Ellie's first quarter report card

Ellie had a very successful first quarter. Her math and reading/writing skills are among the highest in her class. She is also an independent worker who is able to accomplish tasks on her own. She is able to work very well with all students in our classroom and has been a kind and caring role model to others.
~strength: sounding out words to write sentences.
~goal: continue to improve in reading skills.

Jace is 6 Months old!

Jace is now 6 months old and its hard to remember a time without him. The girls are enjoying every new stage he hits. He has been sitting up unassisted for the past 3 weeks, he has also learned how to roll across the room, of course it takes him a bit but he likes that he can move by himself. He has gotten so big we had to retire the bouncy seat- you know it's time when his bottom is resting on the floor! He also grew tired of the floor gym, so now our living room isn't the obstacle course it used to be. :) The last week when he plays on the floor he pushes up on his arms and then slides his body in reverse and continues to do that to get to toys or the girls. They have so much fun watching and helping. Ellie and Sydney wanting to change his diaper, I let them and they thought it was lots of fun, and Sydney insists on holding his bottle and feeding him, a few more weeks and I am going to be out of a job! :)

He also has started on veggies and just dives into the food, as you can see there is no lacking of substance for him. Unfortunately for Mom and Dad, he deprived us of the funny faces. He just opens his mouth and swallows, its like he doesn't even taste the peas or beans. (the girls whenever they tried the different veggies would make yucky faces and sometimes whince-not Jace, just wants food, doesn't matter what kind)

And just like the girls likes to sleep face down, we just wonder how he breaths. He loves his blue blankey and nuzzles in and konks out. He continues to be a great sleeper, taking a 2 - 31/2 hour nap in the pm, allows Mom and Sydney for 1 on 1 time. :) Or a nap, once in a blue moon.

Sunday afternoon was spent doing leaf cleanup, even the girls were helping out. The best part for them was jumping in the piles Mom raked together. We had to work hard and fast to make sure to get done for the big game at 3!

Halloween was a little cold and living in the North we had to do a costume change, so instead of Ellie being a witch she went as a Princess wearing her tiara, carrying her wand and wearing a perfectly pink fur coat. Sydney instead of being Dorthy went as a pretty pink Carebear. The kids stayed warm and made out like bandits when it comes to the candy! They also thought it was pretty cool to see the firefighters and truck in our neighborhood and get yummy candy from them. After an hour and a sack full of candy we headed back to our house and gave out treats for the remaining hour of trick or treating. Ellie liked handing out candy more than getting it, until she was able to eat some of her loot.

We took the girls to Sweet Street and they had a lot of fun. They played in the bouncy house, rode down the big slide, trick or treated and had a yummy "Dirt Dessert" as you can see it all over Sydney's face! :) Jace had so much fun he fell asleep, literally!

The girls didn't like scooping out the pumpkin's tummy! But they did have fun with making their faces and eating their seeds.

The girls had lots of messy fun decorating Halloween cupcakes. They tasted so good!

Girl Scouts

Ellie started Girl Scouts this fall and is having lots of fun. The had their Fall Harvest Dance last Friday and Ellie was able to bring Sydney with. They did a Halloween craft, ate yummy Halloween treats and danced to a DJ. They did the Macarena, the Locomotion and the Hokey Pokey. It was lots of fun to watch the girls dance to the songs. Sydney however wasn't too fond of the loud music. And for attending the dance Ellie received her first patch. Here are a few pics from the dance.

Addiction

Addiction means something different to everyone, for me one of my addictions is picture frames, I am not sure how it started, just a few short years ago my Aunt Dee was telling me I need to put something on my walls. Now as I walk from room to room I don't see much of the walls I so carefully painted. Our children have become our works of art, each picture beautiful and unique. A picture is worth a thousand words, that's what they say but the most important word that comes to my mind is Love.
And so I challenged myself to count the picture frames that have been added since our first baby arrived and if you think this is not an addiction, it is, the grand total 76. So the next time I visit the craft store I plan to skip the frame aisle and go right to the paper aisle, another of my addictions, however that is an addiction I can conceal in folders, boxes and even the closet. :)

Dear Santa

Last night Sydney went potty and couldn't go back to sleep so she called out for me and I went in by her - half asleep - it was 2 am afterall, she was upset she couldn't sleep. So I gave her a big hug, tucked her in tight, gave her her Bear and told her to think about wonderful things, like her toys, dance class, and puppies. She replied with "I am going to think about 'my computer Santa is going to bring me'"! So back to sleep we went. This morning at breakfast she said she had fun dreaming about her computer and can't wait for Christmas. So note to Santa, make sure you get her that computer!

Sydney's field trip to the Pumpkin Patch.

Sydney had her first field trip last week, they went to the Pumpkin Patch. She had so much fun, I think the best part for her was riding a school bus like her big sister. At the farm they went through a small corn maze, a train ride, a haunted house and a haunted hayride. She also was able to pick her very own pumpkin and gourds! It was the perfect thing to put us in the Halloween mood!

Jace is 5 months old!

Jace is doing great, we have moved him to a bath seat in the big bath tub and he loves it. Just hangs out, the girls love taking baths with him, although he sometimes looks terrified of them. And Mom feels like she needs a relaxing bath afterwards :) ! The Klumb kids are all doing great, Sydney is enjoying Preschool, Dance and Storytime, Ellie is enjoying Kindergarten, the bus ride especially, Dance and her first girl scout meeting is next week - she is very excited. And Jace is loving having Mom to himself for a few short hours a week. We are very sad to see the warm weather go but with the chill outside and the cookies in the oven the kids find a way to survive with books and yummy sugar cookies!