Monday, November 8, 2010

Update

Can I just say that I cannot believe it is November already! What on earth happened to fall? We were pretty busy at the end of summer...two trips to Georgia and a camping trip (just mama's and kids). Now we are well into our school year and things couldn't be busier, but it is a good busy. This year, Blake is doing third grade work and Jacob is doing first grade (we follow Waldorf pedagogy which doesn't begin academics until first grade/6.5-7 years of age). In some ways, things have been going as expected (Blake still is reluctant to do any written work) and in other ways, it has been unexpected (Jacob LOVES doing school work). It has been challenging to say the least to fit in enough time for everyone while also tending to a toddler who loves to climb on the school table and steal/eat our crayons. But things are getting better and we have developed a wonderful groove. I hope to post some pictures of their work soon to give everyone a taste as to what we do around here!

MaKenna

Who is this toddler and what did you do with my baby?!?! I know these types of posts are mostly for me, but if I don't write them down, I will not remember these little moments that seem to go by all too quickly. Little Roo has developed quite the personality! She is soooo much fun (I love, love, love this age). She is little miss independent...she wants to do everything all by herself. She won't let me carry her anywhere anymore, she has to walk while holding my hand. She feeds herself with adult silverware and drinks out of regular cups (although she still likes to pour it everywhere!). She absolutely loves animals, especially cats. She adores her big brothers, wanting to play with them whenever they are around.

She has developed a pretty close relationship with Parker. I think it is because he still plays by himself quite a bit while his big brothers are occupied with football or other sports. They have their own special games they play and it is so sweet to watch them interact.

She loves to dance and will start to shake her hiney whenever she hears music. She just recently has begun to "sing" some songs from our co-op. She is very much into books and puzzles right now. In fact, they are strewn all over the floor much of the time. Sometimes she is content to read to herself and other times she wants someone to read for her.
She loves to hide and is pretty good at it too! One day I couldn't find her anywhere and she was hiding behind Jacob's clothes organizer in his closet! Little stinker. And she wouldn't be my daughter if she didn't know where the chocolate stash is! She will stand in front of the cabinet with her hands out saying "more, more, more".


Here she is signing "bird". Thankfully, she loves to be outside and doesn't mind getting dirty. In fact for her, the dirtier the better! She figured out how to climb up the ladder to the slide shortly after we moved. In fact, she climbs on everything. She will push the kitchen chairs around to get to what she wants. Now she likes to climb in the sink and turn on the water (can you tell she keeps me on my toes?)
Right now, she is cutting her two top molars which means not much sleep for mama and lots and lots of nursing. I am hoping they come through soon, but it seems she is taking after Parker with rediculously slow teething. Ugh. But despite the lack of sleep, she is still a pretty cheerful girl. And I am so very thankful to have her in my life!




Aw Shucks!

A few weekends ago, we took our annual trip to Aw Shucks! This was the first time that daddy would join us (yeah!) and the weather couldn't have been more perfect. Because we went during the weekend, it was crazy busy, but we had a lot of fun anyways. There is so much to do there: corn maze, hay ride, animal barn, pumpkin patch, horseshoes and corn hole, nature trail with a scavenger hunt, play hut area, and the list goes on and on! We spent several hours there and we still didn't do/see everything. MaKenna's favorite part was probably these little log cabins. She would run inside and squeal with delight...she was so happy. I tried to get pictures of that, but all I could get was blurry attempts b/c she would not be still.

walking through the maze
daddy and kenna leading the way

on the hay ride



watching the baby goats and sheep


sitting in the pumpkin patch at the end of our day