Pow Fairy

So, Brooke is going to be four this year which is totally crazy in and of itself. What is also crazy is that she is still addicted to pacifiers...otherwise known in our house as pows. I had tried awhile back to get her to lose the pows...but she would always tell me that she wasn't ready and she wanted to keep them. We attempted to only have them at night...but then she would randomly find one in a couch cushion or sneak one downstairs. Recently, it seemed like she always had one in the mouth and one in each hand. She even talks with them in her mouth!

It had to end.

I began REALLY talking up the Pow Fairy. This magical lady was going to come to our house and take all the pows away and give them to babies that needed them. In their place, she would leave a big girl gift. In Brooke's case, she really wanted a doll house-specifically the same one has one of her friends :) I let her know that the Pow Fairy may just leave doll houses...but that we would have to give up our pows to find out.

On Monday, as we were getting ready for the day, I asked Brooke again about the Pow Fairy. Brooke told me that she was ready to have her come and walked off to her room and put all the pows (3 to be exact) underneath her pillow. She then went on to have a conversation with the fairy letting her know she could now come to our house and take the pows away...but to "please leave me that doll house."

After school that day, much to Brooke's delight, the Pow Fairy did come. She took those pows away AND she left the exact doll house that Brooke wanted.

She didn't stop playing with it all night long.

So far this week she has done pretty well. She has not really asked for the beloved pows, but we have had a hard time getting her to settle down and get in bed. It is almost as if she cannot relax. It took about 2 hours last night which is the longest so far. Hopefully it will continue to get better....but we are SO proud of Brooke that she was able to say farewell to the pacifiers.

I have to admit, though, it was a little hard on me (and Gary) to actually toss them all in the garbage. I got a bit emotional! It is as if she is 'really' growing up. Since Caroline doesn't use one (never  has) it feels like we don't have any baby items left in the house :(

I may have kept one-not to ever give-for a keepsake for Brooke. It that totally bizarre?? Go ahead and judge... :)

In Print

Awhile back, Amy and I decided to enter Brooke & Lily into a local newspapers "cutest kids" contest.

Yes, I know-those mom's.

 I had never done anything like this before, though, so I thought...why not.

So, after begging friends and family to show their support through Facebook (and 'liking' the girls photos) we ended the contest strong...with both girls finishing Top 5! They now move on to the final round where one of the five finalist will be selected to have a photo shoot in the magazine.

In this past weeks issue, the featured pictures of the Top 5 kiddos. I may or may not have 12 copies of the issues (thanks Maggie).



We're FAMOUS!



Pointing right at herself...little cutie on top :)



Looking a little confused at why I am having her pose with a newspaper...
She will thank me later.

We find out in a few weeks if either girl is the big winner. But, at this point, I am just excited to see the girls pictures in print-it was fun! Thanks to all of our friends and family (if you read this!) that voted for our girls!! 

 

Brooke: "It's ok if we don't win Lily...we will get them next time"

'Official' Easter Celebration

Our Easter celebration continued on Sunday. We went to mass with Grandma Etta, Grandma Etta's papa (we need a new name for my dad), Aunt Maggie and Aunt Tracie. I am not going to pretend that my kids were good at church. They were awful. They were way more interested in checking out the hallways and bathrooms of my grand school then they were with sitting quietly during church. I spent the majority of the hour chasing them around and apologizing for having to walk in and out of mass in front of the same family. Oh well. Next year.

In other news...they looked super cute in their Easter dresses! We spent the day at my parents and the girls had a great time playing with their aunts, uncles, cousins..and grandparents.

Best duo shot

This one is not for sitting still for pictures...
Making a run for it!

Ever the poser.

The Easter bunny was WAY smart this year and hid all of the eggs in the basement. The kids got hooked up and had a ton of eggs to hunt for.

Caroline found her first egg hidden amongst the ping pong balls...which the Easter bunny thought was going to be one of the more challenging finds...but not for Caroline!  Too bad she spent the rest of the time thinking that all ping pong balls were Easter eggs.

Even though Addison is too little to hunt for eggs, she still joined in the fun with a matching dress. She is already nine months! Crazy huh??

The day was capped off with a dance party to Katie Perry and Lady Gaga.

What, doesn't everyone do that on Easter Sunday???

And Dad came home.YAY!!

Dino Jack

Saturday was Jacks Big Day!! The first Johnson grandchild turned 5 and we had a blast celebrating with him!!

