Games, stretching, and Happy Anniversary

Sylvie has been loving our quiet time in the mornings. We usually play games, do art, dance around, play princesses or run errands. This day she wanted to play animal bingo, but wouldn't let me do any of the cards or draw any of the animals. So basically she wanted me to lay on the ground next to her while she played the game.

Sylvie is a big believer in stretching. She loves stretching with Mike after he gets back from a run. This might not be everyone's ideal workout wardrobe, but she doesn't let much slow her down.

We celebrated 11 years of marriage on the 19th. I pulled on my dress and marched around the house as I am wont to do on our anniversary. As soon as Sylvie saw me she shrieked "I'll get my red dress on!" She was so thrilled to have someone playing dress up with her. She was being Ariel and I was Snow White. Someday when she is grown up she will get to be Snow White, too, she says.

August 17th

I have been trying to talk Sylvie into this outfit all summer and she has stubbornly refused to wear it, until this day when I told her she could wear the red flower to match, but she couldn't wear the red flower with any other outfit. Success!

We call this the "princess pose."

She is pointing at Charlie the blue jay in one of the redwoods.

August 15th Jens's Birthday!

It is hard to believe our little dude is 6 and in the 1st grade. We took him to do birthday pictures and he just looked so LONG. I am not sure what happened to my baby that looked like this just a few minutes ago.

His interests have moved from diggers and Cars to Nerf guns and Star Wars. We did manage a birthday breakfast and 2 presents before going to school.

A birthday hug from Sylvie:

Sylvie's face cracks me up--she knows the last hing Jens needs is another weapon to use against her!

Trying out the new blaster.

Monday night we had Jens's birthday dinner. He requested spaghetti and lettuce and that is exactly what he got, although I added some rolls to the menu. Then we finished opening presents. Sylvie got a little excited and "helped" him open a few, too.

The Star Wars cookbook has been a real hit.

As have been all the books from Grammy and Papa.

Jens also loved Sylvie's present--

Three fish! Sadly, as of this writing (8/27) we are down one. The other two seem lively and perky, though. We finished the day with soccer practice, which I took cupcakes to so we could all celebrate together. Happy Birthday to my big 6 year old!

August 15th First Day of School!

Well, August 15th was an important day for many reasons. It was also Jens's birthday, but I have too many pictures to put them all into one post. So we will start with the first day of school. Jens was very excited to start school. A few weeks before he had sighed heavily and said "I wish I could go to school."

"Do you miss school?" I asked.

"Yeah, and you could have a little break," he replied.

He has Mrs. Cann again this year and is in a K/1 split class. Although there are down sides to this, I am excited about the chance for Jens to be one of the older leaders in the class. I just hope he is a GOOD leader, and not a DISTRACTING leader. Academically it will be beneficial as he spends the afternoon with the teacher, 2 academic aids, and 14 first graders. Ratios like that can't be beat these days.

We started the day with a picture--I wanted to make sure we had time. Is that a natural looking smile or what?

Then the birthday boy helped make birthday pancakes.

Then he had to change his shirt because he got peanut butter all over it. So more pictures followed that, this time with Sylvie joining in.

Showing off the backpacks.

What cute children we have. Jens had a great day at school. He was the shining start this week, which meant he got to show some pictures and tell about himself, which he enjoyed. More about the great Monday the 15th next time.

August 10-14 Fooling around with Dad

These are actually older pictures off of Mike's phone that I thought were cute.

While I was playing around in Ohio, Mike was goofing around in California with the kids. In spite of his desperate "Pray for me!" on Wednesday night, he did a great job and the kids loved spending time with him. And the house was even clean when I got home. Granted, they did eat hot dogs, hamburgers, and spaghetti the whole time, but at least they ate. And had a good time. Mike tried to get some work in on Thursday, but on Friday he took the kids up to Lake Tahoe for a day at the beach, which they loved.

Did you notice that Mike included himself in this one? There aren't any other pictures of their weekend, but they had fun.

August 10-14 Sibling Weekend

Well, we did manage to end the summer with a bang. I left Mike with the kids and flew to Cincy all by myself. It was so . . . easy. I read my book, chatted with a few people, ate lunch and dinner and maneuvered through the airport with relative ease. Wednesday I spent in Oxford visiting Gram, who has been sick this summer. I enjoyed a peaceful, quiet day with her. The weather was the most beautiful August weather I have ever seen--75, sunny, and breezy, so we went for several walks and enjoyed sitting out on her front porch.

When I got home that night, I helped Mom, Dad, Jessie, Loren, and Peter unpack the vans from their long drive home from Canada where they had spent a week camping. Everything was very dirty and smelly. They kept saying things like "You should come do this sometime!" Followed by a story about Jill throwing up all night or Suzannah crying all night. They really sold me on it.

Friday was the official beginning of our sibling weekend. Loren, Peter, and I went for a run followed by a swim in the lake, then got dressed and headed to First Watch for lunch. We spent the afternoon downtown, mostly eating, but taking in some sight in between. We went to the top of Carew tower, ate Graeter's, walked across the Purple People Bridge, ate at Bon Bonarie and picked up birthday cakes for Loren, ate at Teller's for dinner, went to Institute, had cake for Loren's birthday, and tried to make it through Harry Potter 7 part 1 (I gave up and went to bed around midnight).

