Halloween - Too Many Pictures

I know I have a problem. I have more than one problem but two that I'll actually admit it to are ..

Drum roll...

(You're thinking, "No way that Jenn is actually going to admit she has a problem, let alone 2 problems.")

 

1. I HAVE way too many clothes and shoes. (But I'll discuss that in ANOTHER post later on.)

 

AND

 

2. I take way TOO MANY pictures of my children.

 

I did it. So there I admitted I have 2 problems.
 

I was looking through my phone and I saw SO many cute pictures from the Halloween season and they're ALL so good. "How could I not take that picture? How could it be okay for this moment in time to NOT be captured, in 18 different shots/angles?" That's what I ask myself over and over, again and again. Do I need counseling?
 

I probably do, but anyway, here are the millions of pictures from this Halloween season, that I just couldn't miss.

Happy 8th Month

I'm behind on posting this. But I'm determined to not screw up this monthly update, like I ruined my "Quotes from Afton and Jack" after only 6 months in 2013. (I blame my pregnancy with THIS happy little 8 month old. Since she made me so nauseous the first few months, I couldn't do a single thing other than focusing on not throwing up or killing someone. Then after that got better, bed rest happened.)

Anyhow, I'm NOT going to screw this up (Even though our house is a disaster area, we're homeless, and there really is no finish date currently in mind. But that's a whole other post.) I will finish what I set out to do for the first months/years/decades :) of her life.

This month was a "I'm going to prove my mommy wrong" kind of month. Which is okay. I just have ANOTHER strong willed, confident, determined daughter on my hands.

Two days after her 7 month post, where I said "She still hates tummy time, so she won't be crawling or scooting anytime soon," she decided it was finally time. She just wanted to make me put my foot in my mouth. She now scoots on her tummy to things, but mostly it's backwards. She doesn't scream at tummy time anymore and she is so close to being an actual crawler, I thinks it's really only days away. She is quite impressive in the plank position, unlike her mommy. 

She seems like she waves to people, but it's always with both arms. She may just be really excited to see everyone, hence the out of control arms, but I'm going to count it as a wave. 

She had her two bottom front teeth come in, finally. No vampire teeth like Afton, proving me wrong again. Those teeth caused many tears for her, and me as well. Rough days, rough nights for us. No eating for her, but me overeating. I despise teething, but I think she does even more.

She is very smiley, except when her teeth hurt. She can still melt anyone's heart with her sweet little grin. On top of smiling all the time, she's added sticking out her tongue and making silly spitting & slurping sounds too.

She is very particular about what she wants. She only likes a certain bottle, certain binkie, certain way to be fed, certain way to be held, certain type of jammies, now that's it's cold (No sleep sacks, must have fuzzy footy jammies). She is quite decisive in what she wants and I can only imagine what this means for years to come. 

It's okay because, basically, we love everything this little girl does.

She's definitely LOVED. That's the truth. She can't prove me wrong on that!

Spinner Skills

Afton needs to practice her next list of sight words from her kindergarten teacher. She gave me the list a few weeks ago, and Afton just doesn't want to try to practice them unless "Mrs. Higley quizzes me herself."

Well, WHATEVER then girl.

But to somehow trick her into practicing them, I thought I would make a fun spinning wheel. She knows a lot of the words are the 2nd list already, but there are a few that really need good old fashioned practice.

I used my leftover pizza box lid from dinner last night, poked a hole in the center. This thick cardboard will help the paper plate spin easier.  Poked a hole in the paper plate, placed the tiny brad, and decided which words she needs to practice.

I made one for Jack too, because he will love this. Plus he wants whatever Afton has, (just not a pink one.)

I plan on using these spinning "things", for lack of a better term, with all kinds of skills such as number recognition, math facts, 2D & 3D shapes, word families, opposites, etc. The fun thing will be to have the babies actually make the plates on their own next time. That's even more practice of that specific skill, plus writing!

November's Academic Schedule

Ahhh November. I remember loving and loathing the month of November when I was a teacher.

LOVE - SO many days off from teaching

LOATHE - SO many days off from teaching

It was both a blessing and a curse to have that many days off with ZERO students. Yes, you'd get caught up on some of the little projects you needed to finish up on, if you weren't stuck in staff development the ENTIRE day. (If!) However, all that time without kids means all those standards that need to be covered, aren't getting covered since there are no students to listen.

Blessing and a curse.

Well, now as a mom of an actual student, I feel the exact same way about November.

LOVE having that many days off with my girl.

LOATHE knowing how many standards her poor teacher has to cram into her cute little/big brain due to the frequent days off this month.

I tried to focus on just the LOVE side of the month these last few days.

Afton decided on Monday morning she wanted to have a "Princess Girls Only Breakfast." I obliged and she got herself all dolled up in her fanciest gown and crown. We found a castle along on the way, and ate the breakfast of choice.

"I don't care where we go as long as it has bacon, sausage, and eggs. But mostly bacon." Her daddy was proud, I'm sure.

After that we spent the morning playing dress up, singing, dancing, and crafting.

Afton enjoyed picking up Jack from preschool. She said as we pulled up, "This is a whole new experience for me. I've never been able to be with you when you pick up Jack before. It just feels funny." Cute, astute little girl.

We ended the evening with her dance class, dinner in a Wal-Mart shopping cart (super princess style dining - determined to get Jocelyn teething tablets and I didn't have time to cook), and a movie of her choice all snuggled up in our big bed. 

All in all, she said it was a good day.

Tuesday came and went rather quickly. We voted, had a picnic lunch with daddy at his school,  played at the Discovery Children's Museum, and enjoyed hot cocoa with grandma. 

I really did try and focus on the LOVE side of the month of November. I can't be too worried about the academic standards, though. Afton practiced her numbers, reading, and writing as well all break, without my encouragement.

(But then why am I looking on my Common Core App for kindergarten standards? ARGH! LOATHE NOVEMBER.)