Routines & Chores

The girls had a pretty good morning routine during the school year and I want to keep that going for the summer. I've been doing routine charts for Lauren since she was 2 - but I had not done a chart for Catherine. Now that I've moved them into separate rooms, I decided it was Catherine's turn to have a chart:

I followed Catherine around yesterday morning as she did her "chores" and took pictures of her for her chart.

Lauren informed me this morning that she can now read her chores and she's ready for a chart without pictures. (Her current chart has clip art for the various activities.) I'll post her updated chart after I finish it.

My other project for the summer is to introduce some chores that benefit the whole family. I have been making lists of extra things that I think Lauren can do. She already helps set the table and clears her own dishes after meals. I'm thinking that she can start helping with the trash, dusting, watering plants (outside!), etc. I also want to find some chores that Catherine can do.

I'll keep you posted on our progress...

End of School

Friday was Lauren's last day of school; Catherine's last day was May 12th. It's definitely bittersweet to arrive at the end of the year. Both girls had such a wonderful year and learned so many new things. At the same time, I am really looking forward to the more relaxed pace of the summer. I hope to update my blog more often...we'll see how that goes!

Lauren, Catherine & Mrs. Mims (Lauren's teacher)

Catherine & Mrs. Kim

Catherine & Mrs. Kandy

Photograpy

I love photography! I am frequently teased about how often I have a camera with me...although most people are then shocked if I DON'T have my camera! (My girls are catching the bug...if we see something neat, the first thing they say is, "where's my camera?"!) I've been playing with some photo-editing software the last couple of days and editing the color in my pictures. I really like the effect! I'm just using Microsoft Office Picture Manager right now, but I may need to upgrade to Photoshop.

The first picture has been cropped, but had no color editing. The second picture has been edited for color:

Before

After

Muffins with Mommy & Donuts with Daddy

Catherine's preschool had "Muffins With Mommy" this morning. She made me several cute gifts and then her class sang "You are my Sunshine." So cute!!

Catherine's preschool also had Donuts with Daddy back in March. I'm just now getting the pictures processed. You may wonder why they have Donuts with Daddy in March? Well...preschool doesn't meet around Father's Day. Ken's gift was a rock that said, "Dad, You Rock!"

He is RISEN!

"He is not here; He has risen, just as He said." Matthew 28:6

We had a wonderful Easter Sunday! The girls got to see what the Easter Bunny brought and then we went to church. The service was great - I love the beautiful Easter hymns and the additional instruments. Plus, the choir sang the Hallelujah Chorus....awesome.

We decided to have a family outing this afternoon and visited Auburn's Forest Ecology Preserve. The weather was great and the girls really enjoyed hiking, looking for birds and being outside.

Spring Break

The girls & I traveled to Illinois for spring break to meet my new nephew Jackson Monroe. We left on Friday March 13th and spent the night with my aunt in Nashville, TN. The girls had a blast playing with Aunt Barbara's jewelry.

Then we drove to Illinois on Saturday. Lauren & Catherine were so excited to meet "baby Jackson." They couldn't wait to hold him!

My birthday was on Sunday the 15th and the girls helped Sugie make brownies for my birthday treat.

We had such a great week with Katie & Bob and Sugie & Pops, and I was so glad that we got to stay with Aunt Barbara on both ends of the trip. It was so nice to break up the drive since I was driving by myself.

OH and one other funny story: Katie's cats are not that fond of my wild girls and generally try to hide. However, Ellie will "judo-chop" Lauren when Lauren gets in her personal space - it's hilarious!

Snow Day!

We had almost 4 inches of snow in AUBURN today! The girls had such a great time playing in the snow.

Ken, Lauren & Catherine


Lynne, Lauren & Catherine

Ken walked around campus and took some snow shots.

The snowman with the Aubie tail for a tie...a mowhawk...and smoking a cigar....riding in a truck.

January Randomness

Where's Waldo? Catherine had so many friends in the bed last night it was hard to find her!

Lauren has been wearing eye makeup when playing dress up lately, but I think we need to work on her application skills...

We had "Game Night" recently and the girls had a blast playing Hungry Hungry Hippo!

Catherine got really quiet one day and when I went to investigate she had put herself down for a nap - 2nd children have to do everything for themselves, ha ha!

Lauren's 2nd tooth

My neighbor and I have a carpool to take our two kids to Kindergarten. (They ride the bus home together in the afternoons.) Elizabeth called me on Tuesday mid-morning to let me know that Lauren had left her lunchbox in the van. Not a problem...one of my New Year's resolutions was to have everything ready each night, so Catherine and I were ready for preschool early, and we were able to pick up the lunchbox and drop it off at the Kindergarten before Catherine had to be at preschool.

So...Lauren lost her 2nd tooth on Tuesday at school. Mrs. Mims put the tooth in a baggie and Lauren put it in her lunchbox. Then, she proceeded to leave her lunchbox on the bus when she got home on Tuesday afternoon. She & her friend are the last two kids off the bus each day...how do you lose your lunchbox on an empty bus?

It was not a good lunch box day.

Wednesday was a great day! Lauren got her lunchbox back from the bus driver, tooth intact! (And leftover peanut butter sandwich, etc. - Ewww.) She put her tooth in the special pillow for the tooth fairy and got her gold coin this morning.

(notice the two new teeth coming in BEHIND the other teeth!)

She took her lunch to school today and made it home with the lunchbox. Success!

Girls & Boys

My friend Jana and I like to talk about how her son and my girls are different. Case in point: Clem likes to play with cars. He gets on the floor, pushes them around, studies how they work, makes car noises, etc. Catherine...reads to her cars.


And now we have to show the cars the picture:



Hope they liked the story!

Lost Tooth!

Lauren lost her first tooth overnight (she came into my room about 5:30 this morning to show me.) Her permanent tooth was already coming in behind the loose tooth, so you can see it in the pictures. She was so excited! She'll put her tooth under her pillow tonight for the Tooth Fairy, so I suspect I'll get another early visit tomorrow showing me what the TF brought! :)

Happy Birthday, Lauren!

Lauren is 6 years old today! She had a great day with pancakes for breakfast, a party at Frog Legs and Moe's for dinner. :) She has loose teeth, increasing negotiating skills, a tendancy toward the dramatic and a need to boss her sister. She's also a sweet, loving and wonderful part of our family! Happy birthday sweet girl!

Lauren - 6 years - November '08

Lauren - 6 months - May '03

Happy Birthday Catherine!

Catherine is 3 years old today! It doesn't seem possible that it has been three years since she was born. She had a little party with her friend Clem yesterday, and she's having a party with her preschool classmates tomorrow at school. She is such a funny, happy little girl and I'm so thankful that she is a part of our life.