Daddy's Home!
Obviously, the entourage and Daddy and I are all thrilled to have him home, even if it's just for a few weeks. The entourage wore their TEAM DADDY t-shirts to pick him up at the airport, and he was greeted by a very energetic welcoming committee. The excess energy continued to expend itself in baggage claim, which garnered lots of smiles from the other travelers (imagine the entourage shrieking and giggling, running circles around Daddy and I). We've been fortunate that he's only had to work mornings, so we've all gotten in lots of Daddy time. According to her plan, Bug spent all of Sunday's worship service snuggled on his lap, and we were all excited to introduce Daddy to our new church. The girls were also eagerly anticipating roughhousing with Daddy upon his return, and this week has included a lot of wrestling and chasing. They got their weekly Daddy date, and happily returned to the usual playground to show off any skills acquired in his absense (Goose in particular is more nimble than when he left). We also made it to the neighborhood pool, where Monkey and Bug were happy to show off their ability to "swim all by themselves!" (with floaties of course). With Daddy present though, they were brave enough to venture into the pool with him without floaties, so progress is being made. We also discovered that Goose's old baby floaty is buoyant enough to keep even Daddy afloat. While Goose herself refused to get in it, Monkey and Bug had a blast--especially when they discovered they were capable of pushing Daddy off!

Goose and Daddy getting in some snuggle time

Riding the bumpy car again!

Birthday Party
In the afternoon before we picked up Daddy, we went to our friend N's birthday party. It was a nice low-key affair (a tray of fingerfoods, a homemade cake, a couple of balloons, and lots of time to play in the backyard). The best part though is that they got to witness someone turning four. Turning four is a really big deal for a preschooler. Monkey and Bug occasionally come up with things they just know they'll be able to do when they're four. (N's mom and I were discussing that we think it's because this is the first birthday at which they're actually aware of the concept of getting older.) Monkey and Bug marvelled that N was four, but he still looked three. I think they expected him to turn into a grown up when he blew out the candles. Their own birthday might have been a disappointment if they hadn't had the opportunity to celebrate this milestone with N first.

Finally!
Goose finally figured how to say her sisters' names! One comes out easier than the other, so they both get called that on occassion, but she's getting it straightened out. And, of course, they are still collectively "my sissies" more than anything else.

Library Day
It was a slightly smaller, quieter crowd at the library this week, which was a relief for everyone. The theme this week was fireflies, and all three girls could do the craft this time.

Construction paper with holes cut out + yellow tissue paper squares + chalk = Fireflies!

After the formal storytime we had our own reading session in a corner of the children's section. An almost 3-year-old boy, Q, couldn't resist the coziness and plopped himself into my lap after I finished a book, asking that I read his baseball book next. I obliged with no objections from the entourage, and he picked our next several choices. Everyone's favorite was a book he found about sharks. Monkey and Bug excitedly told him about the shark teeth bracelets Daddy brought them from his trip, and Q was full of tales of the man-eating shark that lives in his bathtub. Goose made friends with Q's little brother, and they had a grand time pulling out most of the books from the toddler bins. When it was time to go, all the siblings pitched in to help clean up. We came home with these books this week:
Mouse Paint
Are You Ready to Play Outside?
Mother Goose
Leo the Late Bloomer
The Bippolo Seed and Other Stories (Dr. Seuss stories published posthumously)

Really Big Girl Beds
Another bit of excitement this week was preparing for the coming of bunk beds for Monkey and Bug! We don't have the actual beds yet, but the entourage came with us to pick out new mattresses, comforters, and sheets. They loved hiding underneath the newly opened sheets and comforters with Daddy and popping out to surprise me. They are so excited! At some point I overheard Bug explaining to Monkey that they get new bunk beds because they are almost four and, therefore, almost grown ups.

Braids
The other milestone reached this week is that Monkey and Bug finally agreed to let me braid their hair and keep the braids in longer than 30 seconds! Monkey is particularly a fan of this look and has requested them several days. I am also a fan of this look since it keeps her beautiful long hair from getting completely unruly. (No photo yet available. For whatever reason they strongly object to photos of their pretty braids right now.)

Number Concepts
Monkey and Bug are slowly increasing their understanding of numbers. They've been practicing counting objects a lot and are getting much better at establishing a consistent one-to-one ratio (they no longer skip objects or double count them). Mostly they only count up to 12 since that's the number they can consistently and accurately count to. I noticed this week, too, that their idea of the almost inconceivable big number is growing. For the longest time they used the number 5 the way most people use the term "bazillion." That number slowly grew to 7, then to 12, but this week Monkey has been throwing the number 60 around. She can't count to it, but she knows it's out there and that it is indeed a big number.

Keeping It Low Key
Monkey and Bug have been wanting to just stay home lately, so I'm afraid my attempts to keep us (ok, maybe mostly me) busy and distracted in Daddy's absense may have been running them into the ground. Goose seems unfazed by all the activities and asks for playdates with LA every single day. For Monkey's and Bug's well-being we kept it low key this week, and I actually turned down three additional playdate opportunities. The entourage spent lots of time reading books, playing out ever more complicated storylines with their toys, and pulling out the games.

Reading
We finished Hugo Cabret, which they loved! They have informed me that we need an automaton, but I'm hoping they'll settle for wind up toys. This week the entourage and I visited a fantastic, local used bookstore and cheerfully discovered that they have a large Illustrated Classics collection. This time we came home with The Jungle Book, The Wizard of Oz, and Peter Pan. We're several chapters into The Jungle Book, and Monkey and Bug are constantly peeking ahead to see if they can figure out what happens to Mowgli.

Math
Monkey and Bug continue to be very interested in addition, and Bug in particular has been figuring out addition on her fingers. She's been running me through drills like "If I have 4 fingers up on this hand, and 5 fingers up on the other hand, how many is it?" Occasionally I turn the tables and make her count them out. She's also been able to figure out (at least up to 5) problems like this: If she needs 4 of something and she already has 2, how many more does she need to get? Monkey is always paying attention but she doesn't usually come up with her own questions.

Bloodwork
I had to go to the lab for routine bloodwork and as usual had the entourage in tow. We discussed beforehand what would happen, which led of course to lots of questions: What does blood do? Why does the doctor need to check it? Will they take all of it? What would happen if they did? Will they throw it away when they're done? They also wanted to know what kind of doctor was going to take my blood, so, yes, my three years old are now familiar with the term "phlebotomist." They made me say several times, so they would remember. The nurse was very impressed that they were simply curious about the process, not freaking out like most kids who see their mom get stuck with a needle.

Bible Verse: Philippians 4:13
We've started learning our third Bible verse: "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength" (Philippians 4:13). I've put the cards from our previous verses in a photo album on the bookshelf, and Monkey and Bug like to pull it out occasionally to practice singing them. I can't remember if I've mentioned it, but we mostly sing their verses. They don't like repeating after me, but they love to sing, and so far I've managed to remember/make up tunes for each of our verses.

