Bats, 2-year olds, and Rocks, Oh my!

Halloween is upon us and the girls have been busy. Megan spent this past Sunday afternoon over at her friend Jaclyn's house. They made cute little Halloween decorations. This is my favorite. They are decorating some of my kitchen cabinet knobs--out of the reach of little two year old hands.


This coming weekend, we are traveling to Roscoe to help celebrate Julia's birthday. We are planning to stay the evening and attend the Highland Halloween Carnival. I'm pretty sure the last year I went was when I was a senior in High School. It will be good to go home again and see some people, friends, and teachers I haven't seen a while.

Madelyn has been a busy little girl herself. I thought I would let you all know what she does while sister is away at school.

She goes through different movie phases. For a while, her favorite movie was Space Jam. She always asked to watch it. The cutest was hearing her say "Michael Jordan." She was always asking me who that was--the guy in the movie. I finally told her. And she still remembers.

Now her favorite movie is Shrek. She likes to dance to all the great music in the movie. The green hat on her head is a toy pea pod. She likes to take the peas out and wear the pod while she dances. It makes me laugh every time.





Other parts of the day are spent coloring. She is getting better about trying to color objects on the page rather than just scribbling all over. It is amazing to watch little ones develop and learn. She has just about mastered knowing all the basic colors.








Finally, this is what Madelyn usually does to Megan's room at least once a day. She loves playing in there while big sister is away. Of course mom has to clean most of it up before Megan gets home--with Madelyn's help. Otherwise I have a hard time getting Megan to clean her room before bedtime. She informs me that she didn't make the mess, and rightfully so.



Megan and her daddy have been working on identifying rocks in their rock collections. Megan has always been fascinated with rocks. So Shawn and I agreed to take this opportunity to help her learn more about them. We bought her a collection of about 15 rocks. They came in a storage box, but were not labeled. It also came with a little book to help identify the specimens. And of course Shawn has his books and library books to help in the process. She has identified gypsum rosette, sandstone, hematite, and calcite.

When appropriate, Shawn throws in whether the rocks are igneous, sedimentary, or metamorphic. She's also learning about their luster, hardness, cleavage, and streak. It's all so very interesting--even to a 32 year old CPA.

That should catch you up on what's been going on around here. Hope you all have a great rest of the week.

Future basketball star?

Megan had her PIPs (Players in Progress) basketball camp this past Saturday. I think she had a good time. It was difficult to judge her reaction to it. She is not always geared up about starting something new that she doesn't already know how to do.

Shawn and I wanted her to do this for a couple of reasons. First, to introduce her to a sport we know she could one day be good at if she practices hard. The opportunities around here for other things such as dance, gymnastics, piano, etc... are few and far between, even though she seems to be more geared for activities such as these. Second, we wanted her to have something in her little world to be responsible for. Megan has a lazy gene. And the idea of having weekly practices is not appealing to her. I think that is why she informed me Saturday night before bed that she didn't like PIPs. She thought it was a one day thing and that was it. Third, I ate, slept, and breathed basketball when I was in high school. I guess I just want to live vicariously through my daughter. And hey, it sure beats playing soccer and softball. But if this doesn't work out, she can always become a hairdresser. Although Madelyn will probably not be her first customer. (If I can get Madelyn's hair fixed and looking normal again I might can laugh about the fact that Megan decided to take it upon herself to give her sister a haircut.)
The funniest part of camp was when they were sizing Megan for shorts and a shirt. The lady held up the smallest pair of shorts to her and then turned around and asked another lady if they had any extra smalls. The outfit just hangs all over her. It makes some of the skills she has to do a little more challenging.

But I'll be there to practice with her. I broke down and got a new basketball just for the occasion. I think its going to be lots of fun and maybe Megan will have fun too.

For the Moms

My daughter made me do it!

As Megan was bathing last night, she told me she wanted her hair cut to here and placed her hand at the middle part of her neck. I was stunned at first. You see, Megan has always talked about having long hair. But sadly, she has been blessed with her mommy's hair. It just does not grow very fast and when it does grow, it does not look healthy. But we have managed.

I told her it may be a while before I could get her to Kim. Kim is the only person I trust anymore to cut mine or my children's hair. She also does my mom's. (Side note: Shawn taught Kim in high school when we lived in Roscoe. Kinda makes me feel old.) Megan was not pleased with that response. So she replies, "Mom, you can cut it." At first I said no. But then I gave in. It probably needs some touching up, but I think it looks adorable. Shawn was not so eager to offer a favorable comment. Now all his girls have short(er) hair. Sorry, it's just a lot easier on the mommy this way.

Enjoy!