say cheese!

gwen is in a little mommy-and-me preschool called Tiny Tots. it's a fun little program focused for a little bit of a younger age than gwennie, but since she's basically glued to my hip, i'm hoping it'll help her to transtition to big-kid preschool where mom won't be there the whole time. baby steps, you know.

a few weeks ago they got their pictures, and we just got them back... ok so, well i was the photographer, haha! so i guess i've had them the whole time, but you know what i mean...

i think she's looks so adorable and scholastic!

at the ripe ol' age of 3
(oh gosh, did i even mention gwen's birthday last week?? oh dear... i'll get on that.)
gwen can recognize her written name (and deli's...)
kindofsortof write her name
recite the alphabet
can identify letter in the alphabet and knows most of their sounds
can count to 20
she loves to play the piano
she absolutely, positively LOVES dancing
she's big on make-believe games... she's pretty much always in her own little world
she still wears size 18-24 mos.
and she has so much lovey, cuddly, compassion in that little body it's a surprise she doesn't just burst!


and i promise i'll post about her birthday ASAP...
in my defense, she was sick so we still haven't gotten to celebrate (AHHH!!)
but we will... this saturday! i just decided...

the oldest

my adeline.

rhymes with clementine.

addi for short...

until recently.

addi told me few weeks ago that her name isn't addi anymore.

"don't call me that. it's not my name!"

"what's your name, then?"

"adeline!"

"well what do i call you for short? what's your nickname?"

"ummm... i dunno."

so i started listing random things... sunshine, seatbelt, water bottle.

she laughed, i listed.

then i started trying to make up real nicknames from "adeline".

liner

adelle

deli

"DELI!!"

deli.
rhymes with jelly.

or like a DELIcious little humans.


a moment of processing silence.

"you want your nickname to be Deli??"

"YEP! I'm DELI now! adeline and deli! and my favorite color is teal right now."

and that was that.

it's hard to get away with calling her addi anymore without getting a sideways, stink-eye stare. so consider yourself warned.

it's official.

1. 2. 3. 4.

it happened about a month ago... addi turned 4.

on her actual birthday we kept it kind of low key: homemade oreo cookies at her preschool, bubbles at the beach park, lots of soccer-monster playing.

               

then we threw a party a couple weeks later...

me: "add, what kind of birthday party do you want?"

addi: "um, lollipops."

me: "well, do you want like a pirate party? or an adventure party? or... you, know...."

addi: "and popsicles. lollipops and popsicles!"

an idea was born...

lollipops. popsicles. corn pops. popcorn. pop tarts. and just plain ol' pop.

"mommy, i'm a bigger girl now, huh, sososobig that i'm almost bigger enough to play on the computer all by myself huhmom! and take a bapthtized!"

yah, not yet. slow down there, speed racer.

my little bit

hey add...

today you turned 4. this morning actually... really really early. well, ok, not that early. a quarter-'til-seven or so. you've been counting down the days for months now. true story. i tried to do your hair all cute. i pulled the "bangs" back and braided them, then pulled the front back and left the back down. i love your hair. iconic addi = gorgeous long hair. you had school today and i wanted you to look super cute for your first school birthday.

we opened your presents last night because dad left for oregon today. you LOVE your soccer ball and you and gwen ran around yelling, "soccer monster!!" you wore about a gazillion necklaces to school today... the cheap, party favor kind.

gosh i love you add. you are the epitome of fun. you're so fiery... full of energy. fearless. independent. confident. athletic. strong. compassionate. bossy. "spirited". you are such a delicious flavor in our family soup. and you've always been you... from the moment you were born you were so full of personality!! too much for your little body, i think.

did you know you learned to ride a bike without training wheels before you even turned 4! one day you asked for them off, so we figured we'd give it a whirl. you never fell!! not once. right from the get-go you were a pro. and now you're a speed racer going up and down the street. (sometimes you forget how to brake and you actually took a dive over your handlebars earlier this week... and you've run into dad's truck, the mailbox, the house a couple times. but of course you just get back on and keep riding... that's my add!)

i love you like i love those atomic red fireballs. you're always stretching me, testing your limits and mine. you're always up for adventure and excitement. always jumping headstrong into the hugest waves life has to offer... you are my adeline.

i love you birthday girl.
forever.

love,
mom

i guess it's about that time...

addi sleeps in past 6am maybe half-a-dozen times a year. of course yesterday, her first day of preschool, had to be one of those times. and she fell asleep the night before with beach hair... lots of salty, sandy beach hair. so i knew i needed to bathe, dress, feed, and love her all before 7:30. so at 7:08 i decided to wake her up. totally against everything i believe. 