Library Day
We missed most of storytime this week in favor of a Skype date with Daddy! Much more exciting. The theme this week was frogs, and we got there in time to do the craft (paper plate frog) and watch an actual frog the storytime lady brought in a fish bowl. There were so many kids there this week that it was too loud to just sit and read books, but the girls brought home quite a stack instead:
Petunia Goes Wild
Should I Share My Ice Cream?
Autumn: An Alphabet Acrostic
Daisy and the Beastie
Olvina Flies
It Chanced to Rain
A Color of His Own
Alexander and the Wind up Mouse
Petunia's Christmas

Field Trip!

I decided to venture out with the entourage on our first field trip with the homeschool group we're part of. We went to the Forest Ranger station, and the fire fighters across the street brought their fire truck and gear over to show us too. The entourage loved seeing the vehicles. The rangers had bulldozers, four and six wheelers, and massive pick ups with hoses mounted in the back. The fire fighters of course had the big red fire engine with all the compartments on the side, which they opened to show us all the hoses, axes, first aid supplies, etc. One of the fire fighters also put on his full gear to show the kids what everything was and so they could see what he would look like if he ever had to rescue them.

(L) Goose sitting in the ranger's six wheeler with some friends
(R) The entourage watching the fire fighter put on his gear

Of course, the entourage was among the youngest in the crowd, and the rangers and fire fighters spent a good bit of time talking at the level of the older kids, some of whom wanted to know about things like thermal imaging and how the air tanks worked. Goose was quite happy wandering among the big kids, pointing at the various vehicles ("Truck! Truck!") and bringing me rocks she found in the parking lot, but Monkey and Bug were ready to go home early. My hope is that they're saving up their energy for the excitment that awaits us tomorrow:

Daddy's Coming Home!!!

How it Happens
Inevitably the best homeschooling moments are not the ones I plan, but the ones that just fall into place. Monday morning was a perfect example. After our Monday chores of getting bathrooms cleaned (yes, the entourage helps with this; even Goose contributes to scrubbing the tub now), I wanted some fresh air and the entourage wanted a snack. Despite the pouring rain, I solved both our problems by popping a large bowl of popcorn and heading to the front porch to snack and watch the rain. There the conversations began:

• Why does God send rain? So the plants' roots cans suck up the water. When we finally had a sunny day later in the week and weeded the garden, Zoe pulled one up and exclaimed, "Look! That's the part that sucks up water!" 
• Where does rain come from? When the clouds get too full of water, it falls out.
• What things will keep you dry in the rain? Rainboots, raincoats, umbrellas, . . .
• What color is rain? Hmm...
• What sound does it make? "Dibble dibble dopp dopp dopp" (credit to Dr. Seuss)
• What shape are raindrops? To answer this one I grabbed a sheet of construction paper and we caught a bunch of raindrops to see their splatters.
• How many raindrops are there? "Too many!" This last one reminded me of our rhyming counting book, Raindrop Plop, which I retrieved from the shelf inside and we had a front porch storytime. During this reading we noticed details like the worms crawling out of the ground (a few days earlier we had been on a walk and noticed the dead worms who didn't make it back to the dirt, and had a brief preschool-level discussion about death). Of course, reading a counting book inspired them to start counting other things (bushes, trees, cars, etc.).

By my accounting this conversation covered theology, science, life skills, math, and language arts. Eventually we ran out of popcorn and got tired of sitting on the concrete (I see a front porch bench purchase in our future), so we headed inside to find other ways to amuse ourselves. 

Of course, that wasn't the only happenstance learning opportunity of the week. The other one that really stands out occurred later in the week when the entourage had sardines for lunch (Thanks, Granddad. Monkey and Bug have been requesting "little fishes like we ate with Granddad" for weeks and I finally gave in.) Bug's question about whether fish have bones inspired me to pull out the little spines for inspection. Monkey wanted to touch them; Bug just wanted to look. I showed them how to feel each other's spines too, which they thought was pretty cool. They also discussed what parts of the fish were missing (heads, tails, etc.).

Best Buddies
Well, the buddy isn't new (LA from next door), but Goose's recognition of her as someone special certainly is. She can even say an approximation of LA's name, which is more than she does for Monkey and Bug whom she refers to collectively as "my sissies." On our mornig spent outside, Goose insistently repeated LA's name until I went with her so she could gleefully ring the bell and invite LA to play. "Come, [LA]!" The two of them spent a long time chasing each other around with baby doll strollers, while Monkey and Bug retreated inside to play a game that was easier without Goose around. Our visit to the neighborhood pool with Miss N and LA at the end of the week was met with equal enthusiasm by Goose. She was being very hesitant about the pool (just splashing her toes in) until LA appeared, and suddenly she was jumping in with gusto and wanting to "shwim! shwim!" Frequently pausing to yell for LA and play with her too. Miss N was even kind enough to hold both of them in the pool for awhile, which thrilled them and gave me a chance to play more with Monkey and Bug. I even got them to jump too.

Chapter Books
I have fond memories of my parents reading aloud from the Chronicles of Narnia when I was a kid, and I've always thought I'd love for that to be something the entourage and I did too. I actually tried picking up the Narnia books to read to them several months ago. I figured it was early but worth a shot. True to suspicions they weren't into it, and I figured someday I'd try again. Well, we didn't start with Narnia, but we are now reading a chapter book together. I recently read The Invention of Hugo Cabret and during quiet time one afternoon this week Bug found the book. As soon as quiet time was done she came bounding down the stairs demanding that I read it too her. Jos took a peek at the book and was equally enthusiastic. Over the course of the afternoon/evening we got through 200 pages, and they were disappointed when I insisted we quit for the night and go to bed. Based on the conversations I've heard while they flip through the book on their own, I think they really are following at least the basics of the plot. Even Goose has spent a good bit of time snuggled on the couch with us listening and looking at the pictures. Daddy and I discussed that we need to acquire some illustrated classics to jump into next.

Superheroes
The other books Monkey and Bug discovered this week were Daddy's Marvel and DC Comics encyclopedias. They spent a long time one day spread out on the floor with these massive, colorful books admiring the characters' features and speculating about who were bad guys and good guys and who would win various match ups. I decided to follow up on their interest by introducing them to actual storylines. I opted to go retro (simple graphics and storylines, minimal violence, clear black-and-white morals, and plenty of melodrama to get into) and discovered to everyone's delight that Netflix has the original 1940s episodes of Superman available for streaming. Watching the entourage watch Superman is highly entertaining to say the least. They wait with great anticipation ("Where's Superman? Where's Superman?"), and all three of them cheer when Lois Lane gets rescued and the bad guy goes to jail at the end of every episode. For some reason they know who Spiderman is and desperately wanted to watch a TV about him. As expected, even the original 1960s versions proved too angsty and complex for the preschool set. For the time being, we'll stick with the man who "fights for truth, justice, and the American way."

