Fall 2009

Today is day number 2 of no school. I'm kind of happy and kind of...not sure what we're going to do all day! It's bitterly cold out, which is too bad because there's a ton of lovely white snow that the girls are dying to play in. They played in it for a bit on Tuesday and I was so excited as we were getting ready because both Maegan and Anna-Kate can pretty much dress themselves in their snow gear! Dressing 3 girls to play in snow is no fun, so any help I can get is good
This fall has been a good one for our family. Maegan still loves every minute of kindergarten and we were both surpried when she was hoping for a snow day yesterday. But, she's a girl that loves staying in her jammies, making art projects and playing in the snow so snow days are exciting, even for her. Anna-Kate loves preschool and is so much more social than Maegan, we just eat it up. She comes home and tells us who she played with and what they did and can usually give us many details of her day. She is so excited for her birthday! I always get ahead of myself and start thinking my kids are their upcoming age way too soon, so to think she's just turning 4 kind of blows my mind. And add to that the fact that she speaks and acts like an 8 year old!
Molly is our funny girl. She makes us laugh constantly by acting like her sisters, and saying many funny things. I think she might be our future class clown! Her current favorite activity is "pway da ipod." Hearing my 2 year old ask for my ipod is just a little too much for me! Molly has been having some sleeping issues for around 6 weeks now. Most nights she struggles to go to bed and when/if she does go to bed in her own bed, she wakes in the middle of the night to come to our bed. However, last night she was struggling to go down and I promised her a sticker (on her hand, she insisted) if she stayed in bed all night, and she did! I'm shocked.

The biggest thing in our lives right now is that Maegan's best friend, Joey, was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia last week. As a mom, I've been waiting for something like this to happen. I assume it's natural- and I don't consider myself to be a worrier- to fear car accidents, serious illness, any life-changing event. And to know our friends are going through this is heartbreaking. We went to visit Joey on Monday, and that was nice. We just can't wait to have him back, and 100% healthy again.
Maegan was shy to Joey at first, because of his wheelchair. But after a litte time, she was better and even went for a ride with Joey! He took us to the 8th and 3rd floors of the hospital, showing us all his favorite spots.
Joey is coming home from Iowa City today, and we are so happy for him. Being in the hospital is no fun.

We've been working hard to make our den more organized and fun for the girls. I bought and painted a table, which is our new art table, we hung some shelves and painted a large chalkboard on the wall! It still needs to be trimmed, but the room looks great! I also painted a corner tv stand which is now their computer table. It's really coming together and not such an eyesore anymore!

I'm working on uploading some pictures, but having problems getting blogger to cooperate.

My apologies

I apologize to my loyal blog readers who have been made to wait so long! I've neglected you, and I'm sorry. :) I've decided to make this task simpler by writing a word update now, with picture update to come later.

Maegan's update-
Maegan, our beautiful kindergartner! I am adjusting to her being gone all day long, but I can't deny that it still does make me sad to not have her here. Don't get me wrong- the house is more peaceful, things stay cleaner longer and the art table, while tidy, lacks the life it used to have. Our house is just not the same without her here! She loves every minute of kindergarten. It worries me slightly that the only thing she can ever tell me she did each day was 3 recesses, snack, lunch, gym art or music, and rest time. Oh and sometimes they color. But I remind myself this isn't college, it's kindergarten and the academics will come...later this year i hope? She rides the bus to and from school each day which she loves and has a bus riding partner in Joey, who is the big brother (also in kinder.) of the little girl I babysit.
We made the decision a year and a half ago to keep Maegan from kindergarten last year and put her into pre-k, making her one of the oldest in her class. This concerned me but I was assured that it was best for social purposes, so we agreed. Fast forward to this year, and the packet of information we got about Maegan's kindergarten curriculum. The will focus on 2 sight words per week, with a total of 26 learned by the end of the year. I had maegan read through the list and the only sight word on the list that tripped her up was "seven." So, I'm feeling a little concerned about how they can keep her entertained and continue to build on her reading skills if she is already reading...we'll see what happens.

Anna-Kate's update:
Anna Kathryn, our gorgeous preschooler! School started this week for her, and both were short days so she was bummed she didn't get recess! A very disappointed Maegan sat on the playground and waited for her, because they will have recess at the same time some days. I thought that was very sweet!
She did great with preschool, aside from the first morning where I think her nerves got the best of her. She had a tummy ache but was all healed by the time we got to school, and she took off without a second glance. She already knows several of the kids in her class which is great for her.
Anna-Kate and Maegan are both doing gymnastics and hopefully dance this year. Anna-Kate is excited to be at the same gym Maegan is at and did really well in her first class last week.

