Tellus Science Museum

Friday we went on a field trip with Skyla's school to the Tellus Science Museum in Cartersville. We watched a show in the planetarium and explored the museum. They also had an area where the girls were able to pan for minerals and dig for fossils. Once a month they offer a home school day with lab experiments. One of the rooms was an open play area with different things for the kids to play with. We shared a lot of laughs in front of the trick mirrors. I would like to know more about the giant dump truck!

Things That Bring Me Peace: List One

Les and I have been reflecting on the past lately and making plans for the new year. We have been focusing on living in the moment and realizing how precious life is. We are finding our selves in the kitchen often desperate to just finish a sentence without being interrupted by all that three small kids require. We roll our eyes at each other when they continuously whine, argue or cry over things that seem ridiculous. We vent our anger, frustration and concerns with each other when they are in bed. We want to have more time to get things done and more time to spend alone.

When we do finally catch a moment of silence we realize how amazing the kids are. How sweet, beautiful, kind, funny, smart and healthy they are. We realize that they are kids and they are supposed to act like kids. We want the best for them and we know that this is the only time we get for them to be this age. We realize that our house is full of life, noise, love and laughter. We want life to slow down and start following the advice, "Don't sweat the small stuff." With this in mind I plan to occasionally post about things that bring me peace.

• Jude's new squeal
• Sweet text messages from Lester
• Hearing Skyla singing
• Trader Joe's dark chocolate truffle bar
• Conversations with friends
• Looking at August watching the rain out the window
• A much needed walk in the neighbor hood
• Knowing that my sister will soon be my neighbor
• Reading to the girls
• Seeing Jude smile at me from across the room

Tea Party

Skyla has eagerly been awaiting two events for her birthday. The first was a trip to the American Girl store with Grammy. They had quite a day as she picked out a baby and went to lunch. It was so much fun that she boxed everything back up the next day, put it on the book shelves and re-in acted the event with August playing the role of Grammy. They even put on their coats and got in their "car" and drove to the store to pick out the doll. She kept saying, "I just fell in love with her," when she described how she decided on which doll to choose.

She has also been very busy planning her party. She wanted to have a dress up tea party. She worked hard on making different things for the party and was so excited when the day finally came. The party was what I hoped it would be for her: simple, beautiful and fun.

The girls also enjoyed staying up late and spending some time with "Papa".

Look Out Six!

It's official, our first born is now six! My how the time flies. This has been a big year for Skyla. We moved twice, she became a big sister again, started "school" for the first time, lost her first tooth and started learning to read. All things considered she rolled with the punches and embraced all the changes. We have definitely seen her start to "come out of her shell" little by little. You won't find her chatting it up with strangers yet but she is more comfortable around family and friends and is showing a lot of independence. She is a little mama through and through. She looks out for her little sister and keeps a closer eye on her when we are out in the store than I do. She is so sweet and gentle with Jude and talks to him with such love. She calms him down when he is crying and seems to have a very natural way of nurturing him. Currently she loves: playing with her baby dolls, cutting pictures of things she likes out of magazines, fairies, the colors pink and blue, ice cream, playing with her cousins, ballet/jazz, music, books, cooking/baking and doing anything that "a real mama does".

The Birthday Banner

We have hung the birthday banner in anticipation of Skyla's 6th Birthday. I got the idea to make this banner from one of my favorite blogs http://soulemama.typepad.com/ We decided whenever it is someone in the family's birthday we will hang the banner all week. I made it this summer in my end of pregnancy crafting/nesting frenzy. I just cut out triangle shaped pieces of fabric. Some of them are the same on both sides and some are different. I sewed them wrong sides together just how they would look finished and then used pinking shears to cut the edges. I then sewed them to gingham quilt binding. I can't seem to get a good picture of it but here it is.

Ballet

We went to the library this week and Skyla really wanted to check out a ballet video that she found. When we got home I felt like I literally walked in the door, put my stuff down and turned around to find them completely decked out for a ballet recital. It was a crazy superman style change of clothes and suddenly they were wearing leotards, they both had two barrettes in their hair and they were asking me to tie their ballet shoes.

To Do List

This morning Skyla wanted to write a "to do" list and cross each thing off the list as it was completed.

The list consisted of the following:

Breakfast

Play with my baby

Eat a cliff bar

Eat monkey cookies

Ahh... the simple life

My Name Is August

Les describes August as, "such a kid". She does seem to live in her own little wonderful world. She is always talking and I mean always. So, if she isn't talking to someone else she is talking to herself. I notice her do this a lot in the car and at home on Mondays when her hero/sister is at school. She sings songs to herself and hums little tunes a lot too. I love to watch her playing with her shadow or playing in the sun rays that shine on the floor. She likes to pick up rocks in the parking lots, pull leaves off of trees and collect little things like acorns. This summer we went through the "I can do it myself/I want to control everything" stage. She went through this full force. Unfortunately I was sleep deprived and taking care of a newborn so I wasn't as patient as I would have liked. We all survived though and even though she does still want to get out of the car by herself she does it now without screaming, "I don't want you!". For a while now she does NOT like to be called anything other than August. I sometimes call her Aug, babe, sweetie or something along those lines. She tells me or anyone else immediately, "Don't call me ______, my name is August". Here is a conversation we had this week while taking Skyla to class.

Me: Skyla can you please unbuckle Aug.

August: I'm not Aug mama, I'm August!

Me: Sometimes I call you Aug because it is short for August.

August: But mama, I'm not short!

I have to add these next photos of August covered in marker because I love them so much. A little foreshadowing perhaps...

The Silly Side of Skyla

It has been on my mind to post about this for a while. It's one of those times when Les and I say... if people only knew. Skyla is without a doubt a shy child. We consider it a confident shyness. However, she is often considered very "serious" by people that do not know her very well. Even as a baby she was never quick to give a smile to a stranger in the grocery store. Instead she would stare at people with a look that was often considered "serious". She never misses anything and quietly observes the details of how people look and what they say every day. At home and in other places she feels comfortable, she is often far from serious. She cracks her self up and is always laughing at her sister. She loves to tell funny stories (currently the punch line often involves some potty talk) , she loves to make funny faces, she loves to dance and she loves to be silly! Most importantly... silly or serious she is definitely Skyla and we love her!

"I Told You That You Can Make Stuff From Trash" - SB

Skyla goes to a home school fine arts program on Mondays . She has three classes: art, music and history/drama. I find it interesting that almost every Monday when she gets home she "plays school". She basically acts out events that I'm assuming happened throughout the day. She is always the teacher and August is always the student. It cracks me up to over hear what she tells August. Her favorite class is music so she often teaches August songs she has learned. She even blinks the lights when she needs her student to listen. This week she excitedly wanted to make something from bubble wrap that came in a package. She scurried all over the house gathering her materials (ribbon, tape, paper, scissors and a crayon). She wanted to label their names on each finished project. The project was supposed to be a sled for the girls to ride on. After they decided they were too heavy, it became a sled for their babies.

Happy New Year

We had a great time on New Year's Eve with friends in the neighborhood. The kids even made it until almost midnight. The holidays have seemed longer this year. We have really enjoyed the time together. I have been thinking about resolutions for 2009. In the mean time I wanted to share this bit of inspiration that a friend of mine shared with me.

Promise yourself to be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind. Look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true. Think only of the best, work only for the best, and expect only the best. Forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievemnets of the future. Give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others. Live in the faith that the whole world is on your side so long as you are true to the best that is in you!


- Christian D. Larson