Three Things - first day of school

Three Things

- ORTHO -

We had Luke in for an ortho evaluation yesterday and I still can't believe I have a kid old enough to be going to the orthodontist!  WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN!?!?!  Thankfully he doesn't have any treatment right now (he'll go back in 6 months for another eval) but it's still blowing my mind a bit!

- REFLECTION -

Luke had to read a book this summer and write a reflection paper before the first day of school and it is literally going to be the death of him.  Luke can crank out a beautifully written and highly detailed book report like nobody's business - but asking him to write about what he likes/dislikes/etc. has been a task!  He's getting it done but it hasn't been without some struggle - he's brainstormed, outlined and now it's just the formal writing part left.  #blessit

- BIG HELP -

Luke has been such a big help this summer.  He's always willing to help in whatever way we ask and often finds ways to help out without us asking.  He makes sandwiches for lunch, takes out all the trash, empties the dishwasher and a ton of other things.  I give Dave all the credit for this awesome trait because Dave  has ALWAYS been a "helper".

- STAR READER -

Mason has been putting his reading skills to good use this summer and while we haven't been "forcing" reading time - we've loved seeing him often choose to read.  He's loving Captain Underpants, 13-Storey Treehouse and the Magic Treehouse series.  The accelerated reader program starts for Mason this year and we're hoping that it just propels his reading even more.

- FOOTBALL -

Flag football is about to start up again and Mason is PUMPED about it!  His whole team is going to be back together again and I love how excited and enthusiastic he is.  Plus - I can't wait to see him in his jersey and jeans on Fridays again - nothing cuter!

- FROM HIS IMAGINATION -

Mason has had a super creative summer.  I've supplied the paper, markers, glue, paint, etc. and he's supplied the creativity.  His favorite way to create is to "just take the things from my head, put them on paper and then see what it makes".  He has also decided that he wants to be a "maker" when he grows up and make different creations and art projects in a "big outside building".  Mama wouldn't be mad about that one bit!

- KIDS SAY THE DARNDEST -

Griffin has been KILLING us lately with some of the hilarious things she' says.  For example, "Mommy, your belly looks really old when you sit down" and "Why do you have all those stripes on your hands, mommy?"

- ALL THE CHEESE -

If Griffin could eat cheese and only cheese all day every day I think she'd be perfectly happy and content.  Babybel, string cheese, cheese sprinkles (parmesan cheese), etc.  She loves it all!  She often will ask for cheese instead of sweets which makes me crack up and realize how much like me she really is. :)  

- KINDER COUNTDOWN -

The countdown to kindergarten is on and she could not be more excited!  Right now she's excited to have "real homework" and we'll see how that plays out ;)  She LOVES school and we can't wait to see how the year unfolds for her.  

- SPOILED CAT -

Jelly Bean was supposed to be the lowest maintenance member of our family... supposed is the key word.  She will only eat canned cat food and she protests if it's not chilled.  She prefers to drink milk over water and her favorite spot during the day is inside a laundry basket filled with blankets under an AC vent in the laundry room :)  But she's stinkin' sweet so give in to her requests.

- TAKING IT TO THE LIMIT -

It's no secret that I'm NOT a morning person and am a big fan of sleeping in.  I've been waking up around 8:45 every morning when Dave is about to walk out the door and go to work. (PRAISE HANDS!!!)  We discussed last night whether or not I should start the gradual process of waking up early again - kind of easing back into leaving the house by 7 am and I've decided to do what I do every year and take it to the LIMIT and sleep in as many days and as long as possible while I still can.  Y'all can start saying a prayer for me now :) 

- INFO GATHERING -

Dave and I are deep into information gathering mode.  We have several house projects on the horizon and we're in the quote/info phase which is intimidating and exhausting.  Prioritizing projects is hard too because I'm all, "oooh! but that would be pretty!" and Dave is all, "but what HAS to happen first".  #partypooper  He's probably right though, but my ideas are much prettier than his priorities :) 

I hope y'all are having a great Tuesday!

