ABCDs

So cute to hear them sing songs.  Here is the alphabet song.

Airplanes

When preparing for our new living room furniture to arrive, there was a period of time that we had no furniture after selling our old couch & chair.  We resorted to a blow-up mattress to sit on to watch TV for a few days.  I couldn't imagine how much fun the blow-up couch could be until I had 3 little airplanes that needed a runway to land.

 

Please go to the main blog to view this video.

She's a Maniac

After bath, Victoria loves to dance naked mostly to avoid getting dressed.  It makes me laugh so much that I have tried and tried to get a video (non-naked which is difficult) to show.  I was able to do so when I told her we would show Oma & Opa.  Enjoy!

Sing it with me..... She's a maniac, maniac on the floor...

 

Please go to the main blog to view the video.

Kindergarten Business Projects

Part of the curriculum currently was to learn about how businesses in the neighborhood run.  Izzy's group visited a small restaurant called Cutty's.  I was able to be the parent chaperon.

They were amazed at the size of everything... from how big the bowls and pots & pans to how much food had to be prepped.

 Afterwards they were treated with lemonade and cookies made from chocolate produced locally.  Here they asked all sorts of questions from the owner as they had to understand the business to create their own Cutty's at school.

 Welcome to Kindergarten Cutty's!  Each group got to tour a business in the area ranging from restaurants, to banks, to the town hall and gyms.  Each student 'earned' a set amount of money and could go to other business to 'do business'.  But all of them couldn't leave otherwise their own business would not be staffed.  A great learning exercise and so fun to see how creative each group was when the parents got to visit at morning drop off. 

 Kindergarten Cutty's sold lemonade for $1.  Izzy told me they ran out it was such a hit with everyone.

 A local gym.

 The bank where they could take out or deposit their money.  I liked the signs from the tellers that stated the window was open or closed.

The vet.  This is the waiting room.  In the back student spent time bringing in stuffed animals of all sorts.  There was a snake in a cage, several fish in a fish bowl and many domestic pets (cats, dogs and 1 pig).

Memorial Day Weekend

 For Memorial Day weekend we all headed down to Savannah to spend time with my cousin Emily and family.  We were treated by going to Tybee Island for some fun on the beach thanks to John's (Emily's husband) family hospitality.

 The view from the condo we stayed at.  There was fun both at the beach and the pool

 Someone is excited!

 These two were so funny when we first got to the waves.  When the waves lapped up, they would scream "go back water!" just to repeat it all over again when the next wave came.

 Micah loved this hoe so much he even slept with it at night.

 This is what Victoria stuck to mostly... playing in the sand.  The water was not her cup of tea.

 The second day I got Izzy a boogie board.  She mastered that pretty quickly.  There was a smile plastered on her face for a long period of time when she was doing that.  I wish I would have gotten a few pictures of that.

 Cousin Emily & Aunt Pat

 Here is were Victoria spent a good part of the day.  She enjoyed Aunt Pat making sand creatures and naming them.  The second day she didn't want to go back out but preferred to stay inside with Aunt Pat.  She did venture out to the pool (no swimsuit) and kicked her feet in the water by the end.

 Emily was a trooper.  Izzy bonded with her wanting Emily to go out into the waves and catch her jumping off the edge of the pool.  All of this while Emily was pregnant!

A special treat was celebrating Izzy & John's birthdays with a giant cookie.  

Izzy Turns Six

 Izzy requested an ice cream cake for her birthday this year.  I did not do one for her birthday party as I thought this would be a completely utterly mess.  But, I did get her a small ice cream cake for us on her actual birthday.  To make it special, I took Aunt Cathy's idea of the Lotus Flower Candle.  It truly was unique.  I thought I was going to need a fire extinguisher on hand.

The Lotus Flower kept signing Happy Birthday despite the instruction to cut the wire which I did twice.  So I put it outside in the garbage can and still heard it signing a week after when I took out the trash.  I'm sure my neighbors loved me for it!

Please go to the actual blog to view this video.


What I want to remember about Izzy....
1.  You love being in Kindergarten.  You go to the 'big school' unlike your brother and sister.  You love to learn and have enjoyed projects sent home to complete together.

2.  You are an amazing big sister.  You help your brother and sister out in so many ways.  You play with them, comfort them if hurt or sad and make sure they are safe.  You often make my day easier because of your caring nature.

3.  You have a magical mind which I hope stays there for years to come.  This is the essence of childhood in my mind and I'm glad you are enjoying it.  I am enjoying the journey with you.

4.  You have created several great friendships especially with Bonnie and Siri.  Yet you always keep it open for others to join.  As in your own words you are 'popular'.
 

 Gift time!

 Izzy was super excited about this movie.  We had to start it the next morning while getting ready for school.

I got Izzy a new scooter since her brother & sister have taken over her other one.  She loves it and is quite fast going to school on it.

Izzy's 6th Birthday Party

 After visiting an indoor trampoline park over Christmas (thanks Aunt Diane!), Izzy wanted to have her 6th birthday party at a similar place.  Luckily there is such a thing in Boston.  Unfortunately this place was in a temporary location as the roof caved in from all the snow.  Smaller in size but still oh so much fun.

 Goofy picture with friends before the fun began.

 The adults and larger kids had a separate section to jump.  That let these guys have most of the place to themselves.

 My BFFs.... Siri & Bonnie.

 Jumping in the foam pit was also fun.

The smile says it all! 

Catching Izzy in action.  So much better than pictures :-)

To watch the video, you have to go to the actual blog in order for it to play.

 There was even a separate areas of toddlers to jump.  That was a good thing since Victoria wanted nothing to do with jumping at the place in San Antonio.  It took her nearly 30 minutes before she was brave enough to go out there.  But, once there, all she said was "I'm Jumping!".

Thanks to Oma for helping out and enjoying this day with the kiddos.

 Micah was braver earlier and enjoyed throwing the balls and playing with the noodles.

 Happy birthday to my Izzy!

 A couple of blow and they were all out!

Izzy's Garden

 For the past several years Izzy has had her own garden.  It started off with a patio tomato plant when she was 2 years old that produce >21 tomatoes.  Since moving, I got Izzy her own little garden.  The first year nothing grew since there was little sunlight on our back porch.  The 2nd year only the plants on one side grew as enough sunlight reach this area on our front porch.  This year, I moved the planter out in the courtyard.  There was a rather large bush here that was removed and nothing has since been planted there.  I figured (at least for this year) this spot would work instead of being a barren area.  Oma thought adding some plants around would make it look like it was suppose to be there.  Except for one person I've gotten a lot of comments from our neighbors about that being a good idea and loving the colors.  I even come home to find that neighbors have made sure the plants are all watered.  We'll see this year how we fare with produce.

There was a casualty recently.  The twins thought it was fun to run around the planter trying to climb into it before Izzy's plants were planted.  Good thing the local hardware store still had other plants for replacement.