Nature Hike

Mark was going to be gone most of the afternoon today, so I took the girls on a nature hike at a nearby park.  We’d never been to this park before, so we packed some snacks, drinks, and the camera and set out for a little adventure.  The girls really enjoyed hiking through the woods, and the path brought us out to the Potomac River where they took off their socks and shoes and played in the mud and water for awhile.  Nina found some snails that she brought home as “pets” and we had a lot of fun exploring, hiking, and enjoying the beautiful afternoon!

  

 

 

 

Mystery Reader

This afternoon, Mark got the chance to be the Mystery Reader in Nina’s class.   When they gave the first clue, “This person likes golf and fishing” there were lots of hands up in the room.  (The kids keep their hand raised if they know someone who fits the description of the clues given).  There were still a few hands up when they gave the second clue, “This person calls someone in the room Little Princess” but Nina knew it was her dad for sure when the final clue was given, “This person knows Fetch and Stanley Sting.”  Mark got to read one of Nina’s favorite books, Harry by the Sea, to the class then stayed for the school Bark Walk and then got to bring Nina home.  What a great way to end the school week!

Soccer and Date Night

Nina had a great time at soccer on Saturday.  We’re now convinced that this is going to be a much much better season than our first experience.  Nina had a great time, played hard, scored goals, and worked well with her teammates.  We were very proud of the effort she put in to have fun and play hard. 

 

After soccer, we came home, got cleaned up and ready for date nights.  Nina and I went out together, and Mark and Lyla went out together.  The rain ruined my plan of biking down the W&OD to a cool little dinner spot, so instead we went out to dinner (indoors) and did a little shopping for her afterwards.  Lyla was requesting a trip to Chick Fil-A, so she and Mark went there for dinner, ice cream, and playing in the kids’ play area.  As always, it’s good to get some special time out with our girls!

The Rest of the Story

I realize in retrospect that I left my story about the penny hanging without telling how everything ended up.  Did we ever find the penny?  Well, here is here is the rest of the story. 

After getting home from the gym and checking all over Lyla, her seat, and the car to make sure that she wasn’t telling a fib, and after making her act out exactly what she did and where she felt the penny go, I was sure of it.  She definitely swallowed the penny.  I got online to try to get some answers about what to do.  I didn’t want to go to the ER for an x-ray.  I mean, who wants to spend $200 to get back $0.01?  The first report I read said that if the penny was made before a certain date, it was made with a certain corrosive material that would damage the lining of the stomach, therefore with pennies, go to the ER immediately.  I didn’t like what I read, so I kept reading other opinions.  The overwhelming other opinion was that kids swallow coins, and even the big ones most of the time manage to make their way out.  The obvious signs of abdominal cramping and such would be reason to go to the ER, but otherwise, wait for it to make its way out.

So, then started the rather unsavory job of poking through each you know what with bamboo skewers.  Each time there was a delivery, I had the joy of poking through it, hoping to find the penny.  Sure enough, whether it was the stress of knowing the penny was in there waiting to come out or something else, Lyla got pretty backed up.  It had been a couple days since her last delivery, and I knew a big delivery was coming. 

Sure enough, it came while I was trying to do reading with Nina.  It was a beautiful day, Nina’s friends were already knocking on the door, and she was itching to get outside, but we wanted to finish her reading work before heading out to play.  It had been a pattern that week that during Nina’s time to read, Lyla used the time to try to get attention.  It was frustrating for me and distracting for Nina.  So on this particular day, Lyla went into the bathroom during reading time, and I know what’s coming.  She started shouting from the bathroom about her delivery, wanting me to come in, see, search for the penny, etc.  We literally had one page of the book left for Nina to read, so I told Lyla, “Just hold one for one minute, and I’ll be right there.  Whatever you do, don’t flush!”  She kept shouting from the bathroom, and under much tension, Nina finished the last page of her book. I immediately jumped up and walked down the hall to the bathroom when I heard the toilet flushing.  Down went the evidence of several days of being backed up. 

I was convinced the penny was in that delivery, but I kept checking for a few days afterwards.  I never found it, so I’m certain it went down that one day.  You would think I would be relieved, but after all that poking and prodding, I wanted the satisfaction of actually seeing the penny and knowing with all certainty that it was out.  I’m not getting any satisfaction with this one.

