Preschool, Dr. Owen, and Milestones

Time for some new pictures. This past Monday I hosted a makeup class for preschool since everyone was sick on Thursday and I had canceled the class. We had lots of stuff planned and the day went by pretty quickly. Hopefully the kids had fun. I try. Yesterday, preschool resumed its normal schedule and I was able to get some errands done and go out for lunch. It was fun!

Here is Ellie chowing down on her lunch during preschool. Nice face.
The pledge of allegiance. Because the kids are so young, we basically just say the pledge. This time I was really surprised because most the kids know it pretty well! I would say one word and they would say the next... it was great! I knew Ellie was learning it because once in awhile I would hear her recite parts of it around the house. Just another one of those moments where I am surprised at how much and how fast these little people learn. AND the pledge has lots of big words in it, so even more impressive.
Our shape of the month is circle, so I had the kids paint these wooden circles. They love to paint.
Here is cuteness himself eating a chip. I don't regularly buy my kids chips to eat, but we had some left over from when my family was here and Ellie LOVES chips so they have been snacking on them for a couple weeks now. Clearly Owen doesn't mind chips either.
mmmmmmmmmmmmmm..........Spaghetti!
Dr. Owen Weber. Has a nice ring to it.

Milestones:

Owen climbs. And climbs and climbs. Just yesterday he climbed Ellie's 2-step-stool and was clinging onto the kitchen counter. He likes to see if he can get on anything and everything.

Ellie folds. When I do laundry Ellie likes to fold the towels and washcloths... and Daniel's underwear... he loves that.

Owen finally figured out his push toy. For the longest time Owen would push his little push toy around the house and whenever it hit anything he would fall to the ground and have a meltdown. Now he has figured out how to move it... this has been a wonderful milestone.

Ellie and Owen being good in the jogging stroller. Well, it has taken quite awhile but it seems the kids have finally decided to be good the whole time we go on our morning walk/jog. Before they would start whining 10 minutes into it. This improvement is probably because it has cooled down a bit and it is darker... they like the dark and seeing the street lights on.

The Artist and the Race Car Driver

Here are some pictures of our cute and funny kids.

Here is Owen chowing down on dinner. I experimented and made some cheese, garlic and artichoke rice and Owen was all over it. He also didn't mind the lima beans. He makes such a mess of himself that most nights he has to have a bath before bed.
Here is Ellie after she put mom's socks on. We think she is pretty funny looking with those socks and her panties showing!
In preschool Elise gets to paint quite a bit and so now she is wanting to paint a lot at home. Not a huge deal with all the washable paints that are out these days (they wipe off really easily with just a damp cloth). She is a wonderful artist. We are discovering that she is very creative both musically and artistically.
Here is Owen being pushed in the car by dad. Dad pushed him around for a good 15 or 20 minutes. When he got tired and stopped, Owen had a major meltdown. Yes, our 10 month old had a full blown meltdown. He was really cute though. He made the car noises and everything.

Lunch Outing

Every few weeks or so, the kids and I (and usually some friends) go to McDonalds or Chick Fil A for lunch. These two places have playscapes for the kiddos to play on so those are the best ones to go to. We usually go out on a day where we don't really have anything else going on. Anyway, here are some pictures of the kids having fun. Even Owen got in on the action!

Here's Owen using that height to his advantage! No one can believe he is only 10 months old.
Head first... we are more and more daring as the days fly by.
Playing together... kind of.
"Look Mom, I am a BIG BOY!"
Climbing the stairs...after pushing Owen out of the way.

Owen thinks he is as big and can do whatever the big kids are doing...and he tries, but usually comes crying to mamma when he falls down.Now we are sliding down the right way!At least one of my kids will eat!She looks caged in in this one. Admittedly, sometimes that doesn't sound so bad.

Here are the kids playing at home. Owen LOVES the car. He is pretty obsessed with all cars right now. He especially likes to climb into this car, makes him feel big I guess. He is also happy to push someone around in the car, but gets really mad when he runs into something and can't move forward anymore. His favorite is when mom or dad or even Ellie pushes him around in it. He gets a goofy "Look at me!" grin on his face.

It seems like this week, after talking to moms at ballet and when we are out and about, people are really surprised that I want to have more kids!! They think I am crazy for wanting more than two. After thinking about it, I don't really know any moms around Austin that have more than three (except at church). However, I can't imagine just stopping after these two cuties. What an injustice to the world not to grace it with more of our beautiful children!

Fall and Number 7

This week I taught preschool. We had a great class on Tuesday learning about the number 7 and also learning about fall. Unfortunately, four of the seven kids got sick and so we cancelled class for Thursday but we rescheduled it for this coming Monday, so I am still in the midst of teaching.

