Wolgablog

Furry Friend

2012-01-25T19:04:00.000-05:00

One morning last week, I was walking around the house and opening our shades. I opened up one of our front window shades and was startled to see this...

I yelled down the basement stairs for Andrew (I do love that he works from home) because I had a friend on her way over and I didn't know what to do (besides grab my camera and take pictures!) Andrew came up and started tapping on the front window. That is when the animal (who was definitely asleep) moved and we got a look at his face.

It took quiet a bit more tapping and loud noises to get this guy to move but eventually he left.

Honestly, before this, I had no idea that raccoons even lived out here.

You learn something new everyday!

H Activities

2012-01-24T16:50:00.000-05:00

Here is a little of what we did this week for H.

Spooning erasers. Malia put one in each heart, then two, three, and four.

She hung felt heart ornaments.
First the way she wanted and then she copied my pattern.

I gave her four different kinds of heart stickers (felt, foam, squishy and paper).
She designed Valentine's cards with them.

She started getting really silly and was cracking herself up by putting the

stickers on her face and then asking me where they went.

I combined a few ideas I had seen for this activity. I cut an egg carton in two and put sight words on Malia's half and colored shapes on Davey's half. I would use my words to describe where I wanted them to hammer.

Davey joined us for hand-print painting.

One of Malia's favorite activities was hammering tees into play dough.
She asked to do it multiple times.

We used leftover supplies from her party and made more bracelets with heart beads.

Not pictured: Fun with a hula hoop (hopping in and out of it, throwing bean bags into it, pretending to hula hoop). Playing Hi Ho Cheerio. Eating hot dogs.

Sweet Sisters

2012-01-23T23:15:00.003-05:00

I love my girls. It is sweet to see their relationship grow. Here are a few sweet moments I have observed recently.

Davey sitting on Malia's lap after dinner reading a book.

(Davey is shirtless because she made a mess of her shirt at dinner.)

Holding hands while watching movies.

I am not sure how this started but whenever Davey is afraid that a movie is going to have a scary part, she asks to hold Malia's hand.

Banana Bread with Dad

2012-01-22T23:05:00.002-05:00

Andrew is way more adventurous than I am when it comes to baking with the girls. At least once a week he has the mixer down on the floor, surrounded by ingredients and the girls. His specialties are pancakes, waffles, and banana bread (but he whipped up some cookies this weekend as well).

Here are a couple of pictures of them in action making banana bread. It was hard to get the whole scene but you get the idea.

Park with a bit of snow

2012-01-19T17:38:00.000-05:00

Last Saturday we headed up to our neighborhood park because it was supposed to be a reasonably warm day. Upon arrival, we saw that while there was not any snow on the equipment, the ground around it was snowy. The girls didn't mind the snow, it only added to the fun.

Malia spent a lot of time following Andrew's tracks in the snow.

Line it up

2012-01-18T15:07:00.002-05:00

Lately Davey has been really into lining up her toys. Here are a few examples.

(She is half in her pajamas, half dressed for the day in this picture... happens a lot around our house these days!)

This does not mean that she is an orderly or neat kid though. She still likes to dump out whole boxes of toys, just for the sake of dumping them.

She dumped out this blue bin of toys in order to make herself a reading seat!

Where we stand.

2012-01-15T20:47:00.000-05:00

Almost a year ago, I wrote the introduction to our adoption story. I thought I would write a little update and let you all know where we stand.

We started our training last January and completed in in September. Our original thought was that we would have our home study in October/November and be certified foster parents by the end of 2011. Things did not go exactly as planned but we have adjusted (and have a real peace) about our new timeline.

This past week we had our second and third home studies. Now we will wait 2-3 weeks while they write a report and submit it back to our county. Unless something weird happens, we should be certified in about a month.

After we are certified, we have no idea how long it will be before we get a placement. It could be the next day or eight months down the road. And when we get the phone call, we will most likely have just hours before the child enters our home.

When the child enters our home, we have no guarantee that he/she will stay long-term. I wrestle a lot with God on this one, but I have no doubt that it is what he has called us to do. To enter the unknown. To be willing to love in the midst of the unknown. To surrender control.

I have been so blessed by this process already, and we do not even have a child placed yet. One of the neatest, most reassuring things to me has been how Andrew and I have stayed on the same page throughout this journey. On the overall big direction. On little decisions along the way. It has been an amazing gift.

So we move forward not knowing what is ahead but trusting that God is in control. And our prayer is that through it all, He would be glorified.

G Activities

2012-01-14T22:21:00.002-05:00

Here are some of this things we did last week.

We made green, glitter, gel bags. Instead of just putting green food coloring in, I did blue and yellow so that the girls could see how green was made.

Davey got her own bag.
Here she is playing with it the following morning at breakfast.

We made a graham cracker house with green frosting.

I saw a cute idea to add googly-eyes to magazine pictures here but did not have any great magazines around, so instead Malia put googly-eyes on a Maisy book we had. It turned out really cute and Malia really enjoyed the activity.

She put together a giraffe puzzle that I picked up at a resale shop (for $1).

We played this gingerbread dice game. The hardest part for Malia was not counting the dots on the dice or finding the number, it was having the patience to color in the whole space.

We read The Gingerbread Boy and The Gingerbread Baby

and she made her own gingerbread man out of play dough.

I have this set of 12 gingerbread people and we spent time sorting them.

By boy and girl. Shoes, no shoes. Hat, no hat. Etc.

She really liked drawing on my big white board (thanks Ali!)

I even convinced her to write her name which she normally refuses to do for some reason.

"Crystal Soil"

2012-01-13T23:44:00.002-05:00

I ran across something on Pinterest recently that looked interesting. The substance goes by a lot of names but I ordered "Crystal Soil".

Here is what you start with.

Add water. Wait a few hours and this is what you get.

I set up this little station for Malia.

She loved it. Played with it for probably a good half of an hour.

It is a neat sensory activity.

And also good for find motor skills (as she spooned some of them out.)

When Davey woke up from her nap, we revamped the set up because she was a bit wild and was sending the balls everywhere. I put some in a cake pan and she loved them.

I highly recommend this activity as long as you know that they are slippery (and can shoot across a room with little effort) and if they are squished hard, they do break into pieces (which makes a bit of a mess).

F Activities

2012-01-08T19:25:00.000-05:00

Here are a few of the "F" activities we did last week.

Frog counting (COAH)

Fish made out of glue and broken sea shells

(I saw this idea before our Florida trip and came home with a bottle of broken shells!)

Farm nomenclature/3 part cards. Sorry about the glare. The funny part about this is I was trying to get a picture of her matching the cards up and then she posed like this for me (her idea, not mine).

We got this really cool flower making/matching toy for Christmas from my friend Ali and it is a hit.

