The girls have really inherited Quinn's love of puzzles. First thing every morning they pull out all their current favorites and get straight to work. Recently, the girls have taken to working on the puzzles together, which typically (but not always) means that Penelope gives orders and Zahra follows.
Here you can see a video of them doing the alphabet puzzle together. It may be hard to understand them, but they keep saying "Z last", meaning they want to put the "Z" piece in last.
Watch until the end and you'll see how proud they are of themselves for completing their work!
Thursday, May 2, 2013
Sunday, April 28, 2013
It's WARM!
Can you believe it? We had two weekend days of above 70 here - the first time that's happened in seven months.
SEVEN. months.
To celebrate, the girls and I went to the park right away. They were beside themselves with joy and kept asking where the snow was. They truly don't remember a time without snow.
Zahra was so excited to be in short sleeves. The girls kept gleefully chanting, "no mittens. no hat. no coat. no boots"
Also, to celebrate spring finally arriving, we got the girls their very own scooters. There are "big-kid" scooters (2-wheels) littered around the whole neighborhood, but the girls still need 3-wheels at this point. So, they got matching bright pink ones.
Truthfully, their favorite part about getting the scooters was helping moin put them together.
When he was done, Zahra kept asking him to take hers apart so she could put it together again.
Poor Moin is too tall for bending over like this - the girls need to learn how to ride their scooters quickly, which I don't doubt that they will.
SEVEN. months.
To celebrate, the girls and I went to the park right away. They were beside themselves with joy and kept asking where the snow was. They truly don't remember a time without snow.
Zahra was so excited to be in short sleeves. The girls kept gleefully chanting, "no mittens. no hat. no coat. no boots"
Also, to celebrate spring finally arriving, we got the girls their very own scooters. There are "big-kid" scooters (2-wheels) littered around the whole neighborhood, but the girls still need 3-wheels at this point. So, they got matching bright pink ones.
Truthfully, their favorite part about getting the scooters was helping moin put them together.
When he was done, Zahra kept asking him to take hers apart so she could put it together again.
Poor Moin is too tall for bending over like this - the girls need to learn how to ride their scooters quickly, which I don't doubt that they will.
Skills
The Syed kids have been working on a variety of skills these last few weeks.
First up, Quinn had his first piano recital. At this point, he's been taking for about 8 months.
He did a great job, and wasn't nervous at all. I was!
You can see a video of the performance, here
A few more pictures from the big day
Quinn outside the Quaker church, where the recital took place
And sitting like a big kid waiting for the performances to start
The girls also went back to gymnastics class this week, after a few months off
Can you sense their energy? Gymnastics is a good place for these two spitfires to be!
First up, Quinn had his first piano recital. At this point, he's been taking for about 8 months.
You can see a video of the performance, here
A few more pictures from the big day
Quinn outside the Quaker church, where the recital took place
The girls also went back to gymnastics class this week, after a few months off
Friday, April 12, 2013
Happy "Spring"
Happy "Spring" to one and all. Here in Minnesota, spring must be in quotations as it is snowing outside as I write this.
It's been a LONG winter.
The kids took part in the neighborhood easter egg hunt last week. There was snow on the ground, but many of the kids were in t-shirts!
The adults took advantage of the snow, though.
This was the girls' first year taking part in the egg hunt and they caught on right away.
The neighborhood egg hunt is very organized, and the kids are divided into groups by age. Quinn won the coveted "golden egg" for his age group, which was a very proud moment for him.
Todd sent me some more pictures from when he, Kelly, and the kids visited. This one of Todd with the girls makes me laugh - don't they look like they're about to cause lots of trouble!
In other news, we've decided to send Quinn to a new school next year. It's called Capitol Hill, and is a gifted and talented magnet run through the public school system. When Moin and I took the tour I asked Quinn if there was anything we should keep an eye out for. He said to be sure the school had books and maps, so I took pictures of each for him!
Some of the books in the 1st grade classroom
And a map from a 1st grade classroom, on which the ancestry of each child is marked with string
Quinn is excited to go there next year.
Finally, a few pictures of the girls being silly
They're sick of being stuck inside, but aren't we all. Real spring can't come soon enough!
It's been a LONG winter.
The kids took part in the neighborhood easter egg hunt last week. There was snow on the ground, but many of the kids were in t-shirts!
The adults took advantage of the snow, though.
This was the girls' first year taking part in the egg hunt and they caught on right away.
The neighborhood egg hunt is very organized, and the kids are divided into groups by age. Quinn won the coveted "golden egg" for his age group, which was a very proud moment for him.
Todd sent me some more pictures from when he, Kelly, and the kids visited. This one of Todd with the girls makes me laugh - don't they look like they're about to cause lots of trouble!
In other news, we've decided to send Quinn to a new school next year. It's called Capitol Hill, and is a gifted and talented magnet run through the public school system. When Moin and I took the tour I asked Quinn if there was anything we should keep an eye out for. He said to be sure the school had books and maps, so I took pictures of each for him!
