Merry Elfmas!

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Katie's pj party

We had a great morning at the Oppenheim house. About 12 kids came over for breakfast and a pj party. The kids played and played and played. Katie is so lucky to have such wonderful, kind kids in her life. Each kid brought a game, Katie opened each package, she chose one game to keep, then each kid got to choose a game. A few kids chose the game he/she brought, including Katie and Alex! It was a great way to celebrate Katie turning 7. Stay tuned for more pictures of her her family party that will be on the 25th.

Update

Well, I'm really behind on this blog. My goal is to keep current for the next few months. Here are some pictures from October. They include: Alex's trip to Gilcrease Orchard and Pumpkin Patch, Alex at Kidshine, Alex at Yoga, Katie's class and Halloween. Guess we know who I've been hanging out with more. :)

WA trip

I don't know why I can't get it together and blog a little. I can't believe school starts on Monday and vacation is over. I'm glad we had one last great adventure to Washington.

Katie and Alex had a blast playing with their cousins, aunts and uncles. My favorite day was our last day there, we spent it boating on the Columbia River with family. I'm so glad my kids got to experience a day like that. My favorite family memories are of us boating on the river. The weather was perfect, the water was calm and the company was the best. Alex didn't leave my Uncle Greg's side and I think he was in the boat for every trip out. He loved helping Uncle Greg drive the boat. I was really wishing for a "pause button" so the day would never end.







I was able to catch up with some long time friends. I can't believe we all graduated from HS 15 years ago. It was so fun to get together again and see each others' kids. Thanks, dad, for letting us invade your house and for grilling for us. :)




Another great thing about being back in WA is all of the wonderful fruits and vegetables. We stopped at a fruit stand on the way back from my sister's house and the kids loved picking out their own fresh fruit. We had amazing nectarines, peaches, pears, cherries, and huckleberries. Most of all we had AMAZING Quincy Corn.


It's always nice to get back home, but it sure makes me miss living close to my family. I'm sure glad I have so many wonderful friends in Las Vegas.

update

I've been so lame about blogging anything lately. I have so many things to write about.....San Diego Trip, KidShine Performance ,skating, 4th of July, BBQ grill on fire, oh if I only had the motivation to begin. :)

Here are a couple of pictures to entice you.

Kindergarten is Over!

What a fast year of Kindergarten. Seems like it was just yesterday that we were gearing up for going to school EVERY day. Here is Katie on her first day of Kindergarten. Here is a picture of her on the last day of Kindergarten. It's hard to believe all of the things Katie learned while in Kindergarten. Here is a short list of things she can do now, that she didn't do before Kindergarten. * Count by tens * Count by twos * Count to 100 * Add coins (pennies, nickles, & quarters) * Alphabetize * Read on her own! * Know about the 1st and 16th Presidents * Recite the pledge of Allegiance * Write and illustrate a complete story * Demonstrate Science Experiments * Tie her shoes * Know which numbers are even and odd * The list could go on and on. We are looking forward to all the wonderful things she'll get to do in 1st grade!

Under the Sea

Katie had her big KidShine performance last night. Uncle Jeffrey came into town so he could see it. He was our official photographer. All of the kids were amazing. Katie's "fish rhyme" solo was accidentally skipped, so she was the "encore" at the end. When it was time for Katie's singing solo, the background music was skipping, so she ended up doing her solo "acapella". She did a GREAT job.

Pony Rides

Last week Alex, his buddy, Bryce, and I headed to the Pony Farm with many of our playgroup pals. The boys had a great time. I was able to snap a few pictures before I dropped my camera while rescuing Alex from a goat in the goat pen. The weather was perfect and the boys were great. After riding the ponies a bunch of times, we wandered over to check out the peacocks, chickens, horses, donkeys and ponies. The kids got to hold a peacock egg and a hen egg. Too bad my camera broke, because the peacocks were beautiful, especially the albino ones.

You can learn something new everyday!

On Saturday, Joan, Almond and I started a new adventure. We're learning how to knit. Of course, it was a lot more challenging for me than anyone else. I didn't think our teacher was very good at giving instructions. No scarf yet, but I am becoming pretty good at "casting on." Maybe my family will all have matching scarves for next year's Co-op Snow trip! Ha!I was so busy trying to learn how to knit that I forgot to capture any pictures until everyone had left but Almond and me. So, here is one picture of the new knitters!

Let's Go Fly a Kite

March is the perfect month for flying kites. I promised the kids that after they went to the dentist, we'd go buy kites. However, Alex fell asleep on the way home (maybe he was tired from PUKING at the dentist, that's an whole other story...), so we stopped and bought kites after school today.

Katie's kite was only $3 and Alex's was a whopping $7 because it's a "deluxe" kite. Guess which one was easier to get up in the air? That's right, the $3 kite rocks! Enjoy the pictures.

Another one bites the dust!

Katie lost another tooth tonight. This time it's on the bottom. She's got one loose one left. All this tooth losing is making me feel like she is growing up too fast!

She's also finally feeling more comfortable reading and is reading a book to me each night. I'm so happy.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

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My Mom, by Katie age 6.