I made some fish crayons and she colored with them.

Feathers in play dough.

I made an "F" out of feathers and she copied it to make her own "F".

New Years Eve

2012-01-05T16:28:00.002-05:00

We went to our friends house for New Years Eve. They also have two young girls, so our countdown was at 7:30 p.m. (thanks to YouTube!)

After dinner, the girls did some projects.

They colored Happy New Year Worksheets

We did spin art "fireworks".

They decorated boxes to wave around at the countdown.

Watching the ball drop.

Happy New Year!

Stay-cation

2012-01-03T23:38:00.000-05:00

Andrew took the entire week between Christmas and New Years off. He has never done that, but boy we sure hope he can do it every year from here on out. It was such a treat.

It was a relaxing week. It kind of feels like we did not do much. But we did. I literally took 3 pictures after Christmas and before New Years Eve, so while I do not have much to show, I will tell you about a few of the momentous occasions of the week.

:: Andrew took Malia to the dentist for the first time. Despite her look of terror when we told her she was going, she walked out of the office and you would have thought she had gone to the carnival. She loved it. Mostly because she got a big sticker and a bag full of goodies.

:: We had our first (of three) homestudy visits. We are in the process of becoming certified foster parents and are finally in the last stage (some delays were due to us, some due to them, but we are really feeling a peace about the timing of it all). I have so much I could write about this subject... hoping to give more details on our process soon but I am honestly overwhelmed at trying to communicate all that God has been teaching us and how he has been stretching us...

:: On New Years Eve, Davey made a big transition to a big girl bed - the bottom bunk of the bunk beds in Malia's room. I was terrified to make this change fearing that we would all lose out on lots of sleep with the new arrangement. It has gone really well though. The nights have gone without a hitch (minus the first night but it was because she lost her paci) and we are adjusting to a new nap-time routine which has been more of a challenge.

Those are the majors. In addition, Andrew took the girls on a lunch date, he installed a whole house humidifier and helped our neighbor rebuild their fence. I got to sleep in until 8 (or later) every morning, sped read through two books in two days, and got to run errands by myself. We also filled our freezer with the best tomato soup and some egg burritos. Pretty simple and pretty wonderful.

Here is one of the three pictures I took (they were actually all taken in attempt to capture what was, to me, a very funny event). We had just come in from playing outside and Davey had eaten her fair share of snow which left her hands cold. We put Cinderella socks on her hands to warm them up and then I made her a quesadilla for lunch. I thought that she would take the socks off to eat, but she didn't. The twisted stethoscope (in my opinion) only adds to the absurdity of the situation (and makes me laugh!)

And if you read all of that, you are a true Wolgablog fan.

Misc. Christmas

2011-12-30T11:39:00.000-05:00

I thought I posted this a few days ago. Anyway, here are a few other Christmas related things.

The week before Christmas, we went to Winter Wonderlights. The highlight was probably that they had The Grinch Who Stole Christmas playing inside - it was the girls first movie theater experience.

Andrew's dad came up with this funny game involving double sided tape

and throwing cotton balls. Most of the kids were frightened to see

their dads looking like this!

Malia made a playdough snowman (with a googly-eye mouth)

We had a great Christmas morning. I took very few pictures.

Guess I was just enjoying the time.

This picture just makes me laugh. Davey and Graham were all about each others presents. I love that those two are so close in age.

Christmas Eve

2011-12-29T10:53:00.002-05:00

Cousin love.

Davey is saying "Where is my baby?" in this picture.
She was jealous Malia was holding Tess!

So we put Tess in the middle and she "loved" on her.

Let It Snow

2011-12-28T16:59:00.000-05:00

A few days before Christmas, we got about a foot of snow.

The girls really enjoyed exploring (and eating) it.

The girls got to go sledding also. With Daddy. And with Emmie and Pops.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T09:45:00.000-05:00

"I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.

Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you;

he is Christ the Lord." Luke 2:10-11

Merry Christmas!

Andrew, Chrissy, Malia and Davey

Christmas Baking

2011-12-24T16:01:00.000-05:00

The past three days have included a lot of baking at our house.

:: Double batch of Chocolate Nutella Cookies
:: Two loaves of Pepperoni Bread
:: Double batch of Decorator Cookies
:: 4 loaves Flax Bread
:: 2 loaves Zucchini Bread (of whose bottoms stuck to the bottom of the pan again)
:: One batch of Chocolate Peppermint Crunch Cookies

Both girls helped put pepperoni on the bread. It was kind of a one-for-one system for awhile - one for the bread, one for my mouth.

Both girls decorated (and ate) cookies.

Davey actually just decorated one, ate it and was done, but Malia did this whole plate.

Bread, bread, bread. Some for now. Some for later.

And here is a picture of our Christmas tree (I told my grandma I would post a picture). It actually looks more full in the picture than it is.

4 Year Pictures, Part 2

2011-12-23T13:30:00.000-05:00

I thought it would be fun to shoot the girls with lollipops.

And so we did.

Warning there are a lot of pictures.

4 Year Pictures, Part 1

2011-12-22T16:05:00.000-05:00

And just when you think Malia's birthday posts are over...

I took some 4 year pictures over the weekend.

On our drive over, Andrew commented that it was his first time joining me on one of my shoots (usually he is at home with Davey but they joined us). I am thankful he came because he gave Malia some great ideas for poses!

This is her winking.

And here she is standing on one leg!

Guess who like BBQ sauce?

2011-12-21T17:09:00.000-05:00

Chicken, black beans and red peppers. All dipped in BBQ sauce. Yummy.

The Nutcracker

2011-12-20T14:57:00.000-05:00

Part of Malia's birthday present from her Emmie and Pops was tickets to the Nutcracker. Last Saturday, Malia got all dressed up (in her Christmas dress from Mimi) and was off to her first show

She loved it. What was her favorite part? The dancing.

And she did not even cry when the Mouse King came on.

Emergency "E" Sessions

2011-12-20T11:36:00.002-05:00

To dispel any rumors, discussions, chattering, etc. that the letter "E" was not that important, we crammed in some emergency "E" preschool sessions late last night and early this morning :)

Last night, Malia matched uppercase and lowercase letters together on plastic eggs. I saw the idea on pinterest. Davey join in the fun and did a good job of matching colors (not letters).

When the eggs were all matched we went through and talked about words that start with each letter. "Big A, little A what begins with A?"

Next we painted some elephants.

This morning I built an "E" with unifix cubes and then Malia made one too.

Then she finished cutting out her E vocab words and glued them on paper.

Last but not least was tracing...

...and E mazes (which she loves).

E and Christmas Activities

2011-12-19T16:33:00.000-05:00

Not much to show for the letter E. We did our standard vocab cards and writing exercises but then we got a little distracted by Christmas activities.

