Rainy Morning at Home and a Jane Vocab Update-- March 28

Hazel hard at work, illustrating the poem "The Whole Duty of Children" by Robert Louis Stevenson.  She is drawing the little children behaving mannerly at the table (at least as far as they are able).

We spent much of this rainy morning looking at the birds out the window, and this has been the most interesting visitor to the yard in a while.  Jane loves watching the birds, and we all joined in to watch this one dig around in the yard.

Jane's vocabulary is growing rapidly, we've gotten to the point where there are new words pretty much daily.  She has a few favorite books where she gets to use a few of her words, including Goodnight Gorilla, Goodnight Moon, Fish Kisses, Big Red Barn,  and we've just added Jamberry to the favorites.  

Jane's Words:

Mama 

Daddy 

Dog 

That?

Uh-oh 

Good-night

No!

Uh-uh (means no)

Uh -huh  (means yes)

Fish 

Bye 

Shhh! (complete with putting her finger to her lips)

Uh-oh!

Book

Baby 

Up

More

Down

Outside

This?

Ball

Horse 

Emma 

Juice

Shoes

Mine

Banana

Bunny

Balloon

oh/ ahhh

hat

Grandad

Bear

Red Mountain Open Space-- March 25

We ventured down to the Red Mountain Open Space, which is in Colorado.  It was a fair and sunny day, and the scenery felt a little like visiting the desert southwest for an afternoon.

Jane insisted on walking, but she can't quite keep up with Hazel and Vivian yet!  The path followed a creek for the first stretch, and the girls enjoyed tossing little pebbles in and looking at the plants growing there.

Hazel and Vivian were delighted to discover that the mountain mahogany and a few other little shrubby things were just starting to show leaves.

Curt Gowdy State Park -- February 20

A very windy day, but it was pretty manageable in the trees. 

Bicycling (Maybe it is spring!) -- February 17

Stopping to look tentatively at the bat house.

Hazel (above) on her pedal bike.  We raised the seat up and she zooms around on it now.

Vivian on her Strider.  Vivian has the happiest little feet on that Strider bike, she scoots along fast enough to keep up with Hazel and she just looks so cheerful while she does it.

Spring? -- February 15

We had  a beautiful sunny day, and all the snow was pretty much gone.  The girls got out balls, played on the swings, climbed on the jungle gym, and generally had a good time exploring the yard now that they could be outside without dressing warmly at all.

Hazel and Vivian playing church.

Jane is not reliable on the big girl swing yet, but she likes the idea of it!  You've got to watch her, because she'll let go with no warning at all.

Jane Smiles and Vocabulary Update -- February 9

Jane perched where Hazel likes to sit.  I tried to catch her looking serious with the tablet, but she smiled at me instead.  I think it's a win anyhow!  Look at all those teeth!  She has all the front ones, and she spent a rough few weeks getting all those molars all at once in the fall.

Jane's vocabulary is increasing.  She's very communicative, really, for how limited her vocabulary still is.  Here is the complete list:

Mama -- July

Daddy -- July

Hi Daddy -- August

Dog -- Oct

That?--Oct

Daddy--October

Uh-oh -- Early Nov.

Good-night--  --Nov 23 

Cat -- Nov. 24

No! -- Mid-December

Uh-uh (meaning no) -- January

Uh -huh  (meaning yes)-- January

Fish -- January

Bye -- January

Shhh! (complete with putting her finger to her lips) -- January

Watching Sarah and Duck -- January 5

Backyard Skiing -- January 3

Christmas Eve -- December 24

Snow Angels -- December 17

Jane did not participate, but she did wave out the window at her sisters from her cozy perch in the house.

Goodbye CR-V -- December 16

We were looking casually into buying a minivan, and were told that the CR-V had a lot of hail damage.  We hadn't really noticed how much, I guess?  We called the insurance company, and the end result was that the car had enough hail damage to be a total loss.  The insurance company sent us a check...and loaded the car onto a truck and took it away.  A sad day.

Brown Palace -- December 9

Andrew and I went to see the Nutcracker Ballet in Denver, which was just wonderful.  We stayed at the Brown Palace in downtown Denver, which was all lit up for the holiday season, and just beautiful.