Silly girl

Every evening after Amelia does her 20 minutes of mandatory bedtime reading she insists that I make-up three stories. This has been going on for months.

"Mom I cannot sleep until I hear your stories," She tells me.

I am beginning to run out of ideas. Within the last couple of weeks Amelia has decided to let me off the hook. I make-up two and she makes up one. Her stories are hilarious and morbid. Tonight's was about a zombie that ate every single person in the world. His belly exploded and gooey people ran out of it. The earth was filled with slimy half zombie people. Crazy-right? Do I need to send my kid to a shrink? Perhaps.

Us

Amelia in November

Disney Fanatics

I never thought I would be one of those people that is all, “OMG I love Disneyland! It is awesome! I want to go their all the time, blah blah, blah.” But I am that person.

Years ago, my parents treated the boys, Aaron, and I with a mini Disney vacation for Andrew’s 5th birthday.  Jacob was in tears the entire time. He thought all the characters dressed up as Mickey, Goofy, and Pooh Bear intended to kill him. The rides terrified him because they were dark and had fluorescent things popping out at him. He wanted to go home. He spent the day in constant fear for his life while I spent my time trying to calm him down. When we left I had no interest in ever going back.


Nearly 8 years later we decided to give it another try for the sake of Amelia, who is in the only kid in her class that has yet to spend the day at Disneyland. The boys stayed with friends because they thought the idea of sleepover at someone else’s house sounded like more fun.

It was just Aaron, Amelia, and I. For thirty six hours Amelia had a constant grin on her face (except when we went in the haunted hotel which terrified her). We went on Space Mountain five times, we had breakfast with the Disney Princesses, we slept at the Disneyland hotel, we rode the monorail, the teacups, we toured the homes of Mickey and Minnie Mouse, and we watched the parade in the evening, and saw the World of Colors show. It was fantastic. I am officially a Disneyland fanatic.

Amelia paraded around Disneyland first in a Snow White costume, and the next day in and Ariel one. We gave her a map and she circled all the places she wanted to go to. She enthusiastically led us around the prak. It was one of the best 36 hours of my life. I want to go back like right now! Here are some pictures:

Math vs. Reading

Today Amelia told me that math is better than reading. I almost rang the neighbor’s door and asked if they wanted an adorable 7 year old. That is how upset I was.


Amelia has become obsessed with Dr. Seuss books. As a kid, I wasn’t a fan because I believed Dr. Seuss lacked substance. He wasn’t really telling a story with a plot. He was rhyming and that bugged me.

For the last two weeks Amelia has read fox in Sox and One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish a million times. She is fixated on becoming a perfect reader. She gets this way a lot. When the kids in her kindergarten class started hula hooping she begged me to buy her one. She started practicing every day until she was able to get to the point where she could run laps around her schools playground while balancing a hula hoop on her hips. I am not exaggerating, she really did this. It was the same with the piano. Amelia is in a combined classroom of 1st and 2nd graders. The kindergarten teacher in our school provides piano lessons for kids in grades 2-8. Amelia is not old enough. Some of the kids in her class are. She has figured out what they are learning on the piano and has demanded that Aaron teach her. She has perfected the few songs she knows that the 2nd graders can play. I don’t get it. I have always been fine with being mediocre. Amelia, on the other hand, is not.

Back to English vs. math. I am afraid Amelia is taking a mathematical approach to reading which kills me. I don’t believe she is really listening to the story being told. Instead, she sees reading as a puzzle to decipher and perfect. That part she loves. I am alarmed by this. But, I am hoping with age this will change. I am going to continue to do our nightly bedtime stories in the hopes that she will cherish books.

Seven

Amelia,

Today you are seven years old. You are still super tiny so most people confuse you for a five year old. This gives me the false illusion that you are still little, but the truth is you are growing up. You have lots of solid opinions on things like what you want to wear, listen to on the radio, and what is cute and what is not (for instance black dresses are cute while pink one are not!).  I can no longer force you into wearing peasant shirts and stripped tights!

 This year you have begun to show some serious interest in music. Thankfully you are not a Beiber fan.  In the morning on the way to school you demand that I,“turn the music up louder!” You sing loudly and out of tune.  You love to have dance parties. Brielle, our neighbor, often joins us during our dance parties but only if we close and lock the door so the boys won’t see her. You, on the other hand have no shame. You will dance anywhere, and at any time even at the grocery store if a particularly good tune is being played. You’re partial to really horrible Kate Perry and Lady GaGa songs or anything with lots of bass.

