Anna ran her first official one mile "run" today (it was not timed so it was not a "race") and I ran my longest race distance today. I think we both did pretty well! Anna seemed really proud of her medal. I stood with her at the start and met her at the half-way point and Craig, Sarah, & Henry were there at the finish to meet her. She wore Craig's Road ID bracelet (that has my cell number on it) and we picked a place to meet if the finish line area was too crowded. I think she was nervous about it until we picked the spot to meet "just in case." She is excited for next month when she & Sarah both run a timed 1-mile race on Thanksgiving morning.

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We worked on signs for Anna's one-mile and my ten-mile race tomorrow. We just finished reading "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" so the sign I made for Anna read, "Run like you have the last golden ticket!"

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Admiring some of the student art at Anna's school.

Anna had fun showing off her new school tonight at Open House night.

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We had an early flight back to Texas this morning. The kids all did great on the flight again and I saved them a piece of wedding cake from last night for them to eat on the plane today.

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I was seriously wishing I had my nice camera at this point. Or at least that I knew about Henrys' giant fingerprint smudge that was on the lens of this little camera!

Mrs. Martin, Mrs. Martin, & Mrs. Martin!

Congratulations, Ross & Lindsay! We are so excited for you two!!

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I think the girls were almost as excited about the rehearsal dinner as they are about the wedding tomorrow! Sarah & Henry had a spectacular hug that ended in both of them in tears toward the start of the evening. Sarah & Henry went back to the hotel before dinner was served (I had taken the kids out to eat in advance) but Anna was really insistent that she stay. Thank goodness my mom was able to come stay at the hotel with us so I could go back and enjoy the rest of the dinner, too. (Thank you, mom!)

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Guess who didn't want to go on the walk?

Down to Golden for dinner!

The kids, Anita, & I went on a nice walk this morning. Although Henry really didn't want to go along and wanted to go home once we got to our destination, he was briefly distracted by some fun rocks along the way. The girls had a great time, however, and we all enjoyed being in the cooler Colorado temperatures.

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Dipping leaves in wax with Nana

We stopped at Opa's house on the way to Anita & Brian's because Henry just loves cuckoo clocks. (He got interested in them because of Richard Scarry's "The Best Mistake Ever" book.) Opa gave us a little cuckoo clock to take home, too.

Another note about today is that Anna started talking to Opa! We were all surprised and pleased.

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Pulling the airplane out of the hangar.

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Having fun with the extensive vehicle collection.

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Anna & I went to the Houston Ballet's performance of Giselle tonight. We were scheduled for Saturday's matinee performance and to get to go backstage and meet the performers but we are going to be in Colorado on Saturday! We have the "Jr. Patron" tickets for three other shows this season so we will look forward to going backstage at the Nutcracker in December.

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The (incredibly ugly) ceiling fan above our kitchen table died a week or two ago so we got to get a nice new light. The kids had fun with Nana & playdough today.

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Anita, the kids, & I took the Eco Taxi to lunch today. Craig met up with us after his group bike ride and drove us home. It was a fun way to get into town!

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Sarah & Henry thought Anna's spelling assignment was pretty tasty. She was to write all of her spelling words in peanut butter.

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Anna had her first day of school (and Sarah had her first full day). Anna said the worst part of the day was at the end when they had to leave! Sarah seems to like her new school so far, too.

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Dance classes start next week for Anna and the week after that for Sarah so we stopped at the local dance store to get new ballet slippers and tap shoes for the new year!

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The reading area of her homeroom classroom.

Her afternoon classroom.

Anna was super excited to check out her classrooms today and to see her teachers one more time before school starts on Monday. We also got to meet the substitute who will fill in for her teacher while she is out on maternity leave later this fall. Anna really wanted today to be the first day and can hardly wait until next week for the real thing!

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Sending cars down the tube from one of my rolls of photo background paper never ceases to be fun. It's too bad it always ends up with someone swinging the tube around so I have to put it away for extended periods of time!

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Sorry for the fog on the lens here: it is steamy at this time of year!

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She is showing off the hole in her mouth, not scowling! Note that she has taped the tooth to her letter.

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"show me your sad face"

The kids are all having so much fun playing together this summer. I am so sad that it is over next week!

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We all went to a baby shower for one of Craig's co-workers tonight. Henry was in heaven with all of the fun car toys they had there and the girls helped Craig build a boat for a boat-building competition (they did not win).

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Craig took the girls to a free performance by the Houston Ballet at the outdoor theater near our house tonight. Both girls loved it. Of course, the one night that Craig is gone there was a lizard in our room! The lizard had moved on by the time Craig got home but I'm sure it is still lurking around in there... I'm not sure how I will sleep tonight!

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Anna's other teacher came to our house today and it went as well as the visit with the first. Anna spoke in front of her but not to her. I think Anna will be comfortable with both teachers and I'm thankful both seem willing to help her with her anxiety issues. One highlight of the visit was that Sarah killed a fly with her bare hand during tea. I'm not sure what Miss Manners would have to say about that but everyone at the table was impressed!

Also, Anna's school got a new principal so I went over to meet with him and he seems great. He homeschools his own kids (well, I suppose his wife does most of it!), so I think that is conducive to thinking outside the box/individualizing the education for each kid. I'm still nervous about making the switch to the new school but it seems like things are looking good so far.

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Henry just loves to play "naptime." Sometimes he pretends to snore, too.

