Go Dog Go

This isn't the full version of her reading the book, but it's the last half of it. And she had just gotten out of the tub, but she is so cute reading the book I wanted to share it.

Tizza

Kaitlyn is talking A LOT now. Here is just a tiny sample, where she is busy being more adept at the iPad than I am, so she didn't talk much. I have a video recorded of her "reading" (reciting) one of her favorite books, Go Dog Go, while turning the pages, but it is too long to upload onto this blog. Bummer! It is so cute.

Letters

Kaitlyn can not only sing the Alphabet Song, but she also recognizes every letter and can say their sound. For dinner two nights ago, she found each letter on the fridge corresponding with the names of our family (M for Mommy, D for Daddy) and put them next to the place we were sitting at dinner. (The B for Boo was left there by Aidan; he didn't want Boo to feel left out of the picture. But Kaitlyn does know that B is for Boo.)

Kaitlyn thought Boo needed some friends.

Recorder

Today Ethan got a recorder for music class. The fourth grade will learn many songs this year on the recorders. (In fact, the teacher gives them all "belts" according to how well they play. Ethan hopes to become a black belt in recorder by the end of the year.) He has been practicing for a looong time today. He has already mastered two songs (here is one of them):

Tae Kwon Do

Ethan started tae kwon do about six weeks ago. He is really enjoying it. He attends class twice a week, and has been preparing hard for testing tomorrow. As you can see in the picture, he has received all of his stripes (each one represents one item he has passed off), and if/when he passes his test tomorrow, he will receive his yellow belt at a belt ceremony on Monday. Go Ethan!

Here he is, doing his form:

Dominoes

Aidan has been having fun with dominoes.

Ethan won a prize through the summer reading program at the Ames Public Library - he got to ride in the Bookmobile to get ice cream.

Kaitlyn Got an Owie

And she's showing it to Christian.

Halloween

The kids had a lot of fun trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. Kaitlyn can't smile a normal smile when a camera is pointed at her.

Kaitlyn's New Bed

Do you think maybe it's time to get rid of a few stuffed animals?  (According to the kids, absolutely not.)

Last night, Christian put together Kaitlyn's toddler bed and took her crib out of her room. She stayed in it all night, and is pretty much in love with it. We'll see how long it takes her to figure out that she doesn't have to stay in her bed if she doesn't want to anymore.

School Pictures

They don't do the cool pictures-on-cd here, where I can easily mail the original jpgs to people.  So I had to just scan them in.

Aidan & Zak

Over the weekend, Aidan went to his best friend Zak's birthday party.  They went to a gymnastics place on campus in Ames, jumped around and had a great time for an hour, and then had cake and presents in another room.  Aidan and Zak sure do like hanging out and playing together.  This is the only picture I took.

(P.S. They are both on the same soccer team this fall, and they are loving playing soccer.)

Blankie Bait and Switch (Sort Of)

We successfully switched out Kaitlyn's "favorite" blankie.  She has had the purple one since birth, and has loved it into a tattered mess.

One day, she asked for the brown blankie, and took it to bed.  I hid the purple blankie, and she asked about it once or twice, but would bring out her brown blankie when she would say anything about the purple blankie.  She hasn't asked about the purple blankie in over two weeks now.  Whew!

Kaitlyn LOVES to draw, color and paint.  She was doing this all by herself when I started recording.