My little flower girl

On September 20th, Sydney got to be a flower girl in Allysa and Justin's wedding (Arlie's cousin). She was so patient and good. I was so proud of her. She walked down the aisle good, she stood up front good, she took pictures good and she sat for a long time while getting her hair done...just like the brides hair. She was a fabulous flower girl and the cutest one in all the weddings I've done (I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that she's my child ;) )

Any ideas?

We decided after much debate to let Jordan skip school on his birthday to hang out with us and celebrate as a family. I figure, God made a big deal out of him being born...I should too ;) Anyway...I keep asking Jordan what he'd like to do on his birthday. His answer is always the same...go to Botcon (where he says they make transformers). I told him i wasn't sure where it was and we might not be able to go there. He insists that we find it....but we can go bowling first and then to Botcon. Any ideas where that might be?

A pocket full of love

Sydney learned from her grandpa to blow a kiss as you say goodbye to put in your pocket for later. Now she blows kisses and tells you to put them in your pocket and when you take those clothes off and put them in the laundry make sure you put the kiss in the new clothes. She did this to a friend of ours and then our friend blew one back. Sydney look offended for a minute and said, "You didn't give me my kiss back, did you?"

We now have pockets and pockets full of kisses.

Accents

I was very excited to have Sydney learning from someone who came from a different culture. I thought it would be a great experience for her. I never really thought of the interesting accent problems we may face. It all started when her teacher started with letter sounds. Sydney knows all her letters, how to write them (even the correct direction most of the time) and what each sounds makes. So it didn't surprise me when Mrs. Munala told me that Sydney knew what the letter "i" said. She told me to ask her. I told her I would do that. We got in the car and I asked Sydney what the letter "i" says and she said, "e". I about died. She's known what the letter "i" says for some time now and all of a sudden she knows it wrong. So I quickly corrected her and said "No, it's "i" like igloo". She said, "I know" and started saying it like that again. The next time...the same thing happened. Mrs. Munala told me to ask her about the letter "i", I did, she said it wrong again. By this time I'd figured out that it must be the accent that made it sound different. The next week was the letter "u". Mrs. Munala told me Sydney knows that letter "u" now. I couldn't help but say that she should because she knows all her letter sounds. She seemed pretty surprised by that. I'm not sure if Sydney is quiet in class or if she pretends like she doesn't know her sounds to fit in with everyone else. I don't know. Anyway, I got out to the car and said "Sydney, what does the letter "u" say" half holding my breathe. She said" "u" as in up or umbrella...at least that's what my teachers says...what's it really say?" I laughed and said, "That's right...that's exactly what it says".

A couple of days later, Sydney came home with a new song...which she sang..."God a fala" I asked her if it was "God our Father". She told me "No...it's in a different language...Mrs. Munala's language.

Another 3 year old quote

Here is another quote that I had written down from when Jordan was 3. Arlie was driving in the van with Jordan. Jordan asked if he could ride in the front seat with dad. Arlie said, "When you get bigger, than you can ride next to me". Jordan looked at him and said, "I don't want to get bigger." Arlie asked him why and he said, "Because my voice will sound funny. My voice will sound funny like yours does. So that's why i don't want to get big."

Quote

I was reading something i wrote when Jordan was 3 and found it quite funny. He was laying in bed, Arlie was tucking him in. I heard him say, "My boogie loves me. He likes to play and sleep in my nose." Classic Jordan!

GUNS!

I got Arlie a 22 pistol handgun for his birthday this year. I really am not a fan of guns. In fact, I can't remember the last time I shot one. I haven't really even held a gun besides maybe handing it to Arlie when he is getting ready to go hunting, but it's normally in it's case then. We were up in Duluth for the weekend. I had a wedding I was shooting up there. Arlie brought his gun and on Sunday asked if i wanted to come out with him and watch him shoot. So I went out there and then he says, "Do you want to try?". I freaked out a little and got pretty nervous and couldn't pull the trigger. Arlie put his hand over mine and pulled the trigger for me so that i knew what it felt like. After that I shot several times. Then I put a leaf on the target. If you notice there are 4 holes in the leaf. It's not that good, since i shot at it 10 times, but for not having shot a gun in over 20 years...not half bad!

