Olympic Fun

We've been battling colds this week... by we, I mean Wyatt and myself. Wyatt, poor guy, has had it the worst since he's had fever and a cough. I've just been congested. I took him to the doctor today, and they ruled out strep and the flu (which has been going around). So we just have to wait it out. Sick days mean stay at home days, yet somehow my house doesn't get any cleaner when we have to stay home. Hmm... perhaps that's because even though Wyatt is content to lay on the couch, Piper is content to pull everything out. 

Speaking of Piper, today she said "okay" instead of "otay" for the first time. I'm not sure yet if that was a fluke, or if it means she's going to start pronouncing her Cs and Ks now. For the most part she speaks in full sentences, but has a few sounds she hasn't mastered yet... including R and L. She can say words that start with L like Lila but flash is "fwash". And a fork is a foke :) We've also noticed in the past week or so that she has started to show a preference for the color pink.

Anyway, about a month ago Wyatt had an Olympic day at school. They had their own Olympic games including a medal ceremony, followed by a pizza lunch.

The Olympics started with an Opening Ceremony where the kids entered the gym with the torch they had made.

After singing the National Anthem, they were divided up into teams of four - two kids from each class. Their badge color indicated which team they were on. Wyatt is sitting next to Samuel, the other boy from his class. During the Anthem singing, I had to strap Piper into the stroller, as she made it very clear she wasn't going to stay with our group otherwise!

There were six stations: the long jump, shot-put (with bean bags), discus (with foam frisbees pictured here), a catapult (no not a real Olympic event but the kids enjoyed it), a relay race (made more fun with scooters) and the balance beam. We spent 3 minutes at each station and rotated through the stations twice. Discus was our third station, and it was at this point that Wyatt's teacher brought Piper some toys to play with while she watched.

Here are a couple of Wyatt's throwing stances! This was probably his favorite station. We were in the hallway for this, and the little foam frisbees would bounce off the walls and go pretty far.

I took a picture of the two of them together while Wyatt waited for his turn at the next station. (He is holding a paper baton for the relay race.)

Wyatt also enjoyed the scooters.

The balance beam was challenging for all the boys in our group.

Standing in front of the wall of flags that the kids made.

I love Wyatt's smiles :)

After they finished the games, they had an awards ceremony. Everyone came up when their name was called to get their medal and shake the teacher's hand.

Wyatt's class waiting during the medal ceremony.

Random picture I took of Piper :)

Wyatt's teacher had asked if I would make some Olympic rings cookies to go with lunch. They turned out really well! I used candy melts for the first time at Wyatt's birthday party, and they are so easy. They worked great for the rings on these cookies.

Wyatt's class

(Teacher is on the left; assistant teacher on the right)

Holding his torch and wearing his medal!

Two Years

Well, I was listening to my little girl chattering away today, and I don't know why but I thought "I need to get some pictures of her at this age." I have a picture of Wyatt and Lila at age two, but when Piper turned two in December, there just wasn't time on the schedule for a trip to the Target portrait studio (where we normally go). So here they are - her "official" two year pics... no waiting to get to a studio... let's just go out on the back patio. It's worked for us before. 

I told her she could bring along "Tay Bear" as she calls him. It looks like this little furry friend is going to be her George... he goes EVERYWHERE with her. She looks kind of indignant in this picture, but I think I just caught her talking. She talks constantly. Not all of her sounds are correct yet, but that just adds to the cuteness :) Like today when she tried to squeeze through the dining room chair, and I heard, "Mommy! Me tuck! Help me! Me tuck!" (She got herself free before I could assist - or get my camera!)

So sweet.

This is one happy camper. I mean, she can be so (very) stubborn sometimes and gets upset occasionally when she doesn't get her way, but in general, her mood is always happy. Happy when she wakes up, happy in the car when we take Lila and Wyatt to school and back, happy as she chatters constantly around the house, happy when it's bedtime. 

Just happy!

This is the face I get if I ask her to smile.

