Guess what N got?!

Yup. Guess what we're doing. Yup, outside practicing. Pictures of the bike, little girl, and helmet coming soon!

Job posting...

I don't think I have told everyone, because I haven't spoken to some of you in the last week and 1/2, but se don't have a nanny currently. (Ah, that explains the lack of posts last week!) We're in the process of looking for a new one. If you're interested, send your resume and hourly rate. You're responsibilities include watching 3 adorable little girls. You must have your own car that will hold 3 car seats and a clean driving record.

Bouncy-goodness

Nick got this picture of Kira in the bouncy house (at the Fall Festival we went to) through a patented technique of holding the camera inside the bouncy house, not looking through the image-viewer and clicking the button. I thought it was pretty funny.

Pony ride fun and art!

A couple of weeks ago, we went to our city's fall festival. Natalie was doing the chicken dance with her class (video coming soon!). The chicken dance was kind of a ploy to guarantee community participation/money spent by people. It worked. Each kindergartener received two tickets for doing the chicken dance to spend at the festival. Two tickets only got one ride. We ended up buying about 25 more so that Natalie, Kira and Tia could have fun in the bouncy house and do a pony ride.

All for a good cause, right?

We did get some good pictures. The girls loved the horses! Also, the day inspired art! The last photo is a picture drawn by Natalie. She loves art. (I honestly think it's a better horse than I can draw.)

Joke time...

Three men are captured behind enemy lines and sentenced to the firing squad. A lawyer, a professor, and a student. Each is granted one wish before facing death. First they ask the lawyer. He says, "I once pleaded a case to the supreme court and it was the best argument I ever gave in my entire life. Before I die, I'd like to give that argument one more time."

Second they ask the professor. He says, "Every year I give my very favorite lecture and it is really very polished and the best I have to offer. Before I die, I'd like to give that lecture one more time."

Third they ask the student. He says, "Please, shoot me before the professor's lecture...."

Mangia!

The three sisters ate so well at lunch today! It's a little surprising to Nick and I, but the last two times we've taken them out to eat, it's been painless and even relatively pleasant. For the most part, they've focused on sitting at the table and eating instead of running through the restaurant. We are shocked! On another note, Tia has declared that she can sit at the table and not in a high chair.

They are growing up!

(Photo taken on the iPhone)

No more pictures!

Every once in a while, the girls get tired of me taking pictures. Here Kira has had ENOUGH!

12 seconds

12 seconds of pencil twirling goodness. Enough said.

Playing!

The sisters love to play together. Tia's really joining in now. Since June she's been more and more interested in playing with her sisters. It's very fun to watch--they are so silly.

Here are some pictures from when they were playing the game Hullabaloo the other day. Hullabaloo has an "announcer" who calls out where to stand (which little cloth pad). The announcer also calls out how they are supposed to go to the new cloth pad. Sometimes he tells them to twirl, sometimes to jump, etc. You can see Tia with the announcer in the second to the last picture and you can see Kira and Tia stomping to where they need to go in the last picture.

Tia plays

Here's a clip of Tia playing with the book Grandma K made for her.

(Link fixed!)

A dream

Natalie was telling me about a dream she had. She dreamed she didn't know her vowels--she does and has for a couple of years now. She was with the "grumpy old troll" (a character from the educational television show Dora who often asks people riddles) and he asked her about vowels. Then suddenly, she said he turned the U into a Q, and the A into a B, but then he changed them back.

Crazy dreams!

Curls...

Tia's curls are really adorable. I've had a few people ask me how long I spend rolling her hair and making it look that way. After I finish laughing at the idea of me having the patience to roll her hair and style it, and her having the patience to sit still for it, I tell them politely, the curls are natural.

Unfortunately, it doesn't look like she'll have curly hair after we cut it. (She hasn't had a haircut yet, and I don't plan to get her one for as long as possible!). The top of her hair is quite straight. Enjoy the curls while she's still got them. (Boing, boing!)

Nice dress!

A few years ago, Grandma F gave me a lot of the dresses she had made for me when I was a little girl. She spent a lot of time making them (I remember having to stand for fittings...it was tough standing still while she pinned!) I loved those dresses... they were so beautiful and involved some amazing sewing. As Natalie got closer to the age where she could fit in some of the dresses, she was not interested... She would never try any of them on. She isn't interested in clothes. (On the other hand, Kira is totally interested and will try them on when she is the right size!)

When we moved to our new house, Natalie saw the dress I wore to kindergarten and for some reason, she was intrigued by it. When I told her what it was, and when I had worn it (the first day of MY kindergarten) she decided she wanted to wear it. We decided she probably shouldn't wear it to kindergarten, but she wore it to the birthday party we attended on Saturday.

Here she is smiling for Grandma F. She loves this dress.

Check-up

Tia turned two and we visited the doctor to see how big she is. She's 28 pounds and 34.5 inches tall. For comparison, Kira was 35.25 inches tall and weighed 30 pounds, 4 ounces and Natalie was 35.5 - 36 inches tall and 29 pounds.

I took Kira with me when we went to the doctor. Kira got one shot for preschool and weighed in at 38 pounds. I need to go through all of the doctor's sheets from the girls and type all their weights in an excel document and graph and compare them. (I will do that as soon as I get any spare time! Look for it in about January!) In the meantime, enjoy the pictures of Kira with the yellow lollipop and dress, and the side view of Tia and the lollipop she crunched through in about 2 seconds. (Just FYI, Tia and I crunch while Nick, Natalie and Kira lick lollipops.)

Past Due

I've been meaning to put up the web page with the rest of the pictures from our trip in June for a long time. Finally. You'll see some pictures from my (Judi's) high school reunion, Karin and her kidlets, and some of family.

Preschool!

Miss Kira started preschool for the fall. She was very excited. She was off for about a month and was ready to go back! Kira has always liked to go places. We decided she was ready for preschool 5 days a week. On day 2, she seems delighted by the prospect of going everyday.

The preschool does a fabulous job with the kids and they learn so much. Natalie learned how to read last year. They learn lots of songs and do fabulous art projects. We're really excited Kira is there.

Here you can see Kira eating lunch (complete with 3 peas), climbing out of the car, standing inside the gate and then by her room.

More on the picnic

Remember when Nick posted this picture? I had to work really hard to get all 3 of them looking so bad in a picture at the same time! Here's a couple more shots from when we did a balloon toss game at the picnic. I'm tossing to a doctoral student who came out to work with us this summer. He (Umer) was a good colleague and not bad at the old water balloon game. He and I were happy to have made it to the final four teams, but we didn't win.

The girls had a lot of fun at the picnic (despite what it looked like from that picture). I'm sure they think everyday when I go to work I have a picnic in the little park out back on campus, play in the sand, and toss water balloons. If only!

Scary...

I don't want to post a link to the local newspaper, but right by our old house on the mountain, there is a fire burning. It started on Thursday morning and it's still not fully contained. They feel it's under control, but don't expect it to be fully out until Monday.

Fortunately, no houses or people have been hurt, but it's very scary. I spoke to the woman who lives in the house closest to our old house and all I could hear was helicopters. It's really close to our old house. They have to fight the fire via air because it's on such a steep slope. They are using helicopters with buckets attached and filling them in the reservoir at the bottom of the mountain.

If you want to read about it in the newspaper google our city (the one that starts with a C)and fire--it should be the top hit. If you want me to email you a link, let me know.