Mule Poop

We had big news yesterday!  I'm going to give you the same clues we gave Daddy and see if you have the same guess.  During handwriting time yesterday, Rachel found something.  It has two words, and both of them have the "oo" sound.  Do you think she found mule poop in the school?  The kids took a while to recover enough from their giggling fit to inform him that no, it was a loose tooth!  And it was in Rachel's very own mouth!  She's been longing for a loose tooth for months now, so this is kind of a dream come true.  We're very excited--and a tad wistful.  Are we ready for this chance in our sweet baby's smile?  Ready or not, it's coming, and it will certainly be better than if she had found mule poop in her school.

Boo!

We had a lot of fun on Halloween this year.  Rachel went for "fierce" for her pumpkin face for the first time.  Nathan stuck with "friendly."  Both kids had classroom parties (and I got to attend both), and the trick-or-treating was chilly but bountiful.  Smurfette and the Cowboy (shown here with our neighbor and good pal Ironman) had as much fun handing out candy as they did collecting it.

Writing

We are regular writing machines lately.  Rachel has a journal that she writes in every day at school.  Sometimes she even illustrates her entries.  She received a blank storybook for her birthday and is in the midst of writing the tale of the princess Alison who rides in a giant ice cream cone.  She wrote all her own thank-you notes for the first time this birthday.  And check out my cake:

Nathan, too, has suddenly begun writing things.  He did all the writing in the birthday card he made for Rachel--surprised me, as I'd never asked him to write any letters besides the ones in his name.  And he wrote his friends' names on his party invitations.  We're writing!

Party animals

Rachel's birthday party was Saturday.  It was a pizza-themed party--each guest made her own mini-pizza.  (One unclear on the concept: Nathan is now asking for "a macaroni and cheese-themed party."  Or sometimes "a carrot-themed party."  I think we'll be having a regular party, possibly with macaroni and cheese and carrots.)  Everyone seemed to have a great time.  I think the highlights were making the pizzas, going on a cool treasure hunt with photo clues, and playing freeze tag in the backyard.  All of the girls Rachel invited were very sweet and fun to be with, and they did a great job of sharing and taking turns, even readily following Nathan when it was his turn to lead to the treasure hunt clue.  It's nice to see your kid finding nice friends!

I took a few photos during the party, but the best shot--everyone holding up their pizzas--was completely backlit from the window, unfortunately.  So here's a cute photo from the treasure hunt.

When Mommy's away...

My family sent me away last weekend for some time off with my girls.  It was delightful and relaxing and fun.  And when I came back, they had lots of stories about the fun things they'd done.  (So did I.) Some of the stories were confusing--something about art that was cones and a room filled with balloons--until I saw the photos.  They sure don't look like they're pining for their mother, do they?  That Daddy, he is one fun guy!

Skater Sixer

Rachel is six today!  She had a good day at school, gave out pencils to her classmates, played on the playground for a long time after school--amazing her mother with scads of daring feats--helped frost a bunny-shaped cake, and tried out her brand-new roller skates in the front hall.  I think she had a pretty good birthday--check out the smile while she's skating!

Our Rachel Baby has grown up a lot in the last year.  There's no baby left on this girl.  Besides being way taller, she's grown so strong and capable--she really does amaze me with the flips and twists and feats she performs--and thoughtful and bright and fun.  She thinks a great deal about things, asks terrific questions, and feels everything very deeply.  She is a tremendous blessing to our family, and we celebrate her birth and her life with great joy!

New career

Nathan announced to me last week that he has changed his mind about what he wants "to be for a grownup."  (At first I thought he was changing his plans for a Halloween costume, but this is much bigger.)  He no longer plans to be a train engineer for an Amtrak Texas Eagle train.  His new career aspiration is a crossing guard.  Very important job!  And the good news is that he already has an orange vest.  (He thinks he might need a bigger one when he's a grown-up, but this one will work for practice for now.)  Not sure what the deal is with my children's recent refusal to cooperate with photos, but perhaps you can take all these parts and imagine them together.  Doesn't he look concerned with traffic safety?

Mum's the word

Guess what's blooming in front of our house!  Two fall sights--Rachel after soccer practice and glorious mums.  We're still working on getting her to look at the camera!

