Pumpkin Carving, 16 Weeks

We carved pumpkins Wednesday night. I wasn't planning to do much of it, as I had a sink full of dishes to wash and lunches to make and a baby to feed. However. Julia chose an intricate cat design and I ended up tracing it and then carving it, as it was too detailed for her to carve, and Brian was busy helping Austin and Lauren. At least she pulled out the gunk. Austin did too, that was exciting for him, but Lauren would have nothing to do with getting her hands messy! Julia and Austin sorted the seeds from the gunk, and I plan to roast those.

Miss Caroline was 16 weeks yesterday! She sure is changing--certainly not a newborn anymore. Brian and I think she looks a lot like Julia as a baby, yet I (and my mom) think she looks a lot like I did as a baby. Which is interesting, since I don't think Julia looks much like me at all, now, even as a little girl. Austin looks a lot like me when I was his age, just different coloring. Also, I think Caroline has the same head shape as Austin did.

If this doesn't make you smile, I don't know what will. ;)

Little Miss Sunshine, Martian Man

Lauren says such funny things these days. Yesterday she said, "Yesternight at Cubbies...." and proceeded to tell me about Cubbies the night before. Indeed, the night before, while we waited for Julia to be awarded her trophy, Lauren came over to where I was sitting, next to a couple waiting for their daughter. Lauren stared and stared at them, dressed in her Tinkerbell costume, as it was dress-up night. They were pleasant and asked her what her costume was and other questions. She would not talk to them, just kept staring and staring. Finally, she burst out excitedly, "I remember last week we went to your house! Do you remember that? Iiiiii remember that!" And she went scampering off back to where Brian was standing. They got a chuckle out of that, as I am sure we have never been to their house. I don't even know their names! Well, Tinkerbell returned, and I asked her, "What are their names, do you remember?" She thought a minute and said, "I don't know how to spell them. They are too long for me to spell their names." LOL

Also, yesterday, Lauren was playing with Julia's Pollies. She told me a particular doll's name was Becky Ewizziebess (Elizabeth). Later on she told me that doll's name was Bucky Duck. I told her, "I thought she was Becky Elizabeth!" To which she answered, "Diss is not Becky Ewizziebess! Becky Ewizziebess got eaten from a shark!" Like I should have known this news already...

Tuesday at Rec, the after-school program Austin goes to, he made this mask. First he said it was a martian mask. Then an astronaut mask. Then a Star Wars guy mask. I had to cut the eyeholes in it at home, and after he saw himself in the mirror, he said, "Now I have five eyeballs!" It has been red ribbon week at their school, which is why he's wearing the bracelet and sticker, which, appropriately for this election year, says, "Elect to be Drug Free". I don't think they talk much about it in Kindergarten, but I asked Julia what drugs are, and she said, "Stuff like smoking and drinking alcohol..." So we discussed that.

Unbelievable

A couple weeks ago I posted about Brian and Julia going out together to buy weights for her Awana Grand Prix car. I did not mention then (but told him I was going to write this!), but the week prior to that shopping trip, Brian was really not wanting to work on that car. He kept saying things like, "This is not my department." "I don't know how to make a car." "I don't have the right tools to make that car." (to which I suggested he go next door and ask our neighbor, who has a whole garage full of wood-working tools, but no...), on and on it went! I finally asked him why he bought that car (well, actually a block of pine wood with a car kit) if he didn't want to make it! He asked Julia if she cared if she didn't enter a car this year, and she said that that would be ok. To give Brian some credit, he wasn't feeling well that Saturday, but he was balking at starting that car the entire week earlier!

Anyway. After Austin's soccer game two weeks ago, Brian went online and printed out a few tips about making pinewood derby cars. Did you know you can even buy tips for making them? Some people are champion pinewood derby racers! LOL He got a few ideas, and he used his handsaw his grandpa gave him years ago, and sawed off the ends of the block to make a sort of car shape. Then he and Julia went shopping, and they did indeed find some lead weights to put in the bottom. He had me call my friend Marsha to see what they used, and bought some lead fishing weights, which her husband said he bought.

