My "J" Day

Lucy had her first day of preschool. I almost cried, not joking...it's going to be a long 16 years...! I'm one of four moms in our Preschool Co-op. We meet once a week on Mondays, rotating teaching between the four of us. We're going to be studying one letter a week, so for the next 20 weeks Lucy will really be learning her letters and the sounds. She does know her letters really well, but she doesn't know any sounds yet. These are great pre-reading skills. Most of all, the class is so fun- it's almost like a souped-up playdate! I was the "helper" for this week, learning the letter "J." (Yeah, I know, pathetic... I was crying even though I was staying at preschool.) Anyway, Lucy had a blast. MY favorite part was playing "Jack and Jill." Lucy's favorite part was her "Jasmine the Jellyfish" (made out of construction paper and curly ribbon). It honestly was so fun. The idea is to spend the rest of the week reinforcing the new letter, which I am doing some. But we've also started into the next letter- mostly because I'm teaching it and so I have all this stuff. Jack and Jill went up the hill...to fetch a pail of water...
Jack fell down, and broke his crown...and Jill came tumbling after.(Neither of the girls ever fell down the hill, they just trotted down sweetly. The boys were great at falling down the hill though, no fear in these little Jacks!)

The "Jewelry Store" also carried hats, I guess ;)

In the buff

Is there anything cuter than half naked babies? I just think babies half-naked running around having fun, is so cute!

Practicing in Daddy's Dance Car Radio Dance Class


Mini Moses at the Beach

Funny kids...


I think this is one of those things, that your kids look good only to you, kind of thing.

Sad Green Day

A while back I told you about how they hacked down our shade tree! I thought I'd give the before and after pics. They said give it 3 months and you wouldn't be able to tell the difference, but...I don't know....


You can't even really see a tree in the second photo, yeah? Ah well, we're waiting for our beautiful tree to come back.

This and That

I just thought it funny to note (to myself more than anybody), to watch the personality differences of my kids. Lucy is very pattern-oriented. She's good at picking out patterns, fitting things inside other places, and sorting things, she'll even line up her Teddy crackers and then eat them one by one down the line. Willie is more all over the place- he'll line up his cheese puffs and then proceed to take one bite out of each of them randomly until they're gone.
I have to say this is one thing I've always been anxious about. I'm talking about those things that you get anxious about parenting before you have any kids, things you're not looking forward to. Worried about my kid's personalities being so different from my own that it's hard to get along with them but yet wanting to let themselves do the molding into their own person. That's a hard part of parenting I think, right up there with potty training for sure. :)

Christmas Quiz

So, it donned on me that I wrote in my Holiday letter this year, that I would put answers on my blog to the Christmas Quiz questions I included in the letter. Oops, never did that. So, please check the side bar for the answers to the questions and sorry for the delay. I hope I didn't keep you in agonizing suspense, I really doubt it or you probably would have let me know by now. :p

Look Who's Talking

Who's making all that noise?! Sounds like a bunch of barnyard animals! Oh, it's just the Van Tress', but which one's which? Can you figure it out?

Remember when...?

From visiting this blog, I'll continue the chain...
Do you remember when?
Here are the rules.
1. As a comment on my blog, leave a memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you know me a little or a lot, anything you remember! If we're only blogging friends or if you're a blog hopper who happens upon my blog regularly...leave me a comment. There must be reason you keep stopping by! Say something! If you don't have a blog or don't know how to sign in, sign up for an account! You won't regret it!
2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog (if you have one) and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty fun to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll be sure to write one about you... either on your blog, in my comment box, or I will email you back!

Not Feeling Guilty? Guilty!

I got back yesterday from the mainland after attending my brother's wedding. (Gorgeous photos of the wedding here by my sis-in-law.) It was such a fun trip that I'm feeling guilty for not feeling guilty that I left behind Jeremy and Lucy here in Hawaii. We missed them, but we'll just have to save up for the next wedding so we can all go. It'll be the last wedding of my siblings- no pressure T-low ;) I'm looking forward to it. It was so much fun all crashing in the same place and staying up late everynight talking "dirty", playing games, and of course all the wedding events. The new little Barlow family did a good job planning a great weekend! And I hope they're having fun honeymooning! (Thank you Joseph!!) This is a stamp that I designed and had made for the newlyweds. I interviewed both of them separately and then made "He said" "She said" cards with their answers to put around the dinner table. On the front of the black cardstock storycard, I embossed this stamp in gold. That was a first for me and it took longer than "2 minutes" and some didn't turn out like I wanted them to, of course, but thank you to Lydia who helped me with embossing supplies- and Mom for helping me to finish the project. It was definetly fun to have their answers around for all the family to read. They're a cute couple!


Well, being MIA a little while I'm sure my blog has been boring, so I'll just use this chance to promote a new blogger to our community! Follow my link to the Happy Man.