Schoolboy

 Today was Nathan's big day--his first day of preschool.  He even woke up excited.
 

Look at the grin on his face before we walked Rachel to school!  (Even though his school didn't start until later, he brought his backpack along.)
 

 A big hug from Daddy for a big schooboy.

The hour between dropping Rachel at her school and leaving for Nathan's school was probably the longest hour of his life.  He had just a little trouble saying goodbye, but he had a great day.  He was the line leader for the walk to the gym.  The first thing he told me after school was that his snack was goldfish and apple juice.  Someone painted his hand orange and he got to put an orange handprint on brown paper after they read a story about a kissing hand.  And there were lots of detailed stories (the only kind Nathan knows how to tell!) about other things that happened at school.  Watch out, world--Nathan is on his way!

Braids and shin guards

Rachel is an old hand at kindergarten now, but the milestones keep whizzing by.

 Today she wore her first single French braid!  I don't think this milestone is mentioned in most parenting books, but I both appreciate some variety in my braiding tasks and think of this as a pretty grown-up thing.  After all, I wore my hair this way to my wedding!

And after school today, she had her first soccer practice--and scored a goal during the scrimmage.  Most important, she thought it was a lot of fun.

This is what Nathan did during the soccer practice.  He's been a good sport, and we've had a lot of fun together, but he does miss Rachel a lot when she's gone.  Today he asked repeatedly what she was doing at school at that moment, and when we picked her up, he chattered on to her all about his (very thrilling--it included grocery shopping) day.  He had obviously been thinking about her quite a bit.  Tomorrow it will be his turn to go to school and have experiences of his own!

Kindergarten, Day One

At last, at long last, Rachel's fondest dream has come true.  She's a real kindergartener!  We went last night to meet her teacher and see the classroom, then today was the real deal.  She took off like a pro--when it was time to say goodbye, she lined up with her class, and I thought she was going to follow them without a look back, but then she did come back for a quick hug good-bye.  She had a great day--learned some new songs, heard some new stories, had an actual assembly.  She had much to tell us when she came home, and she's eager to go back tomorrow.

People keep asking me how I am doing, and my answer is that she is so beyond ready that it's hard to be anything but excited for her.  Nathan is the left-behind one: his preschool doesn't start for a couple of weeks.  Several times today, he asked me what Rachel was doing at that moment.  While he enjoys the increased mommy-time, he misses his beloved Rachel.  I look forward to when it's his turn to go to school and meet new friends.  He, too, is beyond ready.

We had the gift of a visit from Grandmerr and Grandpa this week.  We celebrated tonight with a tea party, complete with fancy pastries from our new bakery.

Pop! Pop! Pop!

Once again, Grandmerr's packaging has provided us with a whole afternoon of amusement!  The giant box was pressed into service as a puppet theater, and the bubble wrap, well, what do you think we did with it?

Special to Aunt MA: Do you recognize the dress Rachel is wearing?  I wore it on our big day downtown when I was 6!

Guess who?

We went swimming with sweet Cousin Natalie the other day.  We had the pool pretty much to ourselves, so after we were done, we had our pick of the lounge chairs.  There were some with towels on them.  You'll never guess what we found under the towels!


Pop! 
 

It's three cute cousins who have invented the funniest game ever!

Campout

Guess what Rachel and Nathan did with Daddy a couple of Saturdays ago!  Ever since they saw Sid the Science Kid camp out in the backyard with his dad, they've been asking to do the same with theirs.  Everyone had a great time!  Biggest challenge: going to sleep in the back yard when it's still so light out.  But they managed (with a promise of pancakes in the morning for people who quieted down at 9pm).  Aren't they all cute?  And Nathan told me that there's enough room that I can join them next time!

Sixty

I grumbled a little bit to myself today when my kids were playing with a friend who was singing aloud lyrics to a song he's evidently heard numerous times on his parents' car radios.  I wasn't ready for my kids to be learning words like these.  Then I listened a little more carefully. 

The friend sang: I'm sixty and I know it.  Da-da-da.

Rachel sang: I'm sixty and I know it.  Da-da-da.

Nathan sang: I'm eighty and I know it.  Da-da-da.

Then someone sang: I'm ninety and I know it!  Da-da-da.

