Tabitha's Pool Tale

Mom bought me a pool, filled it with warm water from the kitchen sink and stuck me in it. I cried.

Then realized a rubber duckie was right there.

So I ate it. Unhappily.

I realized it was the same one as I eat in the tub and chompped happily for a bit.

Hey, this pool thing isn't so bad. I might just like it yet.

A birds eye view of my small pool. Yes, the bottom of my pool is filled with air for my comfort.


Wait a minute. I can splash in here too.

And what's this? Grass!!

Nope, splashing is more fun.

I think I just might like this pool thing.

Notice Natalie's arm floaties even though she can walk across the whole thing! After a few times she no longer feels the need to wear them in our backyard pool.

Ode to summer evenings.

They are great.

(especially when the kitchen dishes weren't done as well as we let a few other things slide that evening. It was nice to simply sit and enjoy watching our children have fun. Only two more days of school. The last day is the 24th. Jeff and I leave the 25th. Hooray!)

Natalie Turns Four

On June 9th (yes, I'm still catching up.) Natalie turned 4. She's been waiting a long time to be able to sit in a booster and is now glad she can get out of her carseat. Her birthday was a busy day with Nature Camp preschool in the morning, followed immediately by the two girls recitals, home to open presents when the boys came home from school, dinner followed immediately by the boys' baseball game. Whew!

Grandpa Jim gave her a Wii game. The boys were possibly more excited than she was about this one. And she was excited!

Grandma Mary gave her three princess puzzles that she loves.

Jeremy, Brenden, Kristiana and Tabitha gave her an art kit. Which she has loved and I shudder every time she opens it. We only had one instance where she tried to cut my hair and I can guarantee that that won't happen again. She loves crafts, but I don't love cleaning up after her.

What did mom and dad give her? The boys guess was a barbie. But they were wrong. Inside this box was a coupon. The best coupon she could have received for....

A Build-a-Bear experince. The day after her birthday we took her to the mall and let her make her own.

The next day they dressed alike. It was a good birthday. We held her friend party on the 12th, but I forgot to get out my camera. Turning four has been good for Natalie. Being out of the carseat like a baby (her words) has made a big difference, I think. Natalie's terrible two's leaked all through her three's and now we are seeing her calm down in areas that were rough before.

Though bedtime is not any easier. It's such a rough tansition for her. No matter what we do she still cries almost every night. Though when we can wear her out to the perfect point she lies down and is asleep before we come back with her water cup. (Very rare, and enjoyed the more for it.)

She is a sweet fun little girl and we feel very blessed to have her spirit in our home. (With everything that includes!)

Ballet Recital - Kristiana

Kristiana has moved up to the intermediate level. She enjoys it and has improved a lot over the past couple months.
She makes some things look so easy.

She struggles with holding her knee down at the barre, but is getting it.

I love the lines of her body. I have no idea if it makes a good dancer or not, but she looks lovely to me.

One last exercise before the final finale.

They struggled as a group to get this the first two times so Miss Johanna had them do it a third. I love the patience she shows with them and how she gives them the chance to succeed.

They finally got it the third time round.

And they were done. Kristiana did a fantastic job. She was on sync all three tries (just a little bit of mother pride here).

Miss Johanna, Natalie and Kristiana.

Now we are going to take a break. Dance will be cut from our schedule and next week baseball ends. Maybe life will be less crazy. I doubt it.

Ballet Recital - Natalie

Yesterday, on her birthday Natalie had a dance recital. Jeff was able to take half a day off work and join us. It was a nice day, but busy.
Watching Natalie's progress has been enjoyable. She's now doing what she's asked and what the other girls are doing.

Her curtsey.

She caught Jeff's eye, who was taking the pics because Tabitha was fussy (ear infection).

This is where she has trouble paying attention. Yesterday she did great!

Her class with Miss Johanna.

One last move (Natalie was a step behind)

With her certificate.

Field Trip - Jeremy

Jeremy's class went to the State Museum and the State House on June 4th. The final of 3 field trips in 3 days.
This was my entire group all day. Jeremy and Erin, both well behaved. (I was glad for my small group. My friend in a different class had 7 boys to keep track of.) We started our morning at the State Museum. Thanks you Carla for watching my girls all day and making it possible for me to go with Jeremy.

Mrs. Matthews and Jeremy. She's a great teacher and Jeremy really enjoys her classes. Good thing too, because we're looping this year and he has her next year as well.

There were lots of fun things to do in the Museum. I think the favorite was watching the pendulum knock down the markers as the earth rotated.

Drats. The flash whited out what I was trying to show. Jeremy is as tall as..... I'll answer that when we go back next year - when he'll be taller. Oh well.

An impromptu class picture. Not everyone is in it, but they were sure having fun hamming it up. We were waiting for the bus after lunch and this was a great way to entertain them.

Then we moved on to the Capitol building - or state house.

They sat on a marble floor for over twenty minutes learning about Indiana history that they had already learned about!! They were all fidgetty(?). They wanted to see the building, not listen to someone drone on. I was fidgety by the middle myself.

The house chamber. Jeremy, Erin and Sophie sat in the front row in the house of representatives. We listened to the same woman speak, then an aide spoke and then our district house rep. showed up and spoke to the kids for a quick minute. They were having a good time.

Then we moved on to the supreme court room. Most everything in this room is 122 years old, excpet the carpet. Don't get me started about the carpet! Waste of money, that's all I'll say and leave it at that.

Senate house. Jeremy's class was one of the lucky classes that got to sit in the Senate seats. There were four classes on this field trip and only two could fit in the 50 seats so the other two classes sat in the balcony. While we were there Senator Delph came and spoke to the kids. He knew how to connect with them and get them excited about politics. I think this was the best part of the state house trip. (Perhaps the fact that he's a father of 5 girls had something to do with it.) When he was done he left and stood outside the door to shake everyone's hand as they left. It left an impression.

Then we headed back to the school. I ran to pick up the girls and then we met Jeff at the zoo so that everyone could see the cheetahs. That would be its own post, except I left the camera in the van so there are no pictures.

No more field trips.

Until next school year.

Field Trip - Kristiana

Kristiana's class went to Eagle Creek Park Education Center on June 3rd. This is field trip # 2 in 3 days. They didn't assign us groups, which was nice. We just walked around and helped out where it was needed. First we went in a room and were able to learn about and touch different animals.
This is Kristiana touching a tadpole. I was caught off guard because I was trying to keep Natalie from waking Tabitha up. This was as close I was able to get.

Kristiana touching turtles.

The second half we went for a hike. They split us into three groups and sent us out with a guide. All of the guides are retired men and women - and it always interesting to see how they expect a large group of excited kids to act. The gentleman we had did a pretty good job.

Yes, Natalie succeeded in waking Tabitha up. She managed it when I was playing a quick round of phone tag with Jeff and the school district. Natalie managed to wake Tabitha - the district called me back and even though I snagged Natalie before walking out of the room to take the call she was under the blanket with Tabitha and that was the end of the morning nap.

We saw a centipede on our outdoor trek and our guide was more than willing to break his plans up and let everyone gather round while he held it. It was a fun morning.