Christmas Pics

Ember meeting her (second) cousin Landon

Ember opening presents on Christmas Eve

Willow on Christmas Eve

Ember with Great-Great Grandma Miller

Ryvre totally intrigued with his stocking candy (Christmas day)

Willow, with one of her favorite gifts

Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays

Love,
Ryvre, Willow, Ember
Dale and Michelle

Christmas and Cheerios

Christmas with the in-laws

Yeah, that's my FIL's rear.  Ironically, it was the only pic that turned out really well besides.  Ember wouldn't hold still long enough to make it into any of the pics.
And another reason i love toddlers...

She got her own snack.  Awefully proud of herself.

Still Learning

We are still learning, i just haven't been posting.

Ryvre spelled his first word the day before his fifth birthday; it was "bunny."  We have been spelling words aloud alot.  On Sunday, Dale discovered that Ryvre remembers the spellings of words better if they're sung...i feel very foolish spelling random words to a tune, but it does help!  He remembers the names of family members best, but he is getting the hang of a few four and five-letter words too; he doesn't remember them at first, but if we help him once or twice he remembers them for the next hour or so.  I also made a big kindergarten-style word list, and he is able to tell me most of the words on sight, most of the time, based on some of the letter sounds and memory.

Right now the kids are painting holiday ornaments (precut wooden doves and celtic crosses from the craft store). 

Ryvre's Birthday and Halloween

Ryvre's party was awesome
Ember and i picked up our friend Jack from his school, came home, played for a bit, and had pizza.  Then we went trick-or-treating, came home for cake and favors, and when Rachel (Jack's mom) got here, we watched a couple of pirate movies (Pirates of the Carribean of course, and Pirate Dora!) and had some grown-up hanging-out time.  Have i ever mentioned how much i love having Jack over?  They all play so well together!
Pics
Kids in their costumes (Ryvre and Willow have been planning to wear their pirate costumes too, but for some reason they changed their mind Halloween morning, and decided they wanted to wear their dragon and unicorn costumes)

Ember Monster (oops, didn't notice the pizza sauce)

The Cake

Ryvre blowing out the candles

A Birthday and the Pumpkin Patch

Lots of pics today!  October is what i fondly call "Birthdaypalooza" With Dale's birthday on the first, and Ember's and Ryvre's on the 26th and 29th, respectively.  In an attempt to spread the festivities a bit, we had Ember's party early, and Ryvre's will be on Halloween (he wanted a pirate/trick-or-treat party, so this works out great!)
Ember's Party
The Cake

Sneaking a Taste.  i left the top block un-iced, planning to serve my little darling that one...she had other plans.

Mmm!

Wearing It

I'm 1!!!

Another Fall tradition of ours is going to the pumpkin patch.  We tried a new one this year, and it was awesome!  Unfortunately, i forgot to bring extra batteries, so the pics are few:
Hay Slide

Brr!

The Patch (what's with Ryvre's face?)

Pumpkin Painting (seriously, a smile maybe?)

Bulleted List

• Library.  Ryvre keeps picking this same book, A Bad Case of the Stripes by David Shannon.  It's very good actually.  Besides that we're mostly reading about why leaves change colors, the lifecycle of pumpkins, etc.  Dale and i both picked up some craft books.  Geeks, i swear.  He found a really good one on t-shirt reconstruction though; i would have never thought our sad little library would have something so cool.
• Library Sale.  By far the best time of year.  The kids each picked several books (nothing really special, i just let them grab whatever struck their fancy, a couple of Pokemon things, animal pop-up book, and who knows what else) and we got three movies (Les Miserables, The Many Adventures of Winnie-the-Pooh--now we can give MIL her copy back and the Barbie Rapunzel one), a Treasury of North American Folktales, Spells of Enchantment (Fairy Tales of Western Culture), and a big fat anime comic book for Dale.  All for just over $6.
• Worksheets.  A portrait of the family (Ryvre drew a really great cat on the back), same and different (too easy). 
• Lots of time outside in the gorgeous fall weather.  Ryvre learned today that if he picks up and holds the cat, his throat feels weird.  Poor kid, he has the worst allergies.  No breathing treatments for several months though, so i'm holding my breath (yes, pun intended).
• i haven't done an Ember update in awhile.  She's too funny, she says everything twice, as a single hyphenated word.  Yesterday she looked out the window and saw the cat, so she pointed and announced (in her oh-so-adorable toddler voice) "Cat-cat."  My she was pleased with herself!  She repeated it several dozen times.  Dale is, of course, "Dad-dad" and Ryvre is "Ra-ra."  I am simply "Meh."  She also points to objects or pictures of people and animals and says "That."  She can walk all the way across the room now, but prefers to crawl because it is still faster.  She is doing the odd  hybrid crawl-bear-walk, on her hands and feet, butt high in the air.  She gets a crazy look in her eye as she does this, which makes it all the more humorous.

Group Hug!

Random Bits

Ryvre drawing on the chalkboard, *not* looking at me, of course This is his finished masterpiece--i'm glad i got a pic because he was pretty pissed off when his sister erased it, lol. The kids did one worksheet today, for the "All About Me" book.  We're seriously behind "schedule" but no worries   Ryvre even helped decorate for fall by drawing an awesome jack-o-lantern and leaves pic on the chalkboard.  It was too pretty not to get a pic of. Edit: photobucket is being an arse.  i'll try again in the morning, and leave you with these instead: Ember eating a pumpkin cookie...want one?   Willow's "new" reconstructed skirt

Library Day

Books to Read: The Accidental Zucchini, Max Grover An Edible Alphabet, Bonnie Christensen A Gardener's Alphabet, Mary Azarian The Graphic Alphabet, David Pelletier My First Farm Book, edited by Constance Robinson Wake Up, Big Barn! Suzanne Tanner Chitwood Midnight Farm, Carly Simon That Sky, That Rain, Carolyn Otto Once in the Country, Tony Johnston Going to Sleep on the Farm, Wendy Cheyette Lewison If You were a Farmer, Virginia Schomp Life on a Crop Farm, Judy Wolfman Baby Farm Animals, Merril Windsor My Chickens, Heather Miller My Cows Magpie Magic, April Wilson We read ten of the books in one hour-long sitting.  That's the longest i think i've ever read at once (aloud i mean!) and it was tiring!

