Preschool Updates

First of all things have been crazy, and I have a ton of blog posts to do but I really wanted to make sure that I got blogged about preschool. First of all we started with show and tell. I thought this part was so sweet. V-girl brought this adorable treasure box filled with her best treasures (a tiny tea cup, a mirror, a disco ball - don't tell me you wouldn't have one of those in your treasure box ladies if you couldn't fit it in there). The sweetest part though was when she pulled out the baby Jesus from a nativity set and said that Jesus was her treasure.

Of course that sweet moment was transformed when C-boy said, "What is that red thing under Jesus's armpit?" It is a red bead, and it was as funny to 3/4 year olds as you all

laughing right now.

Of course we had to have our traditional puppet show. The kids love this (especially trying to shoot darts at the puppets while they are performing.) Each kid gets a chance to do a show.

Then in order to encourage Spring to arrive we made Spring time fairies. How adorable right!

The one thing I didn't get a picture of was gunny sack. The theme of the week was order and goal setting (yeah I know). I taught the kids that it is important to pick up their toys. I told them that we were going to make gunny sacks that would eat any toys that aren't picked up. It would hold the toys for a week and then spit them out. If it ate the same toy twice it wouldn't spit it out. I expected they might be a little unsure, but the looks of terror on their faces let me know they weren't really going for this project.

Here were the other comments:

"If the gunny sack gets all filled up with my toys will it throw them up?"

"Will the gunny sack eat remote control cars?"

"I don't think I want a gunny sack at my house. Can we make something else?"

So much for the joy of goal setting and order!

At least when I told them the snack was popsicles on the back porch we were back on track. You would have thought I hung the moon.

Another Tournament

Midge had another great swim tournament. This time her Mimi and Papa were able to come down and watch her. She was so excited to be able to see them there to watch her compete.

I wasn't able to get as many photos this time because I wanted to make sure grandma and grandpa were able to watch so I had to keep baby Huck entertained.

Ken was score keeping again. Baby Huck watched for some of it,

but he mostly wanted to get into things.

After the tournament the kids were able to jump off the high dive.

I remember back to the beginning of lessons when she was so scared and

wouldn't go off the high dive. Now look at her...

Here are the stats:

She improved in every event just from the swim tournament 20 days ago.

25 Freestyle: 19.27 (Personal Record)

25 Backstroke: 21.35 (PR)

25 Breastroke: 29.78 (PR)

50 Freestyle: 45.09 (PR - 5 second improvement)

50 Backstroke: 50.43 (PR - 8 second improvement)

100 Freestyle: 1:41.71 (PR - 15 second improvement)

Haircut

It was time to say goodbye to these sweet little curls.

Time to say goodbye to bangs in the eyes

Time to say goodbye to this...

and who could forget this.

Change is good right?

Tell me why he suddenly looks so much older.

I had to include this photo. All Huck wants to do is be outside with the older kids. Any time the door opens he races to get outside before it closes again.

I also included this video of Huck with his bunny ears. He is obsessed with these and loves trying to put them on by himself.

Singing Concert

Midge had her singing recital on Saturday. She did a great job. Her first song was "Old King Cole". I could tell that she was nervous because she was one of the first to sing and she was very quiet. Usually at home she belts out this song. Luckily for the second song she was able to perform it towards the end of the concert and I think she was able to get out her butterflies because she really hammed up the second song which is called "Be Kind to Your Parents". She is such a little performer. When her teacher proposed the songs on her first lesson and she started singing "Be Kind to Your Parents" I cracked up because it is so perfect for Midge.

Black and Blue

On Monday I was at a ladies house and Huck had climbed onto a small rocking chair and was standing up facing backwards. His sister Little Miss was sitting on the front. One of the ladies saw it and gasped and Little Miss thinking she was in trouble jumped up, which caused the rocking chair to tip backwards and Huck fell smacking his head on the low windowsill.

Previous to this he had tipped forward on the asphalt and then feel and

cut his lip on the stroller.

Ken said we are just going to place him in a helmet until he learns to be more steady.

Maybe 5 or 6 years old.

Should I tell you that today Huck was sitting in his highchair and decided he was done. Since Daddy was busy working at the computer a few feet away and was ignoring his requests (ie. grunts) to pull off his tray he decided to take matters into his own hands. This meant wiggling out of his seat (the tray was on people), climbing on to his tray.

This was about the moment Ken looked up...only to see his one year old stand up on the tray and jump off or rather down. Huck landed on his feet. Well sort of. He landed doing the splits. But he didn't land the opposite, which would have been his head.

So now what do we do? Helmet? Wrap the kid in bubble wrap? Boy are we in for it!

Swim Meet

Midge had a swim meet last night. She did a great job. Here Ken is cheering her on and coaching from the sideline. Notice that she has already lapped the boy in the lane next to her.

Here is Midge's #1 fan. The other night Ken took Huck to one of her practices. Huck was watching her swim laps. He laid down on the cement next to the pool on his stomach and started kicking and paddling his arms like his older sister. Looks like we have another future swimmer in the family.

Here is Midge waiting for the signal to start. She had some amazing starts.

We brought along a family friend. He was so funny and kept encouraging her and giving "good" advice. One of his tips when she was swimming against a boy was "when the coach says go, yell 'hey call me' he will be surprised and then you take off and beat him". Another time he said "feel the water, be the water, float with the currents around you".

The cheering squad.

In the end she had 7 first place finishes. Way to go kiddo!

25 Freestyle 19:93 (Personal Record)

25 Backstroke 22:97 (PR)

25 Breaststroke 30:46 (PR)

25 Butterfly 31:31 (PR)

50 Freestyle 50:34 (PR)

50 Backstroke 58:82 (PR)

100 Freestyle 1:56.36 (PR improvement of 11 seconds!)

Playtime

During Spring Break we needed a place for the kids to get their energy out. I found a place in Eugene called Bounce Gymnastics. We have gone to NAAG and it is great, but I have heard that it is going to be moving to west Eugene and frankly the smell of sweat is a little gross. This place is smaller than NAAG, but it is great for kids under 6.

The highlight was the trampolines.

Little Miss was in a funky mood that day, but I was able to snap one picture of her

when she wasn't crying or sulking.