Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

Sarah finally settled on a Halloween costume or rather, I ordered one before she could think of something new.  She is going to be a ballerina princess.  Her brother will be the dragon chasing her and Mommy and Daddy will be the knights who protect her.  Should be fun, especially with Will's expertise at roaring.

O is for Obama

It's Sarah's turn for Show & Tell tomorrow at school.  Only one kid goes each week and each is given a specific letter.  Sarah has the letter "O" and has to bring one or more small things starting with the letter "O".  We've realized that O is pretty hard.  Sarah and I spent the drive home from school today trying to come up with ideas and all we could think of were O's (that's what the little Klemmers call Cheerios).  As soon as we got home, Sarah and I looked around the room for something starting with O.  Sarah turned to me and said How about Obama???  I almost fell off the couch and said What?!?  She repeated herself with a tiny bit of attitude as if I didn't understand - "Barack Obama".  I said, "You'd like to bring Barack Obama, who wants to be president, for Show & Tell???"  She said yes, it starts with O.  I told her that I didn't think we'd be able to do that but great thinking.

We are not overly political here in the Klemmer household and I must say that Andy and I lean more toward McCain.  I listen to talk radio and so Sarah and I have discussed the election, as much as a 3 1/2 year old can grasp.  She was in the car one day and told me that she'd never been to Obama, hence the need for explanation.  All we said was that there are 2 men who want to be president (the person in charge of the United States of America), and that everyone gets to vote.

So there you have it, my politically aware (HA, HA) daughter is ready to stir things up at preschool by bringing Obama to Show & Tell for the letter "O".  I'm so proud.

PS  Items Sarah is bringing for Show & Tell: a book about the Ocean, a toy Ostrich, O's and the state of Oklahoma from a USA puzzle

Camp Getaway

Spent the weekend with my "gang" (4 of us with preschool age children and younger) in a "cabin" in Flagstaff.  It was wonderful.  We left on Friday and came home Sunday afternoon.  Andy was a bit overwhelmed but the kids just loved having Daddy in charge.  He had the tent up in the family room and they made cookies and Sarah drew lots of pictures.  I think Will learned several new words in that short period of time.

I had a weekend of wine, board games, chick flicks, hot tub, cool temps, gossip and great friends.  I think it was a fair trade!

Bookworms

Can I tell you that I am so thrilled that my kids love books, Will even more so than Sarah.  I love that he knows the word Read and repeats it and that he is already trying to weasel 1 more story out of me at bedtime.  It's just wonderful. 

Our favorite set of books is once again back in rotation.  We love the "Some" books - Some Ducks, Some Pigs, Some Cows and Some Sheep. Sarah adored them when she was younger but hasn't read them as much lately.  The 4 small books have a new home now in Will's room.  He loves them as much as she did and now she wants to read them again too.  We received 3 of these as a gift and then hunted down Some Cows to complete the set.  I would love to give them as gifts but they are out of print (I think).  You have to hunt them down online and I've never seen one in stores.  It makes me sad to know that other children won't be able to get the joy from these books that my kids get.  

Sarah's favorite part:  Some Ducks like cakes, Some Ducks like pies, Some Ducks prefer the jumbo size (with picture of Duck with GIANT cake). 

Why Do I Keep Doing This to Myself

Took both kids to the grocery store, yet again.  Enough time had elapsed between now and the last time I went with both of them, that I forgot how "fun" it can be.  The kids weren't even being that bad but it's just exhausting.  Sarah only half listens to me and Will was hungry.  Without an afternoon nap, both kids were pretty tired by 4pm when we went.  To top it all off, a bottle of spaghetti sauce dropped out of a grocery bag as I lifted it out and shattered on the sidewalk behind my car.  ARGH!!!

So note to self, only 1 child at a time at the grocery store or, even better, no kids, or have Safeway deliver.

If you need a pick me up....

If you're having a bad day and need to smile, just watch this.  It never fails to make me smile and laugh.  I love my little girl.  She cracks me up!

Classes, classes, classes

           

Ballet (Jul 07)      (Ballet Sep 08)

Now that Sarah is back in school, the extra-curricular classes are starting.  Sarah started ballet through Phoenix parks & rec last Saturday.  This is her 2nd time in ballet class. The last time was over a year ago.  I love her new teacher.  She's British and the girls get to play with scarves and magic wands.  Sarah enjoyed herself immensely.  She starts Gymnastics this weekend and swimming in a  few weeks.  We are doing swimming backwards.  Most people do it during the summer.  We're trying it during the school year. 

Will is finally getting his own "tumbletots" class at the same gymnastics place Sarah will be at.  We've gone 3 times and it's just what he needs - a bit of structure, a challenge, and 45 minutes of go, go, go activity.  He's learning how to take turns, be a bit patient and how to roll, jump, stand on his hands and climb.  It's great!

For now, we are deep in discussions on Halloween costumes.  It seems to change daily.

The House

Andy is a very creative guy which is why I left Sarah's preschool collage up to him.  We were given a sheet of white construction paper and asked to add pictures of family, pets, etc.  The teachers are going to put on a roof, I think.  Andy added his own though just in case.  I think it looks FANTASTIC!!  The best part is that Sarah stayed up late with Daddy last night while Mommy was out with friends.  He did the cutting and arranging and she did all the pasting.  Here is the finished product:

Sarah's Back in School!!

Sarah went back to preschool yesterday.  She's in the purple room this year which is perfect for my girly girl - pink door last year and purple this year.  Next year will be hard when she'll have blue or red or green.  She had no problem and was very excited to put her bag away and her Tinkerbell lunchbox in the bin.  She did get in a bit of trouble her first day though.  She sat on the rug with her friend Kiki and had to be moved.  Sarah was making funny faces at Kiki and not paying attention.  Hopefully this morning went a bit better. Will and I are enjoying day 2 quite a bit.  He took a nap this morning (skipped it yesterday) and we had a fun trip to the grocery store.  It's nice having the time alone with him now that he's starting to talk and play more.

Cousins

This about says it all.  We just returned from Labor Day weekend in San Diego celebrating cousin Sofia's 4th birthday. The girls had a great time together and we enjoyed visiting with family.