Home of Steve, Christine, Katherine, Ally, Rosebud, and Rex
SHHHH…
Well, it’s over for Katherine. This morning as we were getting ready for school, Katherine called to me from across the bathroom, “Mom…Santa isn’t real. You and Dad are Santa!”
Allison has already started to clue into this, asking me the other day, “Mama, is Santa real, or is he just a man dressed up?”
Nonetheless, I shushed Katherine and told her to please not to talk about this in front of her sister who was downstairs. Katherine sagely nodded and looked very pleased with herself.
Katherine’s First Search
Tonight, as I was cleaning up from another day of renovation fun, Steve called out to me, “Hey, guess what Katherine did!”
Katherine had climbed onto Steve’s den chair, used the mouse to put her cursor on the Live Search toolbar box, and typed “Lamby.”
This, of course, is the name of her much beloved and very ratty looking stuffed animal.
Live Search returned a Target web site with an Lamby layette collection. Allison and Katherine clicked all around the site, looking at lamb pillows, crib bumpers and wall hangings. Katherine ran off to find her official Santa list and add this to her list. Allison provided a running commentary, “How Beeeautiful…Mama you have to see this!”
Our philosophy on computer literacy has been to limit the girls’ computer exposure to MS Paint. Katherine uses a mouse to draw lambs and such and the keyboard to type names and words into her pictures. However, she tries to mimic our use, typing an email to Lamby the other day (addressed to me).
She has also gotten a hold of Steve’s iPhone and figured out how to activate it…Reading the phone, “Swwwipppe to staarrt” she took her finger and swiped it across the phone. That sure got Steve’s attention!
Thanksgiving
We had a very nice Thanksgiving, with Sharon and Jamey visiting from Boston. My mom was gracious enough to host us two evenings – once for Thanksgiving hot pot and once for my birthday dinner. Lacking a stove, inside refrigerator and oven, we ate out the rest of the time.
Our kitchen is almost assembled now. It has cabinets, subtop, granite, sink, stove and fridge installed. No faucet or dishwasher or oven yet. Fingers crossed we don’t have to make fudge for our upcoming cookie exchange!
The bathrooms are still in progress. Cabinets, subtops and granite/limestone all are in. We’re still awaiting our backordered faucets, new tile, shower, etc.
Our goal – Finish Before Christmas.
Finally Pictures…
Here are pictures from Katherine’s birthday, Halloween, and other activities this month.
Busy Month
This has been an extraordinarily busy month. It started with Steve and I taking a much awaited cycling trip to Sicily. Indeed, it was a very hily ride; a common phrase from the guides was “gently rolling hills”. We did a lot of low grade hills that kept going and a couple steeper climbs. I averaged 25-30-35 miles a day; Steve took a couple extra extensions. Unfortunately, due to rain and a high guide ratio (11:1), he wasn’t able to complete a European century. But, we enjoyed a LOT of food during 3 hour lunches (seriously), wine and very nice hotels. We did some cool local tours – to watch a family make ricotta cheese, a walking tour, wine tastings and pasta making. Steve is working on publishing the Sicily pictures, the bike routes, etc.
Right after we got back, we celebrated Steve’s birthday, and I started up a consulting gig. The kids geared up for two Halloween parties and trick or treating. At school, the teachers requested that the kids dress up as people in the community. Allison chose to be a firefighter, and Katherine a doctor. After school, they turned into Tinkerbells for a potluck party and then trick or treating.
Since Halloween, Katherine caught a bad cold circulating through her classroom – and stayed home from school for three days. She’s still coughing a lot, occasionally having coughing spasms. Allison, Steve and I haven’t caught it yet…
Learning about World Affairs
As part of Halloween and their world learning at school, the pre-elementary kids trick or treat for UNICEF. The teachers explained UNICEF in circle and provided the orange boxes to the kids. Allison came home proudly with her box and told us the following:
Mom: Allison, do you know why your collecting money for UNICEF?
Allison: Because…some children don’t have clean water. They will buy new pumps. If they drink dirty water, they will get sick.
Katherine has been collecting money for a couple weeks from friends’ parents – taking over $39 to school for UNICEF.
The kids also have taken an interest in politics. Thru the fall, they’ve watched debates, provided commentary and even did a victory dance chanting “Obama Obama…” last Tuesdsay. Katherine asked us last week unprompted, “Why does the radio keep talking about Joe the Plumber??” She thought it was really funny that CNN and NPR would talk about some plumber as part of the presidential election.
