Dallas Arboretum

The Dallas Arboretum is having dollar days until the end of August which means that each admission is only 1 dollar! So we took advantage of it this weekend.

The Arboretum is situated right next to White Rock Lake in Dallas. It has many different types of gardens and fountains.

The kids really liked the story village which was four houses constructed with a children's story in mind. There was a synopsis at each house that I read to the kids.

They also like the toad corner fountains.

My favorite was the waterfalls and large lily pad pond. 

I really enjoyed the gardens. We got there right when it opened at 9 am to try to beat the heat. We were there about 2 hours and that was plenty for us all. It was getting pretty warm, but I'd love to go back when it's cooler.

The kids' first week of school

The rest of the week went very well for the kids - and for Mommy too.

On the second day of school, the teachers wanted the kindergartners to walk down the hall by themselves to their classroom. This was a little scary for some. Many a little one got half way down the hall, lost his/her nerve and turned back towards Mommy and Daddy. Not my Payton. She psyched herself up for it and took off. She didn't even say good-bye. There was not looking back. She was off down the hall, put away her backpack and went into her room. This was a little traumatic for me. I got a little teary-eyed as I walked away from the school.

On Wednesday, before Payton could escape, I stopped her and said, 'You know you can give me a hug or at least say good-bye before you walk into school.' Payton sighed and said, 'Ok, Mo..um' You know the kind of way kids say it. It's not just Mom; it's Mau..um - a little drawn out and very sarcastic. She's too young to start this, isn't she?

Then on Friday, Payton decided she wanted to eat lunch at the cafeteria because they were serving pizza. They have a system established at Plano where you can pay online for their meals and according to Payton they have lunch cards that they use. So when she got home Friday, I asked how it went. She said it was good, but that they had a hard time finding her card. I understand this because our last name confuses people and filing systems. Are we under V or P? is the usual question. I asked if she said anything while they were searching for her card. She said no, that they eventually figured it out. Then she wanted to get milk, but didn't know which kind to get. I told her to ask someone which one is the white milk next time. But with all of that, she was rather pleased with herself and her lunch.

Ian's week was pretty uneventful. The teacher was really sweet and bought Star Wars stickers because she knew Ian liked them. Ian's snack on Wednesday was a little healthier - some type of cracker. But on Friday, it sounded like it was someone's birthday, so they had cookies for snack. Snack is a hot topic with Ian.

On Friday, the teacher was a little perplexed. She said Ian had a good day until 11:45 when she told everyone to clean up. All of a sudden Ian lost it and started crying. He continued to cry while cleaning up. He wouldn't tell Ms. Bella what was wrong. When I got him alone in the car, I asked him if he wanted to talk about it and he answered with an emphatic, 'NO.' He was almost asleep by the time we got home :)

On Wednesday, Daddy and I had the whole morning to ourselves :) It was like date night except in the morning.

On Friday, I had the whole morning to myself :) I did some grocery shopping and then went shopping for a swim suit.

It's going to be a good year.

Star Wars Mania

The kids in the family (including Scott) have had a touch of Star Wars-itis lately.

I think it all started with the Star Wars lego sets that Daddy brought home to build. The ATAT motorized walker is definitely one of the coolest so far.

Next came all the questions about the different ships and characters.

Then came the Star Wars t-shirts - one for each in the family. Notice the shirts in the movie.

Then we started watching some episodes of the Clone Wars series.

And finally, came the Star Wars shoes.

The masks came with the shoes.

First Day of School

Today was Payton and Ian's first day of school.

Payton is going to kindergarten. She was very excited and woke up ready to go. The whole family made the walk with her to school.

Her backpack was heavy because it had all her school supplies in it, but she wouldn't let me help. She carried it the whole way, saying, 'Mom, I'm fine. I can do it.'

'

Ian and Payton found her cubbie with her name tag. Then we left Payton reading a book.

No tears for anyone which was pretty amazing. I was pretty sure I was going to lose it sometime today.

