The "Pilot Express"

Last night we tried a new idea I found on Pinterest.  It was sort of a knock off from the movie, The Polar Express.  As the children were finished with dinner and winding down for bedtime, Daddy asked them to go and get their pajamas on.  Mommy and Daddy also joined in the fun and put our pajamas on as well.  Lily, not having a clue that we were planning something exciting, complained the entire time "It's too early to get my P.J.'s on!, I don't want to put on a robe and slippers...it's too hot!", etc., etc."  Had her Daddy and I not been so excited about this event, it might have ruined the mood.  Luckily, it didn't and after the kids were dressed, Daddy took them out to the car.  While they were in the car, I scurried to get popcorn popped, chocolate milk mixed and in spill-proof cups :), and licorice ready and bagged up for the car.  I put my Santa hat on and grabbed these tickets on my way out the door...

The Pinterest website had these already pre-made and ready to print!  They were so cute and a resemblance to the ones on The Polar Express.  I opened the car door and gave each child a ticket telling them we were going for the ride on the "Pilot Express" (heh, heh...we drive a Honda Pilot) and they needed a ticket!  Lily's eyes opened so wide when she saw the tickets.  I then proceeded to hole-punch each ticket to confirm we were ready to go!!  Here they are with their tickets...

Santa was driving!

Even Kelsey had a seat on the "Pilot Express"! :-)

We decided to head out to the "Christmas in the Park" display at Longview Lake in Lees Summit.  It's become a tradition for our family, and Daddy remembers going when he was a kid!  They had their 25th anniversary this year for their light display so there were some new displays added this year to celebrate.

I have to add that Lily asked the entire 15-20 minute drive, "Where are we going?"  That poor girl is just like her mother...she can't relax until she knows the plan!  Even when it is something fun!  I had to chuckle.

 We finally arrived to "Christmas in the Park"!  (Apologies for the poor pictures...either my camera is not advanced enough, or light displays are not intended to be photographed. :)

At this time, I decided to open the bag of goodies and start serving up!  The kids were thrilled!  Popcorn for all!

This boy LOVES his "pah-corn" :-)

 And then we had chocolate milk!  Here Jackson is showing it off for the camera...

 I tried to get a couple of shots of the displays but most came out fuzzy.  Of course, the pictures do not do them justice.  :(

 

 The kids (and Mommy & Daddy too!) had a great time!  It was fun to add a little unexpected excitement to the Christmas season of activities!  Definitely planning to keep this new tradition going.

Lily is 6!!

Our sweet Lily is turning 6-years-old!  It seems that in the past few months, she has grown up a lot!  Transitioning from PreSchool to Kindergarten and spending 6 1/2 hours a day at school has encouraged her independence.  Every day when I drop her off at school, she marches right in the door with her backpack on ready to tackle the day!  Lily has been learning to read and has impressed us already with her ability to sound out difficult words.  She loves school, her teacher, and learning new things.  She can't wait to tell me all about her day on our drives home from school.  And she also loves to pass along her newfound knowledge to her brother, at any opportunity possible.

Besides coloring and playing with her dolls, Lily loves her pre-dance class.  For her birthday this year, Grandma L. took her to see the Nutcracker ballet.  She loved it!  In fact, as I was tucking her into bed the evening after the performance, she said "Mommy, I really learned something today!"  When I asked her what that was, she responded, "I learned some new ballet moves!  I'll show you in the morning..."

Lily has also really excelled in her AWANA class this year and is memorizing multiple Bible verses weekly!  Her heart for the Lord is developing and we are overjoyed that she loves going to AWANA, church, and reading her Bible.

We are looking forward to what this year has in store for Lily!  No doubt, our sweet girl will find joy and happiness in it all.

We love you, Lily!

Enjoy her year in review.  (with the exception of "special skills", "seven words to describe Lily", and "favorite phrase", the responses are in her own words)

NAME: Lily Mae Bolinger

HEIGHT: 3' 9"

NICK NAME(S): Lil, Trigger, Missy

BEST FRIENDS: Jackson, Chloe, Hannah, Madison, Kayla, Braden, Maryanna, Powell, Lola, Christopher, Jake, Sam, Ethan, Charlie, Kayla

AGE: 6

SCHOOL: Blackburn Elementary School

PETS: Kelsey

FAVORITE THINGS TO DO: play on the playground with Kayla, hang out with Daddy, play with my brother, play with my Legos, go to the park, help Mommy decorate the house for Christmas 

SPECIAL SKILLS: memorizing Bible verses, learning to read, count to 100

WHAT I WANT TO BE WHEN I GROW UP: a teacher

FAVORITE SINGER: Taylor Swift

FAVORITE COLOR: Purple

FAVORITE FOOD: Pizza

FAVORITE DRINK: Cherry limeade

FAVORITE TOY: Nail kit

FAVORITE BOOK: My Little Pony

FAVORITE MOVIE: Sweetpea Beauty

FAVORITE ANIMAL: Horse

FAVORITE HOLIDAY: Christmas

FAVORITE WEATHER: Summer

FAVORITE CANDY: Lollipops

FAVORITE T.V. SHOW: Good Luck Charlie

FAVORITE PHRASE: "Ok...here's what we're gonna do..."  (Lily loves being in charge :)

SEVEN WORDS TO DESCRIBE LILY: Leader, Thoughtful, Helper, Compassionate, Sociable, Affectionate, and Sensitive.