Library Day
Library day didn't actually involve much library this time. This week the library was sponsoring a magic show instead of storytime. The girls were very interested for the first 20 minutes or so  (especially the part where he pulled a live boa constrictor from a previously empty box). But the library was absolutely packed with kids, whom the magician had yelling various magic words and helping him count and cheer, and Monkey and Bug decided they had had quite enough of the crowd and the noise and informed me they were ready to go (Goose was completely unfazed). We made as hasty an exit as possible without stepping on any other children and went home for lunch. Before the show we had managed to pick out three books:
Knuffle Bunny Too
Jabber and Dot and the Mystery of the Missing Stream
How Can You Dance?
Also before the show, we turned in our records for the summer reading program and each girl got to pick a book to keep in addition to a handful of good coupons. (That evening we spent their first coupons and got a free dinner at Taco Bell. They were very excited about paying their own way.) The books they picked were:
Rosie's Walk
Charlie Needs a Cloak
Mudge Takes a Bath

Goodbye Aunt E
Aunt E came for one last visit with me and the entourage before departing to Japan for two years, and we all loved every moment! E even gave me some "me time" and therefore had no competition for the entourage's attention for awhile. It was nice for all of us to have an extra grown up around for swimming lessons, haircuts, shopping, and eating at a real restaurant. Right before she left, the girls insisted she read them their pre-naptime stories and she showed them on our big map where she'll be moving. That night after she left we ate ramen soup and practiced with chopsticks and discussed that it was food from Japan and that Aunt E was probably going to get really good at using chopsticks.

Swimming
Swimming lessons continued this week and ended on Thursday. Monkey and Bug continued to make progress and even let their teacher dunk them without tears! (Goose meanwhile discovered the joys of running around the big reception desk in the middle of the lobby.) We also had three visits to the pool outside of classes. On Monday Aunt E was with us, so we all donned bathingsuits and went straight to our neighborhood pool from swimming lessons. Monkey and Bug took to the water immediately. The grabbed their fish floaties and happily kicked around the pool quite independently despite the fact that it wasn't terribly hot outside and it even started raining. Bug even jumped in the pool with out someone to catch her! Granted, I don't think she expected to go entirely underwater, and she did freak out a bit, but she still wanted to get back in the pool. This pool visit didn't go quite so well for Goose, but I did eventually have her splashing her feet in the pool. Mostly, she just wanted to wrap up in her towel and lounge poolside. Based on our next two pool visits though, this reaction was strictly due to water temperature. She is a little water baby! We went to our friend's apartment complex that has a kiddie pool section (6 inches of water). Goose had a blast splashing around with our friends, and it didn't take much for me to convince her to go swimming with me. She loves jumping in and is completely unfazed by getting facefulls of water every time. I even dunked her a couple of times without her getting upset. Since she has a bathing suit with the floaties built in, I can just hold her hands and let her float, which she thinks is awesome. Since Goose loves the pool, and Monkey and Bug kept up their independence (while still staying pretty close and following all the rules). I think I may even be brave enough to take on the neighborhood pool without another grown up.

Library Day
The summer program continues. The entourage has long since finished the requisite 35 books read to them, but we keep forgetting to take the record of it in to get their prizes. The theme for this week's storytime was elephants, and the craft was a construction paper elephant head with a party blower stuck through for his truck. The elephant heads didn't keep their attention for long, but the party blowers are still getting regular use.

The girls recruited Aunt E to read them books after storytime, so I got to look for books and chat with a friend. We came home with these books:
Too Many Kangaroo Things to Do
Berenstein Bear's Four Seasons
I Will Surprise My Friend
Dinosaurs Dance
The Extraordinary Egg
The Sneetches and Other Stories
While not a library book, we've been reading quite a bit from A Treasury of Fairy Tales, a collection of a couple dozen classic tales wonderfully illustrated. It was a bargain purchase from a consignment store that is going to get lots of use!

Playdate
We had playdate with N and G again this week, but this time we went to their house. Grown ups and kids alike had a fabulous time. The entourage was very excited about N and G's extensive toy train collection. They get along so well, they even know when to go their separate ways and leave each other alone for a bit. At one point the big kids got very quiet and Miss K and I looked to find the three of them had retreated to separate corners of the study, playing with Starfall.com (N), worksheets and crayons (Bug), and a magnadoodle (Monkey). The real excitment of the playdate (not entirely positive) was being enthusiastically greeted at the door by their Newfoundland mix. He didn't jump up or lick them--he was just there and HUGE. The entourage was anxious/upset at first, but I stepped up to pet/distract the dog and the kids and dogs (there was a smaller one at his heels) quickly settled into cheerfully ignoring each other. Except Goose--it didn't take her too long to go from anxious to fascinated, and she started following the dogs around. I'm thrilled the entourage will finally have a chance to really get to know some very large and very well behaved dogs in a friendly environment.

Building
We followed instructions to build a motorcycle with parts from their workbench this week. We don't do this often, but when we do I'm always reminded of what great projects these are. The girls work on colors, shapes, counting, following directions, using the right tool for the job, and practicing fine motor skills and end up with a cool toy to play with and then disassemble. They discovered they had a number of stuffed buddies who were about the right size to ride this.

This is our collection of nature treasures from our walk
around the neighborhood on Saturday.

Swimming Lessons
Monkey and Bug started their first session of regular (not Mommy & Me) swimming lessons this week. I'd been really talking it up and we visited the pool (to tour and watch, not to play) where they take place last Saturday, so they'd at least be familiar with the space. Despite excitment leading up to it, Day 1 did not go well (cue Monkey's total meltdown poolside when the teacher arrived). They had barely gotten their toes wet as they huddled together about as far from the teacher as she would let them get. I've been very impressed by the lifeguard staff who would sit to talk with the girls to help them warm up to the idea and do things like bring them security objects--diving rings, floaty noodles, and rubber ducks--to play with. One lifeguard even jumped in to help with the reluctant swimmers (one little boy in addition to my girls). By the end of Day 4, they let the teacher tie a floaty around them and help them kick around the pool! Bug proudly informed me that she even got her hair wet. I'm excited about what improvements next weeks lessons will bring, and how they'll do in our neighborhood pool.

So Busy!
In addition to swimming lessons, this has been an extremely busy week. Here's the day-by-day rundown:

Sunday: We went to Sunday school and worship as usual at our new church. The entourage and I continue to enjoy it, and we're excited about bringing Daddy with us when he comes home. Monkey and Bug even received compliments about their good behavior during "big church," where they sit with me for 15 or 20 minutes before leaving for children's church. That night we were invited to a cookout with members of a Sunday school class I visited that day. We all had a great time getting to know some new friends.

Monday: After their first swimming lesson they asked if we could go to the library to "just chill and read books." We had a lovely, quiet time sitting at one of the little tables reading books that Goose brought us. I wrote down what we read, and we almost finished our summer reading program assignment of 35 books! That evening we headed to the Y, so I could attend a pilates class, and they all got to play in their classes.

Tuesday: We followed up swimming with another trip to the Y. Goose was excited, because on Tuesday our neighbors LA and H are in her class while Miss N and Miss J come to spin class with me. Monkey and Bug are a little jealous, but they're too old to play in the toddler class. That afternoon the girls and I celebrate Daddy's and my wedding anniversary by baking chocolate chip cookies. (That morning I showed the the card and present that Daddy hid for me before he left and told them how he sent me a note to tell me where to find it. This just a few days after he set up an Edible Arrangement to be delivered as a belated Mother's Day gift [we were out of town on the day].These girls are going to have very high expectations for their future husbands!) That evening we joined the neighborhood crew (four families this time) for a bounce house playdate at LA's house.

