Archive for September, 2016

Serenity’s Summer 2016

Tuesday, September 6th, 2016

9/2

The end of summer was all about Jamaa for both Donovan and Serenity.  Serenity’s birthday party theme was Animal Jam, and we turned the play room upstairs into Jamaa.  I painted murals on butcher paper for each of the lands, and collected all the tents, forts, crazy forts, sheets, and fancy fabric for the kids to make dens to sleep in.  The party was a sleepover, and the kids all made their own dens with inspiration from Animal Jam.  Well, the Serenity and DZ have continued this all summer, making a dozen different dens and having sleepovers in there all summer.  It was such a blast!  They are sleeping in their own beds now that school has started but I cleaned out all the old dens and the playroom is ready for new building =)

She sewed clothes for Sunny Wind!

She sewed clothes for Sunny Wind!

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Barrett Slept in Jamaa!

Barrett Slept in Jamaa!

Carson and Raegan came over to build the craziest crazy fort ever in Jamaa

Carson and Raegan came over to build the craziest crazy fort ever in Jamaa

Room redecorating:  Two days before summer vacation ended, we finally painted her bedroom!  We had discussed rainbows, fairy gardens, and other such things, and decided to paint rainbow stripes on one wall, and the others a beautiful aqua blue like the sky.  She wanted grass but she settled on a green yoga mat for the floor and a green blanket for Donovan’s trundle bed =)  I got rainbow sheets from pottery barn, and her first bed frame since her crib!  We got a beautiful Jenny Lind bed from the Land of Nod.  So pretty!  She has a few more projects in mind, like repainting her Serenity letters.  And I bought rainbow chevron decals to fancy up her ceiling fan and a coloring canvas for her to color and put on the wall, but she already loves it!

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Cali trip: Jelly Belly, Castle Rock, Beach Day, Bike ride, train ride at park,

We always love our California visits, and this one was no exception.  Serenity had sleepovers with Henry, and went to the Jelly Belly factory with Auntie Patricia.  They were reading the beanboozled game, where you taste beans that are either normal flavors, or yucky ones like ear wax.  Well, she said that she could probably eat the booger flavored ones, because she eats her own anyway.  =)  LOL!!!  She told me she tried lots of yummy flavors, but peach is her current favorite.

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She adored climbing at Castle Rock.  She’s pretty adventurous!  More than I can enjoy, at least while I have to keep Maia from following as well.

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We had our last week of summer traditional visit from the Richards.  I love it because the kids have so much fun together, and I get to really visit with Abbey =)

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Soap Making:  Serenity got her first Doodle Crate.  It was AWESOME!  She got to try soap making!  And she could do the whole project basically alone, although I cut the glycerin for her.  She made beautiful soaps, and used every bit of the materials they sent.  Totally fun!  Can’t wait to see what comes next!

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Mama's birthday! I got watermelon cake =)

Mama’s birthday! I got watermelon cake =)

Donovan’s Summer

Tuesday, September 6th, 2016

9/2/2016

I forgot to start a new document after Donovan’s birthday!  Oh well, it’s still all written down.

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DZ found an Eevee!

DZ found an Eevee!

Donovan’s summer!

The end of summer was all about Jamaa for both Donovan and Serenity.  Serenity’s birthday party theme was Animal Jam, and we turned the play room upstairs into Jamaa.  I painted murals on butcher paper for each of the lands, and collected all the tents, forts, crazy forts, sheets, and fancy fabric for the kids to make dens to sleep in.  The party was a sleepover, and the kids all made their own dens with inspiration from Animal Jam.  Well, the Serenity and DZ have continued this all summer, making a dozen different dens and having sleepovers in there all summer.  It was such a blast!  They are sleeping in their own beds now that school has started but I cleaned out all the old dens and the playroom is ready for new building =)

Volcano Den

Volcano Den

Greeley's Cave Den

Greeley’s Cave Den

Legos

Donovan did lots of lego kits this summer!  Barrett even came over one day to help him build one of his big birthday sets! So fun!  And he gave me the purple lego air dragon for my birthday and built it with me.  I love the Lego Elf sets, they are adorable!  He can do pretty much all of it by himself now, except for a few of the harder types of pieces that he still needs me to put together for finger strength.  And it’s more fun to do with company, but most things are!

