Makaela's graduation

Makaela graduated from VPK today and we celebrated all day long. I picked up Makaela early from school and we had a mommy/daughter afternoon.  First we went shopping...for shoes!  Of course Makaela managed to lose one of her own sneakers mid way through our shopping so we had to run back to stores to look for her shoe (how she walked around to different stores and didn't notice she was only wearing one shoe is beyond me).  Then we went to get her nails done. The woman was speaking Vietnamese to another manicurist and Makaela spoke up and said, "I can't understand you.  I only speak English".  The lady got a kick out of that comment. Makaela had her nails painted blue to match her graduation gown and the lady added some cute designs to Makaela's nails.  Then we straightened her hair.  Matt made the mistake of telling her she looked like she was 16 and thought that was the best compliment ever.

 We got their early, but the place was already packed out.  It was standing room only.  I never realized how big pre-K graduations were, but now going through it, I get it.  We were excited and it made us realize our baby is growing up (a bit too fast for our liking too).

Mia got lots of love from Grandma during the ceremony

Our graduate!

Madi was as interested but she was pretty well behaved during the ceremony.

 Makaela got to act out the role of the Hungry Hungry catepillar.  I didn't understand what she was talking about when she was referring to a puppet show and I was glad I didn't.  This was a pleasant surprise.  I was laughing so hard, I was crying. Excuse the sideways video.

 At one point she realized that a boy skipped his part and called him out in the middle of the performance.


Makaela a natural actress.

 

After Makaela sat down from her puppet show, the students asked the parents for words so they could break the words up into syllables.  Then Makaela and her friend Nolan got up to show the parents how well they learned their blending.  I was amazed how many parts Makaela had in the ceremony. 

This picture was from a sideshow of their class throughout the year- it was Dr. Suess's bday

 

Mia yelled out "Yeah Kaela" a few times and after Makaela got her "diploma", Mia ran over to sit on her lap.

Makaela and Ms. Amanda

Makaela and Ms. Jackie

 

Little Teachers

 Mia and Makaela revel in teaching Madi new things.  One morning I overheard Mia teaching Madi about the different color Legos.

Another morning I came in to find Makaela reading the girls a book on Owls.  She had a captive audience.  Maybe teaching runs in the family.

Happy 5 Months Madi

Madi is now 5 months and is approximately 11 lbs.  She is getting a few rolls which are adorable.  She loves playing in her play gym and has liked sitting in her bumbo watching her sisters.  Her pooping issues have gotten a bit better since Grandma started sneaking her bananas and plums.  Madi is still waking up every few hours everynight but I am at the point that I am ready to sleep train her and skip her nighttime feedings.  She talks to us now and babbles quite a bit.  She loves talking to her daddy, but still gives him a tough time when I'm not around.  She must sense when Mommy leaves. She has also started teething so her binky has been replaced by her fingers and fist. 

Filling out finally

Blurry picture, but I loved the smile

She looks like Mini Me

Oh, the joys of teething

Life Flight and Memorial Day

We had a very eventful Memorial Day and did it all within one mile of our home.  First we had a beautiful breakfast in our sunroom.  Then we all cleaned the house because Matt decided to invite the entire block over to our house for a party (yes, I had a mild panic attack, but I have never seen a family clean house faster than us- I was pretty impressed).  I took Makaela and Mia to the pool because they were having a Memorial Day luau.  It's very funny to see "Hawaiian" dancers and be at a mainland luau after living in Hawaii for so long...doesn't really measure up, but it did bring back memories.  Makaela and I reminisced over past May Days and some of her memories of Hawaii.  Mia ended up perfecting the cheerleader pose in the pool.  She would stand up on my hands, then jump off and say "Again mama, again".  We are going to put her into swim lessons this year because she is not happy staying in the toddler section. 

Our neighbor, who is a firefighter, told us that LifeFlight (a rescue helicopter) was going to land at the fire station and let kids check out the coptor, so we went over to the station and met up with our neighbors to learn about the helicopter. 

The N Cappero kids learning about how they transport sick people in the helicopter.

Pilot Mia

She liked the view from this seat

Makaela asked the pilot if girls could be pilots (I guess since she only saw men, she asked) and he said there were only three female helicopter pilots in Florida.  Makaela said "maybe I will be number 4".  My little feminist!

Church

Mia is always hyper during church, so this particular morning, we had two bathroom breaks and a Madi diaper blow out when I realized I could actually hear the homily.  I realized Mia wasn't chatting away and this was where I found her (don't worry, we were in the family room so she couldn't really escape).

Outdoor living

 The weather has been getting nicer so Makaela has asked to eat outside. It seems like such a simple request and we had such a great time, I wonder why we don't do it more often.  Makaela and Mia set up the tables (they had their own "princess table") and we had a wonderful morning. We ended up eating outside for almost every meal that weekend.

the princess table

Mia feeding her babies

Smiling Madi

Madi has been growing into her own personality.  Her smiles have been lighting up our days.

 Mia is smitten with her and asks to "play" with her even though Madi can't do much.  She is constantly huggin her.

 And of course, Bailey can't get enough either.

Our big girl

We started letting Mia sleep in Makaela's room in preparation for Madi taking over the nursery and she is loving it.  I think it makes her feel like a big girl.  I had to sneak in and take a picture.  Since the first night, we have had a few nights of turmoil (Makaela runs downstairs yelling "She's driving me crazy!" but as soon as I threaten to move Mia back to the crib, both sisters beg for it not to happen and they settle down). 

