Last days of summer

Summer is winding down. It's been a good one, but now it is time to say so long and get ready for fall.

Kennedy fell asleep in the car on the way to Sunday dinner at Grandpa Ray's - and stayed asleep the whole time we were there. I put her down on the couch, right in the middle of conversation and dinner preparation noise, but she was obviously exhausted.

She woke up a bit as we were leaving, and was disappointed to have missed Jeff's gourmet ham and cheese sandwiches. It was bedtime when we got home, so she got on her jammies, brushed her teeth, listened to a story, and then slept soundly all night. I think it's going to be good for her to get back in the routine of taking naps when school starts again.

And speaking of school starting, today we went to an open house to meet Kennedy's teachers and see her new classroom. We're really excited for her to be in the Purple class this year. It will be a three-year, dual-language program. She's been talking about it for weeks now, saying "Let's talk about what we know about my class so far." And she'd say as we went through all the paperwork and bought the needed supplies (colored pencils, watercolor paints, scissors, glue sticks and tissues), "There's lots of things to learn about my new Purple class!" Yes, she is very excited, too!

Well, now we know a bit more. She will be in a classroom downstairs, with a cubby on the end closest to the door. Three of her good friends from the Stars class (Lucy, Mae Mae and Amelia) will be with her. There are lots of new and interesting jobs to do, like this one she tried out with Miss Lorena. It's from the practical life area of the room, and the kids use tweezers to pick up plastic leaves and sort them in the matching colored cup.

Miss Lorena, who will eventually speak exclusively to the kids in Spanish, helped Kennedy practice the names of los colores in Spanish.

Miss Theresa, the other teacher, will speak to the kids in English, and one of Kennedy's teachers from last year, Miss Diana, will come down to help at lunch. The classroom is quite big, very organized, and has: a Spanish area with jobs, music and reading materials; an art area; a place to learn about geography and countries; sensorial materials; counting, number and math jobs; letters, reading and writing projects; circle space; tiny tables and chairs; two pet tortoises (Oscar and Esmeralda); and an amazing feeling of love, encouragement and learning. I know this will be a great year for Kennedy!

We're also looking forward to Macy having some one-on-one time with her grandparents. It's so much easier to take one kid out on adventures than taking two! Now Macy will get the chance to do the fun things Kennedy did when she was this age: the art museum, the natural history museum, the arboretum, the zoo, the library... Hopefully I can also get her into a Little Gym class.

Wake up, sleepy heads

Mornings come early at our house. Our alarm goes off at 5:30, but it's usually ignored until 6:00. Jake gets up and gets ready for work - he's out the door by 6:30. It's a good morning if I can get showered before the girls wake up, but I'm usually not that lucky. So while I get ready for work, they often get to watch Sesame Street. They sit together in the office chair and sometimes share a snack. Macy loves Sesame, and especially Elmo's World. And it still holds Kennedy's attention, even though she's probably seen most of the episodes by now. I love having a few undisturbed minutes and peeking in at them cuddled up together. I just had to get a few shots of Macy's morning-after-bath-hair and Kennedy's don't-take-my-picture-face.

My own fancy Nancy

Kennedy's been interested in talking about the calendar lately. That got us on the subject of Halloween, which got her thinking about costumes. For now, she's wanting to be a kangaroo again this year, so she had to try it on to make sure it still fits. It does, and she's been wearing it quite often. When she first put it on, I got out the makeup and drew on a little black nose. She also wanted pink eye shadow, pink lips, and pink cheeks to match. Another day she was wearing the costume and added a tutu. She wanted to be a fancy kangaroo mom to her two babies and joey.

Yesterday while Macy was taking her afternoon nap, Kennedy wanted to do my hair and makeup. We got everything out - brush, comb, cup of water, ribbons, hair clips, makeup - and she got right to work. When she was finished, I had a blue nose, hot pink lipstick, pink eye shadow, and two "braids". I drew a cat face on her, so then she wanted to add some whiskers on me.

During our workout that evening, Kennedy said, "Daddy, daddy! Excuse me daddy, look at my beautiful hairstyle." She'd put it into some sort of fancy ponytail with three of the clips from my hot rollers and was twirling around in her little sun dress.

I had asked her earlier what she wants to be when she grows up. She said a ballet dancer. Luckily she's not thinking of a career in hair and makeup. I don't think either one of us has much of a future there.

Camp out at the Spruces

We had our annual family camp out at the Spruces over the weekend. Friday night we drove up the canyon after stopping to pick up some burritos and joined the family around the campfire. Kennedy had been looking forward to roasting marshmallows, and Macy got her first taste of the special treat. She really loved it. It turned out to be two and a half days full of sugar - hot chocolate, cupcakes cooked in orange peels, granola bars, graham crackers, juice...add this to Macy being able to play in the dirt all day, and she was in heaven!

Macy had been sick with a fever since Wednesday, so we didn't commit to spending the night until the last minute. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a mistake. She did not sleep well at all. That meant that we did not sleep well either - except for Kennedy who did not seem at all bothered by Macy's crying and squirming. Luckily our tent neighbors said that they didn't hear her until morning.

We had a nice breakfast of pancakes and eggs and then spent the day playing around the campsite. Kennedy and I built a nest for the birds, squirrels and chipmunks to enjoy. She was so engaged in the project, raking the pine needles into a pile, surrounding them with pine cones and rocks and green boughs, and then sprinkling the nest with peanuts. She told Jake's Aunt Kristy something like, "The squirrels will scamper down from the trees and just love this cozy nest!"


