Water fun day two . . . do we have to leave?

We spent more time perfecting our technique on the water slides today.

We got pretty good, but that pesky waterfall always seemed to get us.

You have to see how enormous this place is. This is as much of it as Mommy could show in one picture. There is more on both sides that you can't see, and this is only one of four parks.

After soaking in chlorine for two days straight, we thought it might be a good idea to take a bath before our long van ride home. Mommy put in the bubble bath, turned on the jets, and that "Bubble Monster" seemed to come out of nowhere.

We got him under control quickly though.

It was soon time to head home. It took Jackson 25 minutes to fall asleep. It took everyone else 4.

The Dells in on to something

In a moment of awe, we walked into a waterpark in Wisconsin Dells.

Anna and Sophia were with us too. Their mommy and our mommy brought us to the Dells for a couple days away.

It was pure awesomeness.

We met some new friends . . .

. . . and tried to pace ourselves as best we could.

At the "Wilderness"

It was a pretty uneventful ride to the Dells with our friends Anna & Sophia. We rented a van and all rode together. SO fun!


When we got there, our room wasn't ready, so we went to play in the indoor playground. It was a bit loud for us.


We had lots of fun, though... See?


There was a lot of climbing involved.


When we finally got to our room. Holy Cow! We want to LIVE here forever. Nicer than home!!


Then, we finally got to the waterpark. It was SO awesome. Mommy was too busy riding on slides with us to take too many pictures.


This was a tiny slide we tried out first... hopefully tomorrow we'll get some photos of the "real" slides.


Maybe tomorrow we'll also convince the girls to go down the slides with us?!

Quite a yarn

Also known as the longest story every told. Hopefully you have some time to follow this intricate narative from Jackson.

Watch 'em, ride 'em, drive 'em

We went to an enormous train show. It was awesome. There were all kinds of train displays to watch . . .

. . . and a Thomas to ride. We waved as he went by . . .

. . . and then it was our turn to ride. Awesome.

There was a Thomas, a Percy and a Mavis to drive and/or race. You can probably guess what we hose. We raced them around as fast as they would go.

Daddy insisted on including this photo. Apparently he's impressed by his ability to still lift and hold both of us at the same time. Whatever, everyone knows we're not THAT heavy.

We had a great time checking out all the trains, there was so much to see. We're positive we didn't get to see it all. We'll just have to go back.

Preschool update

We get a written report on each of us during preschool conferences. Here's your chance to see a "snapshot" of where we are with different things.

Jackson
Social/Emotional:
- Accepts changes to routines/schedules --noticed as a difference from last year.
- Loves field trips (especially the school bus).
- Identifies and labels his feelings (yells when mad/frustrated).
- Uses self-help skills with help and reminders.
- Likes to play on his own (mostly plays alone).

Physical:
- Likes to have objects in his hands (rocks, cars, pebbles)-- mentioned that he seems super-sensory as something to watch.
- Throws ball, kicks ball.
- Likes to cut with scissors (needs help holding).
- Holds writing tools very loosely.

Cognitive:
- Uses past/future tense words-- also good at knowing what was yesterday, last week, last month.
- Works on simple tasks and tries different ways to make things work (frustrated easily). -- mentioned he likes to choose his activity, does not like you to choose it for him.
- Recognizes numbers 1-20 (except 12, 13 & 15)

Language:
- Asks lots of questions to help him understand topics -- wants to know why the teacher chose that color over another color, etc.
- Very detailed questions and answers when speaking.
- Follows one-step directions-- gets too distracted to do many more than one thing at a time, i.e. he's the last one to get dressed to go outside because he's too busy looking at everyone else's coat/boots/ etc.
- Likes paper & envelopes, uses scribble writing for messages.

Next steps at school and home:
- Work on fine motor skills-- needs to be able to better hold pencils, scissors, etc.
- Keep encouraging him to talk/ask for help instead of scream.
- Tell him "yes you can!" he often says "No I can't do it."