About a week later, Lyla sat down on a chair that unknowingly had a penny on it.  When she got up and saw the penny on the seat she had just sat in, she actually thought the penny had finally come out.  Instead of giving a detailed explanation, I resigned myself to saying, “Ok, good.  I’m so glad!”

Sister Update

Since spring break, we’ve gotten back into our usual routine.  Nina has less than 40 days of school left before summer break, and we’re excited for school to be out already.  She’s been doing a great job in Kindergarten this year.  She enjoys her class and her teachers, she’s a good little reader, and she still loves to write and draw.  Lyla and I enjoy having her around for half of the school day, so it will be sad for us next year, but we’re enjoying the last of Kindergarten while it’s here.  She also started playing soccer again.  After our stint with the Sunrays, I don’t think any of us were that excited about a soccer team again, but this season is already shaping up to be a lot better.  Nina is part of a little team called the Shockwave.  It’s made up of all girls under six, many of whom are friends of hers from school. All practices and games are that the school she attends right down the street, and the coach is a friend of mine (and mom of Nina’s friend) who is tons of fun, sporty, and gets the girls excited about soccer.  Judging from the first practice, the Shockwave is setting itself up to be much better than the Sunrays!  She still loves to dance and sing and, despite the fact that she seems so grown up at times, she still loves her Blankie and her Froggy and cuddles with them every night.

Lyla has just been hanging out being Lyla for the past few months. In way of progress, she’s developed much more of an interest for her “school work,” and our little lefty is making much more progress now in her letter writing.  She loves getting praise, so we’ve found that encouraging the littlest success brings her energy and motivation.  She’s my little companion for trips to the grocery store, errands, etc while Nina is at school, and she still loves her cars.  Quite often, Lyla leaves us shaking our heads and wondering what was she thinking?  Just a few weeks ago, she decided to swallow a penny.  Both girls and I were leaving the gym one evening after the weekly class I teach when Lyla found a penny in the parking lot.  As I’m driving home, she proceeds to tell me from the back seat that she swallowed the penny.  Of course, I’m driving while semi-shrieking, “You did what?  You swallowed what?  You mean, you really put that old, dirty penny in your mouth and swallowed it down?”   When she’s not swallowing pennies or hounding me for snacks, she likes coloring and painting pictures of cars and playing outside.

The Rest of Spring Break–Cousin Time and Easter

With the Williams family in town, we spent each day with them while they were here except Saturday which happened to be our neighborhood Easter Eggstravaganza.  So, we took the girls to the festivities, and they enjoyed the morning there.  Nina had written a little note to the Easter Bunny which she had taken with her and gave to the Easter Bunny when we saw him.  After that, the girls got their pictures taken, did the group egg hunt, and got to see some farm animals that were brought in for the occasion.  We spent the rest of the day outside and finished things off with a smores/fire pit night with neighbors.

 

 

After church on Easter morning, it was back out to my parents’ house to celebrate Easter with the family. 

Right away, the girls were excited to do the egg hunt in Mousey and Poppy’s big back yard, so with matching flamingo shirts and Easter bags in hand, they started off on the egg hunt.

 

 

  

The girls all got plenty of eggs, then spent the rest of the day playing outside together.  Since the cousins were leaving this morning to head back home, we stayed until bed time so they could maximize their time together, then it’s back to school for Nina tomorrow.  Spring Break went by pretty quickly, but I think the girls enjoyed the week of fun activities and friends.  Only two more months and the school year will be done!

 

 

More Hawk Hunt Photos

These didn’t make the initial post, but the hawk hunt was so much fun this year, I just had to include some more! 

 

 

  

 

 

The Hawk Hunt 2012

With the Williams family in town for the second half of spring break, the girls got to have their annual Hawk Hunt yesterday.  It’s a special day that my mom prepares for the girls to enjoy the outdoors, crafts, snacks, etc., and the girls look SO forward to it each year.  This year, we went to the Manassas Battlefield for the hawk hunt.   The setting was beautiful (see the previous post for nature pictures), and the girls had so much fun exploring, painting bluebells along side the river, sketching cool things they saw, and hiking around.

 

Each girl is unique in their own way, but they all love being together, and they’re all active girls with a good sense of adventure, so days like yesterday are perfect ways to spend the day for them.

 

 

It was another wonderful hawk hunt, and Mousey finds a way to make each year even more creative and fun than the previous one.  The girls are lucky to have such a great day to make memories with each other!