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The girls loved "hiding" behind the branches of the weeping willow.

We took advantage of one more afternoon of Granny-Nanny Adele and took the girls kayaking while Henry napped. Thanks, mom!

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No, group pictures are still too boring!

We didn't write this but we feel the same way!

After two days we are all a bit beached out (some of us more-so than others). It's a good thing we're going back home tomorrow!

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He still definitely needs his afternoon nap (which he didn't get much of today--sorry, Henry!).

Obviously the kids loved the beach today! The hotel is perfect (once we got checked in): we had a separate bedroom for the kids to share, my mom slept on the bottom of a bunk bed in the hall, and Craig & I slept on the pull-out sleeper.

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Anna will have two teachers at her new school this fall. One will be her "homeroom" teacher (morning) and the other will be the afternoon teacher. There are two first grade classes and they will swap mid-day (one teacher will do science & math, the other will do language arts). Mrs. T came today to meet Anna and Mrs. C will come another day.

Anna brought Mrs. T to her room and showed her around and then we had a tea party and Anna actually spoke in front of her new teacher which is more than I had anticipated. Getting to meet these teachers at our house is something I had really hoped for since most of Anna's success in talking to someone new has been in our home (where she is most comfortable). Here's hoping that this is Anna's year!

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Henry really liked having Grandpa here to play trucks with.

The girls had fun playing Rush-Hour with Grandma & Grandpa before bedtime.

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Henry always wants his shirt off when he eats. Sometimes he prefers to just keep it off after that unless we go outside. Here, he's also found a pair of awesome sunglasses to complete his look.

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The girls had their last summer camp this week: craft with jewels. This was the one that Anna really wanted to do and Sarah went with because Anna came to the dinosaur camp at the start of summer. It was at Sarah's new preschool and both girls loved it. It was basically like a slumber party camp.

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We took the girls down to the George Observatory for members night. It was super cool and we all definitely want to go again. Before it was dark we got to see the moon and then we listened to a short lecture (Sarah got a bit squirmy) and then it was time to go up and see Saturn and also the moon again. Both were amazing. I was really surprised at how Saturn looked--it was like a glowing white cut-out on a black background. It was totally like one of those glow-in-the dark stickers on the ceiling. Henry stayed home with the babysitter (the telescope viewing didn't start until dusk and we weren't home until 11:30!) and did really well. The girls fell asleep in the car on the way home.

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An orderly collection of fallen pine cones.

I wish I had made a video of this because Sarah's dance was so good. Anna's harmonica playing and the jingle bells around Sarah's ankle really spoke to her. It was also fantastic to have such a cool afternoon that we could actually be outside and not sweat to death from the heat and humidity!

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Henry played at putting the little Orange Blossom doll to bed for the longest time.

Anna's favorite animals.

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We were hot again this year but didn't have any temporary tattoos to sweat off like last year.

I took the kids to the parade by myself this year since Craig is doing a bike ride called "Burn Your Buns." I drove to the parade instead of walking so that we could hopefully see the parade and then drive over to see Craig finish his ride.

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These ladies were not interested in the tea party as they had way too many other fun things going on in other parts of the house.

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Anna went to an art class at the museum of natural science this week with her best friend. I'm not sure why I didn't get a picture of the girls at the museum together but they had a good time and came back with a lot of really nice art. Hopefully we can do another summer camp week there next summer.

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Anna lost her first tooth today! She really doesn't know where it came out so she wrote a note to the tooth fairy that included a specific request for a special tiara and wand.

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Anna made this "mailbox" out of construction paper & tape. I finally convinced her to use the "chest of many drawers" as the mail center because, although I appreciated the time and imagination that went into this, it just didn't have a place to live in our house.

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Henry had a case of the lazies and didn't want to walk.

This was my first and last mint julep!

Henry wasn't in the mood to tour a plantation today so he & I stayed outside while the rest of the tour group went upstairs to check out the house. I can tell he is tired of vacationing so it's good we are heading home tomorrow.

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Sarah wasn't sure what to think of the bird inside Cafe Beignet this morning. (Much better beignets here than Cafe du Monde!)

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Henry passed out instantly for his nap this afternoon!

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We walked down to Cafe du Monde for breakfast this morning. The beignets were served warm, not hot, which was nice for the kids, I guess, but they weren't that great. We will try another place tomorrow. I think the best part was that we got a seat in the air-conditioned part of the restaurant. Henry was particularly grumpy so his missed nap yesterday must be catching up with him.

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Writing & sticker art on the six-hour drive (a very good distance).

The kids were great on the car-ride over to New Orleans. Six hours is a nice, short trip for our family. Henry took a little nap in the car but really needs a longer one. We missed his window by the time we got to the hotel and he really did OK without his nap. We'll see what tomorrow brings. He fell asleep right away tonight! Our hotel seems to be in a good location and it was fun walking around town this afternoon (hot & humid just like home but we'll survive). The kids are all excited for beignets and the street car tomorrow.

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The girls had their last swimming lessons today and they are doing fantastic in the water! We have all been going to the public pool after their lessons this week, but I'm not sure how often I'll do it after today since all Henry wanted to do today was run away from me so we didn't stay long.

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Two more Henry-ideas that the girls had to join in once they saw how much fun he was having. This summer has been much more fun so far with the three kids (last year Henry was just a little too little to really play with the girls).

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Anna is always trying to find a cozy spot to read her books. Here, she tried to make it private, too, but that (of course) only attracted her sister & brother more.

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Henry was dancing, too, but here he had decided to be part of the audience.

These two are really having fun together this summer! Here we have built a Museum of Natural Science.

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The girls had their first swimming lesson today (dinosaur camp is over now & they really enjoyed that). Henry didn't seem to care this time that we left them behind at the pool! As far as I can tell, they did a good job on their first lesson of the season. They have three more next week.

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They could hardly wait to do their volcanoes when they got home!

The girls had fun on their first day of dinosaur camp! Henry wasn't sure he wanted to leave them behind at drop-off but we came home and had fun on our own so he got over it pretty fast.

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My sad attempt at doing a fancy bun like Sarah had done at the birthday party.

She loved the ballet charm I bought her for her charm bracelet.

Anna did a great job in her performance tonight! I hung out backstage with her so she wouldn't be "alone." She colored and I chatted with another mom which was nice since I don't usually get to talk to the other moms in her class as Henry & Sarah (mostly Henry) don't let me stay and watch her during her regular class time.

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Anna was super excited about her rehearsal tonight and the performance tomorrow. My mom came to the rehearsal and Craig will go to the performance. I will probably stay in the back with Anna tomorrow night until her group goes on (not until the third act) and then go watch from the audience. She acted like she was a tiny bit nervous this time but I think it was more about the backstage stuff than the actual performance which is why I decided to stay backstage tomorrow. It is amazing to me though when she gets up on stage and performs her dance like it's no big deal.

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Anna & Henry are really having fun together now that she is home from school.

We went a little early in the week to get our blueberries but I didn't think we'd find the time again later on so we went for it. Henry got hot and grumpy after 30 minutes or so and we didn't get very much but enough to make cobbler and have a bunch left over, too. I don't know why there isn't a picture of grandma here since she was with us!

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One of the other Kindergarten teachers that Anna really liked.

Anna's Kindergarten graduation was this morning. Henry was not very excited about the event so I got the pictures that I could. Anna learned a lot at this school and made her first real friend (that she even talks to). She is switching schools this fall, too, and not because we were necessarily unhappy with her current school but the new school has a much smaller student body so we're hoping she will feel more comfortable there and (fingers crossed) start talking at school in first grade. I am not 100% sold on our decision but Craig & Anna are so I'm going with it!

I was super sick yesterday and today so I was thrilled to go to the airport after graduation and get my mom so I could go back to bed! (Sorry and thank you, mom!)

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I gave Anna my old iPod Nano that I had been using for running (actually, it was Craig's Nano that Anna & I gave him when she was just a baby) and the girls think they are pretty cool sitting around the house listening to their own music.

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Anna's friend came home with her on the bus this afternoon and all the kids had fun playing together until E's dad came to get her.

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Sarah set up a book fair this afternoon then Sarah & Henry filled up their shopping bags with good books after Anna the cashier scanned each one. Then we re-stocked the hearth and did it all over again!

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See Sarah sitting there next to Anna?

Sarah came with me to Anna's school to volunteer today because she had a doctor appoint just after and I thought it would be easier with Henry to just take Sarah right away than to come back and get just her from the baby sitter. Sarah thought it was super cool to hang out with Anna in her classroom (although you could tell she was a little scared of all of those big kids, too!). I just had to finish making the last few graduation caps for Anna's class. We had a little time before her appointment so Sarah & I stopped at the school's book fair, too.

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The girls had fun painting their fairy houses from Corrine.

Anna & Henry love the RC car Anna chose for Sarah for her birthday—it is fun to see these two playing together.

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Henry with his baby that now never leaves his side.

Anna woke up feeling sick this morning so she stayed home. I knew it was serious when Sarah, Henry, & I saw a mom & four baby raccoons run across our neighbor's yard and Anna couldn't get up from the couch to come see the mom chase after one of the babies who climbed on the neighbor's roof and got "stuck." She had to climb up, wrestle him, and then carried him back down the tree in her mouth. I really felt a connection to that poor raccoon mother!

We did watch a bit of the wedding since Anna was stuck on the couch anyway. I think she was a bit jealous that Sarah was playing "Kate Middleton" upstairs. Henry seemed to also get the same sickness Anna had and almost fell asleep at the table while I prepared his lunch! Poor little guy! Sarah was sick earlier in the week so hopefully this moves though them as fast as it did for her.

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"Royal wedding ring Kate Willliam"

Yes, we are excited about the royal wedding tomorrow!

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The kids had fun coloring eggs this afternoon. Henry was about as graceful as Anna & Sarah were at his age. Although he did not crack any eggs during the coloring process, he did have to be removed from the table early.

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Anna's friend Sean and his brother & mom came over for a playdate today and Anna started talking to Sean within a few minutes of his being here. Anna was thrilled when I pointed out to her that she added another person to her "people Anna talks to" list we've got going. I really didn't expect that to happen since Sean is a boy but he's an easy-going kid so it makes sense. Sarah & Henry really liked playing with the boys, too, so hopefully we can arrange another time to play soon.

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The couches are the sleeper cars. Sarah is the engineer way up front on the ottoman.

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I guess I wasn't getting him out to the pool fast enough. Poor little guy.

Notice how Henry has draped himself across Anna to watch Cars.

