Our Porch

Our day mostly consisted of spending quality time with Joe. He had some errands to run so we went along with him. Joli thought her day just wouldn't be complete without one of her tutus.
This evening we decided to enjoy the cool air and make use of our porch. Brody thought this was an excellent idea.

It was such a nice night, even with the obnoxious dogs across the street!

I decided I wanted to capture the beautiful view we have from our front porch. For some reason all I could think of was the song "It's America" by Rodney Atkins.

Watching children paint is so fascinating.

What a lovely evening.

Beach Day

A few days ago Abby asked if wanted to go to the beach and I figured the water's only going to be warm for so much longer, so why not!? Turns out it was a wonderful idea! Joli is very into helping with the babies right now. She thought she should show Lilly how to put sand on herself.
Joli hasn't quite learned to concept of gentle hugs though. Last week she was just about body slamming Charlotte and Charlotte would just smile with a slightly startled looked on her face. We'll keep practicing.

Joli was very concerned that Lilly might crawl off somewhere. She kept getting in front of her and saying "No, no Lilly, stop".

Syrus was having a good time when we first got there but then I think he started to get a little tired. He did NOT want to go down by the water.

Joli didn't mind the water at all. She was trying to talk Syrus into chasing the birds with her.

Abby took the camera so that I could be in at least one shot.

Then Joli and I played in the surf. Joli was fearless. Every time the waves would come she would just stand there and wait for some more.

When she was little she would go all in all the time. Then she went through a no water stage. Now she appears to be over it!

It's so nice to have a waterproof camera.

Lilly is pretty fearless too.I thought this picture was so neat the way the bucket was placed.

The kids were throwing sand and water and Lilly didn't really care.

I just think this is so sweet with Lilly playing in the sand and her big brother looking back to check on her.

This was our cue that it was time to leave. Syrus and Lilly both rubbed sand into their already sleepy eyes and no amount of water seemed to be helping.

It was such a lovely beach day. The water was so nice and the kids were so nice. I'm going to hold on to this day.

Calm

I spent a good part of my day trying to focus on something besides the wonderful meltdowns. I played with my camera a lot. Look at my new blender!!! So awesome!!
I asked Joli to put on her pants after she was finished going to the bathroom. I'm really not sure how she did it, but it did not work out.

The back was much worse.

I needed to go get dog food and Joli thought it would be important to bring her baby. Of course her baby needed to be safe. Thanks for letting her borrow your car seat Charlotte!

I had this ridiculous idea that we could bring Joli's bike and she could ride the half a block from the car to the store. She never gets to ride at home because we don't have a flat area for her to practice. At least she looked happy the first ten feet.

After the disasterous screaming all up and down the sidewalk, I decided we needed to slow down and create a nice quiet environment. I shut the windows and the curtains, turned on the a/c and then we sat in Joli's room and talked while she ate her lunch. It was just the calm that we needed.

After Joli finally fell asleep and took her first nap of the week, I decided to play with my camera. I found a cool setting on my camera for a taking macro pictures. I took this one because I just noticed that Joli put her hair bands on the mouse.

I thought this was cute.

This one too!

Once Joe came home I was so relieved to have some help. I asked Joe to help entertain and he did in his own Daddy way.

Today will be a good day. We will be calm and collected. We will not scream... as much.

Dear Joli

I know you are only two-years-old. I remind myself of this fact about every thirty seconds. But I am fairly certain you are doing every thing you can to see if Mommy will actually lock you in your bedroom for the remainder of your lifespan.

If you need some time to think about whether or not you want some thing, please say "I need a minute". Don't scream at the top of your lungs that you want it and then when I give it to you, throw it at me and scream that you don't want it.

If you want to play with your toys, please play to your hearts content. But when it's time to clean up, clean it up. Don't throw yourself in the middle of the floor and scream because you can't.

If you want to ride your bike, put your feet on the pedals and then push. Don't put your feet on the pedals, pretend like you pushed, and then scream loud enough that every one in Coronado thinks I'm trying to shove a scorpion down your throat.

Please, I'm begging you just make up your mind. I'm a fairly reasonable person. If you tell me you want oatmeal for breakfast, then that's what I'll make. But I'm very tempted to stop feeding you because even if you asked for it, you still throw yourself on the floor and scream that you don't want it.

I've tried giving you more individual attention but somehow that only seems to make things exponentially worse! So I try to opposite approach. We go to the gym, you get time away from me and I get a break from the screaming. I come back to get you feeling happy, relaxed, and ready for more screaming. Your teachers tell me that you had to have a time out because you tried to choke some one!!!

I will always love you, but you need to move past this stage, NOW!!!! Mommy's running out of chocolate and wine!!

Love, Mommy

Prince Brody

For some reason Joli has decided that naps are so last year. Of course that means that once evening rolls around she's even more unreasonable than normal, which puts her into the "ridiculous" category. This afternoon, instead of taking a nap, Joli put on a tutu and danced around the living room. I heard her saying "Come on Prince Brody dance with me, like this, come on".

Brody doesn't quite understand dancing but he was okay with following Joli around.

Once I finally gave up thinking that Joli might take a nap, we went for a jog to the fabric store and grocery store. Joli was a great help once again.

Pretty Princess

Today was a test of wills. I'm not quite sure who won. There was screaming and crying for both Joli and I. There was one happy moment when Joli played quietly in her bedroom and attempted to wear all her princess dresses.

Gymnastics

Joli's first day of gymnastics was today and she loved it!!!

I think maybe she was a little beyond the level one class. She kept wandering off to play with the big kid stuff.

The obstacle course was a ton of fun! Once the kids figured out how to move in the same direction it was even more fun!

She's such a big girl!!

Joli was so excited to finally have a place to practice her sumersaults.

We were supposed to hold them and help them on the balance beam, Joli did it all by herself the first time!

Parachute time is always fun!

The marshmellow pit was so cool!!

I wish I could jump in!!

Syrus is also in our class! He had a blast!!

The end of the class they all get a stamp.

Joli looks like such a big girl in her backpack!!

I used to use it as purse. It was so cool.

We went to Chris and Kacie's for dinner. Charlotte was sweet as always.

Joli didn't have a nap all afternoon, she wasn't as sweet.

Here's Charlotte about to fall over.

There's nothing wrong with a little tummy time. She'll be crawling in no time!!

I was in complete shock when I walked into the living room and saw Joe scoop up Charlotte and start playing with her!!