Wednesday: After swimming, we went to our little branch library for the first summer storytime (we skip the school year storytimes in favor of the homeschool playgroup which is on summer break now). We got to see lots of familiar faces, including the new friends that we made at the library party on Saturday, and we came home with these books:
Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin!
Jabuti (South American folk tale)
ABC
Miss Bindergarten Plans a Circus with Kindergarten
Let's Say Hi to Friends Who Fly

Thursday: Our new friends (Miss K and her boys, N (3 years) and G (20 mos.) came over for a playdate after swimming. I think all the busyness of the week was getting to Bug; she informed me before they arrived that she didn't want to play with friends and she didn't think she could handle sharing. I was very proud of her for being self-aware enough to realize that, and she found fun things to do while they were here anyway (sitting in my lap while Miss K and I chatted, retreating to the landing of the stairs with her bear where she could still watch everybody, and making a bracelet at the kitchen table away from the other kids). Monkey and N hit it off immediately. Within 10 minutes of walking through the door they were animatedly discussing how best to fight off monsters with their light sabers, and Monkey was cheerfully showing off her trucks and showing him the best ways to get to the top of the climb-and-slide. Miss K and I were thrilled to discover that we really are running our households and raising our kids in remarkably similar ways. Since they're only a few minutes away, I think we'll be seeing a lot of them! That evening the girls said they wanted to go somewhere, so I packed up our dinner and we headed to a new playground for a picnic. The girls didn't eat a whole lot, but that playground is really cool! Goose's new favorite word is now "Climb!" Despite the late hour, it was still really hot outside, so we decided to stop and splurge for ice cream for their bedtime snack.

These were not the most exciting parts of the playground,
but these were definitely the best photos I managed to get. These girls are fast!

Friday: No swimming lessons today, so we just had our usual trip to the Y, followed by grocery shopping. Goose got to sit in the car part of the cart at the front for the first time. She handled it beautifully. When we got home we pulled in at the same time as Miss N and LA along with some friends of theirs and they invited us for a bounce house playdate. Miss N and I pooled our leftovers to feed everybody and the kids had a great time.

Saturday: I decided to try something new today and stay home all day! I informed the girls of "the plan," and they were thrilled. They spent most of the day playing relatively quietly. Our only real excitement was going for a walk in the neighborhood and finding things to start our "collection." We filled a tupperware container with pinecones, magnolia leaves, a sparkly rock, a smooth piece of wood, and several dandelions. At home I set the girls up with their magnifying glass and handheld microscope, and spent the next 20 minutes or so listening to a chorus of "whoa!" "cool!" etc.

Pretend Play
Monkey and Bug's pretend play continues to get more complex. It involves actual storylines now (usually a cycle of bad guys attacking someone who is then rescued only to be attacked again). The really new piece is how they've incorporated external thing into their play. When Goose started destroying the series of roads, tunnels, and bridges they built, instead of getting upset, they simply declared her the "bad guy" and started rebuilding and coming up with defensive measures. Saturday morning when I turned on our iTunes Instrumental library to listen to while we worked/played, they started taking their cues from the music as to what should happen next, and even asked me replay songs that had obvious cycles of ominous then triumphant sounding sections.

However, my favorite pretend play moments of the week were the following: Bug requested that I make her a construction paper crown. Initially I wondered if this was the start of what I hear is the inevitable preschool girl obsession with princesses. Far from it! She carefully placed the crown on her head, stood on the couch, raised her arms, and declared, "I AM THE QUEEN OF EVERYTHING!" Who needs to be a frilly princess when you can have cosmic powers, right? (A few days later she walked into the room wearing the crown, and I asked her an unrelated question. She answered me, then politely requested that I address her "Queen of All." Well, of course, your majesty.) Monkey meanwhile was pretending to be a hunter. She gathered up a bunch of empty paper towel rolls which she explained was her gun collection and went off in search of animals. I don't think she ever "shot" anything, but she invited the Queen of Everything to join her, and they had a grand time.

The Queen at her computer.
Monkey requested a pink crown, but it didn't last long after this picture was taken.
She requires far more durable accessories.

Math Games
Monkey and Bug invented a couple of new math games to entertain themselves. The first involves asking me at random times to count up to a certain number that they name. I have agreed to count up to anything below 20, and they've been greatly impressed by my skills at getting all the teens in the right order (this may be the only time I ever impress anyone with my math skills so I'm enjoying it while I can). The second game involves adding up different groups of people on their fingers. For example: They say, "There are four of us girls. When Daddy comes home, how many people will we be?" We count them up. "Ok, if Daddy's home and we go to Nana and Papa Bear's house, then how many people will we be?" This continues with increasing complexity to include any friends and neighbors whose names they know. At some point we added up quite a list, and Bug exclaimed, "Wow, that would be a very exciting party!"

Hooray for Family!
I realized yesterday that I forgot to write a post last week. My weeks kind of ran together since we spent my usual writing day on the road to my folks house. Which, in fact, brings me to the theme of the past two weeks: Extended family visits!

Nana arrived Sunday, May 6, and gave me a long much-needed break about a month into Daddy's "big trip." I don't think I cooked a single meal in the three days she was here, I had another adult around the house to help and talk to, and I think I totalled about eight hours out of the house without the entourage! The girls had a grand time hanging out with Nana, playing, reading books, playing games, and of course shopping. The highlight of one outing was the entourage getting to play on the quarter-fed vehicles in the mall (and unlike Mommy, Nana actually has quarters!). Their favorite: a simple, simulated roller coaster ride. Monkey was the brave one who tried the moving vehicles first and showed Bug how much fun it was. The other highlight of the visit for the girls was that Nana arrived with new books and accompanying buddies for each girl: Ladybug Girl for Bug, Cheeky Monkey for Monkey, and Duck & Goose for Goose.

Nana drove away in time to give us a day or two to prepare to hit the road for our own "big trip" to Grandma and Granddad's house--Uncle N, Aunt E, and Aunt A were also home. (The entourage are great travellers, which is fantastic because I see lots of road trips in our long-term future. Car trip only toys, movies, and snacks kept them happily occupied.) We were there nearly a week and had a lovely time. We visited the zoo. Highlights included: a great merecat exhibit, a turkey who was really into our wagon (he followed us around all puffed up and showing off), a peacock showing off his tail, howler monkeys, goats (the girls actually touched them this time! I think that might be a first), and tigers who were being very cooperative and visible. We also spent some time in the neighboring science center to check out the dinosaur exhibit and kiddie section, which the girls loved. They were most into the animal- and grocery shopping-related pretend play. Other highlights of the trip included going to church with the family (where Grandma stayed in the nursery to be the helper teacher since the arrival of the entourage doubled the typical size of the preschool class), visiting the local butterfly house (lots of butterflies, caterpillars, and chysalises to watch and we even spotted the elusive resident turtle), visiting Grandad at work and getting to see the mural with all the animals, listening to Uncle N's school band play a few songs at the end-of-year concert (it was bedtime; Monkey and Bug were interested, but Goose had had enough), and last, but not least--in fact probably their favorite event--hiking the trails in Grandma and Granddad's woods. We got to walk through a "jungle" (pawpaw grove) to see a little waterfall in the creek, find Jesus bugs and salamanders farther downstream (Goose was particularly into turning over rocks to find critters), hike to the old swimming hole in the river, see two turtles (a very brave baby one and a larger bright orange one), and admire an impressive spider web or two. Later that afternoon Granddad also took the girls around to the birdhouses to see the baby birds. All three girls are getting braver about Grandma and Granddad's dog too. This visit they were playing fetch, chasing her around the yard, and even trying to give her commands. Of course, they also spent lots of time playing on the playset outside, playing with the Little People town, playing Aunt E's baby grand piano (all three of them at the same time frequently while singing at the top of their lungs), and playing with all the bigger toys in the basement (kitchen, playhouse, bouncy horse, etc.). And I loved that they got to do all these cool things with lots of extra adults around to help!

