Diving Lessons

Want to know how someone is taught to do a backwards dive into the pool? Check Chloe out....

Tongue Thrust

At her last dental check-up Chloe was diagnosed with tongue thrust. She keeps her tongue on the top if her mouth and has pushed her top teeth out of alignment. So, we've been seeing the orthodontist regularly. Today, Chloe was fitted with the appliance that will train her where to keep her tongue.

It felt a little funny to her, she kept drooling and sprayed when she spoke, but she still had her sense of humor.

Chinese Dance Recital

Chloe at the TriBeca PAC before the recital.

Sunday was Chloe's Chinese Dance recital in TriBeca, just a few blocks from Chinatown. It's so nice that Chloe has the opportunity to learn traditional Chinese dance and about the Chinese culture through the Chinese Cultural Center in NYC. Each Friday afternoon, her instructor takes the subway in from NYC to teach language and dance to the girls. The recital is with all the students of the cultural center, those from NYC, our village and Westchester county in NY.

The performers in the first half of the recital (Chloe is in here somewhere).

This year's dance was a handkerchief dance.

A New Crib

Matt & Chloe were running an errand on Saturday and I was home with Oliver, who was supposed to be napping. A giant THUD soon alerted me that Oliver was not asleep at all. I went to his room to discover that Oliver had unassembled his crib and not in a good way. He had pushed and pushed until the front section had shirred from the sides of the crib. How he managed that kind of strength I don't know. All we know was it WAS a nice and expensive crib.

Oliver met me with a big smile and an "Uh-oh",  as he held the very large, broken section of his crib.

When Matt returned home he surveryed the damage and declared the crib to be beyond repair. A quick trip to the baby superstore landed Oliver a new crib (we're not quite ready to put him in a toddler bed) and round 2 of nap time.

First Full Day of Summer Break

I hope this first day isn't a sign of the summer to come. Summer vacation started rainy and cool. We planned ro spend the day at the pool as Chloe had her first swim team practice.

Oliver spent the parent's meeting screaming for his sister and Chloe spent it in the first aid station. She fell during sprints. Not the best way to start your first swim team experience.

We also discovered that Chloe has swim team practice at the same time as dive practice. That's not going to work.

School's Out!!!! (FINALLY)

While the rest of the country is in the middle of their summer break, ours is just beginning. Chloe is finally out of school for the summer!!!

It was a half day today and she is already asking what we are going to do this summer and stating that she is BORED. Geez, give me a chance! We still have 75 days of summer vacation and didn't we make a poster of all the things we are going to do this summer?!!

GRRRRR....

Chloe's first grade class dancing with their teacher, Mrs. K.

In other news, I went to school yesterday for Chloe's class party. Her teacher gave me a photo with all the student's in Chloe's class and a thank-you note signed by everyone for being class mom. It was sweet.

Strawberry Picking & Measurements

The kids had their pediatrician appointment yesterday and then we went to pick strawberries afterwards. First, the measurements:
CHLOE:
Height 47 inches (27th percentile)
Weight 44.5 lbs. (34th percentile)

OLIVER:
Height 37 inches (70th percentile)
Weight 34 lbs. (80th percentile)

We went just along the NJ/NY border to the u-pick farms we visit each year. I thought Oliver would go mad for the strawberries since he loves them so, but, he didn't seem to recognize them on the plant. He preferred to play in the plowed, dusty field next to the strawberries where he got filthy. Chloe helped pick and she even tried to teach Oliver which strawberries to pick. "Oliver, pick the red ones and only the red ones. You can't just pick any strawberry you see!" she told him, obviously remembering what she had been taught.

Teaching little brother which strawberries to pick.

Already Oliver has lost interest in picking strawberries.

Lots of berries!!

Chloe picking "the perfect strawberry". She picked quite a few before she called it quits claiming it was just too hot to pick strawberries. Apparently, it wasn't too hot to run around a plowed field though.

Oliver and Chloe playing with a "found" ball in the plowed field next  to the strawberries. Oliver looked like he had a dust bath when he was finished. He also had a flailing tantrum in the field when his sister wouldn't give the ball to him. He was so loud the farmer asked if he could retain Oliver's "services" to scare away the birds from the berries.

We picked 15 lbs. of strawberries. I couldn't resist. There were so many red, juicy berries. I couldn't just leave them there! These strawberries are so much better than the strawberries commercially produced and sold in the supermarket.

It Isn't Easy Being Two

Oliver, our dear son, you have made our lives more interesting, entertaining and I must admit stressful. You're crazy wild. You don't sit still unless you are asleep. You are as smart as a whip. You want so much to be a big kid and do all the things your sister can. You're as strong as an ox and as stubborn as a mule. You are strong-willed and wily. You are LOUD. You are a screamer and a screecher. You want it YOUR WAY. You have a wicked sense of humor. You love cars, trains, planes, dogs and cats. You love singing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" just as much as you love singing Jus*tin Be**iber's "Baby, Baby". You love to brush your teeth, help clean up and reading the book, Goodnight Moon. You are precious.

Still too young to get the cake and candle thing. He did smash his hand in the icing to see what it was all about but decided he didn't really want to partake in the cake.

TWO!!

Happy Birthday Oliver!!! The present from BeBe and PaPaw arrived yesterday and the kids couldn't wait to take it for a spin. Oliver loves it.