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It has been in the 90s so it was time to get the water table out! We also need new swimsuits as the ones from last year are a bit tight.

Henry doesn't like popcorn and when he saw I was making it, he went to the pantry to get a snack trap and was pleased when I filled it with Cheerios.

Since it feels like summer here we decided to do Friday Night at the Movies with Henry now that he's getting so mature and can probably handle 30 minutes of TV each week. The girls were excited because they usually only get to watch TV on Saturday and Sunday afternoon while Henry naps.

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Some of our knockout roses.

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Henry is in the pile-the-stickers-on-top-of-each-other stage.

Anna is making a pattern on the origami paper.

Henry is a little more interested in stickers than coloring but he only really wants to sticker with vehicle stickers so it's kind of hard to keep up the supply. I am looking forward to the day he can peel his own stickers off of the sheet.

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I thought it was so sweet that Anna & Sarah were sticking with Henry.

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So we all joined him. Off to the park!

I know I should edit these down more but I'm at a point where I've just got to post what I've got! Also, I did not dress the girls in matching shirts, they chose to do that themselves (this is in case they ask me later "why did you always dress us in matching clothes?!"). I try to buy different colors of the same shirt sometimes but inevitably they are jealous of the other person's shirt so sometimes it's just better to go with it. And Anna feels very strongly that knee-highs should be worn with capris no matter how many times I tell her she's missing the whole point of capris.

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We parked downtown and took the light rail to the Health Museum today. The train was a big hit with everyone but I think the highlight of the day was when we got to the museum we passed a group of 8-10 people with ages ranging from adult to toddlers and they saw that we were all wearing green shirts for St. Patrick's Day. Immediately they all looked each other over and saw that not one of them was wearing a drop of green and they started pinching each other (the toddlers were spared). The Health Museum was OK. It really feels like it should just be a part of the Museum of Natural Science or even the Children's Museum rather than its own museum but we did have fun checking it out.

When we got home the girls went 4-leaf-clover hunting and Anna found another one! (Anna found one last Monday as well—she is one lucky kid!)

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E came to play today and Anna made some good progress while she was here! At first Anna was "squeaking" to E, then she started writing notes, then for the last hour or more she just started talking normally to her. It was wonderful to witness a "normal" social experience for Anna. I think it helped to have Sarah here and not E's parents so Anna was able to relax more fully. We definitely need to get them together again soon to keep it up though!

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Anna asked for dutch baby for breakfast and IHOP for dinner--she even asked to have the waiters sing to her!

I don't know how it's possible that she is six already. Happy birthday, sweet Anna!

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Anna asked to got o IHOP for her birthday after she saw someone there a few weeks ago get a giant ice cream sundae. She was thrilled when the waiters came to sing to her (we all thought she'd hate that). Sarah & Henry were happy to help her with the sundae!

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Craig took the girls to see the Sleeping Beauty ballet this afternoon and then we opened Anna's birthday presents and had her cheesecake tonight so she wouldn't have to wait all day for Craig to get home from work tomorrow. Henry remembered Christmas too well and was pretty upset that there wasn't anything in the packages for him.

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We all had a fun time at the rodeo. I'm not sure why there isn't a picture of my mother since she was there with us. I have a picture I need to scan of me, Sarah, & Henry with a longhorn, too.

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Anna wanted to go to Candyland first. Both girls got to pick out a cupcake at the end.

We rested for a few hours after the birthday party and then went over to the school carnival to have even more fun!

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We decided to have Anna's party at the local pottery painting studio this year. This was the first time we've done it away from home so that aspect was a little strange but this was also the first year she invited boys (she invited two but only one could come) so pottery seemed more gender-neutral than a princess party at our house! Sarah was nervous about coming to the party because she didn't know all of the kids who would be there but Anna convinced her to come in the end.

The kids all seemed to enjoy the party and I think they were all excited that they got to hear Anna talking a bit (she talked to me and Sarah in a normal voice so they were able to hear). Anna was sad that the other boy didn't come (the only one she invited that couldn't make it) but I think she was please overall. From what I can see, she picked some really good friends at her new school!

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Anna with Sarah's hat & Sarah with Anna's. Anna is making Sarah's "happy face." I don't know what Sarah is doing.

This was included because of Sarah's face. She is Major Goofball #1.

The girls each made cowgirl hats at school in preparation for the rodeo!

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I saw these fairies flying around the kitchen today so I took a picture of them since Anna & Sarah were nowhere to be found and I knew they would want to see what the fairies looked like.

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Henry didn't have time for pictures: he had to check out the fire truck!

We went to the Touch a Truck day at the park. The girls complained because princesses (Anna) and dinosaurs (Sarah) are so much better than boring old trucks but they actually enjoyed it once we go there (although they might not admit that if you ask them about it).

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Anna spotted this "statue of liberty" on our walk to school.

Sarah spotted this coffee dinosaur in the parking garage.

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She thought it was pretty cool that her shirt was the same color as the door.

We went for lunch near the train track today. The girls acted like they didn't want to go but they thought it was pretty cool (and LOUD) every time the train passed! Henry thought it was super cool, of course!

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Craig took the girls to the Museum of Natural Science today. This time they checked out the butterfly exhibit along with the dinosaurs, gems, and the oil exhibit.

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The kids had a ton of fun doing leaf confetti this afternoon. It's too bad I don't have a leaf rake but this one got the job done, too.

