Nov. 22, 2010
The Letter for the week is "N".
Because of the Thanksgiving holiday the Preschool days are switched. This week Preschool is at Jen Kilmer's house and is on Monday and Wednesday.
Tuesday: Animals- Narwhal and Numbat
Thursday: Social Studies - Florence Nightingale
Friday: Numb chucks (just kidding)
Nov. 20, 2010
I love Saturday's. With Cory being gone most of the week Saturday feels like a special day. We made pancakes this morning and Caleb flipped them all by himself (with supervision of course). Afterward Cory took the kids exploring outside despite the sprinkling. He thinks it's a good idea to expose the them to the elements a little every day so they stay healthy. After exploring Cory made up a game called, "Chasing Tail." He hung a sock from the backside of his pants and from Caleb's. the object of the game is to keep the other person person from grabbing your "tail" while trying to grab theirs. Caleb loved it. How do guys come up with this stuff?
Nov. 19, 2010
Cory took the camera and captured a few beautiful scenes during his lunchtime walk. Cory isn't the type to stay indoors on his lunch break. Even when he was working at CBIZ and at A&P growers he would eat his lunch quickly and then step outside and let the sun warm his face.
This is the bridge he walks on. Think Indiana Jones...
This is the Tule River. It runs through the Reservation.
One day this week Cory was walking on this path reading a note card. A girl yelled at him asking, "Are you a Preacher?" Cory said, "No. I'm just walking here." She said, "Oh." and drove away. Cory wondered what made them think that he was a Preacher. He was wearing a tie but had a jacket over it. He didn't have a Bible in his hands. Does Cory look like a Preacher?
Nov. 18, 2010
We walked to the park late this morning and met a woman for the first time who has lived in Tuscany since 2007. It seems like I am constantly meeting new mom's at the Park. We must have all been coming at different times.
Before dinner we took a walk around the lake by our house. The coots have returned and were skipping across the water making a lot of noise. They seem like a teasing type of bird. Half way around the lake we stopped to have races and put Eucalyptus leaves into a metal box. Caleb said it was a ship and that the leaves were the gas to make it go.
The best part of the night was when Alison, Sara, Connie and I met up with Trish Neville and her cousin Christy at the Maya theatre for a movie. We saw, Morning Glory. I like the story and characters but the content was not great. I would only recommend this movie if it were "clean-flicked." I guess I'm a prude. Oh well
Nov. 17, 2010
I like to exercise, shower and read my scriptures before the kids wake up so I don't have to try and squeeze it in during the day. But lately Caleb has been waking up at about 6am every morning for 2 weeks. This morning I put in my Pilates video and instead of watching it like usual, Caleb got down on the floor and did it with me.
At 10 the kids came to my house for preschool. Every week they are here we play Star Wars together before lunch. I always play Darth Vader (black cape included) they hide and I search for them throughout the house. Once found the light saber battle begins.
After Hannah's nap and before it was too dark (you know like 5!) I said, "Let's go to the park!" I grab the diaper bag and Caleb's T-Ball set and we ran to the car and drove (I know we should have walked but there was only about 45 minutes of day light left and I wanted to run around and play for every minute of day light left). Caleb hit the ball on the T and gave Hannah a try. She did it literally twice and then ran off to the sand to make "cupcakes." We move the T out of the way and I threw the ball to Caleb instead. To be honest I have terrible aim. He only hit 1 out of 3 pitches because my aim was either too high or too short. Yikes! Caleb kept saying, "Mom, it takes a lot of practice." When he did hit the ball I screamed and cheered (for both of us).
Nov. 15, 2010
My sister is at S.F. State University. She is studying Art History. Hillari has always been interested in Art. When she was in kindergarten she saw the painting of Van Gogh's Sunflower. She painted her own version of it and we all thought it was so good that my parents had it professionally framed and it hung in our dinning room until she graduated from High School this year. The purple one is a self portrait of her she painted 2 years ago when she was Junior at Garces. She was invited (along with only 15 other Juniors in Bakersfield) to have an Art exhibit at the Bakersfield Museum of Art. She also designed two Christmas cards for Memorial Hospital and both were presented and picked by the Hospital board. All profits made from the card went to the Hospital to buy supplies or beds or whatever. She's very talented and had expensive taste. My Mom has wanted to redecorate her bedroom for years. Hillari would pick out a bedspread or quilt that was $$$$! Since they could never agree the bedroom sat undone. Well this week my Mom painted the room a really pretty blue, bought a new ceiling fan, and put on the quilt Hillari picked that was reasonably priced and my Mom liked. Mom hung up Hillari's art from the Museum show and now the room is complete.
We went to Target and after the shopping was done I took the kids to the toy aisles and watched their faces light up with excitement. I watched them play with the boxes and pretend the toys were theirs. I brought a notepad and paper and wrote down the things they were most excited about.
Nov. 14, 2010
This week is the letter "M." (click here)
Composer - Mozart
Poem - "Mice" by Rose Fyleman
Monday: Animals - Howler Monkey and Manatee
Tuesday: Social Studies - Mexico
Friday: Craft/Activity - Marching with Maracas
We walked to the park after lunch. Caleb and Hannah wanted to explore everything along the way, including the trash cans. 
We walked passed a Grandma and Grandpa with their grandson playing Crockett. They invited us to join them in their game. Caleb and Hannah played a few games (the four year version of Crockett) and then we said goodbye. As we left Caleb informed me that he wanted that for Christmas too. The Grandma informed me that Santa could find it at Target in the sport section.
Last year we met a man who claimed to be Santa at Target. He had a long white beard and a happy, kind face. At first I was nervous because he was very friendly with Caleb and Hannah but he turned out to be a very sweet man who just wanted Caleb to feel special. He opened his wallet and pulled out a picture of himself as Santa and gave it to Caleb. He said he had to get back to the North Pole and check on the elves. He reminded Caleb to be good and left. Caleb kept the picture on his bookshelf until all the Christmas decorations were put away. I wonder if he'll remember his encounter when he finds it next month in the box among the ornaments .
