From the Mouths of Babes

This morning I was telling the girls about the tornados in the Midwest. I asked Allie if she remembered playing soccer at Mintonye and Southwestern this past Spring. She couldn't remember it so I reminded her of her team, the Tia Tornados. Then she remembered. I showed her a picture of the school that someone had posted on Facebook. She gasped and said, "that happened because of the Tia Tornados!" So glad no one was hurt and that school wasn't in session!

Thursday afternoon I was waiting at the  bus stop for the girls. The bus came and everyone was getting off except for them. They finally did slowly come stumbling off. I could tell they had both been asleep. They have an hour bus ride and I tell them it's the perfect time for naps......especially now that it's pretty much dark when they get off. Anyway, I asked them if they had been sleeping and Allie just smiled and shook her head yes. She said, "Avery fell asleep right away. I was trying so hard to keep my eyes open because I didn't want to miss our stop but my they were just getting too heavy and I couldn't keep them open anymore."

Neither of the girls ever really want to talk about their day at school. Avery was in a good mood after her nap though. She told me that she, "fell off the swing thing (I later found out it was the teeter totter) at school. But, I didn't cry, Mom, and I didn't go to the nurses office!" We've had too many talks about going to the nurses office for silly things! She then changed her story some and told me that, "Nathan catched me." "Nathan is my boyfriend. So is Jake. Me: You have 2 boyfriends? She shakes her head like it's no big deal. "No, I mean I have 3 boyfriends. Dylan is my boyfriend too. Don't tell Dad though."

Thankful Jar

We were very excited to get out the Thankful Jar this year!!! It is such a great feeling to see the kids get excited to do something for someone else or just to talk about what they are thankful for. We've fallen a little behind in grabbing something out of the Thankful Jar due to visitors in town but this just means no arguing over who's turn it is to pull out a paper because all 3 kids will get to!

Character Book Parade

The day before Halloween the girls had a Character Book Parade at school. They were supposed to pick out a favorite book, and dress up as a favorite character if they wanted, hold the book, and walk in the school parade. We got lots of reminders about this event and every reminder stressed the idea that the students did not have to dress up. I took it as they preferred them not to so there wouldn't be too many distractions. We didn't have time to prepare for this much because it was 2 days after getting back from Portugal. Allie really loves all books so I just had her choose one of her Junie B. Jones books b/c she could still kind of dress like her but it wouldn't be overly distracting or a lot of work to put together. Avery's class made something in school to wear so I didn't have to worry about her. When I got to the parade almost every kid was decked out! Although most were just wearing their Halloween costumes.

Happy Belated Halloween

For Halloween this year, we just went to our church's Trunk or Treat. Halloween is just starting to catch on over here so we weren't sure what to expect. We were pleasantly surprised! The games they had set up inside for the kids to play were very creative and the kids had so much fun! Everyone had their trunks decorated so awesome! It was a great night.

 

Here is a peek at some of the candy the kids received. It was all pretty much this different type of candy. Some of it is really good.......some of it not so much.

 

Feltwell Fuzzy Award and Parent/Teacher Conferences

I am way behind on blogging. I jumped the gun a little on our Portugal post because I couldn't stop looking at the pictures....I wanted to be back in the warm sun! About a week before we left for Portugal I got a call from the school Principal. I figured I was getting reprimanded for not calling in to say Avery was going to be late (we were at the doctor's office that morning and I had no signal to call and we were running way later than I thought we would). I was completely wrong. He was calling to tell me how proud he was of Allison and that she had received a Feltwell Fuzzy award for outstanding achievement in academics and citizenship!!! We are so incredibly proud of Allie! I was actually on the way to the school when he called. When we got there all of the students that had received a Feltwell Fuzzy that day were getting their picture taken. So then they had Allie get in a picture with all of us and it was posted in the Hedgehog Highlights this month!

Last week we had Parent Teacher Conferences. We learned more about the Feltwell Fuzzy Award during the conference with Allie's teacher. She said that the teachers can choose any number of students whenever they want for an award. This was the earliest in the school year that she has ever given out the award (and Allie was the first in her class to get one!) She said last year she didn't even give one out until the last quarter! So I think she means business when she's giving out these awards! :) As far as everything else goes with Allie, she is doing great in everything! She is getting all A's. Her lowest scores were in math which I am very aware that she doesn't like math......and I don't blame her. She has exceeded expectations in reading which was one of the reasons behind getting the fuzzy award. Allie just blows through her chapter books. She is constantly reading and is pretty much already at a 3rd grade level. She's a champ!

Avery has shown SO much improvement since being in Kindergarten. I was hesitant to send her but, once again, Derek has proven that he is ALWAYS right. ;) With that said, she is still way behind. I know that doesn't make any sense. Before conferences they had someone come in to quiz the kids to see where they stand. Avery didn't know this person that was quizzing her. She basically failed the quiz......big time. I know that a huge part of it was that she was afraid to talk to this stranger that was quizzing her and her teacher feels the same way. I really think she has anxiety issues. For example, they said she could only count to 16. Just yesterday she counted to 39 with no help......and then on to 100 with very little help. I will admit she is behind in a lot things but we just need to remember that she is the youngest in her class. No matter what we are extremely proud of the improvements she's shown. We are so lucky that her teacher absolutely adores her. Not only has she told us this but it is very apparent too. We know she will give Avery the attention she needs and just help her along in the right direction. She has suggested Avery attend some meetings with the counselor. They are called Friend Meetings where there will be a couple other kids in the meeting. She thinks it would be good for Avery to get to know and be comfortable with another adult and it also gives her a chance to meet different students too. Her teacher has also suggested maybe putting Avery is some sort of a class for help academically. She's not totally convinced Avery needs it though. She thinks it's more a matter of her opening up and being more comfortable.

