Beginning of Beach Weekends 2012

We are starting our every other weekend at the beach routine for the summer.  Memorial Day weekend was the first, so it was a nice long break.  It was very relaxing and I even got a little touch-up paint work done in one of the bedrooms.  It was a great weekend except for all of the seaweed.  It was OK the 1st day because it seemed to be really fresh.  Not so fresh the 2nd day, so we only made it to the water twice, but that was fine because there is tons of fun to be had on the deck. 

 While I was totally creeped out by the seaweed, Ms. Addison had no issues and dove right in.  You had to basically clear a path from the clear sand to the water, so here she is throwing the seaweed out of the way.  Yuck!

 Double yuck, yet impressive.   She built a tower of seaweed and climbed on top (as I type this, I am just squirming at the thought of having to walk through it much less climb around in it!)  This tower was literally as tall as she is.

 Ella on the other hand was not a fan of the seaweed, although she still disliked the ocean more.  She didn't scream "no ocean" and try and run back to the house like she did last time.  And she would play around and didn't have to sit in my lap the whole time, but there was no frolicking in the water.  I'm sure she'll warm up to the idea right around August when our beach weekends start to taper off!

 I say I was productive with my little painting project, but Michael was super productive and built a picnic table and bench!  We had leftover wood from the beach railing we replaced, so Michael just whipped it into a picnic table.  The table was just a naptime project that Addy helped with.  I was pretty darn impressed and we put it to use that night - works great for dining al fresco.

 This picture doesn't do the sisterly love justice.  This was after a trip to the beach when we were wet and drying off before going inside.  The girls just sat and snuggled for quite a while.  Ella's eyes are closed in the pic, but I don't think that she was actually asleep.  Although she was calm and still for quite a while.  That is a very rare occurrence.

Here is the table and bench, with the woodworker and his two cute models.  Ella is not a fan of clothes these days, so at the beach she is usually just sporting a diaper.  This likely won't be the last diaper pic of the summer. 

PRE-K GRADUATION!!!!!

We'd been waiting for this for months - the pre-k pandas class of 2012 finally had their big night!  I'm not going to lie, I was totally anti pre-k graduation nonsense until I had a kid in pre-k.  Yes, it is over the top and the caps and gowns might have been a bit excessive, but it was the cutest stinkin' thing I had seen in a long time.  You could tell that both the teachers and kids put A LOT of work into the event.  There were close to 30 kids on the stage that they arranged into small groups so that all of the kids had a chance to come up center stage during one of the songs.  They showed off their sign language skills, sang in Hebrew and Spanish.  Addy even had a solo speaking part that she worked like a champ.  She came right up at the beginning of the night and asked everyone to stand for the pledge of allegiance.  Then she held the flag and started the room in the pledge. 

The best was probably all of the songs they sang.  Each kid was sitting up on stage, singing and boppin' to the song.  I had not heard Addy sing a single one of the songs at home, so I didn't even know she knew the song, but she was singing along.  Ms. Laura had put together a slide show with pictures from the year, so the kids came off stage and sat in the seats to watch that.  It was cute hearing their reaction to the different pics that popped up.  All around cuteness! 

 Here is Addy accepting her "diploma"

 Everybody on stage.  They practiced for weeks in the class and then moved into the auditorium. Even had a dress rehearsal with the gowns - very well executed production.

 Cuteness!

 Addy with Ms. Bari.  Ms. Bari was her teacher when she was 3 and she LOVED Ms. Bari and Ms. Simone's class.  

 Addy loved all of her pre-k teachers, but Ms. Vera was extra special.  

The family 

(minus Ella who had just finished cake and wouldn't sit still for the picture)

Visitor's Day at Dance

It was a wild and hectic day with dance from 4:30-5:30 and then Addy had to be back at the JCC for graduation at 6:00, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to see her do some ballet and tap.  With her headed to Kolter next year, I'm not sure what her after-school schedule will be.  Fortunately the JCC will pick her up from school and bring her to the J for any classes we sign her up for.  So lucky to have that as an option. 

