Ta Da

Nyla watching the deer leave our yard.  Either the deer know how to open the gate or the wind is opening it for them.  Since they can easily jump the fence it doesn't really matter.  It was a mom with two baby deer this time.


Cora sticking her tongue out.


Last week Cora insisted that we watch her do whatever popped into her head.  It was mostly running and jumping off the couch.  Afterward she would say ta da!  Most of her stunts we did not approve of.    She climbed the small ladder and balanced on one foot, she jumped from the couch to the coffee table, and various other things.  She hasn't done it in several days which I think is a good thing.  One of the girls from Lego League today was practicing hand stands and Cora watched intently.  She thought about copying but couldn't figure out how to get her legs off the ground.  I bet if she had she would have said ta da.



We had some of our favorite visitors over the weekend.  Buddy's grandmother, aunt, and uncle arrived late Sunday afternoon.  Nyla nearly died from impatience.  She even called once to find out how much longer until they arrived.  It was just a short visit but it was lovely as always.  On Monday we went to the Kentucky Derby Museum which had long been on my places to visit list.  I had heard good things about it but was a little skeptical.  I was very pleasantly surprised.  The museum was a lot of fun.  We spent several hours there and didn't see it all.  Cora's favorite part was the horse video game.  She did that one a lot.  It's a good thing that it was not a busy day.  I think my favorite part was the betting display.  There was a computer screen with the horses for the upcoming race as well as their odds.  A horse was chosen for first, second, and third place.  Then a tv screen shows that actual race from years ago and then you find out what you would have won.  It would have been even better with more complex bids possible but I still liked it.  It probably helped that I was the big winner with $13.10 in hypothetical winnings.   It was a really wonderful museum.




















A few hours after returning from the Derby Museum, Nyla went nuts.  She was tired and fell asleep in her room for a little while and when we woke her up she was a beast.  She screamed and cried for quite some time.  In some ways, being five is difficult for her.  She's been more emotional the past month.  She is also becoming way more independent.  This morning she yelled at me but apologized seconds later.  She was crying and saying sorry.  Cora has picked up on this behavior and twice today she has told me sorry.  I've already forgotten the first incident but the second time I was syncing the ipod and Cora wouldn't stop touching the cord even though I told her to stop touching it numerous times.  I finally moved her away from it into Buddy's arms.  Cora was so sad.  Eventually she came over to me crying and saying sorry over and over.

Still busy

I just don't have as much time free time as I used to.  We've been busy the past several days.  I took the kids to the fair on Friday and Buddy took them on Saturday.  On Friday we looked at the animals, food, and the 4H projects.  Saturday was rides day. 

Monday we had to pick up Bohdin's pillow and then we went to the zoo.  The splash park will be closing soon and I thought the kids would enjoy it one last time.  Since school has started here the zoo was very lightly attended.   All three kids had fun at the splash park for the first time.  Normally only Bohdin likes it but this time Nyla had a lot of fun also.  Cora had a few fun times as well but it took her a while to warm up to the place.

Deer and the drought have decimated most of the garden this year.  We had a few squash and we get a couple of cherry tomatoes.  The raspberries looked bad earlier in the season but they've begun producing and every day there are a few raspberries.  The competition for them became pretty intense so Cora would go out in the morning to pick them all before anybody else had a chance.  She shared a bit but I think she kept most for herself.  In the picture below she is coming back from harvesting.  She picked up two ticks in the process so we may need to put down another tick treatment. 

I went through the list of county fair categories for next year and told Bohdin to pick three.  He chose bread, cookies, and he's undecided between jewelry and candles.  When he chose candles he remembered the good job he had done in the past with the hand dipped candles from the maple syrup festival.   The goal is that most weeks he will bake a loaf of bread and also make cookies on Tuesday to share with Lego League on Wednesday.  Earlier in the day he had asked to make cinnamon rolls so that became his first bread.  He has helped me bake in the past so he had some knowledge going in.  He made the cookies last night and that went really well.  He's assisted on so many cookies it wasn't a big deal for him to take over and do it all. 

