TKD

Jackson has been begging to do "karate" since age 2. Finally he turned 4 and could enroll in Tae Kwon Do! He is loving it after his first two classes. Watching little kids do push ups and warming up is hilarious. Today Jackson asked me if he was going to get his Black Belt soon! Ha!

We hope the skills he is practicing in class transfer to home life--mainly the patience and following directions! The "Yes, Sir" response to Master is cute but we will settle for "Yes, Mother." :)

100th Day of Pre-School

Today was Jackson's 100th day of his Montessori education. It is very different from a traditional pre-school and our little big guy certainly compares the two. I met with his principal today about some policy changes I wasn't happy about as well as the (lack of) communication we receive about how Jackson is progressing socially and academically.

It is hard to make a fair comparison between his old school (traditional and full time) to his new school (part time and Montessori faith based). With that being said, I could without a doubt say Jack LOVED his old school. After 100 days he likes his new school but it's not love. He is more social and enjoys group settings--and it was our hope that Montessori would encourage him to work independently as most of the "works" are designed this way...it is taking a long time.

I had my withdrawal letter written but after today's discussion, we will wait a little longer to see if things improve. He begs weekly to go back to his old school and it doesn't help that we pass it on the way to his new school. We also have Open House this week and then I will meet again with his principal and teachers next week to see how we all can make Jackson's education more enriching. He is learning things kindergartners do not even cover and he enjoys math especially for this reason. He is also reading at the basic level and his comprehension is unbelievable.

Teacher-Parent communication should get better as they are starting a new technique this week after last week's professional development. And the principal agreed with me that the transition home during lunch was awkward so I can pick him up five minutes later to not cause a disruption. I had been doing this on my own and last week was "caught" with a not too nice email warning from the secretary about fees for being late when really I just wanted to pick my kid up when he had finished his lunch--not during it. Riley is certainly a fun distraction for 4 and 5 year olds!

Miss Riley is doing SO much better after a few days on amoxicillin for her first ear infection. I hope last. I had BAD ones as a child even after getting "tubes." :/

The kids were asked to bring in 100 things so Jackson counted out 100 Trix (first time eating those) and we did a math equation since 100 wouldn't fit in a baby food jar. He was really excited to wear his pajamas to school as part of his class celebration. He loved that he could just wake up and go to school without the hassle of getting dressed. Ha! We call him Lazy Jack. :)

Wouldn't you just love to roll out of bed and be on your merry way?

Mischief

Riley has always been more curious about getting into things compared to Jackson. Maybe he opened a drawer once as a baby...

As soon as she started crawling at seven months we knew we were in for it. Cupboards, drawers, bins--all have been opened and emptied by Riley. She puts things back and likes to keep me on my toes by switching the placement of things like oven mitts winding up with pots and pans. 

Last week as I was cooking, she quickly opened a cabinet and somehow yanked a glass bowl out--it shattered into a thousand pieces on the tile floor. Scary. Thankfully, she stood still and I scooped her up. We were both barefoot. She was fine. Luckily Sierra was home to help clean up the pieces. Literally.

Three days after the glass incident, I made my first phone call to Poison Control because she crawled to the back of my bathroom cabinet, emptied bath soaking soap, and ate some. It looked like sand which she is also a fan of...but I think the vanilla taste plus soap stopped her?! 

I was putting clothes in the dryer when she ran up to me, threw up her banana from snack, and smiled. The woman at Poison Control was very sweet and calm as I tried my best to do the same. She advised me to look for signs of being lethargic but it sounded like she was fine and a trip to the doctor wasn't necessary. Riley was giggling as I was on the phone, nursed, and ate her dinner like nothing had happened. Meanwhile, Sierra is in the process of putting more locks on the cabinets.

Later that day, Big Brother poured himself a snack and then this happened. 

So he volunteered to vacuum it up. I think he saw the exhausted look on my face and knew better to ask me for help.

