything with leopard print or cheetah print. She also still really enjoys matching or coordinating with Adelie. Given the chance, she loves to pick out what the whole family will wear. (She's a girl who likes to be in charge!)
Happy about their matching PJs
Dislikes: Staley is still picky about clothing textures, preferring knit dresses and skirts with leggings. She will occasionally wear soft pants, but not jeans or khaki pants. She doesn't like vegetables, except cheesy carrots and corn on the cob, but will eat her veggies when requested. She does not like to be told what to do, preferring when things are her own idea. (That's one of the reasons I dread family pictures--telling Staley what she has to wear and how she needs to pose don't always go over very well.) Staley is still sensitive about "scary things" and will request parts of movies or TV shows with bad guys be fast forwarded, even though we don't watch anything even remotely scary. (She can't even make it through a movie like 'Toy Story' or the Disney princess movies or even some of the Tinkerbell movies without fast forwarding. She even closes her eyes at some of the scenes in the super-benign kids shows she watches on Nick Jr. or Disney Jr.) She is getting better about not covering her ears with the mixer or hand dryers, but still does not like loud noises like sirens and fireworks. Staley can get a little pouty or bossy when people don't want to play how she wants them to, although I feel like this has been getting a little better lately.
Skills: Staley can ride her bike with training wheels, use her two-wheeled scooter (with one foot on the scooter and one foot on the ground), do somersaults, climb most of the apparatus at the playground, and hop on one foot. When we went swimming on her birthday, Staley was going underwater and trying to swim. She is left-handed, and does really well with writing her capital letters, drawing simple shapes/designs (like stick people, suns, trees), cutting things out, and doing crafts. She has a little sewing machine and loves to sew with it.
Staley will spend hours at the table doing craft projects.
Staley is getting really independent with things like getting dressed, tying her shoes, zipping her coat, washing up in the shower, brushing her teeth, brushing her hair, pouring drinks (when the cartons aren't too full), taking her dishes to the counter, and cleaning up her toys. Staley has a great memory and is very bright. She can count to 100 (and more), sounds out words, recognizes most of her upper case letters and numbers from 1-30 (she still struggles with B/D and 6/9), recognizes many of her lower case letters, does simple addition, has a number of Spanish words in her vocabulary, and always remembers what she learned in Sunday School, pre-school, through books/TV shows, and at home. Staley is always thinking and is never lacking for ideas. "I have a great idea" is something that I hear all.the.time...especially after I've proposed something different.
Staley is very sweet and kind-hearted. She is thoughtful and loves to give compliments and make gifts for others. She generally shares really well and plays nicely with her friends, cousins, and siblings. She has a big heart and a sweet personality, but isn't afraid to speak her mind. I am so proud of the little girl she is! My heart is full!!
My big 5 year old!
Wednesday, January 13, 2016
Birthday Extravaganza
Staley had a fun and full 5th birthday extravaganza, starting on Saturday morning and ending with one exhausted 5 year old on Monday night. Since Staley and Liam share a birthday, we always divide their birthday week-end when planning their parties. So Staley's week-end started with birthday fun at Liam's batman party. There's no better way to start a birthday extravaganza week-end than with lots of cute decorations, fun games, cousins, friends, and cake and ice cream before lunch.
Sending out the bat signal via face paint
The birthday boy and his dad
Even Butters was all themed out.
On Sunday afternoon, Staley was so excited about her rock star party. As a girl with many, many plans (and BIG ideas), I worried that her party might not live up to her high expectations. My heart smiled when Staley ran up to me during her disco ball dance party and exclaimed, "This is JUST how I wanted my party to be." (Phew!)
Ready to rock!
There were snack foods, hot pink punch, and rock star brownies, cookies, and cake balls.
Staley had a vision of a rock concert put on by all her cousins. We had a "stage" and 3 groups of kids who each performed a song...complete with rock star gear.
The girls performed an original rendition of Happy Birthday, which was very good.
(Cade and Adelie sang a Barbie song, while Liam sang the theme to Star Wars.)
And then Staley provided a solo performance of her original song, "Singing Happy Birthday."
(Verse 1: Here sits the birthday fox, singing happy birthday the way foxes do. Rarrr! Rarr! Rarr!
Verse 2: Here sits the birthday cat, singing happy birthday the way cats do. Meow! Meow! Meow!
Verse 3: Here sits the birthday duck, singing happy birthday the way ducks do. Quack! Quack! Quack!
Verse 4: Here sits the birthday horse, singing happy birthday the way horses do. Neigh! Neigh! Neigh!)
And, of course, the birthday girl enjoyed birthday treats...
and presents.
Elliott brought a few magic tricks and his disco ball. After a brief Elliott magic show, the kids had a blast dancing to princess music in their glow jewelry with the disco ball.
The party was great, but it wasn't the end of the birthday fun. After the party, Lila stayed for movie night (watching the Barbie movie "Princess and the Pop Star") and a sleep-over. On Monday morning, we met Liam and one of Staley's little friends for some birthday swimming fun followed by lunch at Firehouse Pizza (where another of her little friends was able to join us).
