Julia Tball

Look out world! We've been practicing hard!
Lucas, Andrew, Tyler, Jake, Emma, Maddie and Julia
cool off from their hard work with icy treats.

Wall Climbing

Julia's climbing dreams came true this morning!

The Y started a new climbing class for her age group. She was super-excited, since the last time we went Ryan was able to climb and she wasn't.  I couldn't believe how brave she was!

Watch out world!

1st day

J's first day of preschool!

I had to wake sleeping beauty up to get her there, and we were still 10 minutes late!

She had a good report from her teacher, minus a pushing issue.  When I asked her about it: "They needed it!"

Arch.

This weekend we took a little family "staycation" to the St. Louis Arch. As in national park, not to be confused with the golden arches we normally frequent. =)
The kids hadn't ever been to the top, but it is obviously one of those landmarks every time we cross the river which they are so curiously interested.

The princess views the east side from the top and checks out the Muddy Mississippi.
On a side note, she wore this getup nearly all weekend.
On the plus side, I wasn't too worried about losing her...follow the trail of pink feathers.

And the west, downtown view.
Newish Busch Stadium to the left.

Julia kicked out of class; Tyler's not talking

From last Thursday:
Our princess woke up hours earlier than normal today--scared to death by the thunder outside. So by the time preschool started, she probably would have taken a nap had I kept her home! She was super sleepy when I dropped the kids off. And clingy. I should have known this could lead to something more..

A note in Julia's backpack read "Sat out with Ms. Christy (director) for throwing a fit."

I have tried to piece together the pieces of this...tough when you are getting details from a 2 yr old! She seems to have a mark on her face (bite mark? or nothing?)

Me: Julia, why did you have to go to Ms. Christy's today? Did you get in a fight?
Julia: (Shakes her head yes)
Me: (Showing her the school picture) Show me who you fought with.
Julia: (Pointing) Tyler
Me: Did you hit Tyler?
Julia: (Shakes her head yes)
Me: And then he bit you?
Julia: (Shakes her head yes)
Me: Did you cry?
Julia (Shakes her head no) I am a tough girl, Mommy.

Of course, I called Krista to see if she could get Tyler's side of the story. It is completely different-no such hitting or biting. Krista asked him if Julia went to time out and he said, "No, Julia went for a walk today."

It's all a mystery! I have a strong feeling Tyler is the innocent party here. He tries so hard to love on Julia at school, and she is doing a great job of teaching him how to respond someday to those girls who play "hard to get."

Only Entrant?

Ok, so I am totally the biased mother, and have the most wonderful artistic little children...but I think that perhaps we might have been the only entrant on our newspapers coloring contest for Julia's age group... =)

Tennis and Gymnastics

Ok, so it might just be possible I have been waiting for this moment for the last 4 1/2 years! Ryan (and his friend Izzy) took their first tennis lesson today!
We'll just say we are a LONG way from Wimbledon...but some serious potential here. =)

And Julia took her first gymnastics class today! (Ok..confession, her first class in general! Poor second child has been dragged along to Ry's stuff, but this was the first thing I actually signed her up for!) See her face? All day I would say to her, "Julia, you are so cute!" and she would say "NO, I AM NOT!!"

Last Day of Preschool 2009

Look at that precious face. (Mrs. Gwen is cute, but I'm talking about Julia!) She has no idea when we leave today it will be the last time for a long time!!

Mrs. Amanda and Izzy pose for a pic while Ryan tries to figure out how he can get that balloon away from Izzy for himself!

Mrs. Kelle, Ryan, Izzy, and Mrs. Amanda.
Um, I'm thinking Ry has worked his charm for a balloon
from that man standing in the background.
Izzy is nice, but she's no pushover. =)

After pickup we head for a lowfat (HA!) yummy lunch and playtime at MacDonalds. Julia is getting braver and braver. She conquered this playland, complete with trips down the slide today. I think my days of climbing in to rescue her are over!

Speaking of growing up, Julia is 2 trying her hardest to turn 12..or maybe even 20. Just this last week she asked to have her toes painted, and picked up a bra and told us she wanted to wear it. I am so not ready for her to get bigger like this. Just last night I sadly noticed how much she hangs over my lap now in the rocking chair. Booohoo!

Pampering

This afternoon Ryan and I brought Julia to get her hair cut. I must say, in the last 6 mos, my baby girl has really gotten the hang of how this works. We have gone from her needing to sit on my lap for this process (a hairy mess!) while constantly sucking on a sucker, to today.

