Junior Helper

Kristin has a new program for summer at daycare. Once a week she gets to be a Junior Helper, which means she gets to go to one of the other classes (all younger) to help the teacher(s) in that class for a half an hour. Kristin and her friend Emilie both choose their brothers' class. Kristin was still in Kellen's room when I got there. Kristin was so excited to tell me what she was doing. Maybe it will be good for her to learn how to interact with her brother in a different way instead of fighting. ;)

Kellen wanted to "outside water hose" tonight. We did venture outside and got the hose out. Unfortunately for me and the house this meant taking a shower. Kellen decided to turn the sprayer to center, which shoots across the yard. Needless to say, I got a cold surprise and the house also got a bath. Kristin and Kellen also ran through the sprinkler some. Kellen is getting more and more brave when it comes to the sprinkler... he is working his way in from the perimeter.

Kellen wore his new Thomas the Tank Engine shirt to daycare today. He also got to put on a temporary tatoo that he got yesterday. I think it was Harold the Helicoptor. Apparently, Kellen had to show off Harold to all of the teachers at daycare.

We took our walk to the school this evening. Kristin rode her new bike that she got this last spring. She still has the training wheels, but she has adjusted to the bigger bike very well. Who knows, maybe we'll experiment without the training wheels again later this summer.

We found a baseball on our walk tonight and Kellen enjoyed throwing it ahead on the path and then running to chase it. We liked it because it kept him moving!

Kristin's theme this week at daycare is 'In the Field'. They played baseball and learned Take Me Out to the Ballgame!

Thomas the Tank Engine

Rise and shine! We got up and moving this morning and piled in the car for a trip to Hood River, Oregon to see Thomas the Tank Engine. Kellen was so excited when we told him we were going to see Thomas. The kids did pretty good during the car ride considering it takes 1 1/2 hours to get there. Kellen had a blast and was bouncing up and down in excitement. We got to ride the train lead by Thomas and got to do some activities. Then we headed for lunch and found a little deli to eat at. After that we called up Aaron's hockey friend Allan who lives in Hood River now and stopped by their house quick to say hi. They just had their 3rd child on Friday and were home already.

Tonight was pretty mellow after the trip out of town. We grilled dinner and played in the yard. Aaron is out playing a hockey game... 1st game of the new season. The kids went down for bed pretty easy tonight and fell asleep quick. We tired them out... and Kellen only napped for 30 minutes in the car on the way home from seeing Thomas. I think he was just too excited still.

Fun in the Sprinkler

Kristin went to a birthday party today at Pump It Up for her friends Kylie and Dylan. Sounds like she had a really fun time. She came home with a new orang jump rope and a scrape on her elbow. She and Kellen had fun pretending that the handles of the jump rope we're spray nozzles on a hose.

We decided to go to Red Robin for dinner. Kristin must have worked up an appetite at the party because she ate a full restuarant serving of speghetti, as well as 4 slices of cantalope.

After we got home from dinner we got the water table out and hooked up the sprinkler in the back yard. Kristin jumped right into the middle of the spray, but Kellen wasn't quite as sure. He was willing to go through if someone carried him, and then later if someone held his hand. I imagine he'll be standing right next to the sprinkler by the time summer is over.

Hooray for Friday!

Kristin had her last day of Iron Chef week at camp. They had a field trip to New Seasons Market (a natural product grocery store). They got a tour, which they got to see the bakery and the machine that slices bread, go into the walk-in freezer, etc. They also got to taste ice cream, orange juice, cheese (made from sheep milk) - Kristin really liked this, and fruit. They also came home with goodie bags. Kristin says she really likes New Seasons. I would say they did a good marketing job on the kids! Kristin also brought home the cookbook her camp class came up with this week. They all had to pick one of their favorite foods and bring in a recipe. Kristin picked tomato soup. I had to call mom on that one for the recipe... the way we make tomato soup is from a can and I thought that would not make too great of a recipe. :)

Kellen had a good day. He was playing with Play-Doh when I picked him up today, so he was having fun. Kellen got to go on Tumble Bus today, which is always a hit. It is fun to watch Kellen enjoy it like Kristin did. Kellen made a caterpillar with pom-pom balls today and glued them on a leaf. It was drying so we couldn't bring it home yet.

We made it out to water tonight. Kellen wanted the big play shovel out and played with that for awhile. Kristin wanted to play with it too... only because Kellen had it first... she is into this idea that everything needs to be fair between the two of them. Oye! The kids also picked up some cherries. Kristin evidently found one that had lots of ants.... yuck.

Check Up

Kellen had his post-op follow-up appointment today and the Dr said everything looks great. Kellen and I hung out in the morning before I took him to the doctor. He had me reading his collection of Thomas the Train books - over and over. He sure likes that train. After that, he got out the Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? book. He likes to turn the pages and identify the animals in the pictures. His favorite seems to be the elephant. After the appointment we stopped for a bagel before I dropped him off at daycare. He kept repeating 'bagel, bagel, bagel!' on our walk from the Dr's office back to the truck. He also knows that the doctor has stickers to hand out, because he was asking for one before he even saw the doctor.

The kids did some drawing after dinner and then we walked up to the park. More baseball games going on tonight. Kellen enjoyed throwing a ball along the sidewalk on the way home, though he was making Danelle a little bit nervous since she was walking in front of us with Kristin. Can't say I blame her, he doesn't throw it very far yet, but he does manage to put some mustard on it.

Kristin continues to read books to me at bedtime this summer. She's been gravitating toward a Blues Clues book and a Clifford book lately.

Farmer's Market

Kristin had her field trip to the Beaverton Farmer's Market this afternoon for her Iron Chef camp week. Kristin ended up with a chocolate chip cookie, a balloon hat, and even some ice cream. She still managed to eat a good dinner though. :) It sounds like the group had a lot of fun. Some of the kids' balloons popped, but they all seemed okay. The Wednesday market is smaller than the Saturday market, but evidently it was pretty busy and there was even music.

Kellen continued his week learning about bugs. Today they talked about caterpillars and how they change into butterflies. Tonight we watered and got out the water table. The kids had fun with that, but I think Kellen was having more fun spraying Aaron's truck with the hose. Tomorrow morning Kellen goes in for his 2 week check up on his new set of ear tubes. Hopefully all is well, which it seems to be.