Back to School

Well, it's back to school. Cailey really loved her teacher from the beginning. She's very soft-spoken and gentle. She likes birds and rock climbing, so she's a nature lover like Cailey.

Mia's teacher is really good, though Mia's not quite as attached to her yet. I've been in her class before doing a reading practicum and was impressed by how well her classroom was organized and how the children were busy working. Mia will learn a lot.

Sadly, the girls aren't with their friends from last year. Their best friend moved over the summer. Cailey has a lot of boys in her class that she knows, and that's not a problem for her. Poor Mia has only 5 or so girls and 15+ boys, but one of the girls lives on the street behind us so hopefully she's nice and they can be friends.

This summer the kids in the neighborhood started playing. The other night the kids on the cul de sac called the girls down. They played there for an hour and a half and when I went to get the girls, they came up with us and played for an hour. It was just the perfect night, as Luke was at my mom's and I had the house to my self for an hour. Also the weather was perfect and having the kids run around the neighborhood brought back great childhood memories of doing just that. I worked with David on the rest of the treehouse while the kids played and life was just perfect that night. I'm glad the kids in the neighborhood are becoming friends.

Lukey is at school now. Last week his teacher visited our house. He was super excited and wanted to know where his other "friends" were. He thought they were coming to our house. He brought out several toys to show his teacher and asked her to come back again!

Then we had an hour-long orientation type session. Lukey didn't cling to us or anything, he just went off across the room and played. He was such a good boy; he would touch something and look around like, "Is it ok to play with this?" and when no one said anything he'd start to play. One little boy is kind of all over and grabby and Luke didn't quite know what to make of him. The boy started gnawing on some plastic food Luke was setting on the table. When the boy left Luke picked it up and wiped it off. You could just tell in his head he was trying to figure out why in the world that boy would do something so gross!

Then on his first official day, Grandma had to take a detour due to some road work, and Luke got kind of upset thinking Grandma wasn't taking him to school. They got to school early and he didn't want to sit in the car and wait, he just had to get to school.

I also am having a nice start to the school year. I have very nice kids for the first time in several years. Just as an example of how great these kids are, today we used some books and without me telling them they ALL were put back on the shelf, neatly too. That sounds minor, but the last several years I've had classes that wouldn't do that even IF I told them. It is just fabulous. We also have new administrators who are working to get discipline back in our school. YAY!!!

Also, Happy Birthday, Luke!

Nim's Island

We rented Nim's Island for our family to watch tonight. It was a good movie, though sometimes required a little explanation as several scenes are part of the characters' imaginations. It is a little Swiss Family Robinson, Indiana Jones, Dr. Doolittle, wrapped up in a kid-flick. We all enjoyed it.

Mia though, is bewildered. "WHY would anybody GO there?!? That's like a place where you could DIE!"

All throughout the movie she kept commenting, "She shouldn't have done that! She should tell her dad!"

Guess she's not my adventurer. Cailey, of course, had no problem with it.

Hannah Montana Camp

Well, like I mentioned, July flew by. We finished out the month going to Hannah Montana camp at a local dance studio. The girls made microphones, a frame, and did a photoshoot wearing the Hannah wig. The letter that went home said they'd be wearing a "little" makeup. Well, if that was little, I'd hate to see a "lot." As I told them, it was definitely stage make up! But as you can see from their smiles, they felt beautiful!

Their performance at the Fair today included singing to one song and then dancing to another. I was pleasantly surprised at how well Mia did. She looked pretty confident. Cailey also loosened up more as well, though she'll tell you soccer is more her thing.

Here is a video of their "sneak peek" at the studio I took with my Flip camera. Mia's in yellow and Cailey is in the front in pink. I'll have to finish my disc on the Canon before I can post the one from the Fair today.

Two little girls from the neighborhood were also in the class. The girls played outside for several hours with one of them other night. It was nice to see and reminded me of playing with my neighborhood friends growing up.

Lukey's Summer Activities

Lukey's summer was somewhat less eventful. Used the potty. Played trains. Played cars. Bothered his sisters. Read books. Rode in the van. Watched his sister's perform.



Each day as we drove by his preschool he'd beg me to take him to school. It was hard explaining the concept of summer vacation and that school wouldn't start for several weeks to a child who has no concept of the calender year.



Day after day he'd beg and cry to go. (Didn't help of course that we were driving by it around naptime each day.) Finally I told him his teacher wasn't there and that she was at home with her kids like I was home with him. That seemed to work; though he now keeps asking me if his teacher is still home with her kids. He's excited and ready.



Luke wakes me up each day about 7:30. Usually he wakes my by telling me he's hungry, though he actually doesn't have an appetite until 9:00. But he insists on being fed though it is always thrown away. Then I feed him at 9:00 and he eats. I learned to put a tiny amount of food in the first bowl.



