Jack and Annie

While we were at the library last week I decided to get Hailey her first "chapter" book.  Tyler really enjoyed the Magic Tree House books (he's side tracked by Harry Potter at the moment) and so I thought Hailey might like them too.  I was too sure if she would be ready for chapter books.  She loves her picture books.  But then I reminded myself that Tyler loves BOTH chapter books and pictures books so why not  give it a try.   Hailey was so excited.  It's easy to overlook the things that Tyler gets to do and she doesn't sometimes.  When she saw the book and I told her it was for her, her eyes lit up and she said "My very first Jack and Annie book!!!".  Then she started looking through it.  The first thing she noticed was the table of contents and read the names of all of the chapters.  This led to the explanation of what chapters were and then she looked through the book to find the beginning of each chapter.  Well she loved reading a chapter book.  We've already started on the second one.  And once again we are noticing differences between her and Tyler's reading styles.  While they both ask questions during the reading (which is good), Tyler looks at the ceiling or around the room and you can almost see the world he's created in his mind based on the words he is hearing.  Hailey on the other hand will occasionally ask where exactly you are on the page because she it seems she occasionally loses her spot as she's following along on the page while we read the words.  It was so much fun to see her excitement and being able to read "chapter" books just like Tyler.  Can't imagine her excitement when she turns 5 and Dave starts reading Harry Potter to her.

Sparky

Tyler came home from school today saying they got to meet their class mascot.  It's a dog (stuffed) named Sparky.  I guess Sparky gets to go home with the students (not Tyler's day today) for a day (or more?).  I assume there is also some type of school work associated.  Anyway, Tyler said when Sparky comes to our house he is going to make a snuggly bed.  Then he said "Hmmm, I bet Teddy is going to feel jealous".  Should be interesting around here when Sparky comes to visit :).

Shocking

On Tuesday morning while Tyler was at school, Hailey and I were playing in the playroom.  Hailey all of the sudden said, "Let's play mommy and daddy".  Ok, so I was the mommy and she was the daddy.  I had two babies in the form of Minnie Mouse and a large stuffed frog "Hailey and Tyler".  We spent the next half hour taking care of the babies, feeding them, pretend changing their diapers, going to the grocery store, sleeping, etc.  It was shocking.  I don't know where it came from.  It was just so girly of her :).

Uniform

Dave and I attended a memorial on Saturday for a Woodinville fire fighter.  It was a traditional ceremony with lots of men and women in uniform, bag pipes, final dispatch call and the whole bit.  It was very touching and of course sad.  But one nice thing was the chance (the 1st we've had) to get a photo of all three brothers in uniform.  Uncle Dan is a fire fighter in Sacramento, Uncle Joe is/was a Warrant Officer in the Army, and Dave is with Kirkland Police (of course).  I'm so proud of them all.

Expelliarmus

At our house these days we've been playing a lot of Harry Potter. The kids use wands and we all become characters. Though Hailey's still too young to read the books she knows all the characters and which are good guys and bad guys. She's seen a couple of lego Harry Potter clips and she seems to have the gist of what it is all about. So, you can find us running around the house casting spells/charms on each other. Tyler's developing an English accent. Hailey has a scarily spot on voice for Snape and Lord Voldemort. And after we get tired of running around casting spells, we usually play a little Quiddich (which looks a lot like basketball at our house) and each goal is 5 points since Tyler is supposed to be learning how to count by 5's :).

A couple months back we visited the Harry Potter exhibit at the Science Center. It was probably a waste of money since Hailey was terrified and she and I sped through the exhibit to the gift shop in about 5 minutes. Dave and Ty took a little more time but there were some scary parts that even Tyler moved right past. Would probably be perfect in another 4 years. I think it was pretty neat for Ty to see some of the real movie props, costumes, and wands though.

Expelliamus

Consider yourself "zapped".

Our Schedule

I've been thinking for a while now that I should document this so I can remember years down the road.

Here's our current year school schedule.

Hailey's Preschool:
MWF 9-11:30

Tyler's Kindergarten:
Mon-Thurs 8:20-11:10
Friday 8:20-12:55 every other week.

So on Friday he has no school one week and the next he gets a longer day....also known as fantastic Friday because they get two recesses, lunch, and Friday surprise (a little something from their teacher). Yes it's hard to keep track.

Thursdays are popcorn days, $.25 gets you a bag of popcorn just as class is getting out at 11:10. Tuesdays are ice cream day (in warmer weather)
Wednesday is library day.
Thursday is music class.
I go in on various Friday's for Art Docent and Math Mania.

Sadly, between varying start times and days off, mom only gets an hour and 40 minutes twice a week to work without kids and maybe get a quick grocery store run in :)

Grammy Christmas

The kids renamed our Bunge family Christmas this year. It is now Grammy Christmas. This year it was a whole week after Christmas but the kids still had fun. The tree was very crispy but held on for us.

The tree is filled again

We pretty much made a day of it. The cousins played for a while and we ate lunch and snacked. Then the kids made gingerbread houses/castles. Here is Katie and Tyler hard at work.

And Tyler's finished castle.

A little while later it was time for presents. But first a picture with Grammy.

Let the fun begin.

It wasn't long before we were knee deep in gifts.

Hailey was pretty excited about a new basketball and soccer ball.

Somehow I didn't manage to get a picture of the kids' gift pile but shockingly :), there were lots of legos. After dinner, the kids all got one of their little kits out and went straight to work.