Saturday, November 20, 2010

Meadowlark - Soup and Song Day

Gracyn has school off all next week, so her class put on a little "Soup and Song" day for the parents on Friday. It was so cute. The kids each brought a vegetable to school that morning and they made the soup to share with the families. They made decorations with leaves covered in glitter and had been practicing songs for the last few weeks to sign to us. Below are a few pictures and a video to enjoy.






Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Weekend Guests

Wow, what a busy weekend at the Ard household. We kicked off the long weekend by bringing the Gracyn's preschool class pets home. Two Guinea Pigs, Kipling and Dolly came to stay with use for the weekend. The kids LOVED these little animals. They stayed in Gracyn's room, we fed them fruits and veggie, and took them out quite often to play. Our poor dog, Macie, went crazy during their visit. She loved coming into Gracyn's room to watch the Guinea Pigs in the cage but didn't understand why she wasn't allowed to play with them. Michael would pull a char over to Gracyn's dresser and talk in a high pitch to them "Hi, A-pigs." So cute! Both the kids were a little sad to see them go back to preschool.

Our other visitors ( not pictured below ) were 40 dungeness crabs. Dave went out crabbing with 4 friends Saturday morning right outside the Golden Gate Bridge. They came home with 10 a piece (the max you can take during crab season.) I took the kids to Martinez, CA to the docks to see the big cooler full of these crabs. They were huge. I wish I had taken my camera with me. Not long after those poor little guys were cooked in boiling water. 15 of them made them home to our house and we had a crab feed with Dave's buddies families Sunday night.

Now to our next visitor, which is still here....... Gracyn found a preying mantis on Sunday afternoon in our driveway. They are the most amazing looking creatures. We put it in a jar and she took it to school to show all of her classmates. Gracyn couldn't figure out what to name it because we didn't know if it is a boy or a girl. We did a little research on this insect and found out that many people keep them as pets! Yikes...... what should we do? Monday afternoon I went to the pet store and bought some small crickets so the poor thing could eat. I spoke with the pet shop owner and she told me that if we keep it more than 3 days it is ours! If you keep them much longer they can't survive in the wild when you let them go. So, we decided we should let it go the following day. Gracyn wanted the little bug to sleep in her room last night so it did. In the morning I went in to see if t had ate the crickets we put it. It sure did and left us a surprise as well........................

Hanging from the stick in it's cage it an egg sack. Yes, that's right we are expecting 100-200 baby preying mantis!!!!!! Lovely.




Gracyn, Gracyn, Gracyn

Just a little update on our sweet 4 year old princess................
So, as most of you know Gracyn is about as girly as a little girl can get. She will ONLY wear dresses. Everyone one in a while she will wear a skirt and I can get her to wear tights or leggings now that it is colder. If it were up to her she would wear her Christmas or Easter dress everyday. She also insists on wearing a bun or some other fancy hairdo to dance class. She doesn't understand why a 4 year old can wear lipstick to preschool. She has told me things like "Mommy, I know I don't want to play soccer because you have to wear a shirt. Can't you wear a dress when you play soccer?" I guess tennis may have to be her sport! The other day we were getting ready to go to a birthday party. We picked her outfit out and she was getting read to get dressed then she said "Mommy I'll be right back I need to put some party underpants on too!" Huh? I have tried and tried to explain to her that beauty come from the inside. That she is such a beautiful little girl because she is kind, and loving, and shares not because of her purple and pink flower dress with ruffles. I pray she is understanding this message, at least a little or WOW I am in for it when she is a teen.

Gracyn is such a smart little girl too. She loves to read and is writing her name. We just finished our first chapter book together, Charlotte's Web. She loved reading and it couldn't wait for the next chapter every night. Right now we are reading "Little House on the Prairie." Because of these smarts, she is quite the negotiator. She tried to convince me a few weeks ago that she needed dessert. It sounded something like this. "Mommy, I am pretty full. The side of my stomach that is for dinner and for finishing my broccoli has no room left in it. I can't eat any more. This side of my stomach, for dessert, has plenty of room so I know I have room for dessert."

She is definitely our little sugar and spice girl. She can be so sweet it makes your heart melt and then 2 seconds later the sassy turns on. She rolls her eyes and makes little faces. It's amazing how young little girls learn to turn on the charm to try to get their way. Again, I think I may need to start reading up on the teenage years!!! Prepare myself.

Monday, November 1, 2010

Happy Halloween!!!!!!

What a great Halloween weekend! The kids had so much fun this year. We had an event filled week.... a friend's Halloween play date, Gracyn's school parade, carving pumpkins, a Halloween pre-party at our house, and of course, Trick-or-treating!!!!

Gracyn was a princess this year. She definitely played the part too. She wanted make-up and her hair perfect. She even walked gracefully and posed for her pictures with her head tilted. Great Grandma Scherer made her beautiful costume and as usual she received so many compliments. Michael was a Tiger this year. He would make the cutest Roar!!!!!!! sound when you asked him what the tiger says. Our first party we went to the Monday before Halloween it took him only about 5 minutes to be completely covered in mud! Thankfully the costume washed up pretty well.

Gracyn was a pro a trick-or treating this year! We had about 20 kids that went out together and Gracyn was always one of the leaders of the pack, running as fast as she could to the next door. I guess she really got it this year. The faster you move means the more houses you hit which leads to lots and lots of candy! Smart Girl! She also realized that Mommy and Daddy sneak a few pieces out of her trick-or-treat bag from time to time! Oops. Michael on the other hand was historical this year. He would often just walk right in to whomever's house we were at. He was always the last to make it to the door and even left his bag in one of the houses! He sure did look cute though and he always said "thank you." My good boy!

Here are some photos from the week!

Michael trying to blow out the candles.

Princess Gracyn on the hunt for CANDY.

Michael taking a trick-or-treat break with his buddy Kendall.

Some of the kids from or Halloween party
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The kids with GG and Grandma Ard

Silly Tiger and Diva Princess

Gracyn and her best friend Avery at their Halloween parade at Meadowlark.

All the girls

Gracyn's class


Carving Pumpkins


Way to go Giants

Congratulations Giants!!!! 2010 World Series Champs!