This bucket has been a great photo prop... not sure I'll be able to squeeze her in there next year though :)

Back to the Blog

Wow, it's been a long time since I updated this blog. Four months! A lot has happened since I was on here... Wyatt's birthday; State Fair; Preschool Fall Festival; Thanksgiving; Piper's birthday; Christmas (including a trip to Wichita); Christmas school parties... not to mention a few international trips for Ben during that time. And then a few days ago, our Maggie dog died. It was both unexpected (she's had issues with nervousness and upset tummy for a few years) but also kind of sudden. She suddenly stopped eating and then a week later, she was gone. The vet discovered she had a tumor in her intestine and removed it, but she just never recovered.

It will be awhile before I stop referring to our "dogs" and get used to being a one dog family. Kelsey doesn't seem to miss Maggie very much. Maggie was "the boss" so maybe Kelsey is enjoying her new freedom. I am relieved; I don't think I could handle it if she seemed depressed or sad. Here are some pictures of Maggie at the Rescue organization when they first found her. The organization, StrayDog, kept a blog, so I copied the entries about Maggie and Kelsey and thought I'd share them on here. (They had different names for the dogs, but I changed them to make it less confusing.)

"When we rescued little stray puppy, Maggie, from the hands of Angry Neighbor, who had boasted he would have killed the little “chicken killer” had we not immediately gone to get her, Maggie took over our little puppy kennel. Now another little stray puppy is in need of a home, and this little pup can share the puppy kennel with Maggie. They will both be in quarantine together and will enjoy having each other to play with. Six-week-old Shepherd/Chow mix Kelsey is much smaller than 10-week-old Retriever mix, Maggie, and it was really cute to watch these two little puppies as they got to know each other. Maggie danced all around Kelsey, happy to have a little playmate, while Kelsey wanted to sniff around her new big kennel first. Then she began playing with Maggie. Now the pups are curled up back to back sleeping in Maggie’s favorite scoopy snoozy hole beneath the shade of her shelter porch top.

At our Adoption Day today a couple inquired as to whether we had any little puppies. We had with our group at Canine Commissary cute Black Lab sisters, five-month-old Kathy and Amber, but the couple wanted much younger pups and what is so neat is that they wanted to adopt two puppies so the pups could grow up together, and they wanted happy, playful little puppies who get along well with each other. This fit the description of newest little arrivals, Maggie and Kelsey! They are adorable and are best buddies, and they play constantly and sleep curled up on each other. Shannon came this morning to take the pups on their “home visit,” and by 11:00 a.m. she had little Maggie and Kelsey in her car ready for long trip to Allen, Texas (about two hours from Straydog) to meet their new mom and dad. At 2:30 p.m. Shannon called and said “Yea! The puppies have been adopted!” The new mom and dad are a wonderful couple, and they fell instantly in love with the pups. (How could anyone not love these cuties instantly?!) Now Maggie and Kelsey have a wonderful mom and dad, a nice big house to investigate and a large, securely fenced yard to play in. Such pampered little house pets they will be, and how wonderful to have them be adopted together!"

Kind of neat to have their back story, huh? Maggie was a playful puppy... loved playing fetch and getting attention. As she got older, she loved to just lay outside and watch for someone to run or walk by. The kids weren't really upset when she died...probably because she wasn't playing as much by the time they were old enough to play with her. And she had gotten kind of growly (sp?) in the past couple years. I thought it was her getting older and less tolerant, but maybe it had to do with her sickness. We are glad you are no longer suffering, but we'll miss you, Mags.

I'm hoping to get some pictures up for all of our past events, but we shall see. Life keeps me busy around here. I'll try to stay current at least :)

Labor Day Visit

Over Labor Day weekend, we enjoyed a visit from Ben's parents. They flew down on Friday night and went back home on Monday morning. It was a nice relaxing weekend hanging out at home (and playing lots of cards, which we like!). 

Ben got a new bike. He has been wanting one for awhile and researched them well. He used it in a triathlon for the first time on Labor Day. His dad was kind enough to lend Ben his (yellow) bike for the past year. The new bike weighs a lot less than the old bike, but that old bike has held up nicely over the years!

Lila got out the dress up clothes. I couldn't help but take a picture of this ensemble...perhaps it will make another appearance at her wedding someday?? :)

Nana made Piper a bug out of the blocks.

