Everything is "Awesome"

My daughter's new favorite word is "awesome." Waking up in the morning is "awesome." Having breakfast is "awesome." She's watching the Disney movie "Bolt" this morning and in every action scene, I'm hearing "that is awesome....wow....awesome, dude!"

I'm beginning to tire of the word. I realize that I use this word far too often in my own vocabulary. So, I'm seeking a replacement word before I go nuts with the little 5-year old mirror that I live with!

First 3 Steps

Today, my son was playing with a big toy block....and while I was holding the block and encouraging him to walk on over, he finally did!!! It took him 3 steps without holding onto anything and both Daddy and I were here to see it (which was a pretty rare thing, considering our work schedules).

It was a huge blessing to both of us to watch him take those few steps....now, I'm sure we'll be in trouble shortly when he grows in confidence and learns to run!

Love Ma-Ma

While my daughter professes regularly that she is "Daddy's girl," my son definitely has an affinity for his Momma. And I must admit that I'm so wrapped around his little fingers that I don't even know how to untangle sometimes.

Tonight, he had been asleep for a couple of hours and started crying. I figured he wasn't really hungry, so I went into his room to hold him for a few minutes.

He calmed right down and nestled his little head in my shoulder. And his little words were coming out really slowly because he was so tired....and for a little while, it sounded to me like he was saying "Love Ma-Ma, Love Ma-Ma, Love, Ma-ma."

They were the sweetest words I heard all day. I love you, too, little one.

Fear & Fun

Yesterday was Halloween for our family. And while you may find it odd that we recognize the holiday at all as a Christ-centered family, we also have no denial around here that sin exists and Halloween is a reminder to us of the darkness and evil that we have been saved from.

We loaded up the kids in the car and took in a number of interesting events. The first event occurred at the Oregon Museum of Science & Industry (OMSI). They are featuring their "FEAR" exhibit about all of the things that scare and frighten people.

From fear of falling (above picture) to being eaten by a leopard (below picture), we all had a good time checking out what our personal fears were.

We learned that our daughter has no real fear of being shocked, falling or loud noises.....but she wouldn't go near putting her arms inside dark places where tarantulas might be lurking (just like her mom!) She also was not fond of being mauled by the leopard...which made her jump, but she didn't cry.

Next, we ventured off to see the "Bee Beard" as seen above. This women entered a contest (that I also entered) to have 4,000 bees let loose and crawl up her neck. Fortunately for me, I didn't win....but I still think it would have been fun. She's wearing the queen around her neck which is why the bees are all traveling northward. Very interesting....we were all intrigued by these little creatures.

Next, it was off to the Science Playground....where I got a tiny glimpse of what having twins might look like. Very scary for this Momma!

Of course, there was nothing scary about playing in a sand pit (other than the thought of someday trying to clean this costume which didn't do a great job surviving the hard wear & tear of its active 5-year old wearer!)

Following our antics in Portland, Mommy & Daddy enjoyed some nice pumpkin latte's at our favorite coffee haunt, Dutch Brothers....yum, yum! Then, we ventured over the local mall where apparently a few thousand other people decided to stay out of the rain. What a zoo....and most of the stores were already out of candy....but we got a few pieces. My daughter was quite the spotter as she would dart in and out of lines where Mommy & the stroller could not.

After escaping the mall, we visited with my grandparents and saw some of our cousins. We couldn't go home because Mommy didn't buy any candy for our local visitors since we knew we were going to be out most of the day. After a short visit with the family, we made our way to a local church that was hosting a "Trunk or Treat"....and as you can tell from these final pictures, each car was decorated with a different theme. They were super creative and fun.

From Mickey Mouse to camping and fall themes, each car had its own identity.

And with the addition of bouncy castles, free hot dogs and a safe environment for the kids, we all enjoyed ourselves as a family.

If these adventures were not enough, Daddy & I attempted to take the family to the Lone Fir Cemetery for its annual history walk among the tombstones. With our "Dearly Departed" CD of fun ballads, we started driving southward to our final destination around 7:00 p.m.

By the time we made it to SE Portland, both of our kids were completely asleep in the back of the car....and when we spied a line exiting the cemetery entrance the went the length of 2 blocks, we figured it wasn't in the best interest of our tired kids to try to cram in one final event.

We left the CD on in the car and drove home, exhausted.....but having had a very fun, family day.

Awesome Family Day

Today was a great day with the family. Stay tuned for the full run down tomorrow....as we're too tired to spell it all out tonight!

Parent-Teacher Conferences

I wasn't sure what to expect from our very first parent-teacher conference with our daughter's Kindergarten teacher, but I must say that I was pretty impressed.

Of course, any mother loves to hear that her child is doing well in school....so, the good things we heard today were:

• She has no problems making friends
• Her closest friend is multi-lingual with Italian and Spanish languages (and sounds like a very smart little girl, too!)
  
• Can identify all of her numbers without any problem (even ones out of order)
• Can identify all of the upper-case letters and only reverses a few of the lower case letters
• She is doing well with her writing and does "kid-writing" well (which is where they choose 3 key sounds from a word, write those letters and draw pictures)

We also got a peek at her picture journal and it's adorable. We chatted with the teacher about ways to ensure that we keep up with our daughter as she has a very sharp memory.

Her teacher encouraged us to focus on many different things in her learning so that she is well-rounded in the different brain-activities. This includes the following types of activities:

• Getting toys with various shapes and patterns and asking her to group them (and asking her why she is grouping them that way). She illustrated with a handful of plastic spiders, ants and scorpions of various colors.
  
• When she wants to count, starting at random numbers like counting from 16-34 or 9-19 instead of always starting at zero.
• Having her practice counting backwards or doing her alphabet backwards.
• Taking sentences and cutting them up into puzzles or using 3x5 cards with single words on them so she can make sentences.
• Playing any type of games or puzzles (which we do often...see my previous post).
  

And, of course, reading to her regularly which we already do each day! It's fun to "be in Kindergarten" as I am learning so much (hopefully she is, too!)

I Can't Win Anymore

My daughter and I enjoy playing board games. Her two favorite games, as of late, are Uno! and Newton's Apples which she got for her birthday. One is a classic card game that we all learned as kids and the other is a gravity-based strategy game (which says it's for 7 years old!).

Now, she is only 5 years old.....so, one would figure that an adult would need to "go easy" on her so that she could win a few games. Well, that's not really true for my daughter. You see, she has a memory that an elephant would be envious of. And once she gets the hang of something, she's relentless.

Our game of Newton's Apples tonight lasted nearly an hour. Mommy played hard, but lost by one move! And the sad thing was that I was really trying to beat her since she had just put the Uno! smackdown on me, crushing me in 2 out of 3 hands.

It's time to move on to Monopoly and Risk.....where I still have a chance to win based on the complexity of the game!