The Nutcracker

Maya and I went to the see the Nutcracker this year. It was the first time for both of us. She wasn't too sure what to make of it at first, but she gasped and sat up a little straighter when the snow flakes danced on stage.

I think her favorite part of the day, besides the make-you-own cupcakes at lunch right before the show, was when I bought her Clara, the nutcracker. As soon as she saw it, she stopped walking and just stared at it. "Mommy!" "Mommy, look!" I couldn't say no, and I didn't want to anyway. We picked up a soldier nutcracker for Guillermo.

Gingerbread House

On the kids' second day of holiday vacation, we made our gingerbread house (We saw Arthur Christmas on the first day). They love this tradition, likely because they sneak candy while they build it. I think of it as sort of prep for the train cake we make each Christmas Eve. But I also like it because I know that for about 30 minutes of the day, Guillermo and Maya will get along. In fact, they actually like each other. See the proof below:

Having fun!

The finished product

Hanukkah

At his holiday concert.

Guillermo's class performed a holiday concert at a retirement home on the last day before Winter break. They had been rehearing for weeks. They sang several songs and told holiday "Holiday Ho Ho's" or jokes throughout the performance. Guillermo was part of this joke:

"Hey Guillermo, what does December have that no other month has?

"I don't know, Derrick. What does December have that no other month has?"

"The letter 'D'"

Even better than the joke, though, was that Guillermo volunteered to dance to "O Hanukkah" during the performance. According to his teacher, he has some moves. It was so fun to watch and he apparently really enjoyed the song. In fact, on Christmas morning, he wanted us to play "O Hanukkah" on the stereo while we opened presents.

Holiday Parade

We braved the cold for another Chapel Hill-Carrboro Holiday parade earlier this month. (it wasn't that cold).

Here are some pictures:

Guillermo, fighting off his friend to get candy.

Maya and one of her bffs.

Lego Fest

Will took Guillermo to Lego Fest. They came back tired, but armed with goodies.

Ninjago

With a storm trooper

Can you find them?

This is one of my favorite fall activities: Hiding the kids in the leaves. Unfortunately, I missed it this year, but Will snapped up these cute pictures.

He's in there

I see an arm

UNC Gymnastics

Guillermo's forward roll

Maya on the bar

Maya has been taking gymnastics since the past summer and loves it. The UNC Gymnastics team hosted a day day of gymnastics for the children of faculty and staff so we took the kids. Maya's eyes lit up when she saw the UNC team practicing and warming up. We didn't tell Guillermo where were going when we loaded him up in the car and even when we walked across campus, knowing he'd rebel against the opportunity. He wasn't too thrilled when he walked into the gym, but he quickly spotted a few friends and then spent the next 90 minutes having a great time on the gym floor. He didn't take one break and left the floor only after he collected the autographs of each one of the female gymnasts. He insists, though, that he doesn't want to go back next year :)

She's a Daisy!

She's a Daisy

Maya and her good friend, Sophia

Maya joined a Daisy Troop this year. The group meets once a month and she counts down the days starting with the Sunday before her next meeting. Most of the girls in her troop are from the neighborhood or from her preschool. It is a really cute troop and my friends are the leaders, which makes it more fun for me. I like it for another reason. I like mindless sewing. I don't like sewing that requires thought or skill, but I love sewing on her badges, and man does she have a lot of them.

Merry Christmas, I mean Happy Halloween

Maya and Guillermo

It's nearly Christmas, and I have been lax, too lax, about updating this blog. This fall has been fun, watching Maya jump right in to kindergarten and Guillermo, well, be Guillermo. We've had a great time, but I haven't been very good about documenting that fun here. So, the next few posts are catch-up posts, starting with, of course, Halloween.

Indiana Jones

Maya, a princess

Thankful for Intertwined Hands

Maya, showing off her little apple pie with the daisy she made out of extra crust on top.

Guillermo preparing to make chutney for the lamb

Happy Thanksgiving!

The four of us celebrated at home and had a nice, relaxing day. We divided up the chores: Guillermo was in charge of deorations; Maya had pies; I had turkey and the sides; and Will was in charge of the lamb. It was quite a feast: tukey and gravy, lamb with pear and blackberry chutney; sweet potatoes, green beans, homemade rolls and apple and pumpkin pie.

We attended a breakfast feast in Maya's class the other day and that night we talked about Thanksgiving. She determined that Native Americans were thankful for bears, because bears gave their lives so the Native Americans could use their fur. Yesterday, however, she looked at me and said: "I just don't know what it means to be thankful. What does that mean?" At Thanksgiving today, she was too shy to say what she was thankful for, but echoed Will when he said he was thankful for the Cardinals. Guillermo said he was thankful for animals.

The best part of today, for me anyway, was the walk in the woods after dinner. Guillermo and Maya pretended I was a monster chasing them and when I would get close, Guillermo would pretend to blast a grappling hook with an attached rope to a faraway tree. He then grabbed Maya's hand and they flew off, together, to the next section of the woods. Pure sweetness!

Rookie of the Year

There's our Rookie of the Year

Guillermo finished up his first season of coach-pitch last weekend. He had so much fun the entire season. After the last game, his coach handed out certificates from the league and then awards that he made for each player. He gave Guillermo the "Rookie of the Year." He was so proud.

At his favorite position.

Little Droid

At Bat

Just because

It's such a handsome picture of Guillermo and his favorite things.

I am Reading!

Maya brought home her first take-home book today and she was thrilled to read it to us.

"It's so easy!" she boasted, but she was so proud she read it twice. "If I get stuck, I just look at the pictures!"

Happy birthday, Will

Will and his favorite people!

His ice cream birthday cake. So good! Made with love by Maya and me.

