Fountains and fieldtrips, superheroes and scooters

David's brother John came to Atlanta for a conference in September.  We hung out with him on his dinner break by the fountains at Olympic Park.

 

Nice how Claire is crying and I'm laughing at her, huh?  Water up the nose is the worst!

 Cute wet footprints

 

David currently teaches a class at UGA and has soccer and football players as students.  Here we are supporting women's soccer.  

 Ethan frequently strikes up conversations with strangers.  This guy was on the drum line. 

Superheroes!  A friend of mine threw an incredible super-heroes party for her 4 year old.  She sewed capes for each of the kids who attended.  They ran around the playground in their capes, while eating superhero popsicles and listening to superhero theme songs.  It was a really fun party.  I'm sure my poor children will never have such an elaborate party of their own!   

 

My work time increased from 3hrs/week to 12/week when I began serving kids at a fancy charter school in Greensboro, about an hour south from home.  It's probably the nicest K-12 school I've ever seen, and the kids and teachers I work with are all great.  Plus, I get paid for 4 hours/week of driving! 

 This is what most of my drive looks like.  I felt really guilty the other day when I hit a small, furry animal with the car.  Why did the squirrel cross the road, anyway???

 Lake Oconee Academy (a.k.a. posh charter school).

Speaking of charter schools, David had the opportunity to give a presentation about Oman to a group of 3rd-5th grade students at a local charter school.  Ethan, Claire and I came to watch.  The students loved it!  They were so interested, and of course David made it all very fun and interesting.  We brought fancy dates, hummus and pita bread for them to sample.  We also dressed the kids in middle eastern attire (I knew those boxes of clothes/souvenirs would eventually come in handy!) but unfortunately my camera ran out of batteries before I could get pics. 

Watching General Conference on the internet.  David is such a good dad... he helped Ethan create a chart full of pictures of potential conference topics (faith, family, tithing, love, etc.) and then Ethan put a sticker on each one whenever he heard the topic mentioned (Kind of like BINGO). 

Ethan got to go to work with Daddy one day to participate in an all-day study on children's use of computer games (sponsored by Disney's Penguin Club, I think).  Ethan brought "Quackers" along, since it was his turn to care for the preschool class pet. 

Preschool field trip to the fire station.  I guess Ethan was worried about the air horn.

 

 The field trip ended at everyone's favorite park.  Here's Ethan with his favorite friend from school (the only other boy in the class!)

Emery, do you recognize those boots?  :)

 

One of the many bulldogs in Athens.

DATE NIGHT.  We'd been needing one of these for awhile.  But what do you do in Athens that doesn't involve drinking, late-night concerts, or spending too much money?  SCOOTER DATE!  We borrowed a helmet from a friend and went for a scooter ride through town.  We felt so European.  We came across a trendy, new frozen yogurt place and happen to meet up with some friends and fellow scooter riders.  

So after pumping some hand sanitizer onto your hands, you can use these teeny-tiny cups to sample all the flavors you want.  When you're ready to commit, you grab an ENORMOUS cup and fill it with all the frozen yogurt and fun toppings you want.  They charge by weight.  I'm pretty sure I sampled at least as much yogurt as I purchased.  This cup cost about $4.50.

 

I bet David and I were ALMOST as cute on the scooter as this couple:

"Thirty, flirty and thriving"

If you haven't seen the movie "13 going on 30," it's pretty cute.  The 13 year old makes a wish to be "Thirty, flirty and thriving" like the woman on the cover of a magazine.  

David finally turned 30 this month.  I say finally, because he's been ready for this for a long time!  He was always the kid who hung out with the older kids at school.  Then he married an older woman (I was 22, he was 20).  So, I'm glad we are both in our thirties now!

Notice David's Georgia t-shirt.  He went to his first Georgia bulldog's football game on his birthday!  If you don't know, football is like a religion here in the South.  People pay big bucks for tickets, women wear heels and fancy dresses, and everyone drinks way too much at the pre-game and post-game tailgate parties. (Wait a minute, that sounds nothing like a religion!)  

  Kids singing Happy Birthday

Tickle Chamber.  This is a game I try to avoid getting involved with.  Claire sure loves it, though.  One of the reasons we needed to have kids was so that David would have someone other than me to torture with his tickling.

Growing Up

Ethan started preschool 3 mornings/week at Winterville First Baptist Preschool, just 2 blocks from home.  HE LOVES IT!  I couldn't be happier with his teachers and with his school.  It is an answer to prayers.

Ethan and Mrs. Nancy.  His two teachers sent him a letter and photograph in the mail a month before school started, and he immediately responded with a letter of his own.