So. After Brian did his building part, it was up to Julia to paint the car. Now, mind you, some kids come up with creative themes for their cars. Said friend Marsha's daughter's car was a ladybug. Another entry was a carrot, a Corvette, a church bus duplicate, and then there was one or two that was just the unsawed block of wood painted a color. LOL So Julia painted the car red, and fussed about having to do two coats. Then it was her idea to give it pink stripes. The red and pink were acrylic paint--worked well. Next she decided to paint blue stripes. Well, the blue was a washable paint, and when she went to put a coat of varnish on the car, the blue ran, giving the car kind of a tie-dye look, I think. ;) But, Julia had had enough painting and the car stayed as it was.

Tuesday, Oct. 21 all the cars had to be entered so the church staff could judge them on design during the week. The big race was this last Tues. night, the 28th. First the T&T boys did their race. Then it was the girls' turn. All the girls were there, and most of them had at least one parent there. Some girls had grandparents there! Several parents had cameras and/or video cameras. I was not one of them (shocker, I know) as technically I am supposed to be helping in Cubbies. But there are 4 out of 5 of us Cubbies leaders who have T&T girls, so the Cubbies director came in with an LIT and let us go watch the Grand Prix. :) Julia was excited, as were all the girls, as the air was just filled with excitement. There were a few heats, and one girl's car set the night's record at 2.378 for speed. Then Julia's car was in its first race. Her car got 2.47, winning its first race. Each car runs 4 races, once on each track. Second race, Her car got 2.43, and I started paying close attention, realizing I hadn't seen a faster car except that one race with the record-setter. I asked Julia after the second race if that was her car that had gotten 2.43, and she said she didn't know, she thought it was 26. ROFL--26 was her entry number! Her car went on to get 2.4's in its last two races, and then was entered in the last two champion races, which it won both!

We all went back to the girls' T&T room, where they announce the top three winners for design and speed. Each of those top three were given a trophy, including Julia, who won first place for speed! Nothing for design, but no surprise there. We were, however, shocked that her car won first place! After the half-hearted effort, when some of the girls [and their parents] spent hours and hours on their cars. And some of them have architect or engineer dads. We expected one of them to win for sure! We were just amazed! Brian and Julia were very pleased about the big win! Austin was extremely proud of them too and said he wants to use Julia's car when he's in T&T. Though we don't think it's allowed to reenter a winning car. Bummer! And, to top off the first place, the man tracking the speeds said Julia's car was the fastest of the night, including faster than any of the boys! They average the four race scores together, which is why the record-setter wasn't faster. I knew Brian could do it, well, make a car anyway...I certainly didn't expect it to win a trophy--maybe be somewhere in the middle of the pack. Way to go, Brian--and Julia! :D

And just a couple cute shots of the little lady! She sneaks in every post after all. ;)

Tinker Tance, Conferences

Yesterday morning I was doing the dishes and heard the baby swing creaking. And I do mean creaking. Check out why! ;)


Her view:


Sweet little face


Sometimes when the kids are getting ready for bed, they'll chant to eachother, "I see London, I see France. I see _______'s underpants!" LOL Giggle giggle giggle.... Well. Lauren has picked up the rhyme, and says it like this: "Tinker tance, tinker tance. I see ______'s underpants!" :D In the last post I wrote that she and Austin were playing with Caroline's baby toys that we just hauled out this week. She posed Piglet like this and said, "Take Piglet's picture, Mommy." They are having more fun with those toys than Caroline. Though they are glad to share with her, and thrilled when she grabs one of them!


Awwww.....another sweet little face. ;)



Below: More evidence of them playing with the baby toys: check out who Austin had driving the bulldozer!


Julia's parent-teacher conference was Wednesday. Her teacher, Mrs. K, said Julia is fabulous, a great student, doing great, etc. Mrs. K couldn't say enough good things about Julia. All my kids came to the conference with me and played quietly and colored while I talked to Mrs. K. Mrs. K said she knew that they would be no problem. She said they are lucky to be in a good family, and that she can tell which kids come from good families, even in the first week of school, by how they behave, their self-esteem, just how they are.

