Alan and I celebrated our anniversary this year with Mema and Grandpa Tom, also celebrating their anniversary! What a good day!
One lovely couple
Another lovely couple
Lovely roses
Happy family (missing a few).
Happy Anniversary…
2
My new friend
Isn't he adorable? He slept in my arms for an hour. It was a good morning. :)
Bike/Walk to School
The Bike/Walk to School program started up again last week. I volunteered to have a station on the bike path last year and it was very stressful because Lex wouldn’t walk without me. We ended up late a few days, or relying on Alan to get him to school, and generally stressed every Thursday. I think it’s a great program though. This spring they were short volunteers so I found myself stepping up again, just to keep the program going. The coordinator kindly gave me a spot that had nearby parking so we could drive there if necessary. Defeats the purpose of bike/walk to school, I know, but you do what you have to do.
Last week the weather was beautiful and we gave the bike thing a shot. Everyone had fun. We ended up being five minutes late to school, but we weren’t the only ones. Let’s hope tomorrow morning’s rain holds off for a few hours!
These are from last week:
Poor Eve had to ride her tiny bike (it made me think of a stunt bike, or a clown bike!) because of a situation with her other bike that is too detailed and dull for me to write about. All is set now so hopefully tomorrow she'll be off and riding with her regular bike.
I brought sidewalk chalk along so the kids wouldn't get bored while I worked. Work = watching kids on the path, making sure no one gets hurt, helping them cross a little side street.
Eve drew pretty pictures.
Lex drew a welcome message and a hopscotch board. A very little one. :)
I suspect tomorrow won’t be as beautiful. Hopefully the adventure will go smoothly though.
Quechee Bridge
We stopped by the Quechee Bridge today to take a look. It’s amazing what Hurricane Irene did to it. The kids were suitably awestruck.
This is what it used to look like:
Quechee Covered Bridge, found through a Google search on Galen Frysinger's website: http://www.galenfrysinger.com/vermont_covered_bridge_45_14_a.htm
Here is today:
They have support beams and piping in the bridge now. Still trying to decided how to fix or replace it.
The water rushed through this real estate office on the banks of the river. Amazing how it just took the walls apart.
The falls, just upstream from the bridge.
Why are they flying this flag, we wondered.
Water is pretty powerful!
A crafty afternoon
It’s cold and raining outside today, so this afternoon we kept busy inside instead. We baked peanut butter cookies (YUM!), and made crafts from left over paper bags from Eve’s birthday party, and started a top-secret craft project that I’ve been working on (if you count “thinking about” as working) for about a year now. What’s slower than molasses in January? Me with craft projects!
Eve made a "subway" for her new otter. I think that was the final idea. It went through many changes as she added to it.
Lex made a "periscope mask" by attaching an empty butter box to a paper bag.
He can see through the box, kind of.
I made some "sustaining food" to get us through these dark and crafty days.
The start of our top-secret project. Eve loves painting. She'd do it all day if I let her. :)
The mask gets some decorative details.
All done. Until tomorrow anyway.
Ok, off to get the kids in bed. Alan bathed them tonight so I could do some work. Blogging counts as work, right? :)
Now we’re ready for Louden!
Cooperation
We have had a rough week around here. I don’t really know how to put it into words, but it involved a lot of picking at one another, bugging, agitating behaviors, and me not handling any of it well. Lex had a really hard time at school last week and today. I’m working with his teacher trying to figure out the problem. It hasn’t been pleasant around here.
However, this afternoon they played SUPER well together. The living room ended up a complete mess, but it was really nice to see them liking each other for an extended period of time.
Here they are working together to rescue a toy that had somehow managed to fall behind the toy shelf. (I’m sure it had nothing to do with Lex throwing toys yesterday!)
Their successful rescue efforts led to fort building activities.
I love when they play together nicely.
I have so many other pictures that deserve a place on the blog, but sadly the time just isn’t there these days. Life rolls on, documented or not.
Making change
Here’s a random story for you. The other day I was making cracker snacks for the kids and I put some honey roasted peanuts in the bowls. Sometimes they eat the peanuts, but usually they don’t. As a silly comment I said, “I’ll give you each a quarter if you eat all the peanuts.” Guess what? They did! When I gave Eve her quarter she ran over, put it in her money jar, and came back with a dollar bill for me. She said, “Here’s your change!” I tried to argue with her but she insisted I take the money. If I didn’t want it for change then she insisted I take it for eating my peanuts too. I’d make a fortune if someone paid me for eating peanuts!!
This morning we had a playdate here and we were sweeping the floors before our company arrived. I asked if she wanted to help sweep. She suggested we pay each other for our hard work. Silly girl. So we both swept (with me doing 90% of the work, of course) and I paid her a dollar and she paid me two dollars.
I don’t think she fully appreciates the value of money yet. :)
Brain-o-mania
It’s the start of “Screen Turn Off Week” this year and Lex’s school once again kicked it off with a great evening they call Brain-o-mania. I’m going to be lazy and not go into full detail here, but if you’re curious I wrote a great post about it last year.
The kids were making me crazy this afternoon (and by crazy I mean FURIOUS!) and we almost didn’t make it, but then I decided it would probably be easier to get them out and about instead of staying trapped in the house with them alone all evening! I’m so glad we went. It was a great time and we all had fun. It was interesting to read last year’s post and realize that we did completely different things this year. I don’t think the robotics were even there this year and we didn’t even make it to the art room. Eve held the human brain, with only a little reservation. Lex once again wanted nothing to do with the formaldehyde scented room. He waited, somewhat patiently, by the door for us to be done. Eve also enjoyed the “brain Jell-O.”
One thing I didn’t mention last year is that they end the evening by playing a really catchy song over the loud speaker. Last year they blasted it and all the kids were dancing. This year it was a little more subdued and I kind of wished they’d blast it again. Either way, it’s a great song and a fun way to end the evening.
I also got to catch up with some other parents I haven’t seen in awhile and chat with some teachers. I came away with a strong recommendation for a second grade teacher for Lex. I’m going to talk to his current teacher about it and maybe put in a request for him for next year. :)
I’m so glad we went this evening! Turn off that TV and take back your brain!!
The downside is that they learn about all screens, and the kids now nag me when I’m on the computer, which I try not to have on when they are around anyway. Lex always says, “Mom, you know how distracted you get when you turn on the computer.” Walking in the parking lot this evening my phone made an email beep and out of habit I pulled it out of my pocket to take a peek. Lex immediately said, “Mom, that’s a screen too, you know, and it’s bad for your brain.” They are good kids. :)
Eve is so smart!
This is the drop sheet format that Lex’s class is working on these days. It’s the third format this year. His student teacher started giving Eve copies each morning awhile ago when they were easier and Eve loves them. They keep getting harder but she is so smart she keeps doing them!
She looked at section four and said outloud, “Baby…” Then she looked at the other picture, with the balloons, and said, “Oh, pop! Pop and pop!”. I love it when she thinks about something, figures it out, and is proud of herself.
She almost always gets the double consonant in section eight. The other day there was a drawing of a ham in the top row. She did it while I was out of the room, getting ham correctly. I was surprised that she recognized that picture. When I asked her about it she said, “It’s a ham, like Green Eggs and Ham!” Of course! Silly me!
Sometimes she lets me put stars on them when she completes the sheet, but other times she insists on bringing it back to school the next day so his student teacher can put a star on it. :). I joke about saving them all and turning them in on her first day of first grade. Joke, of course, bec,ause most end up in the recycle bin. I think she has some work to do on her handwriting before first grade anyway. She is mighty smart for Pre-K though!!