His mom did a pretty sweet job on the cake huh?

Cutest little 5 year old in town!

He asked grandma for a fishing rod and sun glasses. She came through with 2 pairs! Lucky boy :)
This was his "cool guy" pose..

Cute little Addy!

Caroline can never have too much party.

The big kid / cool kid table...that I was also lucky enough to grab a seat at.
It feels good to be included.

Caroline and her cute cousin!
Think she likes cake??

Happy Birthday to Jack!

Can't wait for next year!!

A Twister

Whew.

Easter weekend came and went - and it was EVENTFUL...to say the least.

Let me begin by saying that Gary was out of town from Friday a.m. until Sunday p.m. He was on a bachelor party. I know what your thinking-who plans a bachelor party on Easter weekend?? I thought the same thing when he told me the dates. This, of course, was after he had already booked his flight...and hotel. Of course I had asked him prior to booking to check the family calender to make sure the weekend he wanted to go out of town was 'event free.' He said that he checked...but apparently those pre-printed annual holidays are hard to see on calendars. I will highlight in future years. Since I have known about this mis-scheduling for a few months now, by the time Easter weekend came...I had gotten over the fact that he wouldn't be in town (and that he would be making it up to me for a while).

I am VERY lucky that both of my sisters were in town from Ohio for the holiday and were able to help me out a TON. Either one or both of them stayed with me all weekend and it was an enormous help. Brooke & Caroline were a little disappointed when they both didn't spend the night last night :)

We kicked off Friday with a super cousin play date. Amy & Joe were headed out for a much needed night on the town. Tracie, Maggie and I volunteered to have Jack and Lil's over to play with my girls. We had a great time making homemade pizzas and playing dress up....until around 7:30 (or so) rolled around.

The mid west has been experiencing some pretty crazy weather and Friday night was no exception. Does anyone else find Tornado watches and warnings WAY more scary when you don't live with your parents anymore and YOU are the parents?? Well...I do. Luckily, after an hour in the basement, we knew that we were out of harms way. Especially with Aunt Maggie protecting us.

We didn't quite realize the severity of the storm until we watched the constant news that followed. The airport was hit and two of my family members homes were barely spared. Their neighbors homes were completely leveled! Gary's grandma was also blessed and only lost electricity for a few days while streets over from her were hit hard. We feel very, very lucky.

The night continued with a little Tangled (currently my favorite movie) and kids staying up WAY too late. Needless to say...the three adults were exhausted but needed to get our beauty rest for Jacks rockin dino party the next day!

Still...hunting...

The Easter egg hunting continued....and so did my dirty camera...when we came home Sunday afternoon. Believe it or not-the Easter Bunny came early to the Fleming house! We will be celebrating Easter at Innsbrook, so we decided to do a small family egg hunt in the backyard. Brooke LOVED this surprise because she was able to score more then the 4 eggs that she got at DeSmet. She was also able to enjoy the treats that were inside. At the first EH, the eggs were filled with hard carmel candy, gum balls and hard candy. Not the most child friendly choices. When the Easter bunny came to our backyard, the eggs were filled with mini-marshmallows, goldfish, a few penny's and some peanut butter cups. It was much better. Brooke was most excited about the marshmallows :)

Oh...dirty camera.
We tried to get her really excited for all the eggs that were right within her reach...she was having none of it.

Here Bella, enjoy the marshmellows and goldfish.

This girl??
Super pumped.
The Easter bunny hooked.her.up.

Egg basket...loaded.

She may not like Easter eggs...but she did learn how to say BUBBLE! today...so no complaints :)

Jack Attack

Seriously.

Will you just look at this face??

 Can you believe that this little darling god-son of mine is officially FIVE years old today???

Me neither.

Does he look like Caroline's big brother here or what??

He is the 1st of the Johnson grandkids and is the best big cousin.

He has grown to be so patient with the girls...and that is a good thing because I think he is going to need LOTS of patience as the years go by.

Lily, Jack & Brooke

Amy, Mom...are you tearing up yet??

Just a little??



Such the BIG BOY!
Why does Lily look like a child from the 1960's  here??

Having TONS of fun with the Best.Aunts.EVER!
Can't wait for lake days this summa!

Happy, Happy 5th Birthday Mr. Jack!

I couldn't LOVE YOU more if you were my own :)