Three Things Right Now

Today is a fresh start of a new semester and I thought it would be fun to share three things right now about these three cuties :)

Three Things - School Photos Edition

It's been a while since I did a three things post so I thought I'd share three things about each of my favorite people and take the opportunity to share their school pictures as well.  You've gotta love a school photo, right?!?! :) 

Three Things - September

Today I thought I'd share "three things" about each of us and I snapped a few pictures of the kids after school.  I love them because they really do sum each of them up... 

Luke - still in his uniform, getting whatever homework he didn't finish at school complete

Mason - stripped down to his underwear, wrapped in a blanket, still recovering from being asleep on the car ride home

Griffin - uniform in the washer, outfit of choice OR princess dress on, animatedly telling all of us EVERYTHING that happened at school that day 

Three Things - First Day of School Edition

These three cuties started school on Monday and so I felt it was only appropriate to do a "Three Things" post all about it :)

 

Three Things Right Now

Today I'm sharing three things about these three...

Three Things Right Now

I do these "Three Things" posts every so often and thought it was only fitting to have one to kick off 2017.  So here we go...

- ONE -

Luke is playing basketball for the first time and he's LOVING it!  We're having the best time watching him play and it is so fun to see his personality come out on the court.  Luke is analytical and he thinks through how everything works and you can see him thinking through things as he plays.  He had a great assist last weekend and we are so proud of him!

- TWO -

We were at the dentist this week and Luke was SO EXCITED to see his adult teeth on the x-ray :)  He's lost 3 bottom teeth but is on pins and needles for those top suckers to come out.  He's crossing his fingers they come out soon and I'm crossing my fingers that losing them doesn't undo all the speech work he's been putting in. (but really!!! Speech people... is it going to be rough???)

- THREE -

Luke's backpack weighs a million pounds.  I picked it up to hang it the other day and y'all... it was nuts.  He has like 5 novels in there, a set of Snap Circuits, a water bottle and about a dozen other random things.  Dave pointed out that he just might inherit his tendency to have a bag of random stuff from his mama.  ;)  Before we know it that bag will be weighed down with textbooks so I'm loving that it's packed with fun little boy stuff right now.

- ONE -

We're working our way through his sight words and while it's still a PAIN IN THE BUTT a lot of days he's been making wonderful progress and slowly but surely gaining confidence and finding success.  He was doing great with being active while working on them (jumping on them, throwing things at them, etc.) - but when we pulled out the flash cards he would shut down. This wouldn't be a big deal EXCEPT that flashcards are how he's evaluated at school... so, despite his resistance, we typically will work through them in a tactile way and then sit down with the flashcard stack.  

- TWO -

Mason has been busy planning his birthday party... for April :)  He is already SOOOO excited and it's absolutely precious.  He wants to do art and golf and make pizza and decorate cupcakes AND have a bounce house annnnnd about 15 other things.  He hasn't settled on an exact plan yet, but he obviously has lots of fun ideas.

- THREE -

Mason's love affair with blueberries is going strong.  If I want to make his day all I have to do pick up a fresh pint of blueberries just for him.  He will sit down and eat the whole container if I let him and I often catch him sneaking them from the fridge.  I guess if he's going to sneak a "treat" from the fridge I should be thankful it's blueberries :)

- ONE -

Griffin LOOOOVES Beauty and the Beast which makes my heart so happy!!!  Beauty and the Beast and Little Mermaid were my two go-to's growing up and I love having an excuse to snuggle up and watch it with her.  I mean - Belle is the best Disney Princess hands down!

- TWO -

Griffin's favorite food right now (who are we kidding - it's been her favorite for months!) is macaroni.  She calls it "rongi" and would eat it for every single meal if we let her.  We can go out for Mexican food and she asks for "rongi".  

- THREE - 

Griffin spends a lot of her day "in character".  She is BIG on imaginative play and if she's not Dr. GG then she's a mommy, or an artist, or Princess Elena,  or a firefighter rescuing kitties :)  I adore her imagination and creative spirit.

