What a week!

Happy Friday everyone!  What a week!  Here is the latest on us:

• I managed to get strep throat and had to miss a full day of work yesterday
• Makenna woke up today with pink eye - another 1/2 day for me
• Maya has a running nose and a cough but luckily hasn't missed any school
• Gymnastics twice this week for Maya - she loves it but thankfully the session is coming to an end
• Makenna went potty twice now in the toilet - she asked, we aren't pushing her. 
• Girls had theme week at daycare this week - super cute.  You think I would have pictures but no :(
• Lots of seepage in our basement which means no workout room and no working out - this does not go over well with me at all
• Dave has been incredibly patient with all the females in the house and thankfully isn't sick
• Today we have snow on the ground -seriously where is spring???

Tomorrow we plan on taking the girls to the circus.  Hopefully we are all well enough to go.  It will be a fun way to finish the week.

Happy Friday!

Weaves, Braids May Speed Hair Loss

Dave came across an interesting article regarding hair loss in AA women due to weaves and braids.  I have heard hair loss is possible but I never thought much of it considering I am not a professional braider and my braids are not extremely tight.  But it does make me more conscious about styling Maya's hair and how much I pull at her scalp. I certainly do not want to contribute to hair loss of my own daughters' hair.   

If you want to read the article, check it out here. 

Princesses at Space Aliens?

What do you think?

Funny story.  Maya attended her friend Abygail's 4th birthday party this past Saturday at our local Space Aliens.  While at the table, two beautiful young women walked by in the distance.  All of a sudden the girls started shouting "Disney Princesses", "Bella", and "Cinderella".  By the time I understood what was going on, I caught a glimpse of the two girls walking into the restaurant lobby.  The girls wanted to go say hello.  How could you blame them?  Don't they look like Cinderella and Bella to you?  These young women were gracious enough to play along and let us take a group photo.  What a moment! Who could have asked for a better birthday gift?  If the picture wasn't enough, these same gals brought Maya and Abygail a bracelet! 

Not sure about you but I don't think we need to spend thousands of dollars to visit Disney World when we have our very own Disney Princesses dining at good old Space Aliens!

Red Shirting - How do you weigh in?

I have read a thread on our Ethiopian adoption message board this past week regarding a topic I find very interesting. The topic was around red shirting your child (AKA having your child repeat preschool or kindergarten). On this thread many parents and parents who are teachers weighed in on this topic and brought up some interesting things.

Few things stood out to me:
• Boys tend to be "held back" more so than girls due to not be socially ready
• Appears to be a trend in many areas through the US
• Kids may be academically ready but not socially ready
• Kids may be ready academically and socially but once they hit middle or high school, they may have issues socially
• Parents of summer babies tend to have their child repeat a year of preschool before sending them to kindergarten as many parents on the forum felt is was better to be the oldest in the class versus the youngest
• Those who can afford another year of preschool tend to have their child repeat it and those who can not afford it, send their child to school

I guess there isn't a right or wrong opinion here. To me, I want to do the best for my children and what is best for them. Dave and I moved up Makenna's birthday two weeks and now she meets the cut-off to begin kindergarten at the age of 5. We of course did not move up her birthday for this reason. If we send her to kindergarten right when she turns 5, she will be the youngest in her class. I actually was thrilled to find out we met the cut-off date as it would mean one less year of daycare bills. Call me naive or uninformed but I really didn't think about whether Makenna would be ready socially or if it would be an issue when she is in middle or high school. My concern was academically. I guess I just assumed she would be ready.

How do you weigh in on this topic? I'd love to hear from other parents on this as it seems to be a hot topic out there and one that is creating a trend.

Wordless Wednesday - Sibling Love

Sickness and Weekend Activities

Ah what a weekend.

Thursday we got a call from daycare saying Maya had a fever and had to be picked up.  Maya never gets sick and hasn't missed a day of school for a very long time.  Since Maya had a fever, we had to keep her home on Friday as well.  It turned out to be a good thing as Maya is fighting something.  Even though she had plenty of energy to fight with her sister and talk back to her parents, she had a stream running from her nose and had a hard time sleeping. 

Thanks to Maya, I am sick too.  I think I went through an entire box of tissues myself.  I am so thrilled to have a nasty head cold.  Who wouldn't want to feel achy all over with zero energy to do anything :(  Thankfully Dave and Makenna are healthy and hopefully they stay that way!

This weekend we obviously didn't do much of anything.  We decided to take advantage of being home and work on some necessary projects.  I had much more energy on Saturday and thankfully got a lot done.  Sunday we made great strides in organizing our newly remodeled office space.  Girls had some good moments and some not so great ones.  They fight a lot and it is really exhausting.  I pray they grow out of this stage and start to play nicely with each other (please parents with older kids tell me this is the case or at least lie to me). We did manage to do a few activites but not much.  The girls basically played, ate, watched a few shows, and picked on each other.  Next weekend hopefully we are all healthy so we can get outside or do something fun with friends.

Here is Maya keeping busy coloring

 Girls just got a bath and had their hair styled

 Simple style but cute and Maya loves it :)

 Rice Krispie treats

 One benefit of an unfinished basement - a bouncer and a swing!

 Makenna loves to swing - look at her face, ha!

Bucket List

Have you seen the movie "The Bucket List" with Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson?  If not you should.  It certainly isn't an Oscar winning movie but it will surely entertain you and make you think of your own bucket list.

I have been thinking of my own list and have come up with a very short list (for now).  Currently I have 5 things on my list. 

1. Visit Ethiopia and live amongst the people for a minimum of 2-3 weeks
2. Locate and give thanks to those who made an impact on my girls' lives
3. Visit Disney World
4. Meet and reunite with my cousins who so happen to live in Orlando :)
5. Vacation is Australia

What is on your bucket list?  Leave me comment and let me know.