Kindergarten

Carter really and truly is a big boy now! He started kindergarten and we both managed to not cry...well except for when the car door latched closed on his poor little fingers. I thank kinder camp for preparing us emotionally. He has the most wonderful teacher, has gained tons of independence but is still my sweet little angel, and, I have to admit, he's beyond prepared as far as academics go. I'm looking forward to enjoying this journey with him and I think I'm thankful now more than ever for the blessing of being a SAHM. I will enjoy as many volunteer opportunities as I can manage in his classroom with him (thankful yet again for Mrs. L).

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Carter's First Tidepooling Adventure

So, instead of focusing on what a grown up little person he is growing into, today I thought about all of the firsts yet to come. There are some firsts that I'm not prepared to think about and hope they come much further down the road. Maybe the age for issuing drivers licenses will be changed to 18, or maybe even 21 ;-) The thought of him driving is one I'd rather not think about just yet. Things like tidepooling are wonderful firsts to think about and look forward to though. His enthusiasm today reminded me of my own when I first began checking out all the sea life in the intertidal zone (I was in college though--lucky kid). I think there are many more tidepooling trips in our future! We saw everything I had hoped to show him today except for sea urchins. We got to see some Harbor Seals though, and they weren't on my list. All in all, it was a great day spent with friends exploring nature and learning along the way.

Sea Star

Anemone

Chiton

Carter showing his friends the abalone shell we found.

Carter writing his name in the sand with a rock.

Can't figure out what this is? An anemone eating a crab.

My little monkey is always looking for something to climb.

Seals resting

China Town

We recently checked out some books from the library about Chinese New Year. I'm not sure yet if we'll venture into the city for the big New Year's parade or not...probably not because I'm not a fan of giant crowds, and finding parking in SF can be difficult enough w/o a special event. Plus, I think it's at nighttime which doesn't work well with our daily schedule. Anyway, China Town is always good for an outing when you're at home bored on the weekend...and since we'd been talking about it already it seemed like a great time to go. We enjoyed some very delicious and reasonably priced Chinese food for lunch (thanks yelp) and let the kids get a treat from a local bakery as well. The highlight of the trip for Carter might seem to be the ginormous chocolate chip cookie coated in chocolate and then topped m&m's, but I think that was actually out done by being able to pick out a cheap toy from one of the little shops. He chose a little trolley car for his "souvenir" of the day. Even if it's a touristy SF souvenir, does it really count as a souvenir if you're not a tourist? Anyway, it was a great day and Carter was ecstatic about his trolley car he got to pick out! To top it off, tomorrow we're going tidepooling. LOVE fun weekends!!

Short video of Ashlyn

Okay, here I am again. Following through so far on my attempt to spend more time on blogger (although I definitely don't plan to continue with posts this frequently).

Today was a hectic day, but ended on a good note. Started at 2 am with Carter having a bloody nose in his sleep. Yes, I was up with the lights on and sheets removed scrubbing out stains and starting a load of laundry at 2 am. FYI, hair shampoo works well for removing blood stains. Anyway, Ashlyn didn't get the memo that mommy wanted to sleep in and woke up early. Then for breakfast, I stuck Carter's oatmeal in the freezer to cool it down quickly, opened the door and down it fell--nice sticky mess all over the contents of my freezer. Changed my plans for the day and just went down the street to Safeway for some grocery shopping. Ashlyn repeatedly climbed out of the cart and threw a fit up and down just about every aisle. I'm guessing everyone gets the point already. So, after a LONG day I was able to get a good amount of cleaning done and spend some time after dinner with kids that were in good moods! :-)

So here's the video. Hopefully there are more to come...but here's a quick one for anyone that hasn't seen her in awhile. Or just for grandparents that can't get enough ;-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqvKI-mVEA8