September, Part 1

We haven't been taking very many pictures.  But here are a few.  Jens and Sylvie love pulling the furniture around, whether to make forts, or, in this case, Pod Racers.  

 Jens has been driving me crazy climbing the Fig tree in the back yard.  It is a pretty bendy kind of tree, and the whole thing sways while he shimmies around in it.  I swear, sometimes he looks like that scene from Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.  He did recently break a large branch off of the tree and has been temporarily forbidden from climbing the tree.

Sylvie is more of an observer, although she has tried to climb the tree.  The attempt ended in shrieking for help while I ran to the rescue. 

 I peeked in to check on Sylvie one night before I went to bed and this is what I saw:  tights wrapped around her head, tied neatly under her chin.  I removed it and she was SO sweaty underneath.

 Our zoo membership expires at the end of September, so we squeezed in a couple of trips, one day with Audrey.  The girls enjoyed walking around and looking at the animals.  The tigers were especially active because they were about to be fed.  It was fun to see them running and jumping around.

Sylvie starts School

Can you believe my little girl started Joy School?  We are doing in-home pre-school with 4 other moms/kids, so I have school at our house every 5th week.  She was so excited the day before school, and claimed excitement the morning of school, but getting to school and being left there was a different story.  I could tell she was feeling nervous all morning, and when we got to school, she turned into cling wrap and wouldn't let go of my neck.  I eventually pried her off and left her, and when I picked her up, you have never seen a happier child.  She sang and talked about school the rest of the day.  The rest of the week.  Actually, she still talks about it pretty constantly, and asks every morning if she gets to go to school.  

This day she requested fancy hair for school:

 

The week I had school we were talking about our senses, so one day we popped popcorn, which they got to see, hear, smell, taste, and touch.

The other day they got to finger paint with pudding, which was like heaven on earth.  You have never seen kids so happy and entertained.  There was a lot of hand licking going on. 

I made the pudding with almond milk, so even Sylvie got in on the fun.

This will be a fun year for her.

Jens is also loving school--he devours books, often reading a 70 page chapter book in one day.  I loved this writing assignment from school.  Doesn't everyone's favorite food look like dirt and taste hot?

The rest of August

Mike went to Carl's Jr. with the kids.  The prize was pirate gear, and I have to admit, it was a very successful prize.  It is a win for everyone when you get something like this:

With Jens back at school, Sylvie and I have had a few swimming parties.  I swim a few laps, then we swim together, then we race home to meet Jens when he gets home from school.  Sylvie will actually put her own face in the water for a quick second, which is a real victory for us. 

 We also checked out the Goodwill costume selection whilst searching for some FAME props.  This $4 Cinderella dress was too good to pass up!

We celebrated Labor Day with lots of family fun--park, swimming, and sparklers left over from the 4th of July.  

 They were really smokey.

 The next weekend marked the beginning of the soccer season.  It is fun to see the boys starting to understand the strategies and positions in soccer.  Jens is actually getting some good kicks in this year, which keeps things exciting.  We are playing afternoon games, which means it is super hot out, but the boys are playing hard.  Jens and his friend Xander:

August 19th

Happy Anniversary to us!

Can anyone believe we have been married 12 years?

If so, you are better than our waitress and the table sitting next to us when we went out to celebrate.  All expressed deep astonishment that we had been together so long.  I am choosing to take it as a compliment that we still look super young.  We sure looked young when we actually got married!

We actually dressed up and celebrated the weekend after because our anniversary was on Sunday.  Mike got adventurous and made reservations at a restaurant downtown, Ella's.  It was really nice food.  Mike was also adventurous about his food and ordered the bone marrow appetizer, which was served inside of a huge bone.  It looked revolting.  But I tried a bite and it tasted pretty good.  We saw this fancy car near our restaurant and took a picture for Peter:

On our actual anniversary, I celebrated with the time honored tradition of the wedding dress walk, in which I put on my dress, walk around the house until I feel too hot (about 5 minutes) and then change. 

I like Sylvie's pose:

 Mike and Jens spent a very long time building Jens's pod racers Lego set from his birthday.

 Sylvie just needed her picture taken.  She drew the artwork on the fridge :)

Taco Lake, August 18

We took a Saturday to go to Tahoe, aka Taco Lake.  It sprinkled on us a little, but it was pleasant and breezy most of the time.  We were glad to escape from the heat of the valley.  The kids had a blast playing in the sand, swimming, and eating potato chips.  Sylvie was especially pleased with how far out she went (wearing her life jacket, of course).  We listened to Hiccup in the car on the way there and home, which always makes the drive seem faster.  

 Silly Faces!

Sylvie

Please admire.

The End of Summer, or The Beginning of School

We sent of the last of our summer company on August 8th, Loren's birthday.  We had a birthday breakfast of aebelskivers, as many as he could eat, and then he, Dad, and Peter drove off on their camping road trip adventure.  

 We enjoyed having everyone here, but what with 2 solid weeks of company/vacation, plus a broken refrigerator (replaced) and a broken dryer (repaired) and the disastrous mess of a house that resulted from the fore-mentioned, it took all of our strength to be ready for the first day of school on the 13th.  Jens's teacher this year is Mrs. Reddington.  She was not there the first week, but that didn't stop the first week from being great.  Jens is going to have a very good second grade year, I can already tell. He was happy to be back in action.  

 This year he is riding his bike to and from school with some of our neighbors.  The other mom and I trade off riding our two younger kids to school, then the older kids (4th and 5th graders) ride them home in the afternoon.  So far it has been a wonderful thing, aside from one really bad crash, one less bad crash, and one jumped chain.

 Jens is a late bird this year, which is good for us since it takes us a while to get going in the mornings.  He is improving rapidly in his reading.  Last night I had to go in twice to turn off his light, as he was trying to finish a Magic Treehouse book.  I think he read 15 chapters of it yesterday.  I wonder where he gets that crazy reading gene?!?

Half Dome, August 6th

We got home from the Sea Ranch Saturday night.  Sunday night, Loren, Mike, and Peter left for Yosemite.  They spent Monday hiking Half Dome.  They came home Monday night, tired, sore, but pleased with their overall hiking experience, although none of them were rushing out the door Tuesday to hike some more. 

 They started the hike really early--this is at the base just as the sun is coming up.

 The cables were pretty daunting.  They were glad to have gloves.

 The "Diving Board."  Just looking at it makes me feel ill.

 Triumph!

 And then hiking back down.

 Finished!