The Last Days of Summer

Labor Day is fast approaching; and even though the temperature won’t feel like Autumn for another few months, it still feels like Summer is winding down.

On Sunday we walked over (twice!) to the brand new splash park near our house, and got some fun times in before they shut the water off for the year. We’ll be visiting there a lot more next summer.

Reader's Choice

Today was Reader's Choice day in language arts. It is always a good opportunity during school hours to sit down on one of the area rugs in the play/school room with everybody and enjoy a story or book together. We started reading "Sunset of the Sabertooth" from the Magic Tree House series which we read half way through and I am sure Katharine will finish it tonight before she has to turn the lights off to go to sleep.

As part of our discussion we looked up cave paintings from the times of the Cro Magnons. Katharine's assignment was then to draw a sabertooth tiger using black, yellow and red only, just like in the cave paintings. Lukas and Lennon needed a little help from me (and no, I am NOT Erik, but I did my best trying to draw two tigers at the same time) and decided to add a few more colors.

Schultuete

When children in Germany set off for their first day in school upon entering first grade, their parents and/or grandparents present them with a “schultuete” (a big cardboard cone, prettily decorated and filled with toys, candy, school supplies, and various other goodies). It is given to children to make this anxiously awaited first day of school a little bit sweeter. So congratulations, Katharine!

We got one for Lukas as well. Sometimes he will follow along with Katharine's lessons... so that almost counts.

Lennon got a Pez Dispenser and lollipop, and that was ok by him. And yes, that is him wearing training pants. He actually likes to walk over and sit on the potty, but I have yet to see him use it. We're going to give it a try and see how it goes now that school has started. Heck, I'll buy the kid a dozen schultuete's if he can start working that one out.

Spaghetti Dinner

We had a spaghetti dinner tonight, which always brings a little more personality to the table than some other foods.

This is a favorite of Katharine's, as you can tell.

Lukas still prefers to eat his meals with this fingers rather than his fork. We're working on that one...

Most of Lennon's food still ends up on the floor.

And Keira manages to get more food on her face than she does her mouth. She is always messy, but it does make for some great photo-ops.

Ninja Katharine

Had a fun day swimming with Maya and Jeramy at the new Frisco Aquatic Center (best outdoor pool yet), but I didn't break out the camera until Katharine came downstairs in the "ninja" outfit that she created out of her silkies. We have gotten so much mileage out of these few pieces of fabric that can transform the children into superheroes, princesses, aliens, nijas, etc.

Take that, Disney Store!

Women of Faith

Kara and I were taking pictures at the same time- of course she used her iphone:)

We enjoyed breakfast at Denny's before we headed to the Women of Faith conference.

Allison found her doppelgaenger: Stephanie, not in looks, but in almost every other way.

Kara and her sister Mika: notice the iphone is never far away!

I think Kandice was about to call Stephen to wish him "Happy Birthday."

The best part of the conference was listening and watching Mandisa perform. I could have done that all day instead of listening to some of the talks. She ROCKED!

Sidewalk Art etc...

So,...here you can see the child that "hates" dance. With the new school year having officially started, some of our kids are doing new activities. Lukas has started "Showstompers" at Sheena's Dance Academy. I take him on Tuesdays and Thursdays, drop him off with Ms. Karissa and Ms. Dawn with whom he gets to spend 2 1/2 hours in the mornings on those days. They don't only teach him dance (tap and ballet), but also a little bit of tumbling, they do story time, arts and crafts and, most importantly SNACK time with the kids. Lukas likes both teachers and this time he is NOT the only boy in class! So far he has been very proud of what he has learned and of his stickers.

Lennon is disappointed that he can't go with Lukas. He's still too young and not potty trained.

Here Lukas is showing off some of the moves he has learned. Katharine has started her FIFTH year of dance. This year she is taking advanced ballet, tap and she added on musical theater. That class should be right up her alley!

I took the kids out last night to wait for Erik to come back home from work. We took our big and brand new bucket of sidewalk chalk with us and promptly set to work:

Lukas told me that this was a drawing of the Teen Titans.

Katharine drew a mountain landscape with a sunset in the background.

Keira pretty much stuck to eating the chalk.

I drew some mountains, too, but Lukas decided to add on a greenish blueish sky-he colored two-handed and put a lot of effort into it.

Katharine in front of her landscape.

Erik and the boys worked on a shark, in Lukas' favorite color scheme of the night.

Still using the same blue and green.

Between eating chalk, Keira ventured off into the garage.

Katharine also drew two dragons.

And yes, his hands, feet and jamies were blue and green, too. Everybody was lucky and got to hop in the tub a second time. Hooray for baths!

I don't have a clue what the conversation was about, but it looks important.