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| Anna demonstrates the arabesque...she really loves ballet, but she also throws fits every Monday afternoon when I say it is ballet time, saying that she doesn't like it and doesn't want to go. Why did I get the 3 year old that is already a teenager? |
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| Front view... |
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| Now, this was taken at L's gymnastics session at the Y. Not sure how she got these moves without seeing the movie Flashdance! M is in the background, preparing to swing like a monkey from the rings. You may recall this red dress is the dress that Anna screamed and kicked and fought against wearing last year to her aunt's wedding. She is currently in a pretty dress phase...so she often requests this dress (which amuses me as F thought he'd be arrested for child abuse last year when he made her wear this dress and she put up such a fuss and he was worried someone might think he was beating her or something, instead of just making her wear a fancy dress).... |
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| I think I mentioned that L's kindergarten teacher is awesome and this is why! She gievs him his own math and reading so that he isn't bored and daydreaming and paying less attention to her than he already does (to be fair, he is a good student, he just doesn't respond at all if he doesn't want to stop doing what he is doing and he knows you want him to...as Mrs. F says, "We're working on that.") He is happy and we are happy, we'll just have to start praying now that we get a good 1st grade teacher next year...sigh... |
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| F was having a nice quiet reading time when M, the monster, came and crashed the party. He put on a winter hat (it was nearly 80 degrees that day), draped his beloved blue blankie over his head, slapped on some mittens and started stumbling aroung at us. |
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| Here is my knight in shining armor...I got him this costume after Halloween because they mark all the left overs down so much and costumes would be great Christmas presents here! Unfortunately, he spilled his water bottle on his shirt at the park before gymnastics and all I had were the costumes stashed in the back of the van so he got to be a knight! Which is good because it gives him a way to dress up in shiny clothes and yet not be wearing a princess dress! Everyone wins! |
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| Doing some moves at L's gymnastics again. Miss M, one of Anna's teachers, gave us all these awesome tutus...and um...she's been wearing them ever since. They inspire her to dance, she says... |
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| We went to the Holiday parade last weekend and L was outraged that everyone was already celebrating Christmas while ignoring Thanksgiving entirely. He's been irritated all week about it (he got especially annoyed in the stores where they had Christmas decorations up) and was wishing everyone a "Happy Thanksgiving" very pointedly. He told me he thinks it isn't respectful to forget Thanksgiving. So last Saturday, he came home and organized his very own Thanksgiving Day Parade complete with a sign and musical instruments. He had his siblings and Daddy marching along behind him on the boardwalk, singing Thanksgiving songs he composed while banging on a plastic bottle. The fire truck picture was taken at Operation Hero Day at the base...they organized all kinds of activities for the kids to thank them for the sacrifices they make when their parents deploy to serve the country. While the kids haven't had F deploy in a long time, they do certainly miss out on some time with Daddy (who, let's be honest, is way more patient with them than I am, but I'm working on it)...here is the fire truck the kids were able to climb on...we watched them extend the ladder the full 100 ft... |
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| Inside the Fire Truck...M told me a while ago that he is going to be a Fireman someday so that he can rescue me if I get into an accident. That might after he becomes an Army Man...I'll have to check with him on that... |
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| The kids got some camo paint done by some airmen who volunteered their time on a Saturday morning for this event. (Anna is apparently getting camo'd up to spend some time in a pink garden)...M sat so, so still for this! I guess we have to whip out the face paint when he gets too rambunctious... |
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| L getting his face painted...I love that little dude, but sometimes I take some creepy looking pictures of him! |
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| I don't think she could get any pinker... |
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| "Now you can't see me! Well, okay, only my sweatshirt. But you can't see my face!" |
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| M, the Army Man, all ready for the next field exercise... |
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| Flower Girl... |
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| A spent some time making cards for her friends later that day...she is still enamoured with my friend's sons who moved to Maryland over the summer... |
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| Our weekend wouldn't be complete without a Mikey mishap! We were at the park when M was running (he was pretending to be a baby squirrel), his feet slipped out from under him and wham! Right on his face on the log. It looks worse than it was (despite the blood that gushed from his nose, he didn't break it)...it has almost healed completely in a week. |
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| "I felled on my nose, Mama." |
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| The Fourth Pilgrim and the most helpful one. L's role in the class Thanksgiving play. He was the one who fetched a pot for Squanto. We got to eat a lunch of black bean soup that was boiling hot with L in the foyer of his school. It was a really nice time (the twins came, too...and that was less pleasant. It is trickey eating really hot stuff while an extremely tired and fussy 3 year old is squirming around on your lap. I really love that we have so many opportunities to hang out with L in his class. |
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| This little Pilgrim needs to work on his table manners... |
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| Yay for Grampy and Dawn! The kids were thrilled for their arrival on Wednesday morning (they stayed in a hotel Tuesday night, so we didn't see them til Wednesday). I can't remember what we did that day, but I am sure we had a good time! Here is Grampy trying to read a story to all the kids at one time while L is making his "happy face". |
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| Happy Thanksgiving Day! I got up early to prepare the turkey for the oven before I ran a 5K (3.1 mile) race in Williamsburg with Miss Leah! It was her first race and I was determined that she would finish it, so I ran it with her. She had convinced herself that she wasn't a runner...and I've been there, thinking I couldn't run, so I was committed to helping her achieve her goal. It was a beautiful morning and a lovely race course. A perfect way to start Thanksgiving! We did it in 29:57, not too shabby for a first race. She's excited to sign up for another race in the future. |
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| We had a big weekend of firsts. On Friday, L started riding his 2 wheeler for the first time! We'd taken off his pedals and lowered his seat so he could get used to scooting around and getting his balance. Well, Friday, Grampy and Daddy put his pedals on and he was zipping around the boardwalk so fast I could hardly keep up with him! He has probably biked about 10 miles in the last 3 days, total. He loves it! We also got M's little bike tires patched and pumped up, so he's wheeling around the fort after his brother. Anna still seems more interested in talking than in pedaling, so our bike ride was a bit slower. She is still on her tricycle, so that might be slowing her down. Here she is yesterday on her scooter, off looking for adventure. You may notice that she put her doggy in her hood so she could have her hands free to steer and yet bring her along. She named her dog, Nyla, after a very special dog in Oregon... |
