Playdate and a visit to the zoo

Next time we will visit the zoo on a less crowded day.

"March of the Penguins"

Still sleeping, or should I say sleeping again.?

"Aff, aff!"

Sleeping Keira. The girl was up almost all of last night.

Lunch Break! It's so much nicer to eat outside!

Lennon watching the Gharial, a kind of alligator.

So today we went to the zoo, which was a zoo! Erik took the day off and we had a wonderful time. The kids did so good, considering it was the last day of Spring Break and the zoo was packed. Navigating a wagon and a stroller was not always easy, but doable. The kids saw their favorite animals: lions, they even had 3 lion cubs, elephants, the stinky rhinoceros, giraffes, crocodiles, snakes and birds and the gorillas. We didn't get to see the tigers as there were way TOO many people hanging out there. We enjoyed lunch, animals that are native to TX and perfect weather. The kids did awesome. None of them cried, threw temper tantrums or complained about anything. You go Doescher brood! Lennon was a riot, pointing at all the animals and crying out "aff, aff" when we saw the giraffes and roaring when he saw the gorillas. He also tried to figure out if he could get any closer than he already was. When we left the zoo, some of the zoo keepers where hanging out at the entrance and let some penguins and a boa constictor named Rosie loose.

Charlotte came over and spend Tuesday and some of Wednesday with us. The two beauties were quite adorable, singing songs outside and posing for the camera. Erik really needs to put up the video that I took of them.

Lennon is 18 months

Lennon officially turned 18 months yesterday.  He likes

to play lego, play with connecting cubes, wrestle Lukas, give Keira kisses; he sleeps in his own big boy bed ( has been for the last 4 weeks), pretty much dropped his naps, but when he does sleep, he can sleep almost anywhere, he loves his soy vanilla milk and asks for milk about 100 times a day, says 'yuck' when Keira gets cereal, still likes to ask for 'more', runs more than he walks, likes to say and watch "Doo Doo" (this translates into Scooby Doo), still likes to roar or 'Tarzan', likes to turn the play/school room upside down with Lukas. He loves being outsides and putting on his 'boos' or shoes. 

He is a joy and a lot of work, but we do love, love, love that kid!

Lennon's Path of Distruction

Not really any comment needed.  We can now talk about "Lennonados" as part of the weather.

Keira Milestone

Just a quick Keira update. Last week, I tried to feed Keira some cereal and as you can see on the left, she did NOT like it. Today, I tried again, and she ate ALL of her cereal, minus what drooled out of her mouth, down her Bumbo seat and onto the table. She enjoyed chewing on the spoon. Oh, and she's rolling pretty much wherever she wants to go. 

Painting with Monet

Just in time when the sunshine came back, our subject in art was landscapes. After we studied a winter landscape by Brueghel last week, we got to look at some of Claude Monet's art. Katharine's goal was to create a painting using tempera paint, markers but N O paintbrushes. She came up with different ways of using her hands and fingers to create a flower garden. Lukas and Lennon joined the fun and each had a little help from me. Lukas LOVED putting paint on his hands to create flowers!  Katharine added soil and a morpho butterfly.

Winding down...

At least, that is what they should be doing right before bedtime.

Sunshine

The first week of March brought us gorgeous days and the kids got to go outside all the time and the days ended with those beautiful Texas sunsets. The second week we got to experience a temperature drop of 40 degrees and lots of much needed rain. Here are some pictures of the kids playing outside. 

Nappers and King Tut

Keira the good napper.

Lennon the not so good napper. But this picture shows that he will sleep just about anywhere. Even on an octopus. I should mention that he pretty much dropped his naps, so when he does nap, it is a rare occasion.

A week ago Katharine and I went to the King Tut exhibit at the DMA (Dallas Museum of Art). We had a wonderful time, just us big girls and we learnt a lot. After we looked at rooms full of artifacts, we went to the shop. Katharine made sure that we bought something for the boys, too. Lukas got a small mummy embalmed in silly putty in a coffin, Lennon got a King Tut baseball, Katharine picked out an Ankh necklace and a mummy for herself and a very nice book about the "Golden Age of Tutankhamun" for everybody to share. She has been reading in it already. After the museum we went spending Katharine's birthday and some chore money at the American Girl Doll store. We were done in about 30 minutes. Katharine was way more excited about King Tut. That's our girl, always eager and willing to learn. King Tut has ruled our house the last week and another book was acquired during a visit to Barnes and Nobles, along with a tractor book and a dinosaur book.

Flashback: March 5, 2004

The temperature has been in the 70's all week, and it wasn't much different five years ago. Nothing really changes in Texas, except perhaps for Katharine's hair styles.

Reading and Easter Eggs

The one on the left is Lukas egg. He put a lot of thought in it. Katharine's is, as always perfectly laid out.

Today I am seriously bragging about Katharine's reading. It seems like we now have our very own little "Belle" in the house. Katharine has her nose in a book constantly. She reads just about anything she can get her hands on and has moved from Kindergarten level books to 1st grade and beyond.  Here is a sample of what she reads (on her own or with one of us):

anything by Dr. Seuss (including the back of the book)

the bible

Wizard of Oz series

Thomas Cleckler's K12 1st grade books

Eloise

The Golden Egg

the children's atlas

The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe

Fairytopia

any other Barbie books

princess books

Tinkerbell fairy books

Funny Elizabeth (American Girl Doll series)

Animals in Winter

African Folk Tales

Strawberry Shortcake

My Little Pony books

the back of milk cartons

and anything else she can get her eyes and hands on

It is so exciting to see her reading and I am so happy that she enjoys it so much!

On another note, we had "Revisit A Favorite Story" time in language arts today and Katharine picked "The Golden Egg", very appropriate for the season. I had the kids decorate construction paper easter eggs. Even Lennon "decorated" one.

Shoes and Crackers

So, one of our favorite snacks are graham crackers. This time, however, Lukas decided to take it to a different level. He started by breaking the cracker into 2 equal pieces, then another 2 and so on which led to him creating a graham cracker snowman. In school we red "The Shoemaker and the Elves" by the brothers Grimm and decided to alter the lesson slightly to make it more fun and give Lukas a chance to get involved, too. So we made shoe collages which Lukas enjoyed a lot (his is on the right) and Katharine made sure all the shoes were cut out just right. 

Today's art lesson

"Still life"



"Black snake"

Katharine had to paint a still life for her art lesson today. She took a few color liberties when painting the "rainbow table", but all for the better as far as I am concerned.

Lukas painted a black snake for Lennon. I'm sure that Lennon must have let out one of his small growls when he saw it before toddling off to find the next ball that he can throw at Lukas and Keira (or book that he can bring to Iria).