How was your Thanksgiving?

I made the cornucopias! We took some ice cream cones and put them in chocolate and nuts really fast. Then they get filled with candy! Grandma made some turkey tails with me! They are stuffing and I didn't eat any. I only like turkey and bread with butter and dessert. Turkey tails don't say gobble gobble!
It was too much writing to make everyone name cards so I just did mine and Mommy's. Grandma had to do the rest. Good job Grandma!

My cornucopia and name!

Happy Thanksgiving!
love, Elena

Fun Wednesdays

After conferences, Elena had swimming and gymnastics. We can't get enough of the jumping into the water pictures. This is the karate jump.Teacher Patty doing the karate jump or the jumping jack jump.

Elena doing a flip with Coach Kim.

Elena's school conference

Elena's school had student-led conferences. Mommy and Daddy (and Zachary) went to school to get some lessons from Elena. It's a way for parents to see what their child has learned.

Elena was very excited to show us the coffee grinder (she calls it the coffee maker). The grinding go into a box for the kids to practice writing a-b-c letters in. Elena showed us how to wash windows.
Mommy tries out Elena's technique.

Elena demonstrates the spindle boxes. They are a tool used to learn counting from 0 to 9.

Elena showed her mommy and daddy how to do animal tracing. It involves tracing the parts of a wooden animal puzzle and then coloring it all in.

Elena loved showing us around her room and being the teacher. We were very impressed that Elena gave lessons from all areas of work - science, math, community/peace, daily living, and art. Keep up the good work E!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Here are Elena's directions on how to cook a turkey:

Cook in the oven for 2 minutes. We eat it! Buy it from the store and cook it.
Love her hand print turkeys - wattles and all!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Holmes visit

Aubrie and Mark came for a long play date with Elena and Zachary. Terry came to help out (and get her baby fix). Those girls just love, love, love their baby brothers. Hopefully they'll feel the same next year...Elena and Aubrie made their own pizzas. Neither used sauce, just cheese and pepperoni. And Aubrie ate all the pepperoni off her pizza before it even got in the oven! Elena said she was making a unicorn pizza.
The girls also had fun making dinosaur soup in Elena's kitchen, creating footprints in play-doh, and making a general mess of Elena's room.

Big Sister

Elena and Zachary have matching Big Sister/Little Brother shirts from Aunt Amy. Aunt Amy had them made in their likeness - Elena has long pigtails, Zachy is bald...
Here they are on "pony day" where they both are dressed in clothes with horses (until Zachy spit up all over his and had to be changed...).

Reptile Zoo

We went to the Reptile Zoo with Elena's friend Amelia, her mom Melissa, and sister Emma. Elena was the only one who had been before and we all had a good time (until the heat and smell got to us...). Look! A 2-headed turtle! And it's under a blue turtle!
What a great gecko picture! We also saw the albino python open her mouth

and a turtle on her back. There were a lot of albino creatures at the zoo. The zoo keeper had to come and rescue the tipped turtle.

The emerald tree boa sure is a vibrant color green. We learned a lot about snakes and reptiles. Most notably: females are typically a lot larger than the males.

Elena was a little cranky at the end of the trip, but the rest of us were up for more fun!

Yay! Visitors!

Nana and PopPop came to visit us! Elena spent a lot of time changing into different dress-up outfits and trying to get everyone/thing organized for a show.
She wanted to do everything the same as Nana - same drink, same seat, same food, etc. They were having ice water together (Nana likes lots of ice) and Elena decided to eat the ice. She told Nana to do the same and Nana said she was an ice eater from "way back." Elena responded by saying she was "going to be in the front." Oh the cute things kids say...

Elena gives bobbing for apples a try. She's using sliced apples (and her hands) to be successful.

Happy Halloween!

Halloween was sooooo busy! And so much fun too.

We started the day with carving pumpkins. Elena could barely reach the bottom of her huge pumpkin to scoop out the guts. Good thing Mommy was around to finish up. Auntie and Elena picked out designs to carve out (kitties, scary face, and a bat for Zachary) and Mommy and Auntie did all the carving. Next year it will be Daddy's turn...

Grandpa - we toasted the seeds for you!
Elena helped spray Rai. She has a silver streak down her back (like a skunk) and a hot pink tail.

Then, Elena went to the Everett Children's Museum for their Halloween with the lights on event. She made some Ooey Gooey Potion (aka gak).

She also did some Boo-ling, or bowling for ghosts.

Then, she made some ghost poop disappear! She smelled the ghost poop first, but it smelled like nothing.

There was also a spider toss, cauldron of bubbles, and story time show (her favorite).

And of course there were the usual museum activities to do. Look at that pink hair!!!

After the museum, we drove to Daddy's work to trick-or-treat.

On the way home, we stopped at Auntie Terry's to be their only trick-or-treaters. After a pizza dinner, Mommy and Daddy both took turns taking Elena trick-or-treating around the neighborhood. We were very lucky we didn't get rained on.

Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween and scored lots of candy! Elena says trick-or-treating is more fun than Christmas!

Dino-tastrophe!

Not sure why the dino's head was being put up the bathtub water spout, but it was and it caused loads of distress for Elena. She was screaming and crying and we couldn't pull the dinosaur's head back out which made it worse! Finally, Daddy (being the genius he is), pulled up the switch-to-shower knob and the dino popped loose. Elena probably learned her lesson. The whole event was really funny (if you weren't Elena).

Annual Halloween Party

The Sunday before Halloween we had the annual family Halloween party at the Holmes residence. There were the usual activities: cupcake decorating (seen here), trick-or-treating, haunted house, and costume contest. It was a great turn out and everyone had a wonderful time, especially the kiddos! Elena as Fifi the pink poodle, Mari as Belle, Aubrie as Lucky the dalmation, and Abby as Tinkerbell.
Elena wins the costume award for most colorful puppy. Look at her pink hair!

Here's a nice family picture. Jim is Tony Stark (Iron Man), Kristina is a Home Depot employee, Zachary dressed as a bat (what a great smile!), and Elena is the pink poodle.

If you missed the party we hope to see you there next year!