Misc old pics

I'm finally cleaning up my pictures folder. Here are a few pictures that didn't get put on our blog but should have.

First, here's Claire on her first day at preschool. She goes three times a week. I think she enjoys it even though she insists she doesn't. She has a couple other cute girls that she plays with, but she's adamant about not playing with any of the boys!












I think Claire took this picture in October. Here's Tim trying to fix his chainsaw (again). After Hurricane Ike he found a lot of trees to help cut down. Finally his little chainsaw gave up and he somehow convinced me to let him buy a new (very expensive) one. Of course since then he's only used it once, and the one time he used it, it broke!









In the fall Tyler played soccer at the Y with his best friend Matty. It was really hard to get to the games and practices since I was really sick, but they had a lot of fun.









And here's a fun Halloween pic. Claire was Dr. Siddiqui (our pediatrician), Tyler was Batman, and Scott was Superman.

Here's Claire's first story:

The Wet Princess
By Claire Chartrand

Once upon a time, there was a princess. Her name was Sleeping Beauty. She was trying to find a house, but she couldn't find one. She had to build one. She didn't know what to do, so she got all the things to build her house. She made a beautiful house, and she wanted to go inside it because it was raining.

The end.

Here's Tyler's first story. I did help him a little with the grammar, but he pretty much made it up on his own in about ten minutes while I wrote down what he said. It's patterned after the series, "If You Give a Moose a Muffin," and has some similarities to it. He shared it with his class, and his teacher also had him share it with a second grade teacher, who (according to Tyler) said it was the best student story she's heard in her three years of teaching. I tried to convince him to draw pictures to go with it, but art just isn't one of his interests. I'm surprised he likes making up stories, since both Tim and I are the opposite! Here goes:

If You Give a Horse a Drink

If you give a horse a drink,
He’ll want some ice to go with it.
The ice will remind him that he wants to play with it.
When he plays with it, he’ll get all wet.
He’ll ask you to get a towel to dry himself off.
The towel will get all wet, so he’ll want to hang it up on a clothesline to dry.
Seeing the clothesline will remind him of a zip cord, and he’ll try it for a zip cord.
He’ll break the clothesline because he hung on it.
He’ll want to go to the store to fix it.
When he feels how chilly it is outside, he’ll ask to borrow a sweater.
When you give him the sweater, he’ll notice that one of the buttons is loose.
You’ll give him a needle and thread.
When you give him the needle, he’ll poke his leg with the needle.
He’ll want you to give him some ice for his leg.
And, chances are, if you give him some ice,
He’ll want a drink to go with it.

Preschool for Claire

Claire started preschool on Monday, Sept. 8th, at a local church. She was very excited to get to go to school just like Tyler. Because of Ike, she's only gone 4 times so far, but hopefully soon we'll get into the routine of things. She loves the crafts and music time. I'm hoping she will soon overcome her shyness and enjoy herself there.

Happy bday Claire!

Claire is so happy to finally be 4! She got a new bed for her birthday, along with a bunch of new toys. She had a fun treasure hunt to find her little pet shop present, and then for her party we had a treasure hunt to find the pinata. Here's the link for all her bday pics:

Claire's 4th bday

Claire's bday's coming!

Thanks for teaching us this song in Chinese, Mindy! Claire's so excited for her upcoming bday.

Some old video clips

I came across this old video from March that I just couldn't exclude from my blog, of Claire learning to count by 10's (with Scott helping in the background).

Here's one taken in April. You can't hear her very well, but at the very end she says, "My hands are too...crunchy!" Sorry these videos aren't the best--they're taken from my cell phone.

Okay, one more clip--this one is from May. I've been trying to teach Scott a little Chinese, ever since he started learning how to talk. Here he's helping me count to 10 in Chinese. I wish I could've just done an audio clip on this one, the resolution and lighting are really bad. Anyway, he says a few things in Chinese and understands the few Chinese words or phrases I say to him. He loved talking to Nana the other day and saying, "Wo ai ni" (I love you) and "Zai jian!" (Bye). He still talks and laughs about it. By the way, Mindy--I need you to help me with my Chinese! I'm starting to lose the little that I've learned...

Look, Nana!

Claire wanted to show you how well she can write the alphabet. She is very meticulous and neat (in pretty much everything, except why does she always want to have messy hair?!). She had a little trouble with Z, but finally got it after a few tries!

slow and steady wins the race

Claire learned how to ride Tyler's bike today! She's eagerly anticipating her own bike for her 4th birthday (our family tradition), which is 4 long months away...