Noe News is Good News

Joselyn in a tree

Joselyn is such a unique little girl and I love her so much. She's really been doing a lot of growing up lately and Adam and I are almost blown away sometimes when we see that little bit of big kid coming out in her both in personality and looks. I love that she's SO girly but she has a little bit of tomboy in her too... loving everything pink, purple and princess but also loving bugs, dirt and climbing trees. Probably has a lot to do with the fact that her best buddy is her brother who loves dump trucks and action. 

The other day I took Joselyn with me to a quick photo shoot for a friend who's child had turned one... and she insisted on climbing this perfect tree. She looked so beautiful and sweet up in the tree... a little bit of girlyness shows through as she hugs the tree. Just love this little girl so much!!

Joselyn turns four

We had the same conversation the night before her birthday this year as we did the last. It was that when Joselyn woke up in the morning, she would be one year older. This time she didn't struggle to hold up her fingers. I warned her again that she wouldn't be three anymore... she would be four, and she reassured me "It's ok mom, I like four!" Wow she has grown so much. I look at pictures of her and can't believe it. She doesn't look anything like a baby anymore. And I am so proud of her. Despite our many struggles with her "vibrant" personality, we are growing from raising her and feel SO BLESSED she is our daughter. So much we want to remember about our year with her. What sticks out most in my mind is her obsession with Rapunzel. She still comes up to use with long pieces of ribbon, a scarf or whatever so we can tie it into her hair to make it longer. For a while there we had trouble keeping her from drawing on the walls. After all, that's what Rapunzel does on Tangled! She has finally settled for pretending. Then there was the frying pan- she always carried a little one with her and was starting to hit people with it. Now she only does it in self defense, lol.






Although there are a lot of physical changes, a lot of things about Joselyn have stayed the same. She still loves babies and animals, loves to dance and her Landen is her best buddy. Nothing makes my heart happier than watching the two of them play happily together. There is occasional fighting, but mostly the play together so well. I love that he will submit to playing princesses with her or that she will play trains with him. Sometimes they mix the two and Landen will give her little princess a ride in his trains or trucks. She still loves her apples and grapes the best. She is still OCD. She hates crumpled papers and gets very upset if any drawing of hers gets a wrinkle in it.










Some things HAVE changed though. Like, she won't go to sleep with her door closed anymore. She is still really friendly but is a little more attached to her mommy. She is more independant in making decisions about what to wear, and comes up with the silliest combinations- although a lot of the times they just really work well together. She loves makeup and dressing up. I guess that's not a change from last year :) She has the BEST facial expressions and can do this reise one eyebrow thing that I totally CAN'T do! She gets that from her daddy.




We are so blessed to have Joselyn as a daughter. I know that as she continues to grow, her passion for life and love of people will take her far. She is going to be such a good sister to little Lyla too. Can't wait to see their relationship develop! Happy birthday to our sweet little girl!

Hiding from me

That tree isn't quite big enough to hide ya little lady!

I'm growing!!!

So Joselyn came up to me yesterday and said she wanted to measure me. So she put a ruler/yard stick up to my leg and said "Wow, mom! You're growing taller and a half!!"

I just can't get over this. It was the cutest thing EVER!!

Joselyn completes her first year of Preschool!

It's hard for me to believe that my little baby girl just finished her first year of preschool. She has 2 more years until Kindergarten. I have sometimes felt like I wasn't doing enough as a mother to help her learn- but she has really come a long way and I am so proud of her! She may not be able to recognize all the letters of the alphabet or numbers, but I know she has made a lot of progress even in those areas. Joselyn attended 2 preschools this year- as she will again this year. We really love her schools! I will be her art teacher next year in one of the schools and I am really excited about that!

Anyway, there were two school programs. The first one at My School was so cute. Stacie, my friend and the music teacher there did a great job with the kids this year. Joselyn always came home singing the cutest new songs- some of which have become her favorite. Adam knows some sort of version of "Baby Fish" and the turtle who ate up all the soap. They sang both of those songs at the program.