Molly's update:
Molly, our loving little wild child! We've discovered that Molly has two personalities. The loud, pushy, cranky one that comes out when her sisters are around and the sweeter, quieter, softer one that comes when she's by herself with mommy or daddy. She is normally loud and very, VERY funny. One of her famous quotes from lately is:
Ryan- Molly, you're not funny.
Molly- I FUNNY!
Ryan- No, you're not funny.
Molly- (growly voice) I FUNNY!!!!!

She's very verbal for her age, I think. Maybe not quite as understood as Anna-Kate was but for the most part I can understand everything she says. She's recently learned how to jump, which is pretty funny to watch. She pretty much copycats everything her sisters do and say, which is also hilarious. For example, Anna-Kate will walk up and say something to me, and walk away. Molly follows right behind her, says the same thing in a garbled up Molly language, and walks away.
I can't believe my baby is almost 2! I'm not sure what kind of party she's going to have yet, but she really likes Mickey Mouse so I'm thinking we may go in that direction.

Kid Survey- Maegan

Maegan, age 5yrs, 10 mos

1. What's your full name? Maegan Elizabeth Dolan
2. How old are you? 5 1/2
3. When's your birthday? July 2
4. What year were you born? 2003
5. What is your address? 6119 Judson Circle, Davenport IA um...I don't know the numbers mom.
6. What is your favorite thing to do? Eat.
7. Who is your best friend? Abby and Ella and Ellie and Lindsay and Aubree and Isabelle.
8. What do you like to do with your mommy? Um, play and snuggle
9. What is your favorite treat? Candy and popsicles and those things- butterfinger and crunch (ice cream bars.)
10. What do you want to do when you grow up? a mommy and sometimes a firefighter.
Expand on that? I'll be a mama on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays and I'll be a firefigher Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and the next Monday.
11. What's your favorite movie? Pee Wee's, Spongebob and Scooby Doo.
12. Why do you like Pee Wee? Because he rides a bike and then it's gone and then he gets trick gum. Actually I just like him.
13. What do you want to do this summer? Go to the beach and go to the pool at the beach and make a hole so I can go under the sand (and she goes on for five minutes for this plan to build several holes in teh sand and where they will go.)14. Are you going to school next year? Yes, to kindergarten.
15. What is special about your daddy? He works hard
16. What is special about your mommy? I love her.
17. What is special about Anna? She likes to play.
18. What is special about Molly? She likes to do her arm dance.
19. What is your favorite song? You know it. Poker Face.
20. What do you want to learn how to do? Math!
21. What do you hope to learn in kindergarten? Learn how to write more words
22. What else do you want me to ask you? I'm all done.

The end.

Kid Survey- Anna

Anna-Kate, age 3yr. 4 mos.

1. What's your full name? Anna-Kate
2. What's your last name? Anna Kathryn?
3. What's your last name that all of our family has? um, I don't know!
4. How old are you? 3
5. When's your birthday? January 7? January 8?
6. What are your sisters names? Maegan, Molly, Daddy- is daddy a sister?
7. What is your favorite thing to do? Play at a computer. Go to gymnastics.
8. Who is your best friend? Maegan
9. What do you like to do with your mommy? Play games, go shoppping and go everywhere.
10. How come you still wear a pullup to bed? Because I pee in my unders all the time.
11. What is your favorite treat? Ice cream!
12. What do you want to do when you grow up? Ballet, dance class.
13. What's your favorite movie? Pee Wee's Big Adventure.
14. Why do you like Pee Wee? You KNOW i like it Mommy!
15. What do you want to do this summer? Go to the waterpark.
16. Are you going to school next year? Yeah, at Maegan's school, but not kindergarten.
17. What is special about your daddy? He gives me ice cream after I eat all my dinner.
18. What is special about your mommy? She gives me ice cream all the time.
19. What is special about Maegan? She gives me a hug.
20. What is special about Molly? She smiles.
21. What is your favorite song? Mamma Mia
22. What do you want to learn how to do? Do letters.
23. What do you hope to learn in preschool? Learn letters and do pictures and play with cameras with kid cameras.
24. What else do you want me to ask you? I...is that all that we writed? Mom, let's play a game now on the computer.
25. Tell me what Maegan is like. She's like goofy and like silly, she likes nail polish and she likes her money and she likes her headbands. She likes to eat.
26. Tell me what Molly is like. She likes playing with phones, she's happy, she likes to hit me and all the kids.

The end.

What we've been up to

March and April flew right by us! Here is a photo recap of everything, from the mundane to the pretty darn exciting things we've done.

March:
Molly made herself useful:


Anna-Kate sparkled in the sunshine that finally came back to Iowa:


Ryan and Maegan had a rocket-making adventure!


And a video of our rocket launch:


Anna-Kate had some ouchies on her lips:


We pretended it was warm out, even when it wasn't:


Maegan became even more contemplative and observant:


And believe it or not, things got even a little weirder around here:


April brought...

