May Faire

Today we went to the May Faire at a local Waldorf school called Desert Marigold.  It was super fun!  They had face painting, a wishing well, fishing a pond, a shadow puppet show, hair clips, fresh garden food, and so much more.  All student made or grown.  They even had a really cool chicken coop.  The garden was absolutely amazing with so much growing in it.  Really beautiful.  The cutest thing was the May Pole.  Both girls did their dance around it.  All of the students seemed really happy with the form of education as well as being adjusted normal kids.  It was truly refreshing and heartwarming to observe.  This is a possibly as a form of supplemental education for the girls.  I'm looking into getting them involved with a summer class.  It should be a great experience. 

Hailey getting her face painted

Watching the puppet show

Shadow puppet show in the barn

Hailey doing May Pole

Paige doing May Pole

Watching a student play the violin for us

She was so nice, she played
Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star for the girls.

Rain Puddles

We had rain today!  For only about an hour, but at one point it was a good down pour.  We had a breakfast date with playgroup this morning and of course when we got to the parking the first thing Paige went for was a puddle.  And yes, she was once again dressed for school.  So we came home to change and with that, I let them both run through the puddles on the our street while the rain continued to come down.  There are only about two days a year this happens in Arizona, so I have to let them play in the puddles and just be kiddos!  They had fun. 

Big Burp vs Big Cough

I just have to write this memory down.  It's kind of gross to those who aren't family...

When Paige vomited for the first time after she was old enough to understand and talk she called it a "Big Burp."  When Hailey had her first experience last week, she called it a "Big Cough."  I think it's interesting how people's minds work. 

The Pool & Nanny

My mom loves to swim.  Yesterday was our first day of 100 degree weather and they all jumped right into the pool.  The temp of the pool is well over 90 degrees now.  They all swam all (yes ALL) afternoon.  Fun day!


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Tortoise Time

Yesterday we attended another class put on by the city.  It was called 'Tourtise Time" and for $5 the girls were able to hold, touch, play with and learn about desert tortoises from an expert.  It was great.  Paige said her favorite was the "huge tortoise" and Hailey said she like the "baby ones."  Nanny went with us too.

Sitting on fake tortoises before class

1 yr old desert tortoise

15 yr old desert tortoise named "Rocky"

African tortoise named "Ollie"

Brown Bear

I think I may have finally figured a way for Hailey to learn her colors.  The Martin and Carle book, Brown Bear, Brown Bear names the colors of the animals and is extremely repetitive.  I've been reading it this week while we've been sick to Hailey and tonight, she recited it to me as we turned the pages. 
"Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see?  I see a Red Bird looking at me.  Red Bird, Red Bird, what do you see?  I see a Yellow Duck looking at me..." and so it goes.  She recited it all the way to the end and then named each animal on the last pages with its color.  Yay!  I'm so thankful for literacy. 

Sickies

Oh Man.  Yes, that's a good way to start how we have felt for a good five days this week.  Hailey started in with the vomiting on Thursday night and was sick all day Friday.  I started in at 5am on Saturday and could not move without it starting again.  Then Paige was next with the vomiting and finally Brian got it on Sunday.  Of course, of all weekends, my mom was out of town so the four of us hunkered down and spent most of the weekend literally all in our bed watching TV and sleeping.  IT WAS AWFUL!  I don't think the girls have ever watched that much TV all at once before.  It was Kipper on Saturday, Baby TV Art & Music on Sunday (which is actually really cool) and Monday was a mix.  I think we finally functioned on Tuesday, but we slept still most of the day.  Being part of the MOMS playgroup is wonderful, one of the moms brought us dinner on Tuesday!   That was so nice.  I didn't have to worry about what to make for dinner....I slept and actually got one project done while Paige was with my mom for the afternoon.  My mom got back into town on Monday and took Paige for the afternoon when she got off work.  So wonderful!  But Oh Man, that flu was ROUGH and one I don't really ever want again.  Haven't been that ill for a VERY long time.  So happy to be back to almost 100% again. 

Survival, in front of the TV with toddlers and sleeping

In bed SICK. 

School work

Paige came home with a completed pin poke today.  This is the first time she completed one.  She also brought a nicely traced metal inset of a square, which she subsequently colored on, her sound booklet and a Plant Booklet which she went through page by page with Uncle GUM and was able to explain each one to him. 

I also had both of the girl's silhouettes done today by the famous Judith Housel.  I'm so excited to have these and will probably have them on the wall FOREVER.  Definite keepsakes.

Hailey's 2 year well check

Hailey had to her 2 year well check today.  There were no immunizations to be done as she is all up to date and at this check they look heavily for signs of autism.  She had none.  Dr.  Suhda was impressed with all of her growth and was thrilled at her progress.  The only thing that I had questions about was the fact that she tends to imitate Paige quite a bit, but Dr. Suhda says it's natural and that she will grow into her own person.  She also made the joke about being careful what I wish for.  HaHa.  Hailey did really well for exam and sat on my lap while Dr. Suhda listened to her heart, lungs, checked her reflexes and looked in her eyes, ears and mouth.  Paige was quite the good big sister in helping Hailey to feel comfortable. 