Julia is excelling in Language Arts. She's never had to take an official Friday spelling test, because every Thursday she's gotten every spelling word correct on the pretest. She's missed a bonus word a handful of times (they usually have 5-6 bonus words), but most of the time they are correct too. Mrs. K said Julia tested above 4th grade reading level, that she may even test higher, at a 5th or 6th grade level, but that Mrs. K stopped testing her at the 4th grade level. However, all the kids took a reading test in the computer lab, on the computer, and Julia's SRI (Scholastic Reading Inventory) score put her at the advanced proficient level for 4th grade, and at the proficient level for 5th - 8th! Julia is doing well in math, too, above average, but we can tell Language Arts is her subject!

Julia was star of the week last week, and brought in pictures to share on a bulletin board. In one she was wearing her Awana vest, and Mrs. K said Julia is the second kid in all her years of teaching who's gone to Awana. And, Mrs. K said that she went to Awana (Chums) when she was a little girl! One day in the car we were listening to my Alan Jackson hymns CD, and Julia said Mrs. K listened to that same CD, that one day Julia went in the classroom at lunch recess, and Mrs. K had it playing. At the conference Mrs. K said she used to teach Sunday School at the little Baptist church across the street. Glad to hear it! And I am thankful she has a good teacher!

Austin's conference was Monday. I went by myself to his, since Brian was home sick, I left the younger two with him. Julia was still in class and Austin at Rec. Anyway. Mrs. Van said Austin is a great student and makes her job easy. Academically, he's advanced and where he should be at the end of the second trimester. I asked her if she thought we made the right decision in keeping him back a year for Kindergarten. He could have gone last year, as they have to turn 5 before Dec. 1. She said she thought we decided well, because the work is easy for him now. She asked how we decided, if we talked to his preschool teacher...? I told her we'd talked to people who'd done the same thing, and none of them had regretted starting their child at 5 instead of 4, and that he hadn't gone to preschool. She replied, "So you taught him all this? That's great!" LOL, and I told her, that I didn't know how much *I* taught him, but somehow he picked it all up. But after both of those conferences I left with the feeling that we must be doing something right with our kids. [Sometimes we wonder, you know....!]

Both kids had spirit assemblies Friday, and Julia said they were playing a song about surfing in the USA. :) She asked if I knew that song, and I told her I did, that we used to play that in band! Anyway, she was called up on stage and given a card for a free kids meal at a restaurant in Santa Maria. She had one of the top 10 scores (out of about 80 students) in Language Arts on their standardized state testing for 2nd grade, and was recognized for that. We just got the results this fall. While Julia was showing me her gift card, Austin walked up quietly and showed me he had the same one! I was somewhat surprised, as of course he hasn't done any state testing, and asked what his was for. He said it was because he volunteered to go on stage and dance to the music (about surfing in the USA LOL). I asked him to show me how he danced, but he said he couldn't remember. :D

Also, Julia had hot lunch Friday. They only get to have hot lunch about twice a month, because it is $2.25. Not too bad for once in awhile, but if both kids had it even every other day for a month, we'd be out of $45. I think I can make them lunch for less. Anyway. Julia had specifically chosen cheese breadsticks with dipping sauce for her lunch. Well, for some reason there was a substitution, and she didn't get cheese breadsticks. They served mashed potatoes with turkey gravy instead. I asked her how she liked that lunch, and she said, "Oh, it was good. Those were the best mashed potatoes and gravy I've ever had!" I asked, "Really?!", a bit surprised. She quickly added, "Well, I like yours too. They are good too." LOL I wasn't concerned about how they compared to mine, more just surprised that school lunch mashed potatoes could be the best!

Here are the 4, all watching a Winnie-the-Pooh video Friday afternoon.

