Preschool!

So about a month ago, there was a day where I had about 5 people ask me if I had Savannah signed up for preschool yet, and I kind of freaked out.

I had COMPLETELY dropped the ball on Preschool! For some reason, that always just seemed like a very distant thing. I was thinking that you went to preschool at 4, not 3 AND 4! 

So I started scrambling, calling and e-mailing a bunch of different places, trying to find an opening. Do you want to know what is completely bonkers? Most preschools start enrollment a good 8-12 months before the school year even starts! Even for just the little community preschool that the rec center does, you have to go in January or February, line up at 7am to get a wristband, that will hold your spot in line for registration that evening, for class that doesn't even start until August. It's kind of a joke.

And the only preschools that had openings were far away and VERY expensive. Like, one preschool in Salt Lake was 1 1/2 hours a day, 3 days a week and it was 12,000 for the full 8 months! Twelve. Thousand. Dollars.

For PRE-school guys!

So then I started thinking, well, who needs school yeah? I'll homeschool for preschool! We will just watch a ton of Sesame Street and play with play dough all day, it will almost be the same thing! 

But I ended up calling my Mom, kind of upset about how I was basically the worst Mom ever for not signing my kid up, and she mentioned how a lady I had known for years might have a couple of openings. Of course! Why didn't I even think of her? She was my sister's preschool teacher! So my Mom called me back 5 minutes later and told me she had called her, and Savannah was all set to go! She had missed the first day of class, but she would be fine to join in the next morning. 

Let me tell you, no 3 year old who has ever lived, was more excited about going to school than Savannah was. We got up bright and early, and put her in her new school clothes that her grandma and grandpa had gone out and gotten her the night before. She barely ate any breakfast because she kept saying "Ok Mom, I'm done eating, let's go to my preschool now!" 

When I told her to come outside on the porch so I could take some pictures, she said "Yes, let's take pictures of fabulous Savannah!"

 

^^The moment she noticed a bird in the tree.^^

 

"Mama, get that bird!"

So far, she is absolutely loving it! She excitedly jumps out of the car when I drop her off, yelling "Bye Mom!" without even glancing back. Half the time, I ask for a kiss goodbye when we get to the door and she doesn't even hear me, she's so focused on getting in there and starting the day. She really loves her teacher and tells me that she is her best friend at school. The other day when I went to pick her up, Savannah started throwing a fit and didn't want to leave. I ended up having to pick her up and carry her out to the car!

I'm really glad I put Savannah in Preschool. I knew that a lot of the stuff they will learn she already knows. She knows her letters and numbers and colors already, but there are a lot of things she is learning that are new to her too. One of the most exciting things to watch her do is trace her letters! I knew that she didn't need preschool to learn social skills either. Anyone who knows her, knows how outgoing and friendly she is! (How both my kids are! Deagan got right up in a kids face the other day, trying to hug him and the kid kind of panicked and fell off my porch!) 

I think the biggest reason I wanted to get Savannah in preschool when I really thought about it wasn't because I didn't want to be the only Mom in the neighborhood who's kid wasn't in school, but because I wanted to give Savannah that time away from me, away from home where she gets to fully be her, completely Savannah. Where she will learn how to make friends, and where she will learn how to listen to other adults, and even how to get in trouble with other adults. 

Deagan really misses his sister while she's gone, the other day he just kept walking around, looking up at me and saying "Sissy? Baby? Sissy?" But I think it's really good for him and I to get that one-on-one time together too. Savannah had 2 years of just mom-and-me time and she gets that every day while Deagan naps, so it's nice to get a few hours to snuggle and play and get to know him a little better when he's not just tearing the house apart with his sister (A.K.A partner in crime!)

So far she's been in school for a month and she just absolutely loves it. She's really thriving at school and I get excited for her every time I drop her off!

Savannah the Pirate!

I think last week was one of the busiest weeks I've had all year. Every single day, from Sunday to Sunday, we had something major going on.

And lucky you, you get to read about each day!

Today we will start with the Strawberry Days Pirate Party that I took the kids too last Monday. 

Starwberry Days, for you non-locals, is a week long celebration that my town does every June to celebrate our history and heritage. It includes parties, concerts, a boutique, food, a carnival, and it all leads up to the parade on Saturday.

Monday, the city held a Pirate Party for kids, and knowing Savannah, we just HAD to go! So, I dressed her up and went to be a pirate for a day!

They split everyone up into groups, and then every 15-20 minutes, they had us switch activities. Our first activity for our group was getting a photo with "Captain Jack Sparrow"

She was pretty excited!

 

 

Our next stop was the "Tattoo Parlor" because you can't be a pirate with out a tattoo!

