Pre-4: Emma

In September, Emma started four year pre-school back at St. Paul Lutheran. This year, she is going Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 8:30-11:30 while doing before school care starting at 7:15.

So far, she loves it and can't wait to go back. In fact, as couple weeks ago she didn't have school for two days because of conferences and she was bummed. I wish that would be the case 10 years from now!

In just the two short months, we have watched Emma grow in independence and responsibility, along with all the other fun stuff pre-schoolers learn like holding scissors, working on their name and letters, identifying letters/numbers/shapes. It's so fun to watch the progress and how proud she is. 

Summer Recap.....in October

My mom asked me recently if I was done with the blog because I hadn't posted since Emma's birthday in July. Even if she is the only person that reads it, I should do it for my own memory and the memories of Emma and Maggie. So here we are in October.....errr, almost November, giving a brief update on how us Shoultzes spent our summer 2017.

Matt and I celebrated five years of marriage by getting out of Ames and going to a brewery and dinner in Ankeny. All while being back by 8:00 and in bed by 10:00....our kind of nights. Wouldn't want to do life with anyone else.

Emma spent four nights by herself at grandma and grandpa Shoultz house in Litchfield before Matt and Maggie came up for a few more days. Emma loved it and appreciated the 1:1 time with them. She even got to spend the night out at the camper.

I had a work trip in DC and got to spend the evening relishing in the beautiful history. I'd love to do this trip all over again as I clearly didn't appreciate it while on the 8th grade field trip.

We might have found Emma's sport: softball. She sure can slug them off the tee or being pitched too. 

Lots of park time in and around Ames.....

Quick trip to Clear Lake for the day so the girls can experience the lake life. Matt and I decided that a dream of ours is to have a getaway house up there some day. Note: DREAM.

I potty trained Maggie on July 6. Probably not the best timing as Matt was out of commission for six weeks post surgery, but it's done and she has done such a great job. She was two years and two months when we did it. While young, she was more than ready and showed immense interest. After a couple of weeks of random accidents, she's fully potty trained and the thought of being done with diapers forever is amazing! 

More time spent up at Clear Lake with dear friends. Third summer in a row we have done this and we look forward to it every year. 

Our bribe during summer months is "If you take a good nap, we will go see the horses." Almost always does the trick. 

We got rid of the pacifier on Matt's birthday after he asked her if she wanted to throw it away. In a moment of weakness, she said yes. It was a rough night and a rough few nights there after. But now, she's doing well and doesn't ask for her. Throwing away the paci though coincided with her getting out of her converted crib, so that weekend, the crib got put back together to keep her caged, I mean contained for a little while longer. 

Visited Litchfield before the craziness of football and basketball season got underway. The girls have a ball up there and love getting to see their cousin Maddy who they adore. 

Emma: Four

Our sweet Emma,

I can't believe that you are already four years old. There are times where it seems like just yesterday we were preparing for your arrival and then other times where it feels like you have been in our lives forever. Four just seems so grown to me. Yet you have been counting down to this birthday for what seems like months. Asking how many more months, then weeks and finally days until your birthday.

You have grown so much in the last year. Physically, you grew nearly four inches and gained four pounds. You are in the 92% in height, 40% in weight with a BMI of not quite 4%. You are a string bean for sure. You officially no longer look like a baby or even a toddler, but a little girl. Aside from the physical growth, you have matured (most days), learned new things and your vocabulary is one of sometimes a teenager. Thanks to three year pre-school, you can spell and write your name, can count to twenty and recognize shapes and some letters. Speaking of school, you loved school. You quite literally would push Nana and Maggie out the door at drop off. We were worried on how you would handle it, but you blew us away. We truly saw you shine this year and can't wait to see what the next year holds at four year pre-school.

Princesses are your LIFE. Elena of Avalor rules our house, but Elsa, Moana and Belle are close behind. You love to recite their songs and can recite quite a bit from their movies or shows. Dressing up is your absolute favorite. I think if we would let you, you would wear a princess dress all the time. In fact, that's all you really wanted for your birthday: Elena of Avalor accessories to go with the dress. You even asked for dresses and skirts for school.