Today Austin had his 7th soccer game, and they unofficially lost, 4-3. Brian said too bad Austin's team scored a goal for the other team--it would have been tied at least. Too funny, those little guys. The girls and I missed most of the game, as we came late, since I had to finish eating breakfast and nurse the baby. Brian took Julia to her choir audition at church, for the Christmas musical. She auditioned for a solo, part of Softly and Tenderly. We find out Weds. what part she gets. I really hope it is a solo, as that requires much less practice time than a drama (speaking) part!

I'll end this post with one more sweet little face, after her bath tonight.

We Thought He was a Goner

But the cat came back
[After 7] days
He just couldn't stay away.....

Wednesday night our neighbor girl came over and said she had just had Bailey in her arms, but a UPS truck drove up and scared him, and he jumped down and ran into our backyard! Sure enough, he was back there! Where had he been for a week? We don't know!?! Crazy cat. He must have found food somewhere, though he was a little thin, he didn't just scarf down a bunch of food. First he meowed at us a lot and rubbed against our legs a lot, and then he drank and drank and drank a lot of water! Monday it was about 70 here, but it's been oh, 95, 91, 93, the last few days, including today. Hot. So that probably made Bailey thirsty. He was also very grimy! I was glad to see he'd cleaned himself up, the next morning when he came in from the garage. Julia especially was glad to see him back. A few days into his disappearance she told Pongo that he was the reason Bailey ran away. And she told Pongo that Bailey was nicer than him, that "you always bite us!" LOL Pongo does nip us now and then, mostly because he wants to play, though. Julia told me, "Pongo looks at me when I'm walking by and I'm afraid he's going to bite my feet." Well, he may very well. He is playful. But Bailey is much friendlier to guests, and even likes being part of the commotion as long as he isn't pestered. Pongo runs and hides under the bed for hours.

Caroline was 15 weeks yesterday. It's so fun seeing her sweet little personality develop. She makes such cute little coos and sounds now, talking to us all the time. And the expressions she gets are so cute too! The big kids all like talking to her and nicely pretend to know what she's telling them. :) Wednesday I took out some of the little baby toys (rattles, soft toys, etc.), as Caroline can hold onto them for awhile now. Well, Austin and Lauren have totally taken them over. They've played with those baby toys ever since, having parties with the animal toys, playing "house" with them, and more. Pretty funny.

She was wiggling so much I had to quick snap this picture!

Around the House

Inside and out:

There are always piles of laundry to do around here. This morning Pongo did a hairball on our bed, and I had to wash our comforter that barely fits in the washer. One thing good about the hot day today, I could put the comforter outside in the sun to dry! The weather has been strange--mid 60s for a few days, lowish 70s for a few days, then jump to mid/high 80s and even mid 90s. It is somewhat typical for this area, but it makes me a little crazy. We get the kids' clothes out for the next day the night before, and several days we've had to make morning changes because of the weather, which takes extra, precious, get-ready, morning-rush minutes, and makes more clothes to put away. I've been trying to catch the weather forecast every night lately. ;)

We don't always have political signs in our yard, in fact hardly ever. But our church was handing out signs for Prop 8, and Brian tried to get one and they were out. It just so happened that our neighbor came over that afternoon and gave us an extra he had. That neighbor has two Prop 8 signs in his yard, and one morning one of them had been thrown in the street and driven over. He put it back up, but it's a little bent. We also have a Prop 8 sticker in our van window. Brian's supervisor does as well, and one night someone threw a rock through their windshield, almost certainly because of the sticker. Some groups have large "Yes on 8" signs on their property, and some of them have been vandalized as well, with the "Yes" crossed out, and "No" spray painted on instead.

I let Bailey outside last Wednesday night, and we haven't seen him since! We wonder what happened to our little cat! Did he adopt another family? Get hurt? Killed? Julia is the only kid who says much about him being missing. She prays every night that he will come back. :( I think Pongo misses him too, as he wanders around the house as if he's looking for Bailey, sometimes, near the garage door where Bailey slept at night, and near the back sliders.
What Lauren and I see in the mornings when we are walking back from school:


Last Saturday: Julia busy painting her Grand Prix car. Anybody recognize the pretty card by the teapot? ;) Leslie made it for me.


