I tagged along on the girls' field trip last week to see Little Red Riding Hood and The Three Little Pigs performed at UK (that would be the University of Kentucky). It was a wonderful performance and the hundreds of elementary school children in the theater loved it.
The Big Bad Wolf had no luck with Red so he went looking for something else to eat. (Enter The Three Little Pigs)
Goldilocks made an appearance too, not sure what that was about.
I was at a client's house a couple of weeks ago and noticed their kids were playing with these blocks that I remember playing with when I was a child, but they were way cooler than the set I had (especially since half of mine had been chewed on by our dog). I couldn't even remember the name of the blocks but I asked my clients and of course found them on Amazon (love that website). These are so great for sensory play. It's amazing to me how many toys from days gone by were really good for kids with sensory issues.
I bought a box and put the blocks in a bucket and just left them in the living room. It didn't take long for my kids to find them and dig the box out of the recycle bin to see what in the world you do with these things.
Love this picture-Chloe's ship is attacking Essie's ship
Essie & her robot
AJ & his spaceship
No idea what this is but its cool
You'll notice from all the different outfits that my kids have played with these for days. Love it!
When we bought the ducks, the agreement was I would only keep 5 females, since the reason we got them was for eggs. Well, the day finally came when my friend came to pick up the other 10. We first had to divide them by gender. Do you know how to tell the difference between a drake and a duck? My girls do!
You can hear the duck in the background because they were not happy to be separated from their friends.
Essie helped put twisty ties (the poor man's leg band) on the drakes
YAY, a duck...how can I tell?
Packed up and ready to go
And then there were 5
They've been a bit shell shocked today. I'm sure the hawk attack didn't help. I guess when you reduce a flock by 2/3, the hawks find it much more appealing. I was outside at the time and saw it swoop and then fly over my head. I heard the ducks quacking so I ran to the garden and there were feathers flying. The hawk was the same size as the ducks so I'm assuming that was the reason I still have 5. One of the ducks seemed a bit ruffled but no blood so no one is the worse for wear. I'm shocked a hawk would go after an almost fully grown duck. Ducks grow to 90% of the adult size in the first 8 weeks of life, which for these ducks will be Monday. It's been crazy to see how fast they have grown. They don't usually start laying eggs until 17-20 weeks so we still have a bit to go on that front. The finale count for those wondering was 8 females and 7 males.
We received a love note tonight from our daughter Essie. She even made an envelope to put it in. Warmed my heart so much, I just had to share it. She has become so much more expressive with her love for us in the last few weeks. I think the fact that she has now been with us longer than she was without us has made all the difference for her. Reciprocated love is such a reward for adoptive parents and something I do not take for granted.
The kids' school hosted an Art Gallery tonight to exhibit the various art projects that all the children have been working on this semester. I think we may have a couple of budding artists in the family!
Chloe's leaf is next to her left ear; Essie's leaf is next to her left hand
On Friday, we celebrated the girls' 4th Gotcha Day. We cannot believe it has been 4 years since we made the long voyage to Ethiopia to welcome Essie & Chloe into our family. If you want to walk down memory lane and read about our first days together, click here.
March 8, 2009
We celebrated with Chinese food (the girls' favorite) and a cake
The ducklings had some special visitors last weekend, our friends the Proctor family. Kenny (pictured below) is in the same class as the girls this year and we've enjoyed getting to know the whole family more. The family had some wilty lettuce to share with the ducklings, which they greatly enjoyed.
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