- ONE - 

I just finished Gilmore Girls.  Again.  When the new episodes came out on Black Friday I immediately watched them all and then went back and started from the beginning again and it just doesn't get old.  #lukeandloraleiforever

- TWO -

I'm getting a new classroom next year (adios, Math Trailer!) and have already started plotting/planning.  I have plans to ditch pretty much everything in my current room and start fresh.  It actually makes the thought of having to pack and move during the first month or so of school (AAAAH!!!) not as awful :)

- THREE -

I'm officially addicted to sheet masks.  I got a bunch in my stocking and have to make myself not use one every night.  

Happy Thursday, Friends!!!  What three things are going on with you right now?

Three Things Right Now

Encourager -  I was volunteering last week and I got to see Luke in action with his classmates while they were split into groups working on Native American dioramas.  Y'all.  He is SUCH an encourager.  He would go around and look at his friends projects and give the sweetest, most genuine compliments.  Proud mama over here!

Amazon Wish List - Luke looooooves him some Amazon!  I set up a wishlist for him and have let him browse the Lego section and add items to his wishlist.  There has been no promise of him actually receiving any of it but he is having so much fun ;)

Loose Tooth - Luke has only lost 3 teeth (maybe 4... he's asleep and I cant' remember but I'm pretty sure it's three) and all three of them have been on the bottom.  He was late to get his teeth and he got his bottom teeth first so this isn't surprising but he does get a little impatient waiting to lose his teeth while a few of his friends are getting braces.  WELL... one of his top front teeth is kind of wiggly and he is OVER THE MOON!  I have a feeling it's going to be a while before it comes out but the anticipation is already high at our house!

Card Making - Mason has been all about making cards for his friends, teachers and family.  He LOVES a good black Sharpie and his cards typically include balloons, tornadoes and TCU ;)

Basketball - Mason is playing basketball this season and he is PUMPED to get out there with his friends.  His practices are going to be at the same time/place as Luke's (PRAISE JESUS!!!) and Dave is going to help coach.  Get ready for some cute brother basketball pictures!

Lotus Shrimp - Last Tuesday Mason came home talking about the election.  He asked if I wanted "Hollary Clonton" or "Lotus Shrimp".  Yes, friends.  Lotus Shrimp. hahaha  Apparently he couldn't remember Donald Trump and thought that Lotus Shrimp sounded close enough :)  

Six Breakfasts -  Griffin is our early riser (like... 5:15 am early) and we always joke that she eats 6 breakfasts by the time she heads out the door with Dave.  She typically comes into our bed toting a cup of dry cereal she's poured and then when I have peanut butter and banana toast she'll have a piece as well.  Then when the boys have eggs, she'll have some too.  She is starving every. single. morning.

Daisy and Elsa - Griffin's baby dolls have always just been named "baby".  Last week as she was pushing them around in the stroller I heard her talking to them and calling them by name.  I asked her what their names were and she politely informed me that they were Daisy and Elsa :)  

Rude - Griffin's favorite word right now is "rude".  "Mommy!  Mason is being rude to me!",  "Daddy, Baby Garrett is at Miss Lisa's house... he is rude!"  "Luke, it's my turn to play.  Stop being rude and let me play!" ;)

Me and Dave

Holiday Hustle - I'm working my TAIL off on Christmas cards (proofs are coming!!! keep an eye on your email!) and Dave is gearing up for Holiday parties, weddings, banquet and general craziness.  We drink A LOT of caffeine over the next few weeks :)

Eleven Years - This December we'll celebrate 11 years of marriage!  Last year we marked 10 years with our oven-fired pizza followed by carrot cake in the Tom Thumb parking lot :)  I'm not sure what our plans will be this year, but chances are it will involve pizza. hahaha

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt - I watched The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt on Netflix a while ago and laughed my TAIL off!  I got Dave into it and now we watch an episode or two every night and he's loving it as well.  It's ridiculous and so fun!

So... what three things are you up to?!?!  

