Whoooo Am I?

Royal and I had a parent/teacher conference tonight for Jayden.  Jayden is doing really well in school, he meets all their benchmarks, and scores above average or average in their national norms comparison.  Yay Jayden!  He is also the kid in class who is very concerned with the one kid who doesn't seem to fit in.  Jayden has befriended him and tried to help him in and around the class, and he even stood up to his friends (friends that live on our street) for him, when they were teasing him and throwing wood chips.  He has great empathy and I am so proud of him for being brave and standing up for what is right.

In the hallway, while we were waiting for our turn to talk to Jayden's teacher, they had all these owls with 4 descriptors on them.  You were suppose to try and guess which "owl" was your child.  I picked the right owl the first time!  Although, there were just a few things that gave it away.  Dinosaurs being #1.  :)

My favorite description, behind the "I like when my mom hugs me" was the "I am crazy!"  ha ha ha

Race for the Cure 2011

This is the 4th year we've participated in Race for the Cure.  It is a fun 5K to run, the course is flat and fast and meanders through an old neighborhood.  However the race is getting really crowded and is hard to maneuver a stroller through, even when doing the untimed start (non-competative), starting at the front of the line, and having Royal run right in front of the stroller to "make a hole" for us through the people who decide that running 5 wide across the road is best for everyone.

The first year, 2008, I was big and pregnant with Willow and I waddled my way across the finish line.  In 2009, Willow was almost a year old, I had lost all of my baby weight and then some, and running felt good, and I remember listening to Royal complain that we were going to fast and could we please slow down some.  To which he got a big fat no, and in turn, he made sure he crossed the finish line before me.  :)  In 2010, we signed up for the race, fought the kids all the way to the start line - Jayden did not want to be there, only to realize that I had a flat tire on the stroller, and we had to pull out at the last minute.  This year the kids and I made sure the stroller tires were fully inflated. With Jayden and Willow's combined weight, plus all the gear we bring along and pick up in freebies at the booths, the stroller weighs a good 100+ pounds, and I need all the air in the tires I can get.  This is, I'm sure, the last year I will be able to get Jayden to ride in the stroller, he is getting a little old and quite big.  Royal had class on Saturday this year so he couldn't come with us, and if I was going to participate I needed to be able to push the munchkins.  I finished this year's race somewhere between 26 and 27 minutes.  It helped to have Jayden in the stroller telling me to "go a little faster", "pass that person up there", "Oh, look, there's our neighbor, catch up to her so I can say hi", "Oh, look, there's another stroller, let's go beat them"

Here we are crossing the finish line.

And here we are with a few of our stroller buddies that we used to go work out with.  (I had made a deal with Jayden that once he started kindergarten I wouldn't make him sit in the stroller in the mornings anymore, however I was secretly hoping he'd get put in morning kindergarten and Willow and I could keep going.  Sadly, he was put in afternoon kindergarten, so no more strollers in motion for me)

Spider

The bugs and insects here never cease to amaze me, and gross me out.  They are always so huge and always seem to be all over the place.  One of the things I like about winter here is the fact there are no bugs around.  They could congregate around our house and yard because we don't spray our house like most people here do, so the bugs and insects find a safe haven around our place from poisonous chemicals.

The kids and I were sitting outside on the front porch when I glanced over to my right and saw this :

and fought back the urge to scream.  I've never seen a spider like this before, so the kids and I sat and stared at it for awhile and I was completely impressed by the zig-zag doing down the middle of the web!  Then we went inside and I googled it to make sure it wasn't poisonous or anything, if it was it would have died.  Well, it would have died when Royal came home.

I found out it is just a black and yellow garden spider and is quite common in the lower half of the 48 states, which would also explain why I never saw one in Washington.  It's a non aggressive spider, but I guess will bite if they feel attacked.  So, the kids and I have decided to adopt the spider and they check on it all the time, but from a bit of a distance.  This spider is most likely a female since it's body is about an inch long and the males don't get that big.  The males have a bit of a tough life.  They roam around looking for a girl and when they find one, they slowly approach their web, but always have a drop line ready in case the female attacks it.  Then once they mate, the male dies, and the female eats it.  Nice.

