Playgroup - the good ole group

Karl, Kacey, Ainlsey, Kaley, Penelope and Millie hung out at our house on Friday. It was good to get all the kiddies together again....and fun to catch up with the mommies. Terri was the hit with her chocolate graham crackers. All the kids played well together and ....Kim, Kathryn and Rachel.....we missed you.

Burrito eating Ballerinas

They are Daddy's girls.....

Burritos....food of ballerinas.

Clifford Park- Sunday

Ainsley has learned how to "pump"



Giddy up, Clifford



Kaley's favorite thing of all time..swinging

"Look, Mike" "Clifford"


Kaley and Melody....Engine number 5 - Fire Girls

Meet Walnut, our new pet

Here he is...meet Ainsleys new fishy...Walnut. She won him by tossing ping pong balls into fish tanks at the Walnut Festival (Carnival) It just took one ball in a fish bowl to win...and one she did win.

"Hi, Walnut". "Welcome to your new home"
Home sweet home for Walnut
Well, it was fun while it lasted. Walnut was with us for about 20 minutes before he just sank to the bottom of the fish bowl. After about an hour of patiently waiting for Walnut to start swimming again, Ainsley finally decided that it was time to let Walnut return to the Pacific Ocean."Adios to Walnut". He was a good fish...............

All Aboard

Kaye and Bill visited this past weekend. Sunday, we took the girls up to Tilden Park to ride the trains and everyone had a fun time.

California Symphony at Todos Santos

Saturday night, we packed up the girls, Kaye and Bill and headed to Todos Santos to listen to the California Symphony play the Pops. The girls really enjoyed the music and Ainsley ran into an old playgroup friend, Cameron, there. As usual, lots of dancing erupted.

Pajama Party

Ainsley came home from school the first week very excited about an upcoming party at school...pajama party, however she did not know when it was going to be held. She was pretty certain that she wanted to wear her chinese pajamas. They are looking a bit shabby, and not knowing exactly when the party was going to be, we headed for Chinatown in the city the very next day. Ainsley's buddy, Nicholas and his mom, Chris came with us. The kids had a great time and Chris Ellen would watch Kaley for me while Ainsley and I scoured each shop in Chinatown looking for the perfect pair. We packed a picnic lunch and Michael met us for lunch at Union Square. Just as we thought that Michael was packing up to go back to the office, he surprised us with news that he was heading home with us. What a great day!

Goofy Girl Hair

Expressing their creativity.

Cheers

The girls love it when daddy brings home gifts...

Saturday and Sunday Michael, the fence stainer

Michael spent most of his weekend staining our fence. It is beautiful and he did such a nice job. As people drove by, they would yell at Michael "Looks nice or Good job". He is pretty sore tonight and it was a hard job, but he does such good work! Last weekend, he borrowed a pressure washer from Brian and cleaned the fence. It was amazing to see it go from the grey color to clean wood. We used a Superdeck natural stain, which added just a little bit of red color. Every night, the girls spend the last 1/2 hour before baths playing tag in the front yard. I will get photos posted in the next couple of days.

Saturday Movie under the stars

Friends..............

On Saturday, we went to Movie under the Stars at Heather Farms Park. We saw the movie, Racing Stripes. It was a good film and Kaley, Melody and Jordan stayed awake for the entire movie. Before the movie started, there was Blue Grass band from Las Vegas playing and all the girls went in front of the stage to dance. What a crack up! For a while, Melody stood and watched as crazy Ainsley and Sydney did their interrpretation of square dancing, then all of a sudden, Melody cut loose. The only one I couldn't get any pictures of was Jordie, she wouldn't stand still for anything :)

The movie was cute and had a good mix of child humor and inside jokes the adults understood. They did use the word stupid....which I was not thrilled with. It was pretty cold that evening, but it was fun cuddling up under the blankets. I had Kaley on my lap, so I stayed nice and warm. Stayed tune for photos to be added.

Friday, Sept 9th Kaley went to LeapFrog

Today Kaley went to LeapFrog Labs in Emeryville to test a product for them. She was thrilled. It has been a long while since Kaley has tested. It seems like they are usually looking for Ainsley's age bracket. Regardless, she was beaming from ear to ear and walked off so proudly with Monica. When she was done, she was given a Thomas the Train book and cartridge for her Leap pad. I am really pleased to see how much she has been playing with it since Friday. The girls really enjoy giong over to Emeryville and testing for LeapFrog.

Back to school night

Michael and I attended Sequoia's Back to School night tonight. Michael came home early and the Wakefields babysat the girls for us. We met the principal, Mrs. Matteoni. Her pantsuit matched the neon green of her VW bug. She seems like a very caring lady who is driven to continue to make Sequoia a top school in the school district. She gave lots of credit and thanks to the students' parents for their involvement. Following our meeting in the MUR (multi use room), we went to Mrs. Haneberrys class. Ainlsey had some of her artwork up on bulletin boards. We then had a chance to listen to Mrs. Haneberry and ask questions. I questioned the use of videos in the classroom and found that it won't happen very often. The one they used was used to introduce phonics. It is a Leap Frog video, which I am okay with...but want to make sure that any video watched is educational. We left the meeting feeling like the school year is going to be great and feel very lucky Ainsley is attending Sequoia. Thank you again to Minor and Mary Beth for babysitting.

The Pony Fortress

Ainsley came home determined to build her ponies a castle. I told her I'd give her some time to work on her creation. I checked back a couple of times to see how the progress was coming along.

The fortress...
Aerial shot
Very pleased with her creation.

My Teeney Waheeny and her Hippie Chick friend

Ainsley and her friend, Kiera were very silly Thursday. Kiera, her mom Rachel, and brothers Luke and Cole came over to play. We decorated cookies and then the girls thought it would be fun to swap shoes. There was a lot of unbridled energy flowing through their veins. The Worthley girls had fun playing with Kiera and Luke. Cole is only five months old, but gets around just enough to keep Rachel busy. Kiera's shoes are the blue, Ainsleys- the pink. What a couple of silly girls.

Kaley the Tower builder

Kaley spent her time while Ainsley was at school on Thursday demonstrating her tower building skills. She would then stand back, size it up and make any necessary changes. Finally, when she thought it was just right, she collapsed out of exhaustion. Ahhh, the life of a three year old.

Homework...already

Ainlsey had homework...already. Tuesday (second day of school), Mrs. Haneberry sent her kinders home with their stoplight lined paper...it is very expensive, according to Ainsley. Wonder where she heard that? Anyway- she worked very hard writing her name just right.

CIA photos...hopefully

Here are the grape eaters and the amazing kitchen
one of the award winning pastries. Meat and raisin mixture
another shot of the kitchen and a couple of the members of the Japanese delegation
The girls and Grandpa