Reader's Theater

March 7, Tyler's class presented a Reader's Theater. He did a great job, and I recorded short clips so that Wayne could see what it was about. (He was home with Aubrey for her nap time).

 

Snow Days

We've been in a drought around here. I've heard that we are nearing dust-bowl levels of drought. So, it's been awhile since we've gotten much precipitation. A winter storm was predicted to be headed our way, early in the week, but we're in Kansas. Things can change quickly, so we believe it when we see it.

 

Wednesday morning, around 9, I left my base school to visit another school. The snow had started to fall before then, but the roads were still fine. By about an hour later, the roads were slick and it was still coming down steadily. Evening parent-teacher conferences were canceled, so I got to come home at my normal time. The roads were decent by the end of the work day, and we enjoyed the snow. A novelty around here.

 

That evening, they canceled school for both Tyler and I for Thursday. We were excited and looked forward to burrowing in for an unplanned day at home. I woke up to lightning and thunder during the night and heard on the news the next day it's actually called thunder snow. I think that sounds funny.   And it kept snowing most of the day.

Around here, they don't have the kind of snow removal equipment we had growing up in Northern Indiana. Side streets are not plowed. We had shoveled the driveway on Wednesday night, but you never would have known that yesterday. As I struggled and huffed and puffed on the driveway yesterday, and the snow stuck to each scoop of the shovel, I stopped when I was a little over halfway done. It was heavy, thick, and I figured that even if I could get out of our driveway in the morning, I'd be immediately stuck in the thick snow still on the street. We ended up with 14.2 inches of snow. So, we weren't surprised when they canceled school for today too.


Playing in the snow today...

(Okay, most of Aubrey's snow play consists of eating snow).

 

Tunnels...in Kansas?!

 

 

Love it. :)

Aubrey gets adjusted

So, every time Aubrey sees Wayne crack my back, we have a little routine. I "crack" her back (and she hams it up with lots of grunts), and then she wants to crack my back. I oblige with grunts too. Today, we caught a little of it on video. This is for you, Dad. ;)

Giggles

Tonight, Tyler was working on sight words, and Aubrey got the giggles. I just caught a little on video.

Aubs

A couple of videos of Aubrey demonstrating her love of playing on the ottoman.

lick it

Aubrey lately

I've been meaning to write about Aubrey for a couple of weeks now.

I didn't want to forget that at 13 months, we are starting to understand a little more of her babbling. Dada is now specific to Daddy and she is finally saying Mama when she is talking to me...er, crying for me. She says mmmm for moo (the only animal noise she tries to make). She imitates the satisfied "ahhh" after a drink. Uh for uh oh. And her own version of ow, as she kind of demonstrated here: (I really wish I would learn to stop talking on video)! :)



She is waving, giving high 5's, gives hugs to stuffed toys and other toddlers...whether she knows them or not...whether they are interested in reciprocating or not, pointing, reaching, and is more...opinionated about what she wants. :) Daddy has been demonstrating how to give a thumbs up and snapping, and Aubrey has her own versions of both. She also throws up her shoulder like the video below. Sometimes she is being playful, sometimes she is trying to get her big brother out of her space. :)



She loves socks. Waving them around. Chewing on them. Trying to put them on her feet...

She also loves wearing her jacket. She often points to it and gives a little whine, her way of asking to put it on.

Suddenly, when she turned 1, she became very interested in books. She brings books to be read and likes to just look at books. I was feeling guilty because I hadn't read to her nearly as much as I did to Tyler in his first year. So, I'm glad that she brings books to be read and sometimes just enjoys looking through them over and over.

Here she is wearing her hat and being a goofball.



And finally, this morning she was trying on Tyler's jacket.

Christmas Video with the girls

Here is a short clip of Aubrey and Jillian on Christmas day.

Happy Sunday

Preschool's over

Tyler's last day of preschool was yesterday. The year went very quickly! They had a cute program and Tyler sang to Aubrey the whole time. :) He sang and did all the motions without acting so bashful. He has come a long way in not being as shy as he was at the beginning of the year. His teacher said that since the class was so small, 7 students, they had all gotten close and have all been talking about being sad that it was coming to a close. Afterward, Ted and Sue took us out to the restaurant of Tyler's choice (Pei Wei) to celebrate. In a few short months, Tyler will start kindergarten. Wow, how quickly time has passed.

