Friday, September 9, 2011

This week' art

At Showstompers Keira and Lennon made doves and vases of flowers:




Lukas had to draw a nature scene inspired by Japanese artist Ando Hiroshige, using different lines. This is what he came up with: four Ninjas at a wooden gate on Mt. Fuji.



Katharine learned about Charles Wilson Peale and her subject was a detailed drawing of a butterfly:



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Thursday, September 8, 2011

Flag-football and the Hundred Acre Woods

Tonight was another practice night. Lukas had his act together and was the only one that listened. He also won the race at the end of practice. Go Lukas! Meanwhile on the sidelines Keira and Lennon climbed trees in the Hundred Acre Woods, sat next to Tigger, bounced around with Kanga and Roo and slept next to Owl. They took a spin on Saturn, stood on the sun and the moon, rode on shooting stars and threw a tree up into space. They then went to catch a bunch of monkeys, a bear, shark, goldfish, a dolphin and some manatees to bring them back to the Hundred Acre Woods. It's amazing to see what you can do with two blankets and a sidewalk when you're almost three and four years old.


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Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Superheroes


Captain America



and Spiderman after a long day of superhero duty.


As you can see, the Halloween costumes arrived today.

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Monday, September 5, 2011

We Stand Strong and Stick Together

Katharine wrote a story for an 'American Girl' writing contest last week. 

We are really proud of the fact that she was able to write, finish, and submit a story. She has written a lot of small stories in the past, but never anything this long.

Hopefully this is the first of many more written works to come.


-------------------------------------------------------------------

We Stand Strong and Stick Together

1

You wouldn’t think two girls who were so different could become such good friends, but that’s what happened on the day of the big hoop race.

“You can’t catch me!” called Trinity, as she ran past the Pantheon, pushing her hoop. One more day to the big race, she thought. Just then she felt something on her.

Oh no! Trinity stopped running.

“Rain!” whispered Trinity to herself “Luckily it is just a practice race”. The rain was pit-pattering on the street.

“Let’s go!” said Trinity to a dry, waiting player. Suddenly the two girls were wet.

 “Good luck” said the girl. “Good luck to you” said Trinity.

“GO!!!” shouted the audience.

Trinity ran as fast as she could. The rain fell harder. Trinity noticed that she was almost at the finish line- her heart was thumping, almost –

“Ahhhh!”

Trinity ran back to see what was wrong. It was one of the girls at the starting line. She was hurt. Trinity helped her up. Her face was pale, and she looked like she was dead.

“Hello?” Trinity whispered.

This was the scariest day in her life. Trinity put her hand onto the girl’s chest. Full of relief, she put her hand down. She’s breathing, thought Trinity.

 “Hello?”

Trinity jumped. “Who are you?” Trinity asked.

“I am Maya, who are you?” she asked.

“Trinity”

“That is a pretty name” said Maya. “Thank you” replied Trinity.

“Where are you from?” asked Trinity.

“Greece” said Maya.

“Why are you here?” asked Trinity.

“Oh, I came here to visit my grandparents.” said Maya.

“It’s getting dark,” she said, “come on”.  The two girls picked up their hoops, and walked through the stormy night.

2

“Wake up sleepy head!”

Trinity opened her eyes. Maya was right in front of her.

“What are you doing here!? I thought you were at your Grandmother’s house” said Trinity.

“Oh I just dropped by to wake you up!” said Maya.

Eventually, Trinity woke up and the two girls ate breakfast and set out for chores. Then they practiced hoop racing around the town square. Once they got home, they sorted out the letters that Maya’s Grandma gave to her.

“Oooo, this one is from Greece!” said Trinity.

“Oh, so it is!” said Maya, as she got hold of the letter:

Dear Maya,
We hope that you have settled in with your Grandmother. We miss you and hope to see you soon.
Love,
Mom and Dad

“Aww, that’s so nice of them” said Trinity.

“Thanks” Maya replied.

 “Oh my gosh!” said Trinity.

“The hoop race is today!” said Maya.

The girls ran to the games fair.

“Hi!” said the players. “Hi!” replied the girls.

Outside the players heard the people shouting, and the kids screaming. The players walked out and the crowd cheered. It was a sunny and windy day. “Perfect” said Trinity.

The girls got ready.

“Good luck” said Trinity. “Good luck to you” said Maya, grinning.

“GO!!!” shouted the people. The players ran faster than they thought they could, and the girls were almost to the finish line. Trinity was falling behind and getting nervous.  Suddenly she felt something- but this time it was not rain.

It was Maya.

“Let’s do it together!” she said.

“Yeah” answered Trinity.

The two girls held hands and rolled their hoops to the finish line.

 “We won!”, said Maya, out of breath.

There was silence.

“Maya!”

There was a voice.

“Mom and Dad?”

“Time to go home” said her parents.

“Ok” said Maya.

“I’ll never forget you” Maya said. “Me too” said Trinity.

The girls hugged each other and finally departed.

Trinity realized that with a good friend to help you, a person can complete any task.

The End

Fall Today, Gone Tomorrow

The thermometer will top out at 81 degrees today, and we woke up to temperatures in the 50's. The kids are running around exclaiming "It's Fall!", but the ten day forecast has us creeping back up into the 90's by the weekend.

Enjoy it while you can, kids!








Saturday, September 3, 2011

Nighttime Stories





Names

Keira and I were writing all of our names out this afternoon. She loves names, and likes to say if someone is a boy or a girl now as well.



Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Lukas wobbly finally fell out! At Nordstrom's, haha.




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Sunday, August 28, 2011

By Request

My mom asked for an updated portrait of Kassidy for the fridge.


Saturday, August 27, 2011

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!