While you love all things baby dolls and princesses, you also like to get dirty, play with worms and play sports. You actual have quite good coordination in soccer that we may have found a sport for you. Luckily with your dad's line of work, you and Maggie enjoy sports and watching them. Going to Iowa State basketball games is something you so looked forward and when dad is on the road, you like watching him on tv.

There is so much magic in your personality. You are incredibly kind, sincere and sensitive, but when you are mad, oooohhh are you mad! Your eye rolls, stomping to protest and the "that's not fair" are seen and heard daily. We have always said you were an easy baby and toddler, but I think the attitude of four's may rock us. But in a lot of those moments, where you just infuriate your dad and I, we have to hide our face from smiling because you are so darn cute. Luckily for us, you understand when you are in the wrong and always apologize, whether it's five minutes later or the next day. Sometimes you apologize for things you don't even need to apologize for or things I think that you have longed forgot.

I have no idea what this next year will bring, but I hope it is a year of fun, learning and the innocent happiness of being a kid.

Happy 4th, Emma Grace. We love you.

{E}: Four Year Pictures

"Darling, the one thing you have that nobody else has is you. Your voice, your mind, your story, your vision. So write and draw and build and play and dance and live as only you can."

{M} Two Year Pictures

Oh my goodness is this girl a ham, especially when a camera is involved. 15 minutes is what it took for this photo shoot and we could have been done after a few minutes. Thanks to Destri at D&Orfs for capturing Maggie's silly and scrumptious personality. Thanks are also in order to Maggie's favorite song, Bruno Mars "That's What I Like", that provided background music to loosen her up. 

Maggie: Two

Eating: Maggie's been dealing with cutting her last two molars and some sinus gunk, which seem to bother her eating. She will either eat everything and ask for more, or just pick at it all and hardly eat. There really isn't much she doesn't like. Not huge into whole fruit, but will eat it on her terms. We weaned her from whole milk and she's now drinking skim like the rest of us.

Sleeping: Maggie lets us know when she is tired, either by saying so or by going to get her pacifier, blanket and wanting to cuddle. She is taking a two to three hour nap every day and then going to bed around 7:00 p.m. then waking up around 6:30-7:00 a.m. We converted her to a big girl bed (took the side off her crib) and she is doing fantastic and absolutely loves it. There's been a few times when we go get her up from her naps or up for the day that we find her sitting on the floor with all of her stuff, patiently waiting for us. She really is smiley the moment she wakes up. We are lucky that for the most part, she is a morning person.

Development: At Maggie's two year check up, she weighed 33 pounds 2 ounces (97th percentile) and measured 36.75 inches (98th percentile). Perfectly proportional. Our pediatrician couldn't get over Maggie's vocabulary and her manners.

Aside from physical appearance in development, she's pretty coordinated with kicking, throwing, dancing and walking up and down stairs. She's good at doing puzzles, coloring and chalking lines/circles. Maggie can count to five, sometimes ten, but has been doing that for about six months now. Can sing her ABC's, sing many other songs, says her prayers and can repeat some books that she has memorized. Seriously, this girl can talk. A LOT.

Likes/Dislikes: Her dislikes are pretty typical for her age: being told no and not getting what she wants. This girl has quite a bit of sass. If she doesn't like what you are saying or doing, she will quickly tell you to stop. Maggie also is not a fan of big sister Emma invading her space, so she will bite or pull her hair to have her leave her alone. Seriously, Maggie values 1:1 time or time alone. Big sister doesn't quite understand that :) But at the same time, she loves playing along with her sister.

Maggie LOVES baby dolls. She pretends to put them to bed, feed them, change them and is very motherly with her dolls. She likes playing kitchen, coloring, puzzles, reading books and dressing up.

Let me love you a little more, before you aren't little anymore. 

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Easter 2017

Remain Gardens Easter egg hunt on Saturday. 

Easter Sunday was sunny, warm(er) and beautiful. The girls woke up to hunt for their baskets that the Easter bunny left and then it was off to church we go. We were invited to join Nana and Papa for brunch at their house along with an easter egg hunt (filled with money, stickers and candy). Lucky girls received another filled Easter basket from Nana and Papa as well.

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