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they are doing this:
ashlyn is teaching ben to read. lol. she reads all the words, and let's him "read" the little pictures they sprinkle into the text. She has her best "teachers voice" on right now.
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ok, so now she has the book in front of him, she points and he reads. he must have a lot of sight words down by watching her read, b/c he's really doing a great job!
yay ben!
i am officially sick once again. i guess adam got mad at me for getting him sick, so he gave it right back. lol :) i've been feeling quite yucky. yesterday was bad because i only got about 3 hours of sleep, and my coffee maker has died on me, so i couldn't even caffine myself up. today i at least have more energy b/c i got a good 10 hours of sleep, so that's good. i even stopped at starbucks to get a venti drip coffee for insurance. lol. holy cow. Gig Harbor is not a huge town, but there are many different Starbucks to choose from. The Drive-thru is the obvious favorite for the mornings, though.... they have to have a traffic conductor for the drive-thru line! with my illness, i decided to stay in the car. it really didn't take all that long, but ben thought it did :) i passed the time by snapping a few pics.
he LOVES his new shoes. so much, that he needed a photo of them. :)
last night, the kids played outside until it was dark and i called them in for dinner (seriously. i felt like such a mom, opening the back slider upstairs and calling down, "dinner time!" hehe). it was 50 degrees out, and really, it didn't feel very cold, so they were happy as clams out there. they were just in their own little worlds. Ben was running around with a pencil and notepad, playing Blue's Clues. You'd see him walking around, shout, "i know!" and run over to something that had a "clue" on it, and he'd stop and draw it. Ashlyn was just dancing around, singing Bethany Dillion songs. She ending up laying on the deck, staring at the fading blue sky, day-dreaming about pretty things, i'm sure.
you would think it's already spring with the constant sun and warmer temps we've had for the last week. it's been so great. we decided to go to the harbor to have a picnic and enjoy the weather, and the Black family ended up joining us! we had such a good time. the kids loved walking down the pier and leaning over the side to see what sea life they could see. the adults liked walking down the pier and picking out the boats we wish we could own. lol. the kids had fun running around in the grass playing chase, and all that fun stuff. Ashlyn says she wishes she could do yesterday over and over and over again :)
here are a few of ashlyn and ben before we left.
seriously. the colors on a sunny day are so stunning. emerald trees, sapphire skies and waters...everything sparkles and shines. photos don't do it justice.
ok, so for those of you who know my family, these photos will be astounding. lol. Both my husband and daughter do NOT eat fruit. they don't like the textures, and the taste of some. but low and behold, ashlyn tried a strawberry and liked it, she ate half a grape and liked it. She still isn't at the point of LOVING them, but she liked them enough to say she would keep trying them until she did. She was beyond proud of herself. she really, really wants to like fruits and veggies, but it is a battle for her :)
adam, is really trying to like different foods that he has previously shunned. his taste buds are changing, and he knows that eating healthy will benefit him. yesterday, he ate 3 strawberries (which were so unbelievably sweet, huge, and good), one orange, and a grape. seriously, folks. that is astounding and exciting.
the kids:
us
Ryan and Amanda
this starfish is the craziest thing i've ever seen! i edited this funky so you could see him better!
ashlyn couldn't get enough of looking over the sides and into the water. she said she thought the sea was amazing. :)
the best of friends. 364 days apart :)
the stuff that ashlyn kept looking at :)
Amanda and me...i miss living across the street from her! she's become such a close friend.
these flowers that are popping up in our front yard are proof that spring is oh-so-very near. i just love new blooms. the cycle of the seasons just excite me for some reason. spring=new life. it's so very refreshing. Gig harbor is gorgeous in the spring... magnolia tree blossoms, cherry tree blossoms, tuplips, daffodills, daisies, the trees fill back in with baby green leaves, and so much more. it's fantastic, and sooo colorful. so happy. i can't wait.
happy sunday!
it's been so fun to have ashlyn home for the week. ben has some company other than me, which is nice. Ashlyn makes project after project, craft after craft, drawing after drawing.... the girl never stops. her imagination is endless. We've been having great weather, so the kids have been playing outside for long periods of time. running around, drawing with sidewalk chalk, and who knows what else. It makes me excited for the summertime.
one of ashlyn's projects... a flower pot that has a first prize ribbon on it! lol
yesterday, ben decided to kick the rocks all over the place. i gave him a broom to sweep them up, but after watching him really try hard for a bit, i saw that his efforts were getting him nowhere. i ended up sweeping most of them, while he picked some up or kicked them back into the right place. later, ashlyn saw a few strays and started sweeping them. meanwhile, ben is in his own world with his dumptruck. *sigh* it's starts young, doesn't it? women want a clean area, and men don't care.
to end the week, we'll be going up the peninsula to see daddy's work (ashlyn hasn't seen it and is dying to), and have lunch with him. should be fun!
smart kids were using our arbor as the goal :)
sick with a fever :(
after cereal this morning, ben decided he wanted tea and banana, which i sprinkled with a bit of pumpkin spice. maybe one day his fruit eating will rub off on ashlyn. How come she is so like me, but when it comes to fruit and veggies, she takes after her dad???
i love looking at that pudgy little hand of his. i know it is only a matter of time before it's gone :(
today is ashlyn's valentines party at school. she wrote up all of her valentines cards last night. she did a great job!! it's so cute to see her doing stuff like this. i remember it so clearly from my own childhood.
the kids got a little bag of treats today... heart lollipops, cups, tattoos, pencils, stickers, necklace, diary... gotta love the $1 section at target!!!
and then just a cute one from the other day. i love that they are friends :)
ashlyn has become quite a good reader... she's the best reader in her class, and when she reads to me, i can see why! she's way past the realm of sight words--she understands short and long sounds, as well as most of the silent stuff, the way two letters might work together to form different sounds, and she's a pro at punctuation and reading a sentence the way it's intended. it's very easy for her to figure out a hard word just by thinking out the rules...sometimes it takes 15 seconds, and sometimes it comes immediately by intuition. it all just seems so natural for her. i love seeing this of course, since i absolutely loved reading as a kid. i'm hoping she finds that same joy in curling up with books as i did.
anyway, she's had these dora phonics books for about 2 years, but she is just now starting to go through them. Since she's already learned most of the basics, she just breezes right through. Ben sits and listens to her read, and last night after we put them down for the night, i found that he went back into her room to try and get one of her books. i was so curious to peek in and listen to their conversation and the way they interact when they are alone, that i let this exchange happen without the normal, "get back to bed, you guys". Ashlyn was a bit reluctant to give him a book, but he was so insistent, that she finally gave in ("but ben, those are learning books." -- "i know, ashlyn, i want to learn!!"). He went back to his room, turned on the light, and tried reading the book aloud. he did pretty well, from what i could hear through the door, and it was just so cute and wonderful for me to see that determined-to-learn side of him.