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I was super sick yesterday and today so this is the only picture I got from today. Craig had to take off work and do all of my usual stuff (take the girls to school, pick up Sarah, car-line for Anna, ballet for Anna, etc.). The girls loved the Valentine's Day parties they had at school. I did muster up the energy (barely) to take the cats to the vet since they also got really sick on Saturday and didn't look good yet today. I think that that was about all I did though! Hopefully I'll be able to tackle tomorrow.

Posted by Becky at 2:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We met up with Ela & her mom for lunch and then a Pinkalicious Party at Borders. We all had a nice time but the biggest news of the day was when Anna spoke to Ela when we left. She only said, "Bye, Ela, see you Monday!" but that was a huge moment for her. (She has "accidentally" spoken to Ela twice and this was the only time she spoke to her intentionally and said she felt proud after she did it.) Way to go, Anna!

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Anna found a leaf and thought it was so beautiful she had to tuck it into her headband. Sarah, of course, had to do it, too. I had to include both pictures because Sarah is always making a different goofy face and how can I pick just one?

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Henry is obsessed with the Legos lately and I love it because it's something all three kids can do together.

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The kids were sad that the cardboard house finally fell apart (I was surprised it lasted as long as it did!) but you can see they've got a blanket fort in the background so they were easily distracted.

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I took the girls for a Henry-free experience at the pottery painting place and we brought Anna's friend and her mom along, too. We also decided to have Anna's birthday party here in March so we are going to have a lot of pottery to display around here! Anna painted Tiana and then helped Sarah with her giant dinosaur. Sarah asked me to write "Zig Zag" on the dinosaur's toes (Sarah has been going by the name Zig Zag since November) and to paint eyelashes on her so we would know she is a girl. I painted a little tea set for the girls dolls.

Posted by Becky at 9:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Anna did an awesome job in the fun run for her school today! The goal was to run between 20-35 laps and she did all 35 without taking a water break (I don't know why she didn't but this seemed to be something she was proud of). The kids were sweaty when they were done as it was in the mid-seventies. Even Sarah got a little warm watching the kids running!

Posted by Becky at 9:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The girls have for months been eating their pretzels in this way: stick a finger through one of the holes and say, "uh-oh, oh-oh, bite" and then take a bite. Repeat and repeat some more. Henry has now started in on it. He sounds more like, "uh, uh, uh" and then he takes a bite. (Actually, almost everything he says sounds like "uh, uh, uh.")

Posted by Becky at 9:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I stood in line for our baby trees while Craig took the kids to the bouncy rooms. The girls were having too much fun in the bouncy rooms to join Henry on a pony ride and in the petting zoo. The girls loved their balloons but Henry was only mildly interested in his cat balloon. Anna's popped in the car on the way home and it was the worst thing that has happened in her entire life. Sarah was sweet and shared her balloon with Anna once we were home so that helped to soften the blow a bit. Anna & Sarah helped me plant the trees along the back fence while Henry napped & Craig went for a bike ride.

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We were going to meet some friends on the other side of town to paint pottery but when we got there the studio didn't open for another hour and a half and that timing was not going to work with Henry's napping schedule (I had tried to get a sitter for him but couldn't) so we ended up going on our own to one right by our house. The girls had fun and Henry & I attempted to paint a dump truck together. He got a few strokes in and then I mostly painted one-handed while holding him on my hip trying to keep him away from the shelves and shelves of irresistible pottery. Lucky for me the girls were quick painters today but I promised them another trip without Henry in the near future, too.

Posted by Becky at 8:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Craig is having a very hard time here waiting for his turn with the wave machine.

All three kids were in there together but I was slow with the camera.

We all had fun at the Children's Museum downtown today but it was a bit too crowded for our taste. It was geared more toward Anna's age and up although there were still many things that Sarah & Henry enjoyed. We will definitely go back but we'll wait a while before we do.

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Henry was not into finger painting. He wasn't even into eating it. He pretty much just pushed the paper and paints away and wanted nothing more to do with the whole scene.

Posted by Becky at 9:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Henry is thrilled with his trucks coloring book.

Now Sarah is in on the performance. Sometimes Henry goes up and spins and dances with them now, too.

Posted by Becky at 9:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Beading mania continues!

Henry's sunglasses were in the car but he seemed happy with these so he could be rich, too.

Posted by Becky at 9:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The girls had fun with their kits today but Craig and I had to do a lot of the digging (as anticipated: Sarah's kit was for 5+ and Anna's kit was for 7+). Anna was disappointed that the gold in the kit was nothing at all like what was pictured on the box. In fact, I was disappointed, too. Yes, it does say in fine print that what is inside my differ from what's on the picture on the box but the box showed something really flashy and inside we found black lumps of coal (basically).

Anna still has two more nuggets of pyrite to get out and Sarah still needs to assemble the T-rex and do the growing & shrinking dinosaur that came with the kit. The glow-in-the-dark dinosaur that came in the kit is kind of lame but she doesn't seem to mind too much. (It doesn't fit together well so it keeps falling apart. I'm not sure if glue will fix it.)

Sarah was so fascinated that we were "real paleontologists" when we were digging. When we were not, we were not paleontologists any more.

*Anna's kit is not called a "gold-digger" kit it is called a "gold mining" kit but I couldn't stop calling it the other name and laughing every time I did. I might be going insane (or I might already be there!).

