Lorelei at 9

This girl so loves her pool time!

Lorelei at 9 you...

Love swimming. You would swim every day if you could. You often pretend to be a dolphin.

Want to be constantly socializing. You love time with friends and think life should be a constant play date. You still say you are friends with your entire class. This is a great group of kids so I am thankful you feel that way.

Like creating things, especially to decorate.

Love reading.  You really took off over the summer and if you have any down-time around the house, you head off to read a book. Right now you are into any animal rescue book you can get your hands on. You also like many various American Girl books.

Still have a great love for dogs are persistent on asking for a dog of your own. Since you have not made any headway with that goal after about 8 years of asking, you currently have aspirations to start a dog training business or the like. First you have to prove to your mom you will clean up after these dogs...

Often have great practical suggestions and ideas. I definitely appreciate this and it is a great life skill. This also leads to many long discussions when you are attempting to persuade us into doing something you want.

Keep us on our toes with your moods. This is something that I am daily trying to work on with you.

Still prefer English and Writing over your other subjects. Math is still your biggest struggle. This year Spelling is moving into second with some tricky words for 3rd grade.

Ask what feels like literally a million questions a day.

Still talk a mile-a-minute constantly. Unless you are asleep or reading. ;)

Love to Laugh.

Quotes:
"They said I was NICE. But that's a banned adjective! Blehhhh!" (Referring to her list in her school writing book. They have a list of banned adjectives you are not supposed to use in your writing...as in, its not even a compliment because its a banned adjective!)

"I think he knows that if he is funny it encourages us to do things better." (About her tumbling coach)

(Explaining her injured leg to her dad...)
"You know when there is a curb and you don't see it?"

"Look! A weeping willie!!!" (word goof for weeping willow)

"Send the mosquitoes to me! I have a way with animals!"

(Mad) "I'm glad you taught me how to fold my arms!"

"The older you get the dreadfuller it will be." (referring to the number of bites to take of a food you don't want)

"How did he get so mannerable???" (as in, having manners...)

"Act proper!" (Anytime we see a cop)

Me: We call it acorn park.
Lorelei: It's actually called Mustache Park.
Makin: You mean Beard Park!
(The park is really Beard Park, so the mustache thing was hilarious...hope you get this if you weren't there!)


Lorelei's Nine Year Interview

Favorites -
Food: Spaghetti
Place: The Pool
Movie/TV Show: Moanna
Color: Pink and Purple
Thing To Do: Read
Animal: Dog
Books: Puppy Place, Dog Diaries, Horse Diaries, and The American Girl Mysteries and books
Song: All of the songs off of Moanna and songs by Jewel
Treat: Cake and Ice Cream
Holiday: Christmas

What do you like to do with Daddy? Dates, especially getting donuts

What do you like to do with Mommy? Read Books

What do you like to do with Makin? Play Puppies and Kitties

What makes you happy? Reading, being outside, drawing

What do you think about before you fall asleep? What I'm going to do the next day.

What do you want to be when you grow up? I want to be a Marine Biologist and work at Clearwater Marine Aquarium

Makin Turns Seven

Makin had a great time celebrating his birthday!

Thursday Birthday Treats
He and Charlie's birthdays are only 4 days apart so they brought school treats together this year.
Krispe Kreme made footballs just for us! Yum!

Somehow we now have the tradition of putting their birthday gifts in their rooms while they are sleeping so that they wake up and see the gifts first thing the morning of their birthday.

Eating Breakfast While Building

Makin was soooo excited about his gifts, he didn't even want to have breakfast in bed. He wanted to eat it on the floor while he started putting together his Lego Fortrex. This gift was something he has wanted for over a year, so it was pretty exciting.

His original birthday request was to go to a roller rink, but I found out they were closed that day, so he chose to just stay home and work on the Fortrex all day. He started at 6:30 that morning, took a break to go out to lunch (pizza) and then worked some more, taking a break for his birthday dessert. He got finished right around 5 o clock and was so excited to play with the completed project. (Roughly 9 hours of working time...) The next day he build with his new Knex all day when he wasn't doing his school work. :)

His birthday supper tends to be somewhat unpredictable. This year it was macaroni and cheese (no surprise) with popcorn shrimp and red lobster biscuits. His birthday dessert choice was dirt. (I feel like I got off easy on the cakes this year!!!)

Proud Of His Day's Work!

Happy Birthday to our awesome 7 year old!!!

Lorelei Turns Nine

Because you usually forget to open presents on your birthday
...she made sure to make a list of what to do that morning! ;)
No idea where she gets this list-making stuff...

Lorelei's birthday was quite the combo this year because it was the same day as the parties. We debated for quite a while about having the party on her actual birthday, but it was the best day for everyone and Lorelei had no qualms about it messing with our usual birthday plans.

This year she chose saltwater taffy for her school treat.
I am totally on board with this becoming a yearly tradition! ;)

We started the morning bright and earlier than usual because the kids were sooooo excited. She opened gifts and then had breakfast in bed. This year we had powdered donuts. She was over-the-moon excited because she got all the gifts she wanted and more! (This is because she really only asked for two things! These two requests were a Kindle and mermaid fin. She assumed she would only get one because she didn't know Grandma and Grandpa would send a Kindle!)

The puppy toy is from Makin. If this girl plays pretend, it is to be a puppy. So, we shouldn't be surprised that is what she would want as a gift. He also got her a book. This was the first year they discussed getting each other gifts, which they purchased for each other with their own money. Made my heart happy.

Before we knew it it was party time. :) (Previous post...)

