Hihi! Goodness, how long since my last post?! It's been busy over here at the Kim residence, but I'm back from my little hiatus! And what better way to return than with a Mother's Day post! Keeping up with the tradition, I found some matching shirts for all of us to wear. The girls are way more cooperative now so taking these yearly mother's day photos are so much easier (I still bring some candy for bribing just in case). Girls had fun running around and making silly faces. Love them. I hope they'll keep taking pictures with me even when they're teenagers. hah.

Happy Mother's Day to all the mamas out there! *Will post a longer update about life lately soon*

Pumpkin Patch 2018 - Irvine Regional Park

We've been trying to check out a different pumpkin patch each year. I love going to them because I think pumpkins are so pretty (even the pimply ones!). Wish I could take them all home. This year we went over to the pumpkin patch at the Irvine Regional Park. Lots to do there, but pretty darn expensive. Everything costs at least 1 ticket (1 ticket = $5), so be prepared to spend some money! Girls especially enjoyed the pony ride. But do get there as early as possible. It gets more and more crowded throughout the day so you may end up having to park far.

Lately

It has been busy over here at the Kim residence with lots of changes/transitions. Here's a little of what we've been up to:

• Erin started kindergarten! And Ava started pre-school in the 2/3's class!
• Erin had her very first play date (with a school friend) a few months ago. She went over to her friend's place and her friend came over as well. Don't know why this was such a big deal to me, but I felt just as nervous when her friend came over...making sure her friend was happy and having a good time. Hah.  
• Ava is still peeing/pooping in her panty! Well technically her pull-up. After about the 10th poopoo panty, we decided to put her in pull-ups to make our lives easier. She has regressed terribly. Every day is different. Sometimes she'll never tell us she needs to use the potty and some days she'll tell us. We're going to have to re-train her again..fun times! 
• No more weekday naps for Erin. She was doing real well with going the whole day without a nap the first few weeks, but some days now she'll come home and pass out on the couch right after dinner. Poor thing. 
• We got a new dining table and dining chairs! Ken and I hated our previous ones. We got them our first year of marriage, but I'm happy to say they have finally been replaced. 
• Went fishing for the first time and caught my very first fish. Erin did not enjoy the experience, but Ava seemed to enjoy it.
• Signed Erin up for tennis lessons. She starts next month so I'll have to keep you posted on how that goes. Ava started gymnastics and seems to be enjoying it so far.
• I'm a room mom for Erin's kindergarten class. 

Super excited that October is almost here. Halloween costumes are a go and I can't wait till the girls get to wear them. Also everything pumpkin flavor is out and the weather is cooling down a bit and.. there's rain in the forecast (gasp!). Happy almost October!

Erin turns five!

We have ourselves a 5 year old (gasp). An almost kindergartner (gasp). Don't know why this particular birthday has a bit more of a punch, but 5 just sounds old. Haha. We threw Erin a bakery themed party this year. Wanted to throw her a party in a more controlled, less chaotic environment (last year's build-a-bear party was a bit hectic). There's a yummy cookie store near our home that let me throw the party there. I had the kids color paper hats and then they got to decorate cookies. We ended with some pizza and cake. Got all the kids sugar loaded..sorry parents! But everyone seemed to enjoy the party, especially Erin..success! Happy birthday Erin!

Erin at age 5:

• She is shy, but loud.
• She loves anything pink, purple, princessy and girly.
• She's very moody.
• Loves to write, color, draw, paint.
• Rule follower.
• Very fearful.

Favorites:
Food: Anything dad makes (psh). She later looked at me and said.."oh and anything mom makes".
Movie: Sleeping Beauty and Dumbo.
Restaurant: Souplantation.
Color: Pink and Purple.
Store: Hobby Lobby.
Dessert: Ice cream.

Ava starts preschool (and is potty trained)!

Preschool
We have two preschoolers now! Erin only has a few months left of preschool, but for those few months, we have one drop-off/pickup! And its amazing! Ava is currently 2.5 years old. I would have preferred sending her a bit later, but we wanted to give her a little overlap with Erin so it would be an easier transition. Ava did great her first day. Apparently she just walked off and yelled "Bye Daddy!". I'm sure having her older sister there with her made it all the easier. Oh and Erin loves that her little sister is there with her too. I like to call her a helicopter sister (which is a positive thing in my opinion). She tells me she often checks in on Ava to see how she's doing. So cute right? I love it. It's been about a full month now and teachers say Ava is doing great. I can already tell she's learning tons and she loves that she has a lunch pail of her own to carry.

Potty Training
With Ava starting preschool, I wanted to get her potty trained as well. Everyone says the 3 day method works like a charm, and to some extent it does. It gets the bulk of the training done. But honestly, potty training takes a good 2 weeks. The first 3 days is where you lay the groundwork/foundation. I'm all about keeping them pants-less during these days. It does get quite messy and nerve wreaking, but totally manageable. I just kept her isolated to certain areas of the house (anyplace with no carpet) and I put plastic sheets for her to sit on when she wanted to sit on the couch. Day 1 had a lot of accidents, which was expected. Day 2 had less than a handful of accidents and by Day 3 she was down to 1-2 accidents. Oh and most of these accidents were poopoo accidents (not kool). After the 3 days, she was still learning about timing and when to tell us she had to go. This is the part that takes more than 3 days to train. The first week we'd have to have the potty right next to her when she had to go because she wasn't giving herself/us enough notice and often she had already peed by the time we reached the potty. By week 2 she was able to notify us with enough time to get to the potty. Then there's the whole being in another environment issue. They may have been going to the potty accident free at home, but there's only so much you can train in a controlled environment.  Once you put them in a different setting, i.e. school, restaurant, etc., it will cause a bit confusion for them so you should definitely expect regression.  Oh and not peeing during napping will take longer to train and same goes with poopoo. Fun stuff right??

A few tips:

-Treats can make a difference. Ava can be easily bribed (not sure if that's a good thing), but it worked in our favor during potty training. Jelly beans and pez did it for us.
-Be ridiculously overjoyed and affirming.
-Buy lots of cheap panties. You will go through a lot.
-Try to skip the toddler sized potty chair. Sometimes kids get so used to using the little potty chair that they get nervous/scared and aren't able to use the regular sized ones. It makes the transition a bit harder for when you're not at home and you don't have the toddler sized potty on hand. I recommend training with the toddler seat that goes on the adult potty.

t's been about 2 full weeks now. She has an accident here and there and her poopoos are still a work in process, but she's doing great. So many changes/transitions for little Ava. A big year for her! Also, random update, but Ava is finally eating meat! Hooray! I was worried about having to pack two different lunches (one with meat and one without) but now we can pack the girls
the same thing. She eats meat!