We did manage to get in an E activity with our play dough though.

Here Malia had to line up the appropriate number of Christmas trees under 0-9.

I got the idea to do a felt candy cane from one of my favorite preschool sites Teach Preschool. Here Malia made up a pattern and then repeated it.

When Davey got up from her nap, she wanted to play with the candy cane too.

She basically only wanted pink stripes on it (big surprise!)

And we used our Dot Markers to fill in a Christmas tree and then decorated it with sticker ornaments.

Davey is still learning that not everything goes in her mouth!

Candy Cane Play Dough

2011-12-18T21:47:00.000-05:00

Last week Malia and I set out to make candy cane play dough for our friends after seeing this post. It was a really fun activity (and the smell of homemade play dough instantly transported me back to my own childhood.)

Maybe even more fun than making it though has been watching how excited Malia has been to give it to her friends.

Davey (who was napping while we made it) has gotten to play with our creation a lot. It has been almost a daily activity at our house all week.

Real Birthday

2011-12-18T00:48:00.001-05:00

Malia's official birthday was this past Monday. It is still weird to me that she is four. I can so vividly remember those first days of her life... does not seem like that long ago...

Over Andrew's lunch break (just one perk of him working from home), Malia got to open her presents from us: a set of sight word BOB books (she is becoming more interested in learning to read) and a dollhouse (which I found on Craigslist a couple months ago.)

And she got to pick where we went for dinner that night.

Without hesitation she picked Chick-fil-A.

Love this girl!

Cousin Night

2011-12-15T13:00:00.000-05:00

Last Friday, the cousins got together (with their mommies) to have dinner and hang out.

They are so entertaining to watch together. They crack each other up... and us too!

I made a batch of green play dough for the kids to play with (much more on play dough coming soon).

Malia's decorated snowman.

The kids all opened coordinating Christmas pajamas.

Des in his new pjs.

Best group shot.

Can you tell that we were trying to bribe them with fruit snacks?

Even Tess looks like she is chewing on one!

Malia's coloring

2011-12-15T00:13:00.001-05:00

The day after Malia's birthday party, she asked to color another princess page. I was really surprised at how she colored it. See just the day before I had seen her scribble a little here and there, and now I was watching her be very diligent in coloring whole sections of the princess in. I asked her where she learned to color like that and she said "Natalee" referring to the 6 year old at her party whom she happened to be sitting next to while they colored.

Day 2 of coloring - Monday

The following day, she wanted to color another princess (so she did so with dry erase markers).

Here is the three day progression. Sunday. Monday. Tuesday.
Amazing!

Candy Cane Festival

2011-12-14T23:45:00.001-05:00

Last Saturday, we went to a Candy Cane Festival at a local candy factory.

Highlights included a bounce house, seeing Santa and of course candy!

Emmie, Pops and Graham joined us for the outing.

Davey did not want to go into the bounce house, or see Santa. We could barely even get her to eat any candy :) You can catch a glimpse of her here as Andrew is trying to hold her up and she is just throwing a fit!

D Activities

2011-12-12T10:43:00.000-05:00

Here are a few of the D activities from this past week.

D Magnet Page

Practicing drawing D's in a mini sandbox. I saw the idea here. I had her trace our sandpaper letters with her finger and then she tried to make the letter in the sand. She really enjoyed it.

Washing ducks and dinosaurs (I was just going to have them do ducks but Davey really wanted to the dinosaurs in there too). We also acted out "Five Little Ducks" with the rubber ducks.

Not everything we did revolved around D. Here Malia is putting marbles on fish shaped bathtub mats (stuff leftover from Davey's party).

And here is my attempt to do rainbow mixing bags.

I ended up getting a little impatient with the thickening process so I added more cornstarch. It ended up being a little too thick. The colors still mixed, it just required more muscles and therefore was not as engaging to Malia.

Welcome to the club Davey.

2011-12-11T22:26:00.001-05:00

Davey got her first bloody nose last week.

Welcome to the club.

Sorry Daddy and I passed those genes on to you too.

It should be noted that Davey only drinks out of

restaurant-to-go-cups with straws these days (at least at our house).

Malia's Princess Heart Party

2011-12-07T18:31:00.001-05:00

We had Malia's 4th birthday party last weekend (her birthday isn't until next week, but this worked for our schedule and separated her birthday a bit more from Christmas). It was a Princess Heart Party. I have to admit, I had a lot of fun planning with Malia.

We had 11 girls (including Malia and Davey) up in our loft. We talked about how they were all princesses because they were daughters of the King of Kings and then I presented each girl with a crown and a wand. After that it was bracelet making, snacks and drinks, coloring, dancing, cupcakes and presents. Fun, fun. I felt really blessed to see all of the sweet friendships Malia has.

Heart Wands (my mom helped me with these)

Princess Crowns

Bracelet Making with Heart Beads

Balloon Banner

Decorating a princess page

10 Princesses (Davey was still deciding if she wanted to take a nap at this point)

Dance Party (Davey was loving life and I am pretty sure she did not regret her decision to push back her nap!)

Beautiful cupcakes thanks to my generous and talented neighbor Kari

Malia blowing out her candle

Davey enjoying her cupcake

The guests did not leave Malia much room to open her presents but she did not seem to mind.

Body Puzzle

2011-12-04T22:54:00.001-05:00

Davey got this body puzzle from my parents last week and has been obsessed with it. She is not content to do it once but always wants to do it again and again and again. I really like the puzzle and how I can use it to introduce new vocabulary to the girls (Davey repeating "digestive system" after me is pretty priceless!)

And just in case you think she is very mature for her age, I will show you what one of her other favorite pass times is...

... emptying the shelf of all of the books!

Christmas Tree Cutting

2011-12-03T14:40:00.000-05:00

Last Sunday, we ventured up into the mountains to cut our first real Christmas tree down. I love the mountains because they provide a great place for exploration.

Here is our tree being carried down.

Mimi and Papa

2011-12-02T18:33:00.001-05:00

I did a terrible job of taking pictures of my family while they were in town. Here are a few I got.

My sister and brother-in-law were also in town but not photographed (except we did take a picture on my mom's new camera...). We had a really fun snowshoeing outing with Beth and Keith but of course I forgot my camera. I will try and do better next visit!

Early Christmas

2011-12-02T18:25:00.001-05:00

When my family was in town for Thanksgiving, we exchanged our Christmas presents (and birthday presents for the girls.) The girls were thrilled with their loot. Upon opening two different gifts Malia stated, "I have always wanted this." Davey was a little leery of tearing the the wrapping paper which cracked me up after she was so into ripping the tissue paper just a couple of weeks ago.

