Library Park

We spent some time at the park this afternoon... I dusted off the "good" digital camera and had fun taking pictures of the girls.  I love the pictures that it takes... though it does get heavy after awhile, it makes my "everyday" camera feels like a toy camera!













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Tadpoles to Frogs!

First we found tadpoles... lots of them.. nice plump tadpoles. Then we explored further upstream and found frogs... well... Gramma found them... and it was Gramma who also found the tadpole/frogs! Hannah has no trouble picking up and holding those little critters... Maddie and Alyssa tried, but they made them a little bit nervous!

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VBS @ AFCC The beginning of the church

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Pancake Faces

Hannah found the Little House Cookbook at the library this week. Sunday morning we could hear her in the kitchen, getting things ready to make pancakes. She had the cookbook sitting in a book stand, turned right to the page of the recipe she needed. "Mom," she said, "I need to have a grown-up help me melt the butter." "Ok... how much butter do you need?" "Two cups." We need to work on measurements still... but the girls had fun putting their faces together... Hannah opted to use the maple syrup as glue. It was a great recipe, so look for it on our recipe page!

AFCC Triathalon

A swim, a bike ride and a run.  Grouped by age, the participants had wonderful weather as June gloom hung in the air.  Hannah had a hard time getting in the pool, did a great job on the bike ride (only walking her bike past driveway slopes and alleyways) and had a solo run with daddy as her guide.  The butterflies in her belly made the swim part hard for her as well as the end of the run when the group cheered her on.  Alyssa was awesome on her bike ride, following Hannah's group for a bit.

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Achilles

We hadn't seen Achilles for awhile...maybe a week.  Achilles lives next door.  He is a Pitbull/Labrador mix and one of the sweetest dogs we know.  The girls wanted to stop by to visit and when we did, Achilles couldn't contain his excitement!  The next day we had the opportunity to check in on Achilles, make sure he went to the bathroom and had a chance to run around.  They did a great job.

2010 06 Alyssa "Reads" a Book

The Princess and the Magical Locket is a book that Hannah was given by Aunt Kris.  Once a favorite of Hannah's, it has recently been the most requested book by Alyssa, for multiple reads a day.  Mommy was delighted to be the audience for Alyssa's dramatic interpretation of Princess Crystal's story of a locket,  a prince, a dragon and a witch.

2010 06 Happy Father's Day!

Hannah decided to draw a portrait of Ryan as part of the design of the wrapping paper the girls and I painted together with watercolor paints.  While daddy started to unwrap his presents, Hannah told him to open the paper carefully.  Though she draws many things, portraits seems to be her favorite subject.

2010 06 It's Graduation Time!

My (Naomi) brother, Chris graduated with and Associates degree from DeVry University today.  It was quite an accomplishment for him.  He was proud of himself and so was I!

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2010 06 Fireflies

As dusk falls in Pennsylvania, something magical happens.  Tiny little lights quickly appear then disappear out on our front lawns, just a few at first, but then more and more... These friendly little insects don't mind being caught and studied.  My niece, Emily, and her friends, Lexi and Nikki and I had fun catching these bright bottomed bugs together one night.  I told them how when I was a kid, we would squish their lights and smear it on our hands, arms, legs and faces so that we could have glowing markings on our bodies.  I have not introduced my girls to this experience yet.  They've seen the pictures, but the awe cannot be expressed in picture, it can only be captured by first-hand experience.  

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The Little Gym End of class Show

There was uncertainty of how this day would go.  The last time Hannah was faced with a performance, she shut down.  Only when reminded that participation was key to going to her favorite restaurant for dinner later, did she make a vague attempt to perform what she learned in the class.  This time, there was much more conversation, preparation and the incentive of getting the show tutu beforehand... and a lot of prayer.  Hannah still has a couple of things to overcome for the next show, but she did the whole of the performances (all 5 routines!) with grace, beauty and lots of joy!  She had fun and we were all so very proud of her.  But he moment that made us all call out in awe was when she did a perfect cartwheel in the practice before the gymnastics performances!  We look forward to seeing her blossom in dance and gymnastics in the year to come!

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Huntington Gardens

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2010 06 Girls got Groove!

So begins the summer with our first concert in the park.  We went to Temple City's concert with the First Division Marine Corp Band with Catherine and Elizabeth.  The first half of the concert was swing music... and the girls danced away, entertaining the white haired audience around us.  I also love when the girls recognized songs they hear in other contexts, as with the song, "Over The Rainbow".  They had seen the beginning of The Wizard of Oz recently.  Hannah's eyes brightened and a big smile spread across her face when she realized she knew the song.

Auntie Ann Visits Disney Studios

Gramma's sister made a surprise visit. Gramma and Grampop were truly surprised! Auntie Ann was able to join the girls to visit daddy at Disney Studios on the day that they celebrated the opening of Toy Story 3. We had a picture taken with Jessie and Bull's Eye, ate lunch and toured her around the studio grounds and buildings.

