A Lesson Learned. . .

So I needed to quick print a page from the computer and we were going to leave again. Alaina was asleep and Paige was reading a book. No big deal, right?! The van was parked in our garage and I told Paige I would be right back. I told her she needed to stay in her seat with the seat belt buckled and not to touch Alaina. I came out 5 minutes later to this!
Paige had indeed left her seat, found some nail polish, and painted Alaina. (And I had no nail polish remover in the house.) This looks minor compared to what I found as I was cleaning it up. It was on Paige's car seat, our car seat, her clothes, Alaina's clothes, all over their hands, and that is a spot on Alaina's forehead. So the lesson learned is. . .Paige is not to be trusted. The girl is totally driving me crazy. She canNOT obey. It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't blatant. I need some serious help. I do NOT know what to do with this child of mine. I guess I have to keep her in my sight 24/7. I can't seem to find a punishment that gets through to her. I would love some advice, encouragement, or just plain empathy.

Not my child!!

We went to pick up some tickets the other day at the US Cellular Center. Here's what Paige said. Mind you, we were like a foot away from the lady helping us.

P: "What's that smell?"
M: Ignore and hope she leaves it alone.
P: Pulling on my arm, "Mommy, what's that smell?"
M: "What smell honey?"
P: Pointing to lady. . ."Her!"
M: "Oh, do you smell her pretty perfume?" I was really hoping to diffuse the convo quickly.
P: "It's stinky."
M: Once again ignoring.
P: Louder this time. . ."It's stinky, Mommy!"
M: Getting down to whisper to her, "Paige, that's not nice."

I was mortified. The poor lady just pretended she didn't hear and was very helpful. We are going to have to work on some manners!

Paige's Birthday Party

Emily and I had a joint birthday party for Paige and Ellie's 3rd birthdays. We thought it would be less crazy to have a drop off party. It was my first. There were 8 kids there (not counting Zach and Alaina) and it went really fast and very smooth. I think Alaina was the toughest, she screamed through lunch. It was aweful. I think the kids had fun!
We had them paint flower pots and then planted flowers in them to take home.

Paige with her almost completed flower pot.

Paige and Ellie were the last two standing. They made sure their pots were completely covered in paint. One thing I will pass along. It was nice that we had them paint with washable paint, but as I found out later that evening, it doesn't stick to the pot and stay dry. We set ours on the shelf above the sink and it the paint started bubbling from the humidity. I'm not sure what I'll do with it. We may have to start over. Sorry to all those moms out there with messy pots.

Here are the finished pots.

Clockwise from bottom Left: Austin Anderson, Cameron Miller, Amelia Reed, Ellie Isaacson, Lindsay Jordan, Paige, Hannah Isaacson, and Ashlyn Pitcher enjoying their cupcakes. They got to frost their own, very exciting.

Paige and Ellie opening their gifts. Thanks Cameron and Aubrey for the Skip Jumper. (Ok, so I don't know what it's called.)

More presents.

Mommy wants to send an extra thanks out to Ashlyn and Austin for the the Potty Book. We need all the help we can get.

Paige learned to swim with a noodle in Florida, so she was very excited to get her very own swim noodle from Lindsay. Thanks Lindsay!!

The aftermath!

Fun at Grandpa and Grandma's!

Paige loves to color and really does a great job of staying in the lines. She was in heaven with the new set of crayons that Grandma gave her.
Grandma found a Mantis last fall, so she kept him to show Paige.

(It wasn't alive!)

Alaina got to open the rest of her birthday presents since Grandpa and Grandma and Uncle Mat and Aunt Myra couldn't make it to her party.

She got a pretty sun dress and a toy camera from Uncle and Aunt, and a bean bag chair from Grandpa and Grandma.

She LOVED the trampoline. She would bounce herself, then giggle. It was just precious.

You've gotta love that smile.

Our happy girl!

I have no words to explain this picture.

Our Alaina loves to eat. Seriously! The girl has gained 2 pounds in a month. She still is a tiny 18 pounder, but it's not for lack of food.

Paige tossing her puppy into the air with Grandma and Grandpa.

It was so nice being out in the country. They have some gorgeous flowers and a lovely garden. It really didn't help us feel better about staying in town. We would love to be out on an acreage, but it is just so expensive. We'll just keep praying that God has a place for us and we will find it when we are supposed to. Or we will learn to be content where we are.

Paige playing in the garden.

We got to visit Great Grandma Safly. Paige loves it when the Great Grandma's read her books.

Happy 3rd Birthday Paige Elizabeth!

Happy Birthday Paige!!! I can't believe you are 3 years old already. We went to the library to pick out a cake pan. I told Paige she could pick out any pan she wanted. First, she picked out a princess pan. I thought, "Good, I can do that!". Then, she spotted a rabbit. Even better, that's only like 2 colors. Then, she found "Eggo Go". There was no putting that pan back. She had to have Diego. We even brought Dora home, too, thinking I could talk her into it. No dice. Diego it was. She picked out marble cake mix and off we went. It took me 4 hours to frost Diego. I think there were 13 different colors to mix up. But it was all for Paige and totally worth it. She loved it.

Paige got a fishing pole from Uncle Mat and Aunt Myra.

And a new bike from Grandpa and Grandma.

If you are wondering, Paige is concentrating on holding up her three fingers.

She did a really good job pedaling. She'll have it down soon, I'm sure.

Paige,

You are such a blessing to our family. You are a wonderful big sister and we can see how much you love Alaina. You can be a big help to Mommy when you want to be. You like to dress yourself. Actually, you like to to everything yourself. You say, "I do mydelf!" You are a good eater and always ask to go to Pizza Ranch. You prefer to play with your friends and don't play independently very well. Dora and Diego are your favorite shows. Being outside is one of your favorite things and you don't like to stay home. The other day you told me to "Drive backwards!", because we were heading home and you didn't want to go. You definitely still need an afternoon nap, but then come out of your room many times after we put you to bed. Now that you are 3, we are going to have to work on potty training and getting you to stop sucking that thumb. We love you so much and pray that you will grow into wise, woman of God.

Stats.

Height: 38.5 inches-80th %ile

Weight: 29.6 pounds-40th %ile

Reiman Gardens

We went to Ames last weekend to celebrate Paige's 3rd birthday. It was a beautiful day for going to Reiman Gardens.
Pretty girl in pretty flowers.
Uncle Mat and Aunt Myra are going to have a baby!!!! Yeah, my girls are going to have a cousin!

Grandpa and Grandma Safly with Paige and Alaina.
The Safly Family

They had brought in 25 lifesize dinosaurs for a few months.

Paige thought they were pretty cool!

"Look, a fish!"

Paige sitting by the pond!

Baby girl was so good for missing her morning nap.

"What's that Grandma?"

Look at the alligator.

Uncle Mat showing Paige a Bleeding Heart.

"Hmm, this looks like a good rolling hill."

"To Roll or not to roll, that is the question!"

"To Roll!"

"I can do it!"

"Let's do it again!"

I thought this little butterfly chair was adorable.

At least the girls in it are adorable!

My big girl!

Mommy and Alaina checking out the butterflies.