Happy Valentines Day!!!

Happy Valentines Day everyone! Lots of love from Cameron, Maia and Ella Rose.

Look what we got for Valentines Day! Teddies and chocolate, and lots and lots of hugs and kisses. 

Cameron carefully writing each of the names on his list on a Valentine. 

Concentrating really hard - making sure she doesn't miss any of her little friends! 

Maia and Ella making Valentines for their class. Of course, Maia had to stop and pose for the camera! 

Cameron, Ella and Maia with four sibling tigers at Cat Tales zoological park. The tigers are part of a study on how these animals function when living together. 

Cat Tales

We had a really great Sunday outing today. A few months ago, we got some tickets to a zoological park in Spokane, and decided after all the sickies that have been in our house lately, it was time to get out of the house and get some fresh air. So we packed up our coats and hats and hit the road.
The park was lots of fun. It's a zoo just for cats, with a big variety of lots of different kinds. There were pumas and tigers, lions and even house cats! We checked them all out twice, just for good measure. Most of the cats there were rescues from people who thought they could have these big cats for pets, and we heard all about them. Really interesting and fun.
At the end of the tour, there was a petting zoo with chickens, goats, geese, rabbits and other animals that you could check out, pet and even feed! Surprisingly, it was Ella who was the most into feeding the animals. She made her little 25 cent cup of feed go a LONG way, and she had all kinds of animals eating right out of her hand. Everyone had a great time, and we were thoroughly worn out when we got home!

If you would like to check the park out, you can find their website at: http://www.cattales.org

January

Well, January was sort of a slow month around here. Everyone was sick (yes, everyone). Luckily they mostly took turns, but Monday there were three sickies in the house! Cameron missed two and a half days of school, Ella missed two days...it's been a rough bug to get out of everyone's system! Things are looking up, though. Ella has a cough hanging on, but aside from that, everyone seems to be doing better.

*knock on wood*

Maia had her first slumber party last weekend - one girlfriend for one night. And our house is still standing. It went pretty well, in fact, and tomorrow night she is spending the night at the friend's house. Much luck to her parents. *grin* Hard to believe she's growing up so fast - practically a teenager already! (And if you ask her, it's right around the corner.)

Cameron has been learning all kinds of fun new things in math, has moved up in reading groups, and generally been advancing really well. He's really quite the young man, even looking out for his sisters (when he's in the mood to). He loves Cub Scouts, and spends lots of time hanging out with his friends or racking up high scores on his new game boy.

Ella is really enjoying pre-school. She likes to check the calendar ahead of time to see what she'll be learning about so she can be prepared! She's not been feeling great, with a cold and other sickies that have been hanging on to her little body awfully hard, but she's been to the clinic a few times, and she's getting a handle on it. It's rough to be small!

Well - I suppose that is an update for now. Long distance hugs for everyone!

Pinewood Derby

Cameron has been very excited about his first Cub Scout pinewood derby - and tonight didn't disappoint. He got to race in two heats, and even though his car came in second in both, he had fun. The car was his own creation - painted with the number of his favorite race car driver, Dale Earnhardt. It had blue striping and numbering, and yellow and red flames on the side. The car ended up being way too light and he had to hot glue a bunch of quarters to the bottom!

It was a great time, he got a ribbon, which he was excited about, and he's looking forward to next year.

Cameron lining up his car for the second heat. 

A view from above the car Cameron made (and painted) for the Pinewood Derby. 

A rear view of the car... 

Ella wanted to share this picture of her and the "poodle purse" she got for Christmas. :) 

We came back from Arizona to a little snow, then it just started in. And it snowed and snowed and snowed...here's our swing set during a break in the storm! 

On our way back from Christmas in Arizona, we checked out the Grand Canyon. It was SO big and SO beautiful! 

We got beautiful sweaters from Gran for Christmas - don't we look cute!?!? 

Maia singing with her classmates at the Christmas program. 

Christmas Program

Cameron and Maia's school put on a Christmas program this year - and they did a great job singing their songs!

Cameron's class sang "Feliz Navidad" and "I ain't getting nuttin for Christmas."

Maia's class wore cute little reindeer hats and sang "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" and sang a song about Santa, complete with sign language, to the tune of "Bingo."

"He slides down the chimney with a pack on his back, and Santa is his name-o. S,A,N,T,A, S,A,N,T,A, S,A,N,T,A, and Santa is his name-o!"

School conferences

Cameron and Maia's school had school conferences yesterday, and they are both doing SO well!

Cameron, Mr. First Grade, struggled a bit at the beginning of the school year with some behavior issues, but he seems to have gotten past them, and is doing super well in school. His teacher says he loves to be the classroom helper, and does a great job with it. He is becoming quite the reader, and is reading with the advanced group in his class so he doesn't get bored. He scored in the 94th percentile on a reading test his class took recently, and he continues to excel.

Math is progressing very well for him, too, and he is really enjoying it. We're working on numbers some, because as he learns he is still writing some of them backwards, but he learns so fast! He's doing a great job. His teacher is very very proud of him, and so are we.

The big Kindergarten Maia also got rave reviews from her teacher. She is in the top fourth of her class, and her group is going through the reading lessons splendidly. She loves school, and has a great attitude. She got great marks across the board.

Maia's teacher sent home some worksheets so she can work on her letters and sounds, and she really enjoys practicing and doing her homework. She's a great little reader, and is picking everything up quickly.

They're growing up so fast!

An ear for music

Ella is advancing so quickly, we've been looking for some activities to keep her active and interested. Monday she started taking piano lessons, which she loved instantly. She spent the rest of the day counting her fingers, and practicing telling us which ones were which.

She loves her teacher, who is very patient and very sweet. As soon as she came home from her lesson, she had to draw her teacher a picture, and she can't wait to go back next Monday! We got her a keyboard for practicing on, and if she keeps enjoying her lessons as much as she enjoyed the first one, we will start to look for a piano for her.