All that Jazz

The first graders at Tyler's school put on a jazz, rock & roll, and soul show on Thursday. They performed twice during the day for the other grades at school and then did an evening performance for the parents. Each 1st grade class performed a different song. Tyler's class performed to Duke Ellington's "It Don't Mean a Thing" and Tyler danced along enthusiastically. Everyone danced and singing was optional as the original music was playing in the background. At the end of the show all of the 1st graders sang Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World". They all did a fantastic job! We were too far back in the cafeteria to get any good photos or videos of Tyler in action but thankfully the PTA recorded a video so we'll see how that turns out.

Tyler dressed and ready to go for the
evening performance.

Tyler Turned 7!

Tyler turned 7 on Wednesday! I told him I'm going to freeze him in time so he will stop growing up. Tyler declined picking a place to eat out for his birthday dinner and instead requested homemade waffles.

The Beaver State

Tyler has a cool electronic puzzle of the US that says the name of the state, the state's nickname, and the state capital each time you put in a piece. Tyler likes to put Texas in first since we live there. He likes to save Oregon for last since he was born there. Tyler has his stuffed beaver Vinny put in Oregon since it is the Beaver State. We bought Vinny years ago when Tyler was about 1-1/2 years old at the Crater Lake gift shop after seeing a beaver at Vidae Falls. We also talk about states where our relatives are from or live, especially California, Louisiana, Ohio, West Virginia, and Kentucky.

Soccer

The spring soccer season started yesterday and Tyler is loving it, especially since his team won their first game. I told Tyler to enjoy his white uniform because yesterday was the last day it would ever be so pristinely white.

Dancing

Daphne was in fine form at the grocery store the other day. She was running around everywhere and dancing. She insisted I take a video of her dance moves.

Musical Beds

Lately the kids have been climbing into our bed in the middle of the night and it is driving me CRAZY. Tyler in particular is going through a "scared-of-the-dark" phase. If he wakes up in the middle of the night he turns on a light trail (lamp on nightstand, his bedroom light, and both hallway lights) until he makes it into our bed. If he happens to not fall asleep while snuggling at bedtime, Tyler will sneak into our bed before we even go to bed. Now that he is close to 60 pounds he is not so easy to move!

Last night Tyler snuck into our bed and fell asleep long before
Michael and I went to bed. Since he was asleep on my side I
got in Tyler's bed (it is the most comfortable mattress in the
house!). This morning I found Daphne snuggled up to Tyler.
She probably thought she was snuggling up to me in the darkness.

Happy Birthday PawPaw!

My dad and Mary (and dog Jamie too) came into town yesterday and we celebrated my dad's birthday, which was a few days earlier. We took a nice afternoon walk and after dinner we taught Mary how to play Uno and she clobbered us!

To Nap or Not to Nap

Daphne is outgrowing naps and it has been a painful process. We have given up trying to make her take naps. I have laid in bed with her after reading books and I end up taking a nap and wake up 20-30 minutes later to find Daphne playing quietly on the other side of her room. Sometimes Daphne will fall asleep mid-afternoon on the floor or a couch or armchair. But often she is not napping at all. This has led to some very temperamental behavior! The only silver lining is that when Daphne does not nap, she is usually pretty tired at night and we can get her into bed earlier than she previously went to bed.

An impromptu afternoon nap

Daphne fell asleep on the floor in the evening
at a neighbor's party while watching movies.

Driveway Art

Tyler drew the lifecycle of a frog.

Daphne drew some sort of rainbow something.

Happy Valentine's Day

Boy Scouts Report to State Parade

Yesterday, was the Boy Scouts 67th annual Report to State parade. Cub scouts and boy scouts from all over Texas came to Austin to participate in the parade, which started on the Congress Street bridge and went through downtown to the capitol building. We walked in the parade with Tyler's pack, which represents all the dens in our area. It was a bit chilly (low 40s) while we waited in line for the parade to start. And of course Daphne told us her legs were tired right as we started walking and split her time riding on my shoulders and Michael's shoulders. Some of the other packs and troops had floats, such as a rocket ship from one of the Houston packs. One pack even had a DeLorean on a trailer. Daphne managed to get them to let her sit in the front seat briefly while we waited for the parade to start. There was also a rally on the steps of the capitol after the parade, including a speech from Chet Garner, from PBS's The Daytripper. Representatives from various councils actually went in to the capitol building to report on scout activities from the past year.

Tyler (on the left) and other pack members bringing up the rear.

At the capital after the parade

Resting tired legs

The Thinkery

Daphne and I spent some time at the Thinkery on Friday. It was such a nice day that we spent a good deal of our time at the Thinkery's outdoor play space.

Inside the new bee hive

Daphne convinced me to crawl in through the tiny opening

Pretending the tree branch was a horse

Building a bridge

Building a castle

Rainbow Dash

100th Day of School

Yesterday was the 100th day of school. The kids were encouraged to dress up as a 100-year old person. Tyler chose not to dress up but his teacher did some photo magic with all her students to show what they might look like at a much older age. Here is Tyler as an old man:

ER Visit

Daphne landed herself in the emergency room Sunday evening. As I was getting ready to dish up dinner, Daphne went into the bathroom to wash her hands. Then we heard a really loud crash and Daphne started wailing. Apparently Daphne fell off the bathroom stool while reaching for the hand towel. We are not sure what she hit her head on (the edge of the pedestal sink or the underside edge of the stool, but she had a cut on the back of her head that was bleeding pretty good. It was hard to get a good look at it because of all Daphne's hair and all the blood that comes with head wounds. We decided to take her to the ER to get it checked out. Thankfully the ER doctor examined Daphne's head and determined she did not need stitches or staples. One of the nurses washed the wound really well and applied Neosporin. Ironically, Daphne spent a good part of the afternoon climbing all kinds of stuff on the playground but it was the bathroom stool she had trouble with. I think she was tired (from lack of a nap and all the playground action) and just wasn't paying attention to her footing. We have revisited stool etiquette since the ER visit.

Daphne fell asleep while we were waiting
for her discharge papers around 9:30 pm.

To Nap or Not To Nap... That is the Question

Daphne is slowly outgrowing naps, which has led to much grumpiness and excessive tantrum throwing. Her teacher says she is still napping at school. Of course, when Daphne naps at school she doesn't seem very tired at bedtime. She is content to quietly play with her stuffed animals in bed so we're not really sure when she actually falls asleep. On her non-school days, Daphne adamantly fights naps and exclaims repeatedly, "I'm not sleepy!" I have tried our once tried-and-true routine of reading books and then snuggling in her bed, but usually I end up taking a nap and wake up to find Daphne playing quietly on the floor. I have decided it's not worth the fight and so I have been trying not to push the issue. When Daphne doesn't nap we just make sure to put her to bed early without telling her we are doing so because she is usually so tired that she's more than ready.