Excuse my pestering of Oliver. When he says "two" its the cutest thing on the planet and I wanted to get him saying it in the camera---which never works out.

Oh, and we did move the roller coaster to a better location--not on the patio.

The Birthday Day

HAPPY 7TH BIRTHDAY CHLOE!!

Chloe is officially 7 years old. She celebrated her birthday at school today with her friends and then we went out to eat as a family at Chloe's requested restaurant.

This place is great. It keeps Oliver's attention and we get little to no screeching. And that's a good thing.

After dinner, we had a second cake and opened some presents....Le*go and Sta*r War*s was a theme.

Later in the week I will post some facts about the kids to record their birthday milestones. We go the pediatrician on Oliver's birthday and I will have some height/weight info. then.

BBQ Festival

A BBQ festival in NYC is a pretty cool thing. Standing in line for over an hour in the rain with a screaming toddler. Not so cool. We were willing to do this to get some of our favorite BBQ from Austin, TX. .

Maybe this wasn't the wisest of ideas. Over one hour in the rain...you know its not going to live up to what you remember

It really started pouring and there was another BBQ stand from a local NYC BBQ place that cleared out so jumped in to buy us some ribs. Chloe liked the beans.

BeBe, who is visiting for the kids birthdays, enjoying a rib while standing in line.

More waiting in line and eating ribs.

Still waiting. Even the down pour and screaming Oliver didn't drive people away from this BBQ.

Preparing the brisket. They couldn't cut it fast enough to keep up with the demand. By the time we got to the front of the line we had to wait another 10 minutes for them to "prep".

The final product...FINALLY!

The 7th Birthday Party

Chloe's birthday party was last night. Below is her invitation---

We had 24 kids all "wired for sound", bouncing, dancing and shooting balls. Pizza and cake rounded out the party. Chloe had a fantastic time and Oliver did too. The icing on the cake was that it was such an easy birthday party. All I had to do was bring the cake and candles. The staff was great and took care of everything else. Yipppeeee!!

BALLS! Oliver hung right in there with the 6, 7 and 8 year olds at the party. He didn't care for the bounce house obstacle courses or the shark slide. He liked the balls and the roller coaster ride (which his grandmother determined he would get for his birthday next week).

The push-ride roller coaster was a big hit.




The Hurricane Simulator--hysterical. The kids loved it and even Oliver got in on the action.

 

The shark slide.

On the light up dance floor.



The ball shooters. Oliver was ball boy. This was BY FAR his favorite activity of the party and it was pretty much the hit of the night. I would say at any given time half of the kids at the party were in the ball shooter area.



Chloe's birthday cake---it was beautiful, with real flowers. The manager came to ask if we REALLY wanted to put Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker on the cake. This cake fits the birthday girl's character to a T---a little bit girlie and a little bit "tom boy".



Eating pizza. They were quiet for about 15 seconds during this time.




Blowing out the candles on the cake. I love the fact that it's Chloe's best pals surrounding her in this photo---her oldest friends (our weekly playroup pals) and her best friend from class--the little boy cheering her on behind her. Love this photo so much that I'll ignore the fact that Chloe removed the clip pulling the bangs out of her face!

The party was a great success and so much fun. We did have on snafu...Chloe's presents got mixed up with another party's presents and we came home with the wrong gifts. Daddy made a quick trip back up to the party place to exchange for the right gifts. Of course, this was agony to Chloe who laid on the couch waiting with such drama over what felt like an eternity to the ever eager party girl.
And, oh, parents, you can thank me later for tiring your kids out on a Friday evening. Hopefully they were worn out and tired and slept like a rock like mine did!!!

1st Grade Performance

BeBe arrived on Wednesday and we whisked her from LaGuardia straight to Chloe's first grade performance at school. It was hot and the gymnasium has no air conditioning. Sweltering. The performance was great even though a certain soon-to-be-two-years-old didn't want to have any part of watching it.

The Summer List

School is not out yet (14 days left), but that doesn't mean we can't start planning our summer. Really excited about this summer. It's going to be so much fun!

Chloe and I made our list and our poster tonight. Oliver even pitched in a little (by trying to eat the markers). I totally stole this idea from here.

InstaFriday

I skipped last week's InstaFriday because I just didn't get it together. This week was a tough one, but I managed.

Oliver loves hats and he loves to dress up in the army hat while spreading out all the Cra*zy Fo*rt pieces all over the playroom.

He also like to bring me this video that he snags EVERY DAY from the DVD's in the playroom/media room. I think he's trying to tell me something....

But, alas, Recipe Club is calling and so is the Blackberry Pavlova I made.

And then there was this little mag that arrived and made me drool....

Besides, it's too hot to exercise. We skipped right over Spring and went straight to Summer.

And, on a more serious and heartfelt note---this week was a tough one because a friend unexpectedly and suddenly passed away from a heart attack at 38 years old, leaving behind a husband and three children all under the age of 6. Its been tough to come to terms with her passing and what it means for her family. Right now, I'm holding on to my dear friends I have and everyday I am given with my family as a gift and reminding every female I know to get their hearts checked and to know the signs of a heart attack for females because they can be very different from a man's symptoms---which are the symptoms most people know.

R.I.P. Jen