Pumpkin Pies

 The girls have been talking about baking pies for Thanksgiving for over a month.  New Fish was especially excited to try out a pumpkin pie.  I had never made pie before (I don't like pie or pumpkin very much) so I figured the girls couldn't be any worse at it than I would be so I let the lion's share of the work. They were pretty thrilled with their pies although they both ended up deciding they don't actually like pumpkin pie.

High School Friends

I got together with some friends from high school and it was so much fun.  I love having friends that you can pick up right where you left off and catch up.  We laughed, we commiserated, we caught up with each other's lives.  There is something to be said for friends who knew you when you were young.

Leaf Pile

Art Contest Photo

My neighbor made sure I at least had a photo of Red Fish from the assembly where her award was presented.  She looks a little shocked.  If I had realized it was the day she would be presented with an award I might have encouraged her to wear matching clothes that day but the outfit made her happy.

More Snuggling

We do this a lot. It's the best.

Baby Thief

Just a picture of me holding a baby that I like to steal from time to time.  His name is Mr. Squishy.

Rawr means happy birthday in dinosaur

The cake that Red Fish refused to eat because she hates cake.  She is an ice cream girl.

 Little Red Fish is a lover.  She loves everyone.  She wants to be best friends with everyone.  This is a great quality but it makes birthday party guest lists difficult, even when you try limiting to neighborhood kids.  We had a very rowdy and very fun party at the dinosaur museum.  It was a blast.  Our tour guide/party host was fabulous and he let the kids move at their own pace.  He took them on a great tour of the museum.

 The kids made plaster fossils in a mold.

 Red Fish got a plethora of unicorns and games.  It was really cute how excited her friends were over her gifts.  They know her well.  They all seemed to know exactly what she would love about each gift.  She is a lucky girl to have so many cute friends in her life.

Then they played in the tinkerlab.

Because I ThinkJust About Everything They Do Is Cute

Building an electromagnet

 I've been reading articles about raising kids that have blown my mind a little bit.  The first was about the importance of teaching children about the possibility of becoming an entrepreneur.  The author posited that most children don't even grow up knowing that they can market their own ideas or start their own company or that working for themselves is even an option.  I guess I had never thought about that because my parents are entrepreneurs and I took it for granted.  It made me think quite a bit about teaching my kids the power of their own ideas and potential.

 I also read an article about the lack of scientific learning and play in most young girls' lives.  The article was in response to a really awesome Goldiblox commercial.  If you watch it and are inspired to build giant mousetraps please come over so we can do it with you.  I will paint with your kids in return.  I am not very mechanically minded so I'm not sure my girls will have a lot of engineering opportunities but I have really enjoyed doing science projects with them the last couple of years.

A carousel horse picture drawn by Red Fish.  When she slows down and takes her time she draws really well. 

Good Mom Day/Bad Mom Day

The last couple of days have not gone at all as planned.  Yesterday I planned to get several things done and didn't manage most of them.  Instead I spent hours reading to the kids (until I lost my voice) did glue-less collages with New Fish and Thing 1 after swimming lessons and picked Red Fish up from kindergarten.  Red Fish was dying to ride her new bike and Thing 1 really loves our old tricycle so we planned to be outside for a half hour before lunch.  That half hour turned into three hours with a picnic, bike rides, bubbles, painting, tag, friends and sunshine for three hours. I'm a sucker for nice weather and happy kids. It nearly killed us to go inside and take care of a few things. Everyone was happy for piano practicing, reading etc.  It was a good Mom day.

Today has not gone as planned either.  I couldn't go to a friends event that I was looking forward to.  I got a ton of design work done even though I have a terrible cold and can't talk but when I picked Red Fish up from school she burst into tears in the car.  I got my days mixed up and missed the assembly that was today (not tomorrow like I was thinking.)  She won a prize in an art competition for the school and gets to move on to the district level.  I am so proud of her I could burst.  I'm also devastated that I missed it. I wanted to be there so badly.  She is so excited that she won.  One of my friends got pictures for me so I will have to post those later. You would think I would know that tomorrow is the 13th since it is my birthday.  Can't even remember my own birthday.  Don't ask me how old I am.  I can't remember.  Bad Mom day.

Little Snuggler

We have been reading Harry Potter at night.  Two Fish had never read it so he has been reading it out loud to the girls.  New Fish claims to love it but this is what she looks like about ten minutes into the chapter.  I don't mind the extra snuggles.

Making Ice Cream

 We tried our hand at making ice cream for Red Fish's sixth birthday.  Red Fish isn't a big fan of cake.  We made vanilla (her favorite flavor) and dyed it pink so it would be exciting.  Both girls loved the process.

