This news is a bit belated, but a few weeks ago Alex decided she was brave enough to get her ears pierced! Our neighbor Adelaide decided she wanted to go for it after seeing another neighbor girl with her newly pierced ears--Alex was unsure and went back and forth about deciding whether or not she wanted to get them done, and in the end she decided to go for it. I had always felt I would never force her to get her ears pierced--the decision would be hers--but she wanted to go watch Adelaide get hers done and I knew there was no way I could take her to watch because she'd probably be terrified after that! I told her the trip to the mall was only for girls who were getting their ears pierced, and I said it was totally her decision. However I warned her that if she decided she wanted to go there would be no turning back...and sure enough she tried to! She enjoyed picking out her earrings (she went with Hello Kitty) and she also picked out a black princess cat mask to wear while getting them pierced (that was my attempt to give her something to distract her and possibly block her vision from the piercing guns--it didn't work very well). Desiree has a pretty funny picture of Alex on her blog--you can read her post and see pictures
here.
We had 2 employees set to pierce each ear at the same time so the process would be over all at one time, and once they got set up they told Alex they would wait until she said she was ready before they pierced them. I wasn't sure if they were just telling her that to calm her down or if they were really going to wait until she was ready, so she began getting upset, saying she wanted to go home, and I attempted to calm her down for what felt like an eternity (with no luck) and she began getting more upset the longer we sat there--the girls were waiting there patiently and finally we asked if we could just hold her down and let them get to work, and they said "sure"--I wish I'd have asked that from the beginning and saved myself the stress! Once we knew that, Desiree and I were able to hold her still long enough for them to pierce them, and after a few more tears she was excited to get to a mirror to check out her new earrings! I asked her if she was glad she went through it in the end, and she said YES.
On a separate note, here are a few things I wanted to remember about the kids--some funny stories, things that are going on these days with them...
The other day Alex was lamenting the fact that she was a car rider instead of a bus rider. I told her that since we don't have any neighbors that ride the bus (they are all driven by their parents) I think it's better that we wait until she's more comfortable at school and maybe at some point she can ride the bus. I told her I was worried she might get off at the wrong stop, and her response was "then I think you should give me a cell phone and I will just call you to come get me" (she said this in a very matter-of-fact manner, not thinking it would be strange for someone her age to have a cell phone). I bursted out laughing and said "I don't think so! You're only 5!" then she said "well maybe you should just let me take yours". Again, not happening girlie!
Kellan (now 2 1/2 yrs) is in a phase where he likes to dictate what clothes he wears--it's getting to be a bit frustrating but it's so cute that I am tolerating it. He has determined that certain pieces of clothing that he owns are 'soccer clothes', and that's all he wants to wear. It appears that any sort of gym/mesh shorts and any t-shirts that have writing on it are considered soccer clothes, or 'soccers' as he calls them. Any time we change his clothes or get him dressed in the morning he requests to put on his soccers. He is so proud of himself in his soccers, and gets pretty upset with me if I try to get him to wear khaki shorts or polo shirts (I do make sure I win on Sundays for church although the rest of the week I don't usually fight the battle). He also is currently excited to wear sneakers--he's particular about which pair he wears and is slow to like anything that's new. Who would think my little rough and tough boy would care so much about clothes??!
Kellan is also still fearful of car washes. He does NOT like when the water jets spray the car with water and he usually cries the entire way through. He's been afraid of the car wash for as long as I can remember. He's also very cautious about new things--he does pretty well at playgrounds but is happy not going on various rides at amusement parks--he's much happier staying on the ground :) He does LOVE slides though and once he finds one to go down it's usually hard to get him off. He also still loves his lovie :) I'm not sure when we're going to break him of it but he is still so sweet with it that I'm not in a huge rush.
Kellan and Grammy (he had just discovered chocolate covered sunflower seeds and he was devouring them!)
Alex and Nolan playing with some of his new birthday gifts
Aunt Nay Nay making silly faces with Alex and Nolan (while enjoying smores!)
Aunt DeeDee showing Alex her soccer skills :) 
The kids and I had a great time (as always) and tears were shed when the kids were told it was time to leave. We love having the ability to celebrate birthdays with family--we only wish we lived close enough to celebrate them all together!