Top: Dancing in Aunt K's old costumes
Middle (L to R): Chillin' with the merecats at the zoo, feeding geese after our picnic, petting the goats
Bottom: fascinated by the goldfish pond in the butterfly house 

Mother's Day
Daddy may not have been on hand to organize things (he sent an email, and an ecard, and an Edible Arrangement), but the entourage still recognized the day--even if unintentially. For example, when I woke up that morning, I could hear Bug trying to keep Goose quiet and checking on Monkey. When she heard me stirring in the bathroom, she peeked her head in and whispered, "Did you get a few extra minutes, Mommy?" They made special cards for me in Sunday school, and that afternoon they picked wildflowers from Grandma and Granddad's backyard for me. Even Goose participated, though she failed to bring the stems with her--just the flowers clenched her tight little fist. Made me smile!

Emotional Maturity
In Daddy's absence, it's become obvious who has the emotional maturity to keep this household running smoothly, and it isn't always Mommy. Bug has proved herself a Godsend in helping me keep it together. The first occasion was a real calling out, and provided the incentive I needed to beg a neighbor's help in giving me a break. Imagine Bug, hands on hips, admonishing me sternly, "Mommy, we do not have meltdowns. We do not scream. Take deep breaths. You need to apologize to [Monkey]." Fortunately, Bug herself was behaving perfectly, and I did as told instead of lashing out at Bug--an entirely possible outcome. (This had to be the most humbling experience of motherhood so far.) Since then she's become an expert at noticing my "tells" and appearing at my elbow to whisper, "Mommy, you need to stay calm." Just the reminder I need to take a deep breath and dig for those extra reserves of patience. It has at least been an affirmation that all the things I'm trying to teach them about how to handle themselves are actually sinking in--even if I don't always succeed in following my own advice.

On a related note, Bug recently made known that she was tired of sitting in the middle carseat and having to do things like help Goose and distribute snacks. I told her that she and Monkey were welcome to trade carseats, but that they both had to agree to it--I wasn't going to force anybody to move. And that was the last thing I said on the matter. The two of them worked out a compromise: Bug would sit in the middle for short trips, and Monkey would sit in the middle for long trips when that position requires more responsibility. They have since successfully negotiated who sits where every time we get in the car without any referreeing from me! It's been a couple of weeks since they started this, and I am still a little in shock about how well they've handled it all on their own.

Library Party!
The entourage and I headed to the library today for the kick off of the summer reading program. It was a perfect sunny day for it. The librarians had sidewalk chalk and crafts to do, a free hot dog lunch, and of course picking up our summer reading packets and the usual checking out of books. We came home with:
The Doorbell Rang
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie
The Barn Party
George and Marth: Round and Round
Fiesta Babies
This Is the House that Jack Built
While the entourage was oblivious, my favorite part of the morning was striking up a conversation with a fellow Christian, military wife, and homeschool mom who has a 4 year old and an almost 2 year old, who just moved into a house maybe three minutes from us. I see playdates in our future!

Zoo Day
Beyond a doubt Monday was our favorite day this week. I decided to venture to the zoo with the just the entourage and I, and it was a huge success. The zoo was a lot less crowded this time, so the entourage actually got to see more animals and to see less of the backs of people's heads or knees. We got an earlier start this time around, so we also made it into the fish and reptile house--very popular! Some highlights of the day: getting face-to-face (through the glass) with a 6lb. bright blue pigeon (exciting because Pigeon is one of our favorite book characters), getting to see the zoo's two gorillas up close (they were napping right by the glass and we had the gorilla house to ourselves), watching a baby baboon wrestling and chasing with his parents, playing on the bronze animal sculptures scattered throughout the zoo, noting that the zoo had lots of billy goats with a bridge but no troll, and seeing lots of fish/sharks/rays like in Finding Nemo.


Enjoying the real animals



Enjoying pretend animals

Projects
At some point this week Bug requested that I come up with a project for her--something more complex than her usual throwing paint around. Here is what we came up with:

Cotton ball clouds + raindrops from hole-punched aluminum foil + a construction paper person with umbrella built from shapes (Bug told me what shapes to cut out and she took it from there).
They also wanted to do something with tissue paper, so we made butterflies (tissue paper strips + wooden clothespin).

Art in the Park
This Saturday the girls and I attended the annual arts festival at the park beside the "big library," and it proved a great low-stress way to take in the arts with the entourage. We started the morning by watching the county ballet company perform in the amphitheater (the girls didn't have to be still or quiet--particularly good since Bug asked completely appropriate questions throughout and Goose just wanted to run back and forth on the grass). Then we perused the artists booths. There were a number of kids arts and crafts activities available, but the entourage was more interested in seeing all the local artists, which suited me just fine (paintings, pottery, wood carving, etc.). We did stop to acquire some balloon creations from a local radio station, though (We came home with a purple dog and a pink sword. Anybody want to guess who requested what?) The big event at this festival is the chalk art contest. A Star Wars drawing done by a high school artist was definitely the entourage's favorite entry. The festival also designated a section of pavement for the preschoolers to have a chalk art free-for-all, which all three girls loved. And of course, we couldn't leave without playing on the playground for a bit.

Bible Verses
Monkey and Bug seem to have mastered their first verse, so I added a new one this week: Be kind to one another (Eph. 4:32). Bug was very excited when she discovered the new "special verse card" up on the fridge one morning and insisted we sit down, talk about it, and learn it immediately. They both enjoy going over the verses everydat before naptime, but in very different ways: Monkey wants to sit in my lap, snuggle up, and chant or sing them softly with me, while Bug is incredibly proud of the fact that she can stand up and say them all by herself. Goose just picks up on the happiness of her sisters and cheers from the sidelines. One of my favorite moments of the day.

Classical Music
I forgot to mention this last week, but I added a new CD to our rotation in the car. The girls and I have been enjoying Dvorak, particularly his Slavic Dances.

Pool Time
Our neighborhood pool isn't open  yet, but it is HOT. So the girls put on their bathingsuits and went swimming in the bathtubs and in the kiddie pool.

Library Day
Monkey and Bug requested that we go to the big library again this week. They were even ready to leave early, so I agreed (it's a bit farther away, and there's a playground we can visit before the library opens). We didn't actually stay in either location very long though. The playground was getting overrun with playdate group, and the girls decided they weren't up for that much competition for the slides. Then in the library Goose started getting tired and decided the best way to keep herself awake was to start pulling books off the shelf and throwing them. We cut that visit short, especially since she managed to nail Bug with one. We did, however, still come home with these books:
The Boy Who Cried Wolf
Alphabet City
What's Your Sound Hound the Hound?
Velveteen Rabbit (The girls declared that it didn't have enough pictures, so we may or may not make it through this one.)
Brownie and Pearl Step Out
Arbor Day

Sometimes you just need to pull every book off the shelf and read them all.