"addi, it's your first day of preschool..."
she literally bolted straight up, "yah? yah... YAH!!! colorsandshapesandnumbersandfriends, andmynameisadeline,adelineferoljorgensen, do you know my name?"
"adeline."
"adelineferoljorgensen at kealalalalalani place!"

and off to the fastest shower and head scrub ever in the history of modern man.

yogurt for breakfast.

click click with the camera in awful lighting.

click click with the camera in better lighting.

don't forget her lunch!!

and we were in the car by 7:32.

add: "i'm going to preschool yah, and you're not coming, and gwennie's not coming and it's my school. right?"

gwen: "i'm coming."

add: "no. it's my school. and i have a backpack."
gwen: "mommy, i coming."

we arrived right on time, perfect-O.


there was a cubby for addi's lunch and backpack.
and nice aunties everywhere.
and kids playing with blocks, and play kitchens, and dinosaurs, and cars, and books, and connector sets
and everyone got a sunshine name tag.


addi played.

and gwen played.


and then it was time to go.
"see ya later mom! see ya later gwennie! love you!"

and we made a swiftish exit.

gwen: "where's addi?"

me: "she's in school."

gwen: "i go get her, you stay here. k?"

me: "gwennie, addi's gonna stay in school and we're gonna go do something else."

gwen: "i want addi."

me: "wanna go to the playground and we can..."

gwen: "i want addi!!"

me: "well let's go get a ..."

gwen: "I WANT ADDI!!"

a bicycle ride and some playground time later, all was well.

when i picked add up and asked her about her first day she said, 

"i played with lots of toys and ate lunch."

and we really haven't gotten much else out of her.

but i'm glad she ate her lunch.

it's true. they grow up.
and it's true... it's way to fast.

and yes i cried {sobbed} a little bit {two hours} the night before.

maid services

gwen grew

back in april gwen turned 2.

it all happened so fast.

just seconds ago i was the sleep-deprived nursing mother,

and she was the completely dependent little squeaker.

now she uses a toilet and opens her yogurt cups all by herself.

gwen grew.

needless to say, we threw a party. a BIRDday party, because gwen likes birds, or bir-DEEEz as we affectionately call them in these parts.

we played a couple bird games, like duck duck goose...

and we had a bird-egg hunt

and an over-abundance of bird-themed decor

this amazing cake was made by my friend michelle.

not only is it GORGEOUS and perfect, is was ohsodelicious!

and here is the exact moment gwen turned 2...

i need to get us some tickets to neverland...

first haircut

yes, it's true. addi is turning 4 in a few months and we've never tended her locks. well, actually, i trimmed her bangs once a couple years ago because she was eating her hair...

i think she rocked it.

we left her foreheadless for several months before we grew them back out...

and she still chewed her hair.

fail.

so why the cut? well, addi's hair touches her bum.

not a problem, really, but that's a lot of snarles and tangles.

i figured if we snipped it up a bit, maybe thinned, added layers

SOMETHING

she wouldn't have so many snarls.

so the big reveal of the first haircut, eh.

(yes. it's an iphone pic.)

i know. it looks the same.

and it's curly in the "before" because it had been in a braid all day...

so it's basically exactly the same.

we weren't going for a huge change. just a trim.

i was scared all of her baby curls would be gone, but ohblessedday some hung on.

oh, and for your viewing pleasure:

it's long... but addi's hilarious.

it just might be the most thrilling 10 minutes of your day.

(ps. gwen entertained herself by putting at least 5 different hair products in her hair. true story.)

hiatus

yah, so i'm trying to learn how to cook real meals, and kick a sugar addiction (it's fierce), and be a better mom, and sew, and mow my lawn more than once a quarter

so the blog is sadly dying.

but don't worry. it's more like it's in a coma... it will live again some day.

until then, check the foto blog for that jazz.

and my friend becky blogged about gwenner's bday. so that's cool, since i haven't yet.

and i'll see you a.s.a.p.

(what's that stand for anyway? probably "act swiftly awesome pachyderm".

hehe. love that movie... and yes, i've been doing a lot of pachyderm watching lately too.)

and a pic, cause who doesn't need a little eye candy now and then.

t w o

dear gwen,

you're 2. and i'm 27. and addi's 3. and dad was 26 but now he's 27. (this is our age mantra... the three of us girls go through this 'how old are you?' routine at least 2 dozen times a day. no, seriously.)

you won't remember being 2.

you won't remember waking up at 2 am asking for momma.

you won't remember scrubbing walls and floors with me,

or how today i let you pick whatever you wanted for breakfast and you picked strawberry yogurt and a banana.

or how you wanted to take a bath at 10am and i said sure, cause it's your birthday.

you won't remember how i bundled you in a towel afterwards and we all snuggled on the couch watching veggie tales. you won't remember how addi peeled an orange for you and called it your birthday orange.

or that this is the birthday you got your first tricycle... you knew i got it for you. you were there when i bought it, and i told you you couldn't have it until your birthday. so this morning when i said, 'gwen, today's your BIRTHDAY!!' the first thing you said was 'happy birthday bike!'

you won't remember how i don't exist on the weekends, or after 5 pm. if dad is there, you are his. you snuggle up in the crook of his arm and say, 'dada, awuvoo' and just stare at him. you adore your father. he adores you.

you won't remember how you and addi bring out every blanket and pillow you can find in our zip code and lay them on the living room floor to play 'night night'. and how the 'night night' game almost always ends with death-defying stunts off the couch onto the pile of bed things.

but i will. i will remember every last bit of it all. i love you squeaker bot. so much so that that little word 'love' just doesn't cut it. you are my happy.

love,

mom