Here is Ellie's fall leaves picture. I just cut up some sponges into leaf shapes and gave the kids some washable paints to dip them in.... always washable...always.

Here is Ellie's Indian (or Native American to be P.C.). She has 7 feathers since our number was 7. The kids are pretty good with numbers up to 10 so I think this part is a bit of a breeze for them until we start on the above 10 numbers.

A couple of people have asked what we do on each class day, so below I have listed out my lesson plan from this past Tuesday...

Tuesday Lesson Plan- Number 7 & Fall & Letter G & Orange

9:30-9:40- Free Play, Kids Arrive

9:40-10:00-

Welcome Song: “Hello Song” pg. 260,
Opening Prayer,
Date: Tuesday, October 9, 2007,
Weather,
Pledge,
Activity: Stretching, Getting Wiggles Out (FREEZE DANCE)

10:00-10:20- SNACK TIME-

POTTY BREAK

10:20-10:50- Talk about Fall. Talk about the change in seasons and what happens during fall and what holidays are during fall.

CRAFT- sponge paint leaves

CLEAN UP

10:50-11:00-Make Candy

11:00-11:15- Music Time—play instruments and sing favorite songs.

11:15-11:45- Native American with 7 feathers

CLEAN UP

POTTY BREAK

11:45-12:10-LUNCH

12:10-12:30- Free Play until parents arrive

I really enjoy teaching the class periodically and find myself thinking of ideas weeks ahead of time. The time goes pretty quickly and the kids really love all the crafts (mostly what we do at this age) and other activities. This week I bought some really cheap rhythm sticks, triangles and shakers for the kids and that was a big hit! They loved learning about beat and rhythm.

I will say to all those young moms that are reading this that this is seriously one of the best things I have done for myself and Elise. We gathered six moms and their kids and we swap weeks of teaching. It has been great for Ellie to have time on her own and to learn new and exciting things. It has also been great for me to have a little time away from Ellie, get some much-needed errands done on my weeks off and also to spend some real quality time with Owen. Plus, it is cheap since we only need to pay for supplies needed for our weeks of teaching.

Celebrating a Cousin's Birthday

This weekend my whole family came to Austin to celebrate my niece's second birthday. They were going to have it in Dallas, but the Red River Rivalry game was going on Saturday so Dallas was pretty packed. We were happy that they came down our way to allow us to share the day with them.

To celebrate Kyra's birthday we headed for Chuck E. Cheese. The girls had a blast riding all the toys and climbing in the tubes.

Owen also liked riding the toys. He was wondering who this guy sitting next to him was.

I think Ellie really enjoyed the carousel.

Here is Owen drinking after some yummy (actually not so yummy) pizza.

Ellie got lots of tickets and was able to trade it in for some fun play jewelry.

Owen sure was tuckered out from riding the toys and eating pizza so he fell asleep.

After Chuck E. Cheese, we went home to open some presents. Ellie, always the helper, felt like Kyra wasn't doing a good enough job on her own so she made sure to assist.

Here is the car that my parents bought for Owen. He loves this car!!! At 10 months old he already knows how to roll it around on the ground or on the couch or even on the wall and make car noises. It is soooo cute!! Our boy is such a boy! --- It is a Buzz Lightyear car so we often hear him playing with it and you can hear the toy, "Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue!".

Our handsome boy looking a little discombobulated after trying on his Halloween costume for Grammy and Papa... don't want to ruin the surprise, we will post Halloween pictures a little later this month.
And lastly, here is Owen chowing down on some cake. Mmmmm cake!

Blast from the Past!

I saw this questionnaire on my friend's friend's website. I thought it would be fun to do a little post about Daniel and I since most all of our posts are all about the kids.

1. Who is your man? Daniel Brent Weber

2. How long have you been together? Married for almost 4 1/2 years

3. How long did you date? a year and a half

4. How old is your man? 26

5. Who eats more? I think this one is pretty even, but I think I am definitely hungry more and think about food more than he does.

6. Who said I love you first? He did. Right after our first kiss. Seemed pretty soon at the time, but I reciprocated and said that I loved him too... and I do.

7. Who is taller? Daniel for sure. He is 6' and I am 5'4".

8. Who sings better? Dan FOR SURE

9. Who is smarter? WELL, we took an IQ test that said I had a higher IQ.. but this is one we bicker about a little bit. I think that we are smart at different things. Daniel is very smart at what he studies and has an endless capacity for useless trivia and an awesome memory to boot. However, I think I am more intelligent when it comes to day-to-day stuff and common sense and I think that my brain works more quickly than his does... I am sure he will disagree. :)

10. Whose temper is worse? I think I probably freak out about things more but I think when Daniel gets mad that he is definitely worse.