Bye Bye Pacifier!

 
I finally decided it was time.  Actually, I decided that a few months ago, but I finally got the courage (thanks to my doctor and Daddy) to just do it.  We have been battling illnesses off/on the past month or so, and I finally got a window of opportunity.  I knew it would be a rough few days without sleep.  And who wants to lose sleep...by choice?! :)

Unlike with Lily, I did not have a set plan.  With her, we used the "paci fairy" and that was it.  We talked about it for weeks ahead of time and it worked great.  With Jackson, I knew it was going to be a tougher transition, so I grabbed onto anything I thought would work! 
The process started with watching the Elmo "Bye Bye Pacifier" video.  We watched that for about a week, and then decided he grasped the idea that he was ready to be a "big boy" and give the pacifiers to babies who needed them...i.e. cousins Charlie and Ethan! :)  So, Monday we gathered up all of the pacifiers into a paper bag and discussed how the "paci fairy" would be coming to get them and take them to Charlie and Ethan.  He also has a couple of buddies from church that he sees regularly, and do not have pacifiers.  I was able to successfully use them as "big boy" examples. :)

That night, there were about 20 minutes of tears, and then he finally settled down.  I went in periodically to check on him and then finally ended up rubbing his back and he fell asleep. 
Tuesday, no tears!  He whined a little just before nap and bed time, but once we read books and he climbed in bed, I just rubbed his back for a few minutes and he was out!

Since we are on day 3, I'm pretty confident we are through the worst of it.  Phew!

Next up, potty-training after the holidays!  Never a dull moment in the Bolinger house! :)

Sweetpea Beauty

Up to this point, we really haven't watched that many VeggieTales movies.  I love them and the message they deliver, but I put a video on for Lily once and she never really got into it.  Possibly she was too young at the time and/or the movie was too long.
However, Jackson and I were at the library earlier this week and there were a few VeggieTales movies and CD's on display.  One caught my eye so we picked up "Sweetpea Beauty" (a lesson about true beauty)

Lily LOVES it!  After watching it for the first time, she came to me and said,
"You know, Mom...what matters to God is the beauty inside your heart, not what's on the outside!"
What a powerful message to remember, especially for little girls!  We'll have to pick this one up for our own library :)

Halloween 2012

This Halloween, we had "Super Why" from the PBS Sprout show, and "Rapunzel".  We trick-or-treated with the Seitz family from church.  The kids had a great time running from house to house, and us moms and dads were thrilled they were wearing themselves out! :) 
Jackson was amusing to watch this year as he really got the hang of it.  After a couple of houses, he had the system down!  He would run up the walkway to the front door and yell "Trick Or Treat!", then "Thank you!".  He tried a few times to walk into the houses once they opened the door, but Mommy put a stop to that quickly.  Ever the social butterfly, he just assumed they were letting him in! :)  I know he really enjoyed himself because he was yelling "Trick Or Treat!" for a couple of days afterwards.

Lily and friend Jack

This was common routine after each house.  He had to inspect the goods!

Jack, Max, and Jackson leading the pack

Mr. Super Why

the crew in action- Jackson, Lily, Kate, Jack, & Max

this was taken at the end of the night.  the kids were beat!

Lily singing New Testament books of the Bible

Jackson counting to 10! (25 months)

Jackson singing- 25 months

Candy thief

Every year, one of our neighbors brings over a treat-filled plastic pumpkin complete with a toothbrush and glow bracelet for trick-or-treating for each child.  Truthfully, we don't really need to trick-or-treat after her goodies!  She admitted that Halloween is her favorite holiday.  It's very sweet of her.

Anyway, I tell you that to say the kids go bananas over the treats.  Lily is disciplined enough to know she has to ask before getting into her pumpkin for a treat.  Jackson, however, is a work in progress.

The other afternoon, I was focused on a project and hadn't realized Jackson had grabbed the stool from the bathroom (a new trick of his) and brought it into the kitchen.  He secretly reached into his pumpkin and grabbed a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup.  As soon as he caught my eye, I saw a little 2-year-old body running around the corner with a flash of orange from the wrapper in his hand.  I called him back in the kitchen from the other room, mistakenly thinking that he would listen and bring the candy to me.  Oh no.  I called twice, and usually by the third time, Mama is not happy!  In the midst of this battle, Lily called out to me "Mooom!  He's eating it!"

