Tuesday Update #2

Since the last update:

M's started ski lessons

and loved it.


C started her program for the year and also loved it. And decided she wants to do aireals when she grows up, which here you can go and watch from about 2 feet away.

And I started a new job which I think is going to be very good but man is it hard to get up to speed with a new job. So no pictures on that front. I did ski powder this weekend for the first time so we can toss that one up as a milestone, but no pictures were taken because it was snowing so hard that my phone would have gotten soaked if I took it out from my jacket. Ah life in the mountains :)

Back to school

And we're back! Hope everyone had a great summer. We had a fantastic time both here and in New York, and are now ready to get back into the swing of things.

C started 1st grade a week ago and is loving it. Duel immersion is no big deal, she LOVES her french teacher, and is generally happy about the whole setup (minus the fact that the daycare van that transports her to after school care makes her put on a five point harness instead of sitting in a booster - she HATES that).

M started preK on Monday and is also doing great. However we haven't quite figured out the right bedtime/morning routine, so due to some morning grumpy I wasn't able to get a smile on day one.

Don't let the face fool you though - she's still just as sunshiny as ever.


Colts also doing great. Loving the busy days

and the evenings when things slow down :o)

M Happiness

I've been feeling a little bad that about the way that M's actual birthday went down since all her parties were head of time. Luckily, she didn't mind in the least, was TOTALLY psyched to eat left over Halloween candy instead of birthday cake on her birthday, and now that she's four is spreading happiness in new and exciting ways.

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

Happy Birthday dear M

What a magnificent 4 year old you are :o) I'll work on rounding up pictures from someone who took some during a party, but needless to say it's been a fun couple of days.

The state of M v3.9

And then there's M :o)

She loves her preschool and is sucking up everything they teach. Last weekend we were playing with blocked as she counted ten of them in Spanish, before switching back to English and counting all 60. Unassisted. She's still really challenging to understand so I think it's easy to underestimate just how much she knows. And that how much she knows is growing every day. She started speech therapy this week, and seemed to really enjoy the extra attention so we'll see where that goes.

M's doing gymnastics on Saturday mornings and LOVES it, as long as her normal coach is there. If another coach tries to lead warm ups then m's clinging to my legs, crying, and refuses to go in . The girl likes her routines that's for sure.

It's been interested to observe m this week when it comes to the way that the family is coping with the loss of max. She certainly is empathic and gets sad when the rest of us get sad, but it struggling to figure out why we don't solve the problem by getting another dog, like today. If not having a dog is sad, then we should get a new dog! The equation is totally solvable by her logic :) Who knows, the logic might rub off on the rest of us sooner rather than later.

The state of C v6.5

It's been a while since we've done this type of update, so let's do a run down of what the kids are up to.

C is 6 and a half years old, and loving kindergarden. She loves taking the bus in the morning, and wears her snowpants every day even though it's been one of the dryest winters on record. She loves her teacher and friend, and will even occasionally tell us stories about her day. They just did the mid-year testing and C had a composite DIBELS score of 225 (the expected score is 122 for this round). And the handwritten note was "Charlotte is the ideal student. She works hard, gets along with everyone, and enjoys school".

C is now officially obessed with skiing. After dragging her out of bed all week long she wakes up on her own Saturday morning because she knows she's going to get to spend the day on the hill. She's in the top group for her age, and loves her coach Brent. They generally ski blues all day, but will also do a black from time to time. She is officially faster than I am, but will wait if it means that she gets to ski Sunday (with me) in addition to her all day Saturday less. When not skiing herself she wants to be watching skiing - it should be a fun olypmics.

Overall life is pretty good for miss C. Lots of things she gets excited about, though it hits her hard from time to time how much she really misses max :o(

The very first school concert

Actual date - 12/16 (or so)

The kindergarden classes at trailside put on a pretty impressive show this year before break. Included were two hannukah songs, a song in spanish (not feliz navidad), and a song in french. Plus this:

All in all very impressive. AND C had a speaking line:

Who cares if neither Dad nor I had heard of Hildengard or Guido. She still nailed the line. Thank you Jean for filming so Alex and I could just watch and enjoy.

Side note - C's teacher accompanied the performance. She's been teaching forever. She has her own therapy/reading dog that comes in twice a week. And turns out she plays piano. I think we won the kindergarden teacher jack pot :o)

Laced up

So C has been sneakily mastering life skills like crazy lately. Today, she sat down and did this:

Yup. No fuss, no muss, just sat down and tied her shoes. I think I showed her how to do it twice, weeks ago.

Also worth noting, will you check out how short her pants are! And M's in a phase where she must be in every picture :o)

C is 6!

On Wednesday C turned 6.

To say it's been a big month is an understatement. So far she's:

• Settled into being a kindergartner
• Started to take the bus to school
• Transitioned to a 20" bike
• Continued to climb like a monkey
• Figured out how to run hard and love soccer

She's playing soccer on Saturday and Wednesdays now, so got to play on her birthday:

Then come home to a festive dinner with family wrapping with cake and presents. It's good to be 6.

Big first day!

C's off to kindergarden, M's off to Peek. Both are thrilled and I'm amazed at how fast time is flying by (and how little they used to be!)

The littlest golfers

One of the fantastic things about Red Ledges is the golf park. For those unfamilar with the term, it's kind like a golf course, but shorter, far more casual, and designed to be fun and easy to play. As a result, it's WAY more accessible to kids. And we gave it a go this past weekend.

The adults hit from the tee, and then the kids putted along with us. Girls did reasonable well, but I think there must be something about a golf course that brings out TOP volume in C. Man that girl can be loud :o)

Girls dropped out about two thirds of the way in favor of a movie in the AC at Nancy's, but the rest of us finished strong, and had tons of fun doing so.

Thank you Norm and Jean for hosting! First round of golf for the little ones? Check.

C's first Graduation

Friday was a special day for C - graduation from preschool! Much to my surprise, it's a big deal here. But so super cute I can see why.

There were speaches:

Songs:

(Thank you Norm for the videography)

and much cuteness:

Aparently the appropriate way to party after a preschool graduation is to bring in a women with lots of snakes & critters. You could have guessed this would happen:

 Perhaps not this (Alex is holding a turantual there)

And DEFINITELY not this (yes that is me holding a snake and smiling)

1 down, 39 to go

Big night here last night... C came home from school just a touch lighter than we was before.

This week has been one big party at school since the district school year ends on Friday, so apparently they did bobbing for apples during lunch. C went in face first and came out sans tooth. She was off the wall excited.

Biggest parenting win of the whole thing, we convienced c that the tooth fairy that services our house is very shy. So shy that she's too afraid to come close to beds, so the tooth pillow (thanks nana) must be a safe distance away. C picked an awesome ledge in the hallway, which was WAY easier to access during the night then under the pillow would have been. Now to make sure the story sticks for c's 19 other teeth and m's 20 :o)


Side note: My phone had a hardware malfunction earlier in the week (aka bootloop of death) so while I do have a mostly working temp solution, feel free to email if it feels like I'm ignoring some other mode of communication (I probably didn't get it).

M is Three!

Happy happy birthday little one! What a happy time we had celebrating your happy birthday. We had presents...

...cake...

...and lots of good times.

It was a very special day for out amazing little girl.