Hat Thursday

Today's Dr. Seuss celebration involved hats!

Here's Autumn:

Every few weeks I help out in Autumn's classroom, and I was at the school today, so I got to snap a picture of both of the kiddos together. 

Calvin was trying to be Freddy Fazbear:

He was disappointed. People kept calling him Abraham Lincoln.

And, Nicky's current collection is this colorful variety of woodland creatures:

Wacky Wednesday

This week at school the kids are doing weird dress-up things for each day to celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday.

Monday was crazy socks. Tuesday was wear green. Today was Wacky Wednesday. This is what Autumn came up with!

She's most excited about her shirt being inside out and backward! Happy Wednesday, wacky girl!

Gymnastics, Sunsets, and Writing Group

Autumn wanted some pictures today at gymnastics, so here she is balancing before class:

 Practicing cartwheels:

 (she's the cute little green dot!)

Andy and the boys met us at Chick-fil-a, so the kids could climb around in the play area for a bit while Andy and I tried to have adult conversations (nothing steamy, just literally trying to be two adults talking without constant interruptions.) 

And on the way home, we saw the most amazing sunset, so we stopped to enjoy it for a few minutes.

My favorite new thing is our "Writing Group." I'm working on a book app with a developer, and it's content I've never written before, so Calvin was helping me with the plot. He said, "we should have our own writing group!" So we got together, wrote for two five-minute bursts, read a chapter in a book about writing for kids, and then shared our stories. It was so much fun! I love the imaginations these two have!

Calvin: A Lego's Life and Time Eyes (one eye sees the past, one eye sees the future)
Autumn: PB&J Eating Ghost and The Disabled, Out of Control Robot

Brilliant, right? I hope it's something we keep up with, because we all loved it, and it was a fun new way to interact.

Star Wars!

We have some good friends who are hardcore Star Wars fans and rented out an entire theater for the new film. We were lucky enough to be on the guest list. Sadly, Andy couldn't get back from Chicago in time, so I brought my brother Jesse as my plus-one. Also sad, I apparently can't read things correctly, and we got there an hour after we were supposed to. Luckily we arrived right as the movie started, but I was sad we missed the mingling and prize drawings and all the fun they'd set up before the show.

We had awesome seats, right in the middle, and a big ol' tub of popcorn. Once we were there, we settled in and had a great time.

Since my family didn't grow up on Star Wars and has never been into it, we bought Jesse a t-shirt so he'd fit in:

We left Nicky asleep at Grandma's house, and she did Princess Leia buns for Autumn. Autumn's shirt is her dad's vintage Star Wars shirt, circa 1980-something.

She looked adorable, but she didn't last long. She asked a million questions, said it was too scary, ate half a bucket of popcorn and drank most of the soda, and then she promptly fell asleep for the rest of the movie:

But Calvin LOVED it. We really liked the movie, and it was fun to see so many of our friends after it ended. Next time we'll show up when we're supposed to, but thankfully everything worked out.

We got home at about 2am. Both kids were fast asleep within seconds of their heads hitting their pillows.

Autumn's Interior Design

Autumn spent most of the day quietly in her room. When I went to check on her, I saw this:

Sure, there's a crazy amount of tape on the walls and marker on the sheets, but she was extremely proud of her artwork and the gallery she created, so it's hard to be mad.

Dear Grandma and Grandpa:

Thank you for religiously checking the blog, even though we're so bad at maintaining it. One day, I swear it will be caught up. Maybe not someday soon, but someday. Until then, here's a glimpse of the kids right now.

 Calvin lost his fifth tooth this week. He's obsessed with all things Pokemon, but especially collecting and trading the cards. He refuses to eat more than half a sandwich at lunch because eating cuts into his recess time. He makes his mother angry because instead of coming straight to the car after school, he feels the need to hold the door open for all the kids. He's a sweetheart. He's very funny and a know-it-all and has matured a lot in the last few months.

 Autumn is a the best big sister. She sings Nicky lullabies and plays with him whenever Calvin's at school. She is constantly begging to play with friends and is definitely the most social one in the family. This week, she beat her entire class in a rhyming game. She won a prize and talked about it for hours. She's smart and creative and sweet and helpful and a joy. She loves making people happy and proud.