Cora has been better about quiet play this week.  She can go off by herself and not do something destructive.  The other day she took a few books off the shelf and looked through them.  She also wants to play in the front yard by herself.  She is able to open the storm door and slip out quietly.  Yesterday when I was making dinner it was too quiet and I found that she had went outside to collect leaves.  She thinks it is ridiculous that she can't play in the yard without someone watching her.  

Nyla has been complaining that even though she is "almost six" she doesn't feel any differently than she did as a four year old.  Logic has no place in any argument with Nyla but I tried anyway.  It didn't work and she continues to feel let down. 

First meeting

Today was the first meeting for the new Lego League group.  There is one new girl but the rest we knew from last year.  She seems great and the kids had a lot of fun with her.  Today was mostly playing to get the group used to each other.  Bohdin pulled out a board game and afterward they played various things including a variation of duck duck goose that involved the goose posing the ducks.  It's at our house this year and I think it will be a lot of fun for the kids.  Bohdin and Nyla really enjoyed it.  I think Cora will warm up by the end of the season.  She wasn't holding onto me as much as she was two weeks ago. 

Yesterday was a social day as well when the M- clan came over in the afternoon.  Nyla wasn't interested in playing at first because she had a shot earlier in the day and wanted to be sad about it.  Eventually she realized that playing would be more fun and she started playing tag with the rest of them.  When we bought our house we knew it was a great tag house and it has certainly been utilized in that regard.  I don't think we'll even have a circle in the next house.  They are spoiled here with the double circles or triple circles if you include the kitchen island. 

I caught whatever the kids had and it hit me the hardest.  Cora has begun to play more with Bohdin and Nyla instead of hanging out with me all of the time so that was helpful.  She'll go with them for a while but they often play big kid games that she can't do.  Cora tries to play Playmobil but she wants to touch what Nyla touches which results in a screaming Nyla.  She will play chase with the older two and some of the other physical games like jumping from the bench onto the couch.  She's been trying harder to act like them.  She chooses cereal for breakfast like Nyla even though she doesn't like cereal.  Today she wanted to do schoolwork like Nyla.  I copied Nyla's page for her and she scribbled on it.  She was quite proud of her work.  She also has fallen in love with the ladybug shirt that Nyla is wearing on the screensaver I have on the laptop.  Tonight at the library, Cora ran to the board book section and grabbed a stack of books.  She put them in the library bag and carried them herself throughout the library, into the car, and then home.  She looked at books on the way home the same way that Bohdin likes to do when he goes to the library. 

Sick

Cora had a dentist appointment on Monday.  I didn't think she would be very cooperative and she proved me right.  In an effort to make it better for her I let her use the Ipod.  It didn't seem to make too much of a difference.  She thought she would be able to use it at other times though and she was mistaken.  After taking the picture above I took it away.  I don't trust her with expensive electronics. 

Nyla also had a dentist appointment and she did well.  Both Nyla and Cora have new dolls as a result of their appointment.  Nyla put many of her babies to sleep on the couch one day along with Cora.  When I took the camera out Cora just wanted me to take pictures of her so I took a few. 




Bohdin developed a cold on Tuesday I think.  I wanted him to rest and he did his best but it's not his strength.  By Thursday Bohdin was still blowing his nose a lot and Nyla and Cora were getting sick as well.  The girls didn't get it as bad as Bohdin and by Friday evening everybody was fine.  Everybody was really fine before that.  I threw Bohdin outside to play Thursday afternoon and he felt a lot better after running around outside.  In the future we might try that as soon as he gets sick instead of the resting.  Buddy and I were really curious about the state fair results.  Bohdin was pretty uninterested.  Friday evening we just had to go see.  Getting into the fair was extremely time consuming.  The traffic people they hired were awful and the gate situation was slow.  We saw a lot of unhappy people. 