I guess I don't need to worry too much.  If they don't have a context for understanding something, they work it around to make it make sense.  Darlings!

Tidbits

We've been having a lot of "shows" at our house lately.  Usually the practice and planning is the biggest part, of course, but occasionally there is actually a show to show for all that.  Here's a snap of one--we have gifted performers for all of our shows, of course, and there is usually a full house to watch them.

We did our annual blueberry picking outing last week--got over 19 pounds of berries!  Rachel and Nathan are getting better all the time at picking and contributed significantly to our pails this year.  They also contributed significantly to their tummies, of course!

The troof

When we had a visitor a couple of weeks ago, Nathan told her at least three times, "I play with Rachel, but I don't really like her."  Fine.  She would probably say pretty much the same thing at any given moment, but we don't believe her.

Then the other night after dinner, Rachel said what color popsicle she wanted.  Nathan quickly chimed in, hoping for that same color.  Then he looked right at Rachel and said, "Know why I copy you, Rachel?  It's because I really, really like you.  I'm tellin' the troof.  I do."  David and I just looked at each other.  It's nice to see, from time to time, that something is working.

Summer science

There are some science investigations that really lend themselves to hot days.  Fortunately, we have been provided with an abundance of that particular resource this summer.  Last week, we investigated density and buoyancy--and got a little wet in the process!

We also made our own paint, and though I never said so, I suppose we were investigating color and viscosity.  I am not above claiming more intentionality for my parenting than was perhaps there at the time.

 Today we built a solar cooker and made s'mores.  Half the neighborhood would tell you that they turned out delicious and nicely melty.  (The other half was at work or camp.)  But first we tested our solar cooker by watching whether an ice cube melted faster inside it or outside it.  (It was nearly a draw.  Our design my need some refining, but hey--I have to leave something for their elementary and middle-school science teachers, right?)

One note in case you consider making your own paint out of sweetened condensed milk: it made very cool, swirly paintings, but they attracted flies and never really dried.  Not something for the archive, but the process was a lot of fun!

Summer snow

Thanks, Grandmerr, for the enormous quantity of packing peanuts--Rachel and Nathan knew just what to do with them!

Flag hats

We've been playing with our friend E a lot lately.  Last Friday, he and Rachel made some swanky hats to wear to the Independence Day parade.  Then we went out on the front porch to watch a storm roll in.  Don't they look like they're having fun together?

Handy kids

My children are quite handy to have around.  They're able to build shelter for themselves, 

tie up intruders--or unsuspecting houseguests (thanks for the good nature, CathE!),

 

and even fend off the undead. 

These are all important life skills--or does it seem like they're ready for their own reality TV program?

Back stories: They spent Monday morning picking up a lot of sticks in our neighborhood from the weekend's storms and wanted to build a fort with them.  Voila--a teepee was born!  I'm not sure exactly what was going on with Cathy, but I think she ended up being someone's pet.  And Nathan was helping us decorate our garden with Irish Spring stakes to fend off toothy critters that like our plants.  Now it smells like my grandparents' bathroom.

So, yes--we've been keeping busy!

Medium

So lately, whenever I tell someone that Rachel has learned to ride her two-wheeler, she adds that she can "stand up on the pedals and go fast."  Nathan then contributes that he can "stand up on the pedals on my trike and go slow!"  Everyone we've told has been duly impressed. 

Then today, Nathan called out, "Mommy, guess what!  Now when I stand up on the pedals on my trike, I can go medium!"  Is this a child with a sense of scale, or what?  I hope you are duly impressed!

What we've been up to

Greetings!  Yes, sorry it's been a while.  We've been busy people, you know.  Do you wonder what we've been doing?  Here's a peek...

Did you see that?  Two wheels!  No training wheels!  My baby is riding a two-wheeler!

Of course, that's not all we've been doing.  In fact, it was just four days ago that we took the training wheels off Rachel's bike at all!  She's been working on her balance all week, and as soon as I reattached the pedals this afternoon, she was off.  And by speeding up and down the block, she's inspired Nathan to hustle his little bustle on the trike.  We've been wheeling all over the place.  Summer, we are READY!