Some of the books in the 1st grade classroom
And a map from a 1st grade classroom, on which the ancestry of each child is marked with string
Quinn is excited to go there next year.
Finally, a few pictures of the girls being silly
They're sick of being stuck inside, but aren't we all. Real spring can't come soon enough!
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Spring Break
It's been spring break around these parts which means that Quinn has the week off school. We've also been lucky enough to have Eli staying with us for the week as well.
That means fun fun fun for the kids, and exhaustion for WaPa who have been watching them ALL all week.
Over the weekend we took all the kids to the Mall of America so that Quinn could select a new lego set to keep him occupied for the week. He selected the "Monster fighter" set, which includes a werewolf, a car and a scary tree.
At the MOA the kids ran into a giant Dora which slightly terrified me but they liked.
Moin and I also took all the kids to the Science Museum. We became members this year, a fact which made Quinn overjoyed. View of the Mississippi river from the museum - no ice!
Penelope was pretty scared of the giant fossils, but Zahra wasn't.
Penelope did find an opportunity to build towers and do puzzles - her current favorite things
There was an area for kids to build a model flyer and Quinn made one that flew up the tube!
Wa and Pa also had a busy busy week with the kids, and it's not over yet! So far they've been to:
The history museum
two libraries
Dale nature center
several coffee shops
Grandpa also took Eli (and Todd) to a Wolves/Lakers game and we all found time to watch KU play on TV.
Oh, and did I mention the girls are being potty trained??!!??
Busy week!
That means fun fun fun for the kids, and exhaustion for WaPa who have been watching them ALL all week.
Over the weekend we took all the kids to the Mall of America so that Quinn could select a new lego set to keep him occupied for the week. He selected the "Monster fighter" set, which includes a werewolf, a car and a scary tree.
At the MOA the kids ran into a giant Dora which slightly terrified me but they liked.
Moin and I also took all the kids to the Science Museum. We became members this year, a fact which made Quinn overjoyed. View of the Mississippi river from the museum - no ice!
Penelope was pretty scared of the giant fossils, but Zahra wasn't.
Penelope did find an opportunity to build towers and do puzzles - her current favorite things
There was an area for kids to build a model flyer and Quinn made one that flew up the tube!
Wa and Pa also had a busy busy week with the kids, and it's not over yet! So far they've been to:
The history museum
two libraries
Dale nature center
several coffee shops
Grandpa also took Eli (and Todd) to a Wolves/Lakers game and we all found time to watch KU play on TV.
Oh, and did I mention the girls are being potty trained??!!??
Busy week!
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Sweet Quinn story
Today I was telling Quinn that he'll be a good dad one day because he's such a good big brother to his sisters.
He asked when he would be a dad, and I told him not until he was done with college. He then added, "first I might want to do some other stuff, then I'll get a beautiful wife, and then I'll be a dad"
I'm not sure where he heard that "beautiful wife" part, but it was pretty cute.
Then I mentioned that Zahra and Penelope would be good moms one day, and Quinn said, "and if one of them wants a wife too, that will be ok with us"
Aren't we lucky to have such a sweet kid?
He asked when he would be a dad, and I told him not until he was done with college. He then added, "first I might want to do some other stuff, then I'll get a beautiful wife, and then I'll be a dad"
I'm not sure where he heard that "beautiful wife" part, but it was pretty cute.
Then I mentioned that Zahra and Penelope would be good moms one day, and Quinn said, "and if one of them wants a wife too, that will be ok with us"
Aren't we lucky to have such a sweet kid?
Saturday, March 16, 2013
Photo Updates
I haven't posted much recently, mostly because we're stuck in the doldrums of winter and all had the stomach flu last week. But, we do have some photo updates!
Quinn has moved up a level in swimming and is doing a really good job.
In this picture he's holding onto the "barbell" while swimming with his teacher.
Quinn and Zahra at smashburger
Penelope - don't all children watch TV while doing elbow pull-ups on a chair?
Quinn's sparkly unicorn puzzle in progress
A couple of recent school creations from Quinn.
First, his first bar graph.
Second, a photo from his "life-cycle" book he made in Science class. Nothing between reproduction and death? Really?
Penelope and Zahra playing at the midtown global market - one of our favorite places to go together.
See Penelope pulling Zahra in the cart? They love doing that!
Quinn has moved up a level in swimming and is doing a really good job.
In this picture he's holding onto the "barbell" while swimming with his teacher.
Quinn and Zahra at smashburger
Penelope - don't all children watch TV while doing elbow pull-ups on a chair?
Quinn's sparkly unicorn puzzle in progress
A couple of recent school creations from Quinn.
First, his first bar graph.
Second, a photo from his "life-cycle" book he made in Science class. Nothing between reproduction and death? Really?
Penelope and Zahra playing at the midtown global market - one of our favorite places to go together.
See Penelope pulling Zahra in the cart? They love doing that!
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