When I turned around today to see Pippi walking into TK, I was stopped in my tracks over how big she is! And can I say how fun little girls are. Every single morning, it is like I get to play dress up with my very own little doll. Navy still lets me play dress up with her, and she never makes a peep. Pippi lets me play dress up with her, as long as it is what she wants to wear, and she makes tons of peeps!
Pippi has really beefed up her self study lately.
She constantly has a Bob Book in her hands, and is finding anyone who will listen to her sound out the words to her books. Her teacher tells me that she is definitely the most advanced in her class!
For example…
Mrs. Corner said that most people finished the above “Itsy Botsy Spider” poem with the usual ending — “went up the spout again”. But not Pippi! After the sun came out and dried up all the rain, Pippi’s itsy bitsy spider “went on an airplane to go on a trip”!!!
HA!
That might have been a bittersweet response for Mrs. Corner, since Pippi is going for the world record in TK absences!
From the time we got home from Sanibel several years ago, my kids have wanted to go back. Well…this year was finally the year! And once it was booked, the kid’s anticipation was palpable. We were all SO excited to search for shells and shark teeth again!
The word got out that we were going, and we were lucky enough to have some sidekicks on the trip. Megan and Doey, and Tristen and Blush both came along. Oh yeah…and obviously Nonnie.
Here is our trip in pictures:
Here are the die hards at Casperson — our first stop to find shark teeth. But even though they were champions and finding the masses…check out my top notch shark tooth find!
It’s the one at the top of my hand!
Meanwhile, the kids just played and played while finding turtles and lizards!
After a really fun day finding shark teeth..we headed to Sanibel.
Our loot was INSANE! We went right after a big storm, and this time we snorkeled…which led to the biggest haul I think Sanibel has ever seen!
Micah kept coming up with “Holy Molys”…literally dozens of these HUGE lightening welks.
And then!!!!! He came up with this Horse Conch!!! It is HUGE! We were dying over it. And then an hour later — he found another one!!! This is the best trip ever!!!
We tried several spots, but there is never any reason to leave Lighthouse Beach we finally realized.
Yep. Lighthouse Beach was the best for us, and we had it dialed in. Even to the point, where Scout was sun blocking kids while Micah and I set up our “area”. Our favorite thing of the trip might have been the “video game”. There was the strongest rip current I have ever seen. It ran parallel to the coastline, so we would walk up far from our beach, swim out to the current, then with masks on, we would ride the strong current 1/2 a mile while trying to grab any good shells we could along the way. It was a total blast! And was almost impossible to get anything in your hand because it was too fast.
We were lucky to celebrate Nonnie’s 80th at our favorite restaurant from last time — remember when #SecretlyStarving ate her fish stew?!
We also Trick or Treated a random neighborhood, where the people were so surprised to get trick or treaters, that they weren’t prepared, and gave out money!
Our hotel was awesome! The kids had the best time on the water slide during our off-shelling moments.
After four of the best days..it was time to head home.
Sadly.
But notice Pippi’s hand holding with Scout — we obviously had some good family bonding!
The kids were bummed to be back, but the four wheelchairs kept them entertained for a while!
But the real entertainment came, when we all unloaded our shells to check out our loot!
Honestly…it was too much, but it was worth its weight in gold!
The best part — the kids are already talking about “next time”!
For Family Night, I presented the “Hero Story Challenge”. It was basic — whoever came home with the most legit hero stories in a week’s time, was the winner. The competition told us two things…
Navy dominates!
And the parents stink!
School Loop is a blessing and a curse. It is the app that tells me each day every grade Scout has in every class — on his homework and quizzes and tests. That being said, we all have a love/hate relationship with it. But maybe Scout’s relationship weighs more heavily on the hate side, because I received this Email today:
Interesting.
I think Scout gets an A+ in Being Crafty 101.
There is some pretty BIG NEWS today!
Dash turns seven years old. How is he seven? But he is…and he was sure to remind me when I woke him up this morning, telling him Happy sixth Birthday. I told him that it must be his seventh birthday, because six year olds are still sweet to their mamas. Because when I was waking him up ever so kindly with the Birthday Song, he kept making obnoxious noises from his mouth.
And when I asked him the question I have asked him since he could talk, “How much do you love your mama?” He said ZERO! I have always been a “million percent mom”, but now that he is seven and stinky — I got ZERO!
Happy Birthday you little seven-year-old Weasel.
Nonnie just KNEW that Pippi needed her very own pink suitcase. When we came home from back east, I brought a new suitcase for Scout and Navy. Pippi was enamored by them, so Nonnie went on the search. We finally found it while walking through Nordstrom. Hard shell and light pink — perfect! Pippi has been at home all afternoon packing and repacking her suitcase that has “the most compartments out of everyone! Boo Yeah!!”
Pippi set up her own bobbing apple station today. She only had one apple, and she was determined to get it! Micah videotaped it, and it was hilarious. She worked so hard — SO HARD, but didn’t want to get her hair wet. Her plan was to get it by the stem, but her overbite wouldn’t let her get it! It was pretty hilarious. And right when Micah said he was going to turn the video off, she came up with a huge apple hanging from its stem out of her teeth!
Nice determination!
After Trunk or Treating last night, the kids had more candy than they knew what to do with! But as usual — trading was a must.
Navy set up a rad quadrant so everyone could have their spot.
And then the trading began!
Navy was trying to get every mini marshmallow bag. Pippi was going for the Tootsie Rolls. Dash was going for who knows what???
And Scout was going for the Smarties…he said something about “You are what you eat”!!!
I told him I wasn’t so sure he was “smart” by opening every single Smartie and dumping them all in a huge Ziploc alongside candy corns and other junk!
Whatever — at least when I dump all of it in a few days, it will be easy to dump one huge bag over little rolled candies all over the house.
We had the primary program today, and to see it was phenomenal is a huge understatement! It was sooo good! Dash opened it with an amazing poem my mom wrote. Pippi and Scout gave great parts — also written by my mom. Scout also sang a little solo in one of the songs, and he did a nice job. And Navy … Navy brought the house down with a talk I wrote about our CYOA this past summer. It was all so good…and my mom does such a huge service to all of my kids — and for all of the primary kids for that matter. This is a blessing in my life that I will forever be grateful for!
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