Dancing queen!

The other day I decided to actually get out my Dancing with the Stars workout video and try it. (That was the first and last time I will be doing that video!) I thought that I had plenty of floor space but was clearly wrong. Apparently I should have an entire ballroom of floor space for this video. Anyway... Danica loved the video. And yes I mean loved. She had a blast trying to follow along with the instructors and was just dancing around the room.

A couple of days later I told her she could watch a show and to pick one out. She declared that she wanted to do the dancing one. I informed her that Mommy wasn't going to be doing the video with her (having already learned my lesson) and she insisted that the dancing was what she wanted. So I put it in and sure enough she was dancing up a storm. She seems to like the warm up portion the best and that is what I was able to get video of.

You can kindof hear her talking along with the instructor. I tried to put the video on one time with just the music and no talking and she informed me that that was not the way it was supposed to be. She would finally dance once I had changed it so you could hear instructions. Jason and I were watching her dance along once and when she discovered us watching she didn't like it and came over and shut the door on us so we wouldn't disturb her. We then laughed and were told to "stop laughing!" through the shut door. Of course that only made it worse but we did move away from the door so she couldn't hear us.

Back seat driver

In the last week or so Danica has become quite the backseat driver. She is constantly looking for stop signs on the road. When she spots one she declares (loudly by the way) "Sign says STOP!" Sometimes you'll get a "sign says go" at a stoplight or whenever she decides that the car has been sitting in one place for far too long. She also announces that "I see more octagons!" and "Octagons have 8 sides. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8!" It is amusing at first but after 10 minutes of driving through town having to constantly stop and go....it gets old.

It was nice while it lasted.

Many of you may know that we had been really spoiled with Danica. At least with her sleeping habits. She would wait in her bed in the morning until we came to get her. If she woke up and wanted to get up she would call for us. Well...three morning ago that changed. She has started getting up on her own. The first morning I was already up and sitting on the couch. She came out with a book and some awesome bed head hair and wanted to read. The second morning she came into our room at 6:00 and climbed on me. Normally it wouldn't have been too bad but we had gotten to bed pretty late the night before. This morning she came in quietly and put her face right next to mine and whispered "Mom, Get up!" I was happy that she was quiet about it since Jason had been able to play poker with some guys last night and he hadn't gotten to do that in awhile. I got her a couple of waffles and she is watching Tinkerbell right now. I would love it if she went back to staying in her bed but I am certain that train has left the station. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted.

First Dentist Visit

Danica had her first dentist appointment on Friday. She did awesome. Our insurance does something called Chaps. They have a class for first timers to the dentist where they get to touch everything that is used and learn about what is going on. So there was about 7 kids all 3-4 years old there at the same time. And they all did pretty well. There was one little girl who declared that she had already brushed her teeth that morning and did NOT want to do it again. Danica even got x-rays taken. I wish I had gotten a picture of her with the big heavy apron on but she was a little anxious at that time and it was busy back by the x-ray stuff so I let it slide. She looked like she was trying so hard to be brave! Then we went back to the pediatric area and they have 4 stations in one room. She sat down like a champ and did great. The only thing she didn't tolerate was when they tried to recline the chair. She didn't like that at all and freaked out a little. So the chair was sitting more upright than ususal but they worked around it.

Getting ready to get started.

Tolerating the polishing really well!

Smiling pretty for the camera!

Almost all done and no cavities! They were able to get clear xrays which was nice. She has a little mouth so it was hard with the negative cards but she was awesome. Both Jason and I went with her which I think helped calm her down when she got anxious. Jason held her hand during the cleaning (which you can see in the above picture). We both had been talking it up for a couple of weeks. Letting her know what I dentist does and what to expect. We were also careful to not call the dentist a doctor. Danica does not like going to the doctor. She got to pick out a prize when she was done and then we were outta there. It took about an hour including her class so I thought that was rather quick. Hopefully she does this well on her next trip there in 6 months.

Happy Mother's Day!

Wishing all the mom's out there a very Happy Mother's Day!

In case you can't understand her Danica is saying Happy Mother's Day. She is also wavying around a balloon wand that she got at the Saturday Market here in Salem. And it was warm in the car so that is why her face is all flushed.

Happy Mother's Day everyone!

The ABCs

Finally some long awaited (I'm sure) video. Danica randomly started singing the alphabet in the car the other day and made it the whole way through without help. Jason had never heard her do that and I had heard attempts but never successes. She is being very chatty right now. It is adorable to listen to her when she is playing by herself in her room. This clip is from yesterday afternoon. We had been out and about and I needed to run to the grocery store to get some stuff for dinner so Jason and Danica waited in the car for me. Apparently during that time she was singing and Jason got it recorded on his phone. I had to wait until we got home and got this with the little camera.

She does know the ending to the song. We worked on it last night a little bit. She just couldn't remember while she was singing in the car. But she was warm and in need of a nap as well. She also had no problem singing it multiple times as long as I would let her see the video after she was done. I think it is rather cute!

Easter Fun

Sorry it took so long to get some Easter pictures posted. Danica had a fun time this Easter. She got to dye Easter eggs for the first time and loved it. She enjoyed it so much that I bought some extra dye kits when they went on clearance after Easter! Who says you can only have pretty eggs once a year! She didn't even argue about having to put on a smock to color the eggs (previously this had been an issue!). I guess she thought it was just like wearing her apron when she "helps" me cook.

Here she is getting all ready to go. And apparently doing her best "grasp the monkey's tail" impression! (tai chi for anyone not familiar)

She was all about the pictures that day. As you can tell by the cheesy grin. She is all ready to go!

I wrote on some of the eggs with a white crayon and she loved how we could put names on them. The names included: Danica, Mommy, Daddy, Papa, Grandma, RoseAne, Nicholas, Emmarie, Monica and Kasen. (and yes Monica it was her idea to put your name on it!) We took Kasen his egg the next day when we went to Randi and Devon's house for Saturday "Easter" dinner.

Here she is with her finished eggs. She was so proud!

Like I said we went to Jason's cousin's house for Saturday evening. The kids quickly disappeared into Kasen's room to play. Even Ellia was in on the action.
Later the kids has some fun with a track. I think it was for cars but am not sure.

Here is Randi and Kasen getting all ready for their Easter egg hunt!

They loved it!As you can see Kasen was determined to get that egg. Even if it meant manuvering under a chair to do it!

They were pretty good about not trying to take each other's eggs. I think that they came out about equal in the number department. Of course us parents helped steer them towards more when needed.

Ellia enjoyed watching them and chewing on the plastic eggs as well.

The kids and dad sorting out there treasure!

The kids sitting watching a show, winding down before we had to leave.
And Ellia sitting in her high chair eating dinner happy as a clam! Gotta love that hair and grin!

This was Danica's Easter dress. This picture was taken after church BEFORE lunch so that would be why there is a crabby look on her face! It is such a cute dress though!