On Wednesday we went to the Miami Seaquarium which has three different shows featuring dolphins! It was so much fun getting to watch them flip and dive and do all sorts of cool tricks. We were the first ones in the gate and got to the main tank first. The dolphins found us quickly and were so excited to stare back at us through the windows and play around. The girls were thrilled and so amused. Celia played it cool at all the shows, not seeming too interested or happy, but she was concentrating highly as when we got home and in the days that followed she showed us her versions of the dolphins tricks and told us all about them. “Dolphins walk!” “Look at me like dolphin!” We also got to see the killer whale which was really intimidating for me, having read about all the incidents involving killer whales over the years with their trainers. Seeing her jump was awe inspiring and just a moment that feels like it was in slow-motion as she was so massive and jumped so far. Lots of fun pictures from this day.

 

Clean fresh drinking water. Fun blue pool water. Rain quenching the grounds thirst. Ok so I didn’t take many pictures on the 20th, but this was apparently the highlight of Josie’s entire trip to Florida. I asked her what she liked most (and stay tuned for what we did on the 21st!) and she says go swimming. Which was for about half an hour when it was in the 70’s and the pool unheated. I didn’t go in except for my ankles to play lifeguard and they played in the little steps area right there and had a great time.

With her birth I became a mom. She keeps me hopping every day always trying to do my best and bring out the best in her.  We drive each other nuts sometimes but we always get back to a cuddle eventually. Here she is laughing at some well-timed potty humor to get a smile for the camera.

We do a lot of art around our house, painting, drawing, stamping, stickering and general mess making. Both of the girls art has progressed recently to new levels.

Josie has moved onto making some more realistic drawings, especially of people. She likes to draw in circles for joints and for other parts too. Everyone has eyes, nose and a face. She will listen to my direction for making an art project and follow the instructions before taking off in her own direction after she’s done what I ask. She has taken to making up her own projects giving me the directions and requirements. She likes to start off on an idea because she’s excited about a certain material, but sometimes has trouble coming up with the actual idea of a finished result or what part she can contribute, rather than just making me do the whole thing.  Josie loves doing art at school, and when they had two days in a row last week without any art because they had special events, she was seriously upset all afternoon. Celia probably doesn’t get to do as much art since Josie started at school since we just don’t have as much free time.

Celia has now moved on from making all circular motions and mixing all colors and things together to making up and down motions with her hands. Lots of stripes and single color paintings. She pretty much ignores the ‘project’ at hand unless I physically guide her hands and remove the art when it is ‘done’ according to my standards. So long as I’m fast she’ll tolerate my bossiness and is happier when she gets her own free play with the materials.

Here’s some of the stuff we’ve made in the last few months. Handprints are always a huge hit.

Torn pieces of tissue paper on contact paper to make a see-through dinosaur.

Both girls love to do body prints.

Celia’s general art these days, this one with markers. Lots of circles still with some back and forth lines.

A mixing primary colors project with finger painting. These last few are all from school, she brings home a few things each day, she likes to choose art projects at free play time.

These final pictures are Josie and Celia, with ‘angry faces’, to scare the witch.

Music is always such a wonderful part of our days. From the early days when I’d take Josie to sing-a-longs where she’d spend the entire time nursing, seemingly not paying attention, to our 5:30 dance parties when we all just need to get it out before we can finally settle down at the end of the day. Here’s to my two music makers, who made the cats run around the house with their ears in alert by playing dueling harmonicas today.

Every parent loves nap time, but when you’ve got multiple kids and some don’t nap anymore that means a real chance for some one on one time with the big kid. Every afternoon from about 1:45 to 3, Celia sleeps and Josie and I get some time to spend together alone, like back in the olden days when it was just us two every day. We do school work, we read, we play games and do art. Not usually all on the same day. Today we did school work, read and played a version of ‘memory’.

Even though we miss him while he’s gone, I’m very thankful for Jordi’s job paying the bills and all that good stuff. I know he loves to work with the people he gets to see every day. And hopefully this travel thing will calm down again for a bit after a few trips lately.

And thanks to Josie who helped put cats on top of the suitcases (seriously how weren’t they already there? that’s where they ALWAYS ARE whenever we try to pack) and then pretended to be a cat for my picture taking needs.

One of the girls favorite things to play at Waldo park is to run a pretend ice cream store with the mulch. The mulch is the ice cream, the money and all the toppings. They serve everything most all the time, although sometimes they restrict the ice cream flavors. They use this one shelf part of the structure as the ice cream counter.

With everyone being sick, the storm, and my ankle Halloween was pretty low key this year, although Josie got a bonus day of school as they invited everyone in her class in on Wednesday! The weather was lovely and I sat on the front porch handing out glow necklaces while Jordi took the girls around the block. They came back with their pumpkins 2/3rds full! Then they sat on the porch and ate a whole pile of candy until Jordi decided he’d eaten enough to start feeling sick and they should stop. This year they both went as Olympic Gymnasts. Josie has her costume long picked out, but Celia wavered until the last minute and decided to join in. They used medals from my dad, which he had made four years ago for Halloween for being Michael Phelps.