[This belated blog post brought to you by uncooperative photos. I had a couple more pics I wanted to share, but I finally gave up.]

Alice in Wonderland

A while back Nana gave the girls several Disney books, and the favorite hands down has been Alice in Wonderland. I ordered the actual movie from Netflix, and we had a pizza and movie night. All three girls were enthralled! Even Goose actually watched most of the movie. Partway through I had to give them a spoiler though. Bug was really concerned about how Alice was going to get home. She loved the idea that it was just a silly dream. We had a number of conversations afterwards in which the girls listed things in the movie that "don't usually, really happen." Since then, Alice and commpany have found their way our everyday lives. Perhaps the most amusing incident was Monkey racing across the house, waving her arms and yelling, "I'm late! I'm late!" before settling onto the potty. A couple of times I've found them dancing around their climb 'n slide singing "We're painting the roses red!" Bug pointed out that the Brown Bear, Brown Bear book has a purple cat just like the Cheshire cat ("only he doesn't have stripes, and he doesn't disappear"). Toward the end of this week we went to a McDonald's that featured a huge twisty slide. Monkey and Bug emerged from the bottom bursting with excitement: "We fell down, down, down, and our shirts bloomed out like Alice's dress!" They spent most of the time there "playing Alice" and going down the rabbit hole. For the evening's purposes they also decided that Goose was Dinah (Alice's kitten--it makes sense: they're both small, mostly nonverbal, and unable to follow Alice down the rabbit hole).

Finger Painting

We made finger paints this week (flour + water + food coloring). This was a brilliant idea I found online somewhere. Not only did the girls love making their own paints, but it's cheap, easy, and edible--that's the preschooler activity trifecta, folks!

Emerging Social Skills
My little introverts faced several socially challenging situations this week, and they handled them all gracefully (over the past couple of months interactions with new, if very friendly people, have resulted in total meltdowns.) We've been having lots of discussions lately about appropriate responses to new people: We do not fall to the ground and start screaming. It's nice to say hi and tell them our names if they ask--that's how we make friends. If they're not up for talking, they can hide behind my legs if I'm there, and simply walk away if I'm not. This week when we had this discussion before attending an event, Monkey noted that we could also remember our special verse (Ps. 56:3), and God would help us be brave. Talk about a proud Mommy moment! The first event was a birthday party--a rained-out pool party, which means about 50 people (mostly under the age of 3) crammed themselves into a little 3-bedroom apartment. Monkey and Bug managed to make their way out onto the relatively quiet balcony several times during the party. They didn't actually try to play with anyone, but we had not a single meltdown! Then Sunday we visited a new church. Not only were there no meltdowns, but they both introduced themselves properly to several new people. We attended another birthday party today (Saturday). This one was mostly people they knew, but Monkey informed me ahead of time that she didn't want to talk to or play with anyone. She stayed within arm's reach for a long while; we had a few iffy moments, but she kept her cool, and dashed off to play outside as soon as her best buddy LA arrived.

Tent

When the girl's beach tent kept blowing over in the backyard,
we pulled out a big sheet and made the climbing dome into a tent.

For-the-Car Toys
Since Daddy's been gone, I've been working on a collection of toys that the girls can only play with in the car. We have road trips planned for this summer, and the church we're looking at attending is a bit farther away. I'm hoping it'll save me having to listen to the whining, and make it for happier car rides for them too. I bought magnadoodles, which have already been keeping them entertained on shorter trips. I also bought 3 small cookie sheets, which are perfect for magnet-based play, in this case puzzle cards (line up two or three to build words and/or form pictures) and a set of roads and tiny cars. I have more magnet activities in mind, but this is what I've gotten done so far. I also punched holes in several sets of flashcards and strung them on binder rings for the girls to look at.

Library Day
The girls asked to go to "big library" this week, and we had lots of fun--especially since storytime is on a hiatus. There were only a few kids, so the girls could have a little more freedom and no competition for the favorite toys (puppets and oversized checkers). They even made friends with another three-year-old roaming the children's section (more positive social interactions!) She sat down with them at the checkers table and Monkey and Bug cheerfully handed her a stack of checkers, so she could build too. They don't really get competition yet, so I haven't bothered attempting to explain the game. We came home with these books:
Pigeon Wants a Puppy
To Market Street (alphabet book with really neat illustrations--people made out of objects beginning with each letter)
1 is One
Bartholomew and the Oobleck
King Bidgood's in the Bathtub! (Interesting, both this and the previous book are about kings behaving badly and the page boys who solve the problem. Monkey and Bug distinguish between books by referring to the "naked king" and the "king with clothes.")
Elsie's Bird
Prehistoric Life Size (full of life size illustrations of dinosaurs--or parts of them. We've watched some episodes of dinosaur train lately, so the girls thought this book was awesome.)

Moments:

• A fire truck came down our street! No emergency, so I'm not sure why they were there, but the driver was kind enough to turn on his lights when he spotted three excited preschoolers.
• Bug "teaching" me colors when I joined her in doing coloring sheets (I'm colorblind--all crayons look brown to me once the papers come off, and I needed her help finding colors.)
• Monkey and Bug successfully cooking a sidedish for dinner tonight. They made roasted asparagus (spread out asparagus, "paint" on the olive oil, sprinkle on the seasonings). All I had to do was put them in the oven, and they disappeared quick once they came out!

Bye, Daddy
We took Daddy to the airport on Sunday for his "great big trip." And we all miss him already! Fortunately,Daddy had the foresight to create some "Daddy TVs" for the entourage to watch, and I think that held off some of the early meltdowns. Using a webcam, he recorded himself reading some of their favorite books aloud, and we have watched at least one of these everyday. I also made a couple of videos of Daddy and the girls rough housing (like the one posted last week). Monkey had an "I miss Daddy" moment today that involved really wanting to wrestle with him (Mommy wasn't good enough--no surprise). We broke out those videos and she loved them! She laughed hysterically every time she saw herself "squish" Daddy. Unfortunately, it kind of backfired with Bug; she ended up curled up on the floor crying that she wanted to really rough house with Daddy. We snuggled for awhile, then I distracted her with the possibility of helping me cook dinner.

Adventures!
We went for lots of walks this week--often two a day! With the exception of Wednesday, the weather has been gorgeous, and the entourage loves nothing better than pulling out the trikes and stroller and going for a long walk in the neighborhood. One day the girls declared that we were going on an adventure. This seemed to mean that we would stop frequently to pay attention to things like wild flowers, prints and tracks on driveways, broken sidewalks, spilled birdseed, jet skis, and other people's chalk art. Monkey and Bug insisted we take pictures of all of it, so here is a photo collage of one of our walks:

Bible Verse
One of the things I value most from my own education is the numerous Bible verses I was forced to memorize and still remember. I've been thinking about when to get that started for the entourage, and this week I decided to give it a try. Our first verse (posted on a card on the fridge) is Psalm 56:3: "When I am afraid, I will trust in you." It seemed appropriate given that last time Daddy was gone for this long their fears of everything escalated. We sat down, read the verse from the Bible, talked about what it meant, and repeated it several times (we've repeated several times everyday). So far it's going well, and the girls are definitely learning it, although they can't say it by themselves yet. It helped that one of the books they picked out from the library this week dealt with being afraid, and they noted that Piglet should have "trusted in God, so he wouldn't be scared."