2 year pictures?

2011-11-30T16:07:00.001-05:00

We had some nice weather while my family was in town so I attempted to take some 2 year pictures of Davey. She wanted no part of it, so the photo shoot was cut short after 6 pictures because she started screaming.

Not exactly what I was going for, but it kind of does capture 2 for us right now! Malia on the other hand was more than willing to pose for me.

Later that day, while my mom was in a bead store, the girls and I ran around outside for a bit (a bead store with a 2 and 4 year old is highly stressful). I got these pictures. Gotta love 2!

Painting

2011-11-28T12:37:00.001-05:00

Last week while my parents were here (and I had 4 extra hands around), I decided it was about time that I let Davey paint. I have avoided it up to this point because of the mess and fear of things going straight into her mouth. She did a great job and really enjoyed it. My mom made some sound effects while painting and Davey repeated them over and over as she painted which was pretty cute (pa pa pa pa).

Homeschool Preschool Dropout?

2011-11-24T15:02:00.000-05:00

I feel like I have not done a very good job of preschool over the last month. We had our vacation and then came home sick and then quickly got sick again, went to the mountains, had a birthday party and now it is almost Thanksgiving.

Last week I did manage to sneak some C activities in with Malia and we have done a bunch of other random workbooks, games, activities that I do not have pictures of. I am hoping after Thanksgiving to get organized and into a better rhythm again.

Printouts from COAH and 1+1+1=1

Leaf Pile

2011-11-21T22:35:00.001-05:00

We do not have any big trees around our house/in our neighborhood. This means there are not many leaves to rake in the fall. I managed to rake up a small pile last week and to my surprise it kept the girls entertained for quiet some time.

Activities with Davey

2011-11-19T09:30:00.000-05:00

Davey seems to be developing a longer attention span lately. And I seem to be getting a little more bold (a.k.a. less lazy?) about letting her try things on her own. Here are a few things she has been up to.

Stickers. She does not really want my help and is actually pretty good about peeling the backing off.

"Play dough" a.k.a "Noise Putty" is a favorite in our house right now. Add little plastic animals or colored discs and it equals hours of entertainment.

Markers. I have shied away from letting her use these for awhile but she really enjoyed them.

Davey's Party

2011-11-16T23:46:00.001-05:00

We celebrated Davey's 2nd Birthday over the weekend with an Under the Sea party.

The kids table (Malia and Des thought it was a costume party).

We had an indoor sandbox for the kids with shells and sea life to explore.

Davey really wanted to sit in the Bumbo (that Alli brought for Tess to use) to eat her cupcake.

Once again, Davey was much more interested in the tissue paper than the presents.

A view of our kitchen decorated...

...and the fish cupcakes.

Winter Park

2011-11-14T15:04:00.001-05:00

This past weekend we were able to go up to the mountains with our neighbors. We had planned on sledding with the girls while there, but there was not as much snow as we expected. We made due with what we had though and just sledded down the driveway which was half covered in snow. The girls loved it (minus the fact that Davey hated wearing boots).

Tissue Paper

2011-11-11T15:52:00.001-05:00

Davey got to open a couple of presents from Andrew and I on her birthday (family party to follow this weekend). She started by pulling one piece of tissue paper out and then spent the next two minutes ripping it into pieces before grabbing another piece of tissue paper from the top of the present and spending another two minutes ripping it up (I was video taping and it was seriously four minutes straight of ripping).

I know this is classic toddler to be more into the wrapping than the toy but it still makes me laugh every time I see it. Gotta love kids!

Happy Birthday Davey!

2011-11-10T00:10:00.001-05:00

Our baby girl turned two today. For some reason, I feel like I could cry. She has been such a sweet addition to our family and I guess I just feel overwhelmed with gratefulness for her life (and her sister's too!)

In her second year of life, we have really seen Davey's personality start to show. She is spunky. She is stubborn. She is silly. She is shy. She is sly. She is sweet.

In the last couple of months, Davey has become a lot more verbal. Complete sentences now leave her mouth. She has this sweet little voice and it still cracks me up to hear her talk (especially when she tells me to stop singing!)

A few things she loves::
:: Being outside
:: Tomato soup
:: Her sister
:: Running away when its time to get her diaper changed (or when she is in trouble)
:: Her pink pac
:: Her blanket
:: Pom poms
:: Reading
:: Princesses
:: Puzzles
:: Chugging beverages

We love you Davey Lou. Happy 2nd Birthday!

Halloween

2011-11-05T23:09:00.001-04:00

This year for Halloween, we did not have to buy a pumpkin. Instead, we just went out and picked it from our garden! Yes it was the only pumpkin we successfully grew and yes there was a stretch that we thought it was a watermelon, but it was still cool.

One afternoon Malia decorated the pumpkin's face with playdough.

For some reason, she has been putting the nose under the mouth a lot recently. I thought it was a tongue but she realized her mistake and corrected it...

Malia was more than excited to dress up for Halloween. She was Belle. Davey on the other hand wanted nothing to do with dressing up when Halloween actually rolled around. I tried to get her into her costume and she refused. I offered her other costumes from the dress up bin, even bribes and she still refused. It wasn't until our neighbor showed up in her Tigger costume that we convinced Davey to put her frog costume on (love peer pressure!)

The girls with our neighbors.

As I was fixing Malia's hair, she looked at a picture of Belle and said, "Mom we need earrings." Hmmm. Thankfully Malia's Aunt Alli passed on some press on earrings a few years ago and thankfully I knew where they were. They are hard to see in this picture (because they are yellow like Belle's) but she was so proud of them.

The other accessory of Malia's costume was her hairpiece. Again a little hard to see but it was a ribbon with beads on it. She really wanted a veil like Ariel is wearing at the end of the book but wanted to make it out of beads and she was Belle. So this was what we came up with.

My cute little froggy. Once the costume was on, she loved it (even the webbed hands which she kept on as much as she could).

"I am Mary" and the glow in the dark shirt

2011-11-03T21:59:00.001-04:00

The other day I was a room away and kept hearing Malia singing "I am Mary. I am Mary." Curiosity made me stop what I was doing and peek at her. I am so glad I did.

I found her with her baby's blanket on her head, secured with a headband and then a bear under her shirt (which she told me was baby Jesus).

Belting out her new song.

Close up of her costume and belly. I love how high the bear was.

My mom sent Malia this cat shirt for Halloween that has glow in the dark eyes. I am pretty sure she wore that shirt for three days straight (before I told her we had to wash it) and every night before bedtime, we would all pile in her room to see the eyes glowing!

Friends - 3 years later

2011-11-02T17:02:00.000-04:00

This was my first trip back to Orlando since we moved over 3 years ago. It was really fun to reconnect with some sweet friends. I did not get pictures with everyone but we did snap a few with Avery who was born 6 months after Malia (she was just 2 months old when we left).

