Beach Time!

In honor of the Jewish New Year, I didn't have to work today!!!! I woke up with a slight fever and a few aches, but was determined to something fun and out of the valley where temperatures were predicted to reach over 100 degrees. Since we only took the kids to the beach once this year, that is what we decided to do. Kent and Maddie made a sand castle, and Sophie and I mostly hung out in the sand. Sophie didn't get to nap until around 4:00 pm, but she remained in a decently agreeable mood.




Madeline has been on cloud nine since gymnastics last night.  Her coach said she was ready to move up to the next level:  Mighty Girls!  We'll likely have gymnastics on Thursdays rather than Mondays, which I think will fit into our schedule better.  

Madeline wanted to be the one to destroy her castle.  She figured it would happen after we returned home anyway (see below).

Busy Week

Our first week of fall proved to be a busy one. We had gymnastics on Monday, Maddie took a cooking class with her after school program on Wednesday, and I had back to school night on Thursday. I worked 12 hours that day, but as you can see above, the kids and Daddy had fun without me. Saturday we did laundry and cleaned house, then we topped off the weekend with a birthday party on Sunday.


It was Christian's party; he's a boy in Madeline's kindergarten class.  Maddie was an enthusiastic "Happy Birthday" singer.  She seemed more excited about the cake than the birthday boy did.

On A Roll

We're on a roll! Two park days in a row! Someone was being especially cooperative for the camera today.




I think Sophie looks just like a little old lady in these pictures.

End of Summer

According to the calendar, summer is about to end. Although where we live, we're likely to continue having 90 degree days for another couple of months. I am really looking forward to long sleeves and sweater weather so we can return to some of my favorite places like the zoo, the farm, the pumpkin patch, and the park.

Luckily, this morning we had a little break from the heat, and  I was able to take the wonder twins to the park for a while. It's a lot more convenient now that Sophie is getting to an age where she can do the things Maddie can do.  Now if we can just keep these cooler temperatures around . . .

Pictures from the Week, Finally!

Finally, a couple of pictures of the girls. They spent a record 45 minutes getting along while playing various computer games on the lap top Thursday evening. They were using my work computer . . . that's obvious, right? I wanted to post some videos of Maddie and her navigational skills, but I just didn't have the patience for uploading tonight. Who knows, maybe this weekend I'll get inspired . . .

Here's a picture of one of Maddie's dinner plates this week: a turkey burger with tomato eyes, a pickle nose, and two eyes made out of coal. Just kidding about that last part; she finished it off with a green bean mouth. Creative and tasty.  

Vowels and Musings

As I mentioned in my previous post, I haven't taken very many pictures lately.  However, I have been feverishly trying to pry information out of my oldest daughter regarding her days at school.

Today, while eating a popsicle (her reward for completing her homework which this week included writing her name about 9 times using the lined first-grade-type paper, writing and illustrating 10 nouns: 5 that name people, and 5 that name animals, and a math worksheet), she said, "You know mom, A and E are special letters." We then had a short conversation about vowels, and Madeline proceeded to recite from memory all five vowels:  A, E, I, O, and U.  Not bad for only three week of official schooling.

Now for a review of some recent conversations with Sophie.  This week, as we were leaving Betty's, she reached her hand out to me and said, "Momma.  Hold my hand, Momma."  It was so cute!  She can also respond to "I love you" with, "I love you too, Momma (or Da Da, depending on who she is talking to). She also seems to have a fear of unusual things eating her.  It's a bit strange, but very amusing.  Here are a few of her concerns:

Yee-why eat me.  (Leroy )

The sky eat me. 

Twa Twuck eat me (Trash truck)

We're Back!

Peek - A - Boo! We're back!

I know. I have neglected my poor little blog over the past couple of weeks. But, we have been so busy getting back into the swing of things with work, kindergarten, daycare, after school programs, drop offs, pick ups, homework, packing snacks, packing lunches, signing papers, gymnastics, and on and on and on . . . Unfortunately, I don't really see things settling down for at least a month since I know there will be two back-to-school-nights (mine and Maddie's), parent conferences (mine and Maddie's), and at least two doctor's appoinments (both Sophie's). I have barely picked up my camera in the last two weeks; it's so sad! Anyway, here are a couple of pictures of the girls:

Maddie posed before class in one of her new birthday leotards:

Enjoying a cooler than usual morning:

Sophie wearing her Titans cheerleading uniform in honor of football Sunday:

The First Day

According to Madeline, kindergarten is "great."  Although she doesn't divulge as much information as a certain mother would like, the bits and pieces that are revealed seem to imply that all is going smoothly.  Kent takes her to school at 8:00, she's picked up at about 2:30 by her after school program (on campus after school care), then she stays with with that group until I pick her up around four.  Above, she poses before her first day with some of the kids she already knows: Sarah Jane, Andrew, and Hannah.  Below, she is walking towards her class, and finally being greeted by her teacher.

NEWS ALERT!! NEWS ALERT!!

We interrupt your regularly scheduled internet surfing to bring you this important information:

MADDIE CAN SWIM!  Yes, this breaking news is just in, Madeline can SWIM.  Even more exciting, she mastered several different strokes all today.  It's unbelievable.  She can swim with her face in the water, out of the water, she can even swim on her back.  Stay tuned for some video footage . . .