Saturday Morning with Daddy

Iria is attending the "Women of Faith" conference today, so I'm watching all of the kids.

Katharine has been taking piano lessons, and Iria says that she is starting to practice by herself for the first time. It's nice to be the first born- in addition to the piano lessons she has swim lessons, choir, and around 4 or 5 dance classes every week.

Kassidy loves the piano as much as Katharine does.

Iria sneaked out when Kassidy was preoccupied. 

It was a success- no "Mommy is leaving" meltdown today!

In the grand tradition of my youth, Saturday mornings mean "Saturday morning TV".

The kids are excited!

Kassidy joined me in the studio for some drawing.

Unfortunately, her favorite crayon is the white one. I hope that doesn't lead to any long term frustrations.

I worked on some level design for Gearbox- using crayons of course!

The color book was popular today- I read it to both Keira and Lennon.

Kassidy went on to slowly finish off her breakfast waffle. 

She likes to takes her time when eating...

She also likes to climb all over chairs and sneak around the kitchen. 

I need to keep a close eye on her when she is in there.

Katharine and I worked on the bunk bed project that we planned out last week. She wanted to convert the two single beds that came with her doll house into one bunk bed. So I dusted off the drill and grabbed a serrated knife for the saw, and got to work. The first version came out a bit too tall, but we re-measured and succeeded on the second try.

Charlotte then came over and helped Katharine move it up to the doll house. You can always tell who your true friends are when you need to move furniture...

Back downstairs Keira was doing some dual-TV action, which means that she must have found the iPad lying around somewhere.

It was snack time, and as you can see we have quite a diverse range of tastes.

Lennon = waffle

Keira = spicy chips

Lukas = apple slices

Kassidy then went down for her nap, snacking on a fresh bottle of milk.

The kids got crafty downstairs, and did some "face painting" on their arms (I guess that is a tattoo).

We had pizza for lunch- two pies just about covered it.

The girls then went on to the computer to look at the 'American Girl' website- Katharine is writing a short story for them that she will enter in a contest.

Kaira sneaked off with the iPad, and decided to wear my shoes for a change (I don't have nice purple ones like mommy).

And as I was snapping away, I finally solved the mystery  about why the paint had rubbed off the top left edge of my glasses. That is where the camera rubs up against them. I guess I take a lot of pictures...

Lastly, Iria texted me with a message for Katharine:

She loves you too!

Bottle Bubble Bobble Heads

I left my new case of Perrier water in the front seat for one afternoon, and they all expanded like balloons.

The kids quickly turned them into a game of "bottle family". 

A quick glance at the 10 day forecast shows some relief in sight by next Saturday, where the temperature might dip down to 99 for a day or two. We just had our 60th day of 100 degree temperatures, and are closing fast on the record of 69 (set in 1980). 

Art Class

Katharine and Lukas are already a few weeks into home schooling, and the cool art projects are starting to come in.

Katharine drew this map freehand (looking at a printed map for reference). I was really impressed by how well she got the scale and shape of the geography. Tomorrow she is going to draw in all the borders of the countries...

 Lukas drew himself in our house, using different lines and shapes.

Lennon created his own version as well.

Lastly, when I was scanning the art I caught sight of this small doodle of a giraffe that Katharine drew on the back of her map.

Sunday Morning

Fun and Creativity with Markers

After making a crown in school and coloring it with markers, some of the kids went to the extreme:












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The sky is falling!

We awoke to the sound of rain showers this morning, which we haven't seen all summer. Just recently our 40 day streak of 100+ degree weather also came to an end.

Could this be the break in the weather that we have been waiting for?

I quickly looked up the 10-day weather forecast for Mckinney

Today (isolated t-storms), high of 90 degrees

sounds good...

Sunday (partly cloudy), high of 104 degrees

Monday (partly cloudy), high of 105 degrees

Tuesday (partly cloudy), high of 104 degrees

Wednesday (sunny), high of 103 degrees

Thursday (partly cloudy), high of 104 degrees

Friday (mostly sunny), high of 103 degrees

Saturday (partly cloudy), high of 103 degrees

Sunday (mostly sunny), high of 103 degrees

Monday (sunny), high of 103 degrees

sigh...

More Showstomper Pictures

I used a blurring effect to make this picture a bit artsy

with Ms. Jenny

and some of the other Showstompers

Keira and Lennon had a very good time this summer at dance. It was great to see that Keira came out of her shell and participated in something with other kids that had a kind of classroom setting and was not just 45 min long. She loved doing crafts, partying, making new friends, hanging with her big brother and dancing.

Lennon eventually got over the fact that he did NOT get to go to dance camp with Katharine and Lukas. I am proud of both of my boys for enjoying something "girly."

Kassidy at 15 Months

A few of her favorite things are:

1. Mama

2. Mama

3. Mama

being carried around, hugging, music, roaming around at the dance studio, strawberries, dumping out the cat water, snuggling, climbing (especially on the desk where the computers are).

One of my favorite things to do with her is to put her to bed at night. Holding her real tight in my arms carries me to a place of respite, deep content and happiness.

...and now I am about to run out of battery power on my computer...


I took Kassidy to her 15 month check up yesterday. She is 15 months to the day today and she is growing too fast. It is bittersweet for me to see my sweet little sunshine grow into her own little person.

Kassidy now weighs 24 pounds even, which puts her into the 69th percentile for weight and she is 32 and 3/4 inches tall. Since her one year visit she has grown almost 3 inches! Wow! With that height she falls into the 87th percentile.

She still is not walking by herself, but she does very well holding on to furniture and somebody's hands.

Every now and then she lets go to stand all by herself. She communicates through gestures and a few very simple words like mama and dada. Everybody still calls her "Eedee", which is how Keira sounds out her name.

She is all smiles most of the time and a favorite with a lot of people.

Showstompers Showcase

Today was the last day of the summer showstompers program at Sheena's. Because the kids begged, the teachers let them have a little recital. Here are a few pictures Lukas took of Keira and Lennon doing a jazz dance.
Katharine video taped and I took more pictures with Erik's camera, so there is more to come. Kassidy was mesmerized and watched everything.
















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It's one of those rare occasions where Keira naps. The good news of the day is that she didn't have to get the stye removed. The pediatric ophthalmologist we saw TODAY, not Monday, thinks it will drain in the next couple of days. He gave us stronger eyedrops instead. She will only have to go back if a little bump remains on her lower lid or if it it doesn't return to regular color.

The big kids are excited over the 10 drops of rain and temperatures in the high 80s! It's a cool day in Texas!




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Early Curl

Just noticed a small curl beginning to poke through Kassidy's still straight and short baby hair.

Bubbles

Here is a drawing that Keira created today. 

Katharine asked her if she was drawing bubbles and Keira said yes... so there you go.

"Bubbles"

This next drawing will remain untitled, until one of us asks her what it is. 

My best guess is that it involves family members, since anytime you see a line or two darting out of a circle it usually represents a person.

"untitled"

Case in point- this is a portrait of Jeramy that she drew when he came over last weekend.

"Jeramy"

Tomorrow afternoon (Monday), Keira has to go into the doctor to get a stye on her eyelid lanced. When a procedure makes me wince, I can't imagine how a toddler is going to take it.

Learning Survival Skills

This week the kids all got to experience what to do in case they ever go overboard:




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