Swimming Machine

Willow is a swimming machine.  Ever since we put her in lessons at 16 months, she hasn't wanted to stop.  In the summer, we do lessons 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off, and during the 2 weeks off, almost every day, she asks if we are going to the pool.  She knows most of the teachers by name and goes into the pool yelling, 'Hi Victoria!  Hi Jane!  Hi Rachel!  Hi Wanda!' to whoever happens to be out on the pool deck.

Willow is one step away from moving up to Level 3.  She's been able to complete all of the Level 2 skills for quite awhile now, except for one thing, backstroke.  She is suppose to be able to swim across the pool using backstroke, however, what Willow normally does is push off the wall and then coasts on her back.  She is very good at floating on her back and sees no reason to propel herself through the water.  She'd float in the middle of the pool for the whole class if they'd let her.  However, yesterday when I was taking pictures, she did do her backstroke, so I'm guessing if she keeps doing it consistently she'll probably get moved up after the next session.

Swimming across the pool, freestyle

And backstroke.  Ready, Set, Go!

What Willow Wears :: 15

I got Willow dressed 2 different times today.  She promptly went back into her room and put on a pair of pajamas.  Guess it's just that kind of day.  The funny thing was when she found her her Tinkerbell costume.  Royal's mom bought this for her almost 2 years ago, it was on sale, and anybody who knows Royals mom knows that she doesn't pass up a good deal.  It's just been hanging out in her dress up pile waiting for her to notice it and put it on.  Well, today was that day.  And then she was digging around in her sock drawer to find the right pair of socks.  It ended up being a red pair, not the white pair in her hands.  :)

Jayden was pretty funny when he saw Willow wearing her tinkerbell dress.  He said, 'What the heck?  How did you shrink her dress?'  I said, 'I didn't shrink it, Willow grew'.  He said, 'Huh?'

And if Jayden keeps rockin' outfits like this, he's gonna need his own post series...

Pumpkin Paintings

This evening after dinner, while Royal was doing the dishes, I set the kids up outside to create a little art.  I got canvases for them and thought it would be fun to paint some pumpkins to hang on the wall.  I totally didn't expect Willow's to turn out anything like a pumpkin, but I figured Jayden could paint one.  I lightly drew a pumpkin on their canvases, then set the kids loose outside with their easels and acrylic paints.

Jayden loved his pumpkin so much and the color orange, he decided he was going to make a camouflage pumpkin.   I get that, sometimes it's hard to stop painting.

And camouflaged it is!  The finished masterpiece!  "The Camouflaged Pumpkin"

Willow wasn't as concerned about camouflaging her pumpkin, as she was about making sure she used ALL of her paint.  Her canvas has so much paint on it, I'm pretty sure it's going to take about a week to dry.  It's gonna have great texture though!  "The Textured Pumpkin"

I'm totally hanging these up on my wall!

Bench Games

This semester, Royal is working and going to school A. Lot.  He isn't home until 7 on two days of the week, and then he has class for 4-6 hours on Saturday.  The kids are missing him something fierce.  So am I, as I can't and don't wrestle like he does, and they get bored really easily especially when I'm cooking dinner.  For me, tv just isn't an option every day of the week.  There are definitely some days when I need a break and they watch a movie while I'm cooking dinner, but I've found tv makes for cranky and bored and non-creative kids who whine and complain more than usual.

One day last week, while they were sitting in the kitchen area on the window bench, asking for the millionth time if Royal was going to be home soon, I suggested they pull some of the puzzles out of the bench cupboards and put one together.  (and I asked if I could take their picture because they were sitting so nicely next to each other.  this is what they gave me....)

So, they pulled the puzzles out.  But they didn't put any together, they came up with a better game.  Let's see if we can squeeze Willow in one of these cupboards.

And even with a pillow, she still managed to fit in it!

Jayden took the bigger side so he could stretch out.

And then Willow wanted to be in Jayden's cupboard, so since he couldn't really fight her off, she crawled through the door by his feet, up his legs, and then laid her head on his stomach.

And they waited in there for almost a half an hour, waiting for Royal to come home so they could hide from him.  Sadly, it was a day that Royal was in class until late, and they had to come out to eat dinner, but they now have a really great new place to hide when they play hide and seek with Royal!