Another Very Quick Trip

Anna and I took a quick trip to California this past weekend for my stepdad's 80th birthday. Here is Jim with my mom...

...and with little Anna.

We stayed at my sister's house and enjoyed some sunshine and got to visit with lots of family.

My Aunt Helen and Uncle Bob came down from Northern California. We've all always been close with them.

We got to see Baby Max...

...and my nephew Matt and his longtime girlfriend, Lauren.

It take three cakes to hold 80 candles!

Happy Birthday, Jim!

American Girls

American Girl dolls came out when Beth was a little girl. She really wanted one, but they were way too expensive for us at the time. And honestly, I never envisioned that so many people would pay those prices for dolls. Boy was I wrong.

They were still popular when Becky was growing up. We probably could have afforded one then, but we had to be fair. So no doll for her.

Twenty years later we have three American Girl dolls in our house. But...I have not bought a single one. The girls each got Itty Bitty babies from their aunts for their adoptions. And Mia got a regular size one from our neighbors for hers. Mia is just starting to play with it now. She always likes stuffed animals best, but that is starting to change a little bit.

The next county over has some great library programs. A while back we attended the Wizard of Oz sing along. This week we went to an American Girl Halloween Party with a friend.

The girls made a plate of cookies, a napkin, a cupcake and a drink with a straw for their dolls.

They also made masks and bracelets.

At the end of the party they got to have punch and cookies too.

It was a lot of fun!

She Has an Opinion

Anna has really come out of her shell. She will always be introverted, but she is getting really good at telling us what she likes and dislikes these days. It is usually in the form "I don't like fill in the blank" or "I looovvve fill in the blank."

The girls have not been in gymnastics for a few months as they canceled Anna's class. And I took them out of swimming lessons for awhile when Anna had new tubes put in her ears. We have been able to fill those afternoons with plenty of visits to the park. But now that it is getting chilly we have signed up for a new activity. Karate!

Before she went, Anna said over and over, "I don't like karate." She didn't know what it was but she somehow hated it! Right after the first class, she said, "I looovve karate!" Unfortunately, she spent 50% of the class doing whatever she wanted and laughing. Some of the activities were a little too hard for her, even though it's a class for three and four year olds. So she coped by goofing around. Her motor skills are a little behind. We will give it a couple of months and if she doesn't improve we'll have to sit her out until she's a little older. Mia also loved the class and did well.

On the way home from the doctor yesterday I was following the GPS. Anna yelled from the back seat, "I loooovvve continue on the current route." She is too funny!

Museum Free Day

On Sunday I took the girls to free day at the Museum of Nature and Science. It's been a long time since we visited this museum.

The first thing we came upon was a life-size roaming T-rex. Anna was a bit afraid, but Mia wanted to pet it.

Next we headed for for the space exhibit. The girls spent a lot of time playing spaceship in the kids' area.

We bought tickets for a Sesame Street planetarium show and they really enjoyed that.

After that we walked through the gems area. I thought they would like seeing all the crystals but they were not interested at all. So we headed for the Discovery Zone. We spent the rest of our time in here,

putting bodies back together...

digging for fossils...

and putting on puppet shows.

We didn't stay too long as Daddy was coming home from the mountains! On our way out we stopped and heard a little about Australia and listened to some aboriginal music.

When we got home we were very happy to see Daddy after six days away!

Colorado Springs Science Carnival

Dan was out of town for six days last week, including most of the weekend. He was doing this...

My non-animal-loving husband actually enjoyed himself at this leadership class. Who would have thought?

Anyway...I braved two weekend activities alone with the girls. On Saturday we went to the Colorado Springs Science Carnival. I didn't really know what to expect. I read about it on a homeschooling forum. It was free and it was great! I think it will be an annual event for us. The fair was held at UCCS. We went through two buildings and some of the outdoor events. I don't think we even managed to see 1/10th of it.

We learned about weather and made pinwheels. We also saw a demonstration of how a cloud is formed and made liquid tornadoes.

At the next exhibit I lost Anna. Yep. I had a feeling it would happen, so many people everywhere. I was trying to focus on taking a picture of Mia. When I was done Anna was gone. We were in a gym and I knew she couldn't have made it all the way to the door yet so I didn't panic too much. But it was so weird that we couldn't see her anywhere! Finally I heard her call my name! She was laughing. From the stage. Where she was being corralled by some teenagers who were trying to protect their exhibits from her wandering feet. They proceeded to tell me that all of sudden she was just there and that she had almost stepped on a set mouse trap!

Mia LOVED this exhibit. She turned all the pelts over to look at the animals from all directions. She asked a lot of questions. She was so interested. I loved it that she loved it.

Anna got about this far away and that was close enough!

They got to make a tile for a bench that will sit in a park. The bench will be shaped like a fish and the tiles will be the scales.

They made the tiles with some sort of sand mixture and stencil that was later baked. Anna's is the frog and Mia's is the deer (or elk?).

The foundation sponsoring the bench will email us when it is completed so we can go see it.

Some other things we did were making rafts and sailing them on the Colorado river... (Which had lots of holes where water drained out representing all the water being drained from the river nowadays.)

Learn about erosion...

And get airlifted...

Mia was very interested in learning things rather than just playing. Such a difference between three and four years old! Anna was strictly there to play! :)

Can't wait til next year's fair!

Farm Visit

Last Sunday we went to a local farm. It is less than five miles from our house! That is one thing I love about the new city we live in; I hardly ever have to leave it.

We started out with a hay ride!

Then we hit the corn maze. It was much smaller than the one we usually go to every fall.

After that, it was play time! The kids didn't notice that there was a body hanging from the swings. I really don't like that part of Halloween.

And there were some really cute animals to pet and feed.

And then the real reason we were there...

I forgot to take pictures of the two big pumpkins we bought! We only stayed about an hour because it was so hot. It was only 75 degrees, but in the thin Colorado air it feels like 90! And there are no longer afternoon clouds rolling in to cool us off.

But if you don't like the weather, just wait, about five days...

The weather here is so CRAZY!!

Then and Now

You know your daughter is growing up when...

...she can play out in the front yard and stays in the front yard.

...her clothes' size no longer has a t after it.

...her shirts fall of the baby hangers because the neck hole is too large.

...she gets into her carseat and buckles it herself.

...she reminds her mom to look both ways before crossing the street.

...she can read a few small words.

...she can spend hours making crafts and letters for people.

...she has an imagination that is CRAZY!

We loved you then...

and we love you now..

Mia Moo!