Birthday swimming fun
The birthday kids
To finish off the birthday fun, both sets of grandparents joined us on Monday evening for Staley's requested birthday dinner of cheeseburgers, cheesy carrots, and grapes. (Since Staley requested cheeseburgers, Zach grilled out in the frigid January weather.) Staley opened her birthday presents from us, took a few spins around the living room on her new scooter, gave final birthday hugs, and then collapsed into bed, happy and exhausted.
What a fun time we had celebrating Staley!!
Tuesday, January 12, 2016
Interview
Everything you want to know about Staley at 5:
Favorites:
Favorite color? Red
Favorite food? Spaghetti
Favorite dessert? Brownies
Favorite toy? My little ballerina Barbie
Favorite stuffed animal? Teddy (or the bear formerly known as Yellow Bear)
Favorite place to go? School
Favorite thing about school? Playing with the other kids
Favorite outfit? My leopard dress
Favorite Disney princess? Merida
Favorite game? Duck, duck, goose
Favorite family game night game? Disney Pictopia
Favorite instrument? violin
Favorite book? The book I made today (which was the 2 stories she dictated to me)
Favorite movie? How to Train Your Dragon
Favorite TV show? Little Einstein
Favorite song? Amazing Grace
Favorite animal? leopards and horses and penguins
Favorite thing to do? Have big girl play dates (where I drop her off and am not there :))
Favorite thing to do with Adelie? Have races
Favorite thing to do with Briggs? Play with his robot
Favorite thing to do with Daddy? Read fairy books
Favorite thing to do with Mommy? Spend time together and exercise
What's the best thing about you? My hair
Who is your best friend? Adelie
What are you most excited about doing when you're 5? Being in the same ballet class as Lila
What are some things that you'll be able to do when you're 5? Swim underwater, do the monkey bars by myself, go to Kindergarten
What do you want to be when you grow up? A musician
Favorites:
Favorite color? Red
Favorite food? Spaghetti
Favorite dessert? Brownies
Favorite toy? My little ballerina Barbie
Favorite stuffed animal? Teddy (or the bear formerly known as Yellow Bear)
Favorite place to go? School
Favorite thing about school? Playing with the other kids
Favorite outfit? My leopard dress
Favorite Disney princess? Merida
Favorite game? Duck, duck, goose
Favorite family game night game? Disney Pictopia
Favorite instrument? violin
Favorite book? The book I made today (which was the 2 stories she dictated to me)
Favorite movie? How to Train Your Dragon
Favorite TV show? Little Einstein
Favorite song? Amazing Grace
Favorite animal? leopards and horses and penguins
Favorite thing to do? Have big girl play dates (where I drop her off and am not there :))
Favorite thing to do with Adelie? Have races
Favorite thing to do with Briggs? Play with his robot
Favorite thing to do with Daddy? Read fairy books
Favorite thing to do with Mommy? Spend time together and exercise
What's the best thing about you? My hair
Who is your best friend? Adelie
What are you most excited about doing when you're 5? Being in the same ballet class as Lila
What are some things that you'll be able to do when you're 5? Swim underwater, do the monkey bars by myself, go to Kindergarten
What do you want to be when you grow up? A musician
And that, my friends, is Staley at 5.
(At least according to her.)
Monday, January 11, 2016
Party Preview
When a party starts like this...
and includes inflatable guitars...
glow jewelry...
magic tricks...
and ends with a disco ball dance party...
you know it's going to be memorable.
Stay tuned...
Happy Birthday, Staley!
Wasn't it just yesterday??
Wasn't it just yesterday that you were born, filling my heart in a way I didn't know was possible?
Wasn't it just yesterday that you amazed me with your every first, growing up right before my eyes?
Wasn't it just yesterday that your smile was quick and ready and lit up my life?
Wasn't it just yesterday that I reveled in experiencing life through your wonder-filled eyes?
Wasn't it just yesterday that you showed me what a great big sister you could be?
Wasn't it just yesterday that your big imagination filled all our days with wonderful adventures?
Wasn't it just yesterday that I blinked and you turned into an opinionated, independent little girl?
Wasn't it just yesterday that you started pre-school, showing me your confidence and independence as you excitedly started your school journey with enthusiasm?
Wasn't it just yesterday that you turned 4 as I struggled with how 4 years could have possibly flown by already?
Wasn't it just yesterday that you insisted on telling everyone that you were 4 and a half, not wanting to mistaken for the young 4 year old you once were?
And now you are 5! You still fill my heart in ways I didn't know were possible. Your smile still lights up my life. You are the wonderful big sister that I always knew you would be. I still rejoice in your firsts, enjoy the adventures that your imagination brings, and see your confidence and independence shine through in everything you do. You are growing up so quickly, but you are still my baby girl.
Happy Birthday, my Staley!
I love you!
Saturday, January 9, 2016
Daily News Flash
In the past few days, Briggs has started clapping, putting toys into containers, combing his hair, and has said 'up' and 'truck.'
And he needs a haircut.
Everything about him is just growing, growing, growing.
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