Riley and Avery

Fire engine!:



Riley wanted to ride the mechanical bull. She did great, although she was a little nervous about the being thrown off part. She was pep-talking herself, saying "Stick! Stick! Stick to it like a tree frog!" (you can hear her if you listen carefully!)

We had to go to Walmart today. HAD to, although we didn't want to. We needed camping stuff, and are on a budget...The older woman in front of me in line said "What is her name?" indicating Avery. I said (obvioulsy), "Avery." She said, "She is beautiful." Why the hell to people think it's okay to repeatedly point out Avery's looks and ignore Riley's? Why? Avery happens to have other attributes other than her looks. And Riley will grow into her looks in an astonishing way. Mark my words!

Saturday was Riley's last ice skating lesson. Thank goodness. She wasn't enjoying it at all and couldn't even muster up enough enthusiasm to attempt to do what the teacher was asking her. I know she knew all the stuff, because this was a repeat class for her, one she already passed. The only reason she was in this class was to be with Caoimhe. Needless to say, she was the only one in the class not to pass, and although she noticed this, she didn't care in the least, which is unusual for Riley. Although she showed early promise, ice skating is just not for her. I'm proud of her for sticking it out even though she didn't like it.

Riley's Kindergarten graduation was on Wednesday. It was a fun time for all. I was really thankful for all the families that showed up even though only two kids were graduating. Kind of makes me feel bad for never attending any of the three graduations at the school before my kid graduated. Riley was super-tired and yawned throughout the ceremony.

After the ceremony, everyone gathered for snacks. Riley just broke down and cried uncontrollably, like her heart was breaking saying that she didn't want to leave the school. I don't think she quite understood that Kindergarten is only one year, since she had three years of preschool there. Rae said that she had never had a child react so strongly. Of course, Riley's been at that school for most of her life, literally. Then, five minutes after she managed to stop crying, she would start all over again. I took pictures of her with each of her teachers to frame for her, and arranged for pen pals.

I was in charge of taking the video, and Rudi took pictures. I did snap a few pictures between videos, but Rudi took the bulk of them. I haven't looked at the pictures on his camera yet, so I may have more to post later!

I was folding laundry, and I overhear Riley and Avery having a conversation. I didn't catch the beginning, and couldn't get the info out of Riley after it was all said and done:
Riley: You need to be in love with a boy first.
Avery: I'm in love with two boys.
Riley: Who?
Avery: Matthew and Grandpa.
Riley: You can't pick Matthew, I already picked him.
Avery: But you already have too many.
Riley: I know, I'm in love with three boys.
Avery: Who?
Riley: Matthew, Carlos, and Mr. Rob (Mr. Rob is Ms. Rae's husband!)

So, my question is: Is there a place I cay buy a pre-cut Rapunzel tower kit or something? But this one needs to be "new and improved" so not even princes can get in...

Those pictures are pretty much in reverse order. Oh, well. The Kindergarten camping trip was last night. It was a lot of fun. Only two Kindergarteners this year! All four of us came, and Taryn's grandfather brought her (I didn't think her mother was the camping type!), and Rae and her husband were there. I think Rudi was relieved that he wasn't the only dude there. The campground was not too far away, just in Woodland Park. But oh, my, it was WINDY! We thought this would be a test run for our larger family tent with vestibule, but it was so windy we couldn't even get a good look at the tent to figure out where everything was and how to put it together. I mean, the think was flying into the air like a parachute! Beyond windy! Luckily, Rudi also had a 3-man tent in the trunk for when he goes camping solo, and we put that up with no problems since it is a simple dome tent. We survived the whole experience in good humor and with our marriage intact, which is saying something for anyone who knows Rudi!

The wind prevented us from having a camp fire that night, so everyone roasted hot dogs over the stove instead, and later marshmallows for s'mores. We all sat around the fire ring anyway, chatting.

The night was pretty cold. The girls each have their own sleeping bag, and Riley slept like a rock all night long. I don't think she even moved! Lola slept in the foot of my sleeping bag, so she kept my feet warm. Avery was in her own bag, but being in separate bags made the snuggling she's used to impossible, so sometime in the middle of the night she migrated to my sleeping bag. It was getting tight in there with Avery, Lola, and me in one bag! I should have gotten the family sleeping bag that I was *this close* to getting instead of buying each of the girls a bag. Lesson learned.

For some reason Rudi and Taryn's grandfather got up early and built a campfire. I'm pretty sure Taryn's grandfather knew what time it was, but I'm pretty sure Rudi didn't because there is no way that he would get up voluntarily at 7am. Knowing that, I got up a a short time later, thinking it was later than it was. Riley got up with me, and Avery, Taryn, Rae and her husband continued to sleep (like normal people!). We chilled around the fire until everyone was up and then we had breakfast. We chilled some more, waiting for it to warm up (at least the wind had stopped!). Then we took a short drive (about a mile) to Manitou Lake.

We took a leisurely stroll around Manitou Lake, which was beautiful with Pikes Peak in the background.