CharleySocial/Emotional:
- Labels/identifies his feelings (I'm mad because...).
- Completes a task by himself or by asking for help if needed -- noted as improvement from last year.
- Recognizes the feelings of others.
- Has an ongoing relationship with another child (Brian)-- Brian is Charley's "best friend..." apparently his English isn't great, so Charley always asks the teachers what he said.

Physical:
- Throws ball/frisbee with awkward movements (loves it).
- Pedals/steers our large trikes.
- Makes scribbles & simple strokes to write.
- Needs help with cutting.

Cognitive:
- Notices everything (especially when things are different).
- Uses new information/vocabulary ("We wash our hands to get rid of germs.").
- Understand time concepts (simple).
- Can tell higher/lower numbers (knows which question of the day has more answers).

Language:- Uses complex sentences.
- Answers questions with details -- and more details and more details.
- Uses pictures to guess text.
- Predicts story outcomes.

Next Steps at school and at home:
- Fine motor activities
- Keep encouraging "writing."
- Encourage play with others, and learning how to join in a group.

Pie times two

Mommy made pumpkin pie, and you know what that means. PIE FOR BREAKFAST!!!!

Not only is pie for breakfast awesome, but pie for breakfast two days in a row is even awesomer.

Screaming through the zoo

It's been a long time since we've been to the zoo. Man how we've missed it.

We hung out with the fishies for a long time . . .

. . . and we saw a real bald eagle super up close.

And guess what . . . there was even construction to watch too. It was an awesome trip.

A dog and frog

We discovered the dog and frog costumes in our dress-up box that Grandma and Bumpa gave us for our birthday. We've changed into them most mornings the past few days.

The dog and frog are also loving puzzles these days.

Playing dress-up

We played dress up with Audrey and Keighly . . . that turned into trick or treating . . . so fun!

Hard hats required

Daddy finally started working on building our shed in the backyard. It's gonna be awesome, but building it is gonna take a LONG time.

That's why we're doing our best to help out. Just give us a hammer, we'll pound in a 12-inch spike.

Overheard: November 16, 2010

Charley, talking about his preschool friends:

"Jaydon's mean."
-- Charley reminds Mommy (for the millionth time).

"Sometimes. But sometimes Jaydon is nice, too. And you like to play with him."
-- Mommy attempts.
"And sometimes, Charley, YOU'RE mean, too."
-- Mommy subtly hints.

"Well, sometimes Gisele is sad."
-- Charley ignores the hint.

"Why? Do you try to help her when she's sad?"
-- Mommy wonders.

"No, I'll let her Mommy do that."
-- Charley responds.

Such a kind, kind soul, that Charley.

We get to sleep where?

Mommy and Daddy got us some new, REALLY big boy beds. They're kinda like bunk beds, but we both get to sleep up top because there are two of them.

We did our part to help build them as best we could, but eventually we needed to head for a nap. Mommy and Daddy did the rest of the heavy lifting while we were sleeping.

When we got up, the first thing we did was head to our room and climb right up.

We plopped on our new beds . . .

. . . and wiggled with excitement.

One of the best parts about our new beds, is the play space under both beds. We each get our own special play area for our stuffed animals, trains, anything we want. We even got new toy drawers to store all our wonderful stuff in.

SNOW DAY!

We woke up this morning to a good coating of snow, about four inches of it. We couldn't wait to get outside.

First things first, we were on our sleds before 9 a.m. Daddy pulled us really, REALLY fast.

One time we fell out and Daddy just kept running. He came back eventually.

Say hello Francisco

In the afternoon, we decided to make a snowman. When we finished, we named him Francisco.

Making Francisco was quite a process. Daddy did most of the rolling and heavy lifting, we added the accessories. Daddy is not very good at accessorizing.

He needed a hat . . .

. . . and he needed arms, too.

We are very proud of Francisco. He is an awesome snowman.

The no fun part

Snow is awesome, except for the shoveling. And shoveling this stuff was especially hard. It seemed to be half water so it was REALLY heavy.

When we finished, we were REALLY tired.