 

 I think we will probably be making a lot of ice cream from now on.  Our little ice cream lover, Red Fish has already been dreaming of different flavors we can test out.

Six

It feels like she was just a little bald baby with red fuzz yesterday.  I can't believe she is six years old.  It is all going too fast for me.  We took her to buy a new bike yesterday.  It's hot pink.  Her other bike was getting too small and she pretty much rides her bike everyday.  I'm glad she likes being outdoors so much. 

We had our first parent teacher conference this week.  Red Fish got all of the highest marks on her report card. (There aren't real grades just mastery of different topics and behavioral things.) The teacher said that she works hard, she is a good listener, she is very smart and very kind to the other students.  Her teacher said she is a delight to have in the classroom.  Her only goal for the coming trimester was to try and be more patient raising her hand.  Red Fish always wants to shout out the answer.  I've got to say that it was rather thrilling to hear that her biggest issue as a kindergartener is talking too much since she had to work so hard to learn to talk and to not be afraid of talking in front of other people.

Red Fish is so kind to her little sister and it makes me so happy.  If she gets two of something she automatically saves one for New Fish.  If she has a treat from school she will break it in half and save part for New Fish when she gets home.  Red Fish has such a tender little heart.  She is extremely sensitive and empathetic.  She loves people deeply- her family, her friends, teachers, neighbors etc. 

She is an enthusiastic artist and she is loving playing the piano.  She is becoming a great little reader and is already plowing through the new books she got from Grandma for her birthday. She is enthusiastic about life.

Every single day I thank my Heavenly Father for sending this sweet, vivacious, imaginative, brilliant little girl to us.  Being her mom is my everything. 

Blowing Glass

 The girls and I have been reading See How It's Made a little bit at a time. We plan to try out several of the things we have read about so far like making ice cream.  I have an ice cream maker that I've never even opened. We read today about blowing glass and then the girls watched a few youtube videos and we looked at some of my blown glass things.  New Fish kept insisting that we needed to try blowing glass and I kept telling her that we didn't have the skills or the supplies to try blowing glass.  She told me: "All we need is some sort of goo and poles to blow on.  All of the sudden I remembered that we had exactly that.  Over a year or so ago my Dad bought the girls "Magic Plastic" balloon supplies from Hammond toystore.  We tried them a couple of times but made a big mess and the girls were too young to do it.  We broke them out again today and had so much fun "blowing glass."  They could add their own colors and blow out the balloons.  Thanks to my Dad for making me a hero mommy today.

If You Teach A Two Year Old Twister

 The girls taught Thing 1 how to play Twister while he was at our house the other day.  Just a note for the future- if you teach a two year old Twister, things are oing to get crazy!

PJ Party

 The girls had the buddies over for a later night and decided to have a PJ party.  We ate treats, played games and read a lot of books.  They also had a pajama fashion show directed by Red Fish and all four of them have some pretty hilarious model walks.  Modern Art memory has become a favorite game around here and these four kids annihilated me.  My pride is a little hurt.

Runway Models

Evidence the girls have been watching Project Runway with me.  They also dress themselves up and stomp up and down the hall showing me their walk.

The Good Parts

 I recently read "Olive Kitteridge"  by Elizabeth Storout and then also saw the play "Other Desert Cities" with my husband.  Neither the book or the play were my favorite but I have thought about them quite a bit.  Both deal with a lot of the family dysfunction, mental illness and the general difficulties of life.  They both made me sad because they seem to miss all of the really happy parts of being a parent or being part of a family.  I agree that everyone is dealing with a lot of really difficult things that tend to hide behind the surface.  Everyone is fighting a hard battle and most of the time the people around them have no idea what happens inside a person's life.  The part that was left out of this book and this play is a look at all of the tiny moments that just make life wonderful.  The extra minutes in the morning that one of my girls come in to cuddle before we have to get ready for the day.  Teaching my kids something new or seeing them understand something for the first time.  The peaceful evenings or the laughter filled dinners that occur every once in awhile and you connect with your family in what seems like a perfect few hours.  The way it feels to see your child do something truly kind. These missed all of the invisible strings and intense bonds of love that connect a family.  It didn't show any of the people who reach out a hand to help when you need it most.  There are so many things that make life wonderful and I have so much to be grateful for.  I'm hoping that recognizing the great things about life and the important parts of relationships will make sure they wouldn't be written as a tiny part of my own story.

The Daily Attire

 

I used to worry that people wouldn't realize that New Fish dresses herself.  Now I'm not worried.  It is pretty clear.  Who doesn't need a ball gown, lei and fairy wings for bike riding?