11. Who does the laundry? Me. Are you kidding? Me.

12. Who does the dishes? Mostly me, but Dan is a close second. I hate dishes.... I would clean 100 bathrooms before I would wash a sink full of dishes so he tries to pitch in with that when he can.

13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? If you are facing the bed, I do. It kind of makes no sense since I get up a million times at night with the kids and I am furthest from the door, but that's how it is.

14. Who pays the bills? Me, but I usually let Daniel in on what's going on. Mostly I complain about how much our garbage costs.

15. Who has bigger feet? Daniel.

16. Who has longer hair? Me... by a long shot.

17. Who is better at the computer? Hahhaa. Daniel would say him and I say me. I tend to let him think he is better though.

18. Who mows the lawn? Daniel. I tried and almost broke the lawnmower. Our lawnmower is tricky.

19. Who cooks dinner? Me. Daniel can operate the BBQ, but that is pretty much the extent of it.

20. Who drives when you are together? Umm, I drive a lot when I take Daniel down to campus or when we are getting something quick to eat, but Daniel drives on long trips and to church and on dates.

21. Who pays when you go out? Usually Daniel.

22. Who is most stubborn? This one is up for debate.

23. Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? Well, I don't know that we each ever admit that we are wrong, but I am ALWAYS the first to apologize. This is something that I argue with Daniel about because I ALWAYS say sorry first. Doesn't seem like that is going to change though, so I ought to get over it.

24. Whose parents do you see the most? Mine for now. Daniel's parents are in Nigeria until Christmas.

25. Who kissed who first? Daniel kissed me. It was during a Meg Ryan movie marathon on TV. Isn't he romantic?

26. Who asked out who? Hmf. Umm, I guess Daniel asked me.

27. Who proposed? Proposal? I guess if you consider, "Yeah, so I guess we should think about maybe getting married soon." a proposal then Daniel proposed.

28. Who is more sensitive? Me.

29. Who has more friends? Me... and that isn't saying much... I have like 2.
30. Who has more siblings? Me, I am one of 4 and Daniel is one of 3.

31. Who wears the pants in the family? Depends. I wear the pants when it comes to the home, but Daniel wears them for the family.

Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

Today was Ellie's first preschool field trip. Since 'tis the season for it, we headed off for the pumpkin patch. Our preschool group combined with the other preschool group from our ward (the kids are about six months or a year older than the kids in our group). Though the temperature was a bit stifling at over ninety degrees, we made the best of it and had a pretty good time.
Here is Ellie greeting the huge pig that they had towards the entrance to the farm. She was actually pretty afraid of it and kept her distance... as did the pig.
Owen and his friend Logan rode around in the jogging stroller (we were happy we brought that since we did a lot of off roading).
Here is Ellie making her way back from the swings. I included this picture because it shows the field of Christmas trees in the background. We may go here in December to get our Christmas tree this year... we will see.
We tried to get her to wear her hat, but it kept falling off because of her pony tail. Oh well, I goobed them both with sunblock so they fared just fine.
Owen was happy hanging out in the stroller for a little while, but got restless after just a bit so I held him quite a bit.

Ellie posing with the pumpkins. Unfortunately, the farm didn't have much of a pumpkin crop this year because of all the rain that they had this summer. I guess the male flower didn't grow or something like that. Anyway, I guess most of what they had was brought in, but we still enjoyed going.

One of the first activities is story time. The kids learned about pumpkins and how they grow.

I didn't get a picture of the hay ride because our stroller was in a whole different car of the hayride and I left my camera in the stroller. But, we went on a hayride and the kids really liked that. Elise and Owen's cheeks were so pink! The sun was really beating down on us.

I brought a bottle of water for each of us as well as some capri suns in our lunch box, but it was not enough!!! We couldn't drink enough.

Owen really wanted to crawl and walk around. He did pretty well until he face planted into the ground and got dirt on his face. Still, one of the moms said that he was putting all the older babies to shame since he is walking so early and so many other older babies aren't walking yet. Of course I am sure this mom was just trying to make me feel good... she succeeded.

Here are Owen and Logan (Owen's friend and stroller buddy this trip) in front of the horse. This was near the end of our trip so both boys were getting hot and restless. I couldn't blame them... did I mention it was hot?

Here are Elise and Owen right after we got in the car. They both got a lolly pop for the ride home. This was Owen's first and he was definitely a mess afterward, but it kept him happy!! (Look at those pink cheeks!!)

On the way home we stopped off and got some drinks. Owen was REALLY thirsty:)! I was especially worried about keeping him hydrated, but he seems to have done well. He thinks he is hot stuff drinking from a straw.

Ellie's pumpkin!! Elise got a free pumpkin to take home. I am not sure if we will carve this one out or if we will let her paint and decorate it. A fun project for later!

Overall, we had a really fantastic time!! Like I said, the weather could have been cooler, it is October for cryin' out loud!