Riley and Avery

I think Riley is getting a really weird tooth in. It's about 1/4 inch behind one of her bottom center teeth, which are adult teeth by the way. It feels hard when we press on it, and she doesn't complain that it hurts like a canker sore. I'll call the dentist on Monday and make an appointment just to satisfy by curiosity. While Rudi and I are all freaked out that she'll have completely mangled teeth until she can get braces at whatever-age-kids-get-braces, Riley is totally excited, thinking that she is like a shark and just grows teeth and looses them continually. Horray.

Riley had her first skating lesson at World Arena this morning. No pictures because the place was an absolute zoo because the olympic rink was closed for maintenance and all the classes had to crowd onto the NHL rink instead. I could only get pictures through the plexi-glass, so they didn't turn out well at all. Anyway, a little boring background...USFA (or whatever it is) has a Snowplow Sam program for kids 5 and under. She completed Snowplow 1 and 2 in her lessons with her school. USFA has Basic classes for kids 6 and over that are basically the same, but more in-depth. So, I put her in Basic 1, thinking that was right, but all they did was march from one end of the arena to the other. And there were like 20 kids in the class with 2 teachers. I told the ladies at the front desk that it seemed like a bit of a repeat, and they said that they didn't know that she did Snowplow 1 and 2 (since it was at a different rink) and they normally recommend Basic 2 for experienced kids. So, she'll try out Basic 2 next week and see how that goes...The sucky thing is that Caoimhe is 5, so she was in Snowplow and not in Riley's class. Stupid age differences. But Riley enjoyed seeing her there anyway!

We are taking a camping trip down to Mesa Verde National Park in early June, as it's one of the things that we absolutely could not leave Colorado without doing. We are doing it on the super-cheap. We'll leave Sunday (6.5 hour drive!) and set up the tent. We'll have four full days there and come back on Friday. Of course, we'll see the four corners area too. I fully intend to do the touristy thing and take a picture of the four of us, each in a different state :) Why not? Now all we have to do is figure out what non-perishable non-refrigerated food we're going to eat for 5 days, since we absolutely cannot afford to eat out while there.

I am planning on doing lapbooks with the girls before we get there, so they will know what we're looking at. Unfortunately, local bookstores and libraries are woefully devoid of anything related to the Anasazi or Mesa Verde for kids. Thank goodness for Amazon.com! I bought 3 kids books for less than a dollar each. I'll peruse them and make up a lapbook. This would be the first time I made one from scratch...usually I download them from the internet...

So, Rudi's car won't start. It's either the alternator or the battery. Not the starter because it click click clicks. Part of me thinks, and hopes, that it's the battery. We did just get a new battery about a month or two ago, but the idiots at Sears twice tried to sell us the wrong battery, and Rudi questioned the size of this battery before being convinced to take it. I mean, the door locks won't even work, or the radio. Even a dead alternator can run those, right?

Anyway, TOTAL panic, as we are $2000 short of the money we need for our move, and car repairs are going to put us even further behind. We so do not need this!

I am sewing up a storm trying to get skirts to sell, either on Etsy, or at local craft markets this summer. Maybe both, depending on how many I can get done. Once I'm finished, I'm going to post them to my mothering group for help on pricing them. I am a terrible terrible horrible no-good business woman and am just as likely to give them away free to strangers as I am to sell them, so I definitely need help with pricing LOL!

UPDATE: Took the battery in to Sears for them to check the charge. It was registering 1 volt! The battery was only 2 months old, so we got a new one for free. But what remains to be seen is what is draining the battery. We are still taking the car in on Wednesday to have it checked out. I don't think the alternator is totally bad, but perhaps a faulty connection? We'll see, and hopefully it won't break the bank!

This post is getting old, so I'm letting it go...

You know, the kind that has a world map and a map of each continent inside? The kind that rolls up? OMG, a mother in my mothering group got several of them from a school that was closing and asked if anyone wanted one. I jumped on it, but fully prepared for it to be well-used and out-of-date, but functional and fun. BUT, it's brand spanking new, 6.5 feet long, just gorgeous! The kids and Rudi will have a blast with it!

Here's a link for the map from the company that made it:
http://www.nystromnet.com/index.cfm?fa=Products.Product&CATEGORY_ID=1&CHILD_ID=448&PRODUCT_ID=551
It retails for $700 and I got it FREE!!

Both girls were so thrilled to go to swim lessons! Look how happy they were when we got there!





Then lessons started (Riley did REALLY well!):






Guess who withdrew from swimming lessons? Of course, she was in level 1 last year, so I put her in level 2 this year and after getting dunked several times, she had had it. She did last the whole lesson, though, so at least she tried!

I simply cannot wait to get started on another one for Avery!

The girls wanted a scavenger hunt for their easter baskets, so I had to leave clues all around the house for them LOL! They had a lot of fun!

I got this weaving loom for Riley and she spends HOURS working on it. Who knew she could do anything for that long?

Lots of them! Two-and-a-half dozen!! Holy cow, our house stinks like hardboiled eggs. First we dyed 18 eggs, then later that same day, dyed 12 more! Those girls LOVED dyeing eggs. Eating them, not so much. My cholesterol this time of year probably isn't so hot LOL!

Dude, I even edited out the nasty leash-wound on Riley's neck. Sweet. Gotta love iPhoto!

Riley lost her top tooth on April 1st!! (She got snagged on the dog leash a couple nights ago, hence the nasty neck wound. We weren't strangling her, promise!)

I forgot to post about this, and didn't realize it until I downloaded the pictures from my camera!

We took advantage of the warm weather and went to Cheyenne Mountain State Park. We hadn't been there in about a year, and it was under construction still last time we went. Last time, Avery was TERRIFIED of the bears and mountain lions and snakes in the park. This time, we kept it mum and didn't tell her LOL!

Avery fell asleep in the car on the way there, so I carried her for the first little bit of our hike. I didn't bring my "good" carriers (actually, they're crumpled up in the bottom of the hamper waiting to be washed) so I used my Scandi-inspired carrier (the construction and accompanying tutorial of which I posted on thebabywearer.com and got me in trouble with the woman who make the "real" scandi carriers and charges $300+ for them LOL). Anyway, not as supportive as my normal carriers. Because really, who wants to be woken up from a nap and immediately be made to walk through the woods? As soon as Avery realized that there were plenitudes of acorns to be had, she immediately wanted to walk and collect. She kept walking, then said "Can you believe that I don't like to be carried anymore?" Ugh, another milestone gone by the way-side!

Avery actually hiked! This is the child who NEVER walks ANYWHERE, EVER!! I got a lot of pictures of her simply walking. Rudi thought I was nuts! But seriously, she never walks and she loved the hike and asked to go back soon. Sweet!

Oh, a funny thing. Avery "led" through most of the hike, which wasn't a problem until the very end when Riley and Avery were fighting over it. So I tried to make it fun by faking them out and pretending I would overtake them. One person would run in front, then another, and so on. I finally broke into a run and passed them all. Avery said "ha, ha, Mom, that's the first time I seen you run! Ha ha!" She's probably right...