Anyway, some days though, he wakes me up without asking for food. Sometimes he would just "pet" my arm for awhile. One day though, I will always remember, he was just giggling up a storm and "tickling" me, rolling all over me and laughing his head off. It was the most memorable wake-up ever. I told him I liked that and that he'd have to wake me up that way again, but he hasn't.



Luke's favorite things to day these days are, "Okay, okay, okay" when he's giving in to a demand (or giving up on one of his!). Another favorite phrase is, "You can.... if you want to." He uses that to convince you to do something he wants. Quite the tactic, making you think it's your decision. He uses this a lot at night when he wants me to lay down with him. "Mom, you can lay here. I've got a pillow for you. You can lay down if you want to. Here, go ahead." That's another one of his sayings, "Here, go ahead." And when you pause to contemplate it he'll add, "C'mon, just do it" like he knows you really want to. Uncle Mike said he should have Luke answer his calls because he might make more sales. Quite the little negotiator. True, it can be cute, but also having your two year old try and negotiate with you constantly is quite tiring, another real reason I didn't post much in July. It's one of those personality traits that will benefit him in the long run, but has it's drawbacks as a two-year-old. Grandma says he's just like his daddy like that; she said he always had to have the last word too.

Girls' Summer Activities

Wow. I didn't post at all last month. Let me try to catch up.

Cailey participated in the Circus Extravaganza camp at the Playhouse. Her age group was learning about being clowns. To make it extra fun, the teachers dressed as clowns each day. They learned about stage fighting, pretending to stomp on each other's feet, throw punches, and duel with balloon swords. They designed their own clown face on a sheet of paper and the teachers painted it on for them. They made cute little hats and a variety of other props. They sang a clown song and played with a parachute. They told jokes. They had to look through their closets and find articles to make a clown costume out of. Cailey picked a lime and hot pink paisley and polka dot set with heart applique jeans I had made for last Valentine's day because those were the same colors and similar style to her teacher's outfit. The camp was a great chance for Cailey to get to use her creativity. At the end of the week the groups all got together to put on a circus for family and friends. This clip below is just a portion of the circus, with Cailey's group doing the parachute.

A couple weeks later Mia did Broadway Babies camp. They learned 3 songs and choreography. Wow, the sound these kids produced was great! At the end of the week they also got to perform for a packed audience of family and friends.

Click on the video and you will hear "Oh the Thinks You Can Think" from Seussical, followed by "Different" from Honk!, and then, "You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile" from Annie.

Then they went on vacation with Grandma and Grandpa to South Dakota. As Cailey put it, "We learned a LOT on our trip!" During the week they visited a live archaeological dig where they learned about mammoths. They learned the presidents that are on Mt. Rushmore. They climbed rocks in the Badlands and artistically drew pictures in their sketch journals of the rock formations they saw. They became Junior Park Rangers, which involved taking a test and an oath, so it was very official! They "froze" in Jewel Cave and were active participants in the tour, asking questions. The got to drive through the wildlife loop at Custer and through Bear Country and saw lots of cool animals. Basically it was a more educational than a year's worth of science and geography class!

Of course, any trip with would be incomplete without souvenirs. The girls added to their plastic animal / toy stash. When they came home Cailey spent a lot of time setting up a "museum" with them and then ceremoniously admitting us to it.

The following night they used their new knowledge and skills as Junior Park Rangers to take us on a tour of the "cave" they made in their room. With all the skills of a tour guide, flashlights in hand, we were led around their room as they pointed out the variety of wildlife inhabiting their "cave." Cute little touches included tiny lizards peeking out here and there, and a story accompanied each bat.

The highlight of the trip was surely the hotel swimming pool though! They did a lot of swimming! According to them, this trip was better than New York City, and even Iowa City.

Meeting Jaren

We took the kids up today. They had excited grins on their faces going in and seeing grandma holding him. Then Aunt Sarah changed his diaper and their expressions changed to total awe and adoration. Later Mia held Jaren and was staring intently at him for the longest time. Later she asked if she could hold him again. She just kept saying, "He's so cute." Cailey sat by me and watched him for awhile, but was hesitant to hold him. I don't blame her; he seems so small. Since Jaren was sleeping Lukey wasn't too interested after the diaper change. I was glad he didn't seem to be jealous at all. I know mom got some great pictures of them looking at Jaren, so I'll have to put on on later.

New Cousin!

I got to meet my new nephew today. Jaren was born this morning. When I showed the kids a picture I took, the girls said, "Awwww," and Lukey said, "Awww. That's my baby Jaren. He's sleeping. He's sleeping in his room." Jaren was wide awake at first taking it all in looking intently at his mom and dad. The kids will go up tomorrow to see him. They can't wait! Grandma took these pictures and created the scrapbook layouts.