The Latest and Greatest

Malia is doing really well with her reading. Remember how when she was learning to talk she would contemplate a new word and perfect it before saying it to anyone? Well, it was a personality trait. She is very similar with her reading. She finds reading to us or "performing" on the spot a little flustering. But you put words up on the board and she'll sound them out on her own time and come to you with the word once she believes she has it right. She can do 3 letter words, and many 4 letter words with simple phoentics. She is learning her compound sounds now, and some of the more complicated rules. Some words don't really follow the rules she knows, and she finds this quite annoying. The girl is soaring in Math- especially with story problems. I think she will love math based brain teasers as she grows.

Eliana seems to have moved past her Snow White obsession. She is back to your basic fairy obsession. The girl just love fairies and all things enchanting. Eliana, and all the girls are in love with rainbows and anything "rainbow colored".

Right now they love Legos, fairies, rainbows, dinosaurs, their "snap dolls", and playing computer games on the computer. Their favorite foods are berries without a doubt, with blueberries being at the top of the list. Girls after their Uncle Zach's heart.

Sasha is finally finding her place within their little unit, and they are playing for a few hours at a time without conflict. I was worried for awhile, so I'm very happy to see her becoming a part of the sibling unit and playtime.

"Be with my friends"

Sasha is hilarious... the girl wakes up each morning and typically has a statement to make. Maybe she uses her sleeping time to sort out her desires. Last week she woke up a few days in a row and the first thing out of her mouth was what she wanted to eat. "Tortilla" she told me one morning. Not "I'm hungry mom", but a simple "Tortilla".

This morning her first words of the day were "I sleep with Mia and Ana. Be with my friends." (Mia is how she says Malia). Apparently she is ready to leave our room and join her big sisters in their own space. I'm ready for all the baby stages to end, EXCEPT cosleeping. There is nothing I love more than hearing their sweet little snores and waking up to baby morning breath.

The Clubhouse for Kids

We went to "The Clubhouse for Kids" today. Not especially a wonderful experience for us. The website makes it sound much cooler than we found it to be. I guess it was just really crowded, and there were some very forward and aggressive kids that weren't really being supervised. There are so many rooms, unless you insist that your kids stay together (as we did) it would be impossible to watch more than one child at once. Not to mention Eliana is currently going through a "scared of boys" phase and wouldn't get down from my arms to play. not that I blame her, some of the older kids (boys and girls) were really rough. I mean it was ok... but I paid 20.00 just to get in the door to the "ok" play area. Games were extra, you couldn't bring your own food so you have to purchase their overpriced and less than healthy foods if you wanted to eat or drink (unless you got the discounted school rate- it seems the schools were able to bring sack lunches). I just don't see myself running to go back any time soon. Even the girls seemed a little bored.

Dallas Zoo

We went to the Dallas Zoo on Saturday, they were having an event for members so there were free carousel rides from 5-8. Unlimited free rides meant a bore of a wait from time to time.


Well worth the wait, though.





They also have a little circulating water "stream"... a little questionable in the sanitary department, but fun none-the-less. Sasha had a little pattern going, that essentially consisted of dip-grin-wipe-
"Dip"

"Grin"

"Wipe"


Afterwards we went to the "Rainbow Restaurant" A local Tex-mex place that is colorful enough to be a favorite stop for the girls.

It lives on....

It isn't just Eliana who prefers her sunglasses upside down. hehe

Eliana's Class

Eliana is taking a little preschool class, it is going really well. The teacher has gone on and on about Eliana being brilliant and highly intelligent. That is never hard for a parent to hear. :o)

They are working on a book "All about me" and the things Eliana chose to include in her "favorites" section weren't all what I would have expected, but she named them. So they had to bring pictures in of them with their "favorites' they listed and here are the ones she picked out.

Magenta (favorite color):


Strawberries:


Bananas:


Princesses:


Puzzles:


And she also chose coloring and blueberry muffins, but I'm to lazy to get those pictures online and I forgot earlier.

Killeen for the Weekend

We went to Killeen this week for the long weekend. It was a lot of fun! I do wish I'd gotten more pictures of the girls with their little cousins though. I was having to much fun to remember.

We watched the fireworks, of course. The girls love the pretty colors and lights. We got to visit with their grandma and great grandparents as well. Auntie Sue, Auntie Rachel. Their cousins Savanah and Sarah as well as their Auntie Jessica and uncle Rick.

The girls got three chcild sized recliners and they are SO CUTE! I will post a picture of them in them tomorrow. Thanks again to the great grandparents for such a thoughtful gift!

A couple quick snaps of the fireworks:

We should have gone to Shannon's...

We were supposed to go to a friends house this afternoon but Eliana is getting the sniffles and I didn't want to expose her kids. But now I'm rethinking that decision.

Sasha found a couple of Malia's beads (for necklaces)and put them in her nose. I was able to get one out of one side, but the other was so far up I couldn't really see it. So off to the DR we went. We thought she was going to the hospital to be put under to get it- but she was SO still, patient and quiet while the DR worked that we were able to get it out without medicating her. I'm so glad she is so trusting and calm.

Silly Sasha :)

Writing

Eliana hasn't been much of a writer thus far, she prefers drawing and coloring. The other day she decided to write her name and asked how to write the word giraffe as well. So this was her first time writing her name and I thought she did wonderful. She quickly started coloring over it with a red pencil though, so her name is a little hard to see.


Malia on the other hand has always enjoyed writing letters and started writing her name rather young. We've recently started keeping a journal and she is doing so wonderful with it. It amazes me how much she enjoys writing.

Practical Joke

I think Malia attempted her first practical joke. The other night she was eating dinner and Eliana was trying to break herself away from pbskids.org to come and join her sister. I walk in the kitchen and there is a piece of paper on Eliana's chair with 6 globs of ketchup. Apparently Malia thought it would be funny for Eliana to sit on this. hehe.

I thought Dad and Uncle Don would get a kick out of this since they were quite the jokers themselves once upon a time.