We Have a Preschooler!

Today Claire starts her second week of preschool! She goes twice a week, for three hours. She LOVES it! IN fact, when I came to pick her up on the first day, she burst into tears when she realized it was time to go home. I have the only kid who cries when they get picked up from their first day of school! Her school is in a church not far from home. It's called Springs Community Church Preschool, and Claire already recognizes the building. Every time we drive past, she screams, "MY SCHOOL!!!" I choose it because when I was doing tours of various programs, the kids here looked like they were having the most fun! She already knows most of the girl's names in her class, and has a best friend- another talkative fireball just like her! I find myself uneasy with the quiet when she's gone and have decided to use some of that time to go take a class at the gym, and also to give Jude some quality one-on-one time.

Here's Claire about to leave for her first day!

All the sweet toys in her classroom. She's in heaven!

Claire also started AWANA this past Sunday...it's sort of like Christian girl/boy scouts. The focus is on having fun and memorizing scripture. (She also cried when we picked her up from that, of course!) She has already memorized the scripture verse from last week, and the one they will be covering this week. She's sort of awesome! Here's a video of her reciting it: (unless it's broken)

We were toying with the idea of also signing her up for a sport. Claire wanted to do dance, Daddy wanted her to do soccer :-) But we decided she's only 3 for heaven's sake, no need to start giving her a crazy life already!

Our Monkey Boy

Jude is 10 months old now! He's grown up quite a bit in recent weeks. Highlights of things he has learned in the last month or two since I last did a specific post about him:

• He can walk! (Although he rarely chooses to.)
• He loves to clap, especially to music
• He has a nice collection of signs that he does consistently: all done, more, please, bath. (ok, I guess 4 is hardly a "collection", but I'm proud nonetheless!)
• He finally found his voice, and uses it all the time to make nonsense speeches
• He gives those great open-mouth baby kisses
• He has stopped being a giant and is now comfortably in the 10th %ile for weight and 20th %ile for height, just like his sister was. He's been in the same size clothes now for about 5 months, which is a huge change from when he was first born and would out-grow a size category well before the recommended age.
• He's become slightly less independent. He now gets super excited when he sees Kevin or I come into the room. When Kevin comes up from work in the basement Jude crawls to him as fast as he can saying "Dadda, Dadda!"
• He still loves to cuddle. All the childcare workers at church and the gym want to take him home. He's quite the favorite!
• He smiles at everyone in that cute, shy, flirty way that never ceases to melt their hearts.
• He has the most hilarious tantrum technique I have ever seen. When something is taken away from him, or he is set down when he wants to be held, he throws himself prostrate on the ground and then scoots forward on the ground rubbing his face as he goes. Makes us laugh every time! He's given himself some crazy rug burn on his cheek and nose from doing it, and I don't think he appreciates the humor we all find in his distress!

We love him dearly, and can't believe he'll be one so soon!!

California Trip, August 2011

(The picture is a link to an album of pictures from our trip!)

For Claire's birthday, we decided to head out to CA for one last trip for a while. (We just signed the paperwork to build a house, so we won't be going anywhere for a while!!)

We threw a birthday party for her at a park that had a water lagoon for the kids to swim in. It was so much fun! The kids had fun taking pictures under the water. Claire requested a giraffe party, so I ordered a banner, got some balloons, and our friend Tammi made a cute sign. That was the extent of the decorating, since I was planning everything long distance. In fact, I relied on other people for all of the important things. Mikkele spent hours at the park before the party holding the spot for us. She's a rock star! We had a great spot in the grass with plenty of tables! Our friend Cindy baked the cupcakes, which Claire declared were "Super yummy!" My uncle Chris and Aunt Michele went to Costco to wait in the horrendous lines to get the pizza and water. (Seriously, Costco on a Sunday is quite and ordeal!) And our friends and family came from all over to enjoy the day and hold Jude while we all celebrated Claire.

While we were in town, we decided to hit up Disneyland one last time before our annul passes expire in September, and while Claire is still technically under three and free! We spent two full (hot!) days at dland. It was exhausting, but fun. My parents, my sister Vanessa, and her daughter Lucy came down from Northern CA and joined us at Disneyland. Claire loved having her cousin to play with! She was also super excited that her Aunt Mikkele spent one of the days with us going on rides and watching fireworks. During the fireworks show, Tinkerbell flies above you suspended by a cable. Where we were standing, we were actually pretty close to her, and Claire kept screaming, "Tinkerbell, hi!!" She was emphatic that Tink hear her. It was pretty funny.

It was a great trip! We got to see a lot of our friends, and a bunch of our family traveled down to see us and spend time with us while we were there. We're so lucky to have such wonderful people in our lives! Thank you all so much!

Our Trip to Durango!

Jude's First Steps!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

For Claire's Birthday

Many of you have been asking what Claire wants for her birthday. I figured I would just put some ideas up here. But, if you're coming to her birthday in CA, please keep in mind that we have to fly home with everything :-) (Something little and disposable like a balloon is just as exciting to her as anything else!) So, here's a bit about our soon-to-be-three-year-old.

• She is wild about purple these days
• She loves shoes: Size 6 for now or 7 for soon
• She likes books, especially the large picture books with paper pages, but we're trying to limit books with TV/movie characters. (So please no Disney princesses or Dora.)
• She enjoys playing with Little People (we have the bus and farm.)
• She likes to dress up
• She likes little figures/animals she can play-act with
• She gets excited about new hair bows and headbands
• She likes play jewelry
• Clothes are always welcomed: SIze 3T shirts and 2T pants/shorts

So, I hope that helps. Thank you all so much for your generosity and lovin on my kiddo!

A Day in the Life

So, right now both of my kids are in really trying stages of development. From one I've got the "Mommy, watch this!" stage, and from the other it's the cutting up tiny pieces of food all the time and walking hunched over holding hands as we do laps around the couch. Let me illustrate how these play out.

The scene: It's lunch time. Mom is at the counter preparing food while The Boy and The Girl play in the kitchen.

The Girl: Mommy, watch this!

Mom: [pauses from her task of cutting blueberries into 4ths] Oh, yes. You're just standing there.

The Girl: Yes!

Mom: I'm not sure that's news-worthy.

The Boy: [screams, because, I don't know, he's bored?]

Mom: [walks The Boy from the fridge to the tupperware drawer to play, then continues cutting.]

The Girl: Mommy, watch this!

Mom: [has moved on to chopping tiny pieces of chicken breast, from which she pauses and looks over her shoulder.] Wow, you jumped really high!

The Boy: [screams]

Mom: [picks The Boy up and places him in the high chair, which is greeted with an exuberant demand for food.]

The Girl: Mommy watch this!

Mom: Sorry honey, I can't look right now.

The Girl: Why?

Mom: Because I'm taking care of your brother.

The Girl: Why?

Mom: Because he's hungry and I'm trying to get his lunch ready.

The Girl: Why?

Mom: Because it's lunch time.

The Boy: [angry about the high chair restraints, lodges a vigorous complaint.]

The Girl: Why?

Mom: I've already answered that. Please don't ask "Why?" when you know the answer.

(Oh, did I mention she also asks Why as a knee-jerk reaction to every statement I make. Fun.)

This scene is then repeated 20 million times/day until the blissful hour of 7pm when we lock them in their rooms.