Cue the pomp and circumstance

Pinewood Derby!

Roman's first ever entry- with a little help from Dad ;)

Zoe, Mom, Dad and Grandma Jane were all there to cheer him on.

Roman was in the first race.

Whoah!

Not every one wins, but THANKFULLY

The Lion den is small and Roman was still able to get a Bronze metal.

Snip

Tired of tangles.

It has helped a bit.

Wow, I am so behind

I've lost my system (and that's okay).
Take photos with real camera. Sit down and download. Organize (folderize). Crop. Save. Upload. Write. Publish. Burn a disc once and awhile.  It's demise started with the smart phone (more than 2 years ago) and was escalated by the disappearance of free time in a day.
So, I need to define a new normal.
New normal:
Living in a quiet neighborhood, where the kids can go out and play by themselves (that was a tremendous "oh wow" moment), or more likely with their new neighborhood friends (Matthew and Gabe). It's made me realize that we aren't going to have them 'for ourselves' much longer, not really. So when they're driving me insane with their clinging and their demands for attention (in whatever form it manifests itself), I need to remember that our focused you-are-my-everything time with the little ones is dwindling.

OH MY!
But, we're not their yet.
My best attempt of photographic proof of that the last two months existed:

...checking out a local park....

...checking out the local beach...

....checking out the new school....

...Waiting anxiously and excitedly for the bus on the first day of school...

And, I am told that Zoe, Roman and Gabe all sit together in the same seat now (after the first day). Gabe is in Zoe's class too.

Courtesy of Ms. Johnson.

So you want to be a star...

Last weekend was Zoe's dance recital.

She made it through the whole year.

Practice, practice, practice.

Woo hoo!

with Aunt Laura and Grandma Candy

The the two grandmas :)

Aunt Laura and Uncle Andy

(lil' Audrey was with her grandparents)

Grandpa and Grandma

Family!

Our little star!

By the way, she's all for continuing dance next year.

Toothless, part one

With a lot of wiggling and a lot of looking in the mirror to examine the loose tooth, it came out.

Last Sunday and Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Thank goodness.

Proud Mama

This morning Roman and Zoe asked if they could go downstairs. Sure. Until Christmas this isn't something they'd want to do themselves, but this year Santa left their presents down there, so apparently the reward of going someplace kind of scary outweighs the scariness.  What did Santa bring? An art easel for Zoe and a foosball table for Roman.

So down they went, and I was getting things done around the house and Mike was reading one of his new books. It's awfully quiet I thought. For a few minutes. Then I went to check on them. They were fine, as expected, and Zoe had created this masterpiece on her easel.

WOW. I was blown away.

I had her explain to me what she wrote in this video.

I enjoyed it immensely (as you can tell). 

Little did I know that we have horse riding (horsridn) and too much shopping (zopin) in our future (nevermind zckol in our present and a food fit in our past).

Swim lessons!

30 minutes of swim time fun.

Minutes 1 to 20 : refusing to go in the pool. 

The level one class had a combined total of three students (you outnumber the poor girl!) and two teachers. Plus two others who attempted to get you to sit on the edge of the pool. Zoe did for a short time, but Roman wasn't having it. Note: there should be a measurement for recording the clinging power of a frightened child.  It's strangely comforting that they still need you. And with their own strength could hang off you with absolutely no help.  It somehow reminds me of trying to put my former cat Sam in a cat carrier, only the inverse. Power of cling and power of not gonna happen (all four legs splayed on the door of the carrier).

Only when you were distracted and I was sent out of sight did Roman even go close enough to sit with his feet dangling in the pool. And then you did let the teachers get you in the water. I can't blame you, that was a BIG pool and you'd never even seen it before. Come to think of it I don't know if I would have been too enthusiastic either. But it's good for you, so get out there and splash, darnit.  

Alliteration: ain't it awesome

Someone's mastered the art of writing the letters Z, O and now E.

Earlier this summer we were at library storytime and a boy smaller than you two wrote his name on his nametag. I was flabbergasted. Really? This is possible? And I think Briana and maybe the Grandmas have been working on letters with you in the last few months.

You were in the car last night talking about the day Daddy had planned for you two on Friday (a glorious day without work OR school!). Como. Zoo. He mentioned how it's spelled and you happened to have a notebook and pencil. This is what you produced. The writer.  

I always wanted to create a book called Zoe's Zoo (there's your Shutterfly project Mike!)

Miss Katrina & the overnight camping trip

We took a 'let's test the waters' camping trip a few weekends ago. You guys were so excited. That morning Zoe asked Dad if 'this night' was the night for camping. He said yes. There was conversation about 'if the weather is nice enough" and Zo asked to put on the channel that tells you about the weather. So apparently you watched that for awhile. And just a bit later Dad noticed Zo had put her beloved 'pink polka dot' (blankie) and pillow by the back door. READY TO GO, DAD! Excitement all around.

Among the activities: lugging firewood back to camp.

With Katrina. It was so cute to watch you guys together. To watch how Zoe looks up to Katrina. And to think when we started Katrina wasn't yet in kindergarten.

And you got to play in Shawn & Mike's camper.

I didn't take a lot of pictures, but maybe next time.

Once I get my camping bearings again.

Like a fish out of water, I'm not sure how to act :)

And more biking

This time out on 'the trail'.

We found a little more quiet place to go, but still pleasant.

Roman is a wee bit more independent. I got to push and steer Zoe most of the time.  Maybe we'll wait a couple bit more to do this...

There was a little girl who had a little curl...

Right in the middle of her forehead
When she was good, she was very, very good,
And when she was bad she was horrid.

This was a rhyme that was in a book I had as a child and for some reason as I looked at the pictures I took today, I had the first two lines running thru my head. Not the last 2, but I guess I'll take them ;)

One little boy badly needed a haircut and one little girl was brushing the hair out of her eyes, so we thought we'd take them both in at the same time. Zoe was gung ho. We didn't make an appointment and had about a 20 minute wait. That wasn't so bad, because the place we went had a little kids size table with crayons and paper, a shelf full of trucks and another shelf full of dinosaurs. And there was a lot of activity, so there was never a dull moment. Everytime another child was done Zoe asked "my turn?". Pretty soon little one. Maybe because she was anxious to get a dum dum lollipop at the end!

 At any rate, she made no fuss. Daddy was there to document the process with a video camera, mainly because we did the same for Roman a year ago. That seems like a long time ago! I think I'm understanding the declining documentation that goes with succeeding children (speaking as child #3). Been there, done that. But for you, Ms Zoe, we document the cutting of the hair.

Although your Dad and I both remarked that it was probably something we could have done at home. A little off the front, a little off the back...

But I think this worked out well. You got your dum dum, mama got some pictures. There was no crying, there was no screaming, there was no hurt feelings.

There WAS an envelope of your hair. And there was a sticker on your shirt for being such a good girl.

There WAS a little bit of waiting for your brother to get done, but this was old hat to him.

 
He got to babysit the stylist's Thomas. Lucky him :)

Would a 4th weekend be complete...

...without a trip to the beach?

The first trip to the beach. Grandpa Jon took us to Square Lake for a boat ride, but we spent more time at the beach. The perfect place for you guys - shallow water and lots and lots of sand to get messy in.







And of course I continue to learn that all this will be more fun for us all (I think, I hope!) in a couple of years. It's a lot of work to bring you two out. And watch you. And...oy.