I was angry.  I marched into the living room and there he was, mouthful of Reese's, holding the wrapper, staring at me.  I grabbed the wrapper, noticed he only took a bite, and immediately asked him to spit it out into my hand.  Now, this is the kicker.  He shook his head "No" and put his hand over his mouth!!  I couldn't believe it!  So I spanked him and off we went into the bathroom to spit it into the toilet.  This didn't work either!  I watched him as he half-heartedly spit into the toilet all while chewing and swallowing the Reese's in his mouth!

I don't know what I'm going to do with this boy! Apparently the discipline was worth the flavor of the Reese's! 

A trip to the grocery store

This morning Jackson and I took our weekly (and sometimes bi-weekly) trip to the grocery store.  As usual, he greeted each person as we passed them in the shopping cart, and consistently asked to "Hold it!" after putting each item in the cart.  We received many return greetings, grins, and sometimes full conversations.  
This morning, he decided to start a "conversation" with another woman- who by her appearance, looked about my age and most likely had children of her own. She became very interested in conversing with Jackson and as he babbled on in his 2-year-old jibberish, she followed right along with him.
"Oh Playdoh?", she asked.  "You made a duck?"..."Wow!"...and so on.
Completely shocked and amazed that she could decipher most of what he was saying, I commented jokingly, "Oh, you must be a mom of small children to understand what he is saying!"
She replied, "Yes, that and I'm a speech therapist".
We ended up in a short conversation and she asked Jackson how old he was.  When he replied confidently "TWO!", she was amazed at how well he was speaking at his age!

This little encounter left me both encouraged as a mom and proud of my son for his language development.  I know how frustrating it is for him at times, as evidenced by his tantrums, but I have to keep reminding myself how far he has come in the past few months!

Fall festivals

We have been having some festival fun so far this Fall!  I love this time of year for many reasons and festivals are on my list of favorite Fall activities!  Every September, our church hosts a huge outreach festival.  Everything you can imagine is there: farm animals, inflatables, free food, rides, etc.  I didn't get as many pictures this year because I was on my own with the kids, but they sure had fun!

a boy after his mama's heart!

pony rides!

"Pony, Mommy!"

 Lily attended her first Fall festival at Blackburn Elementary this year!  She couldn't wait to see all of her friends "after school" and have some fun.  I assisted the PTA with serving drinks, then had the chance to follow Lily around with her friend Chloe and snap some shots of their activities.

gunny sack races (I was a little nervous about this being done on pavement, but they stayed upright :)

bean bag toss

pumpkin toss

While Grandma L. and Aunt Sarah were here for Jackson's birthday party, we attended the Lees Summit Ocktoberfest!  The kids had a great time climbing in the fire trucks.

 

future career?

Lily the ballerina!

Last month, Lily decided she would like to try dance!  She really enjoys dressing up and dancing around so she was very excited to put on a leotard, tights, and ballet shoes.  And secretly, I love putting her hair in a high bun and watching her walk into class.  She's just adorable!  Her class is titled "Pre-Dance" however it is more of an introduction to ballet.  There are about 5 girls in her class, one of which is her best friend, Chloe (redhead below).  Her teacher is very serious about teaching the various positions, but seems to do it in such a way that all of the girls have fun.  (That has to be challenging with 5-year-olds!).  Lily has excellent posture (of which I am envious!), and her demeanor changes to one of a serious nature once she puts her leotard on and heads for class.  Only time will tell if this is something she will hang on to, but so far, she is really enjoying it! 

with Chloe and new friend, Katelynn

last minute wiggles out before class begins!

Jackson's 2nd birthday party!

We celebrated Jackson's birthday with an Elmo & Sesame Street party at the park!  We had a great day with perfect Fall weather.  Family and some close friends were there to celebrate, including a special visit from Grandma L. and Aunt Sarah from California!  Mommy was especially thankful to have their help for the last-minute party preparations.  This was truly a "homemade" party; from the Elmo pinata head, to the cake & cupcakes, to the party favor bags, this was quite a project.  But, it was worth every minute to watch my 2-year-old have a great time with his family and friends. Enjoy some snapshots of the fun day: preparing to leave for the party setting up decor Elmo head pinata Elmo cake and Sesame Street cupcakes checking out the playground, wearing his special "I Am 2" bday shirt hanging out with Grandpa B. enjoying the day Aunt Carissa, Aunt Sarah, and Grandma L. Grandma and Ashley Daddy (here with Uncle Chris) grilled hot dogs lunch time! his special treat- juice box! pinata time! Lily swinging hard! kids lining up to have their turn Candy!! Jackson couldn't wait to dig in! Cake time! Presents! on the drive home.  too much fun= naptime!