Pumping my legs

Alexa has mastered swinging! Everyone morning she asks me:
can I go outside and pump my legs?

Bird Poopy!

So, tonight Alexa and I decided to check on our feathered friends who live in our hanging basket. We peaked in and the baby birds were HUGE. I decided to snap a picture and the birds swarmed us, 'tweeting' like crazy, and Lex and I ran into the house "freaking out" as lex says. I look down at Lex and notice she has a big glob of bird poop on her shoulder! YUCK! She starts to practically hyperventilate when she realizes that there's bird poopy on her shoulder! I clean it off and we go to look at the picture on my camera and wouldn't you believe, I had no flash card in the camera! UGH!

Here's a shot of lexo jumping into the pool tonight!

Downward on the Pendulum

I bought a book at the Ashburn Farm library book sale called "Getting to Know Your Four Yeard Old" a couple of months ago. It was written in the early 70's but apparently four year old personalities haven't changed much in the past 30 years.

One of the main points of the book is that 4 y.o.'s behavoir is on a pendulum every 6 months, which means that for 6 months they are on the upswing. They are angelic, beautiful, well-behaved model children:

They are:

• The kind of kids you see in the Pottery Barn Kids Catalog.
• The kind of kid that makes everyone jealous and makes your childfree friends want babies.
• The kind of kid that makes you feel like the coolest, most organized, parent of the year.

BUT....it's a pendulum and gravity pulls the pendulum down. When that happens, kids act up, they act like normal, bratty, whiney 4 year olds.

In the Satterpellaton household, we're spiraling to the depths of hell on the downward pendulum. Alexa has been a COMPLETE diva/drama queen the past two weeks. And the WHIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGG.
The non-stop whining is what's killing me. We've even come up with a little song that we sing to her:

Whinebaby Alexa...Whinebaby Alexa.

Our biggest battles are over her clothes. Every morning it's a struggle to get her dressed in her creme uniform as she wants to wear pink, but she must match. Creme colors are red, white or blue and obviously, there's no pink happening in there. That MOST DEFINITELY ensues a temper tantrum complete with crocodile tears. Then, there's the afternoon battles, where alexa most definitely CANNOT wear what she wore at school at home. She MUST change, even though we're TRYING our hardest in the Satterpellaton house to cut down on the mountains of laundry we seem to accumulate each week. Yesterday, from Creme to our house, Alexa repeatedly stated:

"I'm not wearing this.
I'm not wearing this.
I'm not wearing this.
I'm not wearing this."

THE ENTIRE RIDE HOME.

I'm counting the minutes until November when we should be on the 6 month upswing again...

5 more weeks....

just 5 more weeks of grad school hell and then I've got August off :)

Right now, I've got THREE, yep THREE assignments due by Wednesday! UGH!

5 MORE Weeks!

Our Visit to NJ

Lex, Bran, and I went to NJ this weekend for a much needed visit with my dad, (Poppa Honey, as Lex calls him) and to see my Nanny (lex's great grandma). Lex was an absolute doll in the car and amused herself with singing, coloring her palms with a blue marker, and teasing Brandon. She also declared at one point on the ride home: "I'm in a bad mood" and then would start to try to sing the Daniel Powter song, "had a bad day". She's a nutcase.

4 Generations of Repellas: My nan (87), my dad (61), me (32), Lexo (4). Notice the Repella Honker that Lex has luckily not inherited!

My nan recently hurt her back and now needs to use a walker. As soon as we walked into the house, she made Lex climb on and pushed her around her house. Lex calls Nan's walker's "Nanny's Bicycle".

Outside the Butler Fire department in front of an antique firetruck!

what happens when Momma Sleeps in

I'm on vacation today. A much earned and needed vacation day, for that matter. I decided this morning that I was going to "sleep in" which means, that I would doze in and out while lex ran rampant through the house. At about 8 am, she crawls into bed with me to tell me she just had the "yummiest breakfast"...

Lex: Mommy, I got the strawberry bunny juice (strawberry quick) and I put it in a bowl, then I put the cookies in, then I got the milk and I didn't spill it and thennnnnnnn, I stirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrred it all up. and it was the YUMMIEST breakfast ever.

Chef Alexa with the "Yummiest Breakfast Ever"

Then, just now, when I was attempting to catch up on some emails... I heard her banging around in my closet. Note to self: when I hear Lex banging around, CHECK IMMEDIATELY.

Alexa had a shoe fashion show!!! Yikes!

Quesadillas

This morning Lex found on a penny on the vanity in my bathroom.

Lex: Hey Mom! Here's a penny!!

Jen: Why don't you go put it in your bank.

Lex: No, I'm going to keep it here and share it.

Jen: What are you going to buy with your penny?

Lex: Hmmm, quesadillas for G.

She's SOOO funny.

The newest Satterpellaton Additions!

The Satterpellaton household is starting to feel like a zoo. Since Brandon moved in (hee hee, Bran, it's your fault), our little family has grown from me, Lex, and Briggs to Me, Lex, Bran, Briggs, Palmer, and of course, Rojo our red betta.

Then a couple of weeks ago, a robin decided that the Satterpellatons needed birds. C'mon, we've got a dog, a cat, a fish, it's the likely next move. Mrs. Robin laid 3 eggs in my hanging basket of new guinea impatiens on my deck. Me, being the meanie that I am, wanted to remove the nest when Mrs. Robin was building it. Bran, the former Eagle Scout that he is (actually, Bran, will you always be an eagle scout?!), said that was animal cruelty. Needless to say, just this week, the birdies hatched and Alexa Gwen, little Dr. Doolittle herself, LOVES THEM. She wants to see her birdies everyday. This afternoon, I checked on our new pals and this little guy stuck his head up!

Mommy Guilt

Today, I went on a tour of private preschool to potentially move Alexa, too. It was unbelievable---hardwood floors, ceramic tile, latte bar for the parents. Like her current preschool, this school costs more for preschool than my undergrad tuition+ room and board for year.

The tour guide, there, hit the nail on the head for me...she told me that the kids really don't care what the building looks like, its all for the parents. All the kid wants is a teacher who loves them and cares for them. It made me think back to my elementary school. Do I remember what the classroom looked like or how big the playground was? No, not really. I remember that I loved my teacher, Mrs. Churchill and that was really all that mattered.

Needless to say, I'm still not sure where Alexa will be going to school come next year.

Decisions...Decisions... Decisions....

It's Cool

It was your normal, "rushing around the house to get out the door on time" morning at the Satterpellaton household today. I was trying to mosey Alexa down the stairs faster and asked her if she had all of her babies, Yellow and anything else she wanted to bring to her dad's house tonight.

Her reply:

It's cool.