Saturday, September 24, 2011

School

Last week Max and Zoe started pre-school. They have been going to a drop in pre-school which they really like for a few months now, so I thought that it would be a good time to start them in a regular pre-school class. I looked at a few places but in the end chose 'The children's school', which is a modified Montessori program in the same building as their drop-off pre-school. I found out about the school from my friend Christine and her twins are in the same class. My friend Lindsey also signed up her twins so it is a twin-centric experience.
They are going twice a week for a just 2 and half hours at the moment, and will eventually stay for lunch as the year progresses. They have adjusted well, Zoe especially. Max is okay with it but doesn't like the fact that it is a little more structured than drop off pre-school.

For me it is another reminder that my babies are growing up and time is flying by. It seems five minutes ago that I was worried about them not rolling over or sleeping through the night (Actually that was about five minutes ago for Max, well the sleeping bit anyway) They'll be in 'big' school before I know it, so this year I plan on enjoying each day with them because "Mum can I take the car please?" is really just around the corner.










Thursday, September 15, 2011

A day at the fair

Well it is now impossible to ignore that fall is here and summer is over. It's a shock and a disappointment as summer didn't even arrive until August, but the nights are drawing in and the leaves are starting to turn. However, we have tried to squeeze as much summer into August as possible and that included our first trip to a state fair.

I'd never been to a state fair before so all the exhibit tents were fun for me. They have vegetable exhibits, cake exhibits, quilting, art and loads more-it was pretty cool. The kids got bored of that pretty quickly, but they loved all the animals and got to pet the largest pig I have ever seen.

There is also a lot of heart attack inducing food at fairs. There was one stall called "Everything fried" and they also sold chocolate covered bacon (just wrong). We stuck to scones-which as you can see Zoe just loved:) and cotton candy or for the English followers-candy floss. Now, I am sure that I have had candy floss before, but I have no memory of it. It looks nasty-like fiberglass, but I too decided to give it a try. It WAS nasty-like fiberglass, but M and Z thought it was awesome.

The highlight of the day was the rides which were brilliant. We went along with the BFF's Miles and GiGi and all 4 kids were totally into all the rides. We bought the unlimited arm band and there were 9 rides they could ride alone, and a few like the rollercoaster that we rode with them. They couldn't get enough-we did some rides 4 times, so we really got our money's worth. We made it to 3 p.m. without tears then headed home. Max and Zoe were fast asleep before we even left the parking area, and it was a very peaceful drive back to Seattle. Our first fair experience was a great one, and I feel an annual tradition coming on.

















Friday, September 9, 2011

Itty Bitty Camp

My favorite class this summer was a weekly class we took called Itty Bitty Camp. This class was held at Discovery park which is one of my favorite places in Seattle. Before I took this class I thought I knew Discovery pretty well, but teacher Lisa introduced to all sorts of new habitats and took us on trails I'd never seen before. Each week we visited different habitats that included the woodlands, the meadows, the wetlands and the ponds. We learned all about dome spider webs and stinging nettles, and took time to look at slugs and mushrooms as we walked the trails. The classes Max and Zoe liked best were pond dipping and playing hide and seek in the tall meadow grasses. In fact every time we visit Discovery park now they ask us can we go up to the "rabbit church" and play "hide the seek".












Sunday, September 4, 2011

Twice as Nice turns 3

A couple of weeks ago we had our Twice as Nice third birthday party. This year we had it at "Pump it up" in Kirkland, which has large inflatables or 'bouncy castles' as M and Z like to call them. Nearly all of our original group was there. Heather made the trip up from Portland with E and M and baby G. Heather was the first of our group to have a third and baby G is now nearly 10 months old. This week our leader Courtney had a baby boy,(Congrats) and Katie is due to have a boy at the start of October. The mommas to be didn't make it, but hopefully next year they will be there with the new additions.

It was a great place to have a party and all the kids had a blast jumping, climbing and sliding. Max was obsessed with the air hockey table and I have to say he was in it to win it. I can see his competitive streak shining through these days.

After all the sweaty bouncing we had snacks and cupcakes (thanks Tracey)in the party room. The kids all sat down and were civilized, well except Max and Zoe who just kept standing up. Hopefully they'll be better trained by next year. Max was also the first to discover the throne chair, usually for the one birthday boy or girl. He just marched on up and took it for his own. One thing I can say about my kids is that they are not backwards in coming forwards! After snacks we did a gift exchange, we all gave books to each other. The books only thing was my idea-once a teacher, always a teacher:) but it actually worked really well and Max and Zoe loved the books they got. (Thanks Jamie)

It was a fun way to celebrate this milestone in our kids lives and I hope we can keep these annual get -togethers going over the years.