She can grab toys now! Her sock situation made me laugh.


Brian works with Austin and Lauren on their Awana verses, and Julia studies her own. Lauren is doing the Cubbies extra-credit book, Character Builders. If she finishes both Cubbies handbooks (1 each year), does half of the Under-the-Apple-Trees (review sections) each year, or all in one year, and finishes one Character Builders book, she will earn a Bible at the end of her two years in Cubbies. Julia did it, and was given a Precious Moments Bible, a "real" one though, not just a story Bible. I don't know what happened, why we didn't do it with Austin, but I am not sure he would have cared too much about it anyway (the extra work, I mean). Anyway, in the Character Builders book, Lauren has to learn extra verses, do crafts, and talk about various subjects. I am trying to do Character Builders with her, but Brian also goes over the verses. The craft below we made Monday. Her verse was "God is love" (and most are not that simple!). We hung the heart on the bottom of Julia's bunk, so Lauren can see it when she's in her lower bunk. She likes doing these crafts with me! My mom did one with her when they were visiting.

Sixth Soccer Saturday

Austin's sixth game was today. Only three players showed up so they all got to play the entire game. Austin's buddy Solomon was sick and Alex' mom just had a baby 3 weeks ago, so maybe that's why he didn't come? The unofficial score was 10ish (we lose track sometimes) to 4, with Austin's team unofficially winning. Austin scored a goal today! Most goals are scored by Trey, the coach's son, and Solomon and Alex usually score a few. Austin is the only one of the five on his team that didn't play last year. Here he is doing a kick off, with James watching. He's focused: see his tongue sticking out?


This is what the girls do during soccer (below). They also read books and play tag with each other, run around with other kids, and climb on/play near those football blocking practice things (I don't know what they're called! LOL) Sometimes they do cheer for Austin's team. Julia brought little pennants with "Go Team" on them a couple times, that she and Lauren waved around.


Austin and James; And Lauren eating an orange slice at half time. There were plenty for the girls, since there were only the three players there today! The girls were happy to be included at snack time. There were no other siblings of Austin's teammates there today. Julia and Lauren also got a bag of snacks to share after the game, from the coach.


He does pretty well kicking the ball. He just needs to work on following it after he kicks it! He does really well at blocking the opposing players. Go Austin, Go!


Here she snuck into the post again... Just waking up after sleeping through the whole game. :)


Brian and Julia are off in Santa Maria, buying lead for her Grand Prix car. They are going to have an Awana Grand Prix, and she has to have her car entered this Tuesday. It can't way over 5 oz., so they are also weighing it at Brian's office where they have a postal scale. The rest of the kids are napping, so it is quiet here for a little while!

Kindy Field Trip, Fourteen Weeks

Tuesday Austin had his first field trip, to the Pumpkin Patch at the Avila Valley Barn. We go there a lot! It is such a neat place, though, with all the fruit they grow, the animals to see, the produce market and gift shop with samples of candy, nuts, etc. Lauren, Caroline, and I arrived awhile before the buses. Lauren had fun climbing near/around the pumpkins. Most of the piles had "Please Do Not Climb on the Pumpkins" signs on them, but not this pile. It was not quite so steep as the others, maybe that is why?


The Kindergarteners arrived, and each class had a group picture up on this wagon. The little girl who has her eye on him [or so it seems], Cassidy, is on the far left, with the dark hair and turquoise shirt. He is oblivious to her attention. Totally and completely (which we are happy about, at this age! ;) )...



All the Kindergarten classes rode on three hay wagons out to the pumpkin patch. The tractor drivers had buckets of apples that were grown at the farm, and everybody got one to eat on the ride. Each kid got to choose a sugar pumpkin (Austin has his in the picture) and a mini pumpkin--they are the teeny tiny ones by his feet. Back at the "yard", near the store, the kids got to go through the hay maze and look at the animals. The teachers had the kids choose buddies to go through the maze, in case somebody got scared. Austin and his buddy ended up being a threesome when a lone little boy joined their group, and then a foursome when Lauren joined! However--our kids went through that maze over and over when we went with my mom and dad, and their little group got separated pretty fast. I don't think anyone ended up scared. We ate lunch out at the picnic tables, and then the kids left to go back to school.