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2010 06 Happy Anniversary to Us!

While Hannah and Alyssa spent the weekend with Gramma and Grampop, Ryan and Naomi stole away to Temecula.  It was a nice and relaxing weekend, a little wine tasting, some good food, and fun shopping.

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Jump N Jammin W/ Classmates

Hannah and her classmates went to the very busy Jump N Jammin' and had a surprise visit from their teacher!  Younger siblings joined in the fun too!

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2010 06 Enjoying our Garden

Ryan enjoys our garden most of all.  At first I thought it was because he did so much work to get it into shape, digging up the old soil, turning it, discarding the weeds, adding the fresh, nutrient filled soil.  He's had a lot more time invested in it than the rest of us.  Later he told me that he is looking forward to the crops that it will produce.  He also commented on the poor little pepper plant that should have been put into the soil long ago... he said, that if it's not producing, it's got to go... it's wasting that space where a more productive plant could go...

2010 06 Have a seat!

While Hannah practiced for the gymnastics portion of her show at The Little Gym, Alyssa and the little brother of another classmate, Curtis, were busy setting up the chairs. Between the first and second picture, they were asked to put the chairs away and they did a marvelous job! Then when no one was looking, out the chairs came again and in a much more creative set up!

2010 10 Tadpoles Take 3!

We made our 3rd trip to Eaton Canyon to see how the tadpoles have developed since our last visit.  On our last visit, we only saw little bumps of legs beneath the tails of the tadpoles.  This time we were able to see full on frog legs!  We were also able to see the difference between the regular frog tadpoles and bullfrog tadpoles that were swimming in the creek.  Mihret also found a baby tree frog! (a younger version of the frog Hannah found on our last visit). This was our biggest group too.. Zinash, Mihret, Gabriel, Calia, Elizabeth, Catherine, Hannah and Alyssa frolicked about the creek together.  It wasn't easy keeping track of everyone, but it sure was fun!

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2010 06 Gramma Retires!

Though she doesn't officially retire until October, the Monrovia School Board Meeting recognized all their retirees tonight.  After teaching for 22 years, Gramma decided it was time to retire.  And though she had many reasons to retire at this time, Hannah and Alyssa were the best two!

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Lost Art Work

I meant to post these awhile back, but had trouble figuring out how to get them to be turned right side up!

This was a Storm Trooper Hannah drew for her friend, Dakota (a boy) and when I asked Hannah where she had ever seen a Storm Trooper before, she reminded me of that it was Disneyland...  And of course, Ariel.  I just love seeing the way Hannah is so creative and attentive to details.


Finally, I received tulips from my girls.  I don't sketch or draw unless it has something to do with a project for the girls.  Other than the art work I did in college hanging around the house, there isn't any evidence that I was an art major.  But on this particular day, I had a moment of inspiration... and I made this drawing. 

2010 06 Alyssa Bonks Her Head... again!

As we were riding bikes this morning after playing dance class, I had one little girl behind me (Hannah) and one 4 houses ahead.  I called to Alyssa to stop and wait as she was nearing the corner of the cul de sac and as she turned, she lost her balance and toppled onto her head!  She had pretty much stopped already... and no, she didn't have her helmet on... Later, when asked if she was going to wear it from no on, the answer was "no."

2010 06 Being Miss Cherylynne

Hannah and Alyssa had their tap and ballet shoes on this morning and were pretending to be Miss Cherylyn and Miss Icela (sorry, didn't get a picture of LuLu!).  Hannah even dressed in clothes that were most like what she sees Miss Cherylynne wear and also pulled up the pant legs like her too!

2010 06 Teddy Bear Picnic

Hannah's teacher, Mrs. Lynne always does a teddy bear picnic with her class at the end of the year.  Hannah and I  made chocolate chip cookies together for the picnic.  She nearly refused to take this picture, and I'm really glad that she gave in... such a great picture!

2010 06 Googly Eyes

These girls had so much fun at Gramma and Grampop's hot tub once again.  Alyssa will hold her nose when she first starts to go under water, but Hannah got her to hold hands so they could go under together.  They kept on holding onto and hugging each other... it was so sweet, but potentially dangerous, even with an adult an arm's length away!

2010 06 Placertia Canyon w/ Mertzels

The girls wanted to take daddy to see the tadpoles.  Though our usual tadpole spot is Eaton Canyon closer to our home, we planned an outing with the Mertzel family at a canyon closer to their home.  The water level was low and the daddies hiked further down the creek from our shaded resting spot with the adventurous kiddos and returned with a few tadpoles.  Alyssa has been in the habit of dumping the poor little guys out where no water can be found and not too long after the bucket was set down, she did it again today!  Mommy scrambled to save them, reprimanding the frog poking, tadpole dumping little girl as she did.  It was a fun adventure!

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