Riley now sits in the cage pack and play when I leave my bedroom or shower. We can't trust this monkey!!

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 These are pictures from her actual birthday--we just celebrated with the four of us. She loved the cake -- homemade frosting that Jackson and I prepared on two Von's cakes. Yum!

New swing from Mama and Dada.
This will keep her out of mischief while out front...

One Year -- You Mean Vaccine(s)

Well it's always hard seeing your baby cry and especially when you know what is about to go down. Riley saw the nurse as we checked in and started to cry...

Then she cried when she was weighed (never fails)...

And after Dr. Upton declared she was: social, advanced, beautiful, had a nice round belly, as verbal as an 18 month old, healthy as can be, and can start eating everything (including cow's milk)...

Riley cried some more as the nurse poked her one, two, three, four times. Poor Baby!

But you know who didn't cry? Mama! That's a first! It all happened so fast!

She started smiling two minutes later when I told her I would give her milk. She walked out of the office one happy one year old...although her little legs did feel sore for two days and she was pretty sensitive to those tender spots.

Stats

Weight: 19.6 lbs. (50th percentile)

Height: 29 1/2" (60th percentile)

Head: 18 3/4" (90th percentile)

So once her cold is finally gone I will start to wean her daytime feedings. Nursing every two to three hours for a year is a tad tiring. But worth it. Yawn. I'll miss my constant Facebook updates, though. ;)

Baths helped bring her fever down. 

Resting with her buddies. Fever of 102. 

Brother makes it all better!

Birthday Pictures by Ashley Perry

Did you hear? Riley turned one and Jackson turned four!  Ashley Perry once again delighted us with a sneak peek of the photo shoot.

 Jackson didn't want anything to do with taking pictures and even the bribe of frozen yogurt failed. So, no frozen yogurt, and so far, no smiling Jackson pictures. Although Riley was well rested, she wasn't as smiley as usual. Probably due to the fever that would hit her 12 hours later. However, she was hugging Ashley by the end of the session. 

Thanks, Ashley, for once again putting up with the moody Izzards!

xoxo

Check out all the photos: http://ashleyperryphotography.instaproofs.com/ password: oneisfun

Our Sweet Valentines

We spent Valentine's Day morning with heart shaped pancakes.

The kids received gifts from Mama and Dada -- new pajamas and St. Patrick's Day shirts. I found a V-Day gift for me hidden in Riley's seat and almost fell over in shock since Sierra remembered this holiday! Anything wrapped in a little blue box is always a treat!

We made Sierra a little picture for his office and gave him a new Starbucks travel mug. I know--we are soooooo romantic, right?

The day before Jackson shared his valentines with his friends at pre-school. We made play dough and put it in little heart tins I had leftover from another party. Since we only had a dozen of those, we also used some real Playdo and I found this cute tag on Pinterest (of course). Jackson signed his name 23 times...which took longer than packing these up. 

We remembered Jackson's teachers, too!

Since Riley was still recovering from her first real fever and cold (we had a lot of germs babies at her birthday party), I didn't know how long she would nap but put her down assuming she would be up in 1 1/2-2 hours so we could surprise Sierra at work. 

Thank you Aardappel family for my LOVEly outfit!

Well Sleeping Beauty slept for 3 1/2 hours and finally awoke to a packed lunch for the car. Jackson of course fell asleep as we drove down to Daddy's work...which meant we waited for him to wake up. I  texted Sierra to look out his office window and stood by my parked car with Riley and waved. Then we woke Jackson up and he swore he wasn't napping (right). Sierra met us and we spent some time at Petco's kiddie park and little baseball field. Jackson ran the bases at least 10 times and I pretended to throw balls to him. 

Our typical group shot--only one looking at the camera.

Still trying to figure out my camera settings.
 In the meantime, enjoy a silent video!

Auntie Laura made this cute hat for Ri. We LOVE it!
Laura shares the same birthday with Riley.

