Zoo

We took a field trip to the Richmond Zoo with our friends The Shays. Mikie was on a steroid for his asthma which made this day "real fun!" At least Zachary enjoyed himself and even got to feed the giraffes. In the picture above, he is pointing out the word ZOO (one of the first words he learned to read).

Persephone

I've wanted a Persian cat (the cute kind with long hair and a smooshed face) ever since I saw the beautiful cat on the Fancy Feast commercial. While searching for the perfect kitten online, I was drawn to the "pointed Himalayan." The ones that are all white or cream with tips of color on their ears, paws, and tail. And then, I discovered a breed that they call "teacup kittens" and "minis." Teacups only grow to be 4 pounds or less and Mini's are between 4-6 pounds. The waiting list for these types of kittens fill up fast (in fact, while the mother is pregnant before the kittens are even born!) So I was thrilled, when I found this little 9 week kitten that was still available. She's a "blue cream point Himalayan Persian mini" and she was in Palm Springs, CA. The more I learned about this kitten, the more I wanted her. Luckily, I have a husband who can't say no to me and allowed me to fly all the way to CA to get her as my early Christmas present!

Here's my baby girl when I picked her up at the Palm Springs airport at 11 weeks: We named her Persephone, but the boys call her "baby girl" most of the time.

The boys woke up and welcomed our new kitten by giving her a tour of our house and their toys.

She brings such happiness to our family, especially to sick little boys.

Her eyes really don't look like this. She's much cuter in person!

She's a perfect fit for our family and has stolen all our hearts!

Clubber of the Month & cute sayings

Mikie earned "Clubber of the Month" in his Sparks Awana's class. He was slightly excited: I have so many cute sayings that Mikie said when he was 4 years old, but just never got around to posting them. Now's a good time:

When he tasted a homemade pizza that I had made he said, "The sauce tastes like germs!" 8/31/09

While discussing bodily functions, I said "everyone poops" to which he replies "Except for God. He doesn't poop!" 9/30/09

When he had a head cold and couldn't breathe out of his nose correctly he said, "Something is wrong with one of my noses." 9/30/09

I don't remember the story behind this one, but it's still funny: "I think that's why my pants cracked." 10/1/09

When he wanted us to remember something he would say "rememberize, Mommy...."

A random thought I heard from the backseat "Some people eat dogs."

While listening to Christmas music, he had a revelation: "Rudolph had a shiny nose. Is he dead? Did his nose catch on fire?" 12/4/09

When we tucked him into bed on his last night of being 4, he must have remembered our earlier conversation about his birth being at 2:26 am, because he said "I'll be five before I wake up!" 1/20/10

The reason he gave for not eating his slightly burnt grilled cheese: "It's all old and rusty!" 11/30/10

Z-A-C-H-A-R-Y

Zachary and I are involved in a preschool co-op with 5 other moms and their children. We take turns once a week teaching phonics and a lesson usually based on a letter or a book. Zachary learned the letters and sounds a lot more quickly than I thought he would. We started the co-op in April and on October 18th, he read his first book. God has truly gifted my child with the ability to sound out words!

Here's a video from MAY when he was trying to spell his colors:

And another video from MAY when he counted his numbers on a dot to dot with Boagie:

And to see how much he's changed in 6 months, watch this video of him sounding out rhyming words on a worksheet in October:

Below are some pictures from our co-op back in May.

When I taught about the letter "F" the kids listened to "There was an old lady who swallowed a fly" and then made their own old ladies who could eat each animal. Then we decorated Flags for snack

At another co-op at my house, I read Dr. Seuss' "Ten Apples Up On Top" and then the kids stacked 10 apples on their heads (with the help of skewers)And then this was just a funny picture that I had to squeeze in somewhere....
Zachary woke up from his nap with some CRAZY hair!

Halloween

Last year, Super Boagie made Mikie's blue brontosaurs costume. This year, he wanted to be a green one. I found a T-Rex costume that I transformed into an herbivore by cutting off the claws, cutting off the spikes on his back, removing the teeth, and sewing the mouth shut with a branch sticking out. Viola....a green brachiosaurs:

We enjoyed a Halloween party hosted by the Shay family.

My mini pumpkin cheeseballs.

Candy filled witches hats

Spider guacomole

Graveyard Veggie Pizza

Games:

Spider web toss

Jack-O-Lantern Plinko
(explanation of Zachary's costume coming up...)

Zachary picked a green pumpkin to carve and wanted a happy face.

He didn't mind helping with the pumpkin guts as long as he had a spoon.

Drawing his face.

Trick Or Treat at the Mall

When I asked Zachary what he wanted to be for Halloween, he told me "A Fissmas Deer" Translating....."A Christmas Deer"

So, his costume was easy!

Cute idea for a booth: Feed the elephant peanuts and he'll feed you candy.

After the mall, we let them walk around a few houses and trick or treat in the neighborhood. They were running from house to house and not scared of any of the decorations.

Mini-Golfing in the Fall

We had our pictures professionally taken at Locust Shade Park in October. I wanted to get some pictures of the boys miniature golfing, but it started to rain and the photographer had to leave. We waited a few minutes for the rain to stop and then I grabbed the camera on my phone and snapped these pictures. They aren't the best quality, but they are our memories!

His First CLASS FIELD TRIP

While we have been on several of our own field trips inspired from the Magic Tree House series, Mikie experienced is very first REAL field trip with his kindergarten class to Snead's Pumpkin Farm and Zachary and I got to meet him there.It was his first time riding on a school bus.

He had a lot of fun feeding the chickens.

They were able to pick out their own pumpkins. The only stipulation was that they had to carry them back to the bus themselves. He chose one of the biggest ones at the farthest end of the field. I thought for sure he would complain about it being too heavy, but when one of the fathers put the bag on his back like a back pack, he carried it most of the way by himself.

I enjoyed watching him have fun with his classmates.

Going on a hay ride.

After the class activities were finished, we drove out to another pumpkin patch and had a picnic on the ground just the 3 of us.

Then it was Zachary's turn to pick his pumpkin. He wanted the green one!

I wanted to pick sunflowers but first wanted a good picture. Mikie was being tormented by a bee and refused to cooperate.

But Zach posed nicely with his flower.
With our pumpkins, our sunflowers, and my two tired boys, we ended our day and drove home.
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LOCUST SHADE PARK

On another wonderful fall day, all four of us went on a hike through Locust Shade Park.

We didn't realize we were on a fitness trail, but the boys had a blast doing every exercise at each station.

Standing push ups.

Twist and turn Video:

Sit ups.

Log lifts.

There were about 13 stations on this trail. If Mikie were awake right now, I'd ask him how many there were exactly and he'd remember. He's my number loving kid and I love him!