 

Then digging for treasure!

 

And walking the plank! This was hilarious because they had a guy with blow-up sharks and was pretending to get their ankles while they tried to walk. Savannah made it halfway, then pretended to be eaten by the shark, and "fell" off the plank!

 

Lunch was supplied by Maceys. I think this was her first hot dog ever!

Her favorite activity was getting to play on the pirate ships! They had two, and they also had fog cannons, so she got to have a pirate ship battle! No 3 year old has ever been more in her element than Savannah was on that ship!

And of course, every pirate needs a parrot! There were other games, but with a half hour to go, Savannah was tired and just really wanted to keep playing on the ships. So I let her play on them for a little while longer (even though our group was done) and then she ran around the field for a while sword fighting with two older boys. 

She had so much fun, and I had fun watching her. Deagan was a champ and enjoyed munching on snacks in the stroller for most of it. I hope they do the pirate party again next year!

Disneyland 2014! Part 1!

Yay for Disneyland! 

So as you all know, we went on a Disneyland trip at the end of March with both kids, My parents, siblings, and my sister-in-law, and my in-laws all surprised us by coming and spending the last day there with us! If you missed the exciting post about that (and the earthquakes!) then click HERE.

I was really excited for this trip. It was Savanna's 3rd trip to Disneyland, but this time, she was finally old enough to ride a lot of the attractions, and she was able to recognize almost all of the characters (Disney channel is pretty much all we watch at this house!)

Savannah has the Disneyland app on the ipad, and we talked a LOT about Disneyland for months before we went so I think she had a pretty good idea what it was. The night before we left, she wouldn't go to bed and I told her that when she woke up, we would go to Disneyland. The next morning, we drove to California and had dinner with my Dad's cousins and that night, I told Savannah we had to get ready to go to bed, and that when she woke up, we would go to Disneyland, and she said "But I already woke up today! You said when I woke up today we would be going to Disneyland!" She wasn't very happy that she had to wait one more night!

Both kids did AMAZING on the drive there. I've said it before and I'll say it again, my kids are traveling rockstars! They were made for road tripping!  My kids eat 10 hour drives for breakfast!

^^Stopping for gas outside of Las Vegas^^

Back to dinner. So our first day we got to California, we checked in and and unloaded our stuff at a house we rented about a half hour away from the parks. I tell you what, if you have more people than will fit into 1 hotel room, renting a house is definitely the way to go! It cost us about the same as getting 2 hotel rooms, which we would have all been really cramped in, and Bryant and I got our own room with the kids, we brought DJ's pack and play, and we made a bed on the floor of spare blankets for Savannah, and my parents, and Sawyer and Kenna both had their own rooms too. Colter and Sage slept on the couches downstairs.

^^The cute house we stayed at!^^

It was nice having a full kitchen, and laundry room too. I didn't have to worry about packing "extra" sets of cloths for the kids (I usually pack enough for 2 outfits a day plus jammies when traveling) because if I got down to the last day or 2 worth of clothes, I could toss more in the wash. We stayed a bit further out from the park, like I said it was probably a half hour drive, but it really wasn't bad at all.

After we unpacked, we drove to an Asian buffet restaurant to meet my dad's cousins Lisa and Cory. It was really great to see them and catch up! I wasn't there when everyone was in Arizona together last year, so it had been a long time since I had seen either of them! Thank you Lisa and Cory for coming out to see us!

Sorry, that's all for tonight! I have a TON of photos from our trip, so I'll probably split up our days at the parks up a bit, and I'll write a separate post about our trip to the beach. 

Goodnight everyone!

 

Savannah Says

Here are just a few things Savannah has said, the past couple of days. I'm writing them down so I don't forget:

Bryant went in and woke her up this morning and said "Savannah, I'm heading to work, come give me a hug and a kiss goodbye" And she sleepily looked up and said "How about you just come give me a handshake while I stay in my bed?

"Dad, we need to get on an airplane and fly to Brazil"

While rushing her to the bathroom at the BYU art museum I said "Whew! We made it!" and she nodded her head and said "Indeed".

"Mom, these shoes feel weird, it's like they are made out of sticks!"

 

^^Using her "binoculars" on The Jungle Cruise^^

"California has some good money jobs mom, lets move there so we can go to Disneyland for 5 times".

"I can't finish my bagel, I'm too scared to eat! If you make me spongebob mac and cheeses, I won't be scared anymore."

While tying a rope around the legs of the coffee table "Its a booby trap. Don't tell dad, he's the monster I'm going to catch!"

"You and dad need to get married. Kiss! There, now you're married!"

