Joyful Gratitude

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Pine Knoll Shores Aquarium

We made our first trip to the North Carolina coast on Sunday to visit the Pine Knoll Shores Aquarium. Ella had been asking for a few days to go to the aquarium and wanted to know if we had one here. There are actually a few out here, but by looking at the websites I thought the one in Pine Knoll Shores might be closest to what she was imagining after so many visits to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

These fish seemed to like Emma. :-)

Big catfish! This aquarium takes you through aquatic life throughout North Carolina's regions (Mountains, Piedmont, Coastal, and Ocean).

River Otters! Ella loves otters! These were swimming so fast it was hard to get a good picture of them. I opted for video instead (below).

They had a fun projection on the floor. When you step in the "water" it ripples. Ella loved jumping from rock to rock and Emma loved trying to catch the "fish".

Ella was conflicted about touching these stingrays. She wanted to, but then she'd get nervous and pull back. :-) Maybe next visit.

Sharks!

That's a real German sub in there!

Meeting a diver through the glass.

Monday, February 6, 2012

The Story of North Carolina at the NC Museum of History

We visited the North Carolina Museum of History in Raleigh on Saturday. We spent about an hour and a half exploring The Story of North Carolina exhibit.

In front of the capital building

Checking out the Indian tools

Emma was all over the place and really enjoyed exploring all the sites.

Ella, checking out a ship cannon

They had co-sleepers! :-)

Ella loved this chicken. When you move her you see 0-2 eggs. It changes every time you move the chicken.

Emma loved the cow! She's been doing lots of hugging and kissing these days. The cow got a big hug!

The girls loved this interactive three dimensional map.

Ella enjoyed these little figure scenes. They reminded her of Night at the Museum.

The girls had a great time and we got to learn a little more about North Carolina. Sead and I wish we had had more time to read, but when the girls get a little older we'll explore the exhibit again and maybe we'll be able to read a bit more than chase. :-)

Friday, February 3, 2012

New Experiences

There have been lots of changes for our family in the past 4 months and the girls have adapted quickly. They just met their new pediatrician on Tuesday and really liked the office, nurse, and doctor. They're also making new friends through the Little Gym and a Holly Springs Homeschooler group that we connected with in January. We've been at home most weekends since Christmas, but we still have lots of places to explore and return too. Story Time at the Holly Springs Library continues to be a favorite activity as well.

In some of our quiet moments cooking in the kitchen, playing in the backyard, reading in her bedroom, or studying in her learning room, Ella will turn to me and say "I love our new home and North Kinyella!". I respond, "That's why we moved here, baby!". :-)

Emma at 18 Months

Emma is 18 months. She's now 31 inches and discovering the world with great enthusiasm!

Emma is picking up new words and phrases almost daily right now. Her latest additions include bubbles, yucky, and cookies. She also does a lot of indecipherable babbling that usually ends in "Mama". :-)

She is still very smiley, but is more shy now than she use to be. She will smile at strangers, but if they talk to her she may hide her face on our shoulders or in her hands. She's also going through a "screaming stage" making the rest of wish we could wear ear plugs sometimes. However, some of that is probably due to the molars that are just coming in.

As much as Ella loves dogs, Emma loves cats and has since she was a tiny baby. Emma loves to look through her kitty board books and favors her stuffed kitty animals. She squeals loudly and laughs when she sees a kitty, which of course, usually results in them running the other way. Occasionally, she doesn't scream and moves slowly enough that she can actually manage to pet a kitty.

She loves books! Emma will easily spend 30 minutes straight just looking through the pages of her books. She laughs and points to things in her books and can now name several things as well.

Emma examines things in great detail. She seems to be mechanically inclined. She very quickly figures out how devices work and how to take things apart, a skill I'm sure she inherited from her Daddy. She gets very excited when we're in an electronics store like Best Buy.

She is so BUSY these days! This is a picture of her running in the backyard. She has now figured out that she can pull a chair over to climb on when she wants to reach something. I've been quickly working to baby-proof counters and tables that were out of reach.

Our little Emma is such a delight! We love her smile and are enjoying discovering her interests. She absolutely adores her big sister and tries to do almost everything that she does. She's still my cuddly baby, something I know won't last forever, so I'm soaking up as much as I can get. :-)

Ella at 4

Ella turned 4 in January. She's now 3'4" and is adding skills at a dizzying rate.

Ella's most commonly spoken phrase these days is "my turn", which means she wants to do something herself. She rarely accepts help no matter how frustrated she might get, but she's learning a lot as she's becoming more and more capable.

She's full of ideas! Some days she has a new idea of something she wants to do or eat about every 5 minutes! At the top of her consistent "want to do" list is learning to read and help Mama cook in the kitchen.

We just started homeschooling Ella for preschool. She typically spends about 30 minutes to an hour Monday through Friday in her Montessori learning room discovering and using the learning tools while Emma naps. Of course, there's also a lot of learning going on spontaneously through the day as well.

Ella loves her dance and gym class! She practices at home all the time. In fact, it's frequently a challenge to get her to take a break from somersaults, attempted cartwheels (one handed and two handed), and dancing.

She still loves dogs, a preference she's had since she was a little baby. She also loves all things girly, such as princesses, Pinkalicious, unicorns, ponies, fairies, mermaids, and flowers.

Ella's quite the artist. She enjoys coloring, painting, and drawing on her chalkboard. Paints are her favorite right now, but she never turns down an opportunity to draw with just about anything on hand.

We love our Ella! She's very caring, intelligent, and gentle. While it's not always easy to share, she's exceptionally emphathetic and thoughtful towards her baby sister.