PS - Photos are a peek into our family pictures from last weekend!  IN LOVE!!!

Three Things

All things Star Wars

Luke worked his way through all of the movies (minus the last one... we still need to pick that one up) and he is OBSESSED!!!  His Christmas list includes Star Wars Legos, more Star Wars Legos and then a few other Star Wars items ;)  He's going to be a Star Wars flame trooper for Halloween (don't ask me what that is. hahaha) and I don't see his current obsession dying down any time soon.

Homework Hero

Luke is my homework hero.  My boys go to an after school program at school (since my office hours go beyond school hours) and he goes to "homework club" as soon as he gets there.  It's a quiet room monitored by high school students where he completes ALL HIS HOMEWORK before coming home.  PRAISE JESUS! :)  We do look it over when he gets home and there are a couple days a week where he doesn't go (speech and engineering days) but it is so nice that it's completed on the days he does get to go!

Basketball

Luke is so excited for Winter basketball!  He's done soccer in years past, but opted to wait this year and play basketball instead.  He's been practicing at home and really seems to enjoy playing.  Soccer was never his "thing" so we're excited for him to give basketball a try.

In Between

Mason is growing and learning so much this year, but he still says the CUTEST things!  I feel like he's in that in-between phase... where he's still half little kid, but half big kid as well :)  Here are some of the cute little things he's said lately...

"Mommy, everyone loved my show-and-tell show much they gave me a round of acclause"

"Both teams had on blue jerseys and so we got to wear these cool orange quarters" (they're actually called pennies)

Gibi: "Mason, you sure do have a sweet tooth!"

Mason: "Which one is the sweet one???"

Monkey See, Monkey Do.

Luke loves Star Wars... so Mason does too.  I am always surprised to hear him rattling off characters, places, plot lines, etc.  He wasn't a fan of the "smoochie smoochie" in a couple of the movies ("ewwwwwwww!!! That's sooooo grossssssss!!!!!"), but he picked a Star Wars costume as well for Halloween and his Christmas list (are my kids the only ones already talking Christmas lists??) is full of Star Wars Legos as well.

Scooter Time

I've mentioned before that Mason is hesitant to try things if he thinks he isn't going to be able to do them perfectly the first time (he is JUST like my brother!!!).  My parents bought him a Razor scooter last year and he tried it once, fell and has been done with it.... he actually vowed to never ride a Razor scooter again :)  Well, we've been playing outside a TON lately and I've been so proud of him because on his own he's gotten it back out and has been practicing.  I give it another week or so before he has it down completely, but watching him TRY has been awesome.

Craft Time

Girlfriend is ALL ABOUT some craft time.  It's the first thing she asks to do when she gets up in the morning and she'll pick a craft over pretty much any other activity.  Play dough, scissors, glue, markers... she loves it all.  

I do it I-Self

Miss Independent wants to do pretty much everything "I-Self".  It's fun to watch her confidence and self reliance grow.... but this means we're also working on things like cleaning up toothpaste off the counter, sweeping up spilled cereal and hanging up clothes ;)

Zoo Doctor

If you were to ask Griffin what she wants to be when she grows up she would emphatically tell you that she wants to be a doctor at the zoo.  She likes to line her animals up and take care of them and a doctor's kit is coming her way this Christmas.

Down for the Count

A sinus infection has knocked me on my tail this week.  I am forever thankful for Mucinex, nasal spray and a husband who can take over when I sleep for 14 hours straight.

Christmas Shopping

Believe it or not, I'm done with Christmas shopping! I ordered my last few gifts earlier this week and have crossed everybody off my list (including teacher gifts!) WOO HOO!!!

New Perfume

I've been out of perfume for an embarassingly long time and have been getting by with Bath and Body Works Body Splash (like I'm 12).  I need help with a new perfume!  Recommendations???? I don't love flowery and want something light... but also want to be able to smell it all day.  HELP!!!

Happy Thursday, Friends!!!

Three Things Right Now

1 - Burp Talking

Forget reading, writing and arithmetic.  Luke has taught himself how to burp talk and it's currently his proudest accomplishment. 