My Little Darling

I brought Sydney to school the other day and got there a little bit early. One of her friends was there. She was all excited and went over and gave her a hug and then said "Mom, come here". I went over there. Sydney bent down a little bit and placed her hand gently on the back of of her friend and said, "Mom, i want to introduce you to my friend. Mom, this is Ella. Ella, this is my mom, Maija". She did it so politely and pointing to each of us as she introduced us. I could hear the mom's around us going , "ohh...thats so sweet". It was a proud mom moment!

Sydney's First Day of School

Sydney started school on Wednesday. She is going to Northside Christian School. She officially is going to Pre-school, but I'm doing Kindergarten with her at home, so technically she's in Kindergarten. This is to see if she'll be ready for first grade next year, so she can be in the same grade with most of her friends. If we find out she's not ready, we'll keep her in Kindergarten next year, but for now our goal is first grade next year. Sydney's teacher is Mrs. Munala. She is from Kenya Africa. She likes to call her pre-schoolers "College kids". When I first heard this I thought we might have problems with either Sydney wondering why since she hasn't even gone to school yet, or Jordan telling her she really isn't a college kid. I asked Sydney about it on Wednesday after school.

Me, "Sydney, does your teacher call you collage kids?"
Sydney, "Yes she does, how did you know?"
Me, "She told me."
Sydney, "Mom, why does she call us college kids. Does she think i live in college?"
Me, "I think she just likes to, she knows you're not really in college."
Sydney, "But mom, do you think she thinks I live in college, because I don't live in college, I live in Blaine, Minnesota."

Jordan's First Day of School

Tuesday, Jordan started the first grade with Miss Horton. He was excited to go, but when we got there, got very shy....until he noticed the little boy "Lorenzo" that he sits next to had a transformer. That got him out of his shell. After school when I picked him up I asked him how school was. He told me that he'd see how it went the next day and then tell me about it. I asked if he like his teacher and he said she was awesome. He really liked her laugh because it was really cute. I'll let you know if I ever find out anything about school. Wednesday he did inform me of a couple of things they did in class, but no details. Doesn't my child know I thrive on details? I'm going to have to start volunteering so i can find out what's going on!




Our neighbor right across the street, Kianna, is in Miss Horton's class with Jordan. Jordan informed me that it's not cool to bring your camera to school to take pictures. Luckily for me, every other parent there had their cameras as well. My favorite part of the first day of school is that tons of moms and dads have their kids take the bus to school and then they drive there so they can take pictures and see them to their class rooms. It makes me laugh. I understand why they do it, it's just funny seeing the whole hillside filled with moms and dads taking pictures of their kids getting off the bus at school.

The Parade

I love parades. When we were up north, they happen to have the "Farmer's Day Parade". My mom and I brought the kids. They had so much candy it was crazy. People would go by and drop handfuls by each kid. I think they walked away with 5 pounds of candy. My favorite float (out of the two, most of them were fire trucks or tractors and there was only one band) if you could call it that, was this car. The sign on the back read, "My Ex-wife got the other half".



I asked Jordan if he like the candy best in the parades and he said with a straight very serious face, "No mom. I like working on being patient as I wait for the candy to came and I enjoy watching what's going by while I wait." What a line ;) He's totally there for the candy :)

Water

Jordan is a beach bum. He loves swimming. He loves swimming under water and loves the beach even if it's cold out. This weekend we were up north at my parents house. I had a wedding to shoot so Arlie was going to bring the kids swimming. He asked if they wanted to go and Jordan promptly said, "No". Arlie thought that was strange and asked why. Jordan told him that he can't go in the water because metal doesn't go in water (he currently thinks he's a transformer...it's amazing he can transform into a moon and a gun ;) ) because it will rust. Good thing swimming season is almost over.