I know, maybe I have a problem.  Charlotte looks really nervous/scared in this one.  She becomes very silent and still when she’s afraid:Here she is more relaxed.  They put a soft blanket on her and gave her sunglasses to shield her eyes from the bright lights.  When we left she told me that it didn’t [...]

Posted on June 29th, 2011 by Kathleen
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Charlotte likes to brush the cats and collect all the fur that comes off of them into a ball.  The other day she was walking around with her ball of fur and she came up with a plan which she was very excited about.  She said that she would make a cat out of pink [...]

Posted on June 28th, 2011 by Kathleen
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I have been fretting that when school was out, the kids would spend too much time in front of the TV or computer screen. I came up with idea to give the kids 30 minute media chips that they can spend and earn.  Here’s how it works:
Each morning they are issued their first two chips [...]

Posted on June 23rd, 2011 by Kathleen
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Tomorrow is the last day of school for Isaac.  He has had a mixed experience with first grade. 
In Knoxville he had a kind and nurturing teacher and I was able to go into his class several times and volunteer.  I think he did well and I don’t remember him ever getting into trouble.
His teacher [...]

Posted on June 20th, 2011 by Kathleen
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What better way to celebrate, than children’s artwork.  Isaac brought home the following from school: 

Posted on June 19th, 2011 by Kathleen
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Here is Isaac’s Card for Grandpa Bird.  This is the front cover and the back.  It’s interesting to me that he often draws it raining since we moved to Seattle.  I asked if he was frowning in the picture on the back because he missed his grandpa, he said it was because he couldn’t play [...]

Posted on June 19th, 2011 by Kathleen
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He was excited about the idea of having his sisters wake up to a surprise birthday breakfast of eggs and bacon.  Unfortunately, two of them were up before breakfast so he had to just surprise Charlotte. 
After breakfast we all walked to school.    Isaac carried a cupcake and a note he had written to his [...]

Posted on June 18th, 2011 by Kathleen
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Last year, we enjoyed cheering Isaac on in field day in Knoxville, so naturally we thought we’d support him again this year.  Only Carriage Crest does a field day like I’ve never seen.  It was more like one of those elementary school carnivals than a field day.  They had 35 stations and at each station [...]

Posted on June 14th, 2011 by Kathleen
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Sunny and cool, and perfect for fun outside.Some days, life is not about having a perfectly clean house or having a nice dinner right on schedule.  These are the days to let go of the schedule and let the kids be kids.  I love the freedom that I have as a stay-at-home-mom.  I love that [...]

Posted on June 10th, 2011 by Kathleen
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I’ve been frustrated in the past that I can’t place any memories in Kindergarten.  Today, my kindergarten teacher posted a picture of our kindergarten class on Facebook.  Thanks to being friends with some girls I went to kindergarten with who were tagged in the picture, here it is:
(I’m the first one in the second row.  [...]

Posted on June 9th, 2011 by Kathleen
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Grandpa Bird left some pipes and elbows for Isaac to play with.  Isaac really enjoyed putting them together in different ways. 
Last week, Isaac and his friend, Ryan experimented with a variety of different configurations.  Once they built something that they liked, they turned on the water and watched to see where the water would [...]

Posted on June 8th, 2011 by Kathleen
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I always assumed that none of my kids were picky eaters because of something that I did.  Turns out I was wrong.  In fact, a lot of the things I took credit for with one child or another, I’ve learned had more to do with their individual personalities than anything I did.
So, for those of [...]

Posted on June 8th, 2011 by Kathleen
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It’s no secret that my little Charlotte is a cat lover.  She spends a good part of everyday chasing our cats around the house.  She brushes them and pets them and carries them around.  She likes books about cats and items adorned with cats.  She talks about cats, she draws pictures of cats, she probably [...]

Posted on June 6th, 2011 by Kathleen
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So, what do we do when we actually get a sunny day here in Seattle*?  We pretend it’s raining:To be fair, we have actually had a lot of sunny days lately.  When the weather is nice here, it’s stunningly beautiful!
*Technically we’re in the unincorporated Fairwood area between Renton and Kent, but you know what I [...]

Posted on June 6th, 2011 by Kathleen
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My Dad came to visit us from Ohio.  He arrived during breakfast on Friday and left just before 10:00 AM on Tuesday.  We had a good time and really enjoyed our visit.  This morning, the bus driver asked about Isaac’s grandpa and said that Isaac was very sad on the bus Tuesday morning after saying [...]

Posted on June 1st, 2011 by Kathleen
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I’ll be honest, this is a bit of a dull thing to blog about, but it’s been such a source of stress and anxiety this week, that I’m writing about it anyway.  One thing I’ve learned about being a parent is that it’s easy to fret yourself into turning a normal virus into a potentially [...]

Posted on June 1st, 2011 by Kathleen
Filed under: General | 2 Comments »