That's about it for conferences. Again, so proud of my girls!

Portugal

PREPARE FOR PICTURE OVERLOAD!

We planned this trip with our good friends, the Barkers, who are living in Germany right now. It had been over 3 years since we had seen them and it was so great to catch up with them. We had missed them a lot!! Portugal is a beautiful country with amazing beaches all along the coast. We stayed in the Algarve, the southernmost region of Portugal. We had some rain. One day it rained really hard and didn't let up until late afternoon but, for the most part, the weather was good. The last two days were perfect - - sunny and low-mid 70's! I can't say enough good things about this trip. Loved the company, loved the beaches, so relaxing and fun!!

We got in very late on our first day......or I guess I should say early because we didn't physically get to the villa until 2am. It was so dark and we didn't know exactly what we were looking for (my fault as I was the navigator and didn't see the last of the directions! oops!) We sort of slept in, at least it was sleeping in for us because our kids are usually up by 6am. So, it was a slow start to the day. It was cute to see Allie and Adeline get reacquainted. Adeline was Allie's first little friend in Ohio. They really didn't remember each other at all except for pictures and stories we've told them. Norah and Avery hit it off and Blake and Meika were so cute together! Six kids between the 2 families.......ages 7, 6, 5, 3, 2 and 1.....we had lots of stares! :)

The kids swam in the pool some which was freezing cold! Then we eventually made it to our first beach.

 

 

This was kind of scary. They were walking around this to a small tunnel that took them over to another beach. You had to time the waves just right!

 

The next day we thought was going to be our rainiest day. It rained on and off most of the day but nothing too bad. We spent the day exploring the town of Silves and it's castle.

The town and castle from afar.

Playing hide and go seek in the castle

Then we walked around the little city.

 

 

Then this picture is how we would find the little ones almost every evening...

 

Day 3 ended up being very rainy most of the day. It did clear up and we found a cool beach, Rafael. This is the beach where we went exploring through some rocks and on the way out I timed the waves completely wrong (although they were very sporadic) and got trapped against a rock with the waves crashing into me.....up to my neck! I had my good camera with me too but held it up above my head and it didn't get too wet. So thankful the waves weren't any higher or I probably would have been swept under the water! Definitely scary but my adrenaline was rushing!!!

 

View of the beach from above

 

On the beach

Abe walking the girls to the hidden beach/waterfall area (this is where I got caught in the water!)

Derek taking Blake back

Avery & Norah by the hidden waterfall

And more pictures back in the rocks

 

looking out at the beach from the rocks. To the left is where I got trapped.

Allie & Adeline

 

 

Day four was beautiful! We had a boat trip planned but it was still too choppy out to go so they canceled on us. We were a little bummed about it but we had a great day at a breathtaking beach! {Praia de Marinha}

 

Walking down to beach

 

There was another secluded beach we could get to from the main beach here as well. We just had to go under the arch and we were there. Much safer than the other one too.

Girls putting on a show

SUCH a BOY!!

 

View of beach from above (this was probably my favorite beach....Allie said it was hers too)

 

 

Day 5 - Our last full day. :( It was another gorgeous day and the ocean had calmed down enough for us to go on a boat ride. Not the original one we had planned but I think this one was much more adventurous than the other would have been. VERY fun, a little scary at times, so glad we were able to do it!!!

 

How was it adventurous and a little scary......see that hole in the rock wall in front of the boat? We drove through that, into the cave!! The driver had to time it just perfectly with the waves or we would have hit our heads.......and there wasn't much room on either side of the boat. So crazy! We went through several like this.

 

View from inside cave

 

 

And the famous Benagil Sea Cave. We had hoped to be able to get out and take some pictures. We had seen some where others have but this guy wouldn't let us out. I suppose a lot of it probably had to do with the young kids and the high tide.

 

 

Yep, we went in this one too!

 

Wasn't sure if we were going to make it out.

 

 

After the boat ride we went into the town of Lagos for lunch. Snapped this cute pic of Avery & Norah at the marina

Afterwards we stopped off at Ponte de Piedade for a quick look

 

 

Next stop was the beach Dona Ana (Avery said this was her favorite beach)

 

 

 

 

I WANT TO GO BACK!!!

Actually, as I was putting this post together Allie was watching me and looking at the pictures.......she said the same thing! Can't wait to see our friends again in a few weeks! :)

 

More Random Pics

 

Blake and Meika hanging out and playing on the iPad

 

Date Night -- We went to a restaurant where we cooked our own steak on a hot stone. We had to wear aprons!

 

Our attempt at a selfie

 

Girls "swimming" at the Villa. This place was great...more pics of the place on the rental site.

 

 

A few other highlights of the trip:

Playing Settlers of Catan

Eating Patisseries just about every morning (yummy!)

Hearing about the funny things Allie would tell Nicole -- one such thing was when Nicole asked her if they put themselves to bed. Allie said something along the lines of --well, sometimes we do if my Mom and Dad are watching Purdue.

Also, on our date night, Allie was so excited to be having Derek and I going on a date (it rarely happens). She was almost pushing us out the door! I thought it was because she wanted to be with her friends and just not have us around. Derek told me it was because she thought it was cool we were going on a date. She told Adeline, very proudly, "My Mom and Dad are going on a date tonight. It's still fun to go on dates even when you're married."