Bright and Shiny

Progress. Report.

My daughter received her first real progress report after her first year of speech class. It is always fun to hear what other people say/write about your kids. I won't bore you with the sounds, goals, and accuracy report part....just the cute stuff

So Ms. Liz wrote,

" Lilly is a pleasure to have in class. She is a funny, sweet little girl who enjoys working with others. Lilly is fun during class, and at the same time does a nice job paying attention."

I am happy to hear she listens to other adults better than me. I would rather it be that way, then vise-versa...although I would happily take both. :-)

She really has worked so hard this year with her speech and improved tremendously. She loves going to speech class and will miss Ms. Liz this summer. We look forward to another year next year!

Working on our manners and where did I go wrong?

So..if you are a parent, you know how rude and annoying interrupting is on a daily basis from your children. So I have been really trying to work on being polite when wanting to speak or say something.

Let's see where I went wrong here with this conversation.

Setting: Driving in the car

Drew and myself are having a conversation about Darth Vader or some new bad guy that he is obsessed with at the moment. Lilly starts to interrupt and is raising her voice over ours.

Me- "Lilly, you are interrupting. If you would like to talk you need to be polite and say excuse me, can I say something?"

Lilly- "Excuse me, say something?" (because she never quite says the entire full sentence)

Me- "Yes, Lilly. What would you like to say?"

Lilly- "Drew and mommy need to stop talking. Stop talking right now"

Just lovely and how polite Lilly. I hope she does this at church and school too because that is not being rude at all.

Fire Station #2

So, the first true field trip of their school careers happened for Lilly and Drew last week. FIre Station #2 opened up their doors to sixteen 2-4 year olds.(and their parents) It was really a special experience for all the kids.



You know..looking at this picture, makes me just a little sad. I only say that because I really feel like Molly is Lilly's first REAL (school)friend that is not a family member and next year they will not be going to the same school. Will Lilly notice...I wonder? But what is so sweet is that Molly and Lilly really both light up when they see each other. Hopefully we can still have some play dates!



She will definitely be a singer while she drives.


Drew will be a distracted driver


Something from Dr. Suess made into the fire station, and Lilly was looking for the Lorax to come down


Look at these handsome, sweet boys of mine


Drew volunteered to try on the HEAVY fire gear. He loved it.


I don't write it enough on this blog. I love these kids. love love love

Mama...mom...mother's day

My kids were so excited to bring home these school-made gifts. I LOVE them and get to wear two at once to compliment each other...


And then....no matter how much Todd trained them to NOT SAY anything about my other gift, the moment I walked in after they went shopping, Drew says, "Mommy...we got you a new watch today with Daddy" Now that's how you make this mommy proud.

Goodbye Tricycles

This has been by far the best recent purchase for these two. THEY LOVE THEM, like Drew first loved McQueen and Lilly first loved dirt. Drew really knows how to ride. He is in complete control and can go fast, and brake on a dime. Lilly on the other hand brakes by running into parked cars or the curb. We have been working intensely on her braking and she is slowly improving her braking skills.







How has life changed for you now Lindsey?
~Well....I now have to run next to them riding around our neighborhood(instead of at nice paced walk with tricycles) so I am getting more of a work out. Thanks for asking.

Boys night out

and now, guest writer, Todd Petersen

I told Drew leading up to this event that we were going to the circus. This was a mistake. Drew let me know how much of a mistake i had made 3 minutes into the performance asking me if we could go home. Turns out the night of Chinese acrobats basically meant that these little people would contort themselves into disgusting positions with their faces in each others nether regions and lift each other up by their unmentionables. Drew was robbed of the circus I promised, but was extremely happy to see that his friends Patrick, Casey, and Aiden were there, and his cousins Matthew and Micah were there as well. Circus or no Circus Drew and I had a good night without the girls. Next up will be a Giants game watching Lincecum.

Deep thoughts by the Petersen kids

I just have to document and share some unprompted and direct quotes from my kids as of late:

At 6:55am as Drew walks into my room to start his day, the first thing he says to me is, "Mama...I am going to be a nice boy today...not a mean boy"

As Lilly is running to the bathroom, Drew yells, "Lilly you need to turn on the fan if you are going to go poo-poo"

Driving to school on Tuesday and Thursday mornings..Lilly frantically yells, "Mommy watch OUT! Don't crash into that tree*!"
*tree could also be substituted for car, fire engine, house, biggest garbage can ever

When I sit down to eat lunch with Drew as he is finishing his lunch, he puts his arm around me and says, "I am not going to hit you right now mommy."

Lilly very seriously says, "Drew...look at me." when she wants his attention during a sincere conversation about how big or little she is that day.