Our last dance experience was the recital, so this was much more low-key which was nice!  If you ever get an opportunity to go to watch 5 and 6 year olds do ballet and tap, I'd suggest you go, even if you have no connection to the kids.  It is just fun to see the wide range of talent, mixed in with 5 year old attention spans.  Addy did great, especially considering she wasn't feeling 100%. 

 Why-o-why won't you look at the camera and smile normal my precious girl!

A little shuffling leg in motion action

Last Day of Pre-K

It was hard to believe that Addy was about to go to her last day of school at Bertha Alyce.  It has been 5 great years!  There was a big graduation celebration display outside the pre-k class.  I made Addy stand by her pictures - it was early in the morning and she was half asleep and not excited about it, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity.  Mean mom.

Little Gym

With the end of the school year comes the end of gym for Ella.  We've been taking classes for a year now and I think we are both a bit burned out.  Here are a few pics to commemorate our time at the Little Gym...

 No question, the beam is one of Ella's favorite activities at gym.  She even got brave towards the end and would try and walk on the lower beam without any assistance.  I'm not sure she ever made it the full length, mainly because she'd get distracted and start looking off and not paying attention to where she was walking, so I'd have to swoop in! 

A close second to the beam was jumping on the spring board.  She could kind of make it bounce herself, but the fun typically involved me jumping with her.   This picture was right after she'd jumped up and she was on top of a mat wanting me to help her jump down.

Third on the list of her favorites was swinging on the bars.  At the beginning she would never hold on to the bar, would grab it for a second and then let go.  But she got to the point where she would hang there and swing for a bit.  Her least favorite thing at gym was anything that was a group activity.  Fortunately they encourage "exploring" and there were plenty of other explorers like her.  Oh, and maybe the all-time favorite was getting stamps at the end of class.  She always wanted one on both hands, both feet and her tummy.  Ella was always excited to show Addy her new stamps when we'd pick Addy up at school. 

Our New Pets

I'll admit I was not a fan of the idea when Dad scooped these out of his pond and said we could bring them home.  But Michael and Addy are great tadpole parents and are taking great care of them.  I figured they wouldn't last a week, but they have and they are growing, and I'm kind of excited to see if we actually end up with frogs/toads from this little science project.  Addy claims that one of them has legs now, but pretty sure that is not the case.  Hopefully the next update will be that they are ready to hop off into the great big world.  We will not be keeping them once they have legs!!

Let The Summer Fun Begin

We've been spending a lot  time outside the past few months, enjoying the nice weather, but now it is time to add water to the mix.  This particular weekend we had backyard splash fun one day, swimming at Grandad and Meme's the 2nd, and topped the weekend off with a swimming birthday party at the JCC. 

 This pic is one of many I think we'll see over the next month or so (or until Ella decides to get wet).  I thought that Ell would be more excited about the squirty ball this summer.  Not yet.  She stayed clear from the water, until something happened and the ball squirted right at the climber.  Then there were shrieks that you could hear down the block!

 Not exactly water related, but we are having lots of fun with the bubbles that Cousin Betsy gave Ella for her birthday.  Lots of fun "bubble pipes" that work really well.

 Addy was one happy camper once she got on Sally the float at Granddad's house.  

 Here is Star standing guard, ready to jump in and save Addy should she have trouble jumping off the diving rock.  Star hates it when anyone jumps off the rock!

Ella didn't get wet this day either.  She hung out with Granddad on the swing watching Addy have fun in the pool. I found the water to be quite chilly, so maybe that is why she didn't want to get in...she loved the pool last year, so imagine she'll be jumping in before the summer is over. 

Mother's Day

We had a nice and relaxing Mother's Day.  I was honored with a yummy pancake breakfast and all kind of handmade goodies from the girls.  Addy always manages to find good ways to use the chalk board and this was what she put together for Mother's Day.  I like how she leaves a spot for Ella to add her own touch.  I think that Addy actually ended up doing most of the "scribble scrabble" in the Ella section, but Ms. Ella just isn't into the arts as much as her big sis! 