Dinosaurs
Every classroom at school has “units of study” – basically topics that are woven throughout different works in a section of the classroom. Allison’s classroom is studying dinosaurs. As a result, we’re also learning about dinosaurs. Apparently, Allison has been listening pretty intently to her teacher who’s been presenting this information at circle.
Allison: The tyrranasaurus rex is a very angry dinosaur. He eats other dinosaurs. He’s like the king of dinosaurs. He’s MUCH bigger than our car.
Mom: Really, what other dinosaurs have you learned about??
Allison: The brontosaurus was very afraid of the tyranasaurus rex. His favorite dishes were leaves and bushes.
Mom: Favorite dishes, hm…
Allison: And, then there’s the bracheosaurus, the allisaurus, and the stegasaurus. The stegasaurus had plates on his back and his tail. He had four plates on his tail. He used them as a weapon against the tyranasaurus rex.
Steve and I were rather dumbfounded, since dinosaurs haven’t been a major topic in our house. Katherine kept trying to interject, but Allison kep rolling along with her narrative all the way to school.
Katherine thinks that Allison is very amusing and often says, “she’s soo cute.” Allison pushes her sister sometimes, for instance wanting to play with Katherine’s new toys or counting money in Katherine’s wallet. Thankfully, Katherine is relatively patient with her sister.
“If she likes ponies”
Before the summer, Steve and I met with Katherine’s teacher to discuss progress and the upcoming summer. Her suggestion for reading: find out what she wants to read and then encourage it! “If she’s interested in ponies, then check out books about ponies.” This may seem totally intuitive, probably because its spot on.
Katherine LOVES the Disney Fairies – Tinkerbell, Beck, Fira, etc. She saves her allowance money to go to Borders and buy the big, picture Disney books. (We buy her the chapter books to read.) Her prize possessions are the Fairy Homes and Inside Pixie Hollow. She just started reading the chapter books tonight, carefully using her finger to read the small text and turning the page corner for tomorrow.
First Day of Summer School
Allison was so proud to go to summer school today. She exclaimed last night and this morning that she’s “going to pre-school!” We followed our typical morning routine and drove to school. Katherine was excited to accompany Allison to the Main Building for class assignment and then Mezzo Building.
Once we entered the classroom, Allison put her backpack away, washed her hands and then headed straight to the shelves to handle the materials. The teaching assistant directed her to a practical life work. We all said goodbye to Allison, who didn’t even look up as we left…
According to the teacher, Allison worked well this morning and listened well. She said that she played with “toys” but didn’t do work?! I asked her if she ate her Cliff bar before pickup (while the other full day children ate lunch). She said, “Yes. But I didn’t have anything else.” After that statement, Allison clambered off her kitchen chair, opened the pantry and told me, “I pack my lunch now.” She packed peanuts, almonds and got an apple from the fridge and put it in her lunch bag for tomorrow.
Derby Days
One of the big summer highlights is Derby Days, namely the kids bike parade, the main parade with candy, and rides afterwards. This year, Allison rode the 12″ pink bike with training wheels. Katherine rode her 16″ bike with no training wheels. They were thrilled to decorate their bikes with red, white and blue – and flags too!
July 4th
Aunt Sharon and Uncle Jamey visited over July 4th weekend. It was a fun-filled three days. We picked raspberries at Remlinger Farms, made pie & cobbler, took the kids on a bike ride to the “choo-choo” train park, and a hike around Trilogy.
Katherine went to Tiger Mountain and hiked a third of the way up the mountain with her aunt and uncle. We were proud to hear that she braved the bushes and mud. Allison was very sad to miss the hike, as she tearfully told us that she “didn’t get to go.”
Allison’s 3rd Birthday Weekend
Party planning began last month when I asked Allison what she wanted to do for her 3rd birthday. She said promptly, “bike on the driveway with my friends.” So, we planned a bicycle-themed party for little friends that consisted of:
– making foam license plates for bikes/trikes
– decorating butter cookies in the shape of bicycles, hearts, flowers
– pinning name on the road (pin the tail on the donkey)
– hitting a pinata
The kids had a blast decorating cookies. We had frosting, decorator frosting pens, and sprinkles on the table. The kids and adults used all the cookies and supplies – and took the cookies home with them.
Also memorable was our pinata. Steve hung it from his basketball hoop and provided the kids with a piece of PVC pipe. They must have each hit that pinata 5 or 6 times to no avail. So, he offered his baseball bat to Allison. Unfortunately, they whacked the pinata so hard it flew up and hit the basketball backboard. I think the swing also hurt Allison’s shoulder, and she cried for several minutes afterwards. Needless to say, one of the kids finally got the pinata down intact. The dads broke it apart for them.