2 - Reading

Luke spent his summer reading classic literature like Captain Underpants and Franny K. Stein ;)  I told myself that as long as he was reading I was okay with it being what he wanted to read.  He just took a reading level test and he's reading at the level of a 5th grader in their 4th month of school.  Well.... I guess it worked.  He is reading voraciously and we're making lots of trips to the library.

3 - Tomato Juice

I don't remember the first time Luke tried tomato juice, but he's having a total love affair with it right now.  In his lunch, when he get's home, with dinner... what eight year old asks for tomato juice when he comes in from playing outside?

1 - Preheating

We're back in our school morning routine and Mason is STRUGGLING!  He is my late sleeper and being up at at 'em so early is rough on my sweet boy.  He takes a bit to "preheat" in the mornings and I've been getting lots of extra snuggles which I love :)

2 - Sweet Friend

Mason is SUCH a sweet friend.  He is always thinking of others and is my kid who pretty much always willingly shares.  Last week he came home from school and asked to not have us pack him his favorite after school snack (PB crackers) because that meant he couldn't sit with his friend Abby.  Abby has to sit at the peanut-free table and he wanted to sit with her so he said that he wouldn't have a snack so he could sit with his friends. OMG SO SWEET!

3 - Talking After School

This week the floodgates of conversation after school have officially opened.  I hear ALL about his day including specials, recess, the puppets in his classroom, after school care, all of it.

1 - Pirate Ship

We had promotion Sunday at church last week and Griffin FINALLY got to play on the big pirate ship playground.  For the last year every single Sunday she's asked to go on the "big kid side" of the playroom and it finally happened!  We've heard about it all week and she can't wait to go back next week to play on it again.

2 - Christmas Time

She is STILL obsessed with our Chatbook full of pictures of last Christmas.  She asks for "Christmastime" on the daily and we're about to have to start a countdown or calendar or something  I love that she is just as enthusiastic about all things Holiday as I am. :)  

3 - Miss Lisa's House

GG is back at Miss Lisa's house and LOVING IT!!!  The play doh, the pink kitchen, the friends!  She's excited to go every morning and is chatty chatty about her day when I pick her up.  She's pottying like a champ and even wearing underwear during her naps there!  We LOVE Miss Lisa and I'm having a hard time believing that this is our last year there.

1 - I'm tired.

Yes ma'am.  There's mom tired.  There's teacher tired.  Then there's teacher/mom tired.  It's a whole other level and it is REAL.  I'm hoping that after this upcoming weekend I'll be all caught up and my body will be fully adjusted to our schedule.  I'm working ahead on lessons and shouldn't be up making new and improved SmartBoard lessons at 1 a.m after this weekend.

2 - Organizational OCD

I think it's just the start of school and new routine and all of that but I have been nesting HARD lately.  I've also been highly caffeinated so that could be part of it :)  As much as I love cleaning out my dresser after 11 p.m. and re-organizing nail polishes - ain't nobody got time for that.

3 - Ciabatta Bread

I'm currently having a love affair with the take and bake ciabatta bread from the Kroger around the corner from our house.  I'm popping pieces of it in the oven every chance I get.  It's 8 minutes for warm, crusty goodness and I have to stop myself for making a meal of it twice a day.

Happy Wednesday, Friends!!!  What three things have been going on with y'all lately?

Click HERE to read a few of my other Three Things posts.

Three Things

Today I thought I'd share three things about these three ;)

- ONE - 

Luke had his first experience with standardized testing last week and he LOOOOVED it!  He came home talking non-stop about it, quoting questions and excited about the next days section. 

- TWO - 

Luke ROCKS at putting moving boxes together!  He's the official box assembler and he does such a great job.