Posted by Becky at 11:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The kids were not super in to getting their portraits done today and I didn't get one of the three of them together. Another time!

Posted by Becky at 2:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tri-SARAH-tops!

We always love a good "will it float" experiment!

The girls loved the Museum of Natural Science. We went for the dinosaurs (Sarah) and the gems (Anna) and stayed for the oil & chemistry exhibits and a planetarium show. Since Sarah got a dinosaur digging kit for Christmas I picked up a "gold mining" kit for Anna there. I think we'll check those things out tomorrow afternoon while Henry is napping!

Posted by Becky at 2:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We weren't able to put the lanterns that the girls punched out on Christmas Eve because it was raining. We finally lit them up tonight but the pin punching wasn't as spectacular as we all thought it would be. It was fun all the same!

Posted by Becky at 2:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Anna & Sarah wanted to do "the exact same thing we did last year!" for our New Year's party. So we had a dress-up hors d'ouevres party again. This year was more fun though because Henry got to more actively participate in the fun. The kids loved their champagne glasses, the balloons, and the confetti. They weren't happy when we started vacuuming up the confetti but then we had fun making "balloon confetti." I love these kids!

Posted by Becky at 9:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

We had a great visit to the zoo this morning. Henry definitely "got" the animals this time. The monkeys were active and noisy, we got to watch the leopard and panther eating their meat, and we even got to hear and see the male lion roar. Very fun!

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Henry is signing "hot" because the dough was still warm here.

Posted by Becky at 9:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I gave Sarah some tracing sheets with her name on it so she could practice for her thank you notes.

I dotted the S and the R for her to trace but Sarah can write an A and an H! This is the first I knew about it!

Posted by Becky at 9:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I don't know how Sarah fell asleep last night because she was so super duper excited about Santa coming in the night! Sarah is the early-bird in our family but Anna was the first up. Their alarm clocks glow green when it's "OK" to get up in the morning. Sarah's glows at 6:20 and Anna's glows at 6:40 (Sarah would be up much earlier many days without that 6:20 time so it's a compromise time. Anna's is at 6:40 because that's what time she needs to be up when she takes the bus to school although she'd sleep until 7:30-8 if she was allowed.) Back to the story! Anna woke up first and saw that Sarah's alarm wasn't green yet so she waited in Sarah's room with her. It's not clear where she waited if it was in bed with Sarah or on the floor with the animal bag. At 6:20 they both came downstairs to get us (even though we told them they could get their stockings and anything Santa might have left on the hearth without us). They were excited about their Santa gifts although I know there was some disappointment on Anna's part that she didn't get a star that walks or real magic. (They got chocolates, stationery stuff, and a walking dinosaur for Sarah and a purple unicorn for Anna; Henry got chocolates, a few car books, and a wooden car; Craig & I got chocolates.) Henry woke up relatively early for him since the girls were probably a bit noisy! He got his stocking, we had breakfast, and then the gift un-wrapping began. Henry was, of course, surprised by the whole situation and loved it all.

Posted by Becky at 9:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The girls loved going to the Nutcracker today. Sarah was a little wiggly as I had anticipated but she did really well on my lap. We are planning to go to Sleeping Beauty in March since this was so much fun!

Posted by Becky at 9:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The girls wanted to make paper lanterns for our driveway for Christmas Eve so I set them to work punching some designs in the paper bags with pins while we waited for it to finally be time to go to the Nutcracker.

Posted by Becky at 8:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Anna had Rane over to play again today. Rane lives really close to us so her mom brought her bike over when she dropped her off and then Anna, Rane, & I rode our bikes over to Rane's house at the end of the play date. Anna was super excited to have her friend over again and I was hopeful that since Rane's mom didn't stay this time that maybe Anna would talk to Rane but not today. She did talk in front of her and I could tell that Anna is really comfortable with her though so that is great!

Posted by Becky at 8:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Grandma & Grandpa came in today to see Anna's Nutcracker performance. The kids were super excited to have them here even though it was too short of a visit! Anna was thrilled that they came to see her and Henry enjoyed having someone else to discuss trucks and trains with. My dad & Craig knocked down the ugly shade thing we had in our back yard, too, which was the highlight for me! Sarah thought it was pretty cool when she said, "I can see Nana in my head" to my dad as he was unbuckling her from her carseat and then we all said that we could all see Nana in our heads now!

Posted by Becky at 8:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Craig took Anna to her performance tonight. She was so excited! Craig said that Anna did a great job again and the auditorium was full (the show is at a Jr. High school auditorium).

Sarah was a bit jealous and had a few solo dance performances on the step-down after Anna left. I will take Sarah to tomorrow's matinee performance.

Posted by Becky at 11:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sarah's side.

We assembled a gingerbread house and make gingerbread cookies today. The girls had a ton of fun cutting out cookies and decorating the house and the cookies. Henry wanted to eat every single gumdrop off of the house!

Posted by Becky at 11:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

She was so thrilled to wear make up! We were told to put it on in a way that you would never wear it on the street. It was very difficult for me to do it this way.

When we found out that Anna's ballet school would put on the Nutcracker this fall, Anna did not want to do it. The past week or so I have asked her several times if she is more nervous or excited and she always answers: "I'm only excited!" She did a great job in the rehearsal. The girls in her group are "the little girls at the party." They skip across the stage, Anna and four others shake their presents, and then the larger group does a dance. Anna & I stayed to watch the whole rehearsal since the girls won't get to watch tomorrow night or Sunday afternoon during the performances.