Bathroom Update

No, it isn't fully functional, but we are in the home stretch.  Main holdup right now is waiting on the glass shower surround, but it is hopefully in fabrication as we speak.  All the pretty stuff is done though, so thought that I'd post some pics. 

As a reminder of what we started with

And even though it has maybe taken longer than we would like, the end result is going to be so fabulous.  Coloring is kind of quirky in the pics, but here it is!

Helmet

Ella is an official rider now.  The helmet looks huge on her head, and I remember thinking the same thing when Addy first got hers.  Also want to note that she can totally pedal on the tricycle now, but won't even try when we are out on a ride.  I've seen her do it on the patio though, so I know it is possible!

My Baby is 2!!

Ella's official birthday was the Monday after her party. Addy's allergies were bothering her, so I felt it was the perfect excuse to keep her home from school and we headed to the zoo.

Granted, there is food in her mouth, but she is looking at the camera smiling!  

Note quite sure why the concerned looks/

If you'll recall, the last carousel experience was a the rodeo and Ella screamed the whole time.  I was surprised she even wanted to ride the one at the zoo.  All started out great, she got a bit frightened when it started up, but eventually was OK.  Just a moment of screaming instead of 3 minutes!

On Friday we went for Ella's 2 year check-up.  And we were back to the screaming.  As soon as we got called back by the nurse, a look of fear set in her face.  She tried to be tough, but did a good amount of screaming.  And there were no shots involved.  She broke down in tears when the nurse asked her to step on the scale so we could weigh her.  The nurse had to leave the room before she'd step up.  Goodness!  But we survived and she is healthy and growing like a weed.  She is around the 69th percentile for height and 91st for weight.  She weighed in at 31 lbs - no wonder I can only hold her for a little while before I start hurting!  

Here is a little about Ella at 2 years old...

• Favorite color - yellow
• Favorite song - Baby Moses, her teacher told me that sometime they'll ask the class what song they want to sing and Ella is always the 1st to answer and she'll shout "Baby Moses".  I'd say the baby bumblebee song is close 2nd and sometimes we even get a mashup of the 2 which is always entertaining.
• Favorite playtime activity - playing with baby dolls, and most recently she is into changing the baby's diaper (even though they aren't wearing diapers) and she goes into her room and gets wipes and starts cleaning baby up.  Then she'll start wiping the floor and the tables...next thing you know she has 15 wipes out.
• Ella is crazy feisty at diaper changing time these days. 
• Favorite past time - giggling and making other people smile with her big smile
• Favorite tv show - Dora
• If given the option, Ella could play outside all day.
• Favorite food - chips and queso and she is getting into the salsas too, mostly the green sauce, but she is known to eat some of the red sauce too.  Not much the girl won't eat though. 
• Ella can put her shoes on like a champ.
• She is super curious about noises and when she hears something she'll put her finger up to her ear and say "listen"
• There is not really 1 favorite book, she loves all books and pretty much has Brown Bear memorized and a couple of others she knows good chunks of the book. 
• Ella loves to run.  When she does run, it looks like she is going to fall any second, but remarkably, she doesn't fall that often.

A Purr-fect 2nd Birthday Party

Ella LOVES kittens!  Which is ironic since the rest of us in the house are dog people, but it made for a perfect birthday theme.  We had kitten silhouettes in windows, in yellow of course, her favorite color.  And Addy wrote Happy Birthday on the chalk board.  We had Granddad and Meme, Grandma and Grandpa, Granny, and Jean and Tom over for a fun get-together.  Ella was super excited, super happy and I think felt totally celebrated!! 

 What a difference 4 months makes - at Christmas Ella could have cared less about presents.  As soon as she saw presents on the table she was saying "open presents". 