Then I had the thought I should get out my camera (not my phone) and take a picture! For some reason, I am really good about this when I go places but not so great at remembering when company comes here. This was the last night before they left, but hey, at least I remembered!

Sometimes with kids, I will have them make faces to get their attention... scary faces, ok silly faces, ok happy faces! Doing this I sometimes get natural smiles. But there's no guarantee of course! Here I said make a silly face (and I think I puckered up too). I love Piper's ability to mimic what I do... ha ha, she wasn't the only one!

See that little pink bag Piper is holding? That was free in a Happy Meal. She LOVES to carry that around and put things in it. I find all kinds of random things in there... Wyatt's blocks, Barbie shoes, hair bows... anything that will fit. 

She is my little bag lady :)

After dinner, Nana took the kids outside. This was an act of love because it was HOT. You will notice that all of the children have red, sweaty faces. In fact, I went outside to take some pictures and I think I only lasted about five minutes. But she was out there with them for at least 20.

Piper still loves to drive her car!

Here she is showing me the car key.

Woo, that is one sweaty kiddo! 

(Notice our nice green grass? It's actually rained here enough it turned green!)

This one is always posing with a "flower" of some kind.

She decided at the beginning of the summer that she wanted to grow out her bangs. We are still in the clipping-them-back phase. I think we may be in this phase for awhile!

I have no idea why she walked right up to the camera and showed me her teeth. But when your active toddler holds still for more than 2 seconds, you take the picture! :)

She is getting so big.

She is getting so big too. 

I tried to tell her that once she turned six she couldn't grow anymore, but I don't think she believes me :)

First Day(s)

We started back to school last week... well, Lila did. Wyatt started preschool today.

Here's a picture of my new first grader on HER first day.

And one without the sign. I got the little paper speech bubbles for $1 (I think there are 20); I thought they'd be fun in pictures.

Lila's long-term aspirations right now.

Sitting at her desk (1st graders get their own desk, not a shared table!)

We were the first to arrive that morning... I think the only reason we were able to be that early was that Ben took a work call from home (which meant I didn't have to bring the other kids along).

I took one last picture as I walked out the door. She has the same teacher (in the red shirt) she had last year in Kindergarten. There was supposed to be one other student from her Kindergarten class in this class, but then we found out that she withdrew from the school. So Lila doesn't have any of her former classmates with her. There were 23 students in her class last year, and five 1st grade classes this year. The fact that she is the only one to repeat with Mrs. A seems remarkable to me. Fortunately she likes her teacher! (Lila does know some of the other kids a little from PE, field trips, etc.)

I took this picture today before taking Lila to school.

They weren't very thrilled about taking pictures.

Here is Wyatt on HIS first day

Lila starts school at 8, but Wyatt doesn't start until 9. Then his day ends at 2, and hers ends at 3. It is nice I don't have to have them at 2 different places at the same time, although if they were a little closer together I could utilize my time better.

If you haven't noticed yet, Wyatt has three picture faces: (1) no smile, (2) yelling "cheese!" (which results in squinty eyes and open mouth), or (3) looking away. Oh well, I take what I can get.

I asked him what he wanted to be.

He loves his daddy :)

When we got to school, we met up with his best buddy.

They are in classrooms right across the hall from each other.

Evan said, "Let's hold hands, Wyatt" as they were walking in to school. How sweet is that?!

Standing next to his cubby in the hall where he hangs up his backpack.

Finding his desk.

The classroom is shared with a MWF class, so don't worry - his name was hidden by his paper - nobody called him Alivia :)

I helped him find a crayon - he chose black which seems to always be his first choice of crayon color - and then I gave him a little kiss and said goodbye.

One last look before I left (his teacher is kneeling beside him).

I was very surprised there weren't any tears or pleading for me to stay. Even this past Sunday, he didn't want to go to Sunday School at first! But today, he was fine! I felt a little emotional... not sad to leave, just sad at how fast he is growing up. He came home saying he had fun. I asked if he wanted to go back, and he said yes! Oh, and the raccoon picture made it home too... filled in completely with black! :)