Dad bought you a piano for your birthday which I told him was insane “God help the man that marries your daughter.” I told him. Clearly you are going to have some serious expectations.

You are obsessed with playing the piano. You play in the morning first thing, before going to bed and as soon as you come home from school. I thought you would get sick of it but you haven’t yet.

While you are growing up quickly, you still do completely adorable little kid things, like saying Vampowers instead of vampires, calling restaurants, resturnants, sneaking into our bedroom in the middle of the night when you’re scared, and calling the song eye of the tiger, I love tigers.

On your Birthday I let you stay home from school so the two of us could spend the day at SeaWorld. I told your teacher you were suffering from the birthday flu. She wasn’t amused. We had a great day together. A polar bear put his nose against the glass right were your face was. We went on a ride that soaked our clothes and watched walrus eating fish, and got splashed by killer whales. It’s so rare for me to get time with just you so I loved every second. On the car ride home you were all smiles and questions. You wanted to know if bees drank water and if my red was the same color as your red. I like that you are thinking about these kinds of things. I wonder what your 7th year will have in store for you.

Love,

Mom

Sweet, Sweet, Summer

Bela, our little old lady, happy as can be at Mission trails

Nick, our neighbor, and Andrew, aka Tom and Huck

Our new rope swing that it is getting a ton of use by our family and all the kids in the neighborhood.

Andrew being Andrew

Amelia adores Andrew and he loves her right back

The Littlest One

So far my summer has been consumed by all things Amelia.  Jacob is visiting Grandma in Chicago for a few weeks and Andrew has a new best friend that lives next door, so Amelia and I have been spending lots of time together. 

Everyday Amelia comes up with creative things to do. She has a very imaginative little mind.  We have had countless tea parties, stuffed animal picnics, dress up play, treasure hunts, and lots, and lots of arts and crafts days.

A few weeks ago Amelia drew portraits of everyone in our family.  They are hilarious.  I'm the one with the messy hair on the top right. We cut them out and pasted them onto black construction paper.  She drew one of Bela as well but it tore a few days ago.
   

After a visit to Costco today Amelia constructed her own TV from the cardboard box our groceries were placed in.  She made herself into a human TV and is now insisting that we save her creation for Halloween.  I'm not sure how I feel about my child being a TV for Halloween but I have plenty of time to change her mind.

The Dreary months

The kids plus the dog during winter:

The Best Quotes Ever

I really need to start writing down the funny stuff my kids say. I'm going to attempt to write a weekly blog post entirely on funny kid quotes

Andrew:

Tonight while helping Andrew prepare for a History test I asked him "What did the Inca emperor expect out of his citizens?" To which Andrew replied "That they all get circumcised?"

Wow! I'm afraid to ask where he came up with that answer. Luckily for the Incas they were not all expected to be circumcised.

Amelia:

"Mommy, if you ever are having a dream you don't like you can just control it. That's what I do. If my dreams are boring or scary I change them to whatever I want."

It must be nice to wield that much power

Jacob:

"Mom can you buy those butt wipe things that aren't for babies. I think they're for old people. It's like old people toilet paper. They're awesome. You can even flush them.

Spoken like a true Braun.

They're Growing Up

Amelia Birthday Letter #6

Dear Amelia,


I hate to admit this but at 6-years-old you are a far superior child then I was at your age.

Things you excel at:

1. Hula hooping- I have always wanted the ability to walk and hula hoop at the same time. I am 31 and still haven’t perfected the fine art of the hoop. However, you have. You can walk, talk, and perhaps even run all while balancing your fluorescent pink hula hoop effortless on your hips. It never ceases to amaze me.

2. Your bike riding skills- you learned how to ride at two-wheeler at the tender age four. The difference between the childhood me and you is that you are persistent. The day we taught you how to ride your bike was a day full of angry bursts of emotion and lots of tears but you insisted on learning and would not give up. This is embarrassing but I might as well admit it now, I did not learn how to ride a bike until I was seven; seven stinking years old. As you may have realized by now I am not a fan of exerting too much effort into things. Needless to say I really envy your ambitious spirit!

3. You love to learn. You want to know about everything. You are constantly asking me questions about the stars, the moon, clouds, why it rains, where the coldest place in the world is, and on and on. Lots of times I don't know the answer to these questions. When that happens you insist that I find out. I love that about it.

