Monday, June 6, 2011

Alex's Pre-K Graduation!


Here's Alex marching down the isle for his pre-kindergarten graduation!

Alex's pre-K class sang several songs.  They did great!  
Alex is 2nd from the right in the top row.

Our big guy is done with preschool.  He's excited to start Kindergarten in the fall!
Congratulations, Alex!

What graduation would be complete without an ice cream cone. :)


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The Medieval Feast and the Olympics

Molly's school has an event for the 2nd graders at the end of the year called the Medieval Feast.  The kids studied medieval times during the school year, and on this day they got to dress up like knights, princesses, peasants, Robin Hood, or whatever medieval character they chose.  Molly wanted to be Princess Guinevere. 


The photo above is from a skit Molly's class performed.  

Here are a bunch of Molly's friends.  It was so cute to see them all dressed up!

That afternoon, the kids all got to try out medieval games.  Molly was determined to learn to juggle potatoes!
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The Olympics
That's what Molly's school calls their track & field day.  Molly ran the 50 meter dash, the 50 meter hurdles, and the 4X100 meter relay. 

Molly is in pink.  She was very excited to do hurdles!  I wish I would have gotten a photo of her mid jump!

It was 92 degrees and sunny out during the olympics.  All the kids were really hot.
I'm so proud of my sweaty runner!  Great job, Molly!

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Funny Stories


Isn't this marvelous? Those are all googly eyes glued on the white paper along with some stick puppets, a piece of paper, and some numbers Alex punched from a box. Lovely. :)

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Today Molly asked to go to the library.  I told Molly that our library is now closed on Wednesdays and explained that it is because a nearby library that was undergoing renovation has now reopened.  She asked why our library has to be closed.  I said, "It's to save money."  Molly pouted and said, "To save money?  More like to disappoint the children!!!"

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One of Alex's eye teeth came in kind of like a conjoined twin teeth.  We call it his "double tooth".  Alex loves his double tooth because we've said it is special, and he talks about how when he loses it someday he'll get twice the money from the Tooth Fairy. 
A couple of days ago, Alex asked me why he has a double tooth.  I told him what I always tell him, "because God made you that way."  Alex said, "I know, but why do I have one but nobody else does?"  I told him that everybody is unique and everybody has something that is a little different from everybody else.   Alex seemed to like that explanation.  Then he said, "I know what Kevin* has that is a little bit different."  I asked, "What is that?"  Alex said, "He's a little bit mean." 
Ok, then. 
*Kevin is not his real name.  I changed it to protect the possibly innocent.

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Yesterday, we were all driving in our van.  We stopped behind a car with a Montana license plate.   Cory and I were discussing how we didn't think we had seen a plate like that before and didn't think it looked very nice.  (Sorry Montana)
Molly overheard and asked what we were talking about.  I explained to her what we said.  Then Alex overheard THAT conversation and asked, "What did you say about Hannah Montana?"
Molly said, "Alex, they aren't talking about Hannah Montana, they are talking about that car in front of us that's called a Montana."  Um, no.  That wasn't it.
It would be a lot easier if Cory and I could just have our own conversations!

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I forgot to post about something really funny that happened on Easter. 
Molly and her friend Jerusha were bored and came to complain to the adults about how bored they were. 
My friend Sara had told me that when she was a kid, her mom always had her make a list of things she could do whenever she complained she was bored.  She said she did it, and making the list always made her think of something fun to do. 
It sounded like a great idea, so I told Molly to go make a list of all the things they could do.

Later, Alex (who had been playing Wii with Jerusha's brother Isaiah) came upstairs complaining that the girls were throwing dress up clothes at them. 
I asked Molly to come upstairs, and I asked if what Alex had said was true.  She said yes.  I asked her why she thought that would be a good choice.  She said, "It was on my list."
Really?

Later, I found two sheets of paper in the office.  She and Ru really had made a list.  They had also gone through the list, checking off the things they completed and scratching out the things they didn't want to do.

Here is Molly's List:

Littlest pet shop
TV
Polly Pockets
Magnet Girls (they are like magnetic paper dolls)
Stare out the window
Play Zhu Zhu pets
Play with stuffed animals
Play build a bears
Play the anything game
Watch the boys
Spy on the boys
Play Wii
Play DS
Play on the computer
Play dogs
Play house
Spy on the grown ups
Crafts
Make signs
Eat all our candy
Spy on Alex
Play dogs
Make collages
Color
Lie on the bed
Beg the grown ups to take us to the movies
Ask if we can watch TV
Spy on the boys
Barbies
Scribble
Dress up
Pelt the boys with the dress-up clothes
Dig through the trash
Play outside
Dig through the recycling

That's it!  Crazy list.  Dig through the trash? What?
I thought it was funny that "pelt the boys with dress-up clothes" really was on the list.  Ha!