Kennedy was also really funny telling everyone that they needed to visit Torrey. It was like she was doing an ad for the city, but one of the things she was most interested in talking about were the numbers on the doors of the hotel rooms. Sometimes she just cracks me up!

Saturday night after the traditional Dutch oven turkey dinner, we decided to drive home and sleep in our own beds, but even that didn't go exactly according to plan. At 1:30am, Kennedy came in and asked to snuggle. In the process she woke Macy up, but we just let her cry this one out. Naps in a tent are tricky to say the least. It was easier to get Macy to fall asleep by taking her for a walk in the stroller, but that didn't quite get her all the rest she needed.

I had to spend a lot of time holding Macy - she'd desperately cling to me if I tried to pass her off, or if I did get her out of my arms, she'd cry and try to get back to me as fast as she could manage.

We headed back up for a breakfast of omelets in a bag, fruit and English muffins on Sunday, but decided not to bother cleaning the girls up. They had both fallen asleep in the car on the way home the night before, so no one got a much needed bath. Of course that didn't matter because they had one more day to get dirty, which they did by playing in the sand and water, building castles and rivers and tunnels with the bigger cousins.

The most exciting thing was to learn that the nest had actually worked! Kennedy was thrilled that some of the peanuts were gone, and we were even able to see the mountain jays come down from the trees to grab the last of the nuts.

So then we had to build another nest that would be just for the squirrels, but it seems that they weren't as interested in the salt and vinegar chips that we left for them.

After we took the girls on a walk with Eliza riding along on her bike, we came back to camp to take the tent down, play one last board game, and then head home. But before we left, we were rewarded with a moose sighting!

It's nice to be able to spend this time with Jake's family, even though it was a little bittersweet this year because they had just put Grandma Lu in a care center. We love the opportunity to be able to visit, do creative projects, play games, and spend time in such beautiful surroundings. All that, and we sure do eat well when we're camping! I guess all this makes the five loads of laundry I did on Sunday night worth it.

I scream, you scream

One of our evening walks to the neighborhood burger joint. Even Kennedy gets excited by an ice cream cone for dessert.

Fun, fun, and more fun

Jake didn't have to work this weekend, so we got to spend some long overdue family time together. He's been watching a sewer lining project that's kept him out late most nights this last week and working seven days a week. Saturday Kennedy and I did a workout in the basement. Then we did some work around the house, ran a few errands, and had a movie night at home. Kennedy and I made chocolate chip cookies as a treat for when we watched Curious George. Both girls liked the movie, although Macy went to bed before it ended and Kennedy was afraid of the doorman. Macy, our music lover, was dancing right in front of the TV to the Jack Johnson songs.

Sunday we got up and walked down to the farm to feed the ducks. After Macy's morning nap we went to my parents' house for brunch and a swim. Then we packed up for dinner at Jake's parents'. Aunt Kari is in town this week, and we all needed to do some meal planning for the camp out. The kids all had a great time together, as usual. Kennedy and Huck took a walk around the block carrying umbrellas (even though it was a beautiful evening), while Grandma Sue helped Eliza collect things for a nature art project. Macy and I followed along behind all of them. She's trying to figure out how to jump. She'll crouch down, say something that sounds like "1,2,3", then spring up and lift one foot off the ground. It's the cutest thing! But it also makes going around the block a very slow process.

When we got back to the house, Kennedy and Huck were playing in the sprinklers with the umbrellas.

Normally Kennedy does not like getting wet, splashed, or sprayed...and she'll go out of her way to avoid it. Maybe having the umbrella helped.

Maybe it was seeing her cousin do it too. Maybe she was more willing to try after Friday, when she and I hid behind a boogie board in the pool while Pamp sprayed it with the hose (she loved this game!) Eliza and Macy had to join in the fun. By the end, Eliza and Huck were drenched and Kennedy and Macy were just damp, but it was clear that they were all having a great time!

What a day!

We took Kennedy on a big girl adventure on Saturday - to her first movie, Toy Story 3. She's obviously seen lots of videos at home, including Toy Story and Toy Story 2, but she was in awe of the big screen, and a bit frightened by the super loud previews. She sat in her own chair (with a booster seat) right between us, and didn't move from the spot until we left. We gave Kennedy a crash course in movie etiquette while we waited for the theater to get dark, and she did amazingly well with the no talking part. She did however laugh...a lot...really loud. It was a big, exaggerated fake laugh, and she'd look around to see if we were laughing too - like she wanted to make sure it really was a funny part. And every time she laughed, it was. Both because the film was amusing, and because it was so funny to see her reaction to it. That was definitely the best part for us, watching Kennedy watch the movie. I hope I always remember how her face lit up with delight, especially during her favorite part when Buzz Lightyear started speaking Spanish and dancing, and how the sound of her big belly laughs filled the whole theater.

And then to top off this totally awesome day, Jake bought Kennedy her first Slurpee (which she didn't especially enjoy), and then we went to my aunt and uncle's neighborhood picnic/carnival. We met up with Grammie and Pamp, who had been watching Macy, and the rest of the family to enjoy hot dogs, hamburgers, salads, chips, ice cream, live music, bounce house, swing ride, duck pond, and sawdust search. Even in the rain, we all had a great time!