Lauren wanted to feed the animals, and really liked staying after the students left, just the two (well three, including Caroline) of us. She was so cute feeding the goats: "Here Baby, here's some tood (food) for you. Here Mommy, here's some tood for you." She was talking to all the animals as she fed them. She fed the cow, and it bit her! Although I am not sure if it was with its teeth (didn't see any marks) or just clamped its gums on her little fingers. It scared her though! On the way to out, as we passed the goats she'd fed first, she talked to them and said, "There. Now you have some nice tood in your tummies." :)


Monday was Columbus Day, and Brian had it off from work, though the kids still had school. However, Austin and Julia both had fevers and Austin was complaining about his ears hurting, so they both ended up staying home. I took Austin to the doctor, and sure enough, one ear was clear, but the other was plugged. He was only healthy for about a week after he finished his last round of antibiotics (amoxicillin), and then he got another cold and it has turned into an ear infection. So now he is on Septra? Cippro? Not sure, as we got a generic form, some sulfa- drug. Austin also has trouble hearing right now, I really think from his ear infection. It is comical though, we have to almost shout for him to hear us, and it's best to make eye contact so he doesn't totally tune us out! I told his teacher at school so she would know in case he wasn't paying attention!


Tonight when I picked Julia up from choir at church, I talked to one of the dads who was waiting for his kids. I'd seen him talking to Austin's teacher one morning at school and asked how he knew her. He used to be the athletic director at the high school. Anyway, he said he is the Kindergarten PE teacher (Well, that and organizes PE for the elementary schools in the district). I thought he was joking at first, but he was serious! I told him Austin never said anything about having PE. LOL At home I told Austin, "I didn't know you have PE in Kindergarten..." He looks blankly at me, "What?!" And I have to repeat louder, as he didn't hear me the first time. This time he answers, still looking puzzled, "What's PE?" LOL I asked him if a man comes to school to teach his class exercises and games, and then he smiled and understood. I asked him if it was Emma's dad. He answered, "Who's Emma?!" Oh my... So different than the girls. We used to be in a Bible study group with this family, saw them every week, and also did several activities with them. I was surprised he forgot all that. He has other things on his mind, I tell you. Things like Legos and Thomas and his remote-control truck, and soccer and playing with Solomon and rigging things up with his bouncy balloon. Forget Emma. Forget PE. Forget Cassidy (well, don't pay her any attention to begin with, actually...)


Here is Caroline napping in her bouncy seat: love those cheeks, love those eyelashes! All the kids got their daddy's super long eyelashes, so long that when their eyes are open their lashes touch their eyebrows! Cute!



Brian used the SteamVac to clean all the carpets. I am SO glad to have that done; they always look so much better after they're cleaned, and they were really getting spotted and gross! Here he is taking a break, watching Swiss Family Robinson (I think) with Austin and Lauren. Julia watched most of it too, as she pretty much layed on the couch all day. You can see the tracks in the carpet from in being cleaned!



Not sure what Miss Pajama Legs is doing in the background--not laying on the couch though. Austin's bouncy balloon from his party is hanging on the chair.



The little sweetheart and me. She's getting quite the bald spot on the back of her head, and her hair seems to be thinning on the top too.



Caroline is 14 weeks today. It was hot again here. Yesterday it was 91, today was similar, and tomorrow is supposed to be 87! It was comfortable outside this evening, and nice to be out there. Below Lauren is singing songs with hand motions and doing Patty Cake with Caroline. She sings The Eensy Weensy Spider and Inright Outright Upright Downright Happy All the Time to Caroline.


I just love these expressions, and just love this baby! She is a good baby and a delight to have in our family. Lauren tells me several times a day, "Tarowine is a sweet baby... We all wove her so much...!" And it is true!