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Donovan had a blast in California =)  He got to play with Vanaema and Farfar for hours, had a sleepover with Evan, and lots of Pokemon Go time =)  He rode a bicycle with training wheels at Jack’s birthday, and loved it!

 

He was thrilled when we got the new computer desks for the living room, and claimed one for his own to do homework!  He has been very concerned about where he would do his homework, since Serenity always did hers at the desk in the kitchen.  Problem solved!

He rode a bicycle with training wheels at Jack's birthday, and loved it!

He rode a bicycle with training wheels at Jack’s birthday, and loved it!

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Games with Aidan and Uncle Juan and Daddy!

Games with Aidan and Uncle Juan and Daddy!

Yoga on the beach in Cali =)

Yoga on the beach in Cali =)

Riding the train at Vasona Park. Now it won't let me rotate pictures.

Riding the train at Vasona Park. Now it won’t let me rotate pictures.

Pokemon Go!

Pokemon Go!\

He was thrilled when we got the new computer desks for the living room, and claimed one for his own to do homework! He has been very concerned about where he would do his homework, since Serenity always did hers at the desk in the kitchen. Problem solved!

He was thrilled when we got the new computer desks for the living room, and claimed one for his own to do homework! He has been very concerned about where he would do his homework, since Serenity always did hers at the desk in the kitchen. Problem solved!

Sidewalk Chalk art =)

Sidewalk Chalk art =)

 

Maia’s Summer

Tuesday, September 6th, 2016

9/2/16

Maia’s summer =)

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Fix a cwock…  Fix a clock?  Fix it click?  Not entirely sure what this phrase means.  She used to just say it when her show stopped, so she would get the remote and say “fixacwock.”  So I thought maybe she wanted me to click the button?  But now she says it all the time, and I just fix whatever it is =)

Giraffes!

Giraffes!

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Maia is speaking more clearly every day.  I was thrilled the other day when instead of throwing herself on the floor and hitting her head, she said “I angry!”  Yay for words!  And another day, in the middle of a fit, I told her to tell me when she was ready to be calm, and after about thirty seconds, she looked up and calmly said “ready!” and she went to her room to choose clothes to wear.  Yay!

 

Music class is still her favorite place to go.  That and Papa’s house are the two places she eagerly goes to the car for.  She gets to listen to the cd from music class in the car now, and that makes us all happy.  The first time I heard her little voice singing all the lyrics I had a moment of wondering who it was singing, because I could hardly believe she knew all the words!  “I’m twirling in the water and it’s RAAAIIINING (waining) =)  SO cute.  She loves the cd, which has lots of songs about water and raining, and we sing them when it’s actually raining and in the pool a lot.  She participates in every song at music class, and gets so excited her enthusiasm makes everyone smile =)  She really tries to follow the teacher, do all the moves and sing!  I love it!

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I’m having trouble with my pictures from July.  I changed computers and my photo saving system has fallen apart!  So I’m a little lost on what to post for July and early August! And now wordpress won’t let me upload more than one at a time.  Arrrrgh!

 

Maia loves reading books, especially anything with numbers or letters.  She reads Chicka Chicka 1,2,3 and recognizes numbers up to the thirties, and 100.  There is a 100 on Donovan’s car seat that she points out whenever she climbs into the car.  She knows all her letters, so I’m starting to write short words for her to read.  She loves it when we write letters and words in sidewalk chalk, but you have to keep going through the whole alphabet. =)  She loves Endless ABC and Endless Reader on the ipad, and it’s adorable to hear her read or repeat words like gargantuan.  She surprises me with the number or words she recognizes, like red, and very, and big.  A combination of SuperWhy, and lots of books =)  She may want a SuperWhy party for her birthday… we will see. =)

 

She had a wonderful time in California!  She loves her Vanaema and Farfar!  One of my favorite memories is her getting us all to sing smogrodna in the backyard until we were all worn out and she was still smiling and doing all the moves!  So sweet!

Selfie on the train!

Selfie on the train!

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