Hailey's Measurements today:
Wt:  24 lbs 14 oz (25 %....up from 10% at 18 mos check)
Ht:  34 1/2 in (70%)!
Head Circ:  18 1/2 cm (40%)

Paige's Measurements at 2 years old:
Wt:  22 lbs 5 oz (5%)
Ht:  34 in (50%)
Head Circ:  18 1/4 cm (15%)

Hailey is still bigger than Paige at the same age, but really not by much.  Hooray for health and growth!

A borrowed blog

http://powerofmoms.com/2012/04/your-children-want-you/

A friend of mine posted this link on Facebook.  I love how it comes full circle to how she feels about her mom.  My mom may drive me crazy sometimes (just as I do her), but I cannot imagine life without her.  She really does do lots for me and she loves the girls more than anything and I am extremely thankful for that. 

I love the fact too that the woman who wrote this gets tired and doesn't do every detail.  I don't have house plants either!  I do get ideas from Pinterest, but usually minimize what the idea was.  I don't work out or wear a size two or even have the latest fashions.  Heck, I don't even have a hairstyle these days!  (I do want to work out more just to healthy for my family, but I just haven't found the motivation or time.)  Frankly, I just want to spend as many moments with my girls and my family.  Yes, snuggling in our bed is one of the best parts of our day too.  We are a family at that point and I think we all feel it. 

Brian and I have said this many times, we don't want to keep up with Jones'.  We want to fulfill our own needs, wants and desires instead.  This makes our life grand and keeps things in perspective.  Right now for us, it's our children.  From what the woman who wrote this blog says, it sounds like that's all they want too. 

Ballet for Hailey

I think I have said that Hailey really, really, really wants to attend dance class. This morning Paige insisted that Hailey bring ballet shoes to her dance class so she too could join in.  I said we could take them but we would have to ask Miss Tina (the instructor) if it would be okay.  Of course, Miss Tina invited Hailey to join the class half way through for the ballet portion.  Hailey did awesome!  She followed the teacher really well and had lots of grace.  She loved it.  So it looks like dance fees just doubled. 

Paige is the pink on the end and Hailey in the blue next to her. 
The are sitting like butterflies. 

EEC

I was once again impressed by the services the the city offers.  They have a beautiful facility called the Environmental Education Center with a full lake, walking trails and an awesome education building.  They girls attended a wildlife petting class that included Guinea pigs, chickens, a gecko, bunnies, a Flemish Giant bunny named Harvey, ducklings and a tamed skunk!  It was great. 

Easter morning & Egg hunt

The Easter Bunny came for the Thurmond Sisters this year.  (I was quite proud of him as he didn't over indulge this year.)  They got books, coloring books, card games, sidewalk chalk, bubble bath and a little bit of candy.  He also hid eggs in the back yard for an egg hunt.  Both girls did great hunting for eggs.  It was a fun morning with Dada, Auntie and me. 

Annika's Birthday Party

We are so fortunate to have wonderful neighbors.  We have become very good friends with them.  Some dear neighbors moved over Christmas, although not far from where we live now.  We were lucky enough to join them for their youngest daughters 2nd birthday party at their new home.  It was Hawaiian theme!  The girls had so much fun with gunny sack races, bubbles, food and dancing.  They were so good and had really enjoyed every aspect of the party.  The only thing missing was a picture with the birthday girl and her sister! 

Coloring Skills

I'm not sure what has made the difference, but Paige has absolutely been coloring within the lines for about two weeks now.  I never gave her limits about making sure she did this just because I don't want her to feel obligated to stay within limits of doing things and also to help her think abstractly.  In fact, I like it better when she uses a plain piece of paper to color on.  But she likes coloring books, so she plays with them.  Today we colored outside on the patio while Hailey napped.  This is the picture she colored.  Granted it's from one of the large coloring books so she had more space, but I think she did a fantastic job of staying in the lines and using color.  She's doing so many things "better" (if that's how to phrase it) these days.  It's amazing to watch them grow. 

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Egg Dye

Today we dyed Easter Eggs.  Of course we did this outside, but the weather is awesome here this time of year so it works out.  My mom and aunt came over to supervise.  Both girls did great.  They both at first picked out the eggs from the dye with their hands, but after demonstrating how to do it, both mastered using the spoon to do it (very Montessori).  I got dye that had glitter in it this year...very pretty and of course the sparkly-girly-girls loved it. 

Egg Hunt

There has been so much going on and I'm excited I have so much to post lately.  I'm assuming it will slow down as school winds up and there are no holidays for a few weeks.  But I do have yet another fun event that we did today with our playgroup.  An Egg Hunt!  The girls had fun playing at the park and then hunting for the eggs that the moms brought to hide.  Both did really well at looking for the eggs and putting them in their baskets and then continuing their hunt.  I think having the other kids there helped.  Yet another great reason we joined a playgroup!  They of course liked opening their eggs to find candy inside after the hunt.  It was a great morning.