She's swimming!

Disney 2012

Well our trip was on again off again throughout December and January but we woke up Saturday morning and Tom said he wished we went and I asked what was stopping us. So we prepared all day Saturday to Mara asking why we weren't just leaving that day.  We told the kids where we were going after church Saturday night which resulted in Audra jumping up and down and Mara asking "why?". And we took off by 7 a.m. Sunday.

We all had a lot of fun.  The weather was perfect, if not a bit chilly for the light show Monday night.  The lines were wonderfully short on Tuesday.  We learned that Audra loves Ariel and HATES loud, dark rides.  Mara's favorite was Autotopia as much for the "official driver's license" as the ride itself.  We made good use of the rider swap privileges which worked out especially well for Mara could rode numerous rides twice for a single wait.

More pictures here.

Pictures!!!

Eliza is 2 weeks old!!! There are pictures up at http://hallway.shutterfly.com

Drummer Girl

We were at a friends' party and Audra heard the boys playing the drums.  She wanted to go check it out.  The drumming continued and Audra didn't return so I went to check on her.  The boys were long gone but she was happy as a clam.

Mom, I don't need a nap

She was fussing about being asked not to talk SOOO loud while looking at books for rest time; when I went to see why the silence when the timer went off that rest time was over, she was fast asleep . . . sitting up (elapsed time 6 and a half minutes).

Halloween Costumes

Naptime has not been cooperating with blogging but without further ado, here are the Halloween costumes.  Mara had a hard time with the speaking up part of Trick or Treating Friday afternoon at the office party; but after asking continuously for 48 hours when we'd go again and some very excited practice Sunday afternoon, Trick or Treating was a real treat.

 Goldilocks

Corduroy/Baby Bear

Wild Experience and the Wild Animal Park

Books!

I have 2 more that we're really enjoying to share about. The first was from my usual book of book lists. Bagels from Benny is a great story about how a kind deed is an act of thanking God. It had me smiling from ear to ear as I read it the first time and realized where the story was going. It is an adorable display of a child's innocent thinking. We've had it from the library for 3 weeks and I'm still smiling when she chooses this one.
The second book was one I grabbed by chance (perhaps even one of the girls picked it up, I can't really remember). Windows with Birds is a very simple short book about moving. It couldn't have appeared in our house at a more appropriate time as Mara is dealing with missing her friends and why we don't live by them now.

ETA: Before I could even get back here to clean up my post I found another to add. We read Dogger at rest time today and I almost cried.  I can't wait until the girls are at that age of maturity to care for one another.

Nature Study

We happened to eat dinner a bit early so I had a few minutes to sit down and identify a few of the creatures we saw on our nature hike today.  My favorite two spottings were some blue damselflies that would sit and rest on rocks.  They were the most beautiful iridescent blue color.  The other was a pretty black/brown, white and orange butterfly.  When I can't find these on the simple fold up guides we carry with us I really enjoy finding them in books and on the internet once were home.  Today it seems we saw a Lorquin's Admiral Butterfly and a Vivid Dancer Damselfly.  Mara was also so cute sitting down to mark in her "nature journal". She wanted to write all about the scat we saw and the various sizes of rocks!

 

Vivid Dancer Damselfly (Male)

Photograph: Jack Wolf
(Creative Commons license)

Summer Reading

Sorry this is rambly.  Putting it here for posterity maybe I'll edit it later.

We made it to the library storytime yesterday (finally!).  To my credit we have tried a couple of times before.  Once I messed up the time and missed it and the next time we showed up the story teller didn't.  Couple that with Mara's insistence that she DID NOT want to go (including tears and the whole nine yards) we just hadn't made it. Well, when it was over Mara said she did like it and wanted to go again (go figure).  I also have to admit I was excited to make it the the library to sign the girls up for the summer reading program because my neighbor had told me they received tickets to Legoland just for signing up.  Legoland happens to be high on Tom's visit list and since he's been talking about a carnival on his way home from work (just for his birthday according to him) I figure we'll be going here before too long.  Anyway, bad reason for going to the library and bad reason for signing up for the reading program (but I just hadn't done it because we already read and Mara seemed too young).  Anyway, funny thing is it is totally motivating me and really neat to see just how much we are reading.

So anyway we went to the library, no book list in hand.  We went to the library used book store and scored like 8 good books for $4.  I've been reading my Mom devotional.  I've been a fun mom the last few days (picnics, popsicles, sun tea).  Half the time I read the devotional in the middle or the end of the day and how fitting it seems to what we just finished doing.  It's very refreshing.

We've looked at bugs and looked things up in the field guides too.

All this to say.  It's been a good book week and it's been so much fun.

And finally book review time.  Sarah's Questions by Harriet Ziefert. If you know Mara at all you know this is the perfect title for her.  The story is beautiful and the pictures are great too.  It has nature study; it is full of great ideas to answer and keep your sanity when your child has an insatiable curiosity.  We read it today before rest time and I was so glad I picked up at the library book sale (for all of maybe 75 cents!).

Girls' First Camping Trip

Friends told us about a family campout about 10 miles from our house.  So we planned the cookout packed our bags and off we went.  Mara's reactions: "We're going to sleep in the park?  That's funny mommy" and "Can we do that again some time!"




Friends. Row boats. Glow sticks. S'mores. A tent. Bagels and cream cheese. Ice cream cone. Cookies. Lemonade. Camping has to be about any kids dream come true. (And this was a short trip we didn't even get in any water or dirt).

Adventure should be this one's middle name.

A collection of Mara's weekend one liners

Tom: "What do you want to be when you grow up?"
M: "A dancer, but I'm going to need a bigger leotard."

On the way to Mass: "Hey mom, what color do you think Jesus is going to be wearing this morning?".
Me: "You mean the priest?".
M: "Yeah, that's what I mean." She guessed red, then remembered to tell me during mass that my green guess was correct.

A recurring theme for the weekend was a repetitive song, as in the same words over and over. One verse while giggling with her sister in the car was: "You laugh at me, I laugh at you" (repeat) "Because the bible tells me so."

What 3 year old comes up with "My waist hurts" as an excuse to get out of bed.

Wordless Wednesday - Ballerina Edition

Roly-poly

This is the way you want to go to bed at night.

"Honey, why is the camera in the bathroom."
"Oh, I don't know.  Mara brought to me while I was showering to show me her photos of a roly-poly."

Having a look.

Laughing out loud we discover these (we thought they were still shots at the time).








And are even more. And we went to bed smiling.

She locked herself in the bathroom

No, not Mara.
No, not with the lock.  (Noah taught me those were nothing a corn cob holder couldn't undo five years ago).
Audra did it with the drawer.
I could touch the drawer and even moved it a little bit but mostly to get my hand on the drawer I had to open the door too far thus pinching the drawer in place.
Remain calm.  Everyone is safe and mostly happy for the time being and the bathroom does have a window if all else fails.
Take a deep breath and call hubby.
"Are there any tricks for closing drawers?"
"I don't get what you're talking about."
"Audra locked herself in the bathroom with the drawer."
"Hmmm"


But she was free a few minutes later thanks to a plastic putty knife.  Tom suggested a razor blade on the end of a ruler.  In the process of locating those items I saw a putty knife and WaaLaa! I was able to close the drawer and free the toddler.

Many faces at the Flower Fields

Wordless Wednesday

Our Father

"I know your kingdom. I will be done." -Mara Hall 4/25/2010

Sunday Afternoon

Daddy's home!  Great family day at Balboa park.  Love it when I like a picture of myself.

We've had fun in nature this week!