Here's a short clip. It's a little fuzzy - Tyler's in the back row with the blue shirt...the one looking our way.

Smiling

Aubrey's been smiling more this week, and we caught a little of this morning's smiling on video. Please pay no attention to me talking to her. :)

Christmas Program

I'm not sure anyone is interested in the entire preschool Christmas program, lasting a whole 9 1/2 minutes, but if you are, click on this link.

A clip from Tyler's Preschool Christmas Program

Tyler's Preschool Christmas Program was on Friday. It took lots of encouragement, and the promise of a new puzzle, for him to practice and perform the songs. He looked nervous, especially on the first song, Jingle Bells. He was a sheep in the Nativity, and didn't really do anything but stand on his hands and knees the whole time. This is the last song. We got a kick out of his subdued hand motions.


To show you how much he loves singing, here's the conversation we just finished...

I told Tyler that we should go Christmas caroling.

Tyler, "What's that?"

Me, "You go sing Christmas songs to people."

Tyler, "That sounds horrible!"

Liz

Thanks to the tip by my cousin, Melissa, you can follow this link to see a video (scroll down to "Pogo Fanatic)" of my cousin Liz.
She did this tongue in cheek video for a college class a few years ago.


Liz makes me laugh. :)

Jingle

This is a favorite jingle at our house right now. Those clever McDonald's marketing folks.

Sawyer snapping (sideways)

I have such trouble with videos - and I can't figure out how to make them rotate. I've learned not to turn the camera. But, alas, Wayne took this video and didn't realize that. I still wanted to post it because I think Sawyer looked so cute trying to snap along with the Birthday Monster.

videos from yesterday

I tried to get Tyler to tell his best joke. Of course, he thought holding his foot up in front of his face was even funnier.

He was also playing pirate yesterday.

Of course, repeating his pirate phrases are not as entertaining as when he says them spontaneously.

Last night at Home Depot after being warned to start behaving, he spouted off with an "Aye aye, captain!" Which he has said more than once. But it still makes me struggle to hold back a grin.

T-Rex Cafe pictures

Here are some pictures from our visit to the T-Rex Cafe. In retrospect, I would have taken more pictures. Oh well, maybe there will be a next time.

Outside the entrance is a large (possibly life sized) fossil look-alike. I would guess it was an apatosaurus. Right inside is a very large T-Rex. Tyler declared that it is bigger than all of the people in the whole world. He had been warned by Grandma Sue, so he entered a little tentatively, but later told her that he was very brave and was not scared. :) It roared and moved around, like most of the dinosaurs there. It was quite impressive. All I could capture on my camera was it's babies hatching from eggs and it's front arms.

They have a Build-A-Dino, so here is Tyler helping to push the pedal putting fluff into his T-rex. I was too late getting out my camera to catch him rubbing its heart on his arm to make it stronger, as the employee who was helping us suggested. Tyler was shy, as usual, and looked a little skeptical about the idea, but did as he was told.

The finished Dino.

Here is a brief video from the upstairs. (Upstairs we are standing in an Ice Age room). You can't see much on the video, but it's the best view that we got.

Dinosaur

Tyler woke up yesterday morning saying he could "breath like a dinosaur." Of course, getting out the camera means he will become shy, but he did eventually perform for me. Yes, he is sick. No, this is not good timing. But, hopefully he'll get well soon!

Wii Fit

I recently read my Aunt Kathy's blog post about Brennan enjoying Wii Fit. Last night, I decided to give it a try with Tyler. He loved it. So, this afternoon, we tried it again. Today it's been cold and rainy all day. I'm excited about an indoor exercise option that he enjoys! Thanks for the idea, Kathy!

On a personal note, I'm kind of wiped out. I spent the day presenting Positive Behavior Supports to elementary teachers four times - in four 90-minute inservice blocks. I had a good time, but probably shouldn't have worn heels. My feet are tired. However, my last group applauded, so that makes my aching feet not feel as bad! :) Tomorrow, I will co-lead two Nonviolent Physical Crisis Intervention refresher classes. My presentations today used a lot of the same information, so I feel (mostly) ready for that. Then the rest of the week we have half days with our students and the other half with parent teacher conferences (Thursday is late conference day). It's a different week for sure!