Teacher Conferences

Friday was Parent-Teacher conference day.  Both teachers were really well-organized.  They performed evaluations on the girls that gave us a lot of useful information.  My first meeting was for Julia.  She is wiggly at story time and doesn't appear to be paying attention most of the time.  When her teacher calls on her to answer a question though, she nails it every time.  She is also one of the only kids that participates in group time.  Julia knows all her colors and shapes, can recognize some of her letters, drew an awesome self-portrait with a head, two arms, two legs, eyes, and a mouth, and was able to write her name (sort of)!  Difficulties are recognizing numbers, picking up when asked, and pronounciation of some of her letters.  Numbers are something we just haven't really worked on.  I admitted that with me being in school, picking up the house is just not something we are very consistent about at home.  Regarding her language, she is having difficulty pronouncing the "s", "sh", and "th" sounds.  She had a free evaluation by a speech therapist at her school.  Their assessment was simply that her conversational speech is difficult to understand."  I tried to call and talk with them about it, but had to leave a message and no one called back.  Meanwhile, I went to the Internet and stumbled upon a speech pathologist's website where I found the following table.



Based on this table, I think we are going to wait until she is four to see if we can see any improvement.  At that point, we'll reassess the need for therapy.

Amelia's conference went well also.  Apparently (while she is noticeably less wiggly than her sister at home) she is one of the more squirmy kids in the class also.  Amelia also knows all her colors and shapes, can recognize some of her letters, drew a self-portrait including a head, neck, belly, arms, legs, feet, eyes, mouth, and hair (I'd never seen either of them draw a person before!), and was able to write some of her name (sort of)!  Like her sister, Amelia was unable to recognize her numbers.

All-in-all, both girls are doing really well.  They are currently really interested in learning to recognize letters and learning the sounds they make and love acting out the Bible stories they learn at school and church and the movies they watch.  It's so fun to watch them play together in this way.

Staycation!

The girls and I all had a week off school in July (and yes, I am just now posting this).  We had a blast.

Sunday - We read a book about honey.

Then we went to watch Winnie the Pooh.



When we got home we ate chicken nuggets dipped in honey.

Monday - we played on inflatables at our church and in the afternoon we made shoestring bead necklaces.  The necklaces were a huge hit.  We got the kit at Target for just over $5.

Tuesday - Bubble Day!  This was the girls' favorite day.  We read a great book from the library, "Bubbles Float, Bubbles Pop". 



We made bubbles with dish soap, corn starch, and water in their little pool.  Then we used their hula hoop to make bubbles around them.  That was fun for about 1 minute.  Then they decided it would be more fun to play in the soap.  *warning to moms - this type of soap can be irritating to a little girl down south*  We got the ideas for these crafts from the book, The Ultimate Bubble Book:  Soapy Science Fun.



We followed up our outdoor play with their first bubble bath!



For lunch we boiled some water and looked at the bubbles to make macaroni and cheese.  We drank a bubbly beverage.  The girls even got to chew their first bubble gum!

We tried an art project where we put bubble solution in a baking pan, added some food coloring, and blew lots of bubbles through straws.  We then popped the bubbles with a piece of paper.  The theory was great, but it didn't work out.  I think it would work better with paint instead of food coloring.


Wednesday - We talked about the number 10.  We read My Ten Book and I Can Bowl.

We tried Wii bowling, but the girls don't quite get video games yet.

We made pudding and practiced drawing the number 10 in it.

We went bowling when Jonathan got home.  This was by far the highlight.  We used the bumpers, but the girls didn't care for the ramp.  Amelia was ready to call it quits by the end of the tenth frame, but I think Julia would have bowled all night if we had let her.  Julia was a natural knocking down 80-something pins.  Amelia had her own special technique that just barely got the ball down the lane, but won her the award for cuteness.  She carried her ball up to the line, put her right foot behind her left leg, and dropped the ball on to the lane.

Thursday - Water day.  The girls always love water day.  We read some more great books in the morning.

The Drop Goes Plop:  A First Look at the Water Cycle


Water Voices


Then we went to my parent's house and went swimming.

Friday - We visited a downtown anomaly called The Center of the Universe.  This is such a cool place because you can stand on a spot and talk and hear your voice echo even though there are no walls around you.



At first the girls just kept yelling "echo".  Eventually they started getting creative yelling Cinderella, rock, building...you get the idea.

Hope you all had Summer's full of learning, laughing, and having fun together.

One Week Down, Seven To Go

Only four classes this summer.  Clinical Medicine, Epidemiology/Statistics, Human Behavior, and Genetics/Immunology.  Despite starting Genetics before school started and having no class Friday, I still find myself struggling to keep up.  There is A LOT of reading this semester.  And while I devoured books as a teenager, it is not something that comes easily to me anymore.  I'm not sure if my attention span is lacking or if I need to visit the eye doctor or a combination of both.

This semester I will have two presentations to give.  We were told to select our topics by the end of the first week.  No pressure.  I'll be doing a Genetics presentation on the genetic variations of monozygotic twins.  Should be fascinating to try to get to the bottom of how it's possible for Amelia to have a little birthmark on her right hip while Julia doesn't.  My other presentation will focus on maternal and fetal safety of cesarean sections versus vaginal delivery, or something like that.  I haven't quite nailed it down yet.  While part of me wants to sigh in exasperation at the amount of work I will be doing over the next seven weeks, another part of me that ADORES research is thrilled.  (If anyone has a link to any research on either of these two topics that would be much appreciated)

Now if someone could just tell me how to be in two places at once over the next seven weeks so I can enjoy the Summer with my family AND study, I would be forever grateful.