I love how in that last picture Joselyn's friend Sadie is singing her little heart out. So much personality that girl!!

Then we had the Building Blocks graduation. I was a little nervous about this one... last time she had to go up on stage (right before bed time like this time too) she didn't want to be up there and cried and screamed. But thankfully she was her cute self this time around having fun on stage with her friends.





Joselyn with one of her teachers, Miss Christene:



Joselyn with a few of her best buddies- Sophie, Sadie and baby Maddox.



So excited with her certificate of completion!



At both schools, Joselyn has made so much progress and I am so proud of her. I know how she can be "busy" and so I always worried that she may have caused grief to her teachers. I also have a hard time with her sitting down with me to go over letters and numbers so I was worried she wasn't learning. But I guess I am wrong. During the reception for Building Blocks one of her teachers came up to me to say how much fun it was to have Joselyn in her class. I took the opportunity to ask her HONEST opinion on what I should work on with her over the summer. She went on to tell me that Joselyn was very smart and well behaved AND she loved to talk. No surprise there! The talking was never something off topic- but she always had something to say about what they were learning and interrupts occasionally. Also, because she is so talkative, all the other kids rely on her to answer all the questions. The teacher then added that when Joselyn isn't in class, it's very dull... no one knows what to do!

That made me think a lot about Joselyn's little personality. Yes, sometimes she can be such a handful, but I know that if I drive her in the right direction she will have a lot of influence for good among her peers. I hope and pray that I can channel that energy into something wonderful and influential. I sure so love my little girl and am so proud of her accomplishments. I know it won't be long until she heads to kindergarten and I will miss all that energy she brings into our home. Here's to a fun summer!

Our dancing flower

When I enrolled Joselyn in dance last fall, I was a little skeptical. She was still 2, and would be the youngest in her class. And believe me when I say we had our share of troubles. But I am so proud of her. She may not have always danced when she was supposed to in class, but when she got on stage she was impressive. She knew the steps. And she loved the stage. I'm starting to feel that my intuitions about her being a dancer were right. And maybe she's too young to tell just yet... but even her teacher Miss Mindy said that she is a natural.

Last Saturday was her Spring Recital. For months the girls had practiced and practiced and finally got to be on stage at the Lexington Opera House. They danced to "April Showers" and "Ain't She Sweet" and were little dancing flowers that grew from their "pots". Their costumes were bright florescent green with lavender flowers. Before the dress rehearsal and the day of their recital, I let her run around and dance outside the opera house so I could grab a few pictures of her all dolled up.It's really satisfying to see your children do something they love so much. She came up with her own poses and dances. I know there are a lot of pictures, but how could I have left any of these out??

Joselyn loves her teacher Miss Mindy. Actually, Landen does too. They talk about her during the week a lot as well. She is very sweet and good at what she does.










I've never been good with hair, and I didn't think Joselyn's hair was long enough for a bun, but I was quite proud of her little braided bun- it was actually cute! Tiny bobby pins helped a lot!

'







Joselyn was excited to see some of her friends before the show.





The girls' number was 2nd in the program. This was really good because I'm not sure Joselyn would have lasted much longer than a few numbers after her performance. They were so cute!! Of course I didn't see anyone else- I only had eyes for Joselyn. Good thing I got a video during dress rehearsal! Not the best, but it's cute. In the photos Joselyn is 4th from the left... in the video she is 3rd from the left.





They had these really cute paper flowers on sale and we got one for Joselyn to congratulate her on a job well done.

 

Squirly Squirly the caterpillar

As Joselyn said "I can't believe I got my first pet and it's a caterpillar!" It was love at first sight when Joselyn laid eyes on this fuzzy little guy at the side of our house. We made him a little temporary home, filled it with some soil, leaves and dandelions (apparently these wooly bear caterpillars love them) and Joselyn carried him around for a while. Adam looked up information on them to be safe :) Isn't he so cute?