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Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Creativity

Alex is always making crafts, and using his imagination to make different things.  One day, he made a scratch-art alligator and then hung it across the doorway with ribbon and yarn.  He asked me to crawl under it and leave it up so Daddy could see it when he got home. 

One day, Alex created this "peg leg" for himself with blue paper.  He told me that his normal foot had fallen off, so he made himself a peg leg.  Ha!
The thing to his right is a plastic blue cup that he used to make a "bug catcher".  He was sure it would catch a lot of bugs and was sad that none had crawled inside the next day. :)

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Stories
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As the Royal Wedding approached, I kept hearing other women talk about how they remember watching Princess Diana's wedding with their moms and how they were excited to watch this Royal Wedding with their own daughters.  I didn't really have any desire to watch the wedding, but I decided that I better talk to Molly about it in case she wanted to see it. 
I asked her if she had heard about it.  She said no.  I told her how Prince William was getting married to a woman who was a commoner, and how she would become a real life princess when she got married.  I told Molly that a lot of people will be excited to see all the fancy clothes the guests wear, too.  I asked her if she wanted me to record the wedding so we could watch it together.
Molly gave me a really funny look.
Then she said, "It's JUST a wedding.  Why on earth would I want to watch THAT?!?"

My girl is just not into princesses, and I'm ok with that. :)
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A few days ago, Alex came home from preschool excited to show me something.  He looked so happy and proud, and asked me to come into another room so he could show me something.  I did, and guess what amazing thing he showed me?  He had learned how to make farting noises with his armpit.  Really.
He is very excited about his new talent.
I'm so very proud. :)
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Flowers at Como Conservatory


Every spring before it looks like spring outside in MN, Como Conservatory fills its sunken garden room with beautiful flowers.  I love taking photos of my kids with the flowers and feeling the sun in that beautiful room.  

Alex doesn't love having photos taken, but he posed for a few for me.


Lucille, Jerusha, and Alex tried to smile for a photo, but the sun was too bright!

Aren't the flowers pretty?
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Happy Easter!


Happy Easter!
We celebrated Easter here in Minneapolis. 
It was a beautiful, sunny day.  The bright sun made it hard to get good photos, though. :)

I like getting photos of Molly and Alex hugging.  Unfortunately, the hug almost always ends up with them falling over together.  Fortunately, they both usually think falling down together is really fun. :)

Here they go....

Down on the ground. :)

Some of our friends came over to celebrate Easter with us.  The kids had an egg hunt in our back yard.



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Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Screen-Free Week

This week (April 17-13) is screen-free week. It was encouraged by Molly's school. For this week, Molly and Alex are to completely avoid all TV, video games, movies, and other screen-time.

The kids have not tried to cheat at all, but they have certainly told us plenty how much they are not enjoying screen-free week. Both have said it is the worst week of their life. Really? Ha. :) I think they know how to be overdramatic.

Alex loves crafts. Mostly, he loves creating his own artwork using tape, scissors, glue, staples, paper, and pens. He uses a LOT of paper and tape. Since he can't play video games, he has been doing even more art work than usual this week. Here are some of his creations:


Balloon animal fish that Alex made, swimming in the ocean that Alex made.


This is a Grandfather Clock with hands that spin. There are numbers on the clock face, but I'm not sure they show up in the photo.


This is a conglomeration of stapled paper, Easter artwork, and a booklet of animals in Spanish and English.


This is Darth Vader. Alex told me that I can know it's Darth Vader because he has a red light saber AND a black mask on his face. He said that there are others with red light sabers like Darth Maul, Darth Citius, and Count Duku, but they do not have black masks like Darth Vader. Good to know, Alex.
(I'm sure I totally spelled those names wrong, but I don't want to look up their proper spellings.)

Oh, did I mention that Alex has become quite the Star Wars fan? He has. I think he loves it more than Mario now.


After I took the photo of Darth Vader on the floor, I turned around and was surprised to see that creation above taped (with a LOT of tape!!!) on my dining room wall. Apparently it is an "Easter suprise for Molly." Hmm.


This isn't part of screen-free week. It is a watercolor picture of Darth Vader that Alex made in preschool.


I think I'm going to have to buy some more tape before this week is over. :)
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Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Spring is here!


We've suddenly gone from winter to spring, and it has been glorious! Molly and Alex have been so happy to play outside in warm weather! Yay for spring!