Posted by Becky at 10:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sarah, Henry, & I stopped at Anna's school party today. I think Sarah was a little overwhelmed and Henry, again, wanted to get his hands on everything in the classroom. Everyone is very excited for winter break to start!

Posted by Becky at 10:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sarah, Henry, & I went to Sarah's school party today. Sarah didn't want to go at first but ended up having a good time in the end. Henry had fun, too, but I was glad when they said we could play outside on the playground because he was trying to check out all of the things in the room that he doesn't normally have time to investigate when we drop of Sarah in the mornings.

Posted by Becky at 10:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Anna had Ela over today. Henry, Sarah, & I stayed for about thirty minutes and then left so Anna could have time with Ela on her own. Ela's mom is allergic to cats so her dad came and Craig got to visit with him. The girls had a great time and we hope to do it again during the winter break.

Posted by Becky at 10:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Craig took the girls ice skating while Henry & I ran some errands. This was a much more successful outing than last year in Korea! The walkers were awesome and Sarah's double-bladed strap-over-your-own-shoes skates were a hit.

Posted by Becky at 8:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This boy goes to Anna's school and his dad is working on a project with our neighbor so he's been coming over to play dome afternoons. Anna has started talking to him a little bit but mostly just in front of him.

This is Sarah.

The kids are having a ton of fun in the afternoons now that the weather is so nice.

Posted by Becky at 9:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Anna got to help with the final rolling in the powdered sugar when she got home from school. I got the America's Test Kitchen holiday cookies magazine yesterday and this has renewed Sarah's & my spirit for trying new recipes. These cookies are delicious and will be on the annual cookie list.

Posted by Becky at 9:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Henry is now facing forward in the car!

Henry & Sarah loved driving this car-cart at the store close to Anna's ballet today. The ones at our regular store are slightly different and they love those, too.

Posted by Becky at 8:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sugar cookies! The girls had a ton of fun cutting out the cookies and decorating.

Posted by Becky at 9:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Anna was super excited to get to help with today's cookies: cinnamon stars. This was another Martha recipe that I was un-impressed with. Tomorrow we'll make something from our standards list to help offset the disappointment of two lame cookies in a row!

Posted by Becky at 9:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We had tea on Thursday today with our vanilla pretzels and some store-bought treats. The girls loved Zamp's hiding place today (he is the "Elf on the Shelf" we got last year). Henry doesn't really care about Zamp or the Christmas tree which is fine by me!

Posted by Becky at 10:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The kids did awesome again on the drive home. We listened to "The Cinnamon Bear," the girls colored, and Henry watched for trains and big trucks. We only hit traffic about thirty minutes from home and we were in that for about thirty minutes. We all started getting impatient at that point!

The minute we walked in the door, the girls wanted to start decorating for Christmas and I figured that they deserved that after such a long drive. You can see in the picture above that Anna & Sarah have major knots in their hair from the drive. We were all happy to get home again. I hope jumping back into the regular routine tomorrow isn't too tough!

Posted by Becky at 10:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Henry is thrilled every time we see a train or big truck or construction equipment! The girls are enjoying The Cinnamon Bear radio show and coloring. We all can't wait to get back to our house tomorrow!

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Anna & Sarah got a tea party set up right away.

Henry is thrilled with the selection of vehicles to play with. The cousins are pretty good, too!

Posted by Becky at 10:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The kids had a ton of fun at Owen's party. Craig took the big kids on the big trampolines and I took Henry in a little bouncy room which he loved.

Posted by Becky at 10:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The girls loved helping Nana cut out decorative pieces for the pie crust. I think they also started worrying about when we are going to make our pumpkin pie. I assured them that we will have pumpkin pie at Grandma's house on Thanksgiving!

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The kids spied a small patch of snow by Nana & Papa's house and just had to check it out!

Posted by Becky at 8:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sarah's turn to nap.

We had another easy drive today. We started by listening to some kids audiobooks which was a big hit. We made it up to Nana & Papa's by 1:30 thanks to the time difference and no traffic the entire trip!

Posted by Becky at 8:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We got off to a good start this morning at 7:30 but Anna was still not 100% better (it seemed to come and go). She did end up napping a bit in the car and we stopped for the night in Dumas, Texas in order to get everyone to bed on time. Overall all three kids were really great. Henry was easier than during the trip to Minnesota because he did nap longer than 45 minutes the two times he fell asleep. He also really loves to read now so between books and all of the trucks and trains we passed, he was pretty easy! The girls did a lot of coloring and sticker art.

Posted by Becky at 8:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I love that all three kids were just hanging out reading books tonight.

We were supposed to start driving to Colorado this afternoon after Anna came home from school but instead she got sick at school this morning and although she as acting fine most of the day, she got sick again just before Craig came home and then fell asleep on the couch for about three hours. When she woke up she had a very hard time "getting" that it was still Friday and not Saturday already. We hope she feels much better in the morning and that we can get on the road by 7 or 7:30!

Posted by Becky at 8:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

His trunk is loaded up with acorns.

Ready to go in and help me make dinner.

For the longest time the girls have been going on "acorn hunts" at the bus stop. This morning and this afternoon Henry joined in! He walked around and gathered acorns and brought them to me just like Anna & Sarah do. We had a ton of fun playing in the yard this afternoon again. We are loving this fall weather!

