"Mini" Field Trip Day!

At our best attempt to reinforce appropriate behavior at school, we decided to give the koops a sticker chart and prompt reward without any delay! It's hard to keep up with this since we were busy to begin with, but I like that we're doing it anyways.

3 stickers and she gets to choose the field trip we take that next day.
As we were brainstorming on the possibilities of all the things we could do, Kiran's idea for her first was going to China. Given that suggestion I decided to change the name to MINI-field trip. We just can't go to China on any given wednesday .....so she can learn more about the origins Kung-Fu Panda:-)

Here is Kiran at brunch to start the day off right! We had veggie burgers and acorn squash at Ziggy's Health Grill.


And here we are just before heading to our first mini-field trip! We went to see Coraline in the movie theaters - just us girls. Then we met the boys at Marble Slab for some rediculous looking ice cream. Her strawberry with sprinkles was very loud, but it really did taste great. poor me stuck with sugar-free frozen yogurt. poor kiran, poor daddy, and poor oliver had to put up with me sneaking bites of theirs to fulfill my appetite for something better.

JONI CLEVELANDS' BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday Mom!!
Happy Birthday Mom!!
Happy Birthday Mom!!
Happy Birthday Mom!!
Happy Birthday Mom!!
Happy Birthday Mom!!
Happy Birthday Mom!!
Happy Birthday Mom!!
Happy Birthday Mom!!
Happy Birthday Mom!!
Happy Birthday Mom!!
Happy Birthday Mom!!
Happy Birthday Mom!!
Happy Birthday Mom!!
Happy Birthday Mom!!
Happy Birthday Mom!!
Happy Birthday Mom!!
Happy Birthday Mom!!
Happy Birthday Mom!!
Happy Birthday Mom!!

love this

Toddlers live large, play hard, and love big. When they get upset, they can start acting irrationally, just like adults do. And they often use emotional outbursts to clear out the bad feelings — which may feel good to them but isn't always easy for you. Before losing your cool, remember that your child's lack of self-control is normal and that he'll eventually learn what's socially acceptable by the way you and others react to his antics. Try to respond calmly and enforce the limits you've set so things don't escalate.

Hi everyone!

Each day the kids accomplish something great. That sounds like a good personal goal to tackle myself. Today my coops climbed the fence! These are small steps towards being more confidence and um....enhancing those gross motor skills. In the past she was behind in the balancing and coordination areas so it's cute to see her excited about climbing trees and fences. I remember the first few times she did this during soccer practice and neither I nor daddy could rush her down!

first haircut

if i don't do this soon, then i will end up torturing him with ponytails just to keep the hair out of his face and to pick that mullet up off of his neck. the fro is pretty adorable when he wakes up from a sweaty nap, though.

End of the road

but not the end of the world at least.
cute pic! <3

scribble day

we all know kiran has a real gift for art. what i'm about to show you is her other enormously inspired and creative side. she thinks like no other 4 year old, and possibly like no other adult or being on the planet.
i'll have to post her current real ability to produce art soon. art with color that takes concentration and skill. maybe i'll bring in that peacock or something. this piece is just a scribble to "get something out" as all artists need to do, right?! LOL.
this is a piece called ....GroceryCartWarning.....


Naturally, her little brother got the artistic gene from her. His favorite thing since 8 or 9 months has been balloons, or boon boon. He even used to call them "gobo's" which is very close to the spanish translation "globo". And maybe 5 times we heard a "ba-oon" but we all thought "boon-boon" was cuter and reinforced that.
So, after one of us would illustrate the round part and he could identify what it is, he would attach the ribbon right where it goes and identify that it's a "boon-boon".
Cutest ever!