It took a long time but we finally were able to park and get in.  The entire time Bohdin was working on his project I told him not to expect a ribbon because I didn't want him to be disappointed.  The experience was the reward.  He must have believed me because he spouted it back to me and didn't care whether he won one.  Even when he saw the ribbon he wasn't excited.  He was still really proud about sewing on the buttons though.  He won third place out of 19 entries.  In the picture below half of the second place winner can be seen to the right.  I think Bohdin could have won second if his stitching in the back had been straighter.  The second place pillow was done by a ten year old and the first place pillow was done by an eleven year old.  The flower pillow was the winner.  Buddy thought it looked difficult but I know that they sell a tool that easily allows one to make those pompoms.  She deserved the win.  I like the look of Bohdin's pillow better but her construction technique was better.  Bohdin did an amazing job and we're really proud of his effort and hard work.  His pillow was the most complicated.  I think that helped him with the judges.

Time for Fun

With the project turned in, it was time for some fun.  I took the kids to the zoo on Sunday so they could enjoy the splash park.  Cora didn't like it because she tried stepping on one of the upright jets and got water in her nose.  She tried it again and got even more water in her nose.  She stayed out of the water after that.  Bohdin and Nyla had a lot of fun though.  I had to drag Bohdin out of there after nearly an hour.  We saw a few animals on our way out.  Bohdin wandered far ahead which I wasn't fond of.  Cora spent a long time with the elephants and then wanted to explore every kind of fencing material in the zoo.  After she played ring around the rosies around a tree I cut her off from walking and put her in the carrier. 

Nyla had been asking to ride the carousel since we entered. I almost said no because we hadn't caught up with Bohdin yet but I didn't want to punish her for Bohdin's poor choice.  Bohdin waited for us in a good spot patiently.  He had been carrying the food so he ate a snack while waiting.  I think he has learned his lesson about going to far ahead.  He was very glad he was the one carrying the food and said he wanted to continue doing that. 



Somehow the girls from across the street came to our house.  Nyla asked if she could go over there ane we reluctantly agreed but they came over to our house instead.  I saw them with Cora's stuffed animal and Nyla came inside to mention something about giving it to them.  I told Nyla she was not allowed to give away Cora's present.  Nyla rectified the situation but they came in and took some balloons instead.  I don't know if there was much playing going on because Nyla seemed to be be spending a lot of time with Buddy and I telling us random stuff.  At one point Bohdin came up upset and told us they had taken some Playmobil toys.  When Bohdin saw them walking off with it he said he asked them if they were taking it and they apparently said yes.  Buddy went over and rescued the toys.  The girls are not coming over again.  I had a talk with Nyla and compared their behavior with the Lego League kids.  I hope she will learn from this experience. 

Pillow

We dropped off Bohdin's state fair entry today.  It took many many hours over many weeks.  Part of the problem was that the pillow he entered was not his first one.  He did some quilt blocks that didn't make the cut.  Then he designed a cool maze pillow but after making several of the rows I told him he needed to pick something easier.  It was incredibly complex, time consuming, and beyond his skill level.  The next one was supposed to have a quilted top but his quilting was sloppy so he decided to start over rather than ripping out the bad stitching.  He started the final pillow last week (or was it this week?) and it has been a big push.  Getting him to finish the pillow is one of the hardest things I've ever done.  By the time he as sewing the last few pieces together he looked so experienced at the sewing machine.  He said the easiest part was making the buttonholes because the sewing machine did all of the work.  He was proudest of sewing the buttons on the back by hand.  We're all really proud of him.  Cora loves the pillow and had a hard time letting it go so it would be entered.  Nyla said tonight that she missed it.










The front:


The back:





Every time I get the camera out Cora wants me to take a picture of her.  That's the reason for all of the Cora pictures on this post.





When Bohdin was stuffing his pillow insert he found Dancing Princess hidden inside.  She has been missing for a really long time.  Nyla was quite excited since it is one of her Playmobil kids.







This is one of Bohdin's attempts.  I like it and eventually I would like to see him finish it.

