stand your ground

the hubs is (finally) planting corn, Coop had football camp so I took the girlies to Moe's for dinner.  Pres refused to eat her quesadilla but ate an entire cup of guac (she even dipped her cookie in it).  I got up to take her to the potty before we left (nope, still not trained) and this kid was running all over the restaurant.  You know the type - mom's on her cell phone, paying no attention while her kid is bumping into other people's chairs, crawling under tables, etc.  The kid comes flying around a table & smashes right into Pres.  He was about her height but had a good 20 lbs on her.  I could see her little leg muscles tense up and as he hit her, she barely budged as the holy terror fell to the ground.  She may look like a tiny princess but baby girl's got an inner linebacker inside....

this kid

....was tickled when her daddy accidentally dug up a rabbit nest to reveal 6 babies

 ...enjoyed feeding the "fishes and gooses" left over popcorn

 ....got all ready to swim but then decided it was more fun to sit on the edge with her toes in the water

 ...enjoyed a cat nap in the truck

for you AJ Robinson

the hair clips my littles wear are from the Etsy shop Sweet July Shop  They are the only clips that will stay in Presley's fine hair but they also work for Piper's thick hair!

picture flood

our past 2 weeks in pics....iphone pics so not always the best...bear with me

I heard at a preschool gymnastics congress that by the time you are 6, you should be able to touch your opposite ear with your hand.  Unless Piper's arm grows significantly by Sept, she's not gonna make it

the weather finally decided to stay above 50, the girls asked to each lunch outside any day it wasn't raining

 notice her bent arm, she poses even while sitting

 Pres was concerned about the "goose eatin' grass" then "shoo goose, no eat grass"

 she broke a piece of chalk & said "sorry chalk" several times

her new way of getting out of my 'Burb - grab the door handle, jump & swing out of the car

"I'm relaxing Mama"

 "I'm a fancy lady!"

 Mulan costumes.  Piper told me "Chinese Princesses cover their mouths with fans"

Charlie came to visit while his parents went to a Blackhawks game

 he learned how to take "selfies" and cracked himself (and us) up

 watching a movie on the iPad

 Piper ordered corn dog nuggets & then ate 1/2 of my brisket

 be still my heart, her hair is long enough for a pony tail!

 she stuffed herself into the play kitchen fridge

 after 17 years of mowing, I had my first accident :(  Something flew into my eye and I hit the "forward" instead of reverse.  Luckily, Justin and a friend were here and able to pull the mower back out of the pond.  Even more thankful when it started back up.  

sadness

I had a post all typed up but then read my dear friend, Emily Rancourt's blog today.  Please go read the beautiful post written by Emily's husband Jacques.

"Don't Worry, I Gotcha!"

PT boot camp update

Pres spent all weekend (except naps & nighttime) in undies.  We had several accidents but found setting a timer for 30-45 min lessened the number.  I'm not sure how much progress we made - she only told us once all weekend that she had to go.  I had to put her back in a pull-up for school today because they require it until she will at least tell them she has to go.  I know she will be diaper free some glorious day & she won't go to high school in diaps (or if she is, at least at that point she can change herself) but this potty training stuff is for the birds!

Piper drew a pretty sweet black cat for her homework assignment of "draw a farm animal"  She picked a black cat because "that's all we's got at our farm".  I meant to take a picture but forgot so just believe me when I say it rocked.  Big ears (Coop thought it was a bunny), yellow eyes, pink nose, whiskers, and even eyelashes.  She shocked me by writing CAT at the top but then wrote her name backwards next to it "just cause it's fun sometimes".

Coop helped his dad interview someone for our much needed hired man position at the farm and then helped him bring the kayak & paddleboat up to the house.  Looking forward to spending the nice evening on the pond!

Chloe had a research paper due for her language class.  Justin & I were scratching our heads over the topic she picked "Wrestling" which she has never had any interest in (except the short relationship with a boy that kicks major booty in the wrestling circuit) and even after supposedly researching it all week, still knew nothing about the subject.  She has major 8th grade-itis right now.  With 19 (counting today) days left of school, who can blame her?

I started the "Couch to 5K" program AGAIN today.  I'm recovering from a nasty sinus infection & I've probably mentioned before how much I despise running but I'd like to not buy all new pants this summer.  If you haven't heard of the program before - download the C25K app and it will eventually have you running a 5K.  Today was a 5 min warm-up walk, alternate 60sec run with 90sec walk for 20 min, 5 min cool down walk.  I went 1.8 miles in the 30 min.  According to the sweet Garmin running watch the hubs got me, my best pace was 11.22 min/mile.  Hoping I can stick with it this time -- we have a 5K for Orphans later this summer I would love to run in!

Justin is still not planting corn.  After the drought last year, all the rain we are getting is almost a cruel joke.  We're lucky that we didn't have the flooding like so much of the state did.

where'd her glasses go?

in my pretty non-existent blog this winter, I think I may have a few of you wondering where Piper's glasses have disappeared to.  Piper has bad eyesight -- as in -8.5.  Luckily, her eyes are healthy...she's just really nearsighted (meaning she can't see far away....ok, she really can't see more than a few inches from her face).  We see her eye dr. every 6 months to keep an eye (no pun intended) on things.  He mentioned contacts a few appts back at which time I almost laughed in his face -- seriously...  Fast forward to late January, the eye dr brought up all his reasons for putting her in contacts.  She has a bad habit of looking over the top of her glasses so she is constantly straining her eyes.  We tried bifocals & she just couldn't get used to it.  He showed me studies of how gas permeable (hard) lenses have been shown to slow down the progression of myopia (near sightedness).  He said we could try a pair of soft lenses to get her used to wearing them but then transition into the gas perms over time.  I agreed to try it, they ordered in a trial (free) pair of soft lenses, she was super stoked to get them in.  45 minutes later, the contact tech still couldn't get them in her eyes.  We brought them home & tried all weekend.  She didn't fight us, we just simply couldn't get her sweet eyes open far enough to put in what looked like a satellite dish in her eye.  After talking to the dr again, he ordered the gas perms "just to try".  They came in 2 weeks later, we went in and they immediately got them in her eye.  She got this funny look on her face & said "I can see so good!".

It's been almost 3 months & it has been such a wonderful change for her.  She has adjusted better than we ever expected.  I still put them in & take them out for her every day but think she will be ready to try on her own soon.  I know there is controversy over a 5 yr old wearing contacts.  We've even had a few people assume it's for vanity reasons (ridiculous!).  But as with everything, we weighed all the pros/cons and felt this was the right decision.  She now has 20/30 vision with her lenses in and is noticing things she's never seen before.