Today is the first day of Ana’s summer vacation. And how did we celebrate? By getting up at the same time we do every morning. Ugh. Oh, well. The girls put on these super cute outfits to make 6am a little more palatable for Mommy. Way to go, girls!

As you would expect, since she no longer has school today, Ana graduated from Pre-K yesterday. Her class had a ceremony that was full of singing, and it was just about the cutest thing ever. My favorite part was when they showed a video of all the kids talking about what they wanted to be when they grew up. Ana’s answer? “A mommy.” She went on to clarify that she wants two girl babies named Katie and Suzie. (And I’m hoping that does indeed happen because she told me that if she has a boy, she’s naming him Picklewaithe. There’s a name that no kid can grow into, you know?)

We’ve officially said good-bye to sippy cups. I know, I know. That should have happened a couple of years ago, right? Don’t judge. I was really great about getting the bottles out of their hands by their first birthdays and replacing them with sippy cups, but I’ve been hesitant (obviously) to replace those sippy cups with real cups. What can I say? I love sippy cups. I love that you can’t make a mess with them. I love that you can’t spill them. I love them so much that I’ve considered making Wes drink out of one. But I’ve finally faced the facts — they have to go. Ana has been fine with a cup for a long while now, and surprisingly enough, Emma (who has a history of making huge messes with cups) has been spill-free so far as well. The only person to spill a cup recently? Yours truly. Oh, the irony.

Emma has started ANOTHER new thing. (As if the wonder of real cups wasn’t enough!) When she gets in trouble, she tries to deflect any correction by closing her eyes, producing the biggest tears ever, and wailing at a pitch that only Charlie can hear. In other words, she has herself a fine, fine fit. A little bit into it, she’ll peek through those overflowing eyelids to see my reaction. It’s never what she’s looking for, so she’ll turn the waterworks off as quickly as she turned them on, confusion all over her little face. See, what she doesn’t know is that Ana is the queen of dramatic pseudo-fits, so I’ve been well-versed in the art of dealing with fake wailing and forced gnashing of teeth. And while ignoring such theatrics isn’t easy (especially when they’re splitting your eardrums), it seems to stop them. And now that I’ve said that, ignoring the pseudo-fits won’t work the next time she throws one. (She’ll know that I’ve written this and will take it as a challenge to just keep on screeching!)

Of course, I was screeching right along with her on Sunday when she fell in gravel and BLED. EVERYWHERE. I thought she just had a little scratch when Wes picked her from where she had fallen, but when he sat her down and I saw blood all over his pants (!!!), I realized that I was wrong. I’m past the point where blood, vomit, poo, and other such kid by-products bother me, but I was horrified by the oozing gash on Emmy’s perfect baby skin. Wes was applying pressure to the wound (aaaahhh!!!) and telling me, “Just a skinned knee, just a skinned knee…” Tell that to your bloody pants, pastor! After we got her all cleaned up and bandaged, Ana fell at church and skinned her knee, too. There was about one-tenth the amount of blood involved as there was in Emma’s case, but Ana cried ten times louder. Long live the Drama Queen! It wasn’t the best day for Faulkette knees, but we survived.

Speaking of surviving, we’re still running. Every day that I don’t pass out on the pavement is a victory, y’all. We’re getting to the point where every Saturday run is an “I’ve never run this far before” run. The process is gradual enough that I don’t feel like I’m dying. Actually, I do still feel like I’m dying (ha!), but instead of looking at the 10K we have coming up in a few weeks and thinking “there’s no way!,” I’m thinking, “that’s less than I’m running now.” Of course, I’m huffing and puffing through what we’re doing now, but the 10K is nothing in comparison, so… I guess the system works! Even if random parts of my body are still sore hours after I’ve run. (My elbows were sore the other day. I had no idea my elbows were even involved in running, but apparently, they are!)

We had so much fun last weekend celebrating Wes’s thirtieth birthday… but I’ll wait until THIS weekend (when he actually turns thirty) to post about it. Hope your week is great!