Posted by Becky at 8:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sarah was proud of the headband she made in school and wanted to make sure I got a picture from behind.

We are enjoying the cooler weather (finally) in the afternoons. I hope this lasts a while.

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We set the girls up with a movie in front of the fire this afternoon after the cold morning at the renaissance festival. Very cozy!

Posted by Becky at 9:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This was about the point when I wondered why I was volunteering to do this "with" Anna.

The kids all had fun at the renaissance festival today. I made the mistake of going on a super spinny ride with all three kids and really had to concentrate on not losing my lunch! The girls thought it was super fun and I think Henry was just shocked by the whole experience.

Posted by Becky at 9:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I took the girls over to the children's festival today while Henry napped at home with Craig. The girls had fun making hats and kites, getting their faces painted, and seeing Angelina Ballerina.

Posted by Becky at 11:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The girls loved the lantern walk at the Waldorf school tonight. The teacher told the story of Saint Martin and then we lit our lanterns and some older kids were on the lantern path and passed out treasures to the little kids. Sarah was most excited about the acorn and Anna's favorite was the glassy stone that she said would keep away bad dreams.

Posted by Becky at 10:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The girls never let me do anything with their hair so when they both agree to let me braid their hair today I jumped at the chance. I have no practice since they never let me do it but hopefully they'll let me do it again. Sarah's hair is so straight and slippery I had a very difficult time with it! Sarah kept wanting to call the braids "parades."

Posted by Becky at 8:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

She had so much fun gluing the tissues on the jar that she wanted to continue on paper.

The girls and I made lanterns today for the Martinmas lantern walk we will go to at the Waldorf school on Friday night. We are all super excited!

Posted by Becky at 8:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Henry was having so much fun playing in the cupboard that the girls just had to join in. Henry can actually stand in here. I love it when there is an activity that all three kids can do together and this one is great for dinner prep or clean-up!

Posted by Becky at 7:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Craig got his new bike and Anna's tandem attachment a couple of weeks ago so we have been trying to get out as much as we can. Today we rode into town for lunch and saw a car show on the way home. Henry was very impressed with the cars we saw.

Posted by Becky at 7:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The girls talked Greg's ear off from the moment he was done with rehearsal until Craig got him back in the car to drive him back downtown! Poor Greg! He was a very good sport about it, however. Greg-fever will continue on for quite a while at our house!

Posted by Becky at 11:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The girls & I got to go downtown to watch Greg & The 5 Browns rehearse for the concert tonight. Anna is super disappointed that she doesn't get to go to the performance tonight. They did convince Greg that he had no choice but to come up to our house with the little free time he had between rehearsal and the performance tonight.

Posted by Becky at 8:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Watching the shrinky dinks in the toaster oven.

Anna had a friend from school over this morning and Craig took Sarah & Henry out to play at the park. Anna didn't talk to her friend but did talk in front of her. She said she had a ton of fun and wants to do it again though!

Posted by Becky at 8:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Henry fell asleep in the car on the way home from the zoo and then took another nap in his bed but he was up much earlier than usual so I brought Sarah & Henry over to Anna's school for the book fair. Henry freaked out when the librarian went to scan his new truck book. Lucky for everyone involved she was quick so he didn't have to freak out for long! It is so funny to me how he is so drawn to vehicles of any kind where the girls just weren't. Sarah was really excited about her new dinosaur book. Anna picked out a few princess books when she went on her own during school.

Posted by Becky at 9:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The girls go on an "acorn hunt" every day at the bus stop and we have a nature bowl overflowing with acorns (I guess I should get a picture of that, too!). Our neighbor brought the girls these egg cups to put some of their prized acorns in and they were so thrilled. Kris also made some gorgeous paper dolls for the girls that I need to photograph as well.

Posted by Becky at 8:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Anna's running the tape and Sarah is holding the leaf in place.

Henry wasn't into the Autumn Project.

Anna & Sarah decided to work on an "Autumn Project" when they found this stick. They quickly came up with a plan to tape leaves onto the stick and they were thrilled when I told them I'd put the finished project up on the mantel as part of our fall decorations.

A bigger moment in the Autumn Project is that Anna talked with our neighbor for a time. I was in the kitchen doing dishes but listened in through the open window. Anna has never spoken to our neighbors so this was a pretty big deal! Later on, Anna came in and proudly told me that she talked to Kris. The girls also made Kris some acorn & tape sculptures which Kris took home with her.

Posted by Becky at 8:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Anna ended up getting sick just after the kids got their skunk costumes on and Henry really didn't like my witch costume. Craig stayed home with Anna & Henry and I took Sarah around for her first American trick-or-treating experience. I had to really coax her into going to each house. We went to maybe 10 houses and she still got a ton of candy. I think she was a little creeped out by being out in the "dark" and was feeling bad that Anna wasn't with us (they give each other confidence). Hopefully next year all three kids will make it out!

Posted by Becky at 8:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

One of the boys in Anna's class had a birthday party at the park today and the girls loved hanging out in their skunk costumes. I got to meet one of Anna's friend's mom and we talked about setting up a playdate with the girls. And that same friend has an older brother who was having a bit too much fun chasing Anna the Skunk around on the playground. Anna was having fun, too, but I could see Craig's mind fast-forwarding to the teenage years!

Posted by Becky at 8:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)