While out to dinner, the girls became fast friends. It was sweet to see and made me wish that we lived closer.

More Beach

2011-11-02T13:01:00.000-04:00

The second day we were at the beach, we went for a walk with the girls before dinner. There is so much to explore...

Davey got her toes painted for the first time on this trip.

We found this big clam in shallow water. It was still alive and spit water at Davey.

While also spotted these little crabs in the sand.

Sandy feet...

... to wash off.

Longboat Key

2011-10-31T11:11:00.000-04:00

While in Florida, we were able to spend a couple of nights on the beach in Longboat Key. It was fun to introduce the girls to the ocean.

Disney, Part 2

2011-10-29T20:26:00.000-04:00

Here are some more Disney pictures. While none of them are particularly "good", they all capture moments of the day I want to remember.

Attempt at a picture after first entering Magic Kingdom.

First ride was the Tea Cups. Of course, we had to run for one of the pink cups.

Another attempt to get a picture of the girls with Cinderella's castle. Let's just say they were more interested in eating their raisins!

On Cinderella's carousel.

Watching the parade go by.

Dancing with parade...

... and clapping with the parade.

Disney World - Meeting the Characters

2011-10-28T19:26:00.001-04:00

Thanks to some generous friends, we were able to go to Disney World for two days while we were in Orlando (all we had to do was pay the $14 a day parking fee which felt like a bargain when you see ticket prices).

We really enjoyed the time and have already forgotten the consequences we paid for pushing through Davey's nap two days in a row.

A few things not reflected in the pictures (mental pictures I need to capture):

- The first day, Davey was obsessed with the park map. She carried it around, half-opened most of the day "guiding" us around.

- We learned how easily Malia gets scared. She cried on multiple rides/performances including the Little Mermaid (Ursula), the Lion King (Scar's song), A Bugs Life (3D bugs) and even on the People Mover (extended darkness). Davey on the other hand was completely unphased by all of the scary parts.

- Hollywood Studios has a new Toy Story ride that Andrew and I loved (we highly recommend it). If it wasn't for the girls, we might have spent all day on it trying to beat our previous scores.

- Disney lets you bring in your own food so we packed lots of snacks, sandwiches and even drinks. We did splurge and buy Davey some beloved milk while in the park but that was it.

-The characters were definitely the big draw for the girls.

While standing in line for Pooh, Davey was adamantly against saying hi to Pooh. She watched Malia hug and talk to Pooh and she warmed up a little.

Then Pooh started playing peek-a-boo with Davey and that really broke the ice and got her into seeing the characters.

Our only family photo of the whole trip!

And of course the highlight was seeing the princesses. We went both days to say hi to Cinderella, Belle and Sleeping Beauty.

Feeding the Alligators

2011-10-27T21:16:00.000-04:00

While in Orlando we had to take the girls to some of our old hot spots. One of our favorite places to take people who visited was to a mini-golf place on International Drive where you can feed hot dogs on fishing poles to baby alligators. Sounds awesome doesn't it?

The alligators... ready to eat.

Davey was a little skittish while there. I do not really blame here but she kept her distance.

Malia was up for feeding them.

I cut off the end of her rod in this picture which has the string and hot dog on it but you get the idea.

Tea Parties with Aunt Bobbie

2011-10-26T19:34:00.009-04:00

We are home. After 12 days on the road and two states (Indiana and Florida), we returned home on Monday (and are all sick - yuck).

We spent the first part of our trip in Indiana, attending homecoming at our alma mater, Taylor University (more on that later) and then flew to Orlando for vacation, family, friends and a little work.

Within hours of arriving in Orlando, the girls were having a Pooh tea party with their Aunt Bobbie.

Reading Nurse Nancy to the girls.

The girls got to give Pooh a "shot" like Nurse Nancy.

Davey loved playing with all of the Pooh figurines, especially Eeyore.

Another night we were over and the girls got to play with a tray of little, intricate, colorful, shaped boxes... they loved it.

They also got to have a Raggedy Ann tea party.

Davey poured (and spilled) her own drinks!

Bottoms up!

Thanks for all of the fun Aunt Bobbie!

The Aquarium

2011-10-12T18:29:00.001-04:00

We went to the Aquarium over the weekend and loved it (Andrew's parents had gifted us tickets for his birthday and we finally used them).

It is not a great place to take pictures but I did snap a few.

The friends we went with have a membership and so we were able to get free face painting and the chance to feed the sting rays.

Andrew was the only one who successfully fed the sting ray but we all got to touch them.

The girls loved the mermaid show and so they wanted mermaids painted on.

We opted to get it on Davey's arm instead of her face. She loved it and just kept staring at her arm.

B Week

2011-10-12T00:07:00.009-04:00

Last Friday started B week at our house. We talked about butterflies, bugs, books, birds, bears, etc. Here is a sampling of what has been going on.

I created a "B Box" filled with things that start with the letter B. The girls enjoyed playing with it all week.

The B Box

Practicing writing her B's (COAH)

B vocab words

Coloring bugs

Cutting the bugs out

Stringing beads on a pipe cleaner (future wings for a butterfly)

Mixing paint in a ziploc bag (which was eventually turned into a butterfly)

Our butterfly creations.

We are AWANA Cubbies...

2011-10-10T17:37:00.000-04:00

Malia started Cubbies at our church last month. Last week after saying two more verses ("God is love" and "God created the heavens and the earth"), she earned her Cubbies vest.

There was much celebration and excitement in our house. Here she is sporting her new vest.

And here she is digging through her bag (which she also earned and is proud of) to show us something.

Letter Spray

2011-10-10T00:23:00.003-04:00

Last week on a nice warm afternoon, Malia and I ventured outside to do a letter activity using chalk, our fence and a squirt bottle full of water.

I got the idea here. First, I wrote the letters of the alphabet out on the fence. Then I said a word and had Malia squirt the letter that she thought the word started with. Simple, easy, fun, educational.

My girls, their buddies and the masks

2011-10-07T14:21:00.000-04:00

I do not know if I will ever tire of seeing the girls in these masks. They make me laugh every time!

Apple Game

2011-10-06T00:02:00.003-04:00

One last apple thing (for now). I came up with my own game using some packing peanuts (that I knew I would find a use for!) and some fake apples (that I used to have in a decorative vase before I gave up and starting just decorating my house with toys!). I hid the apples in the packing peanuts, blindfolded Malia and then she had to hunt for them.

I thought this would be a good sensory activity but it actually ended up being a great math activity too. I put 10 apples in and as she pulled them out I would ask how many she had left. I was really impressed with how she was doing simple addition/subtraction.