Projects
Once again it was all freeform art this week, and mostly the girls decided to paint with a few stickers thrown in for good measure. Previously the girls have always just picked one color each, but it suddenly occurred to them this week that they could paint with more than one color per painting. A new era in the entourage's artwork has begun! Of course, Goose insisted on getting in on the action. She even figured out the logistics of using a paintbrush; although she kept calling it a spoon and did in fact put it (and a glob of non-toxic paint) in her mouth. She won't be doing that again! All this painting made me very thankful for the plastic tablecloth I bought from Walmart a few weeks back and for not having to scrub all the paint off our kitchen table!

The entourage beginning their projects

The projects completed

Library Day
We actually managed to visit the library without making a complete mess of the children's section this time. We came home with these books:
Jack and the Beanstalk (a favorite, Monkey requested we check it out again)
Circles of Hope
The Busy Body Book: A Kid's Guide to Fitness
Don't Be Scared Piglet and Roo
Don't Let the Pigeon Stay up Late!
The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog
Snow Friends

Reading books at home. Bug actually had memorized
whatever book it was she's reading to Goose.

Pigeon at the Wheel!
Daddy wasn't around to take them to the playground this week, but we still made it there. They did the usual playing on the slides, bouncy toys, and monkey bars, but this time they were also inspired by the mounted steering wheel to pretend to be characters from one of their favorite books, Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! Bug decided to venture outside the storyline, though (in the book Pigeon never succeeds in driving the bus; he just "interacts" with the reader in trying to convince them to let him). At the playground however, Pigeon/Bug snuck onto the "bus," grabbed the wheel, and shouted "Pigeon at the wheel! Oh no! Crash! Bang!" Bus Driver/Monkey came racing across the playground and took back the bus. After some friendly and hilarious negotiation, they decided that Pigeon could still ride the bus--if she paid for the ride in bits of mulch.

I declared it too chilly for the pool, but the entourage desperately wanted to play with water.
We compromised.

Quality Time
After the mostly wonderful craziness of last week, I tried to keep to the "normal" routine as much as possible with lots of family quality time thrown in. Daddy deployed this weekend, so we tried to get in as much time with him as we could. Their Daddy date this week involved watching him mow the lawn, which for a trio of preschoolers is actually a fascinating activity. Daddy even made sure to get in lots of rough housing time with his girls. They are going to miss evenings spent like this!

Thanks to our wonderful neighbors even I got a date night with Daddy this week! The entourage was thrilled to spend an evening hanging out with LA--eating alphabet soup for dinner and playing princesses.

Project
The entourage was incredibly excited about the project this week. I threw into a shoebox the following items: a few sticker sheets, a collection of cut outs from magazines, a couple of glue sticks, two pairs of scissors, a handful of crayons, and a few pieces of construction paper. I gathered the entourage around their table in the study, opened the box, and told them to have at it. They were far more proud of their finished products than they have been of any formal craft project I've led them through. Of course, the "finished" products were cut into slivers before I could take pictures of them, but they had the best time letting their creative juices flow. We will definitely be repeating this with a variety of things in the box!

Trucks
Monkey in particular spent a lot of time with the toy trucks this week: parking them in various locations, creating different arrangments and patterns, vrooming them from one place to another, and occassionally lining them up and naming them.

Toddlerese
I've officially lost track of how many words exactly Goose says now. She's constantly popping out new words, and life is slowly getting easier now that she can communicate a little more effectively. Her most frequently used phrase: "I want . . . " This usually ends in a request for food (and yet the doctor thinks she isn't gaining enough weight. I don't get it.)

Little Techies
In addition to all the new words, Goose has discovered that there are several apps on her big sisters' iPods that she can play with (her current favorite is a shapes game, but she really enjoys the coi pond too). Monkey and Bug continue to play games are Starfall, and I recently showed them the Paint program on the old laptop. I had to laugh the other day when I looked around the study to see Monkey playing a JumpStart program on the desktop, Bug painting a picture on the laptop, Goose playing with the fish on an iPod, while I worked on the netbook.

Library Day
We were back to our usual library day today. The big girls claimed a table in the kids section and spent most of the time picking books off the shelf and quietly "reading" them. Goose didn't play with the puzzles at all this time--she too was busy pulling books off the shelf, but she did a lot less quietly reading than her sisters. We're trying to teach Goose that books are taken off one at a time and looked at, not dumped off the shelf by the armload. It's going to take a while. (It probably makes it harder that I have no problem with her doing the same thing at home. Only at home once she's emptied the shelf she plops herself down in the middle of them and spends a long time flipping through them.) Anyway, we came home with the following books this week:
I Love My New Toy! (An elephant and piggie book; this series is one of our favorites)
Horton Hears a Who
Where the Wild Things Are
Five Little Chicks
The Little Old Lady Who Wasn't Afraid of Anything
Good Night, Engines! / Wake up, Engines!
The Very Grouchy Ladybug

Routine? What Routine?
This week looked a lot different than normal. It was spring break where we live, so some of the weekly activities were cancelled (homeschool playgroup and church night supper). Nana came to visit (much excitement! It's been the longest time they've ever gone without seeing her), so the entourage didn't do their usual Daddy date night or come to the Y with me. We didn't go to the library this week, because we decided to spend that morning at home with Daddy since he went out of town again (just two nights; he's back already). And to top off the week, we cancelled our usual Friday activities to go to the zoo with our neighbors Miss N, Mr. S, and LA. Next week we'll be back slightly closer to "normal." The poor entourage won't know what to do with themselves!

Nana!
Nana's arrival was the first major event of the week. She arrived Sunday night after they went to bed, and they were so excited to have Nana here when they woke up Monday morning. Nana drove down in the convertible, so the entourage got to ride up and down the street a few times with the top down. We played outside alot, and got to try out the girls' new bubble bucket.

We also dyed Easter eggs while Nana was here. Monkey and Bug helped with the whole process--from boiling the eggs to eating the finished beautiful product. Goose was very disappointed that she didn't get help with the dying.

 The last morning of Nana's visit proved particularly eventful: The entourage got to see a sheriff up close and in person when I got into a fenderbender (no one was injured, there was minimal damage to the cars, and the officer was merciful enough not to give me a ticket), we went to the bank to take care of some paperwork, and Nana bought us frozen yogurt (she decided we all needed a treat--yum!)

Puddle Jumping
Thanks to a couple of really hard rains we had two fantastic puddle jumping days. There's a dip in the road right in front of house which creates the most fantastic, huge, mud-free puddle. The first time the girls mostly did just jump--with vigor. In fact, they had to stop a couple of times to dump the water out of their rain boots. Toward the end of the water play Monkey and Bug decided to reinact the "fetch a pail of water" part of Jack and Jill. They scooped water into buckets with sand shovels, and they were kind enough to let Goose join in. The second time they still jumped quite a bit--enough to get soaked head to toe, but they also floated boats and other objects, collected and examined rocks found in the puddle and surrounding area, scooped water into buckets and watered the street, and discovered that when you draw with chalk on a wet street it makes for really vibrant colors.