Typical Day

What we* did today: Circles and Squares Math worsheet: Circles.  Color the items that are circles (too easy) Math worksheet: Squares.  Match the square item to the square shape (also too easy, the rectangle didn't even trip him up) pointed out all the circles and squares in the house--too easy so i called out other shapes.  It was fun to run around like maniacs trying to find the next shape! demonstrated different shapes using a beaded necklace.  Willow really loved this game. Found small items of various shapes to trace and color. Ran errands Post Office to buy stamps (Ryvre told everyone in the place all about his worksheets and finding shapes LOL) Bank Thrift store; each picked a halloween book and a coloring book We planned to go to the library, but it was closed.  Not sure why since everything else was open today! Alphabet Made his own upper- and lower-case flashcards; needed reminders on about 1/8 of the letters Put cards into alphabetical order--some trouble because he had a hard time reading his own writing; did about half and got discouraged. *It can generally be assumed that Willow is doing exactly what her brother is doing, to the best of her ability.  It might mean simply coloring the worksheet instead of doing the work, but you can bet she's right in the middle of each and every activity, except in the rare instance that she's decided she needs a nap, or would rather play with her dolls.

First Steps

	My baby is walking!!! Ember took three steps towards her daddy today.

Kid Stats

Ryvre
age: 4 years, 9 months, 26 days
Height: 42.75 inches (65% percentile)
Weight: 42 lbs (65% percentile)

Willow
age: 3 years, 1 month, 23 days
Height: 37.5 inches (75% percentile)
Weight: 33 lbs (75% percentile)

Ember
age: 9 months, 29 days
Height: 29.5 inches (90% percentile)
Weight: 23.75 lbs (90% percentile)

Wonders of Wildlife

Yesterday we went to Wonders of Wildlife...Before i broke my camera, i managed to upload some pics...enjoy, because it may be a very long time before i have any more to share I know Ryvre isn't in the most flattering of poses here...but i love how Willow is pressed up against the glass, haha. Dale and i debated for a bit how thick we thought the glass was, so he reached the top and checked. Four inches. Looking at the underside of a waterfall...this one was totally posed Ember loved watching the fish swim by--WOW that one was big! i would have much prefered to carry her in the mei tai, but she only likes that for a few minutes at a time these days :( The spongebob chair is all cool though... Crawling through a bear den, if i remember correctly...i was proud of this shot, it was taken in complete darkness according to the LCD screen, but it came out perfect! (*sniff* i miss my camera!!!) Willow coming out of the same tunnel Under the domed terrarium (that's another kid's hand, pointing out the frog Fish Racing Under each "rock" was a model of a critter known to idicate water quality (reminescent of my Stream Team days!) Dale, taunting Ember with the foam fish...nice Virtual Fishing...Dale said this was pretty hard Willow's turn; you can tell she's doing alot of the work! Petting a starfish Inside a Fish

Chocolate Baby

				Ember had her first Oreo today, thanks to Willow. The mess was pretty ridiculous; her arms, legs, hands, feet, and onesie all looked like her face, not to mention the pawprints all over the couch, carpet, coffee table, and stack of folded laundry next to her.  And what about that chocolate booger, WTF???  She does look awfully pleased with herself though, doesn't she?

Willow's 3rd Birthday

Willow's party was awesome, despite the fact that only one friend showed up!  Seriously, i invited 12 kids, and only one came.  I know it's a busy weekend, and the moms of 6 of the kids were kind enough to tell me they had other plans.  Two more, i didn't hear from, so whatever, but the other three led me to believe they were coming, but didn't call or anything (one of these has done this to me before!!!).  Nevermind that we spent money we didn't need to for food and party favors enough for all those kids and their families (thanks, by the way, for letting me do that b*******), i just thought it was pretty crappy that our supposed friends didn't think enough of us to at least let us know they wouldn't be there!  Poor Willow, she's THREE, NOT AN IDIOT.  And yes, when she's told her friends are coming for a party, she IS disappointed that they don't.  She is "old enough to understand" and even if she wasn't, it's still not cool. End Rant. ANYWAY we did have fun, Dale's parents bbq-ed a bunch of stuff, and we had LOTS of fruit and cupcakes.  Willow decorated them last night, except for a few i arranged as a flower...yeah, one of my "famous" birthday cakes, heh.  But noone complained :)  My mom came over, and so did my friend Rachel and her little boy, Jack.  Rachel almost didn't make it, but i'm glad she did; we love the company of our family, but finally having another kid there really made it special for my little people :)  They played all over the playground and the pool; it was so much fun!  i think they liked just being with him as much as they would have with a whole mess of kids :)  and Jack is very mild-mannered like Willow, so it was cool that they got to kind of set the tone instead of Ryvre for once..that boy does tend to rule a crowd ;) Willow wearing her new crown The Cake In the "boat" with Jack!

Lake Fun

	The kids at Table Rock Lake   Ryvre, being wild as usual   Sweet Willow   Ember, trying to eat rocks   Weirdos posing for the camera!