Spring Kid Videos

With Patrick away I've been trying to capture videos of the kids in their 'natural' state.  Here are a few from the last few months.  This first one is of Clayton at the Clifford the Big Red Dog exhibit at Imagine It! Atlanta Children's Museum.  He loved moving the big bones around.

The next one is from Clara's birthday.  She rode her new bike A LOT that day.  I like this video because she also started singing her own made-up song while she rode.
 
Next we have Clay crawling through my parent's cat door.  He had already crawled inside while Mom, Grandma and I sat on the porch watching him so I grabbed the camera to see if he would play cat and come out, too.  I love that Grandma is concerned about the 'cat dirt' and holds the door off his clothes.  He gets into so many messes on his own it never occurred to me to be worried about a little 'cat dirt'.


About a year ago I started coupon-ing with vengeance.  Clara has watched and now enjoys clipping her own coupons, too.  Hers are just pictures from a scissor skills book, but she loves to pretend they are the real thing.


In this next one I found Clayton had helped himself to some toys from the toy closet.  Not only that, but the toys he decided to play with were Clara's.  Thank goodness she didn't find him with her beloved princesses.  I shows how his verbal skills are progressing.  I filmed it about a month ago and he already his a lot clearer and has more words, but "Sissy" is still one of his favorites.

And my final video just shows the two yahoos playing.  They are just crazy, but they sure have fun and love each other.

Learning to Read

Back in January I started teaching Clara to read.  I am using the same phonetic based reading book that my mother used to teach me when I was Clara's age.  It is called Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons.  Ironically my mother and I only got about a quarter of the way through before we both gave up out of frustration, but that wasn't enough to sway me from trying with Clara.  I am pleased to say that she is much more into it than I ever was.  Today we finished lesson 52.  At the end of each lesson there is a short story for her to read.  This video shows her reading today's story.  It isn't smooth or perfect by any means, but I couldn't be prouder of how hard she is working at it.  Go Clara!

Clara Ballerina

We got Clara's ballet pictures back today.  I'm very happy with her individual picture, but I do wish she would have smiled in the group shot.  It looks more like a mugshot. Oh, well.  At least she isn't the only little ballerina who forgot her smile at home.

Clay's First Easter Egg Hunt

Today our church held an Easter egg hunt and cookout for the kids. It was Clayton's first egg hunt and he was a bit confused, but once he realized the eggs had candy inside he became more interested. Clara had a blast. They had different fields set up by age so both children had a fighting chance to fill their baskets. There was also a bouncy house and blow-up slide. Those may have actually out-staged the eggs.

I thought Clara would be scared to go down such a big slide.  I was wrong.  Not only did Clara like it, but Clay wanted to try too.  I took him in my lap 3 times. On each one he giggled like crazy the whole way down.

Clay also got to go in his first bouncy house with a maternal assist.  It was hard to get this picture because he was so interested in the bouncing that he didn't want to look at the camera.

Both kids jumped for joy!  (And went to bed early.  "hee hee" - evil Mom laugh)

On the starting line for the 4-5 year old egg hunt.  There were several others who joined the line, but these were the early birds who were ready to go minutes before the starting whistle was blown.

So many eggs it was like shooting fish in a barrel...

Clay took to egg gathering a bit slower.  At first he kept trying to walk back to the bouncy house, but once we showed him the candy, the egg hunt became a little more interesting.

Ah, divvying up the spoils.  Once the 4-5 year old field was wiped clean, Clara came over and helped Clay fill his basket from the 3 and under field...a lot of the older siblings came to help, because those little ones were mighty slow gatherers.

Clara: Oh, no...is it over?
Clay with a full mouth: Nope... now the fun part begins.

Clara's new bike

Instead of one big fourth birthday party, Clara had a couple little ones. These are some pictures of her one at Grandma Dayna and Paw-paw Chris's house.

She got a new doll and clothes which she adores, but the 'big gift' was from Mom and Dad...a new princess bike.  She had to solve clues on a scavenger hunt to find it hidden in the back yard.

Clay didn't try to ride, but he was mighty interested in understanding the mechanics behind Clara's new ride.

 

I love the next picture.  It just captures Clayton for me.  The sweet expression, the filthy shirt - it pretty much sums up my little man.

Did I mention this was a camping party. Clara had been asking me to go camping for her birthday so Grandpa set up the tent in the backyard.  We roasted hotdogs and marshmallows for dinner on a campfire and Clara and I started the night in the tent.  We ended up in the house...she got sick in the middle of the night after a little too much birthday, but it was fun anyhow.

Clara also got a lovely ballerina doll from Uncle Mason that looked just like her.

Oh, and one last gift from Mom and Dad...goldfish.  Clara named them Dorothy and Finn. 

Clara's First Ballet Performance

Clara's ballet class had their first public performance today at Macon's Cherry Blossom Festival.  The girls were adorable and nobody got a bad case of stage fright.  

Here are some of the girls waiting before the show

The performance... my memory chip gave about about 2 bars before the end of the song...sorry.  And excuse the rude people walking in front of me.

Grand Mary gave Clara a bouquet after her performance.  She loved the flowers.

And here are the kids 'hanging' with Grandma Selma in the hammock.

Clay helping paint Clara's dressing table.

Enjoying some of Aunt P's birthday cake

And I got this shot because it showed how pretty Clara's hair looked in a bun with the bow I made.

The nightly wind-down

So each night before bed the children have to blow off the extra energy. I videoed the romp tonight. It isn't anything exciting, but I am always amazed at how long it lasts. This video is just a small sample of what lasts about 15 minute each night.

Clara isn't actually trying to knock Clay down; she wants to play tag, but doesn't seem to remember how new he is to walking. I'm waiting for the day when he gets pushed and turns around and pushes her right back. I know she'll look at me to object, but I'll just pull out videos like this to show her where he learned it all ;)