I also did this activity with Davey, without the blindfold. She really enjoyed it too. Davey also wanted to hide her favorite gingerbread people in the peanuts which made me think that a more advanced version of the game would be to put two distinctly different objects in the peanuts and ask the child to pull out just one of the objects.

A is for Apple

2011-10-05T22:54:00.003-04:00

My friend Kim has a three year old named Rachel. This year, Kim and I are planning to do preschool with our girls together at least once a week, (switching back and forth with teaching). So last Tuesday, we had Rachel here for A is for Apple and on Friday, Malia went to Kim's house for A is for Ant.

We are basing our teaching on the Letter of the Week Curriculm from Confessions of a Homeschooler (COAH) but then adding lots of other things too. Here is a sample (not everything!) of what we did last week.

Making an A with Dot Markers (COAH)

Practicing writing A's (COAH)

Cutting apples and matching them to a tree. (COAH)

A tray of chipboard A's to show how they can look different.

We had two more apples on our tree in the backyard, so the girls got to pick and eat them.

AB Pattern with apples

I used scrap fabric and cardboard to make this tree. The girls used tweezers to put red pom poms (apples) on the tree and take them off. I got the idea here.

I had way too many activities planned for our time together (a.k.a I was really excited and into it), so Malia and I did a few things on our own on the days in between "class". One included cutting an apple in half and talking about the parts. I used this great diagram.

We also did some apple crafts including thumb print apple trees (not pictured) and the apple above.

It was so much fun and I am so excited to do B this week!

Random September - Preschool

2011-10-04T08:36:00.000-04:00

We started our more formal preschool with some friends last week but early September was filled with random activities. Here are a few I missed.

Gluing styrofoam "clouds" onto a blue sky. Malia really enjoyed using liquid glue.

Counting on the abacus. I actually walked into the room and she had done this all by herself. When I asked her about it, she said "I did it once with daddy." Sometimes she blows me away!

In my preschool research, I kept on coming upon the Montessori method. I like a lot of the Montesorri things I have seen (but please do not ask me to explain the methodology because I have a hard time doing it!). I bought an e-book called Montessori at Home by John Bowman and have really enjoyed it.

So Malia worked on...

... cutting a banana and...

... transferring water with a sponge.

Random September

2011-10-03T00:15:00.013-04:00

I can hardly believe it is October. Here are some random things that happened in September that I did not post about.

Davey started sporting a pony tail.

We made a boat out of our IKEA bookshelf box and sailed to Ninevah and Tarshish.

Pops went to Hawaii and brought the girls leis.

When we walk into a grocery store and Davey sees a red pepper she says "apple" and then proceeds to eat chunks of it as we shop.

Davey also enjoyed some watermelon.

All of these toys got put in time out at our house one day.

Malia dressed up as the zookeeping Belle bunny.

Bean Table

2011-10-03T00:05:00.004-04:00

Last week, I filled up our water table with dried beans for the girls to play in. I did this in the spring and did not have much success for some reason. I am so pleased that this second time around, the girls have enjoyed it a lot.

Note: I found that putting an old sheet or blanket underneath helped a lot with clean up!

Malia with our neighbor K who I am watching for 10 weeks.

Davey spooning up some beans.

Plenty of room for all three to play.

Davey and the swing

2011-09-30T22:51:00.005-04:00

Last week, we went up the elementary school's playground that is near our house. While Malia climbed, slide, etc., Davey was single-minded. All she cared about was the swings. These swings happen to be really low to the ground so she was able to swing on her belly all by herself and she loved it.

Oh and here she is running to the playground. She is really into wearing this pink dress right now... I remember another little girl going through a phase similar with this dress not too long ago!

Haircuts

2011-09-29T16:38:00.000-04:00

While browsing the garden department at Lowe's a few weeks ago, we came across these little Chia-Pet-like animals on the clearance rack. Do not know why we felt compelled to buy them, but we did, (for $.75 each!)

The night we bought them, Andrew and the girls planted the seeds and over the last couple of weeks, their "hair" has grown.

The other night, the girls gave their pets their first haircuts.

Malia cut like a pro and was quite satisfied when she saw the finished product. Davey on the other hand has never used scissors, and did not want any help...

After a few failed attempts to do it herself, she let her dad help.

Buttons

2011-09-28T16:17:00.007-04:00

Last week, I focused on using buttons for several activities with Malia. I was inspired by an idea in the book Playful Learning (which is geared towards 4-8 year olds, so this was one of the few activities I thought Malia could do.)

Playful Learning recommended a book called The Button Box, which we picked up at our library.

The first day, we just read the book and then I let Malia play with my little bin of buttons.

When Davey woke up from her nap, we moved to the table and she started sorting by color.

This is the activity I saw in Playful Learning. I gave her a jar of buttons and she had to sort them based on how many holes they had in them. She did a great job.

Then she wanted to sort by color again like The Button Box talked about.

Another day we got out the button board.

And on our final day of button activities, she made a button necklace.

I put a dull needle on some string and she threaded it through two holes in each button.

We also made sock puppets by sewing on buttons. I was hoping she would be able to help me sew them on but it was too tricky. She got to pick out the buttons that we used for the eyes and nose though.

Just another day with the kitchen utensils

2011-09-27T15:23:00.000-04:00

Last week, Davey got in the zone. Without any prompting or instruction, she put on a (new) hat and then went to the kitchen drawers and got to work. She pulled out utensil after utensil and lined them up. Then she played with the tongs for awhile, opening and closing them. Andrew and I just watched and laughed. Kids are so funny!

Burley Rides

2011-09-26T15:12:00.004-04:00

We got a burley last summer and used it a few times, but it was during this summer that we really got our money's worth out of it! The girls were/are at great ages to ride in it. I love that Andrew and I can be active together, with our girls, and that we can accomplish something too.

We used the burley a lot this summer to go up to our local farmer's market (I know how green are we - riding a bike to the farmer's market!), to run errands and to go to the park.

This past weekend, we rode up to grab some groceries with the girls. Here they are.

Graham is 2!

2011-09-24T10:35:00.000-04:00

Happy Birthday Graham! We love you lots!

My beautiful assistant

2011-09-23T13:07:00.001-04:00

As I have photographed my niece and two nephews over the last couple of months, Malia has been my faithful assistant. She helps get the other kids to look and to smile (in theory).

I got to shoot Graham's 2 year pictures last weekend (those will be in a future post) and in the process ended up getting some really fantastic shots of Malia. Here they are.

Beets

2011-09-21T19:02:00.000-04:00

Last Saturday, we went to glean a field. What happens is a farmer donates a field to a local group that provides food for the homeless and low-income families. Then they get volunteers (us) to come and pick from the field.