- THREE - 

Luke is in the thick of his first group work experience at school and he has had very mixed feelings about it.  I was NEVER a fan of group work either, so when he came home talking about his concerns I immediately felt his pain. ;)  The silver lining has been lots of great conversations at home about kindness, collaboration and what a valuable skill working together can be.  I'm fairly certain he's learned as much about working with a partner as he has about tigers ;)  

- ONE -

Mason wants to be five forever ;)  On Sunday night I mentioned picking out a teacher gift for Mrs. Anderson to tell her thank you for being his teacher this year.  He gave me this puzzled look and goes, "So she won't be my teacher next year???"  When I broke the news to him that he would have a different teacher since he would be in kindergarten he LOST IT.  

"But mommy, I just want to stay five and little forever! I want to be in Mrs.Anderson's PreK class forever!  Don't make me get big! Don't make me grow up!"

I assured him that if there was ANY way I could freeze time I totally would ;)

Then, as he was sitting on my lap sobbing he broke my heart in two when he said, "But Mommy!  I just fit! I fit right here!  I don't want to get any bigger!"

It was simultaneously the sweetest and most heart-wrenching moment ever.

- TWO -

He can FINALLY buckle himself!  Hallelujah!  We cheer for him every time he does it and I cheer on the inside because I don't have to climb into the back of the van.

- THREE -

Mason is insistent that he wants to be a secret service agent when he grows up.  I have NO CLUE where he even heard about this, but he's looking forward to the suit, the ear piece and walking next to the President to protect him from "enenemies".

- ONE -

Griffin surprises us every day with new words and phrases.  She started off slow in the talking department, but then says things clear as day like, "Mommy, I want to go to the beach and see hermit crabs!"  I have a feeling that her speech is going to take off this summer when she spends all day with her big brothers.  At Miss Lisa's she's with kids her own age, so I think that being around her older siblings is going to be huge for her.

- TWO -

Griffin got a Kindle for her birthday and it's been amazing watching her use it.  She totally knows how to turn it on, punch in the code, get on Freetime and select what she wants to do.  It's crazy.  She also loves playing with the Snapchat filters on my phone.  ;)  

- THREE - 

She's still our early riser.  She gets in our bed every morning and kisses us both and lays super quietly for a while before asking for an episode of Bubble Guppies.  It's one of my favorite parts of the day and on the days where I'm up before her it feels weird.

I don't have a picture of me or Dave, but... here are a combined three things for the both of us.

- ONE -

Our house is completely turned upside down for moving.  Most things are packed and we get more and more anxious every day to just get settled (and have things in their place!) in the new house.

- TWO - 

They downstairs kitchen and patio at the club has been under construction for over 6 weeks.  So Dave's work life AND home life has been crazy.  Lucky him :) hahahaha  Dave is EXCITED for June!

- THREE -

I have 10 days left of school!!!  And two of those I won't be there because of closings.  I can't believe how fast this year has flown by.  Seriously!  I feel like it was JUST meet the teacher night!  Our school is breaking ground on a new high school this summer and so next school year will be my last in the "math trailer".  I've started thinking about what I want to do in my new classroom  (hopefully back in my old classroom!) and I'm already excited ;)

Happy Thursday, friends!  See you tomorrow for Friday Favorites!

PS - Don't forget to get your wishlists in ASAP today to get the Matilda Jane beach bag for FREE (with $150 order).  Email katkempson@matildajaneclothing.com

Three Things Right Now

1 - Luke is STILL into all things geology.  His rock tumbler has been tumbling in our garage since Christmas Day and we're eagerly awaiting seeing his polished rocks next week (Yes... it runs for 4 weeks.  Yes... it sounds like our garage refrigerator is dying every time I go out there.  Yes... the resulting rocks are probably going to look like the ones you can buy by the handful at a museum gift shop. hahaha)  He peruses Geology books before bed and has a whole display set up on his bookcase of some of his more special rocks.

2 - Watching Luke blossom into a leader in his classroom and in his peer group has been one of the greatest blessings of our decision to hold him back a year.  Having a front seat to seeing him develop into a leader academically and socially has been the sign we needed to know we made the right decision for him.  He has a great group of friends, is excelling academically, is displaying leadership strengths in and out of the classroom and has grown by leaps and bounds.

