NYC/Boston... here I come!

Tomorrow morning at 6:00, Jake and I will be taking off in a plane headed for NYC. It will be the 4th time we've been there. We LOVE that town. We'll get to catch up with our friends over dinner in Little Italy, run a memorial race, eat relaxing breakfasts in Central Park (right before we jog through it) and attend a broadway musical (Rock of Ages). Then we get to fly to Boston. Jake is so excited to see what I think of it, me too! Since we'll be moving there in less than a year this is my chance to check it out without the kids. We are doing the "tourist" stuff, historical sites, Harvard and even taking in a Red Sox game. Then we fly back to our wonderful kids, who will have spent the week under Papa George's care. I'm not sure who in this story is MORE EXCITED... me, Jake, Owen, Allison or Papa George? I will blog when we return. Until then...

I can READ!

Today I got a news letter from Owen's teacher saying that they are working on the high frequency words "I" and "see". This afternoon, Owen wanted to play with my letter magnets from my teaching days. I thought I would test his memory from school. I spelled out S-E-E. "What does this say?" Owen looks at it for about a minute, then looks at me and says, "See". I wander off leaving him to manipulate the magnets. About 15 minutes later Owen comes running up to me to come and see what he had done. I walked into the room and saw the magnet board. Owen had this HUGE grin on his face and proceeded to READ to me what he wrote. "I SEE A SNAKE" he says. He is constantly amazing me with his desire to learn. I am so proud... and so is he!

Nice Wheels!

This is the picture I sent to daddy.

This is after I told her we get to take it home.

This is her taking it for a test ride in Walmart.

Today Allie and I went to Walmart to pick up a few things before her tumbling class. While we were there, we checked out the training wheeled 2-wheel bikes. Daddy and I have been talking about getting her one, but I didn't know how interested she would be in it. We looked at 3 bikes. The third one was the charm. She loved it! It had a Disney princess theme. I took a picture of her on it and sent it to daddy with the message that she has found THE ONE! Then we left to go to tumbling class. Daddy replied to my message, "BUY IT". So after tumbling class we went back and got it. We have one HAPPY girl now. She really loves the little purse and squirt bottle that sits on the handle bars. She's got her own wheels now... there is NO STOPPING HER!!!!

Empty Nest

First day of Kid's Day Out!

Owen wishing his sister "Good Luck!"

Girls Breakfast at McDonald's.

I can carry my OWN backpack!

Singing, while walking along the curb.

Holding mommy's hand.

Follow the signs.

It says, "Allion Arnett". Allie told me so!

B-10 is her new classroom!

I'm ready to have fun!

I woke up at 6:50 this morning to a beautiful little girl. She was very excited that today was her first day of Kid's Day Out. We had some alone time before Owen woke up. We got dressed and Allie wanted to be pretty so we put makeup on mommy and lip gloss on Allie. I will never forget the two of us, standing at the mirror getting ready.

After we took the traditional first day of school pictures, we dropped Owen off at school and went to McDonald's for a "girls breakfast". When we finished our sandwiches, small talk and chocolate milk it was time to take her. I walked her into the building and we found her name tag and they directed us to her classroom. As we were walking through her door, I was asked to sign her in. She didn't even pause! She ran right in and started playing with some of the kids. I hung up her backpack and called her over to kiss me goodbye. She smiled, ran to me, gave me a kiss then ran back to playing. I walked out, after taking a few more pictures, feeling incredibly proud of her and a little empty inside.

I hung out in the parking lot talking to other moms for about half an hour. Then following a friend's suggestion, I went to wander around Target. The whole time I was there I kept thinking I was forgetting something. I know deep down it wasn't forgetting, it was missing. I love my children and I couldn't be prouder of the two of them. I might need a hobby?

Little Mermaid

I finally have a picture of Allison during her swim lessons. She loves to float and push the boundaries of what is actually safe. She'll hang out in water that washes up to her chin and think she's in heaven. The good thing is she doesn't freak out if she goes under. She quickly stands up and coughs a little then smiles at me and says, "I'm okay!" :)

Spider Boy

Safety First!

I'm ready!

Listening to instructions.

Halfway up!

At the TOP! What's next?

On to the harder path.

Halfway up, again!

Almost there...

