Summer 2014

Family

May 2014 - Andy and I took our much-anticipated tenth anniversary vacation to Kauai.  We spent four nights in Poipu on the southern shore and three nights in Princeville on the north shore.  We went to a luau, went on a horseback riding/ziplining adventure, and took a boat/snorkeling tour along the Na Pali coast.  We had the best time and really enjoyed each other!  Andy and I went to Sedona overnight to help a friend celebrate his birthday.  It was so beautiful!

July 2014 - Tour of the Midwest!  We visited Andy's brother's family in Milwaukee, our friends and their kids in Chicago, and made a final stop in Iowa to see a friend of Andy's before flying home.

August 2014 - I sang Mabel in Pirates of Penzance with the Prescott Pops Symphony.  What a great group of musicians and singers.  I had a fabulous time and the performance went really well!


John

John turned 6 and had a dinosaur-themed party at his karate studio.  Kindergarten was over, and John got to do a lot of fun camps this summer, including dinosaurs, science, baseball, computer game design, junior inventor, and Summer in July at Childsplay.  He also took a ton of swimming lessons, in addition to his normal karate classes.

He became very interested in the 50 states after playing an iPad trivia game called "Stack the States."  This led to a love for all things American.  He has an insatiable appetite for learning any trivia about the 50 states, American history (especially the Revolutionary War), geography, and any trivia about the U.S. Presidents.  Dinosaurs and space definitely took a backseat to America by the end of the summer.

His reading has been fantastic.  At the end of the summer we started getting Magic Tree House books from the library, and he would sometimes read one a day.  He loves the library.  First we stop in the juvenile fiction section and pick up the next Magic Tree House books he needs, as well as other series like "Notebook of Doom" and sometimes a "Choose Your Own Adventure".  Then we hit the children's room, where he scours the non-fiction section for books about states, America, and presidents (of course), but also for anything that interests him, such as "Slugs and Snails," "Parasaurolophus" (his favorite dinosaur), "Cuba", and so many other random topics.  He just loves reading and learning!

He started first grade in August and is enjoying himself so far.  He gets to see his gifted teacher twice a week this year, which he loves.  He says he wants to be just like Mr. D. when he grows up.  He has had a little trouble settling in, behavior-wise, but seems to be doing well with his friends.  One big improvement over Kindergarten - homework!  He has a great attitude and is much more self-sufficient, and is really starting to take pride in his work.

June - Karate teacher:  "How many steps back, John?"  John:  "T-W-O sir!"

June - He and last-year's-BFF aren’t friends anymore because Jacob “claims” he knows more than him.  Nice word usage!  :D

July - I wrote this to him on my phone since my voice was pretty rough:  "I know sometimes it is no fun to have a sick mommy who is a singer and worried about her performance."  John wrote back:  "I don’t kare your the best mom ever."  Melted my heart!

July - Keeping an eye on my reality show:  “I haven’t watched this in a while.  Marcus got deleted?”  I think he meant eliminated...

July - (text conversation)  Me: John is watching "So You Want To Be President" again.  Andy:  He really really wants to be President...


August  - He had a great day at school one morning, but then got in trouble in the afternoon for writing down the lyrics to the Hokey Pokey with “butt” as the body part.  It ended with “That’s what it’s all a-butt.”  Even when his teacher came to tell me about it, he was more giggly than chastened...

Daniel

Daniel got to do a lot of fun things in the summer program at his school.  They had water play day once a week, and he also got to do a lot of fun crafts and see animals from the zoo.

In July, he turned two, and had an awesome birthday party at home.  The theme was Sulley from Monsters Inc.  He definitely had a great time and loved the cake.  He did not want to blow out the candles though!

No real sign of the terrible twos yet.  If he is hungry or tired, he is more quick to have a meltdown, but that is standard for him, and has been his whole life.  He has definite ideas about how he wants to do things and will let you know, especially now that his language skills are so developed!  But his temperament is about the same as it was six months ago.  He is a happy, smiley guy, and everyone loves him!

He is coming up with full sentences (see below) and expressing likes and dislikes.  Sometimes he uses words that we had no idea he knew!  He is also repeating what we say quite a bit, and then using the sentences back later.

He still likes Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood and is really into Dora the Explorer right now.  Sulley fell off the list shortly after his birthday party, but Frozen is a big favorite.  He is starting to get into Toy Story, and likes Buzz better than Woody at the moment.

May - email from Grammy while we were in Kauai:  "Whenever Danny leaves the room, he turns to us and says 'be right back!'"

July -  At his two-year-old checkup, walked happily down the hall and waved "hi" to the doctor when he passed by, like the friendly kid he is.  The normally-stoic doctor couldn't help but smile.

July - At our friends' house, he really enjoyed playing with the toy broom and saying “clean!”  I told him we were going to the petting zoo and he said “First clean!”  Then I asked him if he was ready for lunch and he said “Not yet!”

July - Danny was watching Daniel Tiger and Miss Elaina was being too loud.  He looked over and said “She too loud!  Too much noise!” a few times until he was understood.  Then he said “Help me eat it” and put Andy's hand on his pizza so he could feed him.

August  - One night at dinner, he spit food out on purpose and said “I frew up!”  We have no idea where he learned that because as far as we know, no one has ever thrown up in front of him.  Also, that's not throwing up.  :)

August - Reciting along with Dora - You hear dat?  Sipah fox!  ("Do you hear that?  That's Swiper the Fox!"

August - "I like this song.  More music, I like this song.  Roar!"

August - "I pay pee-oh.  Mommy's pee-oh." ("I play piano.  Mommy's piano.")

August/September school newsletter:  "Daniel is so active and full of energy.  He loves running around outside!  He also likes to play with the puzzles and read books with all of his friends.  Such a sweetheart!"  I will vouch for that!  At home, he LOVES to take the puzzles off the shelf and dump the pieces on the ground, leaving them for Mommy to pick up later.  That's how he "does" puzzles.  And sometimes we go looking for him, just to find him looking at books in his room.  He loves to be read to!