Will celebrated his 35th birthday just the way he likes to celebrate all his birthdays: lazily. He slept in, went out for lunch with me, gave a lecture on campus and then watched the Cardinals. A few neighbors came over for cake but otherwise, it was a quiet day. The cardinals lost, a disappointment but the came back the next day for a win for a day-late birthday present.

Baseball Fall

They are addicted.

It's been a Fall full of Baseball. Guillermo and Will hardly miss a game. Guillermo has been falling asleep listening to the Cardinals on KMOX. He sometimes draws pictures of plays and leaves them by his door for Will to find in the morning. Will, in turn, leaves the final score near Guillermo's door so he can check it in the morning.

Guillermo is also playing baseball this fall. He loves it. His favorite position is catcher because "you get lots of action." He looks like the little boy dressed up as Darth Vader in the Volvo commercial when he has on his catcher's gear. (Don't tell him I said that!)

I lost a tooth!

Maya lost her first tooth yesterday! Guillermo was thrilled when he lost his. Maya was a little freaked out.

"It feels like my tooth fell out," Maya said at dinner last night.

Sure enough, she had a little hole where her tooth used to be. She had knocked the tooth loose a few months ago when she fell. She was eating an apple at dinner last night when the tooth finally came out.

The sight of the blood made her a little upset and uneasy. We cleaned it up and then I took her to the bathroom to check it out. She looked a little sad and when I asked her if she wanted a hug, she started crying. The bright red spot where her tooth used to be scared her a bit. She cheered up a little later when talk turned to the the tooth fairy and by this morning she was all smiles.

School Days

Maya and Guillermo started school last week. Maya started kindergarten! She went to a half day of orientation on Friday and came out looking a little sad. I took her to a coffee shop and we shared a cookie. She perked up and revealed that her day had been pretty good, aside from the girl standing in line in front of her, who turned around and made devil horns and a scary face at her "for NO reason!"

She seemed to have a great day today. It was her first full day and she went in feeling pretty good. She came out looking a little sad, but that went away when she saw one of her best friends and they took off running to play behind the school. She told me tonight that her favorite part was nap time and recess, oh and lunch and story time (her teacher read "The Night Before Kindergarten") but please, she asked me, don't pack a banana for snack every day.

Guillermo has had a smooth return back to school. He has a wonderful teacher who gave him a research project about his name. He discovered at school that his name is not so popular, is from Spanish descent and means protector. His job at home was to figure out who came up with the name, the story behind his name, why he likes his name and what his name would have been if he had been a girl (Isabel).

Our return to school couldn't have come fast enough. Guillermo and Maya had had enough of each other by the last week. Check out their doors.

Guillermo's says "No Maya"

Maya took her brother's lead, penning her own sign: "No Guillermo"

New School Year

A new school year starts in a few days. Guillermo has been assigned a wonderful teacher, Ms. Mellor. His first day is Thursday and he seems really pleased. Some of his best friends are in his class.

Maya starts kindergarten on Friday. She has a half day of orientation and will visit all four sections of kindergarten that day. In the afternoon, after the teachers have assessed the kids, Maya will get a telephone call to learn the name of her teacher.

Our family picture.

Guillermo, with his new teacher.

Showing off the McDougle spirit wear.

Summer At Last

I have been terrible this summer about posting here, and now I am sad that I didn't record so much of what we did because we had a wonderful summer, a really wonderful summer. We played a lot, swam even more, read a ton and spent so much time together. Guillermo played baseball and Will helped him solidify his love for the Cardinals (taking him to see a game didn't hurt the cause either). Maya took gymnastics and after several tries has mastered the forward roll. Here are some photos of our summer fun.

Guillermo spent a lot of time building and building.

Maya and I met some friends and took the train to Burlington and back, just for fun. And it was fun!

We took a road trip to Peoria and stopped in St. Louis. Here, Guillermo and Maya and fishing at the Magic House.

We took the kids to see a game and the Cardinals won!

In Peoria, Maya being silly with Ya Ya

After watching the Cardinals live, Guillermo couldn't get enough baseball.

Maya had so much fun at gymnastics she is going to take another session in the fall.

Farm Badge

Guillermo passed the swim badge test at The Farm! You should have seen how proud he was!

If you are younger than 8, you have to take a test to prove you can swim before you go off the slide or the diving boards. The test includes swimming, treading water for a minute, 10 bobs and floating on your back and front. Guillermo has been working up the nerve to take it for a few weeks now and last week, he finally did it (after his swim teacher gave him a confidence boost).

The first thing he did was go off the slide, which didn't prove to be as easy as it looked for him. He got to the top and sat there for several minutes, trying to work up his nerve. He started to inch his way down the slide, holding on tight to the sides and at one point, he even asked me to come get him down. But, his hand slipped and off he went. He had fun, but he decided he didn't want to do it again. He hasn't worked up the nerve to go off the low diving board either. Good thing, because I told him that I would go off the high dive as soon as he went off the low dive! Just thinking about that makes me nervous!

4th of July

Our 4th of July was a fun, full day that started with Red, White and Blueberry Trifle making at 7:30 a.m. (Maya posed with the finished product) and ended around 10:30 p.m. after sparklers and smoke bombs. In between, the kids rode their bikes in the town parade and then played games at the town carnival. At the carnival Guillermo and Will watched a Ska band who ended up doing a cover of Outkast's Hey Ya, that was weird. It was hot! After lunch, we went swimming and then had friends over for dinner before heading out to another house for sparklers and smoke bombs. On the way out the door to light sparklers, Maya, who played with her friends all day, declared the day "the best day ever," as she is prone to do. A few minutes later, she was in tears, scared because of the noises, smoke and sparklers. She gathered her friends up and they played in the house for the rest of the night.

Guillermo, and his bike.

Maya was pretty pleased with her bike, too.