Colored eggs, of course:


The discovery of a cool place to keep an M&M safe:


Entertaining Great Grandma on Easter:


We all learned of Molly's love for animals:


We hoped the ducks would come back to our pond, but they haven't yet, so we fed the fish instead:



And we had more chances to pretend it was warm outside:


And now here's May...

Maegan's learning to ride her bike without training wheels:


And rocking the soccer field (she's the goalie:)




Fun with friends because now it IS finally warm outside:










Anna-Kate had a chance to show off her gymnastics skills!

Looooong Winter

I've found that every year, I begin to loathe February. Even more so now that the older girls are so independent and enjoy being outside, because by the time February comes we are so sick of winter and it's been a really long time since they've gotten to enjoy sunshine and fresh air. And while we love our new house, without the basement finished space is tight around here. HOWEVER, March is just days away and that means spring is near, and Ryan will be finishing the basement this weekend so when the carpet goes in next week our lives are going to change. (At least this is what I'm telling myself to cope with these final days of painful winter!) I am very eager to get the playroom setup and organized- that's my favorite thing to do, you know. And really excited for the girls to have another space to play in. In January I began watching a friend's two girls, who are the same ages as Maegan and Anna-Kate. So the playroom will be even more appreciated during the weekdays.

Now, onto what the Dolan girls have been up to!

Molly will be 17 months old in just a few days! She's becoming a very comical little girl, learning lots of funny things from her sisters. The most unique thing about Molly, as compared to the other two, is that she is a chatterbox. I have never heard a kid babble as much as she does. She will have these long conversations with us, and by the way she carries on you feel like you should understand her because it's obvious she knows exactly what she's saying. She's getting good at repeating words and also using words on her own. Some of her words now are- Molly (sometimes it's "Lolly" and sometimes it's "Dolly") cookie, more, Backpack, Map, and Spongebob. You know, the necessities :) The way she chatters makes us think she's going to be a big talker, like Anna-Kate. This has it's pluses and minuses! She's still growing well- off the charts for weight and 50%tile for height. She now has a nasty case of eczema but is handling it well. She still enjoys eating but has decided she does not like pizza which I find kind of weird. She enjoys dancing to ABBA, running around the house, shrieking like her sisters and playing at the top of the stairs, just to give me mini heart attacks.

Anna-Kate is as girly as ever. She is very into Fancy Nancy now, and the funny thing is that as well as she talks, she calls her Hancy Dancy. She's a total drama queen and she knows it. It's very funny and very hard to not play into it. She loves to change clothes, much to my dismay and we've now worked out a system where it doesn't impact my laundry mountain too much. She knows to put away whatever outfit she's changing out of, and she is not to ask for my help in getting dressed. It may sound harsh but I'm not kidding when I say she changes outfits 25 times per day! She goes from leotards to swimsuits, to shirts with tights, to dresses, and then starts all over again. It's exhausting! She's also seems to be an early shopaholic. She wants nothing more than new clothes and accessories. She cries like her heart is broken if we go shopping and she does not get a new article of clothing. I have a feeling that she and I will do serious damage together when she's a teenager!
Anna-Kate is a very picky eater and it's not uncommon for her to just not eat a meal or two per day. She's pretty stubborn but is pretty easily convinced to eat if there is dessert involved. She also enjoys dancing to ABBA and very badly would like to learn to read and also have her teeth fall out, just like Maegan :)

Maegan very badly wants to be 6 years old, because that means she gets to go to kindergarten. She has kindergarten roundup on Tuesday, so I'm sure that will be a great deal of fun for her, as she gets to go to her new classroom and be a kindergartner for a couple of hours. She's now lost 3 bottom teeth and we discovered this week that her first top tooth is loose! I asked her to tell me what to write here on the blog and she wants you to know that she loves to eat candy. She is still very into drawing pictures and "blueprints" and designing machines to make. She loves to talk about directions and one of her favorite toys is her compass, and she's also lately become very interested in the planets and can name them all in order. She loves the Harry Potter movies and I'm currently reading the first Harry Potter book to she and Anna-Kate. Maegan's started reading and can read pretty well on her own. I can't say she's always excited to read but hopefully she'll get there :)



Our kids jump on the furniture way too often. I wish they would stop, and trust me I try.


Anna-Kate dove into the back of the van, and smacked her eye on the plastic part of the seat. She had a huge bump and then a black eye for a week!




Her 3rd tooth, that she didn't want to pull out. Doesn't she look so pathetic? :)









Abby and Maegan

Wow

Just out of Maegan's mouth-


"IT'S THE BEST DAY OF MY WHOLE LIFE AND I'M GOING TO KEEP IT THAT WAY! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"