Lucia's Daily Review 9/17/12

So many posts to catch up on, but in the meantime...

Lucia reflects on her day at school. Life without her big sister (and her big sister's friends) is hard sometimes. But not for that long.

Beach Bliss 2012

Our first evening at Topsail.  This was supposed to be a "five minute walk on the beach" before bedtime.  [This was much more fun though!]

Hooray for Summer!

Nuestra Casa en Monteverde: Party Rock: I think you can follow the link to the video on Kate's blog to check out the girls' party rockin'...

Safari Camp

Last week the girls went to camp put on by Spanish Playtime at their preschool.  The theme was "Safari", and face painting was the highlight!

Isabelle the Author

Isabelle has always liked to "type" on my computer.  Today was the first time she was seeking out specific letters and sounding things out to make a story.  Her full story is below.  We had to help her with "parrot", "Uncle Nesto" and "earring", but otherwise, she did this herself! 

[She had plans to move on to include Aunt Kate, but you may have noticed that she was sliding into silly, and the sentence she had proposed for Aunt Kate went too far in that direction.]

MacGyver Mama

The girls and I went to the library this afternoon.  Lucia said she had to go potty.  We made it to the stall and on the potty, but her placement was off and she managed to get pee everywhere, soaking her undies and skirt.  So there we were in the stall.  And her clothes were wet.  And she wanted nothing to do with wet clothes.  So after checking in my purse for spare undies (they've been found there before!) and coming up empty handed, I figured I could take off the cami I had under my t-shirt and make it into a dress.  Just tied the straps up in back and voila!  Pretty cute!  So we proceeded on to Bed, Bath, and Beyond and the grocery store with Lucia in this outfit, sans undies.  She kept asking if she could keep the shirt now as her dress and put it in her drawer.

Christmas in... June?

I came home from work yesterday to this welcoming committee.  The girls were "hiding" from me, and whispering about something.  I was simply struck by their attire.  But hey, they really only got one day's wear out of those Christmas dresses anyway, so might as well wear them!

It turns out that all of the whispering (and staying so close to one another) was about their hilarious secret:  They had tied themselves together using the sashes from their dresses.  That was all well and good, until Lucia wanted to go a different direction (see final pic).  There's really never a dull moment!



Rising Kindergartener

Tonight was Belle's orientation for Kindergarten!  It was mildly chaotic with so many 5 year olds and parents and siblings, but Belle did great going with one of the teachers from her track to do a craft while the parents got oriented.  Lucia threw her arms around Isabelle before Belle headed off and said, "I gonna miss you!"  Both survived.  Isabelle wanted to go back with her teacher within 5 minutes of rejoining us in the auditorium.  August 1 is coming soon enough!!  I really like the school, the principal, and the teachers... fingers crossed she gets the same one she's already met and likes.  (And who I've heard nothing but great things about!)  I think she's ready - and have a feeling the adjustment is going to be harder on Lucia's end!

Sharing a chair with her buddy Evie before the program began.

First Day of Swim Practice 6/5/12

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
www.onetruemedia.com

Sleeping Cuties

Ever seen one of those pictures of kittens or puppies sleeping in a heap, draped all over one another? I guess that's what the girls were aiming for last night...

That's Isabelle sleeping in Lucia's bed, with Lucia sleeping perpindicular - legs draped over her sister. Both were fast asleep. From what I saw prior to this, and the recounting of the bedtime drama that I heard this morning, Isabelle fell asleep on the edge of her bed, rolled into Lucia's, and proceeded to crowd her out. So apparently rather than moving into Isabelle's bed, Lucia just repositioned herself. She does like to have a warm body in bed with her!

[Special thanks to Gramma for the new sheets - they look great and the girls love them!]

Oh Lu!

One day last week, the girls came home from school, and Lucia went upstairs to change into her jammies for nap time. Then it was quiet. For a bit too long. When Jay went up to see what she was up to, this is what he found: naked Lucia, sitting in the sink, covered in body lotion and Vaseline. Both were taken from the medicine cabinet that she would have had to stand on the counter to reach. I now notice the open toothpaste tube on the counter, and I'm betting she probably sucked on that too. Sometimes I'm glad that I'm at work... the pictures were the only evidence left by the time I got home.

Happy 5th Birthday, Isabelle!!

I have not forgotten Miss Belle's birthday blog post! Just trying to find time to sort through the 500+ pictures! In the meantime, a few pics of my big girl! Can't believe she'll start kindergarten this summer!

NC State Vet School Open House

Last Saturday the NC State Vet School held its open house, so the girls and I went and toured the various exhibits and activities. At one stop the kids could dress like "future vets" and have their picture taken with a dog (it's real, though it looks fake, doesn' t it?). Just got this via email. Will upload other photos once I get them off my camera.

School Picture Preview

The girls had school pictures taken on Friday, and while we were out shopping for a birthday present the night before we saw these cute dresses. I'm not sure when we'll see the official pics (nor how cheesily the girls may have smiled), but I snapped a few before we went to school...

Gymnastics!

After about a 2 year hiatus, Isabelle was ready to tackle gymnastics again, and she is loving it! Lucia and I are doing the parent/toddler class, so I don't get to watch Isabelle much, but she is happy and proud at the end of each session. Lucia had a bit of a scare last week after getting separated from me and cried through the rest of the evening, but she rallied this week and despite saying, "I no want to go to gymnastics, I want to go home and go to bed," on the way there, had a good night.

Isabelle posing in the parking lot with her "rehydration" bottle.

Lucia trying to put on a brave face in the pit. She was clearly scared/sad, but kept trying to plaster a smile over it. Mr. Corey did what he does best and talked to her and then threw her in the air a few times and saved the night. She even picked bars as her first set on the obstacle course, despite saying she was scared of them in the car! She is one strong monkey!

Mud Bath

Clearly I have a lot of updating to do, but this one inspired me to actually upload photos and post on the same day! Isabelle had her "Vaseline" moment (as Brelsfords and affiliates will understand).

We were outside working on decorating the girls' bikes for the Spring Parade at their school. Lucia was running in the yard and slipped in a mud slick. She slimed her whole right side, filled her shoe with goo, and wasn't too happy about it. So I took her inside to clean her up, leaving Isabelle and two neighbor girls out front. When I came back 5 minutes later, this...

"Are you mad at me?"

Nervous waiting...

"I think I might get away with this."


"Yeah, in fact, I'm proud of myself!"


"Gonna dance a jig!"


I was a bit mad at first and sent the neighbor girls home (I'm not a big fan of them in the first place, especially the older one, who was miraculously clean), but when I went in to get the camera, I had to compose myself so I wouldn't laugh when I took these pics. Aside from the fact that Isabelle was wearing her patent leather shoes (her only nice pair) and that it took a LOT of effort to get all of the grass, clover, and other botanical elements out of her hair, a pretty funny way to celebrate the first day of spring!

Birthday Party Season!

Everyone loves a spring baby, right?! Apparently so, with the number of birthday parties we've gotten to celebrate lately! Here are a few pics from the big number 1 of Maverick Osterhoudt (baby brother to Isabelle's birthday buddy, Chandler).