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!