4. You like everyone. If someone is mean to you at school you insist that they were having a bad day and that tomorrow will be different. I find this aspect of your personality deeply wonderful. 

For your Birthday we went Apple picking in Julian. We had big plans to take you to Disneyland. Grandma was going to fly in from Florida for the occasion but then Great Grandpa died. Despite plans being changed you didn’t complain once. You were so mature about the whole thing. I’m proud of you for that.

Our Julian Apple picking day was so much fun because as always you were so very excited about the adventure. You loved having your own little white baggie to fill up and the overabundance of apples to choose from. You skipped up and down the tidy rows of apples looking for the best looking pieces of fruit.

Unfortunately at the end of our visit Grandpa Braun had the genius idea of shoving a wasp riden apple in your face. I am still unclear of the reasoning behind this but as always your Grandpa remains a mystery.  You were stung right in the middle of the forehead. You left the orchard in tears but made a quick recovery once someone mentioned that we would stop for some apple pie on the way home.

Things in your little world have changed a lot this year. You have moved on to the ever so grown up world of having a full day at school. You love it. You adore the idea of having homework and the round table you share with four other kids, you like the way the crayons are arranged according to color and the way Mrs. Krug allows you to be class leader once a month. When I told you that I spend a large chunk of my day missing you, in a very matter fact tone you told me “I don’t miss you while I’m at school.” This broke my heart a tiny bit and you must have noticed because you explained “Just because I don’t miss you doesn’t mean I don’t love you.” You are an old soul.

Sometimes I forget how little you are. You remind me with the cute things you do. For instance, while at the beach you often tell me how much you love “sea enemies,” when you mean sea anemones, or when you open the car door and shout “open Stephanie!” as opposed to open sesame, or my favorite, they way you still say crapping instead of clapping.

Little Miss Amelia, I am proud to be your mom and have loved watching you grow and evolve in to the little lady that I look forward to seeing every morning. I adore you more than you could ever fathom!

Love,

Your Mom

Apple picking in Julian

Amelia's First Day of Kindergarten

I had a vision in my mind of what Amelia's very first day of kindergarten would be like. I imagined waking up early and enjoying breakfast together as a family. There would be picture taking and a long tearful good bye at her classroom door. Upon picking her up form school she would happily greet me and go on and on about how great her first day was.

That's not what happened.

I attempted a family breakfast this morning but Jacob was cold and insisted on wrapping up in a blanket and collapsing on the couch, and Andrew was thoroughly grouchy. Amelia was the only one slightly chipper, although she was peeved that one of her butterflies in which we decorated her kindergarten bag with had gotten smooshed by Jake's backpack.

Once we got to school there was no time for pictures because school was set to begin in two minutes. Amelia's kindergarten teacher wanted to know where her morning snack was and why I hadn't placed it in a separate bag, hadn't I remembered this from when Jake was in her class (3 years ago!). Didn’t I read about it in the kindergarten handbook (I arrogantly ignored because I have already had two kids go through kindergarten) I was flustered by the time I left her at school.

When three o'clock rolled around I couldn’t wait to hear about her day. Upon picking her up in her room so had a mini melt down "why are you here so early, all my other friends are still in the classroom!" She fumed.

Before long she ran off to the playground to play with the other girls, only to have another temper tantrum on the playground when another kid accidentally kicked her. She left school in tears demanding that we stop at seven eleven to buy her a Slurpee.


I demand a redo! Maybe we can pretend that tomorrow is her first day?

Tiny rockstar

Earlier I mentioned that I bought Amelia a guitar. I had no idea just how crazed she would become over a plastic toy. Home girl is obsessed. When we drove to Mission Beach to pick up the boys from Jr. Lifegaurds she brought it with. Get this—she also brought a bagful of costume changes. Yes, you read that correctly, my 5-year-old daughter thinks she is a rock star.

On the 20-minute car ride she went through three costume changes. First it was a Hello Kitty shirt with silver rhinestones that she called “her real rocker look”, second was a pink floral number that she called her “pretty princess rocker look”, and lastly there was her purple hippie tank that was her “rock out costume.”

After the boys got into the car, she announced that when we got home she was going to roller-skate while playing her guitar so she could be a roller-rocker, but first she needed a costume change.

My daughter is awesome.

