Olivia's First Day of Kindergarten

Olivia started Kindergarten this week at our neighborhood elementary school. She was very excited the night before and had no trouble waking up early (was there ever any doubt with our little early bird?) She had a busy first day and was so tired when Eve and I picked her up. When she came in the door, though, she grabbed a pencil, sat down at the kitchen table, and asked if the teacher put any homework in her backpack. She is motivated to learn! She said that so far, it's been mostly playtime, but I told her that after the first week, it'll get a little harder. She is ready for the challenge! We will continue to do projects at home, especially science projects since there isn't much emphasis on science in Kinder. Our latest experiment this week was on pH testing of acids and bases. Of course, Olivia had to get dressed for the part before we started our tests!

Filling Those Buckets

With the first day of Kindergarten quickly approaching for Olivia, we decided to have a week filled with family fun. No school-like projects or lesson plans for this last week of summer. Spending time together, filling our happiness buckets was the goal for the week.

We went to the Austin Childrens' Museum on Tuesday for their "Play It By Ear" exhibit. Besides the normal exhibits that are always there (the Construction Zone, the Discovery Center, the train station, and the Austin City Limits music stage), there were all kinds of neat homemade instruments and ideas for making sound. The girls loved the "kitchen jam drum" (my name for it) which was a drum, of sorts, made of all kinds of kitchen pots, pans, and utensils wired together with drumsticks for "jamming". There was also a big bass drum with a tractor chair bolted on it, so Eve sat and felt the vibration as Olivia gave the drum a huge whack. In the Discovery Center, Olivia enjoyed attaching a chair wheel to a board using nuts and bolts while Eve enjoyed making the plastic gears turn. They both enjoyed hooking up a plastic pig to a parachute for the "When Pigs Fly" activity. After we got home from the museum, Olivia was so inspired that we pulled out a bunch of recycled materials I had been saving (yes, I have a problem throwing things away!), and she invented a straw trumpet and a musical walking stick.

On Thursday, we met our friends Ms. Tonra and Ethan, and Ms. Michelle and Jared for a "Back to School" breakfast at Rudy's BBQ in Austin. The kids enjoyed breakfast tacos while the moms chatted. Then, we headed over to Extreme Fun for some jumping fun. Aunt Megan, and cousins Elena, Gabby, and Jonah came out too, and the kiddos had a great time bouncing off that extra energy they seem to always have.


On Saturday, we went to a Farmer's Market off of Burnet Rd. in Austin, and the girls were able to see and eat some of the fresh produce available locally. The beautiful peaches from Mexia were so juicy and sweet and quite different in taste from the peaches we have been getting from our grocery store. This was what a peach should taste like! Eve and Olivia have had two peaches a day for the last three days; they are goooood! We also bought some cherry tomatoes, banana peppers, onions, bell peppers, and a jar of dill pickles. Since our garden only produced basil and cherry tomatoes this year, we were grateful to be able to taste someone else's fresh produce. The girls had to sample our purchases before we even got back into the car. Juice dribbling down chins is just part of the experience of going to a Farmer's Market.

On Sunday, we went to the Creative Playscape in Georgetown, Texas. This wooden playscape was built by the townspeople of Georgetown in 1993, and it is so different (in a good way) from the typical playscape we find in our local parks. There are neat places to hide and climb, and there are balance beams, ladders, a zip line and a sand area all built in. We took advantage of the cool morning and enjoyed ourselves at the park before heading over to some picnic tables at the San Gabriel River for a picnic. The girls were really too busy watching the squirrels and chasing the ducks to eat very much.





Besides going places, the girls also enjoyed their time at home this past week doing their favorite things like drawing, playing in the sand box, drinking water out of the Slip N' Slide (!), and swinging on the playscape. With Olivia starting Kindergarten, it was nice to spend this concentrated time together as a family and "fill our buckets" with positive experience before the school year begins.

Big Changes!

Big changes have been happening in our household. When the girls were babies, we noticed changes and advancing milestones at least once a week, but as they are getting a bit older, the changes are more subtle. Well, all of a sudden, we no longer have a baby and a preschooler but a toddler and a Kindergartner! This means big adjustments for Mom and Dad too! In just two short weeks of walking more than a couple of steps, Eve is now taking off and going all of those places she has been wanting to explore for the last 6 months! Olivia has gotten an expander for her top teeth (I keep thinking, "Isn't she too young for a dental appliance?"), is learning to play guitar, and has just attended Kinder Camp. Along with Kindergarten, which starts on Monday, comes schedule adjustments such as Olivia no longer taking a nap and weaning Eve down from two naps to one. We are now getting up before 6 AM (Eve is having a hard time with the schedule changes and so am I!), eating lunch by 10:30AM, and the girls are in bed by 7 or 7:30PM. Brian and I are actually getting to spend some time together in the evening although most of this time is spent doing chores that we were not able to do during the day. Well, just when I feel like I'm getting the hang of this parenting thing, something changes, but I guess that's what keeps me growing and learning too. As a new mom, I learned from baby Olivia how to slow down and enjoy the moment, and now I just want to continue with that pace although it seems like the world is speeding up and the girls are growing up too fast for me.

Grand Birthday Weekend

The girls and I spent this last weekend with their Granddaddy and Granny Gigi at their home in East Bernard. Granddaddy's birthday was August 19, so the girls were happy to get to spend this weekend before his birthday with him. It was my first long trip with the girls by myself (and Eve's first trip down to East Bernard), and although I was fearing the drive, they did wonderfully. There were a couple of times when Genevieve dropped her sippy cup, but Big Sister, Olivia, came to the rescue and retrieved it for her. With Eve getting older, we will be able to do more things together like this, and I am excited about the possibilities! :) (While we were away, Brian got some well-deserved downtime. He painted our living room orange!!)

While visiting, we went to see my grandmother, Mary Ferrell, at her home in Boling. We enjoyed seeing her again, and she was able to meet Eve for the first time. She has a beautiful "Around the World" quilt top she is working on. Eve just had the best time rolling all over the quilt and telling us and signing to us the colors of the quilt squares. Olivia had fun playing ball with her cousin Conner who was there with his grandparents, Allen and Bonny Ferrell.

While at Grandaddy and Granny's house, the girls played outside quite a bit when the rain stopped falling. Olivia played with the toy workbench, and Eve was a bit obsessed with their dog, Giorgi. She would say, "Giorgi, hold you!" while she stood by the backdoor asking Giorgi to hold her. It was precious! Olivia rode with Granddaddy on the riding lawnmower and was so proud of her lawn-cutting job. I told her how when we were little my brothers and I would drive the lawnmower and go-cart around the yard pretending we were driving cars....those were the days before gas was $4.00/gallon, of course!

















We had a grand weekend and we wish Granddaddy a very happy birthday!

We Love the Olympic Games!

We have been enjoying watching the Olympics this past week. In my family, the Olympics was always an anticipated event; we would watch and discuss details of different contests and cheer on the athletes. I will never forget being 12 years old and excitedly watching Mary Lou Retton do her spectacular vaults!

Olivia's favorite events to watch are swimming and fencing (we have to tape these since they occur after her bedtime), and she is getting to know names of different countries around the world. Any countries she asks about, we go to our big laminated world map, try to locate them for her and point out their flags.

Olivia's 5th birthday party theme this year was Olivia's Olympics, and she and her friends had fun participating in various sporting events as well as a torch relay and opening/closing ceremonies. (A big thank you to our neighbors and families for helping us organize and host the party!)

We have been doing some Olympic theme games and activities this week which we are primary borrowing from Scotto's Place Web site (Livy's favorite is the medal math!). We sure do love the summer Olympics!