"Ahoy matey! There are mountains straight ahead!"

"I'm so jealous of you mom, you get to sweep the kitchen floors!"




I was getting Dj buckled in his car seat and I asked Savannah about 5 times to get in her seat and wait for me to buckle her in. I got frustrated and said "If you don't get in your seat right now, I'm going to leave you here at the grocery store." She climbed into her set, waved her hand dismissively at me and said "Blah, blah blah". I told her not to give me attitude and she said "Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever mom..." (3 going on 16?)

(Sitting in her toy box) "No Mom, I'm not sitting in a toy box, I'm sitting in my ship and all the toys are just barnacles!"

"This is ridiculous!" (She says this a lot nowadays) 

This silly girl always comes up with the funniest things to say. Her imagination is incredible!

Happy Birthday, Darling Girl.

Dear Savannah,

Today is your 3rd birthday! 3 years ago, I was standing in my kitchen making lunch, when my water broke and you surprised us all arriving 7 short hours later, and you've been surprising us ever since!

You are one spicy and fiery little thing, and it's what I love most about you! You are so intelligent and observant. You absorb new information like a sponge and the things that you say are funny, imaginative and heartfelt.

It's been a big year for you! You have reached many milestones, the hardest one being potty training, which took us almost a year to get down. But you finally made it! Congrats baby girl! 

You also became a big sister, a roll that you have loved and have become an expert at. You are such a big helper! You like to help me feed, bathe, diaper and snuggle Deagan. Every morning, the first thing you do when you wake up is go climb into his crib and snuggle him for a while. He adores you and loves to play with you all day long. Thank you for being the best big sister ever!

I am most proud of your incredible imagination. You like to tell stories, and you have a wide array of imaginary friends, and even your own language! You see the world in a very different way than anyone else I have ever met, and I think your ability to think critically and creatively will be what makes you successful in all aspects of your life.

You are very friendly and you make friends easily. You are fearless and adventurous and so you have no difficulty in being comfortable in new situations and are never shy. 

I love that I get to spend every day with you! Thank you for being such an amazing little girl.

Happy birthday princess! (or pirate, or ninja, whichever you decide to be today!)

Potty Ninja

WE DID IT!

We did it, Savannah did it, she is FINALLY potty trained! Goodness, it was the longest trial with her we have ever had. Last year around her birthday, she asked if she could use the potty. I thought "oh, awesome! Potty training is going to be a piece of cake!" How wrong I was. She showed interest only for a couple of weeks, and then gave up. I didn't push it, mostly because I wasn't really planning on potty training her until she was 3, but by the time she was 2 1/2, my mom kept telling me that it was probably time to have her ditch the diapers. I tried off and on, mostly making her use the toilet before bedtime, but with a new baby and school, I didn't really want to devote time to rushing her off to the bathroom every 20 minutes. And Savannah absolutely hated every minute of it. 

We tried everything, we bought her books about pirates who used the potty, kept her naked all day, gave her rewards like stickers and candy, watched cartoons about being a "big girl" and using the "big kid potty". But absolutely none of it worked. 

A few weeks ago, I just about threw in the towel. I thought "If she wants to stay in diapers the rest of her life, I'm ok with that. She can go to college in them for all I care!"

But then I made a trip to the store and bought DJ a box of diapers and her a box of pull-ups and it cost me almost 90 bucks. That's when Bryant and I thought, alright, that's it. This whole not-wanting-to-be-potty-trained thing is costing us a fortune. We agreed that would be the last box of diapers for her. 

The weather has been cold and windy for the last couple of weeks, so I thought it was perfect for staying indoors and having her be naked. The first few days, I kept her naked, and she didn't have a lot of accidents. So I moved on to keeping her in just underwear and a shirt. She had a lot of accidents the first 2 days. Then it got less and less. So I moved to keeping her in underwear and fully dressed and she was able to be aware of when she needed to use the bathroom, and would ask "Mom, am I wearing diapers or skivvies?" And when I told her skivvies, she would say "ok, I need to use the bathroom."

THAT has always been our biggest hurtle, was getting her to TELL us when she had to use the bathroom. She would go every time we sat her on the potty, but she just couldn't figure out to tell us if she had to go beforehand.

But, I am very happy to announce that she has gone almost 2 weeks, and she's only had 1 accident and it was because we just couldn't get her to the potty on time.

The last few days, she has been taking herself to the bathroom. That's been really nice. And today, we were going to her friends house to play and on the way there she asked "Mom, does Connor's house have a toilet?" way to think ahead kiddo!

To say I'm proud is an understatement. It's a relief to know that when I drop her off at her college dorms someday, I won't be handing her a box of diapers to get her through the semester.