  

Ethan's class is comprised of eleven 4-year-olds.  He is one of two boys.

 

His teachers are really good about informing us about what activities are coming up.  Ethan has something to look forward to each morning as he's getting ready for school.  After school, Ethan is always very excited to show me his new creations! 

Claire the two-year-old

 

Claire is growing up, too.  We finally gave up on her highchair, and now she enjoys "big girl" status at the table.  She still sleeps in her crib, although she climbs out and lets herself into our room each morning on her own.  (Sometimes she climbs out at night and we find her on the floor with her friends).

  

She still sleeps with Bunny and "Dup-dup," although I've trimmed all her pacifiers to make them less enjoyable.  This photo was taken before the most recent trimming.  

 Naptime is a thing of the past... Claire has too many fun things to do, like setting up her tea set, putting down her stuffed animals for naps, watching Maisy Mouse videos over and over, and chasing Ethan around.  Here she is playing goalie during Ethan's soccer practice.     

And here she is wearing mascara for the first time:
 

When I was pregnant with Claire, people sometimes asked me, "So, you're ready for another one, huh?"  I would respond, "No, but Ethan needs someone to play with."  Well now, two years later, the kids are finally coming into an age when they can play together and truly enjoy each other's company.  I love hearing the sounds of them laughing and playing together! 

August craziness

Well, if we were too relaxed in June and July, we made up for that in August.

First of all, David returned to graduate student life at UGA.  He teaches an undergraduate course on Educational Technology three times per week (somewhat similar to the course he taught in Oman, except now he's just "David" instead of "Doctor David.").  Several of David's students are athletes, and so despite his feelings about UGA's football culture, he actually bought season tickets to the games this year.  David attends a class on Friday evenings (lame!) and works on analyzing his dissertation research whenever he can.

David bought a cute Vino scooter to get him to class this year.  

He can get up to 40mph going downhill!

 Ethan and Claire love the scooter, too.

I can take turns at 10mph (I don't leave the neighborhood)

Filling up the scooter with gas

 

I began working a couple afternoons/week at a private speech and language clinic this month.  I only have a few clients so far, but I love working with preschoolers and educating their parents about techniques they can use at home to develop their children's communication skills. 

David stays home with the kids while I'm at work.  After my first day at work, I came home to find these notes on the door from Ethan:

The biggest shocker of the month came when I was called to be the president of the Primary organization at church.  Wow!  That means I preside over the Sunday school teachers, cub scout leaders, and other staff who work with children ages 18months to 12 years.  Fortunately, I already know most of the kids at church since I was the children's music leader before we went to Oman.  Unfortunately, morning sickness kicked in the day after I was called as Primary President.  It's a bit overwhelming, but I have an awesome secretary and counselors to work with, and I think it will be a great experience.  Here's a picture of our new church building:

Ethan began soccer this month, and loves having his Daddy as his coach!  (David was the only parent to volunteered for the job).  His team is made up of 4 and 5 year olds.  David had never coached before, but he did some research online and has come up with a lot of fun games for the kids.  Claire and I come to practices, where I spend most of the time keeping Claire off the field and out of my purse. 

Speaking of Claire, she has become quite a funny little girl.  She's not the same angel she was a few months ago (after all, she did turn 2 in June) but she sure has a lot of personality.  She talks very well (and very much) for her age, she loves to sing, and she is the most wiggly thing I have ever seen.  Sometimes I think she was destined to be a trapeze artist.  Here she is doing stunts from her highchair at dinner time:

Claire also enjoys the visual arts.  A few weeks ago after an early-morning drive to the airport, David set the kids up with a video and went to our room for a nap.  He awoke to the sound of Ethan's voice, saying, "No, Claire!  No pens on the couch!"  She managed to draw "circles" on each cushion of our two white couches.  David spend the next few hours applying 75% rubbing alcohol to the microfiber.

Meanwhile, I was thousands of miles away in Seattle, celebrating the wedding of my stepbrother Scott and his wife Kristen.  It was a beautiful wedding, and I enjoyed hanging out with my mom, John, Jared and Emery.  We also got to see my stepsister Johnna and Ryan, and John's sister Cheryl and her family.  It was fun to be back in Seattle again, but after 2 years of summer weather, 70 degrees sure felt cold!  We didn't have time for much sight-seeing, but I did buy a box of my favorite Chukar Cherries at the airport.

 

Flower girl and ring bearer.

 

Emery, Johnna, Mom, Me

 

John and Jared waiting patiently for us girls at the make-up counter.

 

My beautiful little sister.  Can you believe we have the same mother?  

I guess I missed out on the Japanese genes.