 Thank goodness for Addy, otherwise we would have never made it through the gifts.  Made the mistake of opening Addy's present first which was a kitten that meows and purrs and moves around.  It came with a milk bottle - Ella fed kitten while Addy opened most of her presents.  Granted, a lot of her presents were clothes, which she totally needed, but for a 2 year old were not the most exciting gifts to open! 

 A new sandbox built for 2.

 Ella clearly has figured out cake and it took no time for her to start sampling the icing.  Note the clothes she has on.  I say that they weren't exciting to unwrap, but I guess kitten got full and she stopped feeding it and she decided to try on some of her new clothes.  But she took them to Granddad to help and he just started layering the clothes.  She ended up with 2 dresses, a pj top over the dresses and pj bottoms under the dresses. 

 Next time I start fretting about the cake not turning out exactly like I wanted I will pull this pic out.  Does she realize how long it took to try and make those eyes look perfect?!

 The family!

Best free party decoration ever!  Pictures of cats doing funny things that I got off the internet and printed.  Ella cracked up at these for days!

Hunting Season 2011

Yes, this one is a belated posting.  Ran across some pics I meant to post back in the fall but apparently didn't.  Michael had a fun hunting season with the highlight being a very successful sand hill crane hunt.  We still have 2 big frozen birds in our freezer in case someone wants to come cook them up!

 Lots of LARGE dead birds.  Yuck.  Lots of happy hunters though.

Zach and Michael at a Labor Day weekend hunt in Uvalde. 

Wolf Crawfish Boil 2012

Another successful mini-boil.  Big news from this year - 1) Addy held a live crawfish, 2) Ella held a live crawfish, 3) Addy ate a cooked crawfish, liked it and asked for more. 

 Addy got quite brave and was even picking live ones out of the big pile before they were cooked.  I'm not sure I'm that brave. 

 Ella kept on calling them ants.  We'd correct her, she'd call them crawfish for 2 seconds and then they were ants again!  She only held one for a few minutes then wanted to, but Michael would hand one to her and she'd throw it on the ground right away.  I think that she ended up eating one, but wasn't a fan of the meal in general.  Ended up with some chicken nuggets.

New obsession = lemons.  Both girls were a bit obsessed with licking the lemons. 

Kindergarten Round-Up

I can't believe we had kindergarten round-up today!  Here is Addy and her buddies in front of her new school.  They couldn't be more excited to go to their new big school.  Today was just a quick intro to the school, presentation by the current kindergartners, followed by some fun with a petting zoo and playing on the playground.  It was also a mini-reunion for me, as tons of my high school friends have kids there already.  Addy is growing up way too fast and could have cared less whether Michael and I were there today -  she was running around with her friends the whole time.  There are at last half a dozen kids she knows that are going to be there in her grade, plus some of the older kids in kindergarten this year.  Great thing about going to preschool in the neighborhood is a lot of those same kids end up at the same school for elementary school.

I was excited about the school stuff, but I think that the petting zoo was the highlight for me.  Most petting zoos have some goats, sheep, pigs, pretty standard.  This one was amazing with baby chicks, turtles, ducks, bunnies, pigs, sheep, goats, and I'm sure I'm missing some animals.   I seriously want to hire them to just come setup shop in our backyard for a while so we can play. 

 Addy looks like she is killing the poor chick, but I think that she is actually being gentle, and the chick could have cared less.  I did hear some peep really loud now and again, but the kids were quick to put them down.  They had a whole tub full of these guys and all the kids were holding them.  I didn't get close, but Addy said there was a bowl of food in the middle of the tub and the chicks were all just running around. 

  Maybe more crazy than the chicks were these turtles that were running around.  Not real fast, but there were probably a dozen of these guys in all sizes, out of their shells just cruising around the pen.  I'm not sure if they were on some drug or something, but I've never see turtles this social before.  All the kids were picking them up and carrying them around - Addy kept on holding them upside down and they were just hanging out, no hiding in the shell.