Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Giant Slip and Slide

So, we did it, our annual giant slip and slide party. We got in about the last warm day of the year, so I guess that was it for this year. This is the sign Pearl made so that people would know there was a party.
She included herself and some of her friends she knew were going to be there. She was so excited!
Jared always has to test it out first - you know, to make sure it's safe and stuff. I wish I had gotten a better picture of the whole thing - 100 yards of tough black plastic and three sprinklers make an awesome slide!
Pearl and Makayla were content to run in the sprinklers.
There goes tough guy Sam - he was totally blue from cold about 15 minutes into the party:)
Max got to hang with Mara and Katie - much better than running around with his Mom who always buzzes about when there are parties at the house!
They were much happier out of the water!
This is Sam and Lizzie's after party. Cold, tired, and ready to eat potato chips!

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Two Months

I can't believe Max is already 2 months old! He is getting MUCH more fun - he'll smile and coo at you now when he's happy. And, with the exception of the last day or two, he's settling into a pretty good sleep schedule.
He still gets those baby smiles when he sleeps. He continues to love his vibrating bouncy seat - it's a sure fire way to get him to sleep when he's tired and fussy.
I am so proud of these chubby legs - my kids usually take forever to chub up. I weighed him at weight watchers a few weeks ago and he was 11.4 lbs, we have a dr's appointment in another week. I think Pearl was six months old before she weighed that much!
He's having some digestive issues so he's having an occasional tablespoon of prune juice mixed with breastmilk. Pearl got to feed him a bottle by herself for the first time on Sunday, she loved it!
He continues to be adored by the whole family:)

We love him!

Monday, September 28, 2009

Apple Hill

We're so lucky to live so close to Apple Hill. Last weekend, we did our obligatory annual stuff your face with doughnuts for breakfast apple hill trip. Pearl is SO not fun since she decided doughnuts are not healthy (she went for a strudel instead, more apples, see, so more healthy) but Sam does not disappoint:)

After doughnuts, they sat and watched the fish jump in the lake. So much fun!
I was super proud of myself that I caught one on camera - those suckers are fast and you never know when they're going to jump...
Our other favorite tradition is the pony rides.
This year, Sam decided he really was a cowboy. If only I'd remembered his hat!
Pearl is still not too young for pony rides - I'm glad.
Auntie Crystal carried Max most of the time in his baby bijorn - which made Max, Crystal, and me all happy:)
They had these old machines there this year, the chuggers. Sam loved watching, Jared loved trying to explain them to the kids, Pearl held her nose and said they stunk.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Halloween Fashion Show

Since Annie works at PBK we get the inside on all the cool stuff... like signing up to be in the Halloween Fashion Show! All the cousins got to be in it (except for the babies) and they had so much fun!

Pearl the butterfly and Lizzie the bumblebee.


I just kind of thought this picture was cool


This was Pearl flapping her butterfly wings for the audience.


Sam's favorite part is always the books - everywhere we go he wants to stop and read books. At least I did something right! He shows no respect for authority, but he'll be an early reader...


Growl like a bear!


Getting our face painted before the show


Jack was a shark - simply adorable. He and Sam got to walk together in the parade after the show.



Bye bye bear costume! Too bad we already bought a costume on clearance last year...

Monday, September 21, 2009

Helpful

Today Sam decided to put some "tickets" (the new credit cards I was in the middle of activating, sitting next to the computer) in the "slot" (a crack in the trim of his built-in bookcase). Very helpful. Thankfully, a butter knife and some scotch tape did the trick. Phew. Who has the energy to be the mother of a three year old?

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Performing

Sam apparently always finds crazy uses for Jared's bizarre back equipment. This is him singing "everybody, everybody, everybody wants to be a cat..."



Toot toot toot!!!


As I had the camera out taking pictures of Sam, Pearl decided to get in on the action. This is her singing the theme song from Hannah Montana (which we watched with Crystal this weekend)



The thing that made me laugh about the second picture is that her little face is getting red, like she's embarrassed. Sad that she's old enough to think her air mike belting out Hannah songs could be embarrassing!



My kids, the performers!

He did it!

He did it! He got the toy!! It cracks me up how focused he was...
I think I can I think I can...


Yep, just like that, come on, hand!

Got it!


Now what do I do?

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Confessions of a First Grade Drama Queen...

Pearl began taking piano lessons during the first week of school this year. Her teacher is really nice and comes highly recommended and should probably be paid more to deal with Pearl:) The first few weeks we had a friday evening spot, so I would leave the boys with Jared and sit in on the lesson, so I could glare at her when she was rude and things like that. Then, the yawning got to be too much for her teacher, so she found us a time right after school on Mondays. At that time, I have both boys so I've been waiting in the car and running short errands. So, apparently, last week she cried in her lesson because she's just so busy, she has to do homework AND piano... boo hoo. When she got in the car, she calmly announced that "Mrs Frazier said I should talk to you about it if I really want to quit." WHAT!!! Apparently, she didn't do one of her songs perfectly and was offered some correction by the teacher (yeah, that would be the teacher's job, don't you think?!) and started crying because she just doesn't do it perfectly. It was so bad, that I got an e-mail from the teacher saying "maybe we should move to an easier book" and she only has one song to practice this week (since I make her practice 15 minutes a day, it certainly won't make her less busy...). So, today I sat down to practice with her, and at first she's a little upset but we keep on going anyway and by the end she had made some real progress and was justly happy with herself. Then, she's all smiles, oh, she can make music for us whenever she feels like it, and oh, she thinks she'll write a song for Mrs. Frazier.



When I looked at it I started laughing it's just like in her book, with quarter notes AND half notes and finger numbers. Oh, and she'll play it for you too. Sigh. Good thing I didn't let her quit, because you know she would be throwing that back in my face as an adult. "Oh, if you'd just put me in piano lessons, I would play well now... just look at how I was already writing my own songs after just 4 lessons..."

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Funny Faces

Yeah, I know a bit excessive. This is what we got when we were trying to get Max to smile. I love all of his funny faces!








Schoolwork

I hate keeping papers. I think they cause clutter and mess and I'm just not that sentimental. However, I think I was born to live in the digital age because now I can keep a sample of the kid's work in the family album. So here is a sample of Pearl's writing from the beginning of first grade. I'll try to translate...

I like to play on the swings. I like to play with Makayla.

It was so hot this week that I wish I could swim. I'm glad I have a water bottle.


I found a little bug in my desk. I named it Samantha.

Keep up the good work, Pearl:)