Happy Birthday, Skylee!!

Skylee turned four today.
:) How time flies!!

Here is the Official Four-Year-Old Interview:
Favorites
Color: black
Animal: zebra
Book: I'm a Big Sister
Song: The B-I-B-L-E (and the Dinosaur song she is learning in choir)
Movie:  Cinderella
TV Show: Fresh Beat Band
Cereal: trix
Stuffed Animal: favorite teddy bear
Toy: Flying fairy toy
Activity: Drawing (and writing her name on EVERYTHING)
Food: pb&j
Snack: Ritz with peanut butter and apples
Place to Eat: Sushi Bites next to Best Buy

Favorite Thing about Being 3: Getting Pepper :)
Favorite Thing about being 4: Getting to be a big sister.
Feel different now that you are four?: Yes, I can dance better, and I can beat-box. (lol)
Best Friend: Lacey
Boyfriend: Daddy :)
What you want to be when you grow up:  a "Cooker"

thing she wanted most for her bday: Skylee Dragon and a fancy Electric Toothbrush she saw at Best Buy

It's been a while since I've posted, and I will eventually catch up (hehe maybe), but tonight something happened I want to remember.
In the middle of eating dinner (some concotion we created of sauteed chicken with orzo, corn, peas, carrots, green beans, zucchini, squash, brussel sprouts, tomatoes, 3 types of cheese, and spaghetti sauce), Skylee declared "I am the pirate captain and you are my friend! Today we are looking for buried treasure!" She began digging around her dinner with her spoon until she came across a green bean. "Aha!" she exclaimed, "The treasure chest! Now open it up and see what's inside..it just might be a green bean!" And so she opened it up, took out the beans, and smiled the silliest smile. "Here is the treasure! Now we can eat it."
And so the rest of dinner, we were pirates digging for 'treasure.' After we ran out of green beans, we searched for other types of treasure (peas mainly), until we were full.
I love Skylee.
I love her crazy random spontaneous imagination and how she makes everything 100% more fun and more special.

Family :)

Fallish things

Oh man I love the holidays.
Everyday is a day for festivities and mainly continuing to decorate my apartment to death.

So far..we have carved pumpkins, painted pumpkins, made spider pumpkins, painted "jack-o-lantern" jars, taped paper mice to the walls, taped paper spiders to the walls, created leaf collages, and decorated sparkly paper pumpkins. Not to mention visited two awesome pumpkin patches (Yahoo Farms & earlier today, Berry Patch), an apple orchard, AND hit 3 fall festivals.
Have I mentioned how much I love the holidays. Halloween is in less than a week, and it is only the beginning! :)

Tomorrow we have plans to do another pumpkin craft, paint the baby pumpkins we collected today at the patch, and possibly create gauze ghosts if I have time to get the supplies. Oh! It's also ballet day. I am terribly at remembering ballet. Last week we missed it; we completely forgot! I really do need a calendar..maybe while we're being all crafty tomorrow, we will make one.
I love that Skylee loves 'doing things'. Like her ballet classes, gymnastics, music classes, cubbies, swim lessons, etc...anything she has ever tried, she has loved! And, I might add, she is very determined to succeed at whatever she tries. Last week she had her gymnastics recital for the month, and if she didn't get a tumble or jump right, she kept trying until she did. You could also tell..she likes speed. Which makes sense. On days we can't get to the park/outside somewhere, she runs around and around.
She is also CONSTANTLY dancing. And showing me her 'new dance moves.' And (i should add) jumping. I need to get her a little trampoline for my room; my bed will REALLY appreciate it. :)

Having a daughter is the sweetest part of my life. She completes me!
Not only am I showered with affection all day (I mean constantly I hear.."I love you mommy." "You are so sweet to me mommy!" "You are my favorite!" "You are a good mommy." "Come over here and give me a big hug!!" just out of the blue), but our little moments we have..our little conversations..priceless. It is crazy that aside from my relationship with my husband, I have the closest, most intimate and special relationship with a three year old!
I always thought I'd have kids closer together...2 years ideally..because my brother and I are two years apart, and we have had such a close relationship growing up. However, the more I reflect, the happier I am I have had these 3 1/2 years with JUST Skylee...to love on her, be silly with her, really get to know her...and it has given her time to understand rules, discipline, what we expect, etc without distraction.
I really have a feeling this next baby will be a girl. But who knows! I am hoping for either! :)

Lately, Skylee's new phrase has been "don't you think?" She attaches it to the end of every statement. "We should get some ice cream, don't you think?" "We should read one more book, don't you think?" "It's time to play hide and seek....don't you think?" :) And it is hard to say No to that!

