How to be a Princess...

I couldn't be any happier with the way both Luke and Ava treat their baby sister.  Sydney has been so
cranky lately and the kids have been so good to her despite her 1 year old tantrums, loud cries and head banging!  This morning Ava was giving her lessons on how to be a princess.

More about Luke's First Day at Sorenson...

I couldn't be happier about the way today went with Luke at his new school.  He is a boy of very few words when it comes to giving me details about his day but his actions speak louder than words.  I can tell when something left a good impression on Luke when he comes home and recreates it.  All day long he played "school" with Ava where he was the teacher and she was the student.  He gave her the same snack he had today at school and they reenacted the same activities that he did while he was there. I know this because I got little love notes in his Steno notebook telling me about what they did today, what I should ask him about, etc.  Complete with how well he cooperated and responded to everything they did.  Tonight, right before bed he told me that he is so happy and he just kept repeating it.  He couldn't find the words to tell me why but I have got to believe it has something to do with how his new school made him feel today. It's amazing what a little bit of confidence will do for someone no matter what age he or she is! 

Leavenworth, WA ~ Oktoberfest 2011

We went with our good friends, The Shearer's to Leavenworth, WA and had a great time.  We celebrated Jonathan's Bday and Oktoberfest!  The cabin we rented had a beautiful view of Lake Wenatchee!  The kids did great the day of Oktoberfest.  We were there for about 5 hours and little Sydney did not even take a nap for the day!  We will definitely head back there next year!

Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

This year I was lucky enough to get a sitter so I could take Luke and Ava on their preschool fieldtrip.  We went to the Farm at Swan's Trail and it was a PERFECT fall day.  The sun was shining and a couple hours into it, it even was warm enough for ther kids to take off their jackets.  We took a tractor ride out to the pumpkin patch where Luke and Ava picked out three pumpkins each... 3 were white, 3 were orange. Next they went through a hay maze and at the end of it, went down a long wavy slide.  After that they got to play in a huge corn pit, go down even more slides and ride some saddle swings.  They had a real duck race in a long lap pool type thing that was hilarious and a pig show.  They ended out the day with some orange dreamsicles. It was an awesome fieldtrip!

Halloween Crafts

We have been working on so many little projects and baking so much the past couple weeks that I have not had much time to update the blog.  The kids are having so much fun preparing for Halloween.  This weekend we made potato head pumpkins with Daddy and Luke and I made a tea light candle holder from a glass jar.  We got the idea from the teachers in his old class.  He was obsessed with the candle for days... I can't even count how many tea lights we went through.  We also made a countdown chain out of construction paper and wrote each day on a link so Luke and Ava would have a better idea how long they have to wait until Halloween.  We made googly eyes pumpkins and hung them on knobs with pipe cleaners in Luke's room. 

Luke's First Time on the School Bus!

I was a little sad but mostly excited for Luke this morning as we walked onto his fist school bus.  He was accepted into Sorenson, a special school to help him with his shyness and speech.  We feel so lucky to have him going there, it is an amazing program for kiddos!  Anyway, today was his first day on the bus and he did so well!  Ava was so sad when he drove off.  All of us were there to support him in this big step! 

15 month Well Child Visit

Baby Sydney had her 15 month check up. Her stats are as follows... Height is 31 1/4" (75th%) and weight is 22lbs. 4 oz (40th%).  Her head circumference is in the 40th%.  She is still a healthy happy baby.  Maybe I should start calling her a toddler.... nah... I think we will ALL always call her Baby since she is the baby of the family.  The doctor said that some kiddos have seperation anxiety for up to 2 years, so it is normal that she does not want to be without me. She does like to bang her head on the ground a lot when she is upset and the doctor also reassured me that this behavior is common as well.  She says "Hi" and tries to mimic most of the things I say.  She is good at starting the sound of a word.  She smiles a lot and is difinitely a Mama's girl. She obeys when she is told "no" but definitely does not like it.  I think she is going to be our little drama queen :)

At this point she is not walking.  She started cruing a few weeks ago so it shouldn't be too much longer that she will start walking.  She can stand and balance for about 10-15 seconds at a time.

Harvest Festival 2011

We had a great day at the Harvest Festival at Country Village this weekend and the sun was shining!!!  Every year the kids get more and more into the holidays!  They can not wait for Halloween and are loving all of the decorations I put around the house!  At the Harvest Festival, they painted pumpkins and visited with our friends!  When we got home, we decorated some homemade shortbread cookies like pumpkins. 

Fashionista

Because we were having some disagreements in the morning regarding attire... I decided to pick out an outfit with Ava at bedtime....mainly because she was in a more stable mood.  Now every morning when she wakes up, she grabs her already selected outfit and brings it down with her first thing, requesting to be dressed right away.  I think it is funny how gender specific this behavior is.  Luke is 4 1/2 and still does not care what I put him in.  I don't know which I like better.  She also likes to choose whetther or not she has pigtails,  a ponytail, 1 braid, 2 braids or hair down.... and she always needs a bow.  I trained her well ;)

Here comes trouble....

Today Steve called her a "wild card."  That is probably because one minute she looks like Steve, thenext, like me and the next, like no one in our family.  Her personality is as much as a wild card, as well.  She is super sweet but may also be a drama queen.  I do wonder (and sometimes worry ;) {wink}) what she is going to turn out like :)  We love our little baby of the family so much.  The looks she gives us are certainly hilarious!

Ava's Big Girl Bike

Grammy and Pop Pop bought a new bike for Ava.  Really, it is her first real bike.  We went to Toys R Us and she picked the one that she liked riding the best.  She loves all of the fairy sounds the bike makes and all of the flowers on it.