3 - He is a STILL bottomless pit.  I really thought that the last time I talked about this that he was just going through a growth spurt - but no.  He's still hungry all the time.  He usually has a snack after school,  takes seconds (and sometimes thirds) at dinner and asks for a snack about an hour later almost like clockwork.  He has started asking for more food in his lunch and wants scrambled eggs and toast every day for breakfast.  The way to his heart is meatloaf ;)

1 - Mason gives the best compliments.  This week alone I've been told that I'm the "best cooker ever", "most beautifulist girl in the world" and we've made plans to get married.  The compliments aren't reserved just for me either - he's totally enamored with Miss McKinley, the teacher aid in his classroom.  McKinley has babysat for us before and he thinks she hung the moon!  Every day when I ask him to tell me two great things about his day McKinley is one of them.

2 - His perfectionist tendencies are starting to show.  Mason comes across as carefree, goofy and an entertainer - but when he's asked to do new things he often holds back because he doesn't think he's going to be successful at it right away.  If he has a picture in his head of what he wants an art project or drawing to look like and it starts to go awry he immediately wants to start over.  We're working with him on being okay with not knowing how to do something or not doing things perfectly the first time around, but I think it's going to be a tendency he'll have to keep in check his entire life.  We're going to credit this character trait to Uncle Mark as this is TOTALLY my brother!  We're thinking he also inherited his ultra competitive nature from Mark as well. :)

3 - Mason is NOT a morning person.  Dave, Luke and GG can wake up and be fully awake and ready to go within seconds... Mason and I require some time to "preheat" :)  On a typical morning we'll wake the boys up at the same time and Luke gets dressed, brushes his teeth and takes care of his other morning jobs immediately so he can have time to play Legos or get on his Kindle.  Mason on the other hand needs to lament the fact that it's morning for a solid 3-5 minutes before even getting out of his bed and then he moves the pity party to my bed where he continues the lamenting for at least another 5 minutes.  By the time we get to school he's come to terms with the fact that he isn't still in his bed and he's happy and chipper, but man, is he his mother's son.  

1 - Griffin's speech is improving daily.  She talks non-stop and we're working with her on correct enunciation and letter sounds and more and more of her vocabulary is becoming understandable to people outside of our family :)  She's definitely a late talker, but developmentally is right on track.  This time next year we'll be enrolling her in PreK!

2- She LOVES playing kitchen!  Miss Lisa has a pink play kitchen that is the highlight of her day every day at Miss Lisa's.  She loves to cook soup and serve her brothers, Dave and I, her stuffed animals and babies and Jack Bauer. 

3 - Starting maybe a month ago Griffin has started her own version of the bedtime stall routine.  We tuck her in and then a few minutes later she gets out asking for one more hug, one more kiss and one more sip of water.  That hasn't been working for her (because we caught on quickly and started giving our "one more" of all of those things before we tucked her in), so she's added on high fives and fist bumps :)  And she has to give them to Luke, Mason and Jack Buaer as well.  We're pretty big on staying in your bed once you're tucked in, so now our pre-bedtime routine includes hugs, kisses, water, high fives and fist bumps for everyone who's home (and via Facetime for Daddy if he's at work. hahaha)

1 - Dave and I have started The Office over and have been watching a couple episodes on Netflix every night and have been laughing so hard. 

2 - Jack Bauer is looking good with his haircut :)  He's still sleeping with Luke every night and can jump from the floor onto our bed.  (seriously!  It's crazy!)

3 - Yesterday I talked to one of my classes about how sad I was that they have texting and therefore no reason to pass notes in class.  I may have reminisced about the fun in writing notes and passing them to your boyfriend in the hall in between classes and I'm pretty sure I started a "notes revival" in the 8th grade :)  At least they're writing, right??? hahaha  But seriously! How sad that they don't have to write notes and fold them into little paper footballs to slip them to each other in class.  Or actually call someone's home phone and talk to their parents before talking to their friend.  So sad!