Yard Sale Finds

We went to a few yard sales this morning. Here are our best finds:
Roller skates


A swivel rocker



And a sewing cabinet.



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Chopsticks

Charlotte in the Rain

It's been rainy lately.  Charlotte was enjoying her rain gear one afternoon in the courtyard.

 Time to go in.  Sad Charlotte.

Beauty Shop

Yesterday while one of our neighbors cut my hair, her daughter and Eleanor played beauty shop, sans scissors. Eleanor liked the way her hair felt "crispy" afterward.

Hiking

Today Charlotte and I went on a hike with Eleanor's kindergarten class.  It was great fun.

Her school is close to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.  There was a nice view of it at the trailhead.  The trail was really fun, with all sorts of interesting things to see: parrots, a woodpecker, a newt, flowers.

 

There was a creek running through the valley, I think with runoff from the mountains.  I really liked this 

old bridge that we crossed.

Since the Station Fire in September of 2009, part of the trail has been closed.  There was someone working on clearing debris today.  The kids loved it.  Charlotte also loves chain link fences, so she was doubly happy.

We stopped at a fun place to have a snack and play.  The kids had a great time playing in the water and building small rock structures.

Charlotte and Eleanor both enjoyed the sand.

While all the older kids were playing, Charlotte looted their snacks.

Charlotte's friend Naffi gave her a ride part of the way.  Naffi is a couple of months older than Charlotte and LOVES her.  

I love that Eleanor's school is able to do this.  It's a field trip that is free, educational and so good for the kids.  Eleanor really enjoyed the trip (despite not wanting to go for fear of poison ivy).  Charlotte also enjoyed it.  Both girls were quite tired by the end of the expedition.  I was too.

Daughter

Daughter from Matt Lumpkin on Vimeo.

Somehow I don't think I every posted this video I put together of Eleanor on this blog.

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

Today is Dr. Seuss's birthday.  Eleanor's school celebrated by dressing up as characters from books and then having a parade for all the parents and older kids.  Eleanor really wanted Charlotte to be involved, so we decided on the costumes of Thing 1 and Thing 2.  Eleanor said she had to be Thing 1 since she was older.

All I had to do for Charlotte was repurpose her Ponyo costume from Halloween with some letters (and add a bit to the sleeves because they were too tight).   Eleanor helped me make the pattern for her dress, then she went to bed.  At some point I will learn to not wait until the night before to start making costumes.

The girls were absolutely adorable, but I wasn't able to get a good picture.  Here's the best I got of both girls in costume.

The kids were so cute.  I took a few pictures of some of Eleanor's classmates.  My favorite is the Lorax.

 Eleanor's teacher, Ms. Erin, was dressed as the Paperbag Princess.

After we came home, Charlotte wanted to play in the courtyard some.  She's loving the blue car these days.

 She's always careful to check her mirrors.

 Somewhere she learned that when you drive, you drink coffee (or tea in my case).