When the last guests left we had to head straight to the pool so she could try out her mermaid fin. This was a great way for her to unwind after the excitement of the day and get some special time with mom in the pool.

Side note on the mermaid fin: It is awesome! She swims like a pro with it and absolutely loves it!

Then she and Makin got to open their gifts from Nana and Aunt Heather before her traditional favorite supper of...you guessed it! Spaghetti!!! :)






Then she had her third cupcake of the day, because, why not right!? What else are you supposed to do when you have two parties on your birthday!? :)

Happy Birthday to our sweet 9 year old!

Under The Sea Birthday Bash

We put a twist on the joint birthday party this year...same day, same water slide rental, same decorations, same cupcakes...different times of day!

These two played on the waterslide for about an hour before any guests arrived!

After hearing about the seaweed plans I had for the hallway and kitchen,
Lorelei worked tirelessly to create fish. This included drawing many freehand, and some from a how-to-draw book we found at the library. This went on for at least a month. She had quite a few two-sided fish we hung from the ceiling,
as well as a manta ray we hung from the light fixture.
She definitely has the party bug and loves planning and creating as much as possible.

Aunt Heather created this adorable crab watermelon!

Popcorn bar!

Cupcakes
(Shells compliments of Amanda Armstrong)

Lou The Lobster was our party mascot, of course she was a hit!

Sea Urchin Take-Homes...there were more pink at the first party!

The morning party was celebrating our 9 year old!

A friend captured a few great shots for me, loved the girls singing in this one...

So much fun! She was only missing two of her classmates, and we had a few extra friends invited as well! Such a great turn out and they all had a fun time!

Then we had a lunch break where we quickly tidied up and then ate lunch. (That was the part I didn't really consider in this plan...what a mess! Thankful I had lots of helpers with the clean up!)

Then we celebrated our soon-to-be 7 year old in the afternoon!

Makin had a little over half of his classmates who could make the party, then we had other friends mixed in as well. This kid used up soooo much energy playing on the slide all day!

We had a great time celebrating these two kiddos of ours!

Kicking Off The School Year - 1st and 3rd Grade

It has been a blur of nerves and excitement as the school year got started.

Meet The Teacher

Lorelei's teacher this year is Mrs. Rhine who has been working with the school for 7 years and I believe this is her 3rd year teaching 3rd! I'm excited to see the end-of-the-year picture and see who is taller. ;)

I have heard from many other teachers and parents that "she is so organized" which sounds perfect for me! Mrs. Rhine told us this is also the year she pushes them to be more responsible for their own work and making sure they get items turned in on time etc. I do not see this being a problem for us, but I guess we will see! Lorelei's feedback after the first day was, "She is funny!"

Friends excited to be together again!
Jaedynn, Reagan, Nayeli, Lorelei and Savannah

Makin has our beloved Mrs. White this year for 1st grade! We cannot express how happy we are to be working together again and for Makin to have this sweet and wonderful teacher. This is her 3rd year teaching 1st at GCA.


Makin was chatting the evening of the first day of school and just said. "I love Mrs. White." :)

These best buddies were thrilled to be sitting next to each other.
I'm interested to see how long they get to stay this way. :)

First Day Photos

Both kiddos were quite nervous about their first day. This surprised me, although I'm not sure why. They come from a long line of nervous-for-school people on my side of the family. ;) When they got in the car after the big day, they were all smiles and had nothing but happy things to report. Including that they barely had time to miss me. :)

So excited to have a rolling backpack this year.
Much needed!

And just in case you thought these little photo shoots looked easy...

We did have a little fly-on-the-wall who gave us a sneak peak into 1st grade at lunch. :)

(Makin is on the far left of the pic...)

Our Traditional 1st Day Ice Cream

Home Days

Playing around with the coins in his math manipulatives and loved grouping them to make $1s.

Celebrating the first week of school on Friday...Puppy and Kitty Nutella Pancakes!

Smelling the spices for our Science lesson. Just loved the facial expressions!
The next week he tasted a pickle for sour and had a similar reaction. :)

Our 3rd grade history book spans a lot of grade levels so this year it will be a lot of me reading and Lorelei listening.
The first lesson was about Mozart and Handel, so we kept it a little more interesting by looking up some of their famous pieces. This was a fireworks display choreographed to Music for the Royal Fireworks.
I have been told by several moms that they love this history book so excited to read it with Lor!

Taking The Temperature of Room/Cold/Hot Water for Science

We enjoyed getting back into our Wednesday library routine, but realized there will be some kinks to work out with the new grade levels. Trying to give ourselves grace and remember the weeks will get better! Makin (the child who was not crying most of the morning) had a blast with two of his classmates having fun between lessons.

Week 2 At The Library

Extras

The kids still had some coupons for free smoothies at Smoothie King from their library reading program. We enjoyed the time together having that special stop after school. They loved the smoothie treats and I loved having them excitedly tell me about their days. It made me really thankful we were not rushing to tumbling and soccer like most Tuesdays of last year and has me brainstorming the best ways to fit in our extra curriculars so we can have more down time like this. It was so nice not to be in a rush.


School Quote...When talking to Makin just before his second GCA day I asked if he was at all nervous.
Makin: I'm 100% excited.
Me: So not even a little bit nervous?
M: Well I'm 1% nervous.
Me: Well then that means you are 99% excited.
Makin: My scale goes to 101.

We have been working on building the community for GCA and I'm one of the two room moms for 3rd grade. We decided we needed a bit of encouragement our first week so eight out of the twelve moms made it for a Starbucks drink after drop off.