Whiling away the dog days of summer...
Annabel is taking after Daniel these days with her creativity and imagination...here she made a "plane" complete with wings and wheels which she cut out of paper, a stool for the pilot and a place to sleep on the long flight, and, not pictured, she also had a kitchen for making food to eat during the flight. You can see the "wing" at the bottom of this pic and the "wheel" to the right. And of course I couldn't resist a picture of Annabel drawing on giant paper with her little feet poking out- too cute.
Cousins! The kids have loved meeting up with Bella and Kaleb at various events hosted by our library this summer. This was a trackless train and bookmobile meet-up- so fun! This was also the day before Josie was born- good timing for one last spontaneous meet-up!
The kids were excited to help Daddy mow!
Annabel wanted a tank top like Daniel's (he has an awesome new Star Wars tank top- Annabel was jealous)- specifically a "Frozen" one, so I whipped this aqua blue ombre colored tank out of her drawers and called it Frozen with all the "Elsa" colors- she was delighted! So if she tells you this is her Frozen tank top, you'll know why. I can make a good sell!
Gymnastics, gymnastics, gymnastics ALL the time in this house! These are very determined and really strong kids lately! Daniel is doing really well with handstands and cartwheels. Annabel is getting better and better at handstands- she's not going to stop till she nails it! And lately, it's been handstands into backbends...aiyiyi, girl- slow down! One skill at a time. Seriously, the kids can't get enough of practicing gymnastics skills. They've loved going to their gymnastics camps and classes this summer, too.
Of course we're catching every single Lowe's superhero workshop this summer!
Daniel went grocery shopping with me one afternoon and we spotted this horned melon, also called a kiwano. It's an expensive fruit, so I did not spring for it that day. But we came home and told Daddy about it and he asked why we didn't get it- I told him why, he still said to pick one up next time. So...we did. Then it sat around for a while until I was finally brave enough to try it (but not before Googling it to see how to cut and eat it...I really had NO idea what to expect!). The kids were so excited to help me try it and we had a great time. It's basically green goo inside, which you can pretty much drink and the seeds are edible (and really hard to NOT eat- so eat them you must pretty much). First we scooped some out with our spoons- Daniel had fun with this, Annabel did not want the seeds so she didn't like the scoops. Then we just poured it into a bowl and ate from there. I mentioned that you could just hold the fruit up to your mouth like a cup and drink it like that- Annabel was totally game for that method! So cute! Daniel wanted nothing to do with drinking it like that. None of us loved the flavor- but we ate about half of the fruit in these different ways. It tasted like a banana, which I'd read it would- nothing spectacular really. But it was fun! Annabel asked for another one a couple days ago- but, we've been there done that, I think. Still, I felt very worldly giving my children this unique fruit from another part of the world!
Last Saturday was the HOTTEST day of this Summer so far (we're talking a "feels like" temp of at least 105)...so we definitely made it a point to stay indoors. The kids spotted our Disney version of the Apples to Apples game on a shelf in the very nearly empty basement (I'm not actually sure why this game of all games stayed behind...) and our Rummikub game. Annabel, my game lover, was very excited to try these games out. Oh my gosh did we have a blast! We sat and played these games for almost two hours.
Rummikub was first and we just made sets and runs whenever we could (still following rules, but I didn't do any minimum points or anything like that- just straight up make a group or a run of numbers)- the kids did really well with this, Annabel especially. Daniel caught on real fast to "being fancy" I called it and moving numbers around to make his numbers play. It was so fun to see them thinking so hard.
Apples to Apples- such a blast! The kids LOVED being judges and deciding which card fit the describing word given. It was a great vocabulary lesson, for Annabel especially, which I loved. But the best part was they could totally play it- Daniel or I would read the green word card and we'd match our red picture cards (it didn't matter about reading what that card said, it was all about the pictures, really) and then the judge (we all took turns being judge, I started so they'd get the idea, then Annabel really wanted to try, then Daniel finally came around) would decide which card matched the word given. Daniel was really good at matching cards to the words- he snagged so many points! Annabel was the cutest little judge, with her sweet little expressions and internal debates so readily expressed on her face. Daniel was an eager and fun judge, having fun with the cards and categories and expressing exasperation in dramatic fashion if they didn't really match or excitement at having picked the perfect match. Oh we just had the best time. Such a great game! The kids were SO excited to play with Daddy that night when he got home from building closets at the new house. We've played every day since then!
It never ceases to amaze me that Daniel can sit like this...
Daniel invented this game of tossing the highlighter markers at the paper to make marks. We set it up outside (so marks wouldn't be made on our floors) and the kids had a lot of fun with that. You may notice Annabel is wearing Daniel's clothes- this has been happening a lot lately! They think this is just hilarious- Daniel loves sharing with her, Annabel loves wearing her brother's clothes and they do fit her, of course.
Annabel found the rest of the large sheets of paper that they'd used for marker tossing and she decided she wanted me to trace her body so she could decorate it. They both thought this was just so much fun! It was cute to watch them and see the different ways they decorated their bodies. Annabel was all rainbows and roller skates (yes, she made wheels on her "shoes"- so cute!), while Daniel was keen to draw black shirt and shorts to match his own outfit. Daniel was also done in about five minutes, while Annabel worked and worked on hers for a long time...and then she wanted another body tracing. And then she even made her own body drawing, "tracing" a "friend" she said. Just another great activity to fill a little time!
Couldn't resist this back shot...those toes! Those frog legs- how can they sit like this?!
Another day, another body tracing!
Summer means back-to-school shopping eventually...and Daniel really could not wait! He is just so excited that he gets to buy supplies and take them to school. He asks almost daily when school starts- he's excited to go and I love that! His new principal called us the other day to personally welcome us- I was super impressed! So sweet. We have a few opportunities to get tours (given by current families) and meet the teachers, too. The school year is getting closer and closer- just four weeks away already! Annabel is incredibly jealous that she does not go back as early as Daniel (she starts after Labor Day, on my birthday actually- Sept. 9th).
Yesterday was a marathon outdoor day- we were outside for a total of 6 hours in a 10 hour time frame! We started with sprinkler fun in our yard, next was a picnic lunch and play at the "un-sand" park near our house, then we meandered via pond and prairie pathways to the "sand" park, then we came home and went to the new house, where we went to the school park. After dinner we were back at the sand park, because the kids were super excited to show Daddy their new climbing wall successes! The kids have just never really been that interested in the climbing walls found at parks, but this time, for whatever reason it caught their eye and with how strong they are getting lately, wow- they did great! They were super proud and just so excited! Of course I didn't have my camera the first time we went, but that night, I made sure to grab it. We've been back a couple times today for more climbing wall practice!
Today we were pretty busy with this and that all day long, but when we finally had some quiet time at home while I was cooking dinner, Daniel got his building kit out and he and Annabel made such creative things on their own. I was so impressed with what they made! Annabel's was a really neat spaceship; she did this all on her own (with only a tiny bit of help holding just a few pieces together so she could get the bolts on the screws)- Daniel was actually jealous of her creation, which was a big compliment to Annabel, I thought! Daniel made a really cool plane/car with neat wings off the side, but he'd taken it apart by the time I grabbed the camera...next time. Anyway, so fun to finally see them thinking outside the box with this building set and to see Annabel getting so much more creative and coming into her own more!
