The Writing on the Board

Quick update -- Annalise is going to need glasses. When the teacher moved her to the back of the room she complained about not seeing the board. Well, I know what that means. Today we took her to the eye doctor. Her eyes are going nearsighted but they are not bad enough where she would have to wear glasses all the time. The teacher has since moved her to the second row so now she can see the board. The doctor gave us the choice on whether to get glasses now or later. Annalise didn't want them now so we are waiting. But as I told her, next time there won't be a choice. I got glasses the summer before fourth grade. I was hoping this wouldn't happen until she was older like Jeff or even my brother Robert, but no such luck.

Here's a picture of me in 4th grade. Hopefully her glasses won't be as big.

School project

Last month Annalise had her first big school project. Her assignment was to to re-write "The Mouse and the Motorcycle" so that a second-grader can understand it. The teacher had them basically re-create the book by making both front & back covers, title page, and illustrations. After they were all done they then actually had to read it to a second grader. She worked so hard on it and the teacher said she could tell. I think she did a great job so I thought I would share some of the pages.

front cover

She did much better on the illustrations than I would. My drawings are pretty bad.

back cover -- notice the upc code. The teacher wanted that as well. I found that on the computer under clip art. Can you imagine trying to draw that thing?

Pumpkin Patch

Last week was quiet, but on Friday we were invited to come along on a field trip to one of the local pumpkin patches. We had lots of fun riding in a wagon, eating toasted pumpkin seeds (YUM!) and playing in the hay. You can't tell by the pictures but there were pumpkins there -- trust me. :)

jumping in the hay - she had to do that by herself as I'm allergic to hay

riding a "horse"

striking a pose - why? because it's fun!

goofy fun

Saturday

Saturdays are usually pretty quiet for us. We go to a soccer game and then we hang out at home. Yesterday was a little different. We still went to a soccer game but this time it was first thing in the morning so that left the rest of the day to do other activities. There was a lot going on around town so we made the most of it, despite the heat.

The Sharks won again, 6-0. So far they are undefeated this season. Anyway, the girls came off the field soaked. The city must have watered (heavily) the night before because you could see the water flying off the ball when the girls kicked it down the field. Robyn, as usual, had fun on the sidelines. She especially had fun because grandma, grandpa and her aunt came down to watch the game.

After the game we went to visit a local alpaca farm. It was National Alpaca Farm Days. I found out about it from our local paper. We got to see cute alpacas and even saw a baby alpaca (a cria). Have any of you ever touched an alpaca? They have the softest fleece ever! While we were there we got our picture taken by one of the local newspaper photographers. Who knows, we could be in Sunday's paper -- now I just need to find a paper so I can check to see if we are in it.

We also made a stop at the city's Kid Fest. We didn't end up staying long due to the heat but we walked around and saw the booths and did a couple of activities. Overall, we had a very full day. Thank goodness tomorrow is Sunday. Now we can rest!

Ice Skating

A couple of weeks ago Robyn went ice skating for the first time. She was invited to be her friend's companion at an older sister's birthday party. We didn't think they would like ice skating and would probably play on the jumpy house in the lobby. Well, the girls decided differently. Thank goodness for pictures because I wasn't there to see her skate for the first time. From what I was told she did great and even skated on her own a couple times. She had such a good time that she now wants to have her fifth birthday at the skating rink. I don't know, we shall see little girl....

Skating with a chair

Waiting for cake/presents

Enjoying the cake -- usually she just eats the icing but maybe this time she ate the whole thing. Robyn likes to surprise me.

A little bit of this and that

Since school has started there has been no trips taken but still lots of things happening around our house. Since Annalise is now in 5th grade she gets to start taking band. The instrument she chose was the flute. The flute she's using used to be her Aunt Becky's. I think finding out that her grandparents still had that the flute clinched her decision in playing it. She hasn't learned any songs yet but she is learning how blow into the instrument. I always wanted to learn to play another instrument other the piano. But there was that little problem of practicing, or not practicing as in my case. :)

Here is Robyn playing old games on our old computer. It's been boxed up for about three years. But this week I took it out of the box in hopes of retrieving some old genealogy files. It was a bit of a challenge as this only has a floppy drive. Thank goodness for friends as one of them had an external floppy drive that she let me borrow. So I was able to retrieve the files without too many tears. Robyn has enjoyed playing on the computer so I need to find a place to permenantly put this old beast. It's definitely more kid friendly than the laptop. Annalise is pushing for us to put in her room. I bet she doesn't realize that if this happens it means Robyn will be in her room even more....

Robyn is modeling my latest sewing creations. I found this neat website (http://www.dana-made-it.com/) that has all sorts of cute projects. One of those projects was the pattern for the skirt. You don't have a regular pattern you print out, instead the author gives you the measurements of each piece. Unfortunately my math skills are not always reliable. The first skirt ended up being too short so I gave it away. But I really wanted to make this skirt so I tried again. This time it turned out. So I'm pleased and even better, Robyn likes it too!

I don't have any pictures of Jeff, but he's still around. :) He's been working hard with his new job and with going to graduate school. On the days he's not helping to coach Annalise's soccer team he's usually still working late at school. We wish he could be home more, but we understand that life is just a bit crazy now!

Rats in the Belfry

I am just feeling a little bit conflicted. A few weeks ago, early one morning Jeff & I both heard chewing in the attic. We've heard that sound before so we knew exactly what it was -- rodents. Jeff has been busy with work and with starting grad school so I ended up calling a pest control guy to deal with the problem. He set traps inside and outside the house and so far he hasn't caught one yet. The good news, though, is I haven't heard any thing up in the attic so chances are they have moved on. As a result, I have mixed feelings about the whole transaction. I'm glad there's nothing up there but I spent money on an exerminator so I want something to show for money I had to spend. Sigh.

* Update -- I think we caught one! The trap has been sprung and it appears there's something in the trap. I've called the pest guy so he can check it out. I have no desire to touch the trap!