First Day of School

Gabi's 1st Day of Kindergarten
Gabi started Kindergarten last Thursday. I was up with the baby most of the night, so Michael got up with Gabi at 6:30 to give me an extra half-hour of rest. Gabi selected her Notre Dame shirt for the first day; that's our daughter!

Last week during quiet time, Gabi and I cut out pictures of healthy foods from the circulars. We talked about food groups, and Gabi glued the pictures on a chart. In the mornings, Gabi helps pack her lunch, making sure there is at least one item from each food group. This has been a fun activity for her.

Bella was also very excited for Gabi's first day of Kindergarten, so she jumped in a picture in front of the school.

Kindergarten Orientation
The day before school started, we went to a Kindergarten Orientation, with popsicles on the playground (in the very humid heat).

Gabi met her new teacher, Ms. Meredith.

Check out Gabi's new classroom - with lockers!

PreK-3 Orientation
Last Friday, Bella had a popsicle party one the playground to meet her teacher and classmates. Bella is in Ms. Laura's class, just like Gabi was two years ago. We love Ms. Laura!

Bella also had a chance to explore her new classroom.

Bella's 1st Day of PreK-3
Today was Annabelle's first day at the big-kid school! What a big day! She has been so excited, and it was a very fun morning.

Bella with her classmates Addie, Izzy, and Violet:

Summer 2010

Summer is now over, and school is beginning again. Here are pictures from our busy (and extremely hot!) summer.

Gabi's dance recital was in June this year. She loves performing on the big stage downtown! Gramma Jane and Grampa came to Little Rock to see Gabi dance.

Gabi is reading so well, it's hard to believe she hasn't even started Kindergarten. Here, she is reading Winnie The Pooh and Tigger, Too to Grampa.

For Daddy's birthday, I bought tickets to the Chris Tomlin and Toby Mac concert. We took Gabi with us, which she thought was a very special night out. My cousin Ryan came to visit us that weekend, so he join us, too.

A few weeks later, we invited Cousin Ryan to come back and help us hook up the dishwasher and garbage disposal as we finished our kitchen remodel. Then I took him downtown for a morning of fun, including running through the fountains.

We played hard that morning, and by lunchtime, Bella was exhausted, hungry, and begging for a nap. She did not want her picture taken, but I love this shot of her, anyway.

Of course, a kitchen remodel is a great source of giant boxes for play houses!

Our church sponsored a night at the local minor-league ballpark. That was Katarina's first baseball game! Here we are with Father Erik:

Gabi has numerous quiet-time activities to entertain herself while her little sisters nap in the afternoon. Here she is baking Playdoh cookies:

After watching Toy Story 3, Gabi hosted a tea party for Wuffel bear.

The girls and I took many trips to the swimming pool! Katarina usually napped in my arms in the water. Gabi took lessons and started swimming on her own. Bella likes to wear the water wings so she can "swim" in the big pool like a big girl.

This summer has been ridiculously hot, with highs reaching 106 to 109 on the hottest days, and heat indexes significantly above that. On such hot days, the indoor temperature in our house stayed in the upper 80s, even with the A/C running full time. With heat like this, we avoided too many non-pool outdoor activities. But as this picture on the carousel at the zoo shows, we did venture outside some.

Gabi participated in a soccer camp, and she seemed to enjoy it as long as she could sit on the sidelines to rest when she felt overheated.

The kids love playing at Lolo and Lola's house, as always. Here they are building monsters:

And, finally, here are some pictures of my growing baby! I have started putting her hair in a ponytail sometimes, which makes her look especially Asian.

Five-month-old Katarina giggles and squeals when we talk to her, and she grabs toys to put in her mouth or flap around. I love to listen to her coo, and she's even started babbling "Mama!" She is content to lie by herself with a few toys for short periods now. She rolls over from her back to her front, and she can even roll back sometimes. She is working on the balance necessary to sit up on her own.

Chinese Brush Painting

Last week, Gabi attended an Arts Camp at the local university, where she was able to select four art courses. One of the classes she chose was Chinese Brush Painting, which she loved. I was impressed with her work, so I scanned it to share.

Gabi painted a sitting panda:

A standing panda:

The numbers 1 through 10 (starting in the top right corner, going down the page, and then starting another column to the left from the top down):

Gabi's name in Chinese: (Daddy also tried this.)

A sitting bird:

More sitting birds (the instructor painted the blue one on the left) and some bamboo:

Chicks (on rice paper, which is more absorbent):

And a goldfish:

Her other classes last week were Art Sampler, Sculpture, and Musical Theatre/Dance. I'll share a few of her Art Sampler projects, too. First, this fruit bowl drawn with pastels, including a larger-than-life lime, a small lemon, and grapes:

Finally, Gabi's Australian aboriginal art:

All aboriginal drawings have a story behind them, and this is Gabi's story: "Once upon a time, there were two emus (left-hand side, middle and top) out at night under the stars (top center). They went looking for bush potatoes (bottom left) in Australia (outline), but a possum (right side, under the "T" in Australia) and a grub (bottom right) saw them and threw a boomerang (bottom center) at them. So they ran away. Eeeeeeee! The end."

Dentist

Annabelle was discharged from the ENT clinic just in time to be referred to another specialist - this time, a pediatric dentist with advanced training.

Dr. Mazurek was fabulous! I highly recommend him if you are in need of a pediatric dentist in Little Rock. He really made a game out of the entire visit, his office decoration held her interest, his prizes were fun-shaped molds to paint/color, and the staff was friendly and helpful. Above, Bella is smiling after her X-rays. Below, he is singing a fun song about each section of her teeth while "brushing" (and also keeping her mouth open to check her teeth).

Annabelle has a fused tooth on the bottom (a lateral incisor fused to a canine), and she's missing the other canine on the bottom, so all the bottom teeth are spread apart. (Reference this picture from Riverfest.) Her second molars are late in erupting (the first is starting to come in now), but X-rays show that they are all four present. On the top, there is a larger tooth where a lateral incisor ought to be, which grew in perpendicular but has straightened out somewhat, although it seems to have grown into her central tooth such that they are now probably fused (or possibly they were already). The X-rays show some other oddities in that area, but we'll just watch it and get a better X-ray when she's older to see how it's affecting the development of her adult teeth.

Annabelle has had various minor medical oddities: laryngomalacia (still present but asymptomatic); nasolacrimal duct obstruction (now corrected); sacral temple (harmless indentation in her skin at the bottom of her spinal cord - luckily not causing problems along the spina bifida spectrum!); umbilical hernia that resolved into an "outie" bellybutton; double hair swirl (almost looked like three swirls, which could have been indicative of a syndrome, so thankfully it wasn't!); geographic tongue (benign); and now these funky teeth. Fortunately, none of these issues seem to have caused her any problems.

We are glad to have a healthy "almost 3-year-old" (as she will tell you, if you ask her age).