Ian's going into preschool three times a week, 9 am to noon. Ian was excited; then he wasn't; then he was again. He was excited when we took Payton to school. Then right before we left the house, he whined, 'I don't want to go to school!' Then we talked about how it was okay to be nervous and scared. And I let him bring a toy. He chose his light saber which handily fit in a side pocket of his Star Wars backpack :) THEN he was ready to go. When I took him to the classroom, we went potty one more time, he hugged me goodbye and went straight away to playing.

This is when Mommy had 3 hours without kids, in the morning, for the first time in a long time. I wish I could say that I did something grand, exciting, and relaxing, but I had errands to run and things to do. BUT, I didn't have to worry about dragging unwilling kids along with me - that made the work easier :)

So I pick Ian up in the carpool lane. The teacher brings him to the car. Ian is all smiles. He's happy to see me. I'm happy to see him. The teacher said he did a great job. He got line leader today. And he was 'very good' at cleaning up. I'm thoroughly impressed with this last bit of information. I might have to use it when we are cleaning up at home.

The details from Ian's day are a little vague, but he got Cheetos! for snack and some type of good juice. He liked playing outside. He got to do music and the one song he knew was The Wheels on the Bus. He couldn't wait to tell Payton about his day.

When I went to pick up Payton it was, I kid you not, 106 degrees! We were wilting. Which made matters worse was I didn't know where to pick Payton up. After asking around, we were both relieved to find each other. Her teacher, Ms. Chiang, said she did great. Payton said she had fun and really liked her teacher and school, but details were not forth-coming. She did say that she didn't like the crackers they had at snack time and that she was REALLY hungry. And that she wants to eat the cafeteria food, only if they are serving pizza. She did say that she saw a kid take his straw and put milk on his corn. We both agreed this was the wrong thing to do, and it was gross. We talked about, you know, the important stuff. As to names of other kids in her class, she wasn't so sure about those.

The Maze

My dad has been working on building a maze across the street from his house for several years. It actually started out as a prayer labyrinth, but the kids don't understand that. They understand mazes. And that mazes are fun to run around.

 

The labyrinth is actually very impressive and looks particularly sharp this year because they've had good rain. If you walk the whole maze, you walk a mile. My dad planned it that way :)

But, Grandma, what's this?

Wow...look at those....

Ants! They're huge!

We're not sure we like them....

Meet George

He is the spider guarding my parents' front door.

 My dad thinks that George is one of the main reasons why his mosquito population is under control.

The abdomen on George is about the size of a quarter.

 

He likes mosquitoes - according to my kids who saw George devour one.

 I think we'll leave George alone.

Quick Trip to the Parents

Mom's birthday is August 21st. We weren't going to be able to be there then, so we went down to my parents' house a little early to celebrate.

While we were down, we went to the beach. We hadn't had a chance to go all summer, so I was excited to get the chance to. At first, both kids loved the waves and the water. We jumped waves and splashed around.

Then something disturbing must have happened to Ian because he decided he had had enough of the water and wouldn't go back in. So he subjected himself to sand castle building. I helped for a little while.

Then Ian was just done. He was hot (there wasn't much wind). And with him not wanting to go back in the water, we left after being there for about 2 hours. The rest of us really enjoyed the beach.

On the way home, we stopped at a souvenir shop. The kids were in awe of the sand castle sculpture in front of the store - it actually is pretty impressive.

The next day we visited Great Grandma Haug. Grandma Haug was impressed with how the kids are getting bigger and Ian is not so shy anymore. We had a very nice visit.

Grandma Haug's place is surrounded by fields. And one close to her had cotton, almost ready to pick. This is the first time the kids have ever seen a cotton field, or cotton pickers, or anything of the like. So we stopped on the way home from Grandma Haug's to pick some cotton.

At first the kids weren't so sure about stopping to pick some cotton.

And they were a little confused. They thought that people eat cotton. After a while they caught on that we use cotton to make fabric.

I love cotton picking season. I love seeing the sea of while balls in the fields. I think it's cool to watch huge modules of cotton rolling down the freeway. I also love seeing the stray cotton balls that litter the sides of the road. sigh...