The Mini Coopers have been busy - like usual. Here is what has been happening:
Carissa started tumbling classes. She said that she really wanted to learn to do "cartwheels and stuff." Maleah got a little burnt out on all of her classes and quit them all last year. She was in tumbling, dance, cheer, and trampoline. This year she decided she just wanted to keep it simple and only do trampoline - no pressure, just fun jumping for 30 minutes once a week. I was fine with that. So I signed her up for trampoline and Carissa up for tumbling. Both classes are on Tuesday evenings at Daszle. So the first night I got Carissa all ready to go and she looked so cute! The problem came after her tumbling class was over. She wanted to stay and do trampoline with her sister but I hadn't signed her up for that class. I asked if she could stay anyway and found out that the class was full. Carissa cried all the way home. The good news was that someone in that full class moved to a different one so the following week Carissa got to do both, tumbling and trampoline. She informed me the next day though that she wasn't going back to tumbling. I asked her why and she said that their mats are too hard and hurt her head. Sure enough, the next Tuesday she told me that she was NOT going to tumbling but that she would go to trampoline with her sister. I didn't make her go. Here's why: 1.) I don't care whether or not she does tumbling. 2.) She's not going to be an Olympian, I'm pretty sure. 3.) It's not worth the fight. 4.) It would save me money. Did I worry that I was teaching her at an early age that it is okay to be a quitter? Um, for a split second and then I chilled out and remembered to pick my battles (referred back to reason number three). Both of the girls had a great time at trampoline that night. When I picked them both up, their teacher Deslynn approached me and said that she had asked Carissa why she hadn't been in tumbling class. I thought to myself "oh no!" There is no telling what Carissa told her. She said that Carissa had informed her very matter-of-factly that "You need to put some padding down on those mats! Those things are way too hard and they hurt my head. And you guys keep trying to make me do cartwheels over and over and I can't do it right and it hurts my head! You make me tired!" She was laughing when she told me all of this (thankfully!) She convinced Carissa to come back to tumbling the next week and told her that she wouldn't make her do cartwheels. So the next Tuesday night rolled around. I dressed her for tumbling and off we went to Daszle. We got there and Carissa refused to join her classmates. She hid behind me and told me that she didn't like their mats, didn't want to do cartwheels, blah, blah, blah. We left. We went home for an hour, picked up Maleah and then went back for trampoline class. Both girls thoroughly enjoyed their 30 minutes of jumping on trampolines and I told the teacher that Carissa wouldn't be back to tumbling. And that, my friends, is the story of Carissa's very short tumbling career. But boy did she look cute while it lasted...
Maleah had open house at her school a few weeks ago. We all went, including Grandma Debby and Grandpa David. It was being held from 6:30 pm to 8 pm. I had the brainiac idea to get there at 6 pm and be the first ones in and the first ones out. Well, they didn't unlock the doors until 6:32 so that plan didn't work out too well. There was a line of people waiting to get in. Carissa played on the playground for 30 minutes and I sweated. That was not what I had in mind. We did manage to get to the book fair they were having in the cafeteria before everyone swarmed it. We did that first and the classroom second. My plan for next year? Arrive at 7:45. Be the last ones in, last ones out. I'll let ya know how that works out for me. I don't like Open Houses, can you tell? But on the bright side, we got to see Maleah's classroom and meet her teacher (again) who is very nice and Maleah likes her a lot.
Maleah in front of her locker.
I have no idea what Carissa was doing.
Maleah and her teacher Ms. Greenwood.
Maleah loves her!
Maleah and Jason trying to pump some water for a drink.
Maleah and Carissa on the backside of the camel.
This is Carissa's "cheese" smile.
They were all way up high while me and Silas were
hanging out on the path.
Posing.
That smile again.
Family picture.
I love this one!
Sisters...
Silas sitting on the rock like a big boy.
The re-created scene on this rock.
First one with Silas in it!