Christmas!

*Note* I started this post daaaayyysss ago. I really need to figure out a schedule to keep on track...

This Christmas was really wonderful. It was the first Christmas morning that Bryant, the kids and I have had just as our own little family. The first 3 years, Bryant and I were living in my parents basement apartment, so we would just go upstairs to open presents with my family. Then last year we were in Mt. Shasta for Christmas with Bryant's family. This year, it was just us at our house. I think this year Savannah really "got it". She understood who Santa Claus was, and knew that he was going to come to our house to leave presents. All day long on Christmas Eve, she kept telling me that we needed to go to bed so Santa could sneak into our house.

 Christmas Jammies!

 Santa came through our neighborhood on a firetruck. Savy asked if he was going to save kids.

When bedtime came, and both kids were nestled all snug in their beds, I had everything wrapped and ready to go, so Bryant and I were in bed at a decent hour. 

The next morning, I had to actually wake up everyone. My mom called and asked if she could come borrow something, so she came over before Bryant and the kids were even up. By 9:00, I figured I had better get Christmas going since we were supposed to be at my parents house by 10 for breakfast. 

When Bryant and I went to wake Savannah up, we said "Savannah! Guess who came last night!" And she sleepily asked "Sagey Pagey?" (My sister Sage). When we reminded her is was Christmas, she bolted out of bed and ran into the living room. The first thing she saw was the train that Santa had set up on the coffee table. She was so excited, she just stood there with her hands over her mouth silently while she watched it go around in circles. Then she saw all the other presents and started giggling and asked if she could open them.

Deagan mostly hid under the coffee table, and he'd come out to munch on wrapping paper, then crawl back under. I can't tell you how many times
I fished paper out of that kids mouth!

This year, we went easy on the gifts. Savannah got a train set, a tin tea set, a princess dress, and a doctor kit from Bryant and I, and Deagan got some clothes and a teething toy. I gave Bryant an audio book (which we returned because he had already read it. Oops) some slippers, and a star wars lego kit (which we also returned because I got the wrong one. Oops again!) and my dad, brother and I went in together to by him a gun!

Bryant's gift to me was a double stroller (Hallelujah!) and a date night out! Which we had a few nights later. Dinner, a movie, and shopping for some clothes for me. Perfect!

I felt a little bad not getting more gifts for the kids, but between both sets of grandparents, and aunts and uncles, they both made out like bandits!

After we opened gifts, we went to my parent's house where my brothers, sister and sister-in-law, and my grandparents were all there to exchange gifts and eat our traditional Christmas morning breakfast of biscuits and gravy.

 Bryant got another little lego thing from my parents, which he instantly took into a quiet corner and promptly put together. He's like a 10 year old boy sometimes.

That afternoon, we all went to my grandparents house for dinner. After dinner, we did a "mug exchange" where everyone brought a mug and we had a game and passed them around. However, as all holidays in the Peacock clan need a little drama, my grandma broke her shoulder. I had brought DJ's car seat in and as it got more crowded, my cousin asked me if she could move it into my grandparents room to keep it out of the way. As we were exchanging mugs, my grandma had gone in and tripped over the car seat and broke her shoulder and arm. She came in with a make-shift sling and said she wasn't going to the hospital until everyone was done opening gifts, and asked for a coke. We quickly finished opening gifts, and then Bryant and I lent them my van to take to the hospital because it's easier to get in and out of. She's a really tough cookie! She ended up needing 12 pins in her shoulder! Ouch! So if you're reading this, just think of a nice little thought for my grandma please.

 I'm almost 100% sure my aunts husband was doing the old "pretending to scratch my nose to flip off the camera" thing while I was taking this picture to photobomb it. Stay classy.

 Bryant reading "Twas the Night Before Christmas" Also, my cousins wife also did the "scratching my nose but really I'm flipping everyone off" thing too when Bryant read the part that says "and the jolly old elf with a finger to the side of his nose" or something like that. So I did not post that photo. Guys, really...

That night, we headed home, and put our exhausted but very happy kids to bed, and Bryant and I curled up on the couch and watched a Christmas movie under the glow of the Christmas tree.

It was a great Christmas, and I'm glad Savannah is finally at that stage where she believes in Santa Clause. It makes being his helper really fun! Savannah told me yesterday that she wanted to go to the north pole and go fishing with Santa. I told her it was too cold, but she told me it was fine because she had a jacket. Well, I can't argue with that logic...

I hope everyone had a really wonderful Christmas, surrounded by friends and family!

Hopefully I'll get around to writing about New Years before Valentines Day, no promises though.