Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Springtime in Tx















We've been enjoying some great weather here over the past few weeks! Highs in the 70's and 80's---which the girls refer to excitedly as "A great weather day!" It's not even April yet and we've already been to the pool about 5 times, taken some runs down the slip-and-slide, and washed the cars by hand!



















Joel and the girls "mouse hunting." We were on a hike and Joel saw some mice running in the brush, and these three sat perfectly still for 20 minutes waiting to see them again.



Saturday, March 19, 2011

Larkin's writing

Larkin has taken off with her writing lately. She has all the letter/sound correspondence memorized and is starting to write her own text. She did this all on her own--she has always been interested in letters and sounds in words and is constantly saying words and telling us what letters/sounds she hears in them. Usually she likes me to sound out each word for her slowly and she writes down the sounds as she hears them, but more and more she is starting to sound them out on her own and not need me as much. She's getting faster at writing all her letters so that is helping too--she doesn't have to concentrate so much on the mechanics of writing each letter.

The first thing she ever wrote without any help was "Daphne." Larkin came to me and said, "Mommy, can you read this? I drew a picture of Daphne and wrote her name with my turtle talk all by myself!" (Turtle talk=talking slow to hear all the sounds in a word)
"DINEFN" = Daphne
When there's no lines on the paper, she mixes up the order of some of her letters--but I think this is pretty close for a hard name like Daphne! :)




















Here's a cute note she wrote to Willa the other day. Willa was napping and she wanted to give her a letter when she woke up.

"Larkin and Willa. I love you Willa. Let's have fun together. I love you like a pickle." I'm not sure what the last part says. I am getting some stacks of lined paper ready for her because her writing is so much easier to read when it's written on a line!!




















Here's one to Joel's Aunt Cathy. Aunt Cathy was in the hospital last week with some health problems, but is on the mend now at home and feeling better. Larkin couldn't wait to write her a letter and has been telling everyone (total strangers included) that her Great Aunt Cathy was in the hospital and that she wrote her a letter. The bottom of this one got cut off while scanning but the last line says "Larkin."




















Next week we're going to start a letter writing campaign, so check your mailboxes or get out a pen and write to her--and hopefully she will write you back!


Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Rodeo

We took the girls to the Austin Rodeo last weekend and they had a such a great time! We didn't see the actual rodeo -- only went to the carnival and fairgrounds. We hadn't planned on riding any carnival rides, but when you enter the fairgrounds you have to walk through the carnival to get anywhere. Of course the girls immediately started begging to ride some rides!!

Pigging out on cotton candy!

Their favorite ride were these little boats-they were convinced that they were "real" and that they were really driving them!


Giving Dad a high five. Joel kept yelling, "Slow down! You're driving too fast!" and they would squeal and giggle uncontrollably.


Airborne!

Petting zoo


The highlight of the trip: Pony rides
Willa named her pony Tulip








Monday, March 14, 2011

budding photographers

The girls got kid cameras for Christmas and I finally got around to downloading all their pics--they've taken over 1,000!! It's funny to see what they like to choose to photograph. While browsing through them all I noticed some themes--Willa loves to take pics of feet, and Larkin loves pics of herself!




bug cage


gate latch


candle



glass half empty or full?

They alway say, "Make a funny face!"





Lucy




"Willa, make a funny face!"


light bulb at the grocery store


number on a mailbox