Look Ma, No Hands

I love being off at Christmas time. Yesterday I got to play with my kids all morning while Paula did some last minute shopping. There was much swinging, soccer ball kicking, chalk drawing, and sliding. Allison ventured her first time down the slide with No Hands. She did this the first time just briefly and hesitantly to get by me as I was leaning on the slide. Then the 2nd time a spark got in her eye at the top and she stuck her arms out and slid the whole way down w/o hands. She never actually said "Look Dad, No Hands!" But her smile said it.

Then she, Jason, and Sophie repeatedly climbed the steps, slid down w/o hands, and ran back to the steps to start over.


Each time at the top she stuck her hands / arms out to the side.


Still smiling at the bottom.


Celebration as she runs back for another lap.


It was never clear to me what Jason was up to here.?!

What do you do with all the leftover Candy Corn???

Well, our kids asked to do some experiments....

What does the inside look like? Just like the outside!
Can they float? NO!
Do they melt?...

YES! And now they are making some icing for cookies, cupcakes, etc........does this mean they think that I am baking today?

Big Boys Don't Need Naps!!!

Happy Thanksgiving

Here are some craft that my younger kids made at preschool the last couple of weeks and the cards where the teachers typed up what they said when asked what they are thankful for...Sophie was quoted the other day say "...kindergarten is just fun, fun, fun ... bunches of crafts ... fun, fun, fun. BUT, first grade ----NOTHING!!!!" So, after seeing brother and sister's crafts she set out to making some of her own at home.Then this morning, we make name cards for our Thanksgiving dinner.... Happy Thanksgiving to all!!!

Sophie has been in a phase the last few months in which she likes to "make" books. Sometimes she thinks of a topic and makes the book; sometimes she finds a few pictures that she has drawn that have a similar theme and makes them into a book; sometimes they are books for herself and sometimes they are for others (car book for jason, colors book for Allison). Here is a book that she made for mommy and daddy....

I pray she never loses her creativity.

Performances -- Part II

Friday morning was the Annual Pumpkin Pie for Parents at Jason and Allison's preschool. Jason got into it quite a bit this year, but as many of the 2-year olds do, Allison just stood around most of the time.

For our friends who have had children that attended Rainbow in the past, I hope this next pic brings back some memories for you of the Turkey Tango...

Then all the 4-year old classes played the bells...

And, lastly we enjoyed the pumpkin pie!!!

Performances -- Part I

Thursday night was the First Grade Autumn & Thanksgiving performance at Sophie's school. The day was a bit hectic as Sophie informed me just a few days before that she was supposed to wear fall colors which was not really a problem until she insisted that they were supposed to be solid. We have several fall colored tops, but NONE were solid! Have I ever mentioned here before that Sophie is a RULE FOLLOWER! Most of the time this is a very positive thing, but sometimes...... Anyway, even though I knew many of the children would not be in solid colors, Jason, Allison and I headed out that morning in search of some solid colored tops. This was not as easy of a task as I thought it would be, but we eventually found these turtlenecks. Jason chose a red one and a yellow one saying "they are both fall colors and Sophie would look pretty in both." Sophie picked yellow.

We then headed home for lunch and naps. After nap, poor little Allison woke up with a fever which would put a bit of a damper on the evening....should we just draw straws to see who stays home? (Thanks, Nana...we'll break out the video over Thanksgiving!)

Then, we lost John! Ok, we didn't actually LOSE him. I knew he was at work. I just couldn't get in touch with him. He was supposed to be bringing pizza home for dinner, but as time was running out and the pizza had already been ordered online for pickup, I loaded up the kids and we went to get the pizza ourselves. Daddy finally made it out of work and met us at school. He got to eat his pizza in the parking lot.
Sophie seemed nervous up on stage until she found us in the audience. Then she relaxed and had fun....except when you could see that she was getting irritated at the kids around her who were doing things that they were not supposed to be doing like talking, turning around, not watching the music teacher .... I did mention that she is a rule follower, right???