Call Day #20, 9/30/13

Claire is spending a few days at Nanny and Papa's so Eleanor and I got some special time together today.  We are reading a book this week about sheep, so we made a shepherd's pie.  Eleanor helps cook.

Mashing potatoes.

 I declared it "movie and pajama day."  Eleanor thought that was a great idea.  We watched the Little House on the Prairie movie.  It was much longer than I thought it would be, but it was really good.  She learned plenty about what it was like to be a pioneer moving to unsettled land.

Jedi baby.  Light saber from birthday party this weekend.

I had promised Eleanor playground time after we did a bit of schoolwork.  We went to a nearby private school since I'd been told they didn't mind sharing their playground after hours.  Turns out there were still lots of people around.  So, we did our schoolwork on an unused grassy spot far from the playground.

Next, we went to the local public school whose playground she had spotted as we drove past last week.  It wasn't busy.  She loved swinging around on this thing.

And we played a geography game!  I'd name a state and she'd run to it.  She kept asking for hard ones since I usually start with the ones she knows already.  It was fun to see she could readily identify the states where our last two books of the week took place, Kansas and Michigan.  Love her exuberance in running around!

Call Day #19, 9/26/13

Oliver started the morning with a great selection of toys provided by Eleanor, but spent more time watching her walk around than play with them.

Playing "moving to a new house."  Their new house was in Nashville, TN.  Guess who they're missing today!

Went to the library and post office.  Showing off the Air Mail stickers the post office worker gave them.  They thought it was funny when I teased them about being a large package and a medium sized package to be mailed.  They wanted to be mailed to Nashville.  And then they declared that we're the "Scattered Madsens because Pa lives in Pennsylvania and Brian and Tara live far away and..."  Despite being in North Carolina instead of Boston, family is still too far away for their liking.

Eleanor introduced Oliver to the LeapPad.  It lights up and makes noise so of course he liked it.

Hanging out at church while Eleanor was at kids' choir practice.  Claire and I counted the sides on this table arrangement together and she was proud to tell me it was a hexagon.  Our book of the week has been about bees and we had just talked about the repeating hexagon shape in a honeycomb yesterday.

Didn't quite catch his new position of the past few days, up on his toes.  Wonder if the belly crawl will turn into some other form of getting around?

Oliver and Claire's favorite friend at church.

Post-choir on the playground.  Lovely friends and a wonderful day to be outside.

Call Day #18, 9/24/13

First thing in the morning.  Girls always want to see Oliver.

School time.  Eleanor reads to me.

Smiley.  Leotards and ballet skirts still popular around here.

Spent several hours this afternoon getting oil changed and finding out need a few new tires since there were nails in ours.  So, we went to check on tires at Sam's and grab a quick pre-soccer practice dinner.  Oliver ate lots of bananas and peaches.

Sweet Claire.

With gigantic cup.

Not interested in watching soccer, just in playing with shoelaces.

Claire running in her skirt and soccer gear.

Eleanor's team split into teams and played a bit.

Eleanor and Bruce practice passing the ball back and forth as they move down the field.  After every practice and game, he comes over to ask her to join him at the playground.  A few minutes playing there and then we head home.  Soccer night is a late night!

Call Day #17, 9/21/13

Saturday is soccer gameday.  Claire and her team attempted stretching but most couldn't balance well enough to do it.

Grandpa and Oliver wait for the game to start.

Claire watches her team while sitting out for a few minutes.

Kickoff.

Sleepy little brother.

Eleanor throws it in.

There it goes--to her teammate.

Happy girl running off the field after the game.

Good game.

Post-soccer snack.

Vacuumed this afternoon.  Oliver likes the vacuum and wants to touch it, spins in a circle to watch as I go around the room.

Little booger pulled the cap off the doorstop!  Second one in just a few days.  Apparently, pincer grasp is not a problem for this guy.

Call Day #16, 9/16/13

Papa and grandkids.  Morning playtime.

Two girls on "the camel."

School on the screened in porch.

Performing with Nanny.  As Nanny reads, they hold up pictures that go along with the story.

Claire sets out toys for Oliver.

Pa and Eleanor work on a puzzle together.

Girls perform the songs they learned at Bible school, singing and signing the words.

Little guy on his knees.

 Examining a little piece of fuzz he found.  He studies little bits of things on the carpet.

Ice cream after dinner to celebrate Claire's half-birthday.

3.5 years old today.

Sharing sorbet with Nanny.

Call Day #15, 9/12/13

Eleanor reads How Many Jelly Beans? and shows how small they have to be to fit one million on the page.

At lunch, Nanny wiped the salt off her chips.  We saw Claire doing the same thing and found out she was just copying Nanny without knowing why.

Girls dance to music from Bible School and Oliver spins army crawls around playing with dollhouse items.

We talked about which states have mountains and looked at a few topographic maps.  Here is Claire's version of the US and its mountains.

Eleanor's United States.

Eleanor joined kids' choir at church and is learning a bit about singing.

Bedtime stories and songs get a little crazy sometimes.  Mostly out of excitement over Oliver.

Have to watch him now--he can crawl across the bed.