Camel Rock is in the background.
All of us sitting on Table Rock
(a huge round rock).
Maleah is thrilled.
Me and Jessi
Jessi and Silas
Carissa tuckered out. She has had enough in this picture.
She needs a snack and a nap.
This is during the snack and right before the
nap, on the way home.
Later that week, I took Maleah and Carissa, along with our neighbors and good friends, Peyton and Sheldon Rose, to Streif's Pumpkin Patch, north of town. Each kid got to pick out a pumpkin. They all did a straw maze, went down slides, climbed rock walls, and went through a corn maze. It was fun and here is a picture to prove it. We love fall!!
Then the next weekend it was beautiful weather - again! We ended up at Ballard's Nature Center in Altamont that day. We saw lots of neat nature-ish things inside (lots of taxidermy - owls, foxes, etc., looked at animal bones, turtles, fossils, and more) and then we went on a long hike outside through the woods and some wetlands. There were very nice trails and bridges. Silas rode in his stroller and it worked out great. We ended the day at this really big boulder that they have there. Maleah loves it because it is made up of tons of Indian beads (her favorite thing to dig for in gravel). She sat on that rock counting the Indian beads for awhile. Here are some pics of that day:
Sitting on top of really big rocks is so much fun!
My three kids sitting on the boulder.
I LOVE THIS PICTURE!!!
Mr. Silas Man and his Daddy.
How cute are these bibs??
Maleah on the boulder.
This is a close-up of the boulder.
Your can see all of the Indian beads in it.
Boy, after reading all of this you're probably thinking that our family is really into hiking, rocks, and boulders. Ha! Not really. It's just a coincidence that we did two hikes in one month and that both hikes involved rocks. We're not really that outdoorsy.
Okay, so after we left Ballard Nature Center we had to head straight home because we were going to a concert starring the Mini Coopers! Okay, they weren't the stars of the show but they did sing a few songs. On Tuesdays both of the girls attend Kid's Choir at the First Baptist Church. The concert was held at Library Park and featured the band and choirs from First Baptist. It was a nice evening for an outdoor concert and it was so much fun. The girls did great. Carissa followed along pretty good and made me giggle a few times (okay like the whole time). Once she stopped singing and waved at me and hollered "Hi Mom!!" It was too cute! I love watching my kids perform. All of the kids did a great job.
In Silas news, he went back to the doctor in St. Louis. He saw one of his neonatologists just for a check-up. He was very impressed with his progress and told us to keep doing whatever we were doing. That's easy enough. They considered him 6 months, 7 days (because that is what he was supposed to be on that day). He is doing exactly what a six month old should be. He weighed 17 pounds. (Woo-hoo!!) Silas is rolling all over the place now. He is sitting up and he would really like to start crawling but can't quite get there. He is one amazing little guy. You can't tell that he was ever such a tiny baby. It's hard to believe that he is almost 10 months old!! When we left St. Louis that day we got stuck in traffic. There was road construction in almost every lane and a stalled car in one of the only lanes that was open. It took us two hours just to get to the bridge to cross back into Illinois. In all of the years of driving back and forth there for baby appointments, months of living there with Silas, etc I have never been stuck like that. Thank God we have the best baby in the world because he hardly complained at all. I had to get out once and get in the backseat and feed him but that was it. We didn't get home until 8 pm that night. Jason and I were a little bit grouchy. That might be an understatement.
How cute is he??
Well, that pretty well wraps up the Mini Cooper news. We are looking forward to a busy but fabulous October. I am gearing up for my annual trip with the girls to Nashville. If you will remember, last time we all went backstage at the Grand Ole Opry and met a bunch of stars, including Kellie Pickler and Jimmy Wayne, and the time before that we met Gretchen Wilson and Cowboy Troy on the sidewalk downtown. We are going backstage again at the Opry this year. Who will we meet this time? Stay tuned to find out!! I know I can't wait...
No comments:
Post a Comment