Good Bye 2013, Hello 2014!

Holy moly am I late with this post. It's almost February! But then again, how long has it been since I wrote a post!? Too long!

I like to begin the year by looking back at the previous year. In 2013:

• Maddy turned 4 and had a mermaid party. 
• I lost count of the butterflies we released.
• We added to our flock and hatched eggs for the first time.
• Our rabbits had successful litters.
• We kept 2 female and 1 male rabbits to expand our rabbitry.
• I processed my first rabbit.
• Maddy preformed in her first dance recital. She did beautifully!
• Sean started playing soccer. Maddy joined him later in the year.
• We're officially homeschoolers. According to our city, Sean's a kindergartner but he's more on the first grade level.
• Richard and I celebrated our 7 year anniversary. 
• We added a house rabbit to our homestead; a lionhead named Thumper.
• Sean turned 6 and had a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles party.
• Emily turned 2. She just had a family party but had a Dora/Minion/Thomas the Train cake...her favorite things.
• Our does (minus one that was too young) had another litter in December.

Now to look forward to this year. In 2014, I plan:

• I plan to do monthly photo shoots of the kids.
• I plan to blog more.
• I plan to use natural options more when it comes to medication and cleaning.
• I plan to eat dinner at the kitchen table more...we've become too lazy with this somehow.
• I have something else I plan to do but I'll make that announcement later. ;)

I will post a couple of update posts with more pictures this week.

© Mama Dani's Musings


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Emily's 17 month Update

Little Emily is no longer a baby. She's a walking, talking, climbing, on-the-go toddler. She will be 17 months on Weds. At her last check up she weighed in at 19lbs 3oz (16th percentile) and 31in (36th percentile). Her check up went well but since I mentioned that I still notice her eyes looking crossed (more her left eye turning in), the doctor sent Em to an eye doctor. Poor thing got her eyes dilated for that one. Though it really didn't phase her.. Good news is everything checked out fine. She does not have strabismus (eye misalignment). She has pseudostrabismus (false appearance of strabismus) b/c the folds of skin in the corners of the eyes makes it look like her left eye turns in at times. That peace of mind is priceless.

Em's a little peanut like her brother but that doesn't stop her. She has really started sticking up for herself but on the flip side that means she has developed a bit of a temper. Her vocabulary has taken off lately. She's up to at least 25 words. Her current favorites are "shoes", "chicken", "guys!" (usually yelled at her siblings), "see dat?", and of course "nana" (her word for nursing). Sean and Maddy find it funny when Emily calls things the wrong name..like our rabbits are kitty cats and many things are called chickens, especially small dogs and babies (??). She can say baby except it comes out as "daydies" because she replaces "b"s with "d"s. I'm not quite sure why she calls babies chickens except for the fact that we laugh when she does it. She knows what chickens are. She loves our chickens. The first time we let the hens free range a little Emily got mad and tried to chase them back in the run while yelling "chicken, chicken" at them. Her latest accomplishment is she has started the potty training process. It started with her bringing diapers to us when she was wet and then turned into her grunting and pointing down the hall and then walking to the bathroom and pointing at the potty. We've decided to run with it and she's now peeing in the potty more than in her diapers. She hasn't figured out pooping in the potty yet but she demands to be changed as soon as she does it in her diaper. I've ordered her trainers. I can't wait to get them; they will make this much easier.

© Mama Dani's Musings
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Maddy's 4 Year Update

A month over due, but better late than never right? Maddy turned 4 on April 1st. Maddy is still just as artistic. She loves art and fashion (as in she has her own fashion). She is energetic but she's also a snuggler. She loves to have someone to talk to too. We just recently changed her nightly routine to include some talk time. She can't seem to unwind at night unless she lays in bed and talks to someone a lot longer than Sean needs to. Since we started that there haven't been any bedtime fights! Maddy's growing like a weed. At her 4 year check up she was 36lbs (~50th percentile) and 3ft 5in (~75th percentile).

Last month we celebrated Maddy's birthday with a mermaid party. I made her a mermaid tail. Everyone got sea shell necklaces. The kids played under the sea themed bean bag toss. The boys turned their wands into swords. And everyone had a great time!

A preview of Maddy's next update; her dance recital's coming up!!

© Mama Dani's Musings
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Sean, the Soccer Star, Update: May 2013

Around the end of last year Sean had begun talking about wanting to take soccer. After our experience with dance, I was a little hesitant. He was persistent so this spring we signed him up for soccer shots. Soccer Shots is an 8 week program for 3-5 year olds. We didn't have to buy any equipment, cleats or uniforms. The kids just go in sneakers and play clothes, ready to play. I liked that because if things went like it did with dance, we wouldn't be out a lot of money. It's also not competitive. On soccer island, as they call the soccer field, they learn soccer skills by playing games, like when they pretended to be bees and had to keep their honey (ball) away from the bear (coach). At every weekly session they take turns dribbling the ball down the field, into the goal. They also split up into two teams to play a soccer game but score is not kept. I can't say enough good things about the program. The coaches were awesome, even when the 3 year olds would get distracted picking flowers or eating grass. The only down fall is it only goes to age 5 so Sean will out grow it soon;  the fall season will end just 2 days before he turns 6. Sean had a blast at soccer and is already talking about the summer season. I loved watching how he blossomed out on the field. Even the first day, he'd run out onto the field without as much as a glance back to me. He was quick to answer questions the coach asked. He was so outgoing! I'm very proud of him.

Pictures from Sean's last Soccer Shots session:

© Mama Dani's Musings
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