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Today Jeff’s office had its party for the employees. It was at Huber Farm. It was an absolutely beautiful day, so it was a lot of fun to wander around the farm and get pumpkins from the pumpkin patch.

First was lunch (hot dogs, fried chicken, mac and cheese, cole slaw, lemonade, chicken and dumplings, etc.)

Then we found a koi pond, and we fed the fish (and the ducks, geese and swans). These fish are obviously well fed. They were HUGE!
Next we wandered through the Farmer’s Market. We got to check out the different kinds of pumpkins, squash and gourds, not to mention the cool tractor.
Finally we went to the pumpkin patch and checked out all of the pumpkins. The girls had a great time, and we found some excellent pumpkins to decorate, and maybe, if I get ambitious, I might even make a pumpkin pie from scratch. (Not the crust, though.)

Finally we took a hay ride back from the pumpkin patch. (It was actually a wagon behind a tractor, no hay involved.)
It was a wonderful afternoon, and we had a great time. And best of all, the girls came home nice and tired, and went to bed with no fuss. That’s a success by any definition!

Our first few weeks . . .

Social/Emotional Development

Shares things usually

Initiates play with others usually

Is considerate of others usually

Shows respect usually

Asks for help when needed usually

Adjusts easily to transition times usually

Self Awareness

Knows first and last name usually

Is able to tell own age usually

Can go to the bathroom alone usually

Readiness

Matches shapes usually

Recognizes and names shapes usually

Recognizes numbers 1 to 10 working on

Counts objects 1 to 10 usually

Can identify size differences usually

Recognizes and names colors usually

Recognizes alphabet letters usually (MTZFA – those are the letters they’ve learned so far.)

Learning is lots of fun!

Fine Motor Skills

Holds crayon correctly working on

Cuts well with scissors working on (I don’t let her use scissors at home much because she’s cut her hair 3 times. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice shame on me, fool me three times, I don’t know, but that’s really bad!)

Coloring usually

Puzzle assembly usually

gluing or pasting usually

Work Habits in Group Time

Participates in discussions usually

Enjoys books and story time usually

Listens attentively usually (could have fooled me!)

Completes tasks usually

Participates in art usually

Enjoys gym and outside time usually

Follows classroom rules usually

Work Habits – Independent Skills

Cares for tools and possessions usually

Responds to directions promptly usually

Relaxes during quiet times usually

Is independent in routine usually

Works/plays well alone usually

My day started at 5:00 this morning. I had to get up early because I was on TV this morning. A small group of people from my barbershop chorus were invited to sing on a show to highlight our upcoming competition, as well as our upcoming guest night. The show wasn’t until 9:00, but we were supposed to be there by 7:00 so we could pre-record some Christmas music that they will use in the future.

Here is a link to our segment from this morning. (I hope this works!)

http://www.whas11.com/great-day-live/video/Sweet-Adelines—131873348.html

Wow! Did I ever receive a very convincing email today. Since I did have a mistake on my tax return this year, I almost fell for the ruse. A couple of things stood out from this e-mail. It was unsolicited, it was from a person I had not dealt with, and it was saying my bank returned my tax return funds to the IRS. (Your bank would not do that without first notifying you.)

Of course, it also had a link to a “PDF” file. Why do I put that in quotes? Because when I hovered my mouse over it, the link actually showed me that it went to some other website. Look at the picture to see the website. DO NOT go to the website.

I REPEAT THIS EMAIL IS SPAM AND A VIRUS. DO NOT FOLLOW ANY LINKS IF YOU RECEIVE A SIMILAR EMAIL.

The HEADER
As a side note, I have no idea how it passed the Barracuda spam filter. The email says it is from Pam_Delany @irs .gov but the message-id is from 5624897102.4PPR0IZP169555 @ bwhsagtmxa.foczytgll.ru (Note the .ru TLD, that’s Russia)
and the envelope from field is from helpfullyj @ pado.com.br (Brazil) The message passed through galati.astral.ro which is Romania.

Today was Rachel’s first day of school this school year. She is in the 4-year-old preschool class. She was very excited to go, and this morning went very smoothly. This year is different because instead of walking her into the school myself (and helping her use the potty and wash her hands) we drop her off in a carpool lane. I learned that if I leave my house with the perfect amount of time for the ride, I will get caught behind a school bus in my neighborhood, and I will end up in the back of the long carpool line. (Okay, it wasn’t that long.) Tomorrow we’ll leave a little earlier.

Rachel was a little unsure when we got to the school, but pretty soon she was off.

