Maison's First Homework Assignment

The letter of the week is "P". Thank goodness Sunday's flyers were still laying around. I'd hate to sacrifice a treasured magazine or worse yet, the latest Potterybarn catalog. And yes, I'm one of those Moms that had to correct her homework... I'm sorry, Walle, stickers and flowers don't begin with the letter P!

First Try at Reading

During our bedtime story, we made our first attempt at reading... She did awesome and right off the bat she sounded out "cat" on her own. She did really good with other similar words like "rat" and "hat". Of course, I lost all credibility when I tried to explain words like "the"... Dat's not what that says!

At least it was a start. I can still hear her upstairs sounding out the same words over and over again...

First Day at Pre-K

Today's Maison's first day in Pre-K. She's still at Primrose School but now that she's 4 and in the Pre-K program, she has to wear a uniform to school. Needless to say, little miss independent isn't too happy about that. What she hates the most... THE SOCKS!

It's amazing how much she's learned already. We went through the alphabet yesterday afternoon and the only letter she really struggles with is F. So as long as we stick with just capital letters, she can tell you the letter and the sound it makes. Time to pull out the Bob Books!

Word of warning, don't try to explain lower case letters to her. That's an argument that you'll never win... "a" is not an A, "A" is an A - no exceptions, case closed.

Weekend with J2C2

We had an awesome weekend with Jay, Jamie, Clara and Carly. Even took a quick trip down to the SC border to have breakfast with Paula and the girls.

Check out the rest of the Monkey Joe pictures... I think Jamie had more fun than the girls.

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Sharing Poops... (Gross but too funny not to post)

Laure and Isa met Maison and I at the mall tonight so the girls could burn off some energy. Typical for Maison, she needed to hit the restroom right in the middle of dinner and of course, one can't go without the other, so I head off to the bathroom with both girls.

Typically, they favor the large handicap stall so we can all go in together but Maison announced she needed privacy which only means one thing... The head to their individual stalls, right next to each other and I'm waiting outside, holding the doors shut... privacy of course.

Both girls start grunting... Maison, hearing Isa, asks if she is pooping and the conversation goes like this...

Isa: Yes, I'm pooping. You?
Maison: Me too. Are you doing a bunch of little poops or one big one?
Isa: One really big one, you?
Maison: I got a big one, but I think I have a bunch of little ones too.
Isa: Can I see it?

And that's when I had to step in and change the conversation... "Do you girls want to ride the carousel or the train when we are done eating?!?"

Nothing gets past this kid...

While Maison was away this past weekend, I mentioned to her that I was working on a new walkway in the backyard. I was shocked when I picked her up and one of the first things she mentioned was wanting to see the new walkway. It was already dark but we head to the backyard. She stops at the end of the driveway, looks down at the grass and asks "Is this it?" Nope, that's the same grass we had before you left. She walks through the fence gate, onto the gravel walkway and asks "Where is it?" Before I can answer she realizes there is something different under her feet, "Who put this here, what is this?" When I explain that is the new walkway, "Oh it's so cute, good job Mommy".

Then she runs into the house to let Buckner out of his crate. Little did she know, Buckner is with Saylor. She doesn't turn the light on and kneels down next to the crate. She babbled her hellos for a few minutes, telling him about her day and asking how he was doing, before she realized Buckner wasn't in there. "Hey, where'd my Buckner go?"

Wow, my girl is quick! Gotta love her.

Valentine's Day at Primrose School

I absolutely loved the card Maison made me for Valentine's Day. Can you see the H's at the top? That's my name... I know, Mommy would be nice but in Maison's world, M is for Maison so it can't be for Mommy.

Rest of the pictures

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Maison's Marathon

Instead of sitting back and enjoying the ride in the stroller, Maison decided she wanted to run the last leg back to the house yesterday morning. I don't know how far she ran exactly, I'm guessing about 3/4 to 1 mile, but for little legs, it was very impressive. She ran almost the entire way and when she needed to rest, she skipped! I guess I'm getting old, because getting my knees up that high isn't what I would call a rest.

She was slightly winded when we finally got home but she didn't say anything about her legs being tired at all.

Well that was yesterday... When Maison got up this morning, here legs weren't functioning as well as they usually do. Normally, she races down the hall first thing in the morning. Today, it was a slow painful crawl. When she tried to sit on the bed, she needed help pushing herself up. And the funniest part came when she tried to walk down the stairs! It took several attempts to lower herself down the first step and then she finally let gravity take over and just plopped herself down. She looked about ninty years old, clinging to the railing, lowering herself down each step.

Do you think she'll chose running over riding again next time? :)

Maison's BFFs

Maison's Best Friends - Lindsey, Ariel and Isa - at her pre-party
"Princess Only" birthday lunch.
















Click here for more pictures:
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Happy 4th Birthday!!

When I asked Maison what kind of birthday party she wanted, I was told...

Maison: "A Bolt party!! You know, the dog?"

Me: "Yes, I know who Bolt is. Where should we have this party?"

Maison: "At nimnastics" (Given the tone, I would have expected a Duh! at the end of her reply - and no, Maison can't say gymnastics)

Me: "Okay"

Maison - interupting, hand on her hip and pointing her finger at me: "And everyone has to wear their pajamas or they can't come in!"

So, we had a Bolt Pajama Party at the Little Gym!

Front Row: Sean, Matthew, Ariel, Lindsey, Havilyn, Maison

Next Row: Rania, Kennedy

Next Row: Isa, Kadisah, Savannah

Back Row: Laney, Alyson and Rania's brother

Check out the rest of the pictues at

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They are absolutely hysterical!!

Charlotte Blizzard - Take Two

Another day off from school...

Last night when we went to the grocery store (yes we did the southerner trip for bread and milk but unlike every other panicked individual in the store, we actually needed it), it was spitting a few snowflakes but since it stopped by the time we got home, we weren't expecting snow this morning.

No need to send supplies, it was all melted by lunchtime.

What do you have in there??

For Maison, her shopping cart is a necessity. Without it, she couldn't possibly lug all of her treasured possessions from one room to the next.

So what do you think...

1) Future Logistics Manager?

2) Future Shopaholic?

3) Future bag lady?

UPDATE:

Now that Maison is in bed, I was able to take an official inventory of the shopping cart.

-Leapster and two additional games
-2 baby blankets
-Rabbit
-2 coloring books with 4 markers
-Dr Seuss and Princess books
-2 sheets of stickers
-Cookie tin full of Matchbox cars and My Little Ponies
-Dora and 3 additional pairs of shoes
-baby bottle
-3in stack of party napkins (snowmen, Dora and Ariel)
-40 party cups (hearts, Dora and Ariel)
- 15 Disney Princess plates