This is a cute idea. I was "tagged" on FaceBook to do this. Too fun. Guess we're all about singing and reading at the Oppenheim house. :)

1. What is something mom always says to you?
"Fair smells like pigs."

2. What makes mom happy?
"When you see me and Alex being friendly to each other."


3. What makes mom sad?
"When you see me and Alex fighting with each other."


4. How does your mom make you laugh?
"Tickling me."


5. What was your mom like as a child?
"I don't know? You were being nice. Is that right?."

6. How old is your mom?
"32."

7. How tall is your mom?
"I don't know? I'm guessing 30 inches."

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
"Play with us."

9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
"Read a book."

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
"Singing, I mean reading. Cause you love to read. of course."

11. What is your mom really good at?
"Teaching."

12. What is your mom not very good at?
"Singing!"

13. What does your mom do for her job?
"Teach."

14. What is your mom's favorite food?
"Ravioli"

15. What makes you proud of your mom?
"How good she is of a cook.

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
"Daphne from Scooby Doo."

17. What do you and your mom do together?
"Play games and most of all read.

18. How are you and your mom the same?
"We both like to read."

19. How are you and your mom different?
"I like to sing and she likes to play."

20. How do you know your mom loves you?
"Because she tells me. That's an easy one.""

21. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
"Sweet Tomatoes, I think."

Missing

Katie lost another tooth. This time it's a top one. The tooth fairy left her $3 in exchange for her tooth. It true Katie fashion, she immediately gave Alex one of her dollars. He's got to be the luckiest little brother in the world, because his big sister is extremely generous. It's really hard to get a good smile when you're trying to capture the missing tooth spot in a photo.

Oedipus Complex???

Yesterday on the way to school Katie said, "I hope that when I'm old enough to get married, that you die, mom, so that I can marry Daddy."

Nice, huh?!?

Bangs!

Well, folks. Here it is, Michele talked me into cutting bangs. What do you think? It's a great haircut, but I'm feeling like it's a bit flashback to the 80s. This is going to take some getting used to. ;)

ESPN Zone

On Monday we had a great day out with our friends, The Johnsons. First we headed to the BUSIEST In-N-Out Burger in town (great choice, Don) for some delicious lunch, the headed to the NY NY Hotel to spend the quality time in the ESPN Zone.

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We had 3 hours of unlimited play to use up. I had no idea we would actually stay the entire 3 hours! We all had a blast. Of course Alex was in heaven because he got to play with not only Jacob but Miss Almond as well.

Spots of fun!

Poor Katie. She was down for 4 days with a sinus infections and now she's reacting to the medicine that's supposed to make her feel better. These pictures were taken after she's had Benadryl twice to take away the hives.




Guess we'll be fighting this for awhile until the meds are out of her system. I called the Dr. this morning, so she's got a new prescription to try. Poor baby, I hope this is the end of it!

Katie

Alex has two posts all about him, so I should really share a bit about Katie. She's modeling one of the two dresses that she and Grandpa picked out for her Birthday & Christmas presents. She loved going shopping with Grandpa. She modeled the dresses for him and when he saw this one on her, he said that was the one. She was really funny about it, he was going to let her pick out the dresses, but she said since it was a present from Grandpa he had to pick them out!

Katie is really good at numbers. She can add up 4 numbers without missing a beat. She's getting pretty good at counting money too. She's got counting by 5s and 10s down. I love playing Rat a Tat Cat with her...she usually beats the socks off of me. I think she's finally gaining confidence in reading. It surprises me how much she struggles with reading because I know she has all the skills to read, but lack the confidence. Plus, her favorite things are books. She likes reading books more than anything, well watching movies is a really close second! Tonight she has already read me 4 different books, so I think she's finally feeling like a reader. I was so surprised and pleased that she did her "P" homework on her own, without complaining, and read the entire little paragraph by herself and filled in the blank by herself.

Do Re Mi

Playing like a 3 year old

I've been really enjoying watching Alex play and think lately. Last week his buddy, Bryce, was over and it was so much fun playing with them. We played a few rounds of "Feed the Kitty", then we spent a lot of time building the marble tower. The boys had so much fun watching the marbles run through. They helped me build 3 different set ups. It made me realize that I should do things like that with the kids more often. Who cares if the kitchen is clean, playing with the kids is so much more fun.






This weekend we got a smokin' hot deal on a match box space set. ($12, originally over $50!! Oh and I picked up two, so the next boy to have a birthday is getting a really awesome present from the Oppenheims!) The set has space ships, rocket blasters, aliens, spacemen and a bunch of fun stuff. Alex is so cute with it. There are two sets of directions and he keeps trying to figure out how to put all the pieces together. He's really figuring out how to read the directions. You should have seen his face when I showed him that the little space ships can shoot missiles. It was priceless.

We love playing games as a family. Lately we've been playing a lot of Feed the Kitty, Littlest Pet Shop, Sequence for Kids, Dominoes, and Candy Land. I love that at 3 years old, Alex is a great game player. He has a pretty long attention span, and understands the ins and outs of all of the games. He's even pretty good at giving up a token in Littlest Pet Shop when somebody else gets to steal it from him.