Paseando with my little girl

I got to go pasear (stroll around) with my little girl this morning.  She got a hair cut (and a balloon for a reward) and then do some errands with me.  For some reason she insisted on taking her doll around town with us.  She was (and always is!) a delight to be with. 

A few Emma milestones -- 

*  I have started teaching her some sight words while we read.  She can now read and recognize the words:  the, and, to, he, she, I, and a.  She is really taking an interest in learning to read.  I wonder how all of this will develop through time before she starts school next year.

*  She is also learning to spell a little.  She can write her name and the sight words from above (^), but that's abut the extent of anything legitimate that she can write.  She likes to just string a whole lot of letters together that never make sense.  But I feel like the beginning stages of writing are underway. 

*  I am trying to see if I can begin teaching her the concept of addition and subtraction.  She likes to take her grapes (or goldfish, or whatever), line them up, count them, and then begin eating one, two, or three, or four at a time.  Then count them again.  I am starting to use math words with her such as "plus" and "minus" (in Spanish, btw).  Hoping this basic math can develop naturally with her.

*  I've been trying to be more intentional with her at bedtime.  We are half way through reading Charlotte's Web, though now that she can "read" her sight words, the reading is much, much, much slower now.

*  Another thing that I've been trying to be more intentional with at bedtime is to debrief our day together.  We'll ask each other the favorite part of our day, and then talk about one kind thing we did that day, and one unkind thing we did that day.  My intention here is to always be vulnerable of my sin with her, letting her know that mama is far from perfect.  But also my desire is for her to begin examining her own brokeness and need of Jesus.

Playing

I was in the kitchen the other day while the kids were in the next room playing by themselves.  I all of the sudden heard Byron say:  "Uuuuffff, wet wet wet" (the words his daddy uses when he changes his diaper).  

I peek around the corner, and find this --

Little Byron "changing" Emma's doll's diaper, and then Emma tinkering with Little Byron's truck.  I was so tickled by this sight, I couldn't help by laugh and take a picture. 

Making cookies

I am often reminding myself that mundane things are highly educational for little children.  Things like pretend-playing, flipping through books, reading, cleaning, playing, exploring, etc. But all of these things seem incredibly useless, and (I must confess) slightly inconvenient.  I mean, who wants to stop every two feet to explore the dead bug on the ground?????

And well... baking is at the top of the "inconvenient, yet highly educational" list.  With all the texture-feeling and flavor-tasting, never mind letting the children observe raw materials become yummy cookies -- I mean, it doesn't get more "preparatory" than that!!!!

But it is fun, and the kids love it, and they are learning, and we are making sweet memories, and the little one ends up looking like this at the end of it --

Chores

Whether it be for laziness, or just because I don't want to, I've never really been all that interested making my kids do chores around the house... not yet, at least.

But slowly but surely there have been a few things we've been expecting Emma to do around the house.  Like put the clean silverware away in the drawer, or help put the table and clean it up afterwards.  Learn to make her bed, put on her clothes and PJs, brush her teeth, etc.  I'd be lying if I said that this went flawlessly every day.  Just today, between complaining and being in time out, silverware duty took about 30 minutes to complete.

What's been fun in the meantime is watching Byron begin to imitate (and thus also help) big sister.  

The other day we found him doing this --

Of course, silverware was not stored all in the right compartment, and there may or may not have been a dirty spoon with peanut butter in it, but whatever... the intention was there :)

Home is under contract

We accepted an offer for our home last week, which means we are officially under contract.  Our home will be sold in just a few weeks!

Of course, this all means chaos in the meantime.

Some packing.  Good thing I have a little helper who gives me things to put in boxes and labels them :)

Some fixing things up for the buyers.  Which of course means lots of dust and messiness for us.

Our home was on the market for two months.  Lots of work, but it wasn't as bad as we had anticipated it would be.  Excited to be moving into our new home soon.

Birthday party numbero dos

Didn't do too good a job recording this party, but it was a Spider Man-themed affair.  Here the kids were spraying string-y things at each other, and some even wore masks for it.  Fun!

Birthday party number uno

Last Saturday we had two kids' birthday parties.  We had a great time!

Our first little party was Little Byron's good little friend Giedon.  They had a little kiddie pool where the kiddos could swim and play and parents could enjoy themselves supervising while still remaining dry.

Cheeeeeese!

Kids parties are just as much for the kids as they are for the adults :)

Saturday morning waffle breakfast with friends

Why don't we do this more often?  

So fun!

To the lake with friends

So this is the post where everyone is supposed to be impressed by how awesome of a mom I am.  Of how adventuresome and exciting and unique life is for us.  Truth is, our everyday life is pretty monotonous, but every once in a while (as in once every two years), we'll do something out of the ordinary.

Last week a friend and I took our kiddos to the lake only 30 minutes away from where we live.  The kids had a blast, played with each other, in the sand, in the water, and ate a fun picnic lunch.

On our way.  Happy crew... except the little ones.

Lunch time with friends.

Playing at the beach.

My novio.

My princess.

Doing errands with these kiddos...

... is lots of fun!

We are going to miss this boy

Snuggling with each other while watching a cartoon together.

4th of July church celebration

We had so much fun yesterday eve after church for our 4th of July celebration.  We had homemade ice cream and cookies, along with games and live music. 

The best part was when the kids got up to sing along with the musicians.  Byron just seemed to be puzzled by the whole ordeal the entire time.

So he did a little climbing on the stair handles instead.  Emma on the other hand was repeatedly complimented on her good hip moves.

4th of July silly hat

Emma made a 4h of July hat at the Kroc one day last week.  It was such a fun hat.  I was sorry it broke before we could use it on the real day.  But glad I got a picture of it.

Emma takes swim lessons

Emma took her first swim lessons this summer.  It was a week-long swim camp every afternoon for eight days.  It's amazing how quickly she learned to go hold her breath, go under water, and walk around without floaties. 

She also learned to jump off the diving board and swim a little.  We have continued to work on her swimming, and still a little fearful in this department.  Currently trying to teach her to lift her head up and then back down so that she can breathe while she is moving in the water.

Bugs

I love how these two are so fascinated with insects and bugs.  They can normally spot a bug or two at the house entrance steps and visit with him for a while. 

I also love how baby brother helps Emma overcome her fears.  He is so bold and unafraid of bugs, and is slowly beginning to rub on big sister.