We played at the tide pools (Bella even went swimming in her new mermaid costume from Tracie) made new fun memories at the park (where Roy followed in Luke's footprints and put dog poop in his mouth, so gross!). Enjoyed spending time with our friends the Syeds (Tracie is the best!). Got some raw goats milk and liked it. We saw the Hanson and had lots of fun with Rachelle and her sweet kids. Tori is still Luke's favorite friend that's a girl. Till next time good bye beach
James left for a 11 day work trip to Durban South Africa today. I don't usually get emotional when he leaves but I was and am today. I am not sure if its because he has been gone so much recently or if its because he will be so far away. Either way I hope he has a fun, successful, safe trip and look forward to his return. Love you James. Here he is heading to the airport.
The first night we were here we went down to the tide pools. We we crabs and Bella found a starfish.
We went trick or treating with the Syed family. Lots of fun and too much candy. By the end of the night Royce and Bella were asleep in the Stroller and Luke was tired but still eager for more candy. Bella was Ariel, Luke was Darth Vador and Royce was a gorilla. Luke funny quote: we were walking up a hill and Luke says " man this trick or treating is going to hurt my back". Luke was also did a good job gathering candy for Royce.
Sorry the pictures were the best I got.
Yesterday James was able to be with us and it was a wonderful day. We went for a walk swang and chased waves in the morning. In the afternoon we went to the beach and had it pretty much to ourselves. We boogie boarded, played frisby, watched Royce eat sand and seaweed and just had fun and relaxed. We ended the day with dinner watching the sunset from the condo. It was a day to remember and I am grateful for it.
Todays science project was to get paper towels draw dots on it with water soluable markers and then use your finger to put water on the dots. The color would bleed . The kids loved it and it led to a discussion about mixing colors to make other colors.
Luke found this costume at the local thrift store and just had to b a "robot" lol. He now know who darth variety is and about Star War which he is eagerly awaiting watching. (we told him we would talk about him watching it when he isn't scared by Beauty and the Beast) lol.
Royce and I flew out to Ut last week and James and the kids followed in the Echo and got here last weekend. We came out for the grand arrival of my sister Heather's 6st child little Wesson. It has been a fun trip with lots of family fun. Now we r heading to the condo in San Clemente for a couple weeks. James will traveling most the time we r there including a trip to South Africa but me and the kids will enjoy the fall beach.
Happy birthday dear daddy! We started it off with going on a nice date to Olive Garden last night. This morning James had to work so the kids and I took advantage of the time and made stuffed shells, birthday cards with hand drawn pictures of our favorite things to do with daddy (Lukes was swinging and going to church, Bellas was having a mermaid tail???.) Then the kids helped me decorate his birthday cake, complete with 30 candle. We love u dear daddy!
Bella asked if she could try on my "princess dress" (my wedding dress) today. They thought of having a fun bonding moment with my girl prompted me to go up in the attic and get it down. It was huge on her but that didn't deter her massive grin the whole time she had it on.
Luke had his 5 year old checkup today. Here are his stats. He is 46in tall (93%) and 58lbs (100%). Developementally he is doing great. He is reading simple books, doing simple math, can swim and ride his bike. He LOVES playing with other kid and knows how to share. He has a great imagination and is constantly wanting stories to be read or told to to him. He recently made a little book during school and today he confidently announced to the Dr. that he is an "author". He is a great helper especially with Royce who he adores. Sometimes I see him in the back seat of the car just playing games or talking to him. In his baby blessing James talked about him being a leader which he truely is especially with his siblings. Him and Bella are best friends. He loves to wrestle, swim and ride his bike. He has so much love and so much energy, sometimes its hard to keep up with. He is very loyal and loves his family especially his Grandmas and cousins. He is a good kid!
We went in for Royce's 6 month checkup today and since he is already 8 months they did the 9 month one while we were there too. Here are his stats based off of 9 months old. Height 30in (97%) weight 21.15 (80%) head 18in (80%). He is a very active child, his eyes are always going, he is speed crawling around the house getting into anything and everything he can, some of his favorites are garbage cans and paper eating. He loves food! The other day for lunch her had a full nursing ate 1 large banana and half a cup of baby cereal. He is still incredibly cheerful he is always happy and just a joy to be around. He crawls to you and sits at your feet when he wants to be picked up. Responds to his name and will come to you if you say come here, he fully understands the meaning of the word milk and gets very excited of you ask him if he wants some. He can say mama and dada in the correct context, he also says bab and minimal a lot but I'm not sure if he know what that means. He is pulling himself up all over the place. One of his favorite things to do is play with Luke and follow him all over the house which Luke loves and initiates often. He has a total of 6 teeth. He is a snuggler and is sweeter and more precious to than words can explain. We thank heaven for him being part of our family.
James taught Luke to ride his bike today with no training wheels. We had bought Bella a bike a few weeks ago and we put Lukes old training wheels on it. At first Luke was really upset aboiut the situation but now he is loving it.
We went to the state fair this morning. James took a half day and came with us. The highlights were the 1200 lb pig and free ice cream. Fyi On Wed if you take 3 cans of food you get in for 2 dollars. They also had a fun kid zone where you get to pretend to be farmers and a cool show with dogs doing tricks and of course you can't leave without checking out the live stock. It was so much fun we are planning
On going again next year.
Bella had her first day of preschool away from our home today. We are doing another coop with two other moms this year. It was so fun seeing her be confident and excited about having her own "thing". Her and Luke do everything together and are best friends which is so wonderful! but because of that Bella depends a lot on Luke sometimes in social settings so it great for her to be able to have this experience on her own. Luke was feeling left out at first since he loved doing preschool last year but that quickly changed when he saw how much fun and special it is to spend time with just mommy (and Royce) the brownies i made him also helped him.
I haven't posted much on homeschooling because to be honest things have just been going so fast lately I have barely had time to sit and think about it. I know we made the right choice for our family and for Luke and I also know that its not the right choice for everyone. Luke was a little resentful at first because all his closest friends started kindergarten this year and he thought they were going off to an all day playdate. We quickly clarified this when we had a pretend kindergarten at home where he sat at the kitchen table and had to pretend he was in real school and when I gently explained that going on work trips with daddy would be out of the picture he quickly announced he liked homeschool but he since argues that he is not a real kindergartener because he is homeschooled. Things have been good, we have had some ups and down but they are starting to level off as we get in the swing of things. I know I have said this before but I have and will still have to learn not to expect so much out of Luke. I sometime expect perfection and have to take two steps back and realize he is only 5, luckily (and unluckily for Luke) Bella and Royce benefit from these experiences. Right now our schedules are like this.
We have A days and B day and Fridays are early out day so we stop lessons after handwriting.
A day
