Another big week!

Samuel learned to ride a bike with pedals in about 20 minutes yesterday! He was intensely proud of himself as were the rest of us. We all credit his balance bike for making the transition so smooth and quick. With his balance already established, it was super simple for him to learn to pedal without training wheels! SO so awesome.

Louie has been signing fan, milk, and all done, but just yesterday with some practice (and yogurt he really wanted) he picked up the sign for more! It was really quick, which was very cool. He is a dancing fool too- loves to rock out while sitting and standing!

Sabrina is really enjoying the chemistry and art sets she received for Christmas. My heart is full when I watch her conducting the experiments and learning cool facts about sugar versus salt! She finished Charlotte's Web yesterday. Philip bought her the movie so that is up next as a promise from him.

Louie and his new (old) toy

Sabrina got this walker, that turns into a car, for Christmas- her very first Christmas. Now Louie is using it as Sam did before him. Toy on it's third round over eight years? That's a pretty good toy. I forgot when milestone mentioned in yesterday's post – Louie is also starting to dance. He has the typical Johnson moves and it's adorable. 

Louie turning 1

This week was a big one for Louie- he turns one on Monday, Thursday is Thanksgiving, and he started taking his first steps.  He also very cutely has began to say 'mama'! 

Last weekend we had his first camping trip. We went to McKinney Falls. It was cold, but we had a cabin in a space heater. We all came back smelling like campfire. It was great!

And scraped out a few pumpkins

Samuel did not want to dig out pumpkin guts. He also did not enjoy it when I helped him try. Sabrina would take out pumpkin guts but only with a spoon.

Each picked a picture for me to copy. Nothing amaze balls, but we got it done and the kids were pleased. I call that success! And it was soooo pretty outside. Newest tradition: sharing pumpkin seeds and carvings with the cheepers! They were so interested!

Today's harvest not too shabby

Green beans and cucumbers- some collected earlier in the weekend, actually, but ran out of daylight for collection!

And straight to the table. How's that for farm fresh? ;)

Afternoon monkey project

A dear auntie gave this project to Sabrina. It was so fun and she is so happy with the result. Now to find a place to hang it!!

Sabrina's First Month of Kindergarten

My sweet began Kindergarten and was off like a rocket. Her teacher, Mrs. Marek, is a total pro who's been teaching Kinder for 7 years. Her room is stimulating and pretty with lots to do and learn. I love the little desks, 4 to a group, with little chairs to match. Friday Sabrina brought home her first 25 days of school behavior chart - she got a sticker every day! Which means she never had to "move her banana" - not even one warning! She definitely exceeds my behavior at that age. I got "N" for needs improvement in conduct through at least 2nd grade. Talker I was, shocking as that is!

Sabrina & I wore coordinating bracelets - an idea I borrowed from a friend to remind her how much she was loved. I think it almost made me cry 100x the first week. Constant reminder that she had joined the 'big' world outside a small known environment. I'd say a prayer, and trust in our Lord, and push down the tears. She made it through just fine though. (I did make her rehearse the morning walk from the bus drop off point to her classroom with me walking behind. This thoroughly annoyed her, but gave me comfort! :) )

They have art, music, computer, and PE as "specials." I'm so glad they don't just do curriculum, and have a nice outdoor area for playtime after lunch. We feel so blessed to have her at this sweet school. She's already checked out her first book from the library, purchased some Scholastic books at a bargain, and participated in the school's first book fair. They are busy, busy over there.

Not all has been wine and roses. She tells us how she and a lot of the kids sleep on the bus on the way to school. With a pickup time of 6:35, it's no wonder!! She's also had a lot of catnaps - car, couch, and some random places like shopping carts. Then there was the prison gang scene in the back of our car one day. She put her Cinderella play cell phone in the bottom of her sock and smacked her little brother in the face with it. Doubtless she wanted him to cry, but the sight of blood pouring out of his nose caused her to scream for Daddy to pull over! Pull over!!! Oh. my. gosh. That was a conversation with her he'd never planned out. Who knew she could be so creative in her Samuel harassment? Little buddy is fine though. A pint of blood lighter perhaps, but fine.

Kidding, not quite a pint... ;)

We are trying soccer. She likes her friend Sydney and her coaches, but soccer? Jury's still out. We've seen her enthusiasm wane already, and we're only on week 3. I've heard this was most of the other parents' experience as well with their kid's first season as they really don't know what's going on. She definitely wants to go back to dancing. As I'm speaking, she's dancing to the radio all around the room in a homemade costume.

I guess all in all - it's going well! I love reading books with her and her finding 'popcorn' words of the week from school. (This week it was 'like'.) She still loves Mrs. Piggle Wiggle chapters best, and we finished Pollyanna a few weeks ago.