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Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Bubbles

Cocoa has a new sentence: "Bwo bwo bubbahs!"  So I let him.

boy with bubbles and boots

boy with bubbles and boots

boy with bubbles and boots

boy with bubbles and boots

Friday, September 21, 2012

Long Math Day and Crayon Art

doing her math work

stacking and coloring with tablet crayons

I know why blogs always look so nice.  It's because we only have time to pick up the camera when the kids are happy and quiet.  Bingo.

Story problems completely derailed my daughter this week, I discovered this morning- all of this week's math was still waiting to be finished.  (A surprise to me.  Not a nice surprise, either.)  A long painful process ate up most of our afternoon, but some enticements (a hardboiled egg) and some help (reading the problems aloud, so she wasn't distracted by seeing all the words) helped move things along.

I brought out my old tablet crayons for the little kids, and everyone had fun stacking, banging, and coloring.  Mimi and Cocoa's pictures turned out remarkably similar, actually.  Quite colorful!!

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Hiking

The kids and I took a short hike this week for what I have dubbed Adventure Tuesdays. Throwing a quick walk in the woods and a snazzy title somehow transformed an afternoon of errands into something great.

Gosh I love these kids. I am so thankful for their tiny, healthy, strong bodies.

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Mimi Turns Four

Mimi is four. Oh my heck.

Thursday, we had celebratory muffins and bedroom door streamers. She only wanted a party with her cousins, and it moved to their house at the last minute to let the birthday girl play on their trampoline. I forgot the party favors, but remember the streamers and presents and birthday brownies. We went without games so the kids had time to play their favorite "pretends" and such. We had dinner at her current favorite restaurant, a Chinese buffet that can appease everyone. (Pizza, sushi, fruit, fish, soups, salads, rice, and tables full of fried food. Oh, and soft serve.) A successful day, with no stressed out preschooler!

Today we had the family dinner. It was... ummm... Well, we had chicken nuggets, French fries, berry salad, popcorn, and chocolate milk. With a princess cake. Uh huh.

Happy Fourth, Mims!!

Friday, September 14, 2012

Sleep Trouble

12:30 am Mimi knocks on my door, to tell me that Cocoa drew on her bed.

12:57 AM Ernie knocks on my door to tell me that her clocks says 12:54, and it scared her.  (Her heart is going like a rabbit's.)  I think she woke up with Mimi, and I shut the door.  She doesn't like having the door shut.

6:00 AM Cocoa wakes up.  HE SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT, y'all.  The night before, he was up 4 times.  Teeth.  They're nasty little buggers.  I pull Cocoa into bed with me.

9:00 AM Cocoa and I wake up.  This is weird.

11:00 AM try for Cocoa's 10 am nap.  Nope.

12:30 PM try for Cocoa's 10 am nap.  Nope.

5:00 PM Making dinner, Ernie comes and grabs me to show me something "Really weird!" in the playroom.

IMG_6453

IMG_6454

7:00 PM Cocoa wakes up.

9:00 PM Put Cocoa to bed.  Nope.

10:30 PM Put Cocoa to bed.  Nope.

11:20 PM, Cocoa falls asleep in Wonder Daddy's lap.  Wonder Daddy may or may not have fallen asleep as well.

Sleep problems.  We gots em.  

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Primary's Got Talent

The annual kiddie talent show happened this past weekend- the girls were preeeetttttyyyyy excited!

I snapped some pictures before we left.

2012 Primary Talent Show

2012 Primary Talent Show

Ernie was fairly nervous to play her piece (Choose the Right)

2012 Primary Talent Show

Mimi recited a poem, Wee Willy Winky

2012 Primary Talent Show


MAN, we had camera failures that night.  White balance on these, and I snapped on my big fat zoom lens, and I guess I can't take videos with it?  Then I fumbled the settings and most of my photos turned out completely black for Ernie.  I think Wonder Daddy got a video on his iPhone.  But for Mimi, I got good pictures, and he missed hitting the record button.

Oh well.  It was a great night.  We have a TON of kids in our church congregation.  There are over 100 kids aged 3-12, and if I remember right there are about 60 kids 3 and under.  So the night's offerings were VERY exuberantly received by the crowd, since the vast majority of folks watching the show were under four feet tall.  By the end, there was a herd of small girls dancing in the front, and running screaming across the auditorium.

I had a busy Saturday, with a co-op garage sale, auditioning for a Christmas show, and my cousin's baby shower in a town an hour away.  Weird to have a day being gone for most of it- it's been years since that happened.

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Pictures of August at the Lake

Sand castles

Walking to the beach

Hiii-yah!

Ball!

Sun bathing

Awesome goggles

When he gets that look, you know someone is going down.


Swimming with the life vest

IMG_6260

Every summer, for the past six years, my parents have hosted a family reunion at the lake town Manson, in the middle of Washington apple country.  We rent a few houses in a resort community, with big beaches, slow roads, and big green grassy fields.  My parents, the five of us kids (plus families), a few friends, and some in-laws all gathered for a week this year and soaked up the sunshine and the calm.  It's always so great to get together and talk and enjoy.  Even though a lot of us live in the same town, there's something great about having so much time together.  I get a chance to talk to my brothers and sisters, they get to play with their nieces and nephews.  Wonder Daddy and I snuck away one evening for a local concert to see Jonny Lang.  My mom (plus a helper) took all the grandkids mini golfing every night after dinner.  We spent every day at the beach, where the kids got their fill (umm....literally) of sand, sun, and water.  So grateful to be making these summer memories every year!

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

August Days

I snapped these pictures of my kids in mid-August.  I love these pictures- they are so them right now.  It's fascinating to me to watch them become who they are, without any help from me.  (Besides getting out of their way.)

Ernie sure loves her rubber boots!  She's hitting her seven-year-change right on time, and it's amazing to see her growing and changing into this little-big girl.  Her limbs suddenly stretch out forever, she sneaks away with stacks of books just to be alone, she jumps in and asks to do whatever I'm doing.  She loves to push the stroller, get the mail, take the trash cans out.  Short tasks that she can do by herself, her own way, and then check it off.  Life isn't as magical as it was for her, but she's finding a lot of joy in quietly doing things on her own.  And sometimes, not so quietly insisting that her little siblings (and parents) follow along with her own little plans.  That poor head of hers, it runs away with ideas, and it's just shocking when we don't all follow along.  My sweet Ernie. Does anyone have a small country she could run?  Just for fun?

The Garden in August

The Garden in August

The Garden in August