End-of-school parties

Audrey and Kate's teachers held end-of-school celebrations in their classrooms today. In Kate's class, the kids read poems they had written (unfortunately the footage in Dada's phone camera of Kate's reading was blurry) and received memory books their teachers had prepared. They also took home big packets of art and classwork they had worked on throughout the year. Audrey's class had an ice-cream party, to which Audrey had contributed two types of sprinkles.

Kindergarten concert/open house

It was Open House night for grades K-2 at Audrey and Kate's school this evening. GG, Honey, and GPA came for the event, which was kicked off with a concert by the kindergarten classes. Afterwards, Audrey and Kate showed off their classrooms and recent projects and artwork.

Take Your Kid to Work Day

Today was Take Your Child to Work Day, so Audrey and Kate spent a couple of hours sampling office life this morning. Audrey went with Mama to her office. They commuted together on the bus and MAX, and the big activity was helping Mama run a webinar. Kate drove in to work with Dada, where she helped him organize and decorate his workspace, make copies, and try out the new whiteboard walls. A main highlight for both girls were the treats that were in and around the offices: a big coffee shop muffin for Audrey and abundant supplies of free and vending-machine candy for Kate. They met up at Mama's office and then headed to school for the afternoon.

Making the case for a kitty

Audrey and Kate are lobbying to get a cat; two, actually. Kate took to the laptop this evening to articulate her case. Her note reads: "I need a cat, Mom. I will feed it. Please. I will scoop up the poop. Please. I do not need your help. I will care [for it]. Please. I will make [my] bed by myself. Please. Write back. From Kate."

RIP Raspberry

Just a little over two months after Kate's fish died, today Audrey's betta fish Raspberry also died. Audrey, Kate, cousin Lily, and their friend Olivia held a little backyard burial service for her this evening.

RIP Snowflake

The kids got a little lesson in the circle of life yesterday. Kate's betta fish, Snowflake, died unexpectedly, after we had her for only about four month. Kate and Audrey and their friend and neighbor Olivia held a small burial service today to honor Snowflake's short life.

Kate starts to write

Among Kate's first writings (no help from us, except the first word): "Nonfiction. About me: I like horses and owls. I love my mom and dad and sister and friends and teachers. I like chocolate and candy. : )"

Settling into kindergarten

Kate's transition to kindergarten continues. Today she went to the computer lab with her class for the first time, met her fifth grade buddy, MacKenzie (whom she wanted to make a card for), and went to a special assembly with African drummers to kick off the Run for the Arts. She also got hot lunch for the first time, choosing chicken nuggets and grapes.

Halloween 2013

Audrey and Kate had a busy, fun, sugary Halloween night tonight. They rushed home from ballet (Audrey) and preschool to get ready for trick-or-treating. GG, Aunt Jill, Uncle Mark, and cousins Lily and Cora braved rush-hour traffic to join in the fun. Everyone enjoyed a festive Halloween-themed dinner of "mummy dogs" and some creative and healthy side dishes prepared by Aunt Jill before suiting up and heading out on the candy hunt.

After hitting a few neighbor's houses, the girls met up with Audrey and Kate's friends Charlie and Finley and headed towards the "Holiday House," which, as always, was drawing a huge crowd and dispensing loads of candy to a long line of trick-or-treaters (one of the owners said on the news that she had candy for 3,000 people). Elvis was back after taking last year off, and there was a Voodoo Donuts van selling donuts and a rumored flash-mob performance of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" dance (although we didn't actually see it). The kids met up with Hannah and Noah at the Holiday House and continued trick-or-treating for a bit before heading home to count their candy and get it ready to donate to the "Candy Witch."

Homework time

Audrey brought home her first batch of homework from school today, which she diligently got to work on this evening. She did get activities to keep and work on at home last year, and has been filling out and turning in a reading chart for a couple of weeks now, but this was her first official "homework packet," in this case some math worksheets.

Back to School Night

Mama and Dada got to see Audrey's classroom, sit at her desk, meet her teacher, and see some of the classwork and art she's worked on so far at Back to School night this evening.

Spuds

Audrey and Kate dug up the potatoes they had planted back in March this afternoon. They had help from several friends, Stella, Olivia, and "big" Kate, a neighbor girl up the street. Audrey and the friends got started after coming home from school and cooling off with popsicles (Audrey also got to show them her LEGO Friends sets and journal). They kept a few potatoes in the ground for Kate to find after coming home from preschool later.

Garden volunteering

Audrey and Kate helped out at the Oregon Food Bank's Learning Garden today as part of a family volunteer outing organized by their church. They picked tomatoes (what few were ripe enough, anyway), beans, and a couple of eggplants; plucked some weeds; and helped box up and label the vegetables for storage in the walk-in refrigerator, which they got to tour.