tawbubby

Amelia’s class is learning about famous Americans this week. She came home sick yesterday afternoon and missed George Washington. I reminded her that she knows who is on the $1 bill, and that he is the father of our country, the first President.  (’Like Barack Obama?’)
Today, this art came home, and I just LOVE it!

She told me about Louis Braille making an alphabet and numbers for people who can’t see. And she demonstrated for me how people who can’t see can tell that her corn is the number 3. And if it is at the bottom, it is the letter X.

It is really cool and something completely new for her that she really absorbed.
This is the other art that came home today.

“This is all the different kinds of corn that make it so we can Braille.”

OK, almost there.

Bubble Bath!  That is what Daphne is exclaiming below, in her bubble suit.

Amelia is taking a nap on her bubble pillow.

The girls learned that tub jets are fun while we were at the beach in October.  Now, it is their favorite bath.  The best part is Daphne’s laugh when the jets are first turned on.

Funny girls were doing this while I adjusted the carseats and cleaned the car windows yesterday. The wind was blowing lots of leaves out of the trees.

A walk in the woods (Or, three troublemakers!)

We went for a walk with our friends Melissa and Catriona- in an area near our houses that has four bridges over a creek. Here they are throwing stuff into the creek…classic childhood pastime.   I don’t think the girls enjoyed the walk as much as I thought (wished) they would.  Daphne would have had a blast if she knew about how tree roots can make you trip.  Over and over.  But, it is always good to get out.
Ethan raked today and neither girl really appreciated the leaf piles, either.

Daphne didn’t really enjoy a short wheelbarrow ride, but she looks so big here,  it is worthy of sharing.  I checked yesterday, and she grew 2 (TWO!) inches since her birthday.  That girl is growing like a weed!

They painted one night last week, and Daphne just loves to paint (and color on) her hands.

Often she would paint her finger, and then press it to the paper.  Her fine motor has come a long way recently, go figure.

Here is the outfit Amelia played in this morning: nightgown, pajama pants, last winter’s boots, Hello Kitty apron, elbow pad, nebulizer tubing.  She had an eye mask (thanks Grannie & Grampy) on for most of the time, too.

Cracks me up!   At least she was up and playing today.  She spent almost the entire day on the couch yesterday because she wasn’t feeling well.  She’s mostly better.  She laughed a lot at her “worlds longest fluff”, and at me showing her how we used to push her knees to her tummy when she was a baby to get those fluffs out of her.  Sorry, I couldn’t resist that one.

Hooray Grandma for beating Dave at Scrabble, 351-324!!!

Daphne was Laa-laa for Halloween, her favorite Teletubby. Here she is at her school parade, trying to take the hat off, “All done Laa-laa”.  This shot is really because I just love her pretty eyelashes.

I actually thought she wouldn’t wear the outfit for trick-or-treating. But when she saw the whole routine, she had a blast!  Look at the focus in that face!

And she forgot all about that Laa-laa hat for a long time.  She yelled “Trick or Treat!” from the street, and start running towards the front door at each house.  She was the cutest Laa-laa ever.

Here is Amelia, the Disco Pirate Bunny, between “corporate sponsored race car driver” and a very cute dragon.  She pulled it off with great style.

Yes, there is an ear-less bunny somewhere. 

Ever see a pirate (actually, a disco pirate bunny) on the monkey bars?  She’s new to the monkey bar club, and went back and forth for me after the school costume parade.

We had a blast last night.  Halloween has moved up there on my favorite holiday list.  Most of the kids on our street ran around as a pack from house to house: two football players, a fairy, a doctor, a secret agent, a rock star, a ninja, Laa-laa, and a disco pirate bunny (oh and one mom with fake intestines attached to her shirt).  Daphne figured out what candy is, not bad that we could hold that off until 26 months old.  Most of her glee is for “Lollipop!”.  Amelia is talking about being a Pumpkin next year.  We weighed her pumpkin bucket when we got home: 2 pounds, 11 ounces.  Can you believe that?  The Halloween Wizard comes tonight for a toy-for-candy trade.

We went back to Nags Head with Fafa for a windy, cool October week.  We visited the aquarium and Amelia got to ask some questions to a diver in the shark tank.  “How big is the tank?”, “What is the smallest fish?”, and “What is the black and white stick?” were some of her questions.

We spent most of our beach time in coats. 

Our first two days were marked by 20-30 mph winds.  The strong winds are doing some damage.  Many houses didn’t have beach access because the stairs were broken. 

The power of the ocean and wind is evident.  Our house from last year has been condemned, with many others near it, due to beach erosion.   A house collapsed into the ocean near Hatteras, and many houses are sandbagged (fun for climbing!) or have new bull dozed sand infront for protection.

 We had one day warm enough for bathing suits.

Wind-blown girl!

Daph with a bucket.

Aunt Cheri gave Amelia a “Fairy Houses” book for her birthday.  We built a beach fairy house with stick-grass-and-skate-egg walls, a sea weed flower garden and a pebbly-shell front yard.

She and Daphne each left a penny on the fairy bed (a clam shell) and they were gone the next morning, replaced with a pretty pink rock!

Daphne at Jockey’s Ridge, touching the sky.  She’s getting to be such a big girl!

The neat thing about all the stairs in a beach house is with all that practice Daph is standing up to go downstairs, rather than sliding on her tummy.

All Smiles.

Daphne picking apples this weekend:

She munched on a lot too.

Amelia said “That wiggle worm has a headband!”

They’re sharing a room now.

Amelia slept on an air mattress in Daphne’s room while Aunt Melissa visited for Amelia’s birthday. They really enjoyed sleeping together and didn’t want to be separated back to their own rooms when the guests left. So she’s been on the air mattress for the past week. They wake up talking now, instead of Daphne crying for us first thing. 

We finally moved Daphne’s crib into Amelia’s room last night. This pic doesn’t convey Amelia’s joy, that is equal to what you see here on Daphne’s face.