Wild Things and Chicken Soup

My mother-in-law found out about a great exhibit going on at the Scottsdale Civic Center library... and she discovered it in the knick of time, 'cause today was the last day to see it! The exhibit was all about Maurice Sendak and his children's books - it even had some manuscripts, notes, and sketches of his on display. Ben grew up listening to music from the "Really Rosie" musical, which is based on Maurice Sendak's books, such as Chicken Soup with Rice. Before becoming more familiar with these other books, I only knew of his more popular book, Where the Wild Things Are, but I've been delighted to be introduced to his other stories and really cute Carole King music. There was lots of kids activities based on all these books and it was extra fun to meet up with Grandma, Aunt Emily, and Cousin Adam for a great after-school outing.



JAKE, the KING of all wild things!

Sliding into chicken soup with rice :)



Really Rosie Becca



I love that he's holding a whisk

Max and the Wild Things



These guys just love to be together!

As seemed appropriate after a fun library outing, learning about a famous author, Emma read books during the entire long drive home (in traffic... that's why I was able to snap a photo... we weren't moving... ugh). Her reading skills are soaring! And I love that she LOVES to read. I'm grateful that she's surrounded by avid readers, like her daddy, grandparents, and so many others... they help keep me motivated to make reading an integral part of our home.... it helps open up so many doors for the kids. Becca has also begun reading her sound books these past couple weeks and I'm so proud of her!



And, this is random, but I took this picture of the girls waiting at Emma's bus stop yesterday morning - I thought I'd tack it on here, 'since waiting at the bus stop is now a part of our daily routine... I'm saving so much gas! :)

Going outside in regular clothes...

As a family, we've been aching to get outside to do some more active activities. While the rest of the country have been enjoying summers full of outdoor picnics and hiking, we've been keeping cool with indoor activities with plenty of A/C or else lots of swimming and squirt parks - I don't complain because we've definitely had a fun summer, but Arizona is a little backwards as we can't really do hiking and picnics (unless we travel north a few hours) until "winter-time" comes. But today we'd had enough, and since it was a little "cooler" today with temps dropping to the high 90's (a dream compared to 115!), we thought we'd venture outside without swimsuits. :)

We tried to get out the door early on Saturday morning to go on a little nearby hike... and ended up ready to go at 9:45 - for a Saturday, that was pretty good for us. We were trying to beat the heat somewhat... the breeziness kept it tolerable. Emma had brought her backpack in hopes of finding "treasures" like flowers or interesting rocks.







Jake has started a new thing where he often says "ya" to any question you ask him... so while hiking, we played this game... "Jake, do you see a rhinoceros?" - "ya!"... or "Jake, is your bum made of marshmallows?" - "ya!". love it.





Becca and Daddy racing back to the park









After our little hike and park time, we dragged our sweaty selves to the pet store. We decided to get a fish! Most of you probably don't think this is a big deal, but surprise to say, this is our very FIRST PET! Yeah, well, we're not really pet people, so this is as good as I can do for the kids at this point. We weren't planning on it, but that morning Emma was reading for her daddy, Fancy Nancy and the 100th day of school. (Note: the Fancy Nancy Early Reader books are really GREAT - each book is sprinkled with some great vocabulary. We were impressed that Emma could tell us the definitions for words like 'dilemma', 'imaginative' and 'transparent'... and maybe even more impressive that Emma was quick to note that her name is in the word 'dilemma'). Ben doesn't hear Emma read very often - She usually does her reading while he's at work (I have Emma read one or two books to me each day after school). Ben was so impressed with her reading skills that he thought we should get her a fun prize - a fish! She was excited! We tried to get her a fish a year ago, but when Ben took her to the pet store, she got way bummed about a fish when she saw the birds and puppies... for those looked like way better pets! Emma must have given in to the thought of a fish, since time has past and she realizes getting a dog is pretty far fetched at this point. I love that we've somehow convinced her that a beta fish is exciting!





Emma named the fish "Goldy". A little odd, considering the fish is blue. But Goldy was the name of Fancy Nancy's fish, so how can we argue? We got Goldy a plant and a little submarine to keep him company. He likes to hide in the plant all the time... we think he greatly fears the submarine.

So, after dinner, we went out to play some tennis... you know, to go along with our "active" day. It was fun! We find it works pretty well to go play tennis with the kids in tow, especially if we don't have to share the court with anyone - 'cause then the kids can run around, collecting balls, and playing with their rackets, while Ben and I play some games. Ben also spent some time helping Emma practice - she was able to return the ball over the net a few times... I think she'd definitely enjoy tennis lessons.



Emma took this action shot of me serving the ball... I think my form is less than impressive, but the sunset is nice!













Here's to cooler weather!

My fun little crew

About once every month, Emma gets out of school early (so teachers can have meetings, I believe)... since Emma is only doing half-day Kindergarten to begin with, an 'early out' day means it's very very short... so instead of being at school from 9-11:30, she is only there from 9-10:30. The day seems a bit longer to me though, since she's taking a bus to and from school, which adds on another hour of her being gone during the day. In any case, Emma misses out on a lot of our morning outing fun...like the occasional playgroup activity, or getting to play at the grocery store play area while I do my shopping. Since I knew she'd be getting home early today I thought we'd go do something fun before Jake needed his nap. So, we picked up Emma from the bus stop and went to Kierland Commons to eat lunch, play in the water, and get some ice cream. Outings with the 3 kids all by my lonesome usually require some planning and patience, but I really do love to get out with my crazy kids. They are pretty fun...

Playgroup and a Robot friend

I ventured out with the kids this morning to swim for playgroup at a friend's home... I don't usually do swimming outings with the kids unless I have Ben with me, because it's kind of a headache. But I decided to be fun... and I'm glad I did! Thanks Kim for the fun outing!

I love Becca with her goggles and floaties on... she's such a cute little goof

Jake loving on his snacks... and recently he's started giving me toothy camera smiles when I tell him to "say cheese!" - I love it


The kids enjoyed the FUN backyard... someday I hope to have a fun yard too! Oh pretty please!



I've mentioned before that we're slowly working on making Jake's room "retro space" themed. We found an awesome website with cool retro styled toy rockets and other fun trinkets... including a super cool 'sock robot'. Jake hasn't really had his very own 'special' stuffed animal to love (Emma has her bear and Becca has her monkey)... until now! We ordered this robot friend last week and it came in the mail today - it's as big as Jake! He already seems to have taken a fondness to him...

Eggs, flour, water... a recipe for a wild party!

We had a birthday party for my sister-in-law, Emily, on Saturday... and it was CRAZY! Seriously.... oh you'll see... We had a "Fannie Farkle's" party - the history of why it is called Fannie Farkle's is a little fuzzy in my mind, but I know that it goes back to Ben's mom's college parties. The tradition is carried on! And it was great! Let's do it again!

The party started out tame... as we began the set up...



And it progressively got a little crazier...



And before we knew it, we had our game faces on...



Let the wild rumpus start!




























The games included: digging for pennies in flour, egg toss, water balloon relay, tug of war (over the flour and water filled pool), and a pie eating contest. Even though I was in the pie eating contest, I did not eat any pie because it immediately began being tossed around on people's heads and faces. :) Happy Birthday Emily!! I think we'll remember this party for quite a while!