Swimming Lessons

It has already been a year since Irina had swim lessons with Mr. Kaleb and she has been asking that entire time about swimming! She has learned so much from him and we are so proud of her for working so hard and being our little mermaid! She is able to hold her breathe for quite some time under water and is able to actually swim! I'm actually thinking about putting her in for another session in August because she loves it so much!

Irina's egg hatches!

For Easter Irina was given lots of fun things in place of candy and one of her faves is an egg that actually hatches! We put the egg in water and waited about a day or so, the egg started to crack and eventually hatched completely to reveal a little yellow duck. To be honest I was a little creeped out for some reason but Irina LOVED it. We took the opportunity to talk about which animals lay eggs and which don't. She best understood it that mammals carry babies in their tummies like humans, I told her she was right!

THE GATORS vs THE GIANTS

THE GATORS!
irina is on the bottom far left GO #3!
her buddy mattey is the 4th in the top row (tallest one)
one of her coaches is matteys daddy mr. john (far left)
ready to bat! she did great!

game over! I was cheering for BOTH teams, the kids are so cute in their uniforms!

Irina's first t-ball game was SO much fun to watch! I cant believe how quickly I became "that mom" that cheers and cheers for her kid. The game is short and is based on every child taking a turn to bat from each team, no score keeping; just a good time for the kiddos. She did great and had a blast with her team mates, Daddy-O came to see her play and Liam was in on the fun too. Liam was with us this particular weekend because his mommy was in labor. An awesome first game for the gators!

Play Ball!!

Irina had her first t-ball practice this week and did an awesome job!! Her team name is THE GATORS and Craig is an assistant coach on her team. The kids are so cute and they all get along great together. Her practice is in my old home town and her practices are at my old stompin' grounds Haltom Middle School. We had so much fun watching her interact and practice with her team mates. GO GATORS!

Big Bike

I want to say THANK YOU to everyone from our neighborhood playgroup, Liam and The Blake Family for the gift card that bought Irina her helmet, elbow & knee pads and gloves. She absolutely loves wearing her safety gear and that makes mommy & daddy happy! Her new bike was a gift from her buddy Matty, he is going green with his mommy and re-using the bike he has outgrown. We also want to say THANKS to him for sharing and going green. Irina got on the bike and rode off quickly, she was a pro at her trike and this was a piece of cake for her. She has a great time around the neighborhood with her new bike and accessories.

Miss Rina got a hair-cut!

BEFORE

AFTER

When Irina was born she had a full head of jet black hair, everyone said it would fall out and they were pretty much right about that. Her hair thinned out and even lightened up a bit to brown. With little hair she never really needed a hair-cut, we trimmed her "mullet" when she was 1 but that was it. She has some what curly/wavy hair like me and it is pretty to look at but not pleasant to de-tangle. Her hair is thin and can get very tangled, very easily. Craig and I told her about cutting it off and she was more than willing, in fact she wanted it cut just like her daddy's. We went to the salon and looked through some books, every single time she picked a style that looked like Craig's. I eventually convinced her into getting a "bob" and she reluctantly agreed. I'm glad we cut it and we no longer have to wince after bath time to brush her hair. She loves her hair style and we do too. Only down side is that she looks like a BIG KID :(

3rd Birthday Party

Irina is into Toy Story and her party was Buzz themed, she had a blast flying around with her cape and hugged her Buzz balloon non-stop. She isn't as girly as I would like but she is Irina and I love her and her Buzz obsession!

Crayon Rocks

A couple of weeks ago we visited one of my new favorite stores http://thegreenergood.com/. We were very "green" about our trip there too; we fit 3 adults and 4 kids into one car! Yes, of course all the kids were in each of their car seats and safely secured. The kids were great in the car and we had lunch at Chick Fil A after. Anyway, the store has so much cool eco-friendly stuff there, we will definitely be going back. I bought some crayon rocks that are naturally non-toxic, irina and i both love these! She has had so much fun coloring (before they were taken away, see blog titled "Story of Toys" for details). It makes me not worry about the chemicals that are in her crayons, they're directly on her hands which sometimes go in her brothers mouth. We've been slowly removing toxic chemicals, plastics, toys and so many other harmful things from our home and it feels great.