Where she walked all by herself back to the chair with the stylist. She was so good! She held so still, moving her head just the direction she was asked to. And then...I looked away...and back up..and saw her getting a blow dry! I was shocked. I mean, part of me was surprised she was sitting allowing her hair to be styled this way (I mean, this is the child who refuses to have a fan on her at night or the window rolled down in the car!), and part of me wanted to jump up and tackle the stylist for introducing my sweet baby girl's virgin-not-a-split-end-to-be-found hair to heat styling! (Gasp!) Thankfully, the rational side of my brain won out in this debate, and I remained glued to my seat.

...I must say. She is CUTE!

I think we'll hold off on the nail polish for a bit longer though... =)

Potty Princess

Today when I picked up the kids from preschool, Mrs. Gwen asked about Julia and where we were with potty-training so she could follow the same routine at school. I think she jinxed us.

Julia has showed very little interest in this. Until today. She did carry the potty up from downstairs last week. Being the stellar mother I am, I ignored this. On purpose. You see, I am not ready for her to do this. For one, she is my baby, and somehow, this makes her less of that. Secondly, I am not ready to really do this until she is old enough to make it through car rides and stores without accidents and mad dashes to the restroom or side of the road. We avoided most of this with Ryan, and I really hope to do the same with her. Besides, she likes to sit on it (lid down) and watch tv, and it was serving that purpose just fine..until today!

"I did it, Mommy!

"Air it is, Mommy! Mommy, potty!!"

"I ant to try again!"
(We repeat this step about 10 times.)

Ryan comes to check it out. She is SO proud and won't stop telling him she went potty. He at first is like "so what" and then gets excited for her.

It took me over 1 hour and 3 accidents on the floor to convince her to put her diaper back on. Fun! Aggggg!

Julia's Dance Debut

This video is all from the same day. (It was sometime this past fall). Jeff says he's grateful as she dances she adds clothing rather than removes it. =)




I think she will one day kill us for posting something like this. This seems exactly like the thing she would not want her first boyfriend to see.
Love you, baby girl!

Uhhoooo!

This is something you just don't want to see when a Julia lives in your house.

Because this is what it means.

Our guilty pretzel/cigar smoking convict (with her dolly accomplice)!

Glamour Girl

As I think I've previously mentioned, Julia usually plays with a toothbrush in the sink while I get ready in the morning. (And Ry gets some alone-time in the train room without the fear of baby sister wrecking the track!) This morning, she saw me putting in rollers (yeah, it happens sometimes!! HA) and started saying "I ant some! I ant some!" So, here she is!

Our little diva even wanted to wear them down to breakfast!

1st Makeup Application

Usually while I am trying to get ready in the morning, Julia will stand on a stool next to me and "brush her teeth" (play in the water, really!) or play with clean makeup brushes. Today, she grabbed an eyeliner pencil...and, uh, made herself beautiful!? Right after I discovered her "creativity" I learned I am apparently not the girlie-girl I think I am: we had NO makeup remover in the house. YIKES!!

The Greatest Show On Earth! Circus time.

Tonight our family had a great time going to the circus! We ended up having amazing seats (12th row center circle!) and the kids both thought the whole thing was fantastic.

These brothers did some pretty amazing stunts, including riding unicycles across these ropes.

And another favorite, the zebras!

These gymnasts worried little Julia. She kept pointing to them saying "Get down! Get down!" as if she were protecting them from an accident waiting to happen.

This was one of my favorite acts (although the pics just do not do it justice!). The guys on the left jumped on the board and the guy on the right was tossed up in the air, did a flip and landed on the stack of guys to the far right. They did several variations of this, including one that was 5 men tall! It was really unbelievable!

The tiger act was pretty amazing. Ry thought it was cool that one of the tigers wasn't listening and started a cat fight, so he was sent back to his cage during the performance.

The elephants were probably Julia's favorite.

Julia is intrigued by those elephants! She even stopped eating her pretzel when they came out!

Ry's sweet little face looked like this most every time I looked over at him. This for sure will need to become a yearly outing for our family!

AM Adventures

No, it's the paparazzi, AGAIN! If only I weren't so stinkin' cute!

I wonder what Mommy will do when I pour this bowl of cereal over my head?

Oh, my. Baby sister has gone crazy! Girls! I can't believe my life!!

Breakfast with Grumpy and Kathy

This morning we met Grandma and Papa, Aunt Kathy and Grumpy up at McDonalds for breakfast before they headed home to Chicago.

The crew poses for a photo for the blog! =)

Grandma is a GREAT sport - she helped Julia go up in the playland (her first time!!).

And here comes our adventurous crew.

Our little smarty pants thinking about climbing up into the playland all by herself.