Long time no post!

Six years ago today, I became a mother. (Yes, I feel guilty for not having the birthday montage for Cameron, but my 2001 & 2002 pictures are not on this computer!) For Cameron's birthday we decided to give him a special surprise... a plane ride! On Tuesday we drove down to Los Angeles, spent a couple days with MIL, and then she dropped Cameron off to spend a day at a local beach amusement park with DH and then the two of them flew home together while Cassia, Greyson, and I drove. It was a great time and this weeks excuse for not posting in a week. ;)

So let's see, to catch you up...

Monday was school as usual. Cameron did a phonics lesson and a couple of math exercises. I decided to start Cassia on The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading. We did the letter "A" and learned the first verse of the Short Vowel Poem. Cameron suddenly had a huge flashback to when he learned it and remembered that we had the audio companion, as well. So then we spent the next hour listening to the entire cd. Gah. It's fun, but super repetitive.

After lunch we read some more dinosaur books and then it was time for gymnastics. It was Star Day and Cassia passed her Level 1 Shooting Stars with 5 out of 6 stars. She has correctly mastered a Forward Walk on the low beam, a Tummy Roll on the bars, a Standing Squat-On to Knees on the vault, a 10-Second Support Hold on the parallel bars, and 5 Window Wash Jumps on the trampoline. She did not get a star for her Forward Roll with Elevator Up, but Cameron still has trouble with that one! She was quite proud of herself (though between me and you, I think they were a bit easy on her, lol). Cameron got a HUGE chart of skills to master in his new class. There are 2 main levels, Rollers and Twisters, and there are 4 sub-levels to each of those. In each sub-level there are 10 skills of which you need to master 8 to pass the level and get a ribbon. He got 3 stars: 10-Second Hollow Body Push Up Hold on the floor, 10-Second Straight Arm Hold on the parallel bars, and Casting 3 Times with Straight Legs on the horizontal bar. They were really tough on him. I saw him do several other of the skills on this level but I guess he didn't have good enough form to "pass." I guess that's the difference between Recreational and Preschool classes. Form versus Fun.

Tuesday we started the day with Cassia's ballet class and then drove down to LA. Seven and a half hours of joy. ;) Not much else to say there.

Wednesday we took a Field Trip to the Page Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits. So much fun! We went with my MIL, SIL, and her girls M8 and H4. Everyone had a blast. They had the famous Pit 91 open for observation while the archaeologists excavated. Nasty stuff. They had big plastic barrels full of asphalt and double rubber gloves on. Yucky, yucky. At one point during our visit, we went in and watched a little educational movie and the kids just ate it up. Cameron was leaning forward in his seat with his mouth hanging open. Cassia would alternate between watching and hugging everyone around her, but several times over the next couple of days she would spout off facts that had been said in the movie. This really reinforces my confidence in the fact that my kids, Cameron especially, are visual learners. I can't imagine how much he would miss out on if I "limited screen time" like so many people suggest. You've got to play to your strengths. I mean, I limit cartoon time. I limit video game time to an hour or so. But limit documentaries? No way. Anyway, we came home with a saber-tooth cast replica, an ice age animal domino set (to match the North American animals domino set we got in Yosemite last summer), a prehistoric animal coloring book, and T-Rex and Dire Wolf masks. A very successful trip in everyone's opinion.

Thursday we met some friends (iVillage friends!) at the Disneyland Hotel for some swimming and hanging around. It was a short but sweet visit. Before we met them we grabbed some lunch at the Rainforest Cafe which was quite an experience. The kids loved it. Greyson was enthralled with the giant animatronic butterflies.

Friday we left Cameron for his Birthday Adventure and drove home. This time it took nine and a half hours. Lovely fun, but amazingly, Cassia did not complain once. I was very proud of her. Greyson slept most of the time because he had developed a big ole fever, poor guy. Once Cameron and DH got home from their plane ride, he collapsed on the couch and was suddenly very sick too. Again, poor guy. :( So thankfully, we had done all of our birthday celebrating early because he spent all of Saturday laying on the couch watching Harry Potter movies and building LEGOs.

And that should catch you up on our lives. I know you were dying of the suspense. ;)