This kid. Where to even start? Nicky is a Tasmanian Devil, but he destroys everything with a smile. He's such a cheerful little thing, and I would squeeze him and love on him and kiss him every second of the day if he would let me catch him or hold him long enough. He's behind on speech--won't say more than three words. He would spend the entire days outdoors, preferably wet, and he's obsessed with any type of vehicle. I wish I could keep him exactly the way he is forever.

There you go, Grandma and Grandpa. That's a glimpse into the kids right now. Just because we're bad at calling, bad at updating the blog, and bad at taking time to talk often, it doesn't mean we don't think of you often and love you and miss you! 

And there's your blog post for another month. ;)

XOXO,

All of Us

Z is for Zipline

Today Autumn's class was supposed to draw a picture that started with a Z. I got this text from her teacher:

"Most kids drew a picture of a zebra on the back of their practice sheet. Not Autumn! She went all out with a picture of her family riding a super intense zip line...'on a sunny day!' So creative!!!!"

Grape Juice

Today Calvin and Autumn decided to make their own grape juice. This was the end result:

After a lot of hard work, they both had about a teaspoon worth of juice to drink. At least you have to give them credit for trying something new!

Creeper and Steve

Just another Minecraft dress-up party at our house.

Little Creeper:

 Baby Steve:

The pictures are blurry--he moves too fast!

Counting Down

We're all on break from work and school, just hanging out and waiting for the big day. 

Eating noodles:

Making arm extenders with empty wrapping paper rolls:

Hiding with oven mitts (and watching One Magic Christmas in the background):

Throwing nativity parties with loads of celebrities in attendance:

And after the kids were nestled all snug in their beds, Dad and Mom stayed up late to wrap presents:

 

 It's been a very good day.

Underwear Kids

Calvin and Autumn thought it was hilarious when they wore their underwear as hats tonight.

I thought it was hilarious that they kept them on until they went to bed, completely oblivious as they went on with their evening.   

1/3/14

Autumn's Busy Day

After school today, Autumn was a busy girl.

She put together EIGHT puzzles (I didn't take pictures of the other two):

 Put on a concert where she sang and danced with her little brother:

Played diner and served me dinner:

And this amazing dessert:

Life is busy when you're Autumn Nelson.

Rocket Ship

Autumn found a box. She colored the inside to look like a rocket ship and took her brother to the moon. They came back from the moon sooner than their mother would have liked.

Creative Dance--Parent Day

This year Autumn is in a new dance class called Creative Dance, which focuses on the body's movements and rhythms of different types of music. They do a lot with letters and stories and other fun things that help them learn academic skills along with the coordination and flexibility of dance. We love it.

Every few months, they do a parents' day where we get to stay and watch what they've learned. Here are a few pics and a video from today:

A Perfect Spring Rain

Lately we've had some perfect storms. The first thing the kids always do when they see any raindrops is run for their gear. They love being outside in the pitter-patter, splasing in puddles with their rubber boots, and chasing each other with the spikes on their umbrellas. They love the rain, just like their mama does.

(I spent the morning picking up dozens of earth worms and putting them in a covered spot of the garden so they wouldn't drown in puddles or die on the sidewalk. Just like I remember doing since I was their age).

 Pretty girl.

Funny kids.

A perfect day.

Family Fun

Lately I've been trying to play more board/card/learning games with the kids. Tonight before bed they each picked one. Autumn picked the monkeys:

And Calvin picked Monopoly Jr.:

The kids were so funny to me tonight because Autumn was really into her game, but she lost horribly. She couldn't have cared less about Monopoly, and she killed us all. Calvin had to be coaxed back to the monkey game every two minutes and he won by a landslide. But he was super invested in Monopoly and Autumn wasted him (At least he beat me. By the end I was stealing money from the bank to pay my debts). I'm sure there's a lesson in there somewhere, but mostly we just had fun.

Another thing that cracked me up tonight was that Autumn found these "slippers" and wore them from the time she got out of the bathtub to the time she climbed in bed. They are hand puppets. 

She was sure it was sheer genius that she was using them as slippers because she literally told me every two minutes: "Mom, these are my slippers. They are very soft, and I will wear them to bed. Not puppets. Slippers." She intended to sleep in them, but I guess at the last minute she didn't like how her blanket kept catching on them.

As she slipped them off, she said, "that's okay, tomorrow I'll use them as roller skates." Which means she'll slide on the kitchen floor in them. I guess it's good that they're getting some creative use.