Growing Everyday

This weekend was mostly a laid back take it easy weekend. Andrew was back from his busniess trip to San Jose. We didn’t have any place we needed to be. It was really nice just to be a family and hang out together. Saturday, we spent playing around the neighborhood in the afternoon. Beka tried to catch butterflies, Jared tried out the magnifying glass on his new spy googles. It is always fun to watch them expore nature. Then I let them wade in the pond by the house. Beka and Jared both like to find snails along the water’s edge. I will write about out Sunday fun in another post.

[photopress:2008_08_22_Beka_and_Jared_in_the_mud_in_the_pond.jpg,thumb,pp_image]

[photopress:2008_08_22_Beka_trying_to_catch_a_butterfly.jpg,thumb,pp_image]

[photopress:2008_08_22_Beka_and_Jared_splashing_in_the_pond.jpg,thumb,pp_image]

[photopress:2008_08_22_Jared_in_spy_googgles.jpg,thumb,pp_image]

[photopress:2008_08_23_Beka_cheering_during_game.jpg,thumb,pp_image]

Beka cheered at her first game on Saturday. She had a blast. It was hot, but she made it and had a ton of fun.

[photopress:2008_08_23_Beka_practice_jump.jpg,thumb,pp_image]

[photopress:2008_08_23_Beka_dressed_up_for_NELF.jpg,thumb,pp_image]

Okay, we were driving to go to supper tonight. (Yes, I get Saturday nights off, my husband loves me.) And I noticed a car with its passenger side door duct taped shut. I may have mentioned that I thought that was unsafe which sparked a "discussion" between Andrew and I. I thought it was totally irrational to duct tape your door shut and Andrew thought it was cost effective. Anyway, Jared pipes up and says that tape doesn’t work well in water and mighty putty would do a better job. But then Beka counters that once you use the mighty putty you can never open the door again. This led to a conversation of the pros and cons of duct tape vs mighty putty that continued until we reached the restaurant.

In this post, I mentioned Beka had been at practice for cheerleading. That meant Andrew and Jared were home alone to entertain themselves. The first night we were gone I came home to this:

[photopress:2008_08_05_the_bones.jpg,thumb,pp_image]

Apparently, while we were gone Andrew and Jared had gone exploring in the woods and found a pile of bones from some animal. Andrew thinks it was a opossum. Jared asked Daddy if they could bring them back to study. So they brought the bones home and boiled them. I have to add they smelled nasty! The next day, while Daddy was gone of course, the kids explored them, touched them, and finally were done with them.

[photopress:2008_08_06_playing_with_the_bones.jpg,thumb,pp_image]

Beka wanted to try cheerleading this year. The elementary girls cheer for the elementary boy teams in the school district. So far Beka has only been to practice, but she seems to enjoy it. She certainly can to loud enough when saying the cheers. Her favorite cheer is "Dynamite". I will try to have pictures of some of the actually games when they happen.

[photopress:2008_08_05_Beka_trying_a_jump_at_cheer_practice_pixelized.jpg,thumb,pp_image]

[photopress:2008_08_07_last_day_of_cheer_practice_pixelized.jpg,thumb,pp_image]

[photopress:2008_08_09_Beka_and_Jared_in_front_of_the_fountain_at_the_wedding.jpg,thumb,pp_image]

We were invited to Andrew’s cousins wedding in Chicago. It was a wonderful time to catch up extended family. Beka and Jared had fun playing with cousins they rarely see. Andrew had the opportunity to talk with his aunts and uncles. The wedding was beautiful and the bride was gorgeous. Everyone had a very nice time.

[photopress:2008_08_09_my_two_handsome_men.jpg,thumb,pp_image]

The kids were still on Eastern time, though, so at 6am they popped awake. Andrew, being the brave man that he is, took them down to the hotel pool. I think they were down there by 6:30. The kids just love to swim.

[photopress:2008_08_10_Beka__Jared__Daddy_in_the_hotel_pool.jpg,thumb,pp_image]

On the way home, we stop for awhile at a reststop where Beka and Jared had fun; climbing a tree, playing hide and seek, and chasing each other around.

[photopress:2008_08_10_Jared_climbing_the_tree_at_rest_area.jpg,thumb,pp_image]

[photopress:2008_08_10_Beka_climbing_the_tree_at_rest_area.jpg,thumb,pp_image]

[photopress:2008_08_04_the_frog.jpg,thumb,pp_image]

I was outside trying to clean up toys that had been left out when I noticed a frog in the yard. I yelled for Beka and Jared, found a container for it, and set about to capture the frog. Fortunately, he wasn’t a very fast frog. And he might have actually been a toad, but whatever. We caught it and had fun playing with it before we set it free and the pond.

[photopress:2008_08_04_Beka_with_frog.jpg,thumb,pp_image]

[photopress:2008_08_04_Jared_with_frog.jpg,thumb,pp_image]

Beka actually started school yesterday, but today is the first day they both were at school. Beka was just as excited as yesterday. Full of energy and rushing to get to school. Jared was a little anxious and excited all rolled up into one big ball of energy. He was restless all morning waiting for the time to go. I am sure they will both do great at school, right now it is just a little hard to let them go.

[photopress:2008_08_14_Jared_first_day_of_school_3.jpg,thumb,pp_image]

[photopress:2008_08_13_Beka_first_day_of_school.jpg,thumb,pp_image]

[photopress:2008_08_13_Beka_getting_on_the_bus_first_day_of_school.jpg,thumb,pp_image]

[photopress:2008_08_14_Jared_first_day_of_school_2.jpg,thumb,pp_image]

I was informed yesterday how to be a good mom. It is actually very simple. Beka told me to "use a high squeaky voice" when talking to them instead of the "deep giant voice".

Beka would also like to know why a saber-tooth tiger is a tiger when most pictures show it without stripes.

Jared has an avid interest in the human body lately. He is constantly talking about the "blood veins" in the body and how they supply nutrients and oxygen to our muscles. Also, did ya’ll know "we have muscles in our butts!"

Sorry for the lame (one of Jared’s favorite words) post, but school starts in 2 days and we are trying to get as much fun as possible before then. Hopefully, I will have more time to update later in the week.

Beka came up to me and asked if she could marble paint. So we proceeded to search the house for a box to use for the painting. Luckily, we found one. The kids really enjoy this art project and it is easy clean up for me.

[photopress:2008_07_28_Jared_marble_painting.jpg,thumb,pp_image]

[photopress:2008_07_28_Beka_marble_painting.jpg,thumb,pp_image]