tax day.

on what is the most stressful day of the year for some people....we think, hhmm...what should we do? of course miss m comes up with the best idea...we get out the teeny, tiny bottles of hello kitty, little girl nail polish. we paint her toes for the first time. red sparkles, blue sparkles, pink sparkles, bright, obnoxious 1980's hot pink, and of course, trendy, modern, silver. and the winner is.......

....a very patriotic sparkly blue!!

just the sweetest, most precious sparkly blue toes ever.

pretty girl.

my miss molly. she is a pretty little thing. she drives me insane, but i've realized lately how very much i love her. i snuggle her. i kiss her cheeks. i tell her to "booty booty booty" when she dances. i tickle her. i chase her. she's a spaz. she's quirky. she beats to her own drum. she's sweet. and kind. loves babies, both real and baby dolls. she's a good girl. i'm proud to say that i got it. i got it one day when i was reading "The Help." so nearly every day since she was a baby, a tiny baby, i've said to her and now have her repeat back to me, "i'm good. i'm smart. i'm pretty." and recently...because she so IS,

"i'm awesome."

love the water spray. the thumb in the hose.

i'm gonna let you guess what just happened here. :)
 

she was pretending "doggy." 

and she just realized i caught her.

see, what'd i say,
"i'm awesome."

the earth goes around the sun...

...the sun, the earth goes around the sun.
12 months, 52 weeks, 365 days.

this is out of order, but not by much. will had his birthday celebration at preschool a few days before his birthday. in true montessori fashion they sang the birthday song (see above), will walked around the sun (a candle) 5 times, once for each year of age, holding the earth (a globe), and for each year we talked about what he learned, significant events of that year, while holding a picture of him for that year. when he was born, started walking, riding a bike, became a big brother, etc. his teacher is miss indika and he adores her. she is the most calm, slow, can not un-nerve this woman, person i know. she uses a soft, quiet voice and thoroughly explains all activities with what i consider ridiculous detail. hence the reason i'm not a teacher and never will be. one of the hardest jobs in the world. some say being a stay at home mom is the hardest job in the world. i'm doing that job...but i really don't think i could do a teacher job. thankfully, will has a wonderful teacher that he loves dearly.

this is totally nervous will. 

helping miss indika put the months around the sun. 

walking "one year." the earth moving around the sun. 

miss m. oh miss m.
she is quite famous in will's classroom. she has a hard time paying attention. guess she decided it was time to do some exercises. 

this is a regular sitting position at school. i think it makes the kids look so...trained. yes, trained. he would sit like this for hours if miss indika asked him to. not a chance at home. 

the beginning of the pictures. this was will coming home from the hospital. scrawny legs.

sibling love. 

ready for treats. now...this is not how i would normally like to celebrate a birthday at school. there should be cupcakes. frosting. sprinkles. messy faces. i feel this is miss indika's one fault. she's a little hippy-ish, natural, organic, tree-huggerish. sorry folks, but she is. she asks you not to bring anything for birthdays that has too much sugar, frosting, candy, cake.
give. me. a. break.
i snuck a ridiculously large amount of chocolate chips in to those muffins.  

see. trained.
not one kid is touching that muffin. not one. gotta wait for miss indika's signal. 
clock wise: molly. will. andreas. herbie. gabriel. zeki. abby. phillip.

so phillip. phillip is a little over bearing. he is loud and completely nuts. he has no personal boundaries what so ever. in 3 years of preschool, will has never, i mean not one time, been in trouble. had to go to the thinking table. until phillip came along. he told will to hit him with a shovel. will didn't want to. phillip insisted. will finally gave in. phillip got hurt. will had to sit inside during playground time.
i think will learned his lesson and a lot about phillip from that incident.
anyway, notice how molly is arching her neck away from phillip's hug...she can't stand him. he hurts her. all he ever does is try to hug her. but she hates it. and it hurts.

happy birthday, prince william!

happy, happy 5th birthday, will!

yes. after (another) long hiatus, i am excited to start blogging again. it's something i always want to do but never make it a priority. now i'm gonna try. really gonna try. this time i've decided not to play catch up and just start again. there's been too much time and too many memories, it became daunting. so i would avoid. then i would be irritated with myself that i avoided b/c it's something i really like to do. so i gave up on posting the past almost! year, and i'm gonna start with my beloved son's 5th birthday. and yes, another something new besides letting go of playing catch up, i've decided to copy my favorite blogger's style. yup, that's right, katy erickson, i'm copying your all lower case style because i love it. for some reason it makes me smile. so i'm copying it. so i can try to have more smiles in my life. so....thank you. :)

now on to my boy, will. he's 5. he's actually been 5 for just over 2 months. i'm used to it now. i've been looking forward to and dreading 5. i think it's a fabulous age, i think it's a good age. but it also means he's grown up. he is most certainly not a toddler anymore (was will ever a toddler? probably not). he is a compassionate, kind, loving, generous, patient, law abiding, rule following, pleaser. he dots his i's and crosses his t's, he does things the way he was told to do them and no other way. he is creative, imaginative, friendly, and a great eater. he adores his family and wishes for visitors constantly. he loves his great grandpa. he understands that he is in heaven, but he talks about him nearly every day.

he still naps. that is most certainly worth repeating (and deserves it's own line).

he still naps.

i swore on that day back when he was 2 & 3/4's when i lay down with him in his bed i would only do it till he was 3. he's 5 and 2 months and he still naps. because i snuggle him, i love him, we talk about dreams, we listen to music and he falls asleep. most days.

will is loud, boisterous, routine oriented, and don't you even think of telling him to do it another way. he loves star wars and wrestling. he is a water boy, loves to swim. he is a ridiculously good big brother, he is soooo patient with his, completely opposite of himself, sister. he loves school. loves reading, writing, math, drawing, gluing, cutting.

and possibly the most important trait a boy can have...he tells his momma on a regular basis that he loves me and that i'm pretty and beautiful. happy birthday beautiful boy.

and now...a "birth" day in the life of my 5 year old.

very first look at my 5 year old will, just waking up on his birthday (plus a few minutes to attach cape before coming downstairs)

opening gifts. notice the box of fruit loops. this is one of his favorites, the first time he had them daddy brought them home from california...he thinks they can only be bought in california. he will eat nothing else if these are in the house. hence his birthday present, fruit loops are a very special thing around here.

will's new obsession. bakugan. scored this set for $30 on craigslist.

love this picture. grandma (my mom) always gives money to will and molly's college funds for their birthdays and christmas. she slid a little real money in there too, will was so excited about that little quarter.

look at the paper flying (top left corner)...classic.

look at that sweet sweet face.

molly was trying to hide from the camera. she was pretty creative in her hiding spots.

pretty girl.

all set for ice skating, will's chosen birthday activity.

the fam. lunch. yum.

lunch was yum? not even close. sprinkles. sprinkles. there are no other words.

he can't even imagine how good this cupcake is going to taste.

dinner at old spaghetti factory.

apparently 5 year olds are too cool for pictures. old daddy's are not.

love that i caught the action shot.

see. that's how good my boy is. he understood that we should wait to eat the cupcakes until after nap, after dinner. no fight from him. love him.
now tell me. tell me the truth. your mouth is watering. isn't it. it's ok. i know it is.

prince william patiently waiting for his cupcake (crown made at preschool).

he he he. another action shot.

princess molly patiently waiting for her cupcake. (see i told you he was so sweet to his sister. he made a crown for her too because he didn't want her to feel left out.)

a delicious ending to a delicious day.