On Wednesday we had a get together with the old Lego League team.  The team will be slightly different this year since two of the members are now to old.  A new girl will join the team starting in two weeks.  I volunteered our house for the meetings because I thought it would be a good incentive to get things done around here.  I guess Bohdin is not the only one around here who struggles to finish projects.  It has worked so far as the house was cleaner than unusual and Buddy did get a few things done.  Bohdin and Nyla had to work really hard to clean up their Playmobil mess.  They haven't done a massive cleanup in months.  When everybody came over they went straight for the Playmobil and started to scatter stuff everywhere.  Bohdin was horrified.  He couldn't play because he was so worried about having to clean up the mess.  I told the other two moms that the kids would have to help clean up.  Once Bohdin heard that he was able to have fun.  Playing Playmobil with a girl is a lot different than playing with a boy and Bohdin loved it.  They were shooting cannons at each other and doing a bunch of boy stuff.  Nyla wants him to do fairies, princesses, and kids.  Nyla didn't have fun until later because she just wanted to build a pillow and couch house.  The kids are really great and indulged her. I think everybody had fun.

Buddy has more vacation time that he has to use so we'll be going to Disney World next month.  In preparation I thought it would be good for the kids to get used to walking in the morning.  The past three days we've gone the long way to the playground.  I'm not sure about the distance but it takes us about 30 minutes.  Bohdin is the fastest and Cora is the slowest.  She has to run a lot to keep up.  The outdoor time has been nice especially since the humidity has been lower.

Not Chicken. Chicken!

Bohdin had been working really hard on his state fair entry and I thought I would take a picture but Cora insisted that I just take pictures of her.  I never did get a photo of Bohdin working or his project.  He had been spending a lot of time on it but stopped Friday at noon and hasn't even looked at it since.  It is due this weekend so he better get moving again.



We have so much wildlife visit our yard.  I've seen deer, chipmunks, rabbits, squirrels, ducks, groundhogs, a possum once, and I think we've had a raccoon visit.  Every once in a while we get a visit from geese and this week it was our turn.  They were hoping to find something good in the garden but they were way too late because everybody else has already had a turn.  The kids took some bread out to them and had a lot of fun with it.  There were maybe twenty total.  They didn't stay too long before moving on to the next yard.






Last Sunday my dad stopped by really briefly as he was driving through.  It was right before bedtime and he left way before we woke up so we saw him for less than an hour.  Nevertheless, it was nice to see him.  We hadn't seen him in nearly two years.  I should have brought the camera out but I didn't.

Saturday we attended the street rod show along with G-'s family for his birthday.  The birthday boy loves cars but we don't too much.  It was a fine experience but none of us enjoy cars enough to do it again.  Nyla listed her favorite parts as the escalator, shuttle, and donuts.  Bohdin liked the escalator and donuts as well.  Bohdin really wanted to go up the escalator to see what was on the second floor.  There was another escalator and pretty much nothing else.  All of the kids loved the escalator and we spent several minutes there as they rode up and down.

They were closing up as we were walking to our car and one of the vendors gave us some chicken that they were about to throw out.  We ate it as we walked back to the car.  Cora stayed at home with Buddy but we now went to pick her up before heading out to the birthday party.  On the way to the party, Bohdin told Cora that we had brought chicken home.  Cora screamed in delight.  She loves all birds including chickens.  Bohdin realized that she was thinking a live bird and not chicken meat so said  "Not chicken.  CHICKEN!"   Cora screamed again.  They repeated this numerous times.  I know Cora was just playing it up.  It's her way and it was really funny.  She has a fun sense of humor.






The kids enjoyed the birthday party at the park and had fun playing.  Cora wanted to see a baby that was there because she loves seeing babies.  The baby was nine days older than her.  They played together for a few minutes.  Cora did relatively well.  She is a bit of a risk taker and I only noticed one time that she was climbing something that I was not ready for her to climb.

Several weeks ago when we were driving back from Wisconsin, Nyla pointed out that Cora just needs one more tooth in the middle and she will have them all.  Cora has a very large gap between her top two teeth and I can no longer look at it without thinking of Nyla's comment.

The kids had their last swim lesson on Thursday.  They've made a lot of progress since beginning.  I was hoping that they would continue but I was not allowed to sign up for more lessons because they were full.  I don't understand their system but there is nothing more I can do.  Talking to them got me nowhere.  We may try again in October or something.  I had already arranged to continue the lessons with the swim teacher so I may go tomorrow so we can say goodbye and thank you.  She hadn't expected there would be a conflict either so we parted by saying see you next week. I'm also curious if somebody will be taking our time slot because I seriously doubt it.