Saturday, Loren and I ran the Newtown 5k, which was fun. I have always sort of wanted to do it, and by chance it happened to be this weekend that I was in town, so I decided it was meant to be. We had a good time. Then we all went swimming again, including Jessie and Mom and Dad and the girls.

The siblings went to Harry Potter 7 Part 2, which was very good, then Loren, Peter, and I drove by Ault Park and went to JoBeth. We had dinner at Great American Ballpark, so you can imagine how healthy we were eating! We kindly allowed Mom, Dad, and Doug to come with us even though it was sibling weekend.

Sunday flew past with church and a big lunch (with more Graeters, you know) and then I came home. We stayed busy every minute, but I couldn't believe how easy it all was! I missed Mike and the kids, but it was nice to just worry about myself for a change--I get in and out of a car much quicker when I am on my own!

Sibling weekend was definitely a hit--we will do it again next year.

Talking to Sylvie

She is good at starting conversations: "How was your day, Dad?" or "Princess Jasmine has a pet tiger." (this to the lady sitting behind us in church today.)

She is encouraging: "Good Job!" (shouted to football players on tv). To me: "They're exercising."

She initiates pretend play: "You be the baby kitty, I'll be the mommy kitty. Meow!" (or alligator, turtle, etc.) Today she was being Sleeping Beauty because I curled her hair with a curling iron and her dress had some pink on it.

She enjoys talking "Let's talk some more." (To me while sitting together in the hot tub at the gym--it is more of a warm tub, really. One of our friends swears it is 30% pee, but the pool was deserted and we were the only ones there, so I figured it was safish.)

She is affectionate. "I love you, too," she'll whisper, while patting your head with her little hand or while shoving her arm behind your neck so she can have her arm around you.

She loves activity. "Let's dance!" and "I'll be Ariel!" and "Let me get my red shoes!" and "I spy with my little eye . . ." are common exclamations around here.

She is good at receiving compliments. If I say "You look like a princess!" She responds "I am kind." (this is a reference to our book "What is a Princess" in which a princess is kind, caring, smart, adventurous, brave, fun, ready to try new things, and loves to dress up, sing, and dance.)

In short, talking with her is a real treat.

August 9th

(Happy Anniversary, Mike!)

Happy Birthday to Jens! I knew I was going out of town and school was going to start, so we decided to celebrate early. Nothing like making a birthday last and last. We had a water games party complete with pizza, ice cream cones and cake, balloon animals, and a pinata. (How do you get the ~ over the n?) Jens and the kids had a great time.

Sylvie at Work August 7-8

Sylvie is getting so big. She really isn't my baby anymore! She likes to help, so on Sunday she helped me make watermelon jello from scratch. You can tell it is Sunday by all of the stickers on her hand, a sure sign that we have been trying to be quiet during Sacrament meeting.

Here she is stirring the gelatin. Watermelon jello sounded like it was a great idea, but the reality was actually super disgusting. Mike was such a good sport--he ate all that was on his plate saying things like "I can't take big enough bites!" and "I am gobbling it up so fast I can hardly taste it!" Tellingly, although both kids were excited about it, neither of them ate any of what was on their plates.

On Monday night we got the yard all cleaned up for Jens's birthday party. I was out trimming grass and blowing leaves, so Sylvie came out to help. Safety first!

Jens also came out to help and filled water balloons until WAY past his bedtime!

My garden out front is performing beautifully so far. I have enjoyed it so much.

The Beginning of August

We have enjoyed this summer so much it is hard to see it drawing to a close. Although we still have plenty of warm weather, school is closing in which means an end to spending the day in our jammies and not brushing our hair.

August 3-6 we had some of our favorite little friends come to stay. The amount of mess they could make in a tiny amount of time was impressive. They stayed busy playing, crafting, and pretending. On the last day, the girls all had "bear ears" hairdos and therefore needed pictures taken to document their cuteness.

Lately Sylvie has been deep into princesses. She strikes this pose and flutters her eyelashes quite willingly, then informs you that "This is how Ariel does it." Then she usually breaks into very loud singing, usually flinging her hair around or dancing with her hands on her hips. For a while she was insisting that her hair be "long like a princess," but then I figured out that Jasmine and Belle both wear their hair in ponytails and I have been pushing that to my advantage.

This day she actually let me "brave" her hair.

What's in a name?

Sylvie has several princesses--Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Belle, "Jasmint" and . . .

Barbecue.

I do not know why she is called Barbecue, although we have wondered if it is Sylvie's attempt at Barbie. But I really like the name. I think it might be better than Ramona's Chevrolet.

July 27th

We tried out french braids. It was tricky holding still so long, but the results were worth it. Except, doesn't she look sort of grown up?

We also tried out a swim at the lake. Sylvie hated her life jacket at first because it was "too tight" so we had to unzip it. Then she had a great time floating around. Mike and I both squeezed in an open water swim, taking turns playing in the water with the kids, or in Mike's case, standing in the bathroom waiting for one of the kids.