Happy September! As I prepare to go back to work next week and Miriam prepares to start kindergarten, I wanted to document some memories from this past year that I spent at home with the kids. They grow up and change so fast that I know if I don't write down some of the funny moments and other memories, I'll likely forget them.
This past year has been such a blessing to be able to stay home and spend some extra time with the kids. It was especially special since we'd just moved to a new town, so we got to explore the area and make some new friends together. Throughout the year, we found some favorite things to do and places to go. The kids and I spent a lot of time outside, walking and riding around our neighborhood. We played in the backyard, cleared space for a garden, worked in the garden, and spent a lot of time at one of our nearby neighborhood parks. Last fall, I remember taking lots of walks through the "crunchies" (crunchy leaves that have fallen off the trees); the kids loved to go out and collect them do art projects with them, and wear rain boots and crunch up and down the street in them. Speaking of art projects, we also spent a lot of time this year doing art, both at home and at Old School (a local business set up as an arts and crafts center for kids). The kids both love to paint and do art projects, and we often have more art masterpieces than we know what to do with! :) This spring we signed them up for a "Messy Art Class" (that was the actual class title!) at a local community center, and they had a BLAST painting with cars, with their feet, with shaving cream, blowing paint bubbles, etc. They loved it, and I loved it because someone else set up and cleaned up the mess!
During the fall and winter, we also spent a lot of time baking goodies for the holidays or for Mario to take to work. The kids both love to help me bake - they sit up on the counter and have gotten really good about measuring ingredients and dumping them in. The kids also love to taste the dough of whatever we are mixing, as do it. It is a testament of how often we make sweet baked goods that the couple of times I've made other things in the mixer, Mathias is insistent on trying the dough and then usually tells me "I don't like that!"
Some of our favorite things to do around town include open gym at various gymnastics centers, art projects at Old School, story time at the library or the bookstore, exploration days at the science factory, checking out books at the library, meeting friends for walks or playdates, and going to the wading pool. The kids love to go to open gymnastics gym, because they can jump and run and swing and flip around. Miriam especially loves to hang upside down on the high bar, and after watching the Olympics, she loves to take a running leap and jump up onto the bar and swing and flip around. She's signed up for gymnastics for the fall, so we'll see how much she continues to be interested and love swinging around. Mathias is just an active guy all around, so he especially loves open gym where he can jump endlessly or run around, and he's always loved playing at parks and climbing on things. He's signed up for soccer and gymnastics for the fall, so we'll see how he enjoys those! One of the standout memories I have of Mathias from this year is from a park that is close to our house; Mathias climbed up the ladder to the end of the monkey bars, gripped the first monkey bar, pushed off with his feet, and was swinging freely in space. I quickly ran across the playground when I saw him, and he was saying "mama, help me! help me!" He wanted to keep doing that, but I told him he had to learn how to get himself back onto the ladder. He kept swinging himself back and forth and quickly figured out how to catch the ladder with his toes - now that is one of his favorite activities to do at the park.
On days we hang out at home, the kids love to play dress up and dance around the house. Lately they've been dressing up for "ballet" (which neither of them have ever taken, but they watched a ballet performance once and loved it!), and this morning Mathias came downstairs dressed for ballet in Adidas pants, a tutu, and an alligator head from Miriam's old costume. I didn't manage to get a picture, but I did get some video later of them dancing around and singing. That will be great to show them when they are older!
The kids are changing and growing all the time, so I try to hang onto some of their words and phrases that they say incorrectly, because they are so cute! Here are a few of them - I'm sure there are more I can't think of right now!
Mathias -
"hugging birds" instead of hummingbirds
"snough" for a sneeze, or a cough (or a combination of both!)
Miriam -
"bump beds" instead of bunk beds
This past year has been such an amazing time with the kids, from the 1:1 time I got with each of them (either during preschool or naptime) to the snuggles I got when we curled up watching movies at home on rainy days. I've enjoyed my time exploring and adventuring and baking and giggling with them immensely, and I wouldn't trade this past year with them for anything.
I'll be sure to report later this week (and have pictures!) to tell about Miriam's first day of kindergarten and my first day of school.
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