New Skills/ A Spunky Pletcher

Each child has learned a new skill this weekend.

Finley - learned how to write most of her name. She has the F,I,L,E down. The N is getting there and the Y she makes me do. But she is getting there! And her people drawing skills are getting a little better.



Finley also learned to put her pants on by herself:


Finley is awesome.

Cainan - learned how to draw a person. The best part is - he drew slits for the eyes. Looks just like him when he smiles.


Arlington - learned how to ride her bike without training wheels!

Her mothers slacked this summer and didn't teach her how to do it, so we took her to the local school playground and track and she got it in about 10 minutes. She cruised around and around the track and was sad when we left.


But she was so excited because most of her friends can ride without the training wheels. We have used "living on a hill" as an excuse for far too long.


Finley got to eat her first doughnut this weekend. She got it as a special treat for being good while we were grocery shopping.


She had one with pink frosting and sprinkles. Totally disgusting, but she loved every bite. She even shared a few bites with Cainan.


He took a few licks, but true to Cainan's "non sweet tooth" he passed after that.

Also, Finley has been getting better with potty training. Now that she is consistently telling us that she needs to go, we are sending her to school in underwear. Today was her first day "pull up free" at school. She was VERY excited about that.


This weekend we went to church on Sunday. The girls wanted me to take their pictures before we left in their dresses.



One serious, and one silly picture, of course!


Sunday afternoon is when we went to the park. After Finley and Cainan got up from their nap. Well, after Cainan got up from his nap and Finley came down from playing with every toy she owns.


We stayed for awhile letting the kids run around while Arlington learned to ride her bike. The playground is at our local school.
The kids had a great time playing. They always do when they are outside. I am so glad I have kids that like to be outdoors.


Mat pointed out to me that the last couple of posts didn't have many pictures of Cainan. I felt badly about that, so I tried to step it up this time. He is harder to take a picture of. He isn't like the girls who like to have thier picture taken all the time. And when I do get him to stand for a picture, before I "click" he is heading toward me saying "can I see the picture?"


But this weekend I was able to get a few good pictures of him. We spent all day Labor Day outside in our yard getting the yard ready for fall.


(most of the picture in this post are from the park, so just bare with me).

I can't believe that summer is going to be over soon. Well, mother nature thinks it is over. This week the temperatures were cool, and leaves started falling off the trees. Already!! I saw a spattering of them in the yard and sighed. Heavily.


At the point of seeing those leaves I wished that we had cut back a few more trees this year instead of waiting. My rake - and wrists - are never going to forgive me.


The lawn mower also decided this weekend that it was time for retirement. It has been giving us more and more trouble. When it signed up for Pletcher Family yard work, it lived in warm, sunny Florida where our yard was 20 feet by 20 feet. Now it has several acres we are making it mow, and this weekend it finally said.....enough. Mat smoothed talked it to make it through the yard cutting, but we are going to have to get a new one.


Don't you love this tire swing? All three of my kids have claimed it as their favorite at the playground. Arlington tells me she tries to ride it every day at school during recess.


Monday turned out to be a great day. We relaxed, we cleaned up the yard, we enjoyed having a third day in a row to rest before heading back to school and work. It went by way too quickly, and I am trying not to think how long it is going to be until we have another long weekend.

Arlington has been into writing stories lately. She has written several little "books" for family members. If you are a family member and having a birthday coming up......expect a story! One she wrote was especially cute called "The Dinosaur who fell in Love". What a hoot. She almost always writes about animals. Most stories start out with one animal, and eventually they meet a friend or fall in love.


This week at work is going to be a busy one for me. I have some big meetings and a new student starting. The new student who is starting apparently was a large behavior problem at his old school, and our principal is pretty worked up about him. She met with me privately about him this week and I didn't get a warm and fuzzy feeling. So, should be fun times.


Tuesday started bright and early, and we fell back into our new routine today. Arlington was looking particuarly snazzy today so I wanted to show you her outfit.



Doesn't this just scream Punky Brewster? I call her my Spunky Pletcher girl. She LOVES to wear something off the hook and original. So......bright colors are in this year, and she is all over it. I am having flash backs to the 80s. I have even seen some 80's sunglasses and sparkly gloves without fingers, but we are NEVER going there. This is about as wild as I can take it.


Finley and Cainan also got into the posing action. Finley wanted to make a funny face.

Then when I asked her to smile nice, she didn't want to, so I got this:

So I said, "fine, I will take Cainan's picture instead.

Then she finally stopped crying, but wouldn't smile.


What a weirdo.

Also, My grandmother's birthday was Sunday and I want to wish her a very happy birthday. She is the most wonderful person in the world, and I continue to aspire to be just like her. I will never reach that goal, or even get close. Happy birthday Grammy! We all love you very much.

So, that is the wrap up. Have a great week, and we will see you Saturday!