She fasted for the first time the other day...(oh, our Bible lessons, God teaching moments are my favorites!)
We prayed for Papa B (my dad) and I fasted from the computer all day, and she decided to fast from tv.
I explained what fasting is, and her first response, of course, "I will fast from picking up my toys!" haha

While I am sure I will boo-hoo like a baby when she goes to preschool next year, I cannot wait. She is going to love it! The other day I was working on my school work, and she sat in my lap, and asked if she could look through my school book. Then, with just the saddest face, she said, "I want to go to school with you. But I can't. It's only for grownups. That makes me sad." So, we looked through my book, and I taught her about the body, how God created us! How we work! I let her feel her rib cage and hip bone, and I pointed them out on an image of a skeleton. I showed her the heart and the vessels and briefly explained how blood works. She seemed to enjoy it so much...I decided I need to challenge her more. It is so easy to underestimate someone so young!
So yesterday we created flashcards. Three letter nouns (like cat, mom, dad, rat, bat, dog, etc) with a picture on the back of the card. She read her first word: CAT! She knows her letters, and we are working on the sounds, so I think this will really help!
Anyway, I will have to post some pictures. This is getting too wordy!

Perfect Bedtime

Earlier tonight, when I tucked Skylee in bed, she kissed my belly and talked to the baby for at least thirty minutes. Her little conversation went something like this: "Hey baby, I am your big sister! My name is Skylee. That is S-K-Y-L-E-E! You do not have a name yet. Are you a boy or a girl? My mommy says when you come out of her tummy, she will be sore for a whole day! And you will eat applesauce and milk. Don't worry. We will go to the store and buy some for you. I will feed you in the morning! (meow meow) Oh, that's Pepper! He is a cute kitty, and he is feisty. Mommy is a very good mommy. And daddy is working right now. He is the best daddy in the whole world! Mommy says you are coming for my birthday. My birthday is going to be so much fun, and do you know what the best part will be? You, baby! I love you, baby. Call daddy and tell him goodnight for me, okay? (then she explained to be there is a phone in my belly for the baby.)"
She went on and on...I love these moments with her preparing for a little sibling.  :)

Ultrasound!!

Grammy took Skylee and me to my second ultrasound last week!!
Skylee loved being able to see the little baby in my belly and hear his/her heartbeat.
We got back mid-November to find out the gender!

Skylee wants to name the baby Joe or Marco if its a boy and Lace or Angelina if it's a girl. (Although her favorite names change daily!)

Fall..sort of.

Haleigh!

Loving this semi-fall weather! 60s one day, 80s the next. Woohoo Georgia!
Today we had a playdate with our neighbor Haleigh, her baby brother, Caleb, and her mother, Erin.
After running around the playground/sand for an hour or so, everyone came over for dinner, play dough, bubble blowing, and water coloring.
So happy I am finally in my second trimester (aka over morning sickness) AND over my cold sickness. Now I have (some) energy and am feeling more like my old, social self! I see many more playdates with Haleigh in the future. (Skylee and her have often been mistaken for each other..two cuties with brown hair, brown eyes, fair skin.) Plus, I can't deny it..I love playing with baby Caleb. Soon I'll have a baby of my own!! Tehee.

We also started up gymnastics again today. We haven't gotten to go the past two weeks because of fall break, but it started again this morning. This month there are four students in her class. Skylee, Ruth, Sophia, and Julian. Skylee and Sophia already have a playdate planned this Friday at the park.

Yesterday, Skylee showed me some of her new ballet "moves". Oh my. Ballet, whimsical arm dancing, a little booty-shaking (goodness, don't get me started), even a bit of break dancing, LOTS of spinning and even a few somersaults...It was very unique. :)
Earlier this week we got to go to the park at First Baptist with Lacey and Margina..for oh..only 5 hours! I don't know who had more fun..Skylee and Lacey running around, watering 'plants', playing house...or Margina and me rambling our faces off. Park weather = best ever. Wish everyday we could go to the park for hours. Skylee had Lacey over to spend the night last Friday as well. They stayed up til nearly midnight and woke the next morning too early. Around 7:30 I heard Lacey shaking Skylee, exclaiming "Wake up!! It's not dark outside anymore!!" After breakfast and a princess movie, they had a tea party on the back porch. Fortunately, later that day Skylee cuddled up with me and napped.
I love the way Skylee tries using 'big' words she hears even though she doesn't know the context.
"Mommy, my spoon is too expensive. I want another one."
"That is just my intuition. I cannot clean my room."