Senior Prank Day

I tried to drive into the faculty parking lot one Monday morning (as if Mondays aren't bad enough) to find that all the parking spots were taken up and some were taken up by cars parked across three spots.  I was miffed until I found out that it was senior prank day and the seniors had come in at 5am to block off the spots. I thought, "Touche", but as I looked around I realized I was surrounded by BMWs, Range Rovers, Mercedes and Lexuses (among a few other pricey vehicles).  The prank became a rude reminder how unfair life is as I drove my 8 year old Hyundai to the back freshman lot and walked to campus.  17 year olds with $50K cars...hmmm. More than I make in a year.  What did I expect though, it's not like I got into teaching for the money.

 THey were very organized.  They had blocked all the stairways with cups of water and then once we got to the top (after knocking over the watered cups and walking in them), we were met with landings full of Bisquick-so I ended up with pancake batter all over my shoes.  Desks were piled up and pushed all over and the kids had even commandeered the PA system.  I actually loved that part- great play list!

Mother's Day

My Mother's Day started out wonderful. Makaela had been telling me all week that I needed to stay in bed and not get out of it, which, sounds like heaven to me so I didn't complain.  She was all excited to make me breakfast in bed (I think the teachers at school were hinting that it was a good idea).  The girls served me fruit and OJ in bed and decorated the tray with their mother's day gift and flowers picked from the front of the house.  Makaela and Mia both gave me tiles with their handprints on them. I love them- I can't imagine how long it took their teachers to put these gifts all together. Makaela also gave me a list of mom questions that she answered and apparently my favorite place to go is Red Lobster (?); when the teacher asked what am I really good at, Makaela said teaching; when the teacher asked what my job was, Makaela reported "helps her students and she gots meetings all the time; when the teacher asked what I am not good at, Makaela reported she couldn't recall one thing that I did badly (that got her some brownie points); and one thing that I should do less of was "cooking and working"- the last one broke my heart because the biggest struggle for me since moving here has been my job and how many hours I now work.  I really don't get to spend the time I used to with the girls.  And now with three, I feel like each one gets less personal time.

Matt had planned a wonderful Mother's Day brunch for me too. We live down the block from a gorgeous hotel and it was having a special Mother's Day brunch.  We all dressed up and walked into the hotel and for a few moments, it reminded me of the days at Ko'olina- a beautiful hotel to enjoy without actually staying there.  We definitely enjoyed ourselves while waiting for the brunch to begin.

 The brunch was spectacular- top notch foods served in very fun presentations (I enjoyed my lump crap with mango salsa served in a martini glass).  Unfortunately, I had to excuse myself to feed Madi while the family ate.  While I was out on the terrace, I watched a bird gather up moss to build a nest and I thought, "how appropriate- watching this scene on mother's day. The bird is building a nest for its children". It made me realize how much we go through for our kids.

When I went in, Matt took Madi and instead of sitting down and relaxing, Mia needed to be ushered back and forth to the restroom (potty training).  Then Makaela wanted to go out to the playground, so needless to say, my brunch was anything but relaxing. I shoved some of this fancy food in my mouth and was in run mode. I, in my normal fashion, ended up having a pity party, but during this I realized a few things:

-Mother's Day is stressful- the pressure of having to relax is too much.  We should relax all the time because on days that we are supposed to relax, outside variables (i.e. kids, chores and life in general) won't allow it.
-Our emotions are inexplicably tied to our children.  When kids are happy, moms are happy. My kids were ansy by the time I got back to eat, so I couldn't be happy.  Once we got out to the playground and they were having fun, my own emotions got better.  Now, I just wish they could feel the same.

I have decided that I don't do well when holidays are focused on me.

Mia Chia

Mia's school teacher calls her "Mia Chia" and apparently the name has stuck.  When people ask Mia what her name is, she says "Mia Chia" and the kids in her class call her the same.  Her teacher apologized, but we think it's pretty cute. 

Mia has an interesting way of categorizing sizes.  Everything is in the relation of relatives.  For example, the big cows are "daddy" cows, the medium sized cows are "mommy" or "granma" cows and the calves are "baby" cows.  This applies to everything: leaves, birds, toys, etc.  She knows what big and little are, but still prefers to call everything by daddy/mommy/baby instead.

I also love to see how kids generalize.  I remember studying about this in child development but now I see it in play.  We have had a lot of rain recently and the worms have decided to use our garage as their dry haven.  When she first saw the worms, she recoiled and said "Snakes, snakes".

She narrates everything she does and is a crazy daredevil.  She climbs up to the moneybars (the ones you need to swing across to make to the other side) and hangs on them.  If I don't get to her in time, she falls down.  It totally freaks me out, but she continues to do it.  On the way home from the park, she told me "I running mama" and off she went. She ran almost half way home before she took a knee and said, "water mama".  After she took a swig, she said, "I running again mama".  Maybe she will be my track star. 

Superlatives

Makaela's class held a superlative election for their pending graduation. Imagine my surprise when I saw what Makaela was selected for (just in case you can't tell, this is dripping in sarcasm): 

 This selection made my day though (however, I hope she goes into a profession where she makes lots of money so she can take care of me in my retirement :-)

The pool is open!

Our community pool opened, but the weather has been crazy that we haven't gotten to go until now.  (Last weekend we had a tornado alert and one actually touched down 5 miles away). It was so nice to get out and into the sun. Makaela ran into some neighbor friends that she goes to school with and Mia was in heaven bouncing in and out of the water.  They are now at the age where I don't have to chase them (as long as Mia is wearing her float) but of course, I now have another baby bringing up the rear. It will be another two more years before I can sit back and enjoy the pool. Oh well, at least I am enjoying the baby stage one last time.