Circus

All last week was Circus themed at daycare and then Friday was dress up day.  It took us a while to get Jules to understand that Princesses aren't in the circus and she finally gave in to being a clown.

We got tickets for the circus for Sunday.  I don't think I have ever even been to a real circus until now!

First, we did some other things this weekend:

Rode the dirty bus at Wal-Mart!  Gross! but this picture is too cute!

Rode bikes at the park again.  Shook was upset that we didn't bring is Big Wheel so he got to ride Jules' bike too!  I'm pretty sure he may have fallen asleep on it at one point.  In fact, his eyes are closed in this picture!

Went to church.  How cute is this?

And then, acted silly at the Circus.

 

 

I thought it was really great.  It was long and I was sleepy but it was great.  I really liked the elephant show the best but I had my hands full and couldn't get a picture.  The acrobats are amazing but there was a lot of it!  It's also highway robbery and I lost $80 there accidentally too so it was really highway robbery for us!  And, that guy in the tiger cage has to be certifiably crazy.  I mean, a) who decides that is what they think they would be best at when they are picking a career, b) he wears that crazy suit all day, 3) he's in a cage by himself with 16 tigers!, and 4) I don't think he speaks a language other than tiger because I had no idea what he was saying.

Behavior Chart

Jules is a pretty well behaved just turned 3 year old but lately she has been whining a lot, not staying in her bed, crying when she doesn't get her way and, just recently, not paying attention at group time.

I got a note on her sheet one day about her not paying attention in group but I thought it was a one-time thing right around her birthday so I let it go.  Then we sat down one night last week to review the letter A and the letter B and put stuff in the bag for B week and I mean, it was like she was totally out of control.  She was trying to be funny and would not answer any of the questions.  We decided it was time to put some structure in place. 

I talked to her teachers that next day about what she was doing and they said they know that she knows the answers but she will not say it and then sometimes she is just plain not paying attention.  So, they have been calling on her a lot more and she has been coming home everyday telling me to "focus" on something!  Like, I'll be cooking dinner and she'll say "You need to focus mommy!"  They said they think she just has to learn how to concentrate and that is why they haven't really said that much about it to me.  I say, I can at least try!

We started with no movies or LeapPad until she gets the letters right and does her studying each morning and night.  That made her VERY upset!  But, she has been getting them right and she is even counting through 13 without leaving out 4.  4 has been our weakness.

Then, we decided to go ahead and implement the behavior chart for whining, etc.  We put some easy ones on it so she could get some "wins".  We went to Wal-Mart Saturday and let her pick out her prize.  I knew the only incentive there really would be is a Princess Dress so she picked out Periwinkle.  We also got a Princess kite for an interim incentive since she has to fill out the whole chart to get Periwinkle.  We explained and explained it to her Saturday because she kept asking for the dress but I think she might finally have it.

The bag with her name holds every kind of Princess sticker known to man. 

I have to say, 1.5 days in, she is very interested in it and asks if she can get a sticker for doing something.  When she does get one, she goes crazy!  We went over it again this morning and she says, "This one says Focus, I can do that!"  We will see!

You can see, no sticker yet for "No Whining"; even had to threaten to take a sticker away at one point for that!  But, she did stay in her bed until 4 am Sunday morning and almost 5 am this morning.  She even got up to get water and went straight back to her bed.  The only reason she got up at 5 was because Shook was crying and we had to go get him.

She even used her manners all day and told Shook he sure was handsome!  And, she cleaned up a mess he made so she could get a sticker!

I'm hopeful.  I'm not overly hopeful but I'm hopeful!  I'll give updates!  I'll take any suggestions!

More Birthday Festivities

The Friday before her birthday party, we took treats to her class.  We had cookie cake, Tinkerbell and Cinderella fruit snacks, puffs and lemonade.  Jules passed out the plates and the fruit snacks.  She loved it.  Immediately after eating, she asked to go home!!

 

 

This little coy smile was while we were singing Happy Birthday.  She loves being the center of attention!

So, we all went home early and got Dad.  Then, we went and ran some errands and went to dinner.

 

 

The waitress said we must have sat them on our sides purposefully because Jules looks exactly like her Daddy and Shook looks exactly like me!  Interesting!

 

Can you believe how dirty Shook is?  Spaghetti!  And then he still needed some French fries!  He's been cutting his 2 year molars finally and there have been some not so fun moments.  I'm hopefully it won't take too long!

 

After Jules' party Saturday, we went with all the fam to a Japanese steakhouse.  Jules had never been before so we thought she would love it.  Turns out Shook liked it better, I think.  He was fascinated with the fire.  This picture of him and Honey when they did the onion volcano is priceless!

 

Uncle Pat acted like it was his 3rd birthday too!  Or, maybe its just that the soup is THAT good!

