Week ending July 19, 2009: A busy week! This week the kids did stay at VBS without me and Casey and I went out to dinner!
Ever since we got back from the OBX Chloe has been practicing her “swimming” (dog paddle). She can actually cross the whole pool without assistance, but up until this week has been afraid to put her face in the water. Then Alex decided he was going to put his mask and snorkel on and he tried swimming in the shallow end. Without the added work of trying to keep his head above water he was able to swim quite easily. He was so pleased with himself that he talked about it non-stop to anyone who would listen including the neighbors. The next day both kids wanted to go to the pool again. This time Chloe put on her mask and snorkel. I don’t think I’ve ever actually got her to put on goggles before because she seemed to panicky as soon as the goggles got near her eyes, but now that her brother was doing it, she was determined! She spent a few minutes acclimating with the goggles and then took off swimming. Then some of her older friends from the neighborhood were doing hand stands and somersaults in the shallow end and Chloe took off her mask and tried those too! My little girl who two days ago was afraid to put her face in the water was suddenly doing underwater tricks without even holding her nose. I decided to push my luck and see if she wanted to jump off the side of the pool without me catching her and she did that too. She was just unstoppable. I’ve created a video and uploaded it to You Tube. Click on the triangle of the picture below:
Also this week we went to the butterfly gardens at Brookside in Wheaton pictured here: http://picasaweb.google.com/constance.phelps/ButterflyGarden2009# I bought an identification guide featuring over 100 types of butterflies from the gift shop and the kids helped me catalog the butterflies in our photos.
And finally, this week we took the kids fishing for the first time this year. We boated 7 fish, 5 spot, 1 croaker, and 1 white perch. The kids wanted to keep some fish for eating, so we kept the 3 biggest. I took some pictures and video, but I haven’t even downloaded them yet. Maybe next week.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
week ending july 12, 2009:
Week ending July 12, 2009: This week was Cousin Natalie’s birthday. On her real birthday (Friday), we went to the Science Center, USS Constellation, and paddle boats at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor pictured here: http://picasaweb.google.com/constance.phelps/NatalieSmithS5thBday2009#
Two days later Natalie had her birthday party, pictured here: http://picasaweb.google.com/constance.phelps/NatalieSBdayParty2009#
That got the twins thinking about their birthdays, so we started counting down on the calendar from 80+ days left. They are picking out the themes, making drafts of the invite list, starting wish lists, and looking at plans for cake decorating.
Also this week the twins started Vacation Bible School (VBS). I was asked what I wanted to do to help out and I said that rather than teaching, I’d prefer to help with setup. The director asked if I’d like to be in charge of the decorations. I thought this mean hanging posters, or maybe even painting some murals, so I agreed. A week later I received an e-mail explaining that I was supposed to pick up a canoe from one church member’s house, and coordinate receiving a palm tree and alligator from another member. What??? Anyway, long story short we scaled back the design and created a “bayou” set complete with a cypress tree, vegetation, shack, dock, and back drop. Alex helped a little bit with the painting, and Chloe helped quite a bit. Pictures are here: http://picasaweb.google.com/constance.phelps/VBS2009#
VBS is all 4 Tuesdays in July, in the evening. I told the kids I was going to drop them off and they both complained so much that I relented told them I’d stay with them for the first Tuesday. They both really enjoyed the program.
Two days later Natalie had her birthday party, pictured here: http://picasaweb.google.com/constance.phelps/NatalieSBdayParty2009#
That got the twins thinking about their birthdays, so we started counting down on the calendar from 80+ days left. They are picking out the themes, making drafts of the invite list, starting wish lists, and looking at plans for cake decorating.
Also this week the twins started Vacation Bible School (VBS). I was asked what I wanted to do to help out and I said that rather than teaching, I’d prefer to help with setup. The director asked if I’d like to be in charge of the decorations. I thought this mean hanging posters, or maybe even painting some murals, so I agreed. A week later I received an e-mail explaining that I was supposed to pick up a canoe from one church member’s house, and coordinate receiving a palm tree and alligator from another member. What??? Anyway, long story short we scaled back the design and created a “bayou” set complete with a cypress tree, vegetation, shack, dock, and back drop. Alex helped a little bit with the painting, and Chloe helped quite a bit. Pictures are here: http://picasaweb.google.com/constance.phelps/VBS2009#
VBS is all 4 Tuesdays in July, in the evening. I told the kids I was going to drop them off and they both complained so much that I relented told them I’d stay with them for the first Tuesday. They both really enjoyed the program.
weeks ending jun 27 and july 5, 2009:
Week ending jun 27: I have no earthly idea what happened that week other than we packed and drove to the OBX.
