Children's Museum

For Ella's birthday we got passes to the Children's Museum in Phoenix. We've been three times in the last month! The kids just love it there. On Saturday, Werner was able to come along so we split up which made it so much easier. Ella and I had a great time hanging out together.

She painted with water:

More water painting with the noodle forest in the background -- so much fun to play hide-and-seek in!

A "flower garden" where you can plant and arrange flowers....

Painting a castle! I still haven't gotten all of the paint off of her shoes.

We met up in the art room and came home with a dozen different crafts.

Most of the time they like each other....

Most of the time, Rand and Ella are very sweet to one another. Yesterday I told Ella that I needed to brush her hair, and she said that she wanted Rand to do it. He was happy to, and was so gentle with his little sister.

Sunflowers

We got a very late start planting our sunflowers, but they bloomed in spite of the heat and our tardyness! Rand did such a good job watering them and looking out for them. He always informed us whenever he saw a bee or a ladybug on them because those are reportedly very good for sunflowers. They have been blooming one by one for the past week now and the kids are always so excited when they see another one has blossomed!

Tuesday Ramblings (from last Tuesday because I forgot to hit the publish button)

Ella came padding into our room at 3:30 this morning. She was holding 2 pink binkies, a flashlight, a Lego C-3PO, her teddy bear, and an empty bowl.

Rand's fish, Bluey Swimmy Arthur Girard, died a couple of days ago. Thankfully I suspected this was coming and was able to give him a head's up, so he wasn't too sad. Today we went and got two little goldfish. They would've been a bargain at 29 cents each, but I had to buy new water conditioner and food, so that nixed that.

Ella has had two great days of school in a row, so I think she is getting the hang of it. Yay!

We are getting into a nice routine. I am a much nicer, more patient parent when I have had several hours on my own to get all of my daily to-do's done. I'm making it my goal to have all of my errands and chores done before I pick up the kids from school, which makes it so much easier to have the afternoons/evenings be relaxing, fun, spend-with-the-kids time. We go swimming, or play a game, or go out for a little errand, we have dinner, and read stories, make a craft. I am trying to be very purposeful about spending quality time with them and not wasting the hours that we spend together.

Swimming!

I am so glad that we have a swimming pool -- Rand and Ella have been swimming nearly every day this summer. Ella can now dog paddle around by herself when she is wearing her lifejacket. Rand just started swimming without floaties last week. He even jumps off of the side of the pool into the water and comes up beaming.

We have a little rocket that Rand loves to pick up off of the bottom of the pool. A couple of days ago I threw some pennies into the shallow end. He was so persistent and kept trying and trying until he picked them all up, and then he tossed them in to do it again!

It is very cool to see him so proud of himself.

Science Camp!

Rand went to a week of science camp at the Challenger Space Center last month. He had so much fun. Every day they focused on a different subject (gravity, magnets, air) and he came home with an interesting craft and all kinds of facts to share with us. One class was on the day that Atlantis came home so they watched it landing and the teacher answered all of their questions. They got to go up on the roof of the space center when they learned about solar panels and got to drop their handmade helicopters off of the 3rd floor balcony and watch them float down to the bottom floor. His teacher was a super nice, real-life rocket scientist so Rand was very impressed.

First day of school!

Rand and Ella both started school on Monday. Rand is in kindergarten, and Ella is loving going to preschool....most of the time. On her first morning she walked right up to the door, asked "Can I go in now?" and when I said yes, walked right in without a backwards glance.

She did get in trouble on her 2nd day of school for kicking Rand under the table at lunch, kicking her teacher when she was told that she couldn't do that, and then for screaming when she got in trouble for kicking the teacher. Yes, she is a bit stubborn, but I have no idea where she gets it from.

Rand is thrilled that he can stay all day and doesn't have to leave right after lunch. He always wanted to do stay for the afternoon's dictation lesson last year, so he is excited that he is finally is a part of it! His prayer last night was that he would do well in school and learn how to write better so he could get his work done faster.

Greer Photos

Some photos from our Greer trip....

Rand and Ella loved this huge comfy chair

There was a cat that hung outside the house during our stay. As soon as we walked outside the cat would run up to the kids. They thought that this was fantastic!

We spent a lot of time exploring and playing in the creek.

The swing set was pretty fantastic, too. It overlooked a beautiful meadow.

Fishing!

Ella loved finding bugs!

She was very tired.