Winter gear

With the chillier weather, it was time to haul out the crate of winter gear and take inventory.  Lincoln is ready to go!

Piano tuning

We got our piano tuned today!  Lincoln thought he better help Quentin fix the squeaky suspension pedal.

Fun in the leaves

This week was the peak of fall color in the Cedar Valley.  Today was the perfect leaf day.  Small gusts of wind rained leaves down from the ash and maple trees.  It was an early out day, and we took full advantage.  Our first activity was catching leaves in butterfly nets.  I caught about a dozen before the kids started cheating and scooping up leaves off the ground.

Next we raked paths in the leaves, and Lincoln got out his lawn mower.

Then we got out the bubbles.

Lincoln decided he was going to have a party, so he decorated the bushes.

The day ended running through a big pile in the back yard.  Lincoln insisted on a countdown each time and applause as he ran.  There's nothing like the pure joy of a kid running through the crunchy leaves!

September 2012 video

5 years + 11 months

The birthday countdown wheel is up as Emily enters her final month of being five.  She has made a lot of progress in adjusting to school and everything that goes with it.  She doesn't always need as much, or even any, decompression time after school.  Lunch is going much better as she has started taking cold lunch about half the time.  She has even started trying some surprising things and is finding out, as she wisely states, "Sometimes things that don't look good still taste good."  The things she actually likes at school now are cinnamon applesauce and mashed potatoes with gravy.  However, she still won't eat the quesadillas, or as she calls them, "quasarellas." 

I think the real turning point came this month when Emily made some friends at school.  Her best friends are named Rachel & Madison.  I'm really thankful for these girls.  I have met and talked to their moms while waiting to pick up kids after school, and they are very nice.  Emily made up a little story about the three of them when she got on a Valentine's kick the other day.

The good news is that Emily seems to be very inclusive and has even reached out and played with girls in the other section at recess.  She mentions new kids she plays with almost every day.  This is quite a relief because it was one of my concerns going into Kindergarten.

Not only is Emily more talkative about her day, but she has (not surprisingly) started playing school almost every day with the stuffed animals in her room.  She has numbers hanging up designating the five centers in her room and has charts and signs about other things, too.  I picked up a teacher's planning book out of the dollar bin at Target earlier because I knew this would happen and it would come in handy.  Emily has given names to every doll/figurine/animal in her room.  There is even one named "Sema" that usually ends up on red light and gets sent to the principal's office.

Emily is also doing fantastic with piano lessons.  Her teacher said she might be the most enthusiastic student she's had.  Emily asks to practice every day, so I often have to drop whatever I'm doing to oblige.  I'm extremely grateful for my piano background that gives me the ability to sit down and help Emily learn all the proper techniques and positions from the beginning.  I'm also learning about the excruciating amount of time and patience it takes to do this.  So far, things have gone well.  Emily has gotten silly a few times, but I've never lost my cool or gotten upset.  I have to try not to laugh out loud when she offers the excuse, "my hand is sleeping and has to wake up," when she grows tired of an exercise.  Overall, she has shown great progress over the course of a week of practicing and is catching on quickly.

Although we took a break from Junie B. Jones, there are still a few leftover phrases I hear quite often: "Only too bad for me," "bad news," and "apparently".  I even find myself saying, "apparently," a lot more often.  In a complete 180, we read Little House in the Big Woods this month.  This lead to several interesting discussions and epiphanies about things, like where they went to the bathroom, what kind of things they ate (always eating everything on their plate) and how they had to be perfectly still and quiet on Sundays.  I just want to know how Caroline (aka "Ma") got all that work done with babies.  The only time Baby Carrie is mentioned is when she's asleep in Ma's arms.  Didn't she ever scream and cry while Pa played the fiddle on cold winter evenings?!?  And how do you potty-train a kid in an outhouse anyway?!?

I'll end this post with a recent self-portrait by Emily.  She is very proud to be 5 1/2, but is eager to be 6!

Spanish classes

Through the connection of a friend, we were privileged to participate in some experimental Parent/Child Spanish classes put on by another young mom in Waverly that teaches Spanish at Hawkeye Community College.  It was a 45 minute class on Saturday mornings for four weeks in September.  The program was geared towards kids (and a parent) ages 2-5, so I took both kids along.  Although there were varying degrees of participation by Emily & Lincoln based on their moods each morning, they both thoroughly enjoyed it, as did I.  The classes covered basic topics like numbers 1-12, colors, animals and facial features.  Lincoln can count in Spanish as well as he can in English, and he loves doing all the action to the song we sang called, "Hola, Amigos!"  It was good review for Emily along with a few new things.

Here are the only pictures I took on my phone a couple weeks ago.  The kids played a fun "bopping" game with colored pieces of paper spread throughout the room.  They also did a fun project using shaving cream and food coloring.

Amanda did a fabulous job, and I highly recommend the classes.  She has started another 6-week session that doesn't require prior participation, so you can jump in any time.  You also don't need any Spanish background to participate.  Let me know if you're interested!

Puppet shows

Emily made a puppet theater out a cardboard box and has made a couple sets of paper puppets to play with.  Can you recognize the popular characters of the first set?

Then Emily had a wedding party with three brides and three grooms.  She named them after kids in her class.  I'm trying to remember who was (completely innocently) paired up with who.  I think the big ones are Rachel & Ty T. and the little ones are Madison & Tai C. and Emily & Wesley H.  :o)

Little Go-Hawk Preschool

Lincoln is not enrolled in a formal preschool this year, but I signed him up to attend "Little Go-Hawk Preschool" put on by the Child Development class at the high school.  Beginning today and running through mid-December, Lincoln will attend preschool for 45 min. on Tuesday & Thursday mornings.  He is matched up one-on-one with a senior girl.  They read books, do activities and make a craft.  Lincoln was beyond excited to strap on his Thomas backpack and head to school.  As expected, he had a GREAT time.  I enjoyed having time to run some quick errands around town by myself.  :o)

Bathroom progress

Normally, I wait until a project is completed before the reveal, but here's a peek at the progress in our master bathroom after the tiling was completed this weekend...

Susan's house

Today's art project was a 3-D paper doll named Susan and her cat, Dora in their Lego-furnished house.

Susan & Dora

Top view of house and sidewalks

Computer desk & chair

Kitchen table & Dora's food bowl

Living room

Bathroom with sink, shower/tub and toilet

Smiley bed with name blanket