Saturday, May 26, 2012

April catch-up

April was a busy month in the Williams family!  We bought some new bikes so we could go on family bike rides together when the weather is nice.  We got Maezie a "tag-a-long" bike which attaches to the back of Daddy's bike.  She LOVES it!  She pedals her little legs and thinks she's going so fast on Daddy's bike! We even got some little pink handle grips.



Maezie went to a "preschool princess party" at her school.  All the little girls wore their best dress, and made their own crown, painted their nails, wore princess sashes....and got to meet a real princess!  Maezie's eyes just lit up when she saw a princess "in real life!"  This princess happened to be the teacher's daughter who has been a local pageant princess--she organized the preschool princess party as one of her community service events.


April brought slightly warmer weather (only slightly!) and we got a new outdoor fire pit.  Bryan has wanted one for a long time, and our new house has a perfect little cut-out area on our back porch.  For one of our Friday Family Nights we roasted marshmallows in our back yard and made s'mores.  The kids had a blast!


Kaela had her gymnastics performance in April.  She performed on the balance beam, the bars, and a floor exercise.  One of the new coaches, Mohini Bhardwaj, was actually in the Olympics in Athens in 2004!


Maezie started swim lessons in April--our local fitness center has several pools for different age levels and abilities.  So Maezie got to be in a smaller pool for ages 6 and under.  She had some anxiety at first, but she had a great time and learned how to kick and blow bubbles in the water!


And at the end of April, Graeson was ready to once again go forth for taekwondo testing for the next level--green belt.  At this level, he demonstrated his skill by breaking a board with his elbow--HIY!


March catch-up

March brought a family field trip to Peterson Rock Garden just north of Bend.  This cute little roadside attraction is another great family place to visit, and has a "good old days" feel to it.  I can't possibly explain in words but there are hundreds of rock-built creations:  houses, castles, bridges, gardens, fountains, statue of liberty, flags.....the place goes on and on!  Inside the gift shop is a black-light dark-room where you can see fun rocks that glow.  There were also plenty of peacocks strutting around, and a couple who even displayed their full feather display while walking down the driveway!


Graeson started indoor soccer in April--an interesting set-up with no practices and no coaches, but the referees do some coaching during the games.  Graeson's team was mostly boys, though it is a co-ed league.  I was unable to upload a video of him playing soccer, but here's a picture--it's hard to catch him in focus because he's always moving!



March also brought a visit from Auntie Laurel and Baby Keira from Portland.  It was fun having just the two of them with us--usually our visits are with the big extended family, so it was nice to have some time together with just us!  Keira didn't need much time to get warmed up to us, and she chased the kids around as fast as her little legs would go!  She wasn't too fond of our kitty at first, but after a while all we heard was her little voice saying "meow? meow?" which meant "I want kitty to come here!"  Here are pictures of Maezie and Keira with matching pajamas; Graeson and Keira playing together in the morning; and Kaela reading to Keira at the library.



February catch-up

In February, Maezie turned four and a HALF on Valentine's Day.  Maezie apparently decided (unbeknown to the rest of us!) that since we celebrate Kaela's half birthday, that we should celebrate Maezie's half birthday too!  The day before Valentine's Day, Maezie informed us of all the lengthy plans she expected us to adhere to--she wanted a princess party, princess presents, bowling at the Fun Center, and a chocolate cake "the rainbow cake from Costco."  We discovered this the day before!  So we gently explained that Kaela gets a half birthday because her real birthday is on Christmas and she doesn't get a party then, and Maezie's party would be at her birthday in August.  (I say "we" explained but in reality, somehow Daddy vanished when it was time to have this conversation!)  But....at the sight of her crocodile tears, we decided to give in a tiny bit and make pink cupcakes at home.



Winter finally came to Bend in February.  Since this is our first winter in Bend, we didn't know what to expect.  Many people have told us this was a very unusual winter and we usually get much more snow.  Yet, surprisingly school was cancelled when there was only two inches of snow at our house!  Twice!  Supposedly there was up to 8 inches in other parts of town, but we were shocked!  Especially since Bend is a "ski town" with Mt Bachelor and many other mountains within an hour's drive.  But....I guess the school buses don't care about skiing!  This picture is Graeson helping shovel the driveway....he did the whole driveway!  Even though it wasn't perfect, he was a great helper!


We also went to the High Desert Museum in February.  This is a great indoor/outdoor activity for the whole family.  We packed sack lunches and spent most of the entire day there.  We listened to a staff member talk about birds of prey and we saw live falcons, eagles, and owls.  We watched an otter swim underwater, and we also saw snakes, lizards, and all sorts of "leapers and creepers".  And we listened to another informative talk about cougars, mountain lions, and bobcats.  One of the more entertaining moments was when the turtles in the glass display were mating (apparently no need for modesty!) and Graeson shouted "Look Mommy!  The turtles are playing leapfrog!"  Um....yep, yes they are!  Here's a picture of the kids playing on the spider-web ropes.


And finally in February, Kaela had her recorder performance at school.  This event caused mom and dad to reflect on when we both played recorders in fourth grade.  And after polling some of our friends, it seems kids have been playing recorders in the fourth grade since at least 50 years ago, maybe longer!


January catch-up

Did you miss us?  It's been a couple of months without blogging.  I wish I had a good reason but....just busy I guess.  So now I'm taking on the ambitious project of doing five blogs in a row, to catch up the past five months.  We'll see how it turns out!

January finds the Williams family resting and recovering from the busy holiday season.  We started going to the library every Saturday for story time.  Kaela has learned how to use the library website to reserve the books she wants.  Most of the weekend the only time we "see" her is with a book covering her face!  Graeson likes to read Sports Illustrated Kids magazine.  Maezie loves the interactive story time which also means singing, dancing, and making a craft.  This is Maezie listening to one of the stories on the computer.


At the end of January, Graeson had progressed in taekwondo to where he was ready to test for the next level.  Taekwondo teaches martial arts as well as self-control and self-discipline.  These are very good characteristics for an active 7 year old boy!  He started as a white belt, and then tested for his yellow belt.  Graeson and Daddy spent some time at home practicing his moves as well as practicing the required Korean words.  He did a great job!  I tried to upload a video of him "sparring" but....no good.  But here's a picture of Graeson's yellow belt!