When they announced this opportunity at church, I was really pumped for several reasons. One is that we love our garden and I thought it would be so fun and satisfying to pick from a field. Another is that it was a kid friendly environment which meant we did not have to find childcare to volunteer.

The field that was donated last Saturday was a beet field. Have I ever cooked or eaten a beet? No. But that did not stop me from picking lots of them!

Davey putting beets in our crate. Working so hard she would not stop and smile for the camera.

There were so many beets in this field. After 2 hours, they had us stop picking because they had filled their truck!

The girls were great. A special thanks to the ladybugs that we kept finding who helped keep them entertained.

Malia helping pull a beet up.

A big one.

Girls in the beet crate.

Eggplants

2011-09-20T17:35:00.000-04:00

I was really excited to grow eggplants this summer. Not exactly sure why, because I had never had anything with eggplant in it. I think it is the color... I love that deep purple.

Anyway we had two plants that each produced several eggplants. Here is some of what we harvested.

I used it to make eggplant parmesan last week and was really excited about it...

... while it may look good, it did not taste good at all. I think we let the eggplants go too long and so they were really seedy and, well gross! Maybe we will have better luck next year.

Birthday Weekend

2011-09-19T16:38:00.005-04:00

On the night of my birthday, Andrew and I headed up to the mountains with his siblings and spouses for a couple of nights. It was a perfect weekend to get away and celebrate not only my birthday but my brother-in-law, Chris's, birthday too.

Our time together was spent hanging out, hiking, mountain biking (my first time), playing putt putt, reading, relaxing, eating good pizza, playing games (including the new and improved birthday game!), holding Tess (the lone kid on our trip), having uninterrupted adult conversation ...

I only took a couple of pictures while up there.

Here is the group at the top of one of our hikes.

And here is a woodpecker Andrew and I saw.

Told you I did not take many pictures!

The big 3-0

2011-09-18T23:03:00.003-04:00

Two weekends ago, I turned 30. It was a fun day to reflect and celebrate on all that happened in my 20s. My 20s were great. The major events include graduating college, getting married, moving six times (since college), and of course having two beautiful daughters.

I experienced an array of joys and trials in my 20s. I grew a lot through those experiences and I hope I am better person in my 30s because of them.

My birthday was filled with lots of special things including about 40 notes from friends and family, frappacino drinks in my fridge, Chick-fil-a breakfast, pumpkin cupcakes from a neighbor ...

I feel blessed and excited for what my 30s have in store.

The girls and I going down the slide together at Chick-fil-a.

Pumpkin cupcakes. I love having a neighbor/friend who has a cupcake business!

Our grasshopper friend

2011-09-15T18:14:00.009-04:00

Last week, the girls discovered two grasshoppers on our driveway. I was amazed at how long they stuck around, especially the one.

Malia too cool to get her picture taken... Davey pointing to the grasshoppers (please excuse her pink pac and her wild hair - we are working on remedying both!)...

And then there was one grasshopper. The girls started giving it gifts of chalk...

... and then surrounded it with other objects. Unfortunately I took this picture right after he hopped out of the center.

Malia followed the grasshopper and was able to touch it.

Our friend, up close.

IKEA Shelves

2011-09-12T14:08:00.001-04:00

There has been some serious reorganization going on in our house over the last month or so. Furniture moving rooms, passing on furniture, getting new furniture. It has been really fun and satisfying to get some things organized.

Our new furniture is thanks to IKEA (which opened a couple of months ago here). I debated for weeks over which bookshelves to get for Malia's room and for our loft. We ended up buying two of the same shelves and I am so happy with them.

The loft bookshelf...

... not to be confused with the one in Malia's room. And did I mention that we have a 5X5 version downstairs and a 2X4 one in Davey's room already? I guess we like this bookshelf (and the price)!

The other change in Malia's room is that we passed on a dresser that we weren't using and created this little desk/art display area.

The rod is also from IKEA and the clips are curtain clips from JoAnn's. My friend Hannah did this in her basement a couple of years ago and I have wanted to do it ever since.

Unfortunately, IKEA has not seen the last of us. I have a long wish list for our bedroom now!

Pom Pom Container

2011-09-07T21:00:00.001-04:00

Last week, during Davey's nap, Malia and I took this container...

... cut a couple of small holes in the top, and glued this beautifully decorated paper...

... to the outside.

When she woke up, we were so excited to show Davey that she could poke pom poms through the holes of our pretty little container.

Unfortunately, Davey was less interested in putting the pom poms in and more interested in peeling the stickers off. This resulted in Malia crying and the container being taken away from Davey. Sad.

The next day during Davey's nap, Malia applied more stickers and then we used lots of decoupage to help seal the stickers on. Since then, the container has been a hit with both of them. Happy.

Crayon Rubbings and Tomatoes

2011-09-06T16:50:00.000-04:00

Last week, Malia and I did crayon rubbings. My favorite part about this activity was that at the end, she asked if I could take her picture with it. Apparently my need to document everything my children do is wearing off on them!

Total subject change.

We have been really enjoying veggies from our garden lately. My favorite this year might be these wonderful little cherry tomatoes.

Andrew recently said "they are like candy". A few years ago I would have been shocked to hear those words coming out of his mouth. And a few years ago, I would not have agreed, even if they had. I guess we are growing up after all. Or our taste buds are dying. Regardless...

Hard Times and a Cooking Day

2011-09-05T18:52:00.000-04:00

Last week was not my favorite week. I had a couple of curve balls thrown at me. I cried more last week than I have in awhile. I was feeling rather broken.

But God is so faithful. He amazed me with the peace that He can give even when things aren't resolved and when relationships are still awkward. He amazed me with how sweet His word can be in times of brokenness. He challenged me to be thankful for all of the blessings I have been given and not to be focused on what could have been.

I do not like going through hard times, but I also know that God can and does use them. Dare I be thankful for them then?

.......

Last Monday, I sent out an email to my mother-in-law, Mary and my two sister-in-laws, Kendal and Alli. (I hate having to call them in-laws!) I asked them if they wanted to join me on a cooking day where we could cook several meals and then freeze them for future use. I thought this would be a fun way to catch up and also be productive.

5 days later, the 4 of us spent 6 hours together cooking and talking and (occasionally interacting with our children who were being watched by their dads and Pops - thanks guys!)

In the course of talking, I got to share the events of my week with my family. As we were leaving, Alli made a comment along the lines of "well at least you ended the week good" in reference to our cooking day. I could not agree more. It was a fabulous way to end the week.

We each ended the day with 7 different meals, a loaf of bread and some muffins to stick in our freezers (all for $30 each!)