The best way to spend my day

From the mouths of babes

Every single day Amelia is filled with the most amazing and hilarious life observations. Here are just a few from today:

“Mom, listen to my shoes. They sound just like moroccas!” She tells me while clicking the heels of her glittery pink dress shoes together

“Why are oranges called oranges? A fruit shouldn’t be called a color! Bananas aren’t yellows!” she asks

When I say, “Who do you think first had the job of naming all those fruits and veggies anyway? What a cool job!”

She uses the tone she takes when she thinks I am being stupid, “Jesus named all the fruit. I think he named the orange last. He was tired of thinking up fruit names. “

Later today, When stopped at a red light she says “I see Aliens!”

“Aliens?” I ask.

“They are right there in the white car!” She points out our sticker smeared truck window.

“You mean those people in the car?”

“No mom not them, the ALIENS! Not mean aliens, the good aliens that help people. “

“You know Aliens aren’t real Amelia. There is no such thing.”

By now she is frustrated and says in an exasperated tone “Mom, remember when you said you heard aliens, well they are right there in that white car.”

“I don’t know what you are talking about.”  I say,  starting to worry that my daughter might be slightly crazy

“Mom!" Aliens are REALLLLL!” she insists

“Oh….do you mean ambulance?” I ask noticing one two lanes over

“That’s what I said ...aliens.”

“No, it's am-bu-lance.” I repeat annunciating this time.

“I know! A-LI-ENS! The good kinds not the ones in space.” By now she is really annoyed with me.

I drop it because I know an explanation will undoubtly cause tears. I'm not in the mood.  Hopefully by the time 1st grade rolls around she will get that ambulance and aliens are two very different words. I really don't want her teachers thinking that I hear aleins! 

This is the face she makes when she is disgruntled (which happens kind of a lot).

Little Miss Amelia

For the last ten and half years I have been surrounded by all things boy. Legos, wrestling, dirty socks, anything and everything used as pretend weapons, fart and poo jokes, Paper airplanes, skateboards, and bleeding injuries.

Then Amelia entered our lives and for the last 2 years she has been really into the stereotypical girl stuff. Fairies, princesses, my little pony, dress up, glitter, pink, pink, and more pink. Yesterday was her first ballet class and she loved it. Being in a roomful of 4-5 year olds in tutus may have been one of the most adorable sites of all time. It's fun having a little person in my life that is so very feminine.

Amelia Birthday letter number 5

Amelia,
You are 5; five-years-old already. You told me that next year you will be 6 but after that you will not be 7, 8,or 9. You will stay six forever. You don't want to go to kindergarten or ever have homework like the boys. Instead you will be little forever. I am okay with the idea of you being small forever. My friend Jessica asked you if you have a magic pill for that sort of thing because she would like one. This annoyed you and you rolled your eyes at her as if to say "You are an idiot! I am the only one allowed to stay the same age forever because I am awesome, and you are not!"

The fact that you are the oldest kid in your preschool class makes you very happy. You like to rub it in. Last week you had two of your friends over and told them "Soon I will be five and you will still be 4!" I had to talk to you about kindness and bragging. Whenever I talk to you about these kind of things you make a face like this:

Right now your major interests include, play-doh, you have the ability to sit at the kitchen table fro hours playing with play-doh. You also love to make books. You have me staple white sheets of paper together and you draw pictures on every page. You dictate what you would like me to write on them. You love to ride your bike and think it's pretty rad that you are the only one in your class that can ride a two-wheeler. Lastly you love littlest pet shop toys. When you play with them you create little worlds for them with love and conflict. You are highly creative and I love that about you. You have a great imagination.

You have a small crush on a boy named Marco. He is in the second grade and has a full head of brown curls. You draw pictures for him and bravely, unabashedly give them to him. His face always turns bright red when you do this. You follow him around after school and wave at him. It's cute but has me a little concerned that you will be one of those girls that has posters of boy band members all over your room. I like the fact that you are brave about your crushes because I never was. I was always awkward and would stare down at the ground whenever I was in the presence of a boy I had a crush on. I like your confidence.

When I found out that I was having a girl I hoped most of all that I would do a good job in making sure you had confidence. As a kid I had terribly low self esteem. I even named you Amelia after Amelia Earhart who was a brave and strong woman. I think you are living up to your name. I am proud of your strength and confidence. I am so very blessed to have you in my life.

Happy Birthday Amelia!

Love,
mom