Summer kicks the bucket in just two short weeks! Easton starts school a week before (Dalton and) the rest of the district but we've still got stuff we want to do before school begins again. So we made a list of the more unique things and hope to put each slip of paper from our list in the bucket as we do them before summer break's over.
We'll see if it's possible.
On our list:
- make peanut butter playdoh (now that Autumn can safely eat nuts)
- have Mallory over to make doughnuts (she asked if I'd teach her when I brought some to her house recently)
- picnic breakfast in the park (before it gets too hot for the day). We did an abbreviated version the other morning before swimming but had to run an errand for a friend and lost some time.
- make a farm out of recycled materials (we started the other day)
- visit Belleview Park
- tye die shirts
- visit the Real Pirates exhibit at the museum
- make our own sidewalk chalk paint
- check out our brand new IKEA
- eat ice cream for lunch at a fancy parlour
- decorate paper with marbley shaving cream
- deliver meals to the homeless again
- play at a splash pad
- start planning next summer's getaways! (likely just camping ideas for now)
Stay tuned to see which (if any) we can accomplish!
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Summer Bucket List
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
The Amazing Easton
He's got a new trick...he's been able to do this for a very long time, of course, but only recently has he been able to land it:
And the other night, we went to a school-wide picnic for Easton's new school. The kids were told to wear a certain color shirt based on what grade they'd be going in to so they could meet new friends.
"1st grade!"
It was a good time. We were able to meet quite a few fellow first graders and many of them were going to be new at school next year like Easton.
One family we met were like, "Do you know Emily and Shannon?!" when they heard Easton's name. That was fun. His unique-ish name precedes him! :) I really liked that family and it's fun that their daughter and Easton have a friend in common already.
When school starts, they'll spend the first 2 weeks just evaluating the students finding out which teacher and group of students they'll fit best with. Visual learners with visual teachers if possible and ability groupings between the classes. I'm excited about all of it. The picnic just got us even more excited about the school. The families are awesome and the teachers and their enthusiasm was contagious. They just seem fun and to love teaching and can't wait for school to start again (in less than 3 weeks--boo).
Because the picnic was at "the cool park" after all the introductions and cupcakes we left the picnic shelter to play. Easton made friends with fellow climbers. This might not be a good thing. :)
Check this dude out!
The Amazing Easton was impressing even the moms of other climbers. :) They were all, "I thought ____ was brave!"
Dalton only tried to tackle this smaller one:
We'd talk to other blue shirts here and there as we ran into them on the playground but as it got to be past bedtime we decided to call it a night and head home.
I thought I would miss Easton last year when he was at school every day but I really didn't. He wasn't gone long at all. But this coming year I really think it'll hit me more. He won't be here for lunch! He'll be gone all day every day. Luckily we think this school is going to be a great fit for him. Not much longer before we find out!
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
July in July
Enough of the holiday re-cappage...lets move on to the here and now. Well, this month at least.
We'll start with earlier in the month. Like the very first day, when Autumn had her fingernails painted for her very first time:
Or just some sibling snuggles one weekend morning:
Then there's our Independence Day weekend...with the pillowcase dress and firecraker bows I made for Miss Miss:
And washing the car after church:
Along with other festiveness like bomb pops:
And star ribbon hair dos:
We did some timely sidewalk chalking:
Gramoo joined us for the evening of the 4th. She is where I get my own festive gene from, if you could not tell.
While we waited for the fireworkds I made "Chinese meat" (what the boys call PF Chang's Mongolian Beef) and we watched "Kung Fu Panda" as a Family Movie Night:
The kids all stayed rather happily awake until the 9:30 fireworks start. I couldn't believe how well the 3 of them were coping even with the 10:00 bedtime. And if you didn't remember, we are extremely close to where our city does their fireworks display. We put out camping chairs on our sidewalk and can even hear the music they play for all the people who have to drive there from somewhere else. We're close.
That next week the boys wrapped up their first session of swimming lessons:
Dalton passed with a "he's very advanced" comment. Easton is repeating his current level because he needs to work on his side breathing technique when doing the front crawl. Easton doesn't care at all about technique, he just wants to swim. And as he's been able to do that for years now, instead he goofs off diving to the bottom of the pool or looking at other kids underwater with their goggles instead of thinking about refining any sort of techniques. He was kind of embarassed that he didn't pass because he heard me saying so much about it all session long...I felt bad for him. :( He and Dalton are actually at the same level now (as far as the rec center is concerned) although Easton is way ahead of Dalton ability-wise I could put them in the same class, if I wanted to. "Preschool 2" is for 4-6 year olds and is the half hour class that Dalton is now in...but Easton is in an hour long class for slightly older kids. I did not want them in the same class. Not with how Easton already foofs around. My main goal is for my kids to be able to survive in the water if they fell in or what not. And both boys can do that. But they also love swimming. They're still excited to go to lessons twice a week...and as I'd mentioned before, Easton would really love to take diving lessons but he's got another level of swimming they'll make him pass first. But the boy is not afraid of going head first into the water. He's always been part fish. Always.
And now I'm so proud of Dalton for being able to swim. He swims underwater only so far...and it's not something they really teach you. He had two teachers this last session...a boy and a girl. There were about 4 kids in his class and the boy teacher--David--took quite a liking to our Diddlebug. Perhaps it was because Dalton was already at a higher level than the other kids, but David was pretty much always one-on-one with Dalton.