Then we let him play a little outside.. and slowly but surely Joselyn and "Squirly Squirly" (she came up with the name all by herself) warmed up to each other.











At first Joselyn was a little skeptical about even touching him, but you've got to admit, he does look soft and fluffy. So she started by gently petting him and then by the end of their 1-2 hours together she had him crawling around on her arm. Braver than me!

"He's so fluffy I'm gonna die!!" Name that movie!














It was actually quite sweet to see how much she loved Squirly Squirly. She talked to him, made sure to get him lots of dandelions to eat, made up a caterpillar dance AND song for him, and gave him lots of cuddles.











She also drew his portrait- twice.

As the sun started to set, we told Joselyn we would have to set him free and say good-bye so that he could turn into a butterfly (er... moth, actually). It was a sad parting, but she made sure to give him a big kiss good-bye and said she would come see him in the morning.





Sure enough, the first thing Joselyn wanted to do was to go see Squirly Squirly this morning. He wasn't anywhere to be found. Although sad, Joselyn stayed optimistic- suggesting that maybe he had built his cacoon somewhere and that the next time we saw him he would be a butterfly!

Joselyn's First Letter in the mail :)

While Joselyn was at Preschool today I checked the mail to find a letter for her! I saw that it was from her Sunbeams teacher. I couldn't wait to tell her she had some mail!! When I went to pick her up, I found out they had learned about the Post Office today at Preschool! How convenient, huh? So I told Joselyn she had received a letter and she was SO excited to go home and open it!

Rainbows and a horse with rainbow hair was definitely the thing to put on Joselyn's letter.








Look at the smile that creeps on her face...







Isn't that just the sweetest thing ever?? Her teacher sure knows how to make a childs day!! I'm so grateful that someone as sweet and caring as that is taking care of my child in Sunbeams. Here is what the card said:

Love this. Thank you Sister Wells!

The oddest requests...

Joselyn can be quite OCD about things. Definitely gets that from Adam. She is especially particular about things at night. Once prayers are said and lights are out, she wants all her Gyboree blankets on her and she requests songs and stories. Every night she pretty much tells me exactly what story to tell. Tonight it was:

"Mommy, I want a story about Joselyn and all her friends... the ferocious beast (of course!), Rupunzel, the Grinch and all her other friends!"

So I tell her the story and give her a kiss good-night. Then she asks if I'll go to my office. She can see me sitting at the computer from her bed and I think it brings her comfort. Maybe I shouldn't submit to that request, but I figure one day she'll either grow out of it or be more negotiable.

After I go to the office she calls me back in to take off her Gymboree blankets because she is too hot. It doesn't matter if I tell her before hand that putting all those blankets on her will make her hot... she just loves the routine of it I guess.

I go back to the office.

Joselyn then surveys her room for anything she doesn't want in there. It's best to have her room spic n' span before putting her to bed to avoid requests such as these. We did clean her room tonight, but I apparently left her toy potty (for a doll) in her room and she wanted it out. I joked with her... "But what if you need to go potty at night?" and she smiled. I love that she can understand humor.

I go back to the office.

"Mom, can you get my little lamb out?"

I had the same request last night. She has this little lamb that she loves but I guess she doesn't want to sleep with it. Last night I put the little lamb on my shoulder and kept it there while it was in the office. A few minutes later I took it off and she saw me.

"Put it back on your shoulder mom!" so I did. Until she was definitely asleep.

Tonight she requested I put the lamb on my shoulder again. So guess what? As I sit here typing this entry I have a little lamb sitting on my shoulder.

I can't say it you say it.

Making me laugh... Joselyn sometimes forgets how to pronounce something or forgets the word she wants to use so she tells us "I can't say it you say it" like we have some magical powers to know exactly what she was going to say!

I need to do another funnies post soon... I have a lot of other cute things written down! And Landen is starting to get to the age of saying adorable things too. It's gonna be a fun year!