Veggies
Last week we planted microgreens; this week we harvested! The entourage was thrilled to eat the veggies they had grown themselves. I have plans to put them salads and on sandwiches, but the first harvest was snipped and eaten immediately. The girls didn't even want to go inside first; they sat on the front porch in their PJs and ate every last leaf. I highly recommend gardening as a way to get your kids to eat their greens!

Wheels on the Bus
Monkey and Bug have been singing "Wheels on the Bus" a lot lately, but they get very creative. One recent rendition involved a bus whose passengers included the usual people, babies, and mommies, but also a tiger, bunnies, a sloth, a clown, a dinosaur, and of course Diego, who showed up to rescue the people from the tiger and the dinosaur, who were apparently wrecking havoc on the bus. They were cracking themselves up!

To the Zoo!
Monkey and Bug have been begging me to take them to the zoo for a while now, and we finally made it! We borrowed a big wagon from some neighbors, caravaned up with our next-door neighbors, and the entourage had a blast. They were extremely good travelers (an hour and a half in the car with just me and three 3 and under: I was a bit nervous, but they did beautifully. I even wore them out enough that they all slept the whole way home). At the top of their to-see list were elephants, monkeys, and zebras, and this zoo did not disappoint. We also got to do cool things like walk through the kangaroo habitat, feed goats (Bug was so brave!), and get face to face with a hungry giraffe (sadly we didn't have any food for him, but being at eye level and maybe a foot away was pretty nifty). We didn't have time to see everything, but since this trip was such a success, we're planning to get a membership, so you can look forward to more zoo reports.

The entourage plus one (LA) were very excited to "ride the elephant"!

Goose Is Flying!
Down the slide at least. This girl is fearless and a lot more mobile than other kids her age or at least her size. On the zoo playground and on our neighbors playset, while the other toddlers were sitting hestitantly at the tops of slides and grasping at the edges while they slid to their mommies at the bottom, Goose was flinging herself onto the slide on her belly headfirst, controlling her speed to slow at the bottom and tumble off into the rubber mulch/grass, bouncing up and repeating endlessly. She freaked out more than one parent on the sidelines who seemed to think she was zooming toward certain death or at least a bad fall, and more unfortunately inspired a few bigger toddlers/preschoolers to do the same with considerably less success. She's pretty tough too: At one point at the zoo, she got knocked over in the rush of bigger kids. A preteen girl tried to be helpful, pick her up, and carry her off the playset. Goose was indeed crying--not because she got knocked over (she wasn't phased), but because someone was trying to take her away from the slide! She squirmed out of my arms and right back up the stairs as soon as I "freed her" from the preteen.

Daddy's Gone . . . but Grandma's Here!
Daddy was out of town this week, but the entourage had the happy distraction of Grandma visiting which made things a bit smoother. It's always fun for them to have a new grown up around to do things like read lots of books and build super tall towers.

The evening before Daddy left we decided to have a "Daddy Date" that I got to go to as well. We took a picnic to the park, then went out for ice cream. Perhaps the biggest excitement of the evening was getting to witness some fascinating weather. We could actually see and hear the rain coming toward us from across a baseball field! It's a good thing we had the warning too, because it turned out to be a hail shower. The girls got to watch the hail bouncing around and look at one up close. Fortunately, it didn't stick around for long and we got to keep playing outside for a bit.

Daddy's teaching the entourage to do the monkey bars.

I managed to catch them mid-dandelion blow.

Playdate to Pizza
Monday turned out to be a very social day for the entourage and I. In the morning we were invited to crash a Mom's Club playdate that Miss N was hosting next door. It involved playing in LA's bounce house and getting to eat one of Miss N's practice cakes (she's taking a cake decorating class and a had a final that night). Needless to say, a great time was had by all. Then Grandma arrived in the afternoon to find three very excited little girls waiting for her in the front yard. To top off the day that evening most of our neighborhood friends gathered in our backyard for pizza and play until bedtime. Two other families had grandparents visiting this week too, so it was quite the gathering!

All the little ladies created a pizza eating train.

Library Day
We decided to go to storytime at our little branch library again this week, since it was a more Grandma friendly event. And, of course, we got to see some of our neighborhood friends too. All three girls made paper caterpillars as the storytime craft project. We came home with these books this week:
Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!
From Seed to Plant
The Foot Book
Green as a Bean
The Neighborhood Mother Goose
Aesop's Fables (renewed)

Gardening
Plants and gardening proved to be the theme of the week. Grandma arrived with a collection of pinecones to examine as well as an assortment of vegetable and flower seeds. She helped the entourage put together baggies with damp paper towels and a variety of the seeds, so they can watch how different plants germinate (at this writing a few of Goose's are actually starting to sprout). We found a book about the life cycle of plants at the library. I happened across a bunch of veggie themed worksheets that the girls enjoyed working on. Grandma brought a self-watering planter we had hoped to get set up, but it leaked too much (maybe if Grandma can fix the leak we can try again later). We actually did plant a bunch of lettuce and radish seeds in a couple of berry containers to see if we can succeed in growing microgreens (I'm keeping my fingers crossed--I have something of a black thumb and even managed to kill a cactus once).

Easter Eggstravaganza
Our church had it's big Easter party this Wednesday. We had a bit of rough start in getting the entourage involved in activities, but once they got into the egg hunt things went smoother from there. It was a drop-in egg hunt for preschoolers, and  the entourage wasn't aggresive and/or fast enough to snag the eggs as soon as they hit the ground. Once the initial crowd cleared out, we had a lot of fun though. Perhaps more exciting than even the candy in the eggs was that some of the "eggs" were actually plastic cupcakes that you could take the tops off of. I think about half a dozen of these have joined the pretend food collection in the kitchen. (As a result, Goose uttered her first two word phrase: "My cupcake!") The party also involved several inflatable activities; the bounce house and the huge slide were favorites. I think Monkey and Bug went down the slide at least a dozen times each. Goose mostly spent most of this time sqatting on the ground getting eggs in and out of her basket. We got to meet live chickens and a bunny to meet and do a craft. The Easter Bunny was also there. The entourage didn't want take pictures with her, but we observed from a distance. Bug noted with excitement that it wasn't a real big bunny--it was just a person in a costume!

Worksheets
I happened across a bunch of veggie themed worksheets this week that Monkey and Bug were pretty excited about (mostly matching and counting). The only difficulty with saving worksheets as records of jobs well done is that the finished projects usually look like the've been done incorrectly. They haven't been; Monkey and Bug just like to go above and beyond. For example, one of the sheets this time instructed them to circle the veggie in the row that matched the one in the column on the right. They did this perfectly, then they informed me that they wanted to practice drawing circles and circled every veggie on the sheet. Little overachievers!

At some point this week I was working on the computer upstairs,
and Goose decided to grab several books, climb into the butterfly chair,
and snuggle in looking at books for 30 minutes or so.