I can't believe that Riley is graduating Kindergarten on Wednesday! I always thought that preschool, Kindergarten, 5th grade, and 8th grade graduations were stupid, but I have to admit that this is hitting me pretty hard. That, coupled with all the teeth that Riley has lost, make me realize that she is growing up! I'll have lots of picture and video on Wednesday!

So, I did blog about the car and the draining battery thing, right? Well, a couple days after getting the new battery, I noticed that as I was getting out of the car the door chime went off as if the key was still in the ignition. I put the key back in and pulled it out again and it stopped. That led me to believe that the ignition wasn't turning off fully. Hmmmm. So, we made an appointment with Steve Mills and I told them that obviously the alternator needed to be checked, but also told them that, for what it's worth, I thought it had something to do with the ignition and described the problem. It took them all day to find the cause (as we're thinking, doh, labor will cost a ton!) but they found two switches in the engine that weren't shutting off properly, including the ignition switch. Go, me! And the bill came to only $86! Yee hah! Not too shabby.

So, the girl who made an ill-advised attempt at beating Riley up last summer is now Riley's best friend. Seems that the girl's parents were fighting a lot last summer, and that on top of a military move...She seems to be a pretty good friend to Riley this summer, so I hope it continues. One little girl told a lie about Riley (that Riley grabbed her by the shirt and threw her on the ground, totally untrue) and Paige has been the only kid to stick up for Riley. Kids are so strange!

And because I couldn't find a relevant picture, here are pictures of Lola after burrowing in Rudi's sweatshirt and getting stuck in the arm: (she was quite embarrassed!)



And a PSA about dogs: We live in a very dog-filled neighborhood. I would say that seriously half of the homes have at least one dog. There are over 80 units here, so let's just say 40 dogs. Heck, let's just low-ball it and say 30. Of those, only TWO, Gemini and Lola, get their recommended allowance of daily walks. About a handful get one walk every day, two to four dogs to be exact. The others are never seen and are never walked. How said is that? A couple dogs are tethered outside on a 5ft lead. Some are restricted to the back porch, including some really really large dogs (think malamutes and great danes). Others appear to live in the garage, as the door will be cracked just a couple inches and the way Lola sniffs the door, leads me to believe that a dog lives mainly in the garages. Why get a dog if you can't care for it properly? In very horrible terrible no-good weather, dead of winter, or in the down-pours of spring, Lola still gets AT LEAST 3-4 walks a day. In fabulous weather, she gets 6-8 walks a day (and I mean WALKS, not just let out front), especially if she hears her BFF Gemini outside and even though she doesn't have to "go" she wants to socialize. At least two of the walks will be longer than 30 minutes, the others around 10-15 if it's already dark or bad weather. Sure, maybe I over-do it, but dogs need to be out more than once a day, right? I mean, where do these dogs poop who are NEVER taken for walks or even let outside? Do they just let them poop on the back porch and then they pick up the poop? Or do they poop in the garage? That's just nasty!

A post from Tuesday that is really old, so I'm letting it go...


I had Riley's conference today. She's obviously doing well. Nothing that I didn't really know, except what Rae was saying (coupled with reading my first-ever parenting book "Raising Your Spirited Child") made me realize just how similar Riley and I are. Perhaps that's why we butt heads so much. Not really a surprise, is it?

She is well into the first grade curriculum for reading, closer to second grade. She really can read everything and anything. She is finally using context clues to figure out words she doesn't know. The only problem she has is not picking books that are challenging enough. She gets too comfortable.

Riley's math is interesting. She has my issues. Our long-term memory is detailed and infinite, but short-term memory is lacking. I have never been able to memorize things. I still don't know what 8 x 7 is without really thinking about it. I have to do (8 x 3) + (8 x 4) even today! How lame is that? Rae said that she appears so used to absorbing information without effort, that the memorization involved in math is not easy for her. This is my same issue. I enjoy math, and I am even marginally good at it, but if I don't understand it, I will never get it. I do algebra and geometry often in everyday life, but it's concrete for me. Calculus? Most college professors (and I should know, I had FOUR college calculus professors!!) can't adequately explain those ideas, so I have no hope of permanently learning them. None!

We've renewed our pursuit of Singapore math. I had to buy the second grade curriculum because the first grade wasn't difficult enough. I can't even express how much it helps that Riley can now read the directions for the activities herself! We are still going through the first grade curriculum, just for continuity, but she's doing 10-15 activities at a sitting and stops only after I make her. It's also totally freaking awesome that I can buy the Singapore math stuff at Borders, with a coupon. Not like it's expensive in the first place, but every little thing helps, right? Singapore math is actually quite similar to Montessori math, so it's not foreign to Riley at all.

We were supposed to go to the zoo for Mother's Day, but I hadn't been feeling all that well for several days, so we headed to the park for a few hours instead. Rudi had bought the girls some kites that didn't really hold up well at all, but Riley had fun trying really hard to get it to fly. Avery's kite tore within a minute, but luckily she was diverted by the huge field of dandelions. Tree-climbing was the activity of the day, both Riley and Avery climbing pretty high. Avery, for being such a girly-girl, sure likes climbing trees!