We decided we needed some play equipment in our back yard that was better suited for bigger kids, but we don't have room for one of those wooden swing sets. We saw the dome jungle gyms at Costco and knew it would be the perfect thing! Molly and Alex were so excited to help Cory build it last weekend. Here they are with it partially assembled.


Finished! They love it. Molly likes hanging upside down from the top.

Funny Quotes and other things



One day after bedtime, Cory and I went to our basement to watch some TV. We walked in to the room and saw all the Zhu Zhu pets in a circle. Molly and Alex normally keep the Zhu Zhu pets in their bedrooms, so it was pretty funny to see all the pets together in the basement. It was like Cory and I walked in on their secret meeting or something. :)

Molly and Alex love these hand-pedaled scooters at Edinborough, and indoor play place.



One day Molly made one of these paper gyrocopters in school. Alex loved it and decided to make a whole family of them in different colors and sizes.

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At dinner one evening, we were talking about all the potholes in the streets by us. Alex said we should ask Jesus to fix the potholes. Then Alex said, "Oh, that won't work. I forgot Jesus is too busy fixing Japan."

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Cory upgraded his work phone to an iphone recently. Alex was really excited and asked, "Did it come with Angry Birds?"

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Alex told me he's going to save up his money to buy a solar panel for our house so he and Molly can leave their lights on all the time.

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Molly's hair cut


Molly's hair was long and beautiful. It's REALLY thick, though. It's hard to brush, tangles easily, and she never wants braids, ponytails, or clips in it. With swimming lessons and then a summer full of swimming coming up, I told her I thought it was time for a shorter hair style. She agreed. Here is Molly before the haircut.

Before

After!

After! She wouldn't smile for the camera, but she loves her hair. :) I think it just took all of her patience to sit still while I cut, and cut, and cut some more. When I wanted to take photos, it was just too much. :)

Castles and Dolls


Molly studied castles in school this year. The 2nd graders had an optional project: to make their own castle out of household materials. This is Molly's castle. She is very proud of it!

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The American Girl Doll Obsession

After Christmas, Molly realized that almost every friend she knows got an American Girl Doll for Christmas. Really. She had heard of them before Christmas, but she never really cared about them or asked for one. After she saw that all her friends wanted one, she went from not really interested to completely and totally obsessed!

I took her to the American Girl Doll store at the Mall of America one day so she could look around. She was in awe of every thing she saw. For those of you who haven't been there, it's insane. The store is 2 stories tall with a doll beauty salon and bistro inside. They sell historical dolls, the doll of the year, the look-alike dolls, the bitty babies, and 985,739,025 expensive accessories to go with the dolls.

Molly wanted all of it.

She brought home a catalog and poured over it each day. She really wanted a doll. We ended up telling her that we'd give her a doll for her birthday (in August), but we weren't going to go out and buy an expensive doll in January just because she wanted it. We also told her she should start saving up her money so she could buy the accessories she thought she needed.

A few weeks went by. Molly still poured over the catalog almost daily. She tried to figure out ways to earn more money to put toward the things she saw in the catalog. She started reading all of the American Girl books from the library. She even borrowed a doll from one of her friends a couple of times. She told us all the time that she couldn't wait to have he own doll. Molly had decided that for her first doll, she wanted Kanani, the 2011 girl of the year (only available in 2011).

One day, she started writing a list of the things she wanted from the catalog. When I found it, it was 6 pages long, front and back! Here is her list:


Then, in early March, she got invited to a friend's birthday party. It was a tea party, and the girls were asked to bring "a very special doll or stuffed animal" to the party. Molly read it and looked at me with her big brown eyes. Then she said, "Mom, you KNOW all the girls are going to bring American Girl dolls. Is there ANY way I could get Kanani before the party?"

I still didn't want to just go buy the doll for her, but I wanted her to have Kanani for the party. I helped Molly figure out how much money she needed to be able to buy the doll. Then I helped her figure out how to earn it. Molly sold a Wii game to a friend, a gift card she had from Christmas to her Daddy, and some other things, and eventually she wasn't far from her goal. She got close enough that we told her we'd cover what she was short and let her pay us back later. She was in heaven! She was SO EXCITED to go buy her doll.

Here she is in the store, picking out her doll. 







Molly at home, ready to open the box. :) I didn't get a photo of Molly with Kanani after opening. Molly wasn't in the mood for posing and just wanted to play! She was so excited to have her doll. She did bring Kanani to that birthday party, and guess what? Molly said that every single girl at that party (8 of them, I think) had brought an American Girl Doll. I'm so glad Molly had one too. :)