Skele-nat

It's a teeny bit blurry, but I love the photo anyway (and of course the girl). She's funny, eh?

Pumpkin Patch

On Monday, we went to the coolest Pumpkin Patch. It's along the coast in a cute little town with Moon in the name. We went there when Natalie was almost 3 and Kira was 5 months old. Somehow, four years went by before we made it back. Time goes crazy fast!

At the Pumpkin Patch, there are pony rides! And bounce houses! And goats to feed! A train ride! A hay ride! A haunted house! Chickens and turkeys! It's nicely laid out and it was a fun day. Here are some pictures of the pony ride. More pictures as soon as I can manage.

Pre-Halloween Party

Here are the girls at the pre-Halloween party at the place where Judi works.





Photos taken Friday 10/24.

I had too much candy

We went to a Halloween party and Kira ate too much candy and cheese puffs. She felt kind of ill for a couple of hours. She recovered nicely though.

The solar system

By Natalie in 2006




By Kira in 2008


Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune
the last one the last one the last one is Pluto in our solar system.

That's how Natalie learned the song in the spring of 2006...

And then Pluto was voted a dwarf planet (August 24, 2006).

Now the song goes...

Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune
the last one the last one the last one is Neptune in our solar system.

(It's sung to the tune of "10 Little Indians.")

Both Kira and Natalie say Saturn is their favorite planet. What's yours?

We have ART!

Katie does finger painting with the girls.

I think I'll use some of the creations for Christmas and Birthday wrapping paper.

(Catbert is amidst the art.)

Tooth update

Sunday: The tooth is still there. It really should be gone. Natalie doesn't like to rush things though. (4:30 pm)

At dinner (7 pm), it got looser. It was bleeding. Natalie did much excited screaming and she'd run from the dinner table to the bathroom to check it.

I didn't get any pictures of the bloody tooth--I know you're all disappointed. Natalie discussed how she enjoyed the taste of the blood though. (Yea, you all want to come to dinner soon, eh?) Then Kira pointed out to Nick that his juice, pomegranate, looked like blood. Nick didn't enjoy that one.

Bedtime (9 pm) and the tooth is STILL there.

Monday morning: the tooth is still there. Another Mom (Kim B.) told Nat she'd pull it out if it was still in on Monday morning. Natalie is scared going to school, but Kim respects Nat's wishes and doesn't pull the tooth.

Tuesday: Natalie still wiggles her tooth and won't let me pull it.

Wednesday: Natalie decides that Kim B. can pull her tooth. Kim encourages Natalie to let me do it. Kim B. feels the wiggle and tells Natalie it could come out. Natalie wiggles her tooth ALL day and barely works at school. (I was there for part of the day so I saw her wiggling and not working.)

Wednesday night: Natalie lays in bed twisting her tooth around.

Thursday morning: Natalie gets up and tells me her tooth can do a trick and turns it around to show me. I tell her she MUST pull the tooth out before school. We drive to school. Kim B. is there and tells Natalie to sit in my lap and let me pull it. Nat sits in my lap and I get a good grip. I loosen it up even more. Natalie pushes my hand away and then she pulls the tooth herself! Woo!!!! She looks like she might cry for a second, but everyone cheers and she is happy. She gets to go to the nurses office to get a container for her tooth. It is very exciting!

Here's a picture of Nat minus a top tooth! We are sooooo glad it's gone. (It was looking gray and the positions it could be in was very disturbing. I have some pictures that are kind of gross--let me know if you want to see them.)

Lions and Tigers and Bears....

Okay, just a lion.

Natalie LOVES the movie "The Lion King." A few years back, she was scared of it, but now, she loves it. When she loves things, she wants to "be" the things. I love it. I think having her explore the ideas fully is a great way to learn. Lately, there is lots of roaring around our house. There is usually roaring (the girls play dinosaurs a lot) but now, we've got lions.

Anyway, here is Nat all dressed up like a lion--being a lion.

Creative, eh?

upside down

Natalie's gymnastics class.





Next time, I have to get video of her jumping on the high balance beam.

We hope...

the tooth falls out soon. It's been like this for a couple of days now. We are amazed she still has it.

The beach

Kira and Tia decided to go to the beach the other day. They got dressed for it...





Then they went swimming.

L is for letters

Tia started preschool and promptly became VERY interested in learning letters. She is constantly drawing them and making them. Above you see her making a T with a fork and knife.



Below you see some writing she did yesterday (Wednesday).

C is for Computer.... L is for Learning

Here are Natalie and Tia on the computer the other night. I'm pretty sure we see evidence of some learning. We also see nice scaffolding by Natalie.

Video
Another video
Yet another video

And... This just in.... Kira counted to 100!

Happy Day to us!

10 is a great number!

We went to the [Insert Big City] Science Museum today, out to dinner, and to several bookstores. It was a fun day of hanging around.

Ballet Class

This fall, Kira and Tia are taking ballet together. Here they are ready to go on their first day and then one shot from in class where all of the other children conveniently looked away.







Pictures taken on 9/16/09

Singing in the rain.....

It rained for the first time on Saturday. Nick got these pictures of Natalie.

Letter

I gave the letter to the principal this morning. She will call me she said.

In the meantime, take a look at these videos about the importance of exercise for the brain. Watch all the segments. There are 11 segments, but they are short!

Good stuff.

I love preschooland preKindergarten art!

Goggle girl

Goggles in the tub. Oh my!

slumber party and iPhones

A couple of weeks ago, Judi got an iPhone. Bedtime routine consists of reading a book and then watching a short video (5-10 minutes) on the iPhone. Sometimes we do "cultural history" lessons. We showed them this and we've showed them songs from old movies too. The iPhone is just a great (in situ) teaching device.

Oh... So the night Judi got an iPhone, the girls talked us in to letting them have a slumber party and sleep on the queen-size air mattress together. They had a blast! The next morning they were all very tired and grumpy and Tia was taking a nap at noon. (It will be a while before we do another slumber party.)