roller kids

The kids and I decided to go roller skating at Skateland Saturday afternoon while Paul was at the football game. We needed a fun diversion as it had been a tough week, and we did have fun. Kestrel's been rollerskating for the past couple of years so she is a good skater, but this was Cooper's first time in the rink. He was a trooper! He kept falling but kept getting himself back up and kept trying. Part of the time he wanted to skate on his own while Kestrel and I skated a little faster around the rink, and at other times he wanted to skate holding our hands.
Here's a fuzzy picture.


We signed them both up for ice skating lessons that start next Saturday. Again, Kestrel's been taking lessons for a while, but this will be Cooper's first time. I'll let you know how it goes!

huxley

Goodbye Huxley. We miss you and will always love you. You were the best dog anyone could ever hope for.

five!

Cooper, 8 weeks old.

Cooper, five.

He's holding Squawkers McCaw, a present he got from Grammy and Papou.

Today my baby turned 5. When did he get so big?

happy birthday cooper!

OK, his actual birthday is tomorrow, but Cooper had his party today. He had a lot of his friends over for a space theme birthday party. We rented a bounce house and the kids spent most of their time outside in the yard. Lots of bouncing! Even some of the moms got in on the fun. We had pizza and cake and ice cream and a pinata. The weather was just about perfect.

The bouncy castle.

The birthday boy, waiting for his turn.

Waiting in line for the bouncy castle. The blond looking right at you is Cooper's friend Elise from school, whom he just loves!

The cake. Once again I was up way too late making the cake. Paul had to run out to get more cake mix in the middle of the night because of my silly mistake, but it came out nice.

The planet pinata.

The kids, waiting for their turns to smash the planet pinata.

The moms.

butterfly

The 2nd grade is finishing up their insect unit, and they have a tradition that the kids get their faces painted as butterflies. They asked for a few parents to come in to help with the face painting, so I volunteered. Kestrel wanted to be the first face I painted. I think I got a little better with practice, but Kestrel seemed to like her butterfly.

sunday afternoon

Today was such a beautiful, clear, blue sky day. A perfect day for being outside. I talked the kids into going over to a nearby neighborhood which is quite pretty and has a nice walking/biking path. Kestrel and Cooper brought their bikes, and I walked. After riding on the path for a while we stopped at the park. Kestrel and Cooper love this park because it has the "spinny things" - these poles that you can sit or stand on and spin around. They get them going pretty fast!

bee happy

Kestrel's family project for school was to create a 3-dimensional bug and list three interesting facts about it. She decided she wanted to make a bee. She designed it and made most of it herself. I helped putting some of it together. It sure is a happy bee. She's holding her three bee facts.

"bee facts" by Kestrel (as she wrote them):
*Bees are helpful, they make candles so you can see in the dark, they pollinate flowers to make the world beautiful and honey so we can eat something sweet.
*They live with a big group of bees.
*What makes a bee an insect is they have a head, thorax and an abdomen. They have six legs.

just a little marble slab

We had a nice relaxing labor day weekend. I got to sleep in a bit Saturday morning and then out with Paul and some friends Saturday night. Another nice, lazy, stay-in-pajamas morning on Sunday, and Paul took the kids swimming Sunday afternoon. Kestrel's friend Caitlin stayed over Sunday night, and we took them out for ice cream at the Marble Slab Creamery after dinner. Kestrel always gets her favorite: vanilla with cookie dough. We had just about a perfect day Monday. We drove down to a friend's lake house and we relaxed and ate and watched the kids fish and swim all afternoon.