We invited Uncle Clint and Aunt Angela over for dinner last minute and enjoyed spending time with them on a day filled with love. They are newlyweds so their new love is fun to watch and remember those new love feelings...now we share our love with two babies. 
How did you spend the day of St. Valentine?

Cooked Play Dough

2 cups water

2 cups flour

½ cup salt

1 T cooking oil

2 tsp. cream of tartar

A few drops of food coloring

A dash of an essential oil, Vanilla, or Peppermint extract

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan. Heat on low until the mixture is absorbed. Stir a lot and pretty soon it will be the consistency of playdough—you’re done! Careful—let cool before the kids play with it! Store in a covered container. 

Oh What Fun -- Riley Turned ONE!

Our Party Girl!
See her special shirt?
I've used  Frances' designs (Things Very Special) a few times now for gifts or shirts for the kids. 

We celebrated Riley's first birthday last weekend with a musical theme because she loves music! Riley joined a music class at seven months old and really started to appreciate dancing, singing, and playing instruments so it made sense to choose this as a theme. 

Riley's smash cake -- too pretty to smash but she did!

Riley enjoyed every minute of her party and especially her delicious cake made by Auntie Angela (North County Cupcakes). I had asked her to make a smash cake that replicated a toy xylophone and she impressed us all! Darling! The rainbow cupcakes she made were yummy as well as adorable! We had a taco cart for guests so everyone left full of Musical Mexican goodness...and we had leftovers for days. Ha! Riley's favorite gift was from Gram and Grandpa--a pink wagon for her dolls. She likes riding in it so I had Jackson pull her in it to her cake. She also LOVED all the clothes she received. We opened gifts over the next three days and she kept walking around with her new clothes. My girly girl! 

I loved working with Shelle at Celebrate the Little Things--
her designs added the perfect touch to the party!

Party favors included personalized microphones, Riley's favorite songs on a CD, musical instruments, stickers, and music note crayons from Red Elm Designs.

The Musical Menu

I had guests sign a scrapbook page that I added to her first year scrapbook
which was pre-made for  us by my dear friend Marilyn.

The Kazoo wreath -- thanks Pinterest! 

The birthday girl checking out the decor before guests arrived with her sidekick, Abby.

Pretzel Drumsticks

Musical Fruit Batons

Braden was so sweet to share snacks with the Birthday Girl!

Two chicken tacos down...

Auntie Autumn and Uncle Marco

Pinata drum...only a few kids were actually big enough to enjoy
since we kept the guests to babies only for the most part. 
But it was cute and matched the theme! 

Auntie Angela holds the birthday girl. 

Charlie is an expert at pinata ribbons!

Jackson pulling Riley to her smash cake!

Jackson showing Ri how to blow. Love that face!

Playing on my cake before the taste!

Kendall wears a party hat!

My baby is ONE! She liked her cake!

Baby Ryan parties it up!

Brayden turned one a few days later!

It's my party day!

Conner looking so cute as always. I want his Mommy's shoes.  They drove down from the OC!

1 year, 8 1/2 months, 8 months...Grad School Besties' Babies.

Cousins from Ventura County: Zoey and Ella (7 months) snuggle Riley! They spent the night before with us--their first trip away from home with Mommy and Daddy!

Auntie Kelly looking so pretty with silly Riley (after eating her cake).

Thank you, Katie, for the great pictures below!!

Monthly Sticker Pictures

We spent three nights opening gifts.  Spoiled.

Hey, Hana--you turn 1 next!

Blow! Blow! Blow! What? You would rather stare at Mama's goofy face?

Jackson ended up blowing her candle out although we had been practicing blowing,
 there was just too much pressure. Ha!

...and now that Riley is one, we can only expect lots more fun as we enter the world of Toddlerhood! Looking forward to another super fast year with my two February babies. xoxo


Jackson and Riley's shared birthday gift--hours of FUN!