When it came time to pick her up I got there early (a little too early) and ended up in the “early carpool” line, so I had to go back to another carpool line. So Rachel learned some stuff today, and so did I.

Rachel said that she really like it a lot. Apparently they learned about gingerbread men. That’s what she kept on talking about, and sure enough, there was a gingerbread man that she had colored, in her backpack.

Gabi didn’t want to be left out of the fun

Gabi’s first day of preschool (1 day a week) starts tomorrow, but we’ve got a picture from today anyway.

I’ve been wanting to take the girls to Henry’s Ark all summer long, but it has been pretty hot so the pool was usually a better choice, but it is finally cooling down some, so we decided to go there this week.

We made our first attempt on Monday, but as we arrived we realized (with the help of a sign) that it is closed on Monday, so instead we went to the play ground at Norton Common.

We made our next attempt on Tuesday, and this time we had success.

As we were walking toward the animals a lady asked me if we had brought carrots. Uh, no. I didn’t even think about that. So she handed me a bag full of baby carrots. Rachel is absolutely fearless when it comes to animals. She was petting and feeding everything. Gabi, while not exactly scared, was a little more nervous. She was fine around the goats, but the emu had her a little intimidated.

We used all of the carrots, and another family offered us some of their carrots. They had the big kind of carrot, and they had quite a few of them, but they were ready to go home, so they gave us some of theirs. I don’t know who appreciated the kindness of our fellow zoo-goers more, my girls or the animals.

Rachel has taken swimming lessons this summer, and I can officially say that Rachel can swim. Okay, she can’t swim an extremely long distance, but she can swim. I didn’t measure it officially, but my estimate is that she can swim about 10 or 12 feet. That’s both good and bad. I’m glad she can swim, but now she wants to not wear her floaties anymore, so I need to be right with her all the time. It’s good, because when she does wear floaties, she just relaxes and floats, and doesn’t swim, but when she doesn’t wear floaties she is becoming a stronger and stronger swimmer. Now my challenge is to convince her to wear floaties when I want her to. It’s a challenge because she enjoys the freedom of not wearing floaties.

We, like pretty much everybody else, have been dealing with a heat wave. Because of that we have been to the pool nearly every day this week. The heat is much less oppressive when you are lounging in water. Just sayin’.

If we don’t go to the pool we play in the sprinklers in the back yard.

On Tuesday Jeff was with the girls while I was at rehearsal. He reported to me that they had been awfully quiet. Turns out that Rachel found a sharpie somewhere, and decorated herself and Gabi. I learned that sunscreen spray (SPF 50) is very effective in removing sharpie from skin.
In keeping with the artistic theme, I got out some paper and paint for the girls to get creative.

Let’s face it. Those girls are talented!

Started with a ride on the carousel. Last year when I took the girls on the carousel Rachel said she wanted to too, but as soon as it started she leaned off her horse and clung to my neck, and all this while I was holding the then 1-year-old Gabi. Last week when we went to the baseball game the girls rode the carousel there and they both loved it, so we did the zoo carousel again, and both girls loved it again.

Then we looked at a bunch of the animals. Both Rachel and Gabi really like animals, so that was fun. We also ate lunch.

Next we went to the splash park there. It was a pretty hot day, and and the water felt great. Gabi really didn’t want to leave, but it was getting late, and both girls were getting tired. (Not to mention me and Grandma who was there too.)

We really wanted to see the new polar bear and sea lion display, so we went there before we left. We didn’t stay too long because we were all seriously getting worn out.
They both fell asleep in the car on the way home. Not surprised at all!

That evening we got together with Jeff’s mom and Brian and Amber and watched Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1 in anticipation of seeing part 2 today. Rachel and Gabi played with their cousin Rose while the “grown-ups” watched the movie. At least that was the plan. Its success was suspect. It was a very long day and the girls had yet another late bed time.

Rachel just finished another round of swimming lessons. This time we signed up with a girl in our ward who just recently moved here. Different than the lessons at the YMCA we did earlier this summer, her teacher doesn’t have the children wear any type of flotation device. Rachel loved the lessons. She loves the pool in general. One of the teacher’s emphases this time was to teach Rachel to put her face in the water. Rachel’s face often ended up in the water, but it was because she sunk. She just couldn’t seem to tuck in her chin and put her face in the water.

Last night we went to the pool for an evening swim/desire to wear the girls out, ergo easy bed time. Rachel voluntarily tucked her chin and swam with her face in the water. And she did it over and over again.

It’s fun watching her make progress in the pool.

Next year Gabi will be in swimming lessons too.