AT THE TOP!

I DID IT!!! Let's do this tomorrow.

Who knew we had a budding rock climber? Owen had his first climbing class this afternoon and he did great. He zipped up to the top of the course on his second try. For his third climb the instructor moved him to the "big kid" course and he went to the top in about 10 minutes. You can see him in the pictures, he's the blue dot 3 stories up.

(Thanks for doing the blog, Jake! I'll get to watch "Spider Boy" next week.)

Tumbling Girl!

Is it time yet?

I want to go in there now!

Listening to the teachers.

Look how HIGH I can jump!

Like a ballerina.

Bear crawl!

Allie won!

Hanging around!

Allie had her tumbling class this morning. She LOVES it! Our plan is for her to do tumbling until she turns 3, then we'll move to dance classes. She can hardly wait!

When the thunder rolls...

Head for cover or at least a warm bed to chase away the willies. Last night we had the most amazing rain/thunder/lightening/wind storm ever! As of now we got 6.26 inches of rain since midnight. It woke up both Jake and I. We were just laying in bed waiting to hear the pitter patter of little feet. Sure enough, we heard them. However this time they stopped halfway and then nothing! We have been trying to get Owen to be a big boy and stay in his room all night. So we thought maybe he was trying to be a big boy and went back to bed. Jake got up to investigate. He came back to bed with a little smile. "Guess where Owen was?" I'm thinking his bed. "He was in Allie's room, playing with her hair." Jake took him back to his own room, where he stayed till morning.

I fell asleep with a warm in my heart, if my kids are in need they will always have each other!

Boo Boos

Well, it happened! Owen had his first big wipeout. The ironic thing is it happened on his tricycle during a bike race with daddy.

Police Case #09C514338

What a pleasant surprise! We had just pulled up in our driveway after an overnight visit to Salina. As we are driving towards the garage Jake and I both notice tire marks through our front lawn. SUPER! Jake went across the street to see if the neighbors saw anything. Apparently last night at around 12:30 am our neighbors across the street woke up to several cars parked in front of their house and the empty lot next door. It was dark outside and they were afraid it would lead to violence since the party goers were drinking. He then said that a white, he thinks, SUV drove up our driveway like it might turn around. Then it spun its tires and peeled through our front yard. It went in on one side and out the other. However, the people who live across Reed's Cove Street got it worse. The infamous SUV then drove up into their yard narrowly missing the light poll and doing a U-Turn back onto the street. Their yard is tore up, where as ours is just has these deep tire marks. Lucky for us, we have already scheduled to have our lawn aerated and over seeded next month.

Saturday activities for the Arnetts

Starting today, the kids are taking classes at the Y. Allison and I are doing Preschool Paddlers. If any of you have seen her swimming lately, she's fearless! I call her my little mermaid. She truly is! This session, she is the star swimmer. She goes under water, reaches with her arms, kicks with her feet and blows bubbles. She's even started mastering the back float. For the last month, she has been asking, almost begging, if we can go to swim class. Now I see why!

Owen is taking Taekwondo. Like most 5 year olds, he is having trouble listening and sitting still. I think we might have found our solution. He LOVES it! His class is at the same time as Allies, so I missed the first 30 minutes of it. But you better believe I was there for the last 15, with my camera ready. I am so proud of him and Allie. They are learning new things, finding the niche in life and having fun in the process!

Who needs video games?

Last night we had our friends the Williams come over to play and eat pizza. The kids were quietly playing together downstairs and it was getting late. Even though we hated to bust up the little party, we went down to start the clean up and say "good bye". We were surprised and blown away by what they had put together on the own! They were dressed in costumes, assigning instruments and staging a performance for the mommies. It was AWESOME! They took turns with the different instruments and rotated who was the singer. Who needs "Rock Band" the video game, we've got the real thing... IMAGINATION!

The Passing of the Torch

Well, it's official... Owen is addicted to video games. His poison of choice is Lego Star Wars on the Wii. Jake thinks that telling me that the skills used to play video games are a benefit to surgeons of his generation will justify letting Owen clock the hours, he might be right. Plus, Owen and I make a killer team. Yeah, I have to admit it... I'm a little hooked as well. I just find it funny that they look and act so much a like when they play. See for yourself!