An Oliver video!

In June, Oliver decided that he wanted to quit taking gymnastics classes . . . and the following week (his last week of classes!) his coach asked him to join the level 4 boys' team. Oliver is a hard worker, so although he's not exactly the right build for a gymnast, it wasn't a total surprise that he was asked to join the team! :-)  

He's had fun practicing routines with the other boys, but he's decided to quit after the summer session is over. Gymnastics practice is 2 hours long, twice a week, and Oliver has  also been moved up to another level on the swim team, so beginning next month he'll be going to swim practice three times a week. Add that to Math Pentathlon, homework, and just being a kid and doing fun stuff after school . . . and that's a lot! So he won't actually get to go to a gymnastics meet with the team (meets start after the beginning of the school year), but he did have fun and he's learned some new tricks!

Here he is demonstrating one of his routines at the playground. :-)

Another ridiculously adorable video of my baby boy singing

Theodore likes to sing along with me when I rock him before bedtime. We usually sing "Praise Him, Praise Him," but one night last week he started singing "Jesus Loves Me" instead. So we sang together, and it was so cute that I had to run and get my phone to take a video!  

Here it is. :-)  Enjoy!

At the creek

Last week we had one of those rare mornings when everything just worked out perfectly, even though it didn't seem like it was going to be like that at first! I took the kids to the gym so I could run, and although they all grumbled about being dropped off for an hour, they all had fun playing with their friends. 

After that, no one could agree on what we were going to do, so I chose the sand park. No one wanted to play in the sand, but they were all perfectly happy to play in the creek! Oliver and Buttercup even found more fossils and shells to trade at the Nature & Science Center. 

I love this picture, because I have another picture of a 3 year old Oliver doing this exact same thing in this exact same part of the creek. :-)

My sweet girl showing off her collection of shells!

Theodore climbed this little hill by himself, and proudly stood at the top and said, "Ta da, Mama! I climb mountain!!!!!" He was so proud of himself. I love that sweet baby!!!

Singing at the top of the "mountain" :-)

After they played in the creek for a while, we walked over to the sprinklers for them to splash around before we headed home. I was swinging and watching them play in the sprinkler, when I had such a wave of nostalgia watching the woman next to me push her toddler and baby in the baby swings. It was only 4 years ago, but seemed like forever since Buttercup and Oliver were that little! Time goes by so quickly. 

Two-wheelin'

Buttercup has been wanting to ride her bike without training wheels ever since Oliver learned how to do it a year and a half ago. The problem was, she wouldn't let me help her, because she insisted that she could do it by herself.  :-)  Then she would try, but would get frustrated with herself because she couldn't do it without my help, so that was the end of that for a while.  

Then a couple of weeks ago, she decided that she wanted to try again. This time, it worked out a lot better! She listened when I told her what she needed to do, let me help her a little bit, and then she figured out how to do it on her own!

Great job, Tootie! 



  

A morning at the lake

One morning this week, we went to the lake in Pflugerville with some friends. This morning was, hands down, our favorite visit there.  The weather was perfect -- sunny and overcast, and not too hot, and it was very windy! So windy that there were actual waves on the lake, which made it much more fun for the kids. We had happened to bring their kickboards (thanks, Grammy!), and they had a blast trying to stand up on their boards and ride the waves in. (It didn't work, ha ha, but they had fun trying!)

Here are some pictures!

Video of Theodore singing

I still sing "You Are my Sunshine" to Buttercup when I tuck her in for naps and bedtime, and Theodore has learned the song over the past few months. Here's a cute video of him singing along with me. :-)

Making a shark tooth fossil

This is a fun, easy, kid-friendly activity we found in one of Oliver's books. You can make a megalodon tooth "fossil" using a simple flour-salt-water dough!

You'll need: 

1/2 cup flour

1/4 cup salt

2 tsp cooking oil

3 1/2 tsp water

Measure out your ingredients and combine them. Since the other two kiddos were napping, I was able to take the time to teach Oliver the fine art of properly measuring flour. He took his job very seriously. :-) 

Stir all of your ingredients together until the dough forms a ball. Then mold it into a triangle with a rounded top, kind of like an ice cream cone. 

Using your fingers, press down along the top and sides of the triangle to give it more of a real tooth shape. Then press a fork along the edges to give them a serrated effect.  

Finally, "bake" it in the microwave for 60 seconds at a time until it's dry and hard to the touch. (You can also let it air dry for a couple of days, or bake it in the oven, but we were impatient. :-)

Voila! A megalodon tooth fossil!