Some other little updates:

• Rachel has been out of school for a week--she is thrilled to be done with preschool and very excited for kindergarten. 
• Nathan is obsessed with numbers.  He can count very high, and he has graduated from reading us every speed-limit sign (fortunately for Daddy, he can't see the speedometer from his seat) to reading us gasoline prices.  In fact, when I passed a gas station the other day that seemed to have a good price, I asked him what the price had been at the station closer to home (which we'd passed half an hour before) and he knew.  He's very handy to have along for comparison shopping!  He also delights with the numbers on his calendar and diligently crosses off each day as it passes.
• Both of our children have, rather simultaneously, developed an odd habit of sleeping with multiple dolls and stuffed animals stuffed into their pajama shirts.  I don't think they've ever seen each other do it, and I doubt they've discussed it.  It's kind of funny, and definitely odd.  But cute, too.  I wish I had a good photo, but I don't.  You'll just have to believe me that it's cute.
• Our garden is growing, helped along by some very enthusiastic waterers.  We have some raspberries due to turn red any day now, as long as the old watched-pot adage does not apply to ripening.  (If it does, we may be out of luck, because watching the berries has become quite a pastime around here.)  
• This is our summer for water play.  Last year, Nathan was still pretty shy around sprinklers.  But already this year, he's done some very daring sprinkler-running, with appropriately wonderful shrieks.  We are going to have a lot of fun in the sprinkler this year!

Easter shopping

One of my favorite moments from Easter Sunday--while David and I were cleaning up from breakfast and getting ready for church, Rachel and Nathan set up a store with all of their new goodies. It was very sweet. (And, no--I never even thought of the anachronism that is Nathan's pj's until I looked at the photos!)

Another spring...

...another chance to run and meet Daddy coming home!

Texas spring

Just a few of the fun things we got to do on our trip to Texas a few weeks ago. (Little did we know spring had sprung at home, as well!) Thanks, GM and GP, for a terrific time!

Weatherman

Every morning, Nathan races to get the newspaper. He flips through it expertly, finds the weather page, and proceeds to read us the entire week's forecast. It is helpful that we have good graphics in our paper. He's also on a first-name basis with the weatherman and frequently tells other people things like, "Well, Tom said it would be cloudy today, and it is!" I'm not sure they all know who Tom is, but I hope they appreciate the weather interpretation Nathan is always happy to provide.

Compost

We are loving the springtime weather lately! We've been biking, triking, digging, and blowing bubbles. We did a bunch of work in the garden last weekend. Who knew an empty composter could provide such amusement?

Even in sleep

Guess which one is the drama queen, and which one goes with the flow?

Stegosaurus by Rachel

Today in art class, Rachel learned how to draw a stegosaurus. I asked her to show me how, and I watched in amazement as she did it. See for yourself.

Photo by Nathan

Nathan is becoming quite a technophile lately--he takes after his daddy--and frequently weasels the camera or laptop away from me, then surprises me with what he can do with it. This photo of Rachel is one of the cutest ones I've seen in a while--it really captures her natural expression. Maybe it's because she was smiling at her brother, or maybe she didn't realize he was really taking a photo, but she really looks like herself. I thought of cropping out his finger and my chin, but then I thought that just drives home who took this photo. (Just so you don't go thinking he is all child-prodigy or visionary or something, I will tell you about a video he took once when he got the camera and I was upstairs. It is a wobbly tour of the living room, then a glimpse of my legs coming down the stairs, followed by a long look at the ceiling while he put the camera down so I won't catch him. It ends with my hand getting the camera. Rachel and have laughed long and hard at that one!)

A little jumpy

Nathan is a jumper. No two ways about it. He jumps all the time. Sometimes, like in the video below, he holds onto something, but often he's just jumping in the middle of the floor. Often he jumps while he's talking. In this clip, he's saying, "I want you to play restaurant when Rachel and me is at our cottage or...or...nnnnnnn...at a hotel." (We play this game a lot, also.) Several people have commented that Nathan is the jumpiest kid they know. Could be. I thought you might like to see for yourselves. (Sorry it's sideways. You'd think I'd learn.)

New couch

We had a visit from our beloved Natalie (and Aunt Jen) yesterday. And we took the first pictures on our new couch! Natalie is getting so big, we thought it only fitting to have a big couch for her to sit on. (In this photo, Rachel and Nathan are competing to have her look at their baby photos.)