The girl teacher took turns with all the other kids and David would be out in the deep end with Dalton. Or throwing him up in the air to do cannonballs. Or having him swim out to him:
David was great with Dalton. Just like Tyler was with Easton last summer, I think David is the reason Dalton came so far in lessons this summer. David doesn't teach D's class anymore but says an excited hello to Dalton when they pass one another in the water. I've thought about asking if he babysits--some of the teachers do and give out their number on the report cards. Tee hee.
David could get Dalton to backfloat as you can see in the clip above...but if he'd show Dalton his hands meaning D was doing it on his own, Dalton would collapse. Funny stuff.
I'm afraid his class now is almost going to set him back a bit...the teachers have him jump in to them and catch him so his face doesn't go under. What's up with that? I want David back! And I know Easton would be doing better with a teacher like Tyler last year.
I'm very proud of my Diddles...it's fun to see Dalton coming into his own at things that used to just be Easton's thang: first soccer and now swimming.
Little Sister is proud too:
I'm very proud of Easton too, of course. I'm proud that he is so brave. I'm proud that he is working so hard to make sure his teachers know he can actually do his side breathing very well if he feels like it. He's determined to pass this time. I think he's just used to sailing through like every other session in the past. Swimming lessons didn't really teach E to swim, he did that on his own...but they are helping him improve.
And Little Miss? She can take lessons without a parent once she's 2. I couldn't take lessons with her while I had the two boys with me...and weekend lessons interfere with soccer and evening lessons are outside which we won't do. So maybe after her birthday next month? Ack!
But for now she's happy "helping" me sew:
Rascalina.
Anyway, that's some of July there for ya.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Christmas In July: The Big Day
Time to wrap up all this "Christmas" business. And all I've got left to talk about is Christmas Day itself.
The spread after Santa came through:
Santa doesn't wrap presents at our house. And we've never had a problem with whose pile is whose. But this year it was even more clear because Santa put pictures of each kid on a plate. They're supposed to be kind of like these plates. Santa got a great deal on them right before Christmas.
Easton's haul:
Poor guy...our kids have only ever asked Santa for one thing. I just love this. No one told them that but they've only ever had one thing they ask for each year. And Easton had the brilliant idea to ask Santa for Batman Legos. You see, there is a Batman Lego Wii game. But no Batman Legos...anymore. So Easton was all, "I know! I'll ask Santa for them since he can make anything!" Great. So Santa had to get on eBay and hunt down old Batman Legos for top dollar. Seriously, they're not cheap. So we really didn't want to/couldn't get much. He got a cape-less Batman. A Batcycle. A Robin. Robin's water bike thingie. And a bad guy: Penguin with a few penguins. That's it. And Legos are all small so he's got a measly little spread down there. :( Poor guy. Santa brought a cool huge snowwalker to try to help. Baby Buzz must've been picked up when Santa flew over Disneyland. When we were in Disneyland last May, Dalton got a Baby Woody. Autumn got a Baby Ariel. And Easton chose a Padme Star Wars action figure. He later regretted the choice and wished he'd gotten a Buzz. Something they only sell in the Disney parks. Santa worked hard for that kid this year. :)
Here's Dalton's spread...
He'd asked Santa for "a Toy Story Factory". He meant the Lego Toy Story Landfill set for 7+ year olds. He didn't even know there was an Imaginext version. Santa made the executive decision to choose the more appropriate "Toy Story Factory".
And Autumn's pile:
The boys asked Santa for "a new Beanie Boo" on Autumn's behalf. So she got 3 new ones on her new kitchen!
Dalton was so excited that she got them...handing them to her was one of the very first things he did when he came downstairs Christmas morn:
Awww.
And despite the meager Lego display, Easton was still fairly excited, once he found it.
But the video from that morning makes me want to cry. He comes downstairs all, "Now, where's my Legos???" looking all around because they're so tiny and few. :( And then he was like, "Dad? Batman's cape isn't on." D'oh! I made him one later but man did Santa feel bad for E this year. You can see it on my Santa's face in some of the pictures. He really did enjoy his things, though:
Dalton had fun checking out his stuff:
As did the little Miss:
And checking out Bubba's stuff too:
Once we get through the unwrapped Santa presents we probably ate some food. At least I think we did. Then we move on to the stockings:
Stockings have always been one of my favorite parts of Christmas. My mom did fabulous stockings. We do very little candy. In fact, I'm not sure if there was any candy in the stockings this year. Instead we got toothbrushes...and have you ever seen a kid more excited to get a toothbrush for Christmas?
Or Chapstick?
Autumn got a teeny dolly in her stocking.
She's since named it "Button" and it is her very favorite baby doll these days.
After stockings we move on to the wrapped gifts. Easton was very excited to open a replacement copy of Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz for the Wii:
And Dalton was surprised to find the Alphie G-Ma and July sent. He calls it "Aubbers", though.
Autumn scored some cute clothes:
And a couple more dollies:
And probably her favorite: shoes!
She put them on and immediately went to tapping her pointy toes to check them out:
We checked out our new stuff for the rest of the morning and headed down to Christmas dinner at Grammy's house that evening.
And that is the end of Christmas!