Week ending July 5: This week we were on vacation in Kill Devil Hills with our usual crowd of 16 (8 adults either from college or the spouse of someone from college, and their 8 children). Pictures here: http://picasaweb.google.com/constance.phelps/Obx209# We stayed in the same house as last year less than a block from the beach and with a private pool and hot tub in the back yard. Much of the vacation was just a fun repeat of the previous year. Differences included the kids trying out boogie boards. Meghan who is 10, tried boogie boarding by herself and was quite successful. The younger kids (4 and older) tried boogie boarding with a parent holding on the board as well. They all LOVED it. The usually reserved Nick got very animated when describing boogie boarding including hand gestures and onomatopoeia (“we went PTCHEW! Over the waves!”).
Other differences included Alex’s decisions to not participate in scheduled activities. On the 1st morning we told the kids we were going to the beach and Alex said he was not going. We told him that we’d driven all day the previous day to go to the beach so it was not optional. He went to the beach and had a great time. The next morning after going to bed a little late and getting up a little early Alex said that he was not going to the beach. It was my turn to cook for the whole crew and I’d planned to stay at the house and cook most of the morning, so I offered to let Alex stay there with me with the warning that I was going to be cooking, not playing with him. He said ok and stayed behind and amused himself while the other 7 kids went to the beach without him. I thought that he was pretty sensible giving himself a break from the mayhem to get some quite time. Then the next day he said he wasn’t going to the beach again, and for the rest of the week, everything we said we were going to do, he said he didn’t want to go. We made him go to the dunes, the beach, the aquarium, etc, and he loved all of it so much he literally jumped up and down at each one.Notable difference for Chloe was her insistence on doing everything exactly as Angie did it. We’d ask what Chloe wanted for lunch, she’d say that she couldn’t decide until Angie got to the kitchen and decided what Angie was eating. She also wanted to dress like Angie, go where Angie went, and play the same games as Angie. I must admit I’m a little perplexed by the usually brave and independent Chloe suddenly becoming a follower, but time will tell where this phase will go.
Week ending July 5: This week we were on vacation in Kill Devil Hills with our usual crowd of 16 (8 adults either from college or the spouse of someone from college, and their 8 children). Pictures here: http://picasaweb.google.com/constance.phelps/Obx209# We stayed in the same house as last year less than a block from the beach and with a private pool and hot tub in the back yard. Much of the vacation was just a fun repeat of the previous year. Differences included the kids trying out boogie boards. Meghan who is 10, tried boogie boarding by herself and was quite successful. The younger kids (4 and older) tried boogie boarding with a parent holding on the board as well. They all LOVED it. The usually reserved Nick got very animated when describing boogie boarding including hand gestures and onomatopoeia (“we went PTCHEW! Over the waves!”).
Other differences included Alex’s decisions to not participate in scheduled activities. On the 1st morning we told the kids we were going to the beach and Alex said he was not going. We told him that we’d driven all day the previous day to go to the beach so it was not optional. He went to the beach and had a great time. The next morning after going to bed a little late and getting up a little early Alex said that he was not going to the beach. It was my turn to cook for the whole crew and I’d planned to stay at the house and cook most of the morning, so I offered to let Alex stay there with me with the warning that I was going to be cooking, not playing with him. He said ok and stayed behind and amused himself while the other 7 kids went to the beach without him. I thought that he was pretty sensible giving himself a break from the mayhem to get some quite time. Then the next day he said he wasn’t going to the beach again, and for the rest of the week, everything we said we were going to do, he said he didn’t want to go. We made him go to the dunes, the beach, the aquarium, etc, and he loved all of it so much he literally jumped up and down at each one.Notable difference for Chloe was her insistence on doing everything exactly as Angie did it. We’d ask what Chloe wanted for lunch, she’d say that she couldn’t decide until Angie got to the kitchen and decided what Angie was eating. She also wanted to dress like Angie, go where Angie went, and play the same games as Angie. I must admit I’m a little perplexed by the usually brave and independent Chloe suddenly becoming a follower, but time will tell where this phase will go.
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