Story of Toys

CHAPTER 1
This is a story of a little girl who shall remain nameless and how she lost the privilege to play with her toys. I don't have a pic attached to this blog because this is a fictional tale of course ;)

There once was a little girl who was about to turn three, she was generally known for being a good girl and loved her mommy, daddy and brother very much. She liked her friends and usually shared her toys and books with no problems at all. This little girl would play all day long and would always help clean up her toys. However, things started to slowly change in this young lady, she was creeping closer to the age of three and grew wise in her own eyes. She began to disobey and became defiant at times with her normal daily routine. Her parents let things slide here and there not realizing the terrible mistake they were making. After talking to her and giving her time-outs, it was clear the little girl needed stricter guidelines and less freedoms in her world. One morning she awoke only to find all her toys were GONE! Yes boys and girls; every single toy was missing. Her mom and dad decided to take away all her toys until she could prove that she was a big girl that obeyed and respected the house rules. The only things that were left behind were her baby doll Fred because every baby needs his/her mommy and books that she could quietly read. So far it has been 2 days and the little girl has shown great improvement in her attitude, stay tuned for chapter 2 of this story.

First bath together

Giving the kiddos their first bath together! Mr. Man has sort of gotten too big to bathe in the kitchen sink so we moved bath time to the tub. Crew enjoyed having more water around and splashed Irina in the face, which is why she has her face covered here. I think its funny how he is wider than his sister.

Christmas Tree III

Finally Irina can correctly say "Christmas Tree"!

Saving Up!

Irina and her "te-he" (tia) at Unity One CU

straight from her Unity One piggy bank

waiting for her lolipop

The other day we fit the last handful of change into Irinas piggy pank, it was stuffed full. For a family that "never carries cash" we collected a ton of change. Irina and her daddy sorted the money, rolled it and i took her to the CU to deposit the coins. I used to work at Unity One CU (N. Tarrant branch) and my silings still work at the other two branches. My brother Roy works in collections at the campus branch and my sister Priscilla works at the north side branch. Since roy works in the back office we decided to see my sister and the full CU effect. She was more excited about the dum-dum after the deposit. btw her grand total was $57.84!

Goodbye Irina?

Some days I feel as though I say my kids names 100 times, whether it is during giving instructions or playing hide and seek- they hear their names nonstop. So the other day out of nowhere Irina told me to not call her Irina anymore, she said her name is Evie and that's what she wants to be called. I just looked at her with a confused look on my face, "who calls you Evie"? I asked her. "My daddy calls me Evie and his name is Daddy and Craig, he has two names.. too" (fun fact, she ends most sentences with the word "too" after a short pause even though it is totally out of place). Most people don't know but her full name is Evelyn Irina Odom, but we've always just called her Irina. However, since the day she was born Craig has called her Evie when it is just the two of them. He made it clear that Evie is his nickname for her and that no one else can call her that. He's a nerdy daddy like that and I haven't thought much about that agreement in 3 years. Well, apparently my daughter likes Evie better than Irina and wants that to be her "big kid" name. I knew that she would one day look at her name on paper and decide to go by Evelyn, Evie, Ev or even Lyn, but I thought it would be in high school or something. She doesn't look like an Evelyn to me, or an Evie...she looks like Irina. At this point we are all (family and friends) going to continue calling her Irina and if she consistently says she wants to be called Evie we will change for her. It is kind of weird to think of this whole thing since she has been Irina for her whole little life. Irina or Evelyn...it doesn't change the way I see her or love her, Ill always call her my favorite baby girl.

Christmas Tree

Christmas Tree Part II

irina sings her ABC's