 

I had the hardest time getting a good picture of the birthday girl all day long!

 

 

 

 

Monday, her actual birthday, we got lucky and were out of school and off work for Martin Luther King Day.  We made the most of it with a girls day with Jules BFF Kathryn and her mom.  We went to the park and rode bikes and scooters, had Chick Fil A for lunch, ice cream for dessert, got our nails done and did some candy shopping.  A girls dream!

 

 

This girl is getting really fast on this bike!

 

 

She was so tired she was asleep within 30 seconds of dropping Kathryn and her mom off at their car. 

 

That night we went to Jim N Nicks for dinner and she was very attached to her new Merida dress so she insisted on wearing it.  Given it was her birthday, we let her this one time! I'm sure it will be an issue from now on.

 

This is Merida and the Queen!!

 

 

 The next day at school she told her teachers she was all partied out. I'd say birthday number 3 was a success!!

20 Questions

20 Questions Answered by Jules (mostly) at age 3:

1.  What is your favorite color?  Purple
2.  What is your favorite toy?  Princess dresses and Choo Choo trains
3.  What is your favorite fruit?  Little oranges
4.  What is your favorite tv show?  Sophia the First and Mickey Mouse (favorite move is Beauty and the Beast)
5.  What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch?  Grapes
6.  What is your favorite outfit? My flower dress
7.  What is your favorite game?  Dress-up
8.  What is your favorite snack?  M&Ms
9.   What is your favorite animal?  Elephant
10. What is your favorite song?  ABCs
11. What is your favorite book? Go Dogs Go by Dr. Seuss
12. Who is your best friend? Kathryn and Elyse
13. What is your favorite cereal?  None - fruit snacks and yogurt raisins for before school breakfast
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? play runnin'
15. What is your favorite drink?  'Emonade
16.  What is your favorite holiday?  Christmas
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night?  my sisters (babies)
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast?  Fruit
19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? A cupcake
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? A Super Reader

CUPCAKES!

A while back, Michael and I had a brainstorming session on what we would do for Jules’ 3rd Birthday party!  It was really hard to come up with an idea because we wanted to invite boys and girls this year and she is scared of quite a few things.  Finally, we thought “She LOVES cupcakes”!   So, a cupcake decorating party it was.  Initially, I wanted to do the party somewhere other than our house but we had a hard time picking a location and we thought that not too many people would show up.  Boy, were we wrong!  Thank goodness it was decently nice outside because there is no way we could have been inside the entire time!  It was a little chaotic for my taste but Jules had fun and that is all that matters.

It started off with cute homemade invitations (that I don't have a picture of).  I quickly realized that I forgot an ending time and an RSVP address…..genius!

We ended up having 12 kids at the party.  We had aprons and chefs hats for each of them.  And, take home cupcake boxes for them to decorate while we waited for everyone to get there.  So, we had chocolate and strawberry cupcakes and rice krispie treats, brownies with strawberry icing, fruit in cupcake cups, pink white chocolate covered puff corn (which was a big hit), fritos candy mix and pink lemonade (Jules’ favorite).

 

Then, we sang Happy Birthday and blew out the candles.  Everyone loved the sprinkles cake and all the other food.  I decided to go with pink and brown to keep it good for both girls and boys.  Plus, I do better with picking out food when there is a scheme. 

Then, everyone sat down for the decorating!  Only I really think this only took about 5 minutes.  I think they were all done before I even got the toppings and lemonade passed out!  But, they had some great creations!  I’m telling you, things really do sound better in my head sometimes. 

The kids played outside and inside in Shook’s room for the rest of the party.  They seemed to have a pretty good time!

 

 

We tried opening presents once to get everyone inside because it was getting a little chilly but Jules opened about 5 and decided she was done!  So, we woke up early on Sunday and opened the rest.  She got the only present I have really seen her and Shook fight over – the real looking grocery cart.  We have a pink one but I guess this one is much more appealing.  I really got it for her because she loves the ones at Whole Foods and wants to push buggies at other places – Target, etc – so I thought we could keep it in the car.  Shook cried about it a lot and by Monday, Jules wouldn’t even leave it standing by itself because “Shook will get it!”.  I’m hesitant on getting two of things because I think it is essential for them to learn to share but, in this case, I might have to reconsider!  She also loves her lemonade stand that we used for the party toppings, her cash register and her Melissa & Doug fruit.  That’s not to say that she did not equally love all the dress-up stuff she got, but that goes without saying!

Everyone got a goody bag with “If you give a cat a cupcake” in it and cupcake lip gloss.  They also had something to put goodies from the piñata in (though that was not a real hit).  Jules picked the piñata out and she loved it!  I was afraid she wouldn’t let us hit it to break it but she did!

I think we had a great party!