My Summer Vacation

We got three weeks of Summer vacation from school.  Three glorious weeks.  Our longest break yet.  Last semester was rough - really rough.  So a vacation was most-certainly needed.  And boy was it eventful.

Our first week off, the girls and I hosted a tea party for some of the ladies of my family.  We dressed up and invited my grandma, my mom, my sister-in-law and my two nieces over for cupcakes and "tea" (apple cider).

The next week was our big trip to DisneyWorld.  We went about the same time last year, but this year we had a nicer hotel room much closer to Magic Kingdom.  The highlight of the trip for the girls was the pool and the character meet and greets.  Of course they still had their old favorites, Dumbo and the teacups and found a new favorite in Kali River Rapids at Animal Kingdom.  Amelia was really into the show in front of the castle.  She is still talking about how Maleficent tried to steal her dreams.

We got home last Sunday.  The plan for Memorial day was to take care of a few things around the house, do some grocery shopping, and take the kids to my parents' house for swimming and dinner.  We had an unexpected change of plans.

Jonathan was out mowing the yard when I decided to leave the girls watching Cinderella so I could take a shower.  Just before rinsing, I heard one of the girls crying.  I called for them a couple of times and no one came.  So I hopped out of the shower, threw a towel on, and ran off to look for the crying kid (thinking something horrible must have happened).  Amelia was still playing with her doll while watching Cinderella, but I heard Julia crying in her bathroom.  I darted in that direction and just as my still wet foot hit the tile of the entry and I was rounding the corner, my foot slid out from under me and my head hit the corner of the wall.  I sat down hard on the entry rug and just held my head for a few minutes until I realized my hand was getting warm.  Blood.

Amelia and I were both in our birthday suits (she had her princess dress taken away from her before my shower because hitting her sister was not very princess-like behavior), so I sent Julia in her leotard and tutu outside to get Jonathan.  After a mad dash of getting all four of us dressed and ready to go, we dropped the kids off with my parents and Jonathan and I headed to the ER since urgent care wasn't open due to the holiday.  Two staples by a very nice PA later and we were ready to resume our day.

So after all my years of ice skating and gymnastics, it wasn't until I had children that I injured myself severely enough to need a medical professional.  The good news is that Julia is fine.  We never found out why she was crying.  We also still made it to my parents house for dinner and I even had enough time to make the (amazing) pink lemonade cupcakes that I promised to bring.

The rest of this week has been less eventful (praise the Lord).  We picnicked at the park on Tuesday with a friend and her kids.  Wednesday we made it to story time at the library.  Today the girls will be spending some time with their aunt and I will be running errands and reading Genetics for my class on Tuesday.

Eight more weeks of classwork and then we begin rotations.

I'll leave you with a few pictures from one of our early days of vacation.  The girls' first time waterpainting and playing outside.

Amelia

Julia

I got to read Fiction over my break!

Birthday Talk Already?!?!

Yes, I am that person.  I plan parties several months in advance.  I just get so darn excited.  I think this time it's going to pay off since I'll be knee-deep in school work in March.  I already booked the party place, bought the party supplies, and we've bought presents.  All we have left to worry about is food!  So here's a sneak peak at our Tangled party!


The Location

The Tablecovers, Napkins, and Invitations

The Plates, Cups, and Forks

For the paper lanterns I will make

Anyone have creative ideas for a cake?

**Update**
The party went well.  Everything turned out beautifully.

A classmates wife made these adorable shirts.  Check her out at http://www.kallaskreations.com/Kallas_Kreations/Home.html

The cake design was based on the back of their napkins.  The only close-up picture I have wants to be sideways.  Unfortunately, I can't take credit for this one.  It was store bought.

Musing Induced Insomnia

The Mega Millions was up to $300-something million a few days ago.  We played.  When we play we also play the what-if-we-win game.  Jonathan's dream if we win is to start in indoor kicking arena.  A place where he could train people to kick (footballs) and people could practic kicking.  It would have a workout facility, offer camps, have a special week for underprivledged kids, etc.  Pretty awesome.

My dream keeps me awake at night thinking and planning.  My dream is more eaily attainable.  Someday I will see my dream become a reality.  I want to be a Bradley Method Instructor.  I want to educate women about all things childbirth related.  The closer I get to our women's health module in school (this semester!) the more excited I get.  If we won the lottery, I told Jonathan that we could buy a bigger house with a room dedicated to my Bradley Method courses.  It would have bookshelves for my library of pregnancy and beyond books, comfortable seating that's easy for pregnant women to get in and out of, a TV for our movies, and an ample amount of floor space.  I would use all my PA school education and the Bradley Method Training I would get and educate women about their own bodies, their developing babies, and how to make educated decisions about their childbirth experience.  Maybe I would even make and sell cute crafts for new babies, become a certified yoga instructor and teach prenatal yoga, and become a doula.  Three years after I took my Bradley Method class and I still feel just as passionate about it.  This dream is a keeper.

For more information about the Bradley Method
www.bradleybirth.com
Facebook - The Bradley Method of Natural Childbirth