August 2016

 

Tuesday was the first day of school. Even though Fiona is not smiling, she was actually really excited and had a great day.

  

She practically skipped down the street to meet her friend Sebastian and they walked to school chatting and holding hands:

 

Fiona  loves school so far and is very excited to go every day. She likes her teacher and the books that are in the classroom. Unfortunately, she had a fever Thursday night and missed school Friday. She was not happy about that and told me she can’t wait to go back. I guess she won’t be getting a perfect attendance award this year, but she told me she wants to get one next year. I knew something was wrong when she kept getting goosebumps (because she was having chills) and came out of her room dressed like this:

Other highlights of August were swim lessons, music lessons, the Fair, and a trip to the Kidspace Museum with Jen, Elliot, and Calliope.

At the Fair, Fiona went on some of the big rides, like the big swings. Victoria likes taking the bus:

   

                 

The girls rode the mini horses. It was Victoria’s first time. At first she struggled while the man was putting the harness on her, but as soon as the horse began to move, she was happy as a clam. She didn’t want to get off.

 

Here are previous photos of Fiona on the horse:

 

Victoria can hold herself up and swing on a regular swing if someone pushes her. In this photos, she is leaning back in imitation of something Fiona does when she swings. She thought it was hilarious.

The Kidspace Museum was fun. Victoria had a blast climbing on everything and Fiona has fun running around with Elliot and pretending to be various animals:

   

      

Victoria really liked painting and I was reminded that I need to buy new dot paint and get her outside. We have so many supplies that we don’t use much anymore:

        

Victoria enjoyed the car. Fiona and Elliot spent time uncovering dinosaur bones, figuring out what part of the animal they came from, and speculating on the type of dinosaur it might be.

 

  

Here are photos of Fiona from three years ago, the last time we went to the museum:

 

We were able to go into the “workshop” room where Fiona and Elliot made kites and Victoria sorted objects, and Jen and Calliope made a robot. You can fill bins with anything they have, and there are many different odds and ends, and make whatever you want. It’s very cool:

  

       

Fiona’s third sunflower:

    

We took seeds from the first flower and this one and are attempting to germinate them so we can have more flowers.

Victoria likes to play the piano, just like her sister: 

I went to Austin, Texas to visit my friend Shelley and John took the girls to the zoo:

    

He reported that Fiona is no longer afraid of Lily the Parasaurolophus or of feeding the giraffes. He also reported that the girls were very cute. I had a great time in Austin and got to see both Shelley and my friend Cindy who used to live here and now lives in Austin as well. Fiona used to refer to Cindy’s son as her best friend.

 

Here are the girls, doing what they love to do best, either reading, or playing a silly game together:

 

Victoria loves to help unload the dishwasher and even puts away the utensils, much like her sister did at her age:

  

In general, she is very helpful when it comes to picking up or cleaning up a mess, but she is much better at making those messes. She also loves to dress up in Fiona’s things and put on her shoes, or sometimes my shoes.

    

One weekend, I took Victoria to a birthday party while Fiona and John stayed home and watched The Wizard of Oz. I sent John a photo of what Victoria was doing and he joked that in Southern California, every little girl gets a pony on her birthday, because this is the second birthday party in a year that had pony rides. This one also had a small petting farm set up, with goats, a sheep, chickens, and ducks. The theme was Farm Animals and there were all sorts of farm themed games for the kids to play with and hay bales to pose them on for photos. I am not posting those photos because they have other kids in them and I don’t know all the parents. Victoria rode the pony twice. Almost a year ago, she refused to ride a pony, now she loves it. She fussed a little while she was being strapped in, but the owner of the ponies said that is very common and reminded me that kids often do that when being strapped into their car seats as well. Victoria spent a lot of time on this animal. She just loved it. And we ran into Fiona’s music teacher who lives not far away from where the party took place and happened to wander over when she and her grandson saw the horses.

     

Well, that’s about it for August. I know it is not over just yet, but because Fiona is still sick (going on day 3) and the month ending in a few days, I don’t see any reason not to post now. I had a work day Friday and my students return Tuesday. I am very excited to teach again. I have a nice classroom, right next to a bathroom and with lots of storage, and the person I share it with seems very nice. Neither of us likes clutter, we both like to share, and we are both left handed, so I won’t have to worry about moving the mouse around or re-setting things every day.

I leave off with hopes Fiona’s fever is gone tomorrow so she can go to school Monday (she really wants to), that everyone sleeps well tonight (both girls have been up a lot the last few nights), and the realization that this is the first post in a long time that is not a month or more late.

Here is a photo of my two little cutes: