Chicken

I am so excited to say that my cousin Deirdre has just published her first children's book called Chicken. We have been waiting for quite a while for it, so when it finally came on Wednesday, we were all really excited. I read it to the girls, and yesterday, as we were getting ready to leave for a friend's house, I caught Summer "reading" it. I wish I could have captured the whole story on film (which was pretty close to the original!), but I only caught the last part. Listen carefully, and if you know the real story, you might chuckle at the twist Summer put on it on the end. (Get a copy of the original story by Deirdre Nickel here.)

Disclaimer: I let her pick out her own clothes today. 

The Liberty Lake Yard Sale

Impulsive buying. That's what garage sales are all about. And for some reason, I'm okay with that now.

I am not an impulsive buyer. When I shop, which is rare, I'll browse, look at the price, then usually go home and think about whether I really want it or not. If I do want it, I'll go back, but I usually end up telling myself I don't need it, and we're better off without. And I'm not talking about something big like a new TV, or a complete set of non-stick pots and pans. I'm talking about a $13 shirt at Walmart. Yes, I'm a bit extreme.

That's why the Liberty Lake Yard Sale has been so good for me. This was the second year we attended, and I feel we were just as successful this year as last--especially because it rained all day. It's an annual thing, and this year, over 200 homes participated. Most of the time, people just walk up and down the streets to browse and shop, but this year, many (including us) preferred their vehicles.

 

Since we'll be moving at the end of this month (to a new and BIGGER duplex), we decided to get a few things for our new place.

The goods:
This indoor plastic tree for $5. (Claire was a good sport to help us hold it down while we drove it home!)

A new bed for Summer for $20. (Made by our neighbor. Summer's old bed was being held together with twine.)

An AWESOME kitchen set. (Since we will have more room in our new place, we finally broke down and got a kitchen set for the girls. But this is not just any kitchen set. It came with all the pots and pans, the food, has a sink, stove, oven, fridge, shelves, and . . .

 Water and ice options connected to the fridge!!! Is that awesome or what!?!)

We got these two matching couches for $150.

 And we got this fouton for $35. It came with the mattress, but after a brief inspection of the mattress, we decided we wouldn't be using it. And I mean, really brief inspection.

We also got the girls two little bikes, $5 each, but I forgot to take pictures of them.

All in all, we had a great time, and the girls were good sports to ride around in the car with us while mom or dad hopped out to check out the steals. Both Summer and Claire got to get out with dad a few times to shop for dresses. We got about 10 frilly dresses for $30. The girls love them. (Summer and Claire are wearing their new dresses.)

So seriously, how can you turn down all these good deals? Yeah, I'm all about garage sales now.

DAD

I interviewed the girls this morning . . .


From Summer:
I love it when daddy tickles me.
Daddy looks handsome when he puts his Sunday shirt on.
Daddy's funny when he eats without us.
I like it when dad makes me happy.
I like to call dad because he doesn't beep the horn.

From Claire:

I love it when daddy go to the park.
Daddy looks handsome when he go to the park and get he car.
Daddy's funny when he smoosh us
I like it when dad plays money.
I like to call dad "Dad."

 From Mom:
Love my Rhett,
like a runner loves to run
I said I love my Rhett
like a runner loves to run
Love to call him in the morning
Love to call him
"Hey there, hun."

Pictures as Promised

I caught Pyper by surprise while she was hiding under a blanket.

The girls put this pink blanket over the piano bench, Summer "buckled" with her pink belt, then drove Claire around with the Wii steering wheel.

Summer worked really hard to tape everything she could think of.

Summer also dressed up this inflatable minion (from Despicable Me).

I told Claire to smile for the camera and she started making all these goofy faces.

Summer made this table and chairs with her large floor puzzle pieces, and then they all had a tea party with pistachios and water.

Who knows what's going on here . . .

Pippy, crawling like crazy, and sucking on everything.

On another note, Summer gave her first scripture and prayer today in Primary! Back in January when she first started attending Sunbeams, she asked almost every Sunday to get up and say the scripture and prayer, so when it was her turn this week, she was so thrilled. The lesson was on keeping the commandments, so we chose John 3:5, "If ye love me, keep my commandments." She had it memorized only after a few practices.
Well, today, Rhett and I did our usual routine--he took the girls to their classes while I cared for Pippy. Then we met up in Sunday School. Only a few minutes there, I remembered Summer had her scripture and talk. Rhett and I booked it into the Primary, and walked in to see Summer up at the microphone saying, "My daddy . . . um . . . my daddy . . . " My first thought was, "How long has she been up there?" And my second thought was, "And what has she been saying???" Rhett went up and cued her in a whisper. Then she said her scripture, and gave a simple, beautiful prayer, saying, "Thanks for Primary. Thanks for all the kids. I like that," and closing it. We were so proud of her. (And when we talked about it when we got home, I realized she was trying to say the words to the song they had sung for the congregation for Father's Day--"My daddy is my favorite pal . . ." but she couldn't remember anything past "My daddy." Haha. Sweet little thing.)

We love these girls so much. And we love Dad so much too. He is such a hard worker, and he sacrifices so much to take care of us. We know it's not easy living with four girls, but he does it with a smile. Most of the time. hehehe. jk

Last Day of School

This last Thursday was the girls' last day of school. I can't believe we've actually accomplished a whole year of school with Summer and a half year with Claire. I've seen so much growth in the girls since they started school. It has been such a great experience for them. I was quite sad the last day to have to say our goodbyes. Six of the eight kids in Claire's class are moving up into Summer's 3-5 year old class (Claire's staying). And about half of the kids in Summer's class are moving on to Kindergarten. The only thing that made the day bearable (for me!) was to know that my girls would get to return to their same classrooms next year with their same teachers. Their teachers are wonderful!

We had an end of the year conference with both Summer's and Claire's teachers. Summer's teachers filled out an evaluation form (which we did a the beginning of the year, in November, in February, and then now) to track her progress. Here are some of the things written up about her:

Social Emotional Development
Summer has gained so much confidence this year. She has gone from a shy child who would hardly talk and only if addressed first, to a child who will initiate conversation and greet teachers and students. Friends are important to Summer and she has many children that she interacts with in play. Summer can direct the play, or be directed in play. She follows classroom rules and routines. Summer likes to help others and now takes the initiative to clean up with it's time (no reminders needed). (As we read through this together, her teacher stopped and said at the beginning of the year, she would race to sit down for circle time--reading and singing--while everyone else cleaned up. But now she is one of the last kids helping scrub the table and push chairs in.) She participates in group activities and circle time.


Physical Development
Summer is an active three year old. She runs and climbs, balances on one foot, throws and catches a ball or bean bag and pedals and steers a trike. Summer began the school year by making squiggles and circles to write and can now write her whole name! She can draw detailed picture of a person. she cuts with scissors. Summer has great fine motor strength.


Cognitive Development
Summer is very interested in learning. She is curious and likes to ask questions to gain information. She can identify her name in print--looking beyond the first letter to do so. Summer began the year naming four alphabet letters and now names all 26! She can identify 10 basic colors; shapes: rectangle, circle, star, oval and triangle; number 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 9. Summer counted out 14 objects. She is interested in reading and will choose books and asks to be read to.


Along with end of the year conferences, Summer's class celebrated the summer birthdays. On the day they celebrated Summer's, they all stood in a circle around her, sang the song, then as she blew the pretend candle out, they all fell to the ground. She was so excited to tell us about it when she got home. Her teacher, for fun, asked her a few questions about herself. Here are Summer's responses:
Name: Summer Barney
Address: 514 16th Spokane (not our real address )
Age: 3
Job: Cleaning up, reading books to Claire, play with Claire
Pay: $5.00
Start: Tuesday, 5:15 pm

I thought that was hilarious.


We had an end of the year conference with Claire's teachers, but because she is in the early class (ages 0-3), they didn't write anything up about her. But they did tell me a cute story that happened a few days prior.

One of her teachers noticed Claire staring at a classmate. Claire then said, "You have something in your ear."
Her classmate responded, "What is it?"
"I don't know. Let me see."
Claire leaned closer to her friend. She reached over to her friend's ear, and picked a tiny with thing off the side of her ear. "It's popcorn!" she said.
Everyone laughed. And her friend proceeded to tell them about how she ate popcorn before she got to school that day.

One thing that has been really neat about watching Claire in her school is seeing her create and build relationships with her classmates. In the beginning, their play was parallel play, and as they've grown it's become more interactive. It's amazing now to see them work together in their play, and having real conversations together, talking back and forth.

On another note, the girls and I browsed the blog a few nights ago to watch clips and look at pictures, and I realized I haven't posted pictures in a while. So that is my next goal . . . hopefully within the next few days . . . if we're lucky . . .

A Little Behind . . .