Here's the loot. Grandpa's potato soup, chicken tetrazzini, stuffed peppers, pastys, chicken ranch quesadillas, egg burritos, Grandma's spaghetti sauce, Amy's flax bread and zucchinni banana muffins.

And here is the cooking crew with our spoils.

Dinosaurs and Playdoh

2011-09-04T17:09:00.003-04:00

One morning last week, I asked the girls if they wanted to do play-doh. To spice it up a little, I gave them a bunch of little dinosaurs that they could put in the play-doh. It was a hit. There was a lot of roaring going on at my house.

Frog Class

2011-09-01T00:11:00.006-04:00

Just a few miles from our house is the Plains Conservation Center ("an outdoor education facility and state-designated natural area"). I recently was exploring their website and found out that they do drop in classes for preschool aged kids. So last week, Malia and I attended a session on frogs.

It was a neat program. Glad to have something like this so close.

Upon arrival, we were greeted by several prairie dogs.

Malia and her friend taking a look at two frogs.

This natural land is a reminder that we live an area that is considered a prairie. Pretty flat, pretty dry, pretty yellow, and yet uniquely beautiful.

Des's Party

2011-08-29T22:02:00.002-04:00

Somehow I am about a week behind on posting. Such is life.

Two Saturday's ago, we were able to go to Des's first birthday party. It was a fun, camping themed party.

The birthday boy gnawing on some corn on the cob.

The girls and Pops in their camping chairs (You can't really tell but Davey insisted on wearing that pink shirt over her dress.)

The girls were more than willing to help Des open his presents.

Birthday boy vs. the cupcake.

The heat of battle.

Declaring victory.

Triumphant laugh.

More Activities with Malia

2011-08-28T17:54:00.002-04:00

Last week Malia asked for an activity, and then another, and another...

We started with putting tees in styrofoam and them balancing marbles on them... an idea found in an ebook called Montessori at Home.

Next I had her put push-pins in some corkboards...

... and then she got to put rubber bands around the push pins (an idea found here).

Next she had to put the numbers 0-9 in order and then had to put the appropriate number of buttons in each cup.

And lastly she worked on pouring some water. I gave her a sponge in case she spilled and that was probably her favorite part. I think she was purposely spilling so that she could clean it up!

Davey and the potty

2011-08-25T23:06:00.002-04:00

For about the last 2 weeks, whenever Malia goes to the bathroom and Davey is around, she says "potty, potty" meaning she wants to sit on the potty too. Usually this is done with her diaper and clothes on (in efforts to keep it quick). After about 10 seconds of sitting there she is usually satisfied and we go on with our day.

On Tuesday, I ran upstairs real quick to get the girls bathing suits. Upon coming back down, I was greeted by my neighbor Sadie saying "Davey, potty." A few steps closer to the bathroom and I found Malia who elaborated by saying "Davey's feet are in the potty." I hurried to bathroom to find that Davey had climbed up on the potty and was indeed putting her feet in the toilet. No picture was taken... I am sure you understand why.

Magnets and Crayons

2011-08-24T15:51:00.009-04:00

Two of my favorite things are magnets and crayons.

I showed the girls last week that the dishwasher was magnetic too. While playing with some circle magnets, I encouraged Malia to make an "M". She did most of it by herself.

Then we got out some fun fingertip crayons (I found them at a kids sale for $1). Malia enjoyed drawing with them as well as creating an ice cream cone out of them.

Des is 1

2011-08-21T16:11:00.016-04:00

Today, my nephew Desmond turns 1. Last Sunday I had the pleasure of taking some pictures of him (and a few of his parents). Here are some of my favorites.

Happy Birthday Des/Smiles. We love you!

Oh I have to sneak in this picture of my assistant who helped to get Des to smile. Thanks sweet Malia.

Bunk Beds

2011-08-21T16:03:00.005-04:00

A week and a half ago, we did something momentous in our house. We transformed Malia's bed into bunk beds.

My thought was that Malia would get used to the bunk beds and eventually she would want to sleep on the top... and then in a few months we would move Davey into the bottom bunk to free up her room for a potential foster child.

Well the first night they were up, Malia wanted to sleep up top... and she did... and now she just does. I do not feel that optimistic about Davey's transition but I still have awhile to psych myself up for that one (a.k.a. accept the fact that I might not get to roll out of bed after 7 a.m. anymore because she will not be confined in a crib.)

Reading a book on top before bed.

The Reservoir Beach

2011-08-18T15:29:00.011-04:00

There is a reservoir just a few miles from our house that has a beach. We have talked about going for a long time and finally did last Sunday. We had so much fun.

We parked by one entrance (read: free) and then had to walk about 1/2 mile to the beach. On the way we saw this beautiful yellow butterfly.

The water was icy but the girls did great. It was fun to have such a big area of shallow water for them to explore.

The girls enjoyed playing with these aqua skimmers that someone left on the beach. Malia made hers into a bed for her doll and Davey threw hers.

Swinging with Daddy.

Davey got her legs buried in the sand (and tried eating it).

Malia got bolder and went out into the water without her float.

Elmo to the rescue

2011-08-17T09:12:00.000-04:00

When the girls explore the dress up bin, it never fails to amuse me.

Last week Elmo and Belle showed up at my house (sorry the picture is a bit blurry.)

And if that wasn't entertaining enough, within minutes, I turn around to see this...

... Elmo riding on the fire truck.

Puzzles

2011-08-16T23:01:00.004-04:00

Davey is really into puzzles these days. Last week she took all of our puzzles out and and did each one. I am amazed at the patience and focus she has while doing them. She has even mastered an alphabet puzzle (she does not know the letters by name but knows where they go on the puzzle).

The stack behind her is her "done" stack.

I love that she she is completely unphased by her hair in her face (I try to clip it back but she usually pulls it out.) And I love her little farmers tan.

Another day at the playground

2011-08-15T13:11:00.001-04:00

This was supposed to post about 2 weeks ago, but for some reason it did not. Anyway, we met some of our neighbors up at the park...

Here's the crew. The three other girls are all in between my girls age-wise. So fun!

Running...

Here are my girls, who just a few months ago, were very afraid of dogs.

Amazing that now they both wanted to hold our friends' dog!

And here is Davey melting down. I couldn't resist taking the picture (or posting it)!

The many faces of Malia

2011-08-14T13:52:00.001-04:00

The many faces of Davey

2011-08-13T09:21:00.001-04:00

The rest of Copper (well almost)

2011-08-12T11:47:00.000-04:00

On our way back to Copper on Sunday, we stopped at a stream to throw rocks and explore.

Davey deep in thought?

Apparently her deep thoughts told her that she should put rocks up her shirt! Love that belly.

Malia off searching for the perfect rock to throw in.

Found it!

Braving the icy cold water.

Sitting in the icy cold water.

Examining a flower.