Too Much Fun!

Bennett had the opportunity to have one of her favorite friends over for a surprise play date after school yesterday. She could not have been more thrilled to see this fellow. Ainsley was quite excited herself. The three of them spent the entire afternoon and evening outdoors. There was a lot of teeter-tottering in various places while wearing rubber gloves (it's a long, but fun story.) They enjoyed many innings of baseball and tolerated the poor pitching well. We also did some nature walking, attempts at bug collecting, and rounded out the evening with ice cream sundaes. A great time was had by all, but the pitcher is really pooped!

Weekend Happenings

Ainsley took a spin on Bennett's little bike this weekend. Bennett has outgrown it and Ainsley is glad to be taking it off her hands. I guess I should have said that Ainsley took a spin on HER new bike this weekend.
We harvested a few grapes off of a neighbor's grapevine over the weekend. There were two varieties and Bennett loved them. Ainsley chewed a couple of them up and spit them back out. Here is a picture of Bennett modeling the fresh produce as a pair of earrings. Oh, and the coolest thing we did was watch a bunch of ants carry off crumbs bigger than themselves from a piece of Ainsley's crushed monster cookie in the driveway! It was amazing and I took a video of it, but I am having difficulty getting it onto this blog. I'll keep working on it!

This morning, Ainsley and I stopped at a garage sale. She was not very pleased to be bargain-hunting this morning, as she had a late night last night followed by an early morning. The sun broke through the clouds when the little girl who lived at the house invited Ainsley to come see her new kittens. All tears were replaced by the face you see above...she was thrilled beyond measure. I think this moment of kitten-holding is probably one of the highlights of Ainsley's entire life! When we got in the car she told me, "I was sad and I wanted to hold one of those (kittens) and that little girl let me hold two of them and now I am very happy!"

School and Snowsuits

Today marked the beginning of the 2008-09 school year. Bennett was pumped...up at 6:30, ate breakfast, quickly dressed herself, was completely cooperative for hair styling and asking repeatedly, "Is it time to go?" Below is her "ready for the first day of school" photo. She posed so that her backpack could be seen.
Once Bennett had been dropped off, Ainsley and I returned home to enjoy playing outdoors for a bit of the beautiful morning. We visited with one another in the driveway as we played, and topics included bees, sidewalk chalk, the newspaper delivery man, types of butterflies, Guatemalan Worry Dolls and winter. As soon as we began discussing characteristics of winter, Ainsley remembered that she would be needing a snowsuit for snow play. We, of course, immediately headed into the house because she desperately needed to try on her snowsuit. It's a little big, but I think it will work, come December. Above, she's seen rolling around on the kitchen floor in the same fashion she would roll around in snow. I thought that the crazy happenings at our house would become less frequent in Bennett's absence, but I'm rethinking that one.

Cousin Penny

Bennett wanted to play a little practical joke on Grandpa and Grandma the other night, as she was heading to their house for a sleepover. She decided to wear a stylish brown wig and take on a new identity...Cousin Penny. She arrived to Grandpa and Grandma's and explained that Bennett was not sleeping over, but rather she, Cousin Penny, was coming in her place. As convincing as she was, I don't think they bought it.

Indoor Camping Out

The other night, Ainsley was rip-roaring mad because Bennett was getting to have a one-on-one sleepover at Grandpa and Grandma's. We tried to explain that she would get her own chance to do the same in the near future, but she would hear nothing of it. We were forced to come up with some incentive for her to enjoy sleeping at home, so we decided to let her pitch Bennett's little purple tent for the night. She camped out on her bedroom floor! She even got to take a pile of books from her sister's room into the tent for bedtime reading materials. She was pacified for the night, but first thing in the morning she wanted to know where her sister was. When reminded that she had stayed at Grandma's, the rip-roaring attitude returned!

New Arrival for the Real-Looking Fake Cat Family

Congratulations to Snowy Days and Pepper, Bennett's two full-grown, real-looking fake cats. They have a new little calico kitten (a souvenir from the vacation Dad and I were on last week.) Here is the happy little family, sleeping on the floor next to Bennett's bed. They can be found there each and every evening, wearing their nightcaps (pop bottle caps from Bennett's bottle cap collection.) The tiny white cat and the little bear are baby toys for the new little kitten, I'm told. What a sweet, loved little addition to the family! In Bennett's world , this trio rivals the popularity of The Queen and her ensemble.

Coming Soon

Bennett and Ainsley spent the past few days with grandpas and grandmas while Dad and Mom were away on a little vacation. That explains my lack of posts. I'll try to get something up soon, as we're almost finished unpacking and settling back into life as usual around here. Stay tuned...

Spelling Explosion!!!

I am very pumped about Bennett's recent reading/writing progress. She is starting to read on her own, and she can often be found writing things using her own inventive spelling without asking for any help from me. This morning we were playing "movie theater" and she made her own sign. Above, you can see it. She put a period between her versions of the word "movie" and "theater" to separate them, since she didn't leave a very large finger space between them. While neither word is spelled correctly, she did a great job of using letters that can make the sounds heard in the words "movie" and "theater." I am most excited about her use of vowels. These are really fun times for a teacher/mom! Also, not to forget Ainsley's progress...she can write the first two letters of her name! We're working on adding "n" now. Her smily face drawings are also becoming more awesome by the day!

Seek-and-Find Slumber

Ainsley is really digging look-and-find books right now. She's very good at them. She has a pile of every look-and-find book we own in her room. Every naptime and bedtime she has me place them next to her in her bed and she entertains herself to sleep. There have been a few evenings lately that we've peeked in on her and found her sleeping, book still propped open in her lap, as pictured. It's pretty cute.