The Sword of Darrow

 

Last summer Tabatha was invited to review a new book before it was published.  The book was in very rough draft, but as part of the reviewer’s club, she would receive the finished book with the author’s signature in it.  Trying to get her to love reading, we signed up and read “The Sword of Darrow” by Hal Malchow co-written with his son, Alex Malchow.

Five weeks ago we received our final signed copy and were very excited.  What we didn’t know, is that the author was going to come to Barnes and Noble in Federal Way and that Tabatha would not only meet him, but get a special commemorative book as a thank you for coming to the author signing.

Alicia and Olivia came, but were not as interested as Tabatha.  Tabatha was enthralled in the story of the making of the book.  He worked with his dyslexic 8 year old who couldn’t read to write this book and keep his son interested in learning to read.  So this book was written with special learning needs in mind.  The full story is at http://www.swordofdarrow.com/. 

 

Only the father Hal showed up to the book signing, and here Tabatha is with the author and her signed copy of the book.

All the girls got in this picture.  It is author meetings and other things that will be lost if all bookstores shut down.  We love books, and we are grateful to still have a bookstore that provides opportunities for our community to get together with authors and groups and to promote literacy in a fun environment.

Ballet Time Again

This year Tabatha and Alicia prepared for their second ballet performance.  This year it was in the ballet “Sleeping Beauty.”  Tabatha had two dances.  Above you see her as a court jester as she dances for the King and Queen.

Then in the second act Alicia was a yellow bird and Tabatha had her second dance as a wood nymph.
The dances were a bit more complicated this year, and the girls had a harder time keeping up.  They are learning so much and keeping them limber and athletic.  The story was so familiar that even Olivia was excited to see the princess and her fairies as they were in the woods and later as she pricked her finger on the spindle.  It was a wonderful night and a joy to see them perform. 

Rock Climbing as a Family

Ken and I had such a great time rock climbing last month that I told my friend Jennifer Wright.  She told me her husband loves rock climbing and has enough equipment for adults as well as children as young as Olivia.  The always go out for Memorial Day Week-end, and they invited our family as well as another family to join them in climbing. 

After our tradition walk and breakfast with our ward in the morning, we drove out to Iron Horse State Park to a rock wall suitable for our young kids.  There were five climbs set up on the rock, and Alex Wright climbed up two of them to set up ropes for us to safely climb up.

Alicia was our first guinea pig, and harnessed in and after a quick lesson from Alex, she was on her way up.

Alicia wasn't scared at all, she climbed quickly and excitedly. 

Go! Alicia Go!

She did an outstanding job, she only got nervous rappelling down, but she figured it out quickly with just one slip that stopped her for a moment, but she quickly recouped and came down. 

Tabatha was a bit more apprehensive, but after seeing Alicia climb so well, she decided to climb as well.

Tabatha is like a spider with long legs and arms, so she could reach and find holds without a problem.

Tabatha got nervous here, about a foot away from the top of the climb, she she didn't make it all the way up to the top of the rope, but I think it is close enough.

Way to go Tabatha!

Here is the view of the rock we climbed with Tabatha coming back down.
 
Even Olivia suited up, although she just bounced around a little with Ken holding on.
She tried to climb too, but she never left Ken's side.  We had no fear of her climbing up, but getting the hang of coming down would have been the challenge.  We didn't want her stuck up top.

I climbed as well, although I did the easier route that Alicia and Tabatha had done.

Ken did a slightly harder route, although he till thought it was still easy.  Hopefully he can go with the rock climbing gurus on another trip without us novices holding him back.

It was such a wonderful experience that I hope we do it again soon.  We don’t get to be outdoors hiking like this often, and the kids had a blast.  They surprised me with their willingness to climb and rappel.  I think we will need to do this again soon. 

Tabatha’s Award

Every month at Endeavour Intermediate School teachers pick students to get awards for various things.  Sometimes for academic achievement, sometimes behavior, or anything the teacher feel may be important.  I received a letter saying Tabatha would be getting an award, that it was a surprise, and that if I wanted to I could come to the assembly.  Well, of course I made sure to come. 

All of the third grade teacher came up and gave out awards, but after Tabatha’s teacher Ms. Haines had given her awards out, Tabatha still had not received anything.  I thought somehow she had been missed.

But then, after the Art teacher, Music teacher, and librarian had given out one award each to a third grader, the PE teacher stood up.  He said that Tabatha has had to work hard with her PE skills, but that she is always a wonderful example of a team player, trying hard, and has become model student.  Tabatha was very surprised and excited at this unexpected honor.

Here she is with Mr. Rivera, the PE teacher.

Only two years ago Tabatha was a gangly girl who was in occupational therapy for a lot of physical concerns with fine motor and large motor skills.  She has worked hard to become a model student, able to be a ballerina, able to follow directions and able to earn the good behavior award for PE. 

Five Mile Lake

 

When I was young, my family went to five mile lake a lot.  Since I still live near there, it has now become one of our favorite summer time park spots. 

Today we went to visit some friends, Jess & Vinnie.  I had high hopes for cute pictures.  Tabatha obliged by playing hide and seek behind one of the numerous trees.

My hopes were not fulfilled when it came to pictures.  We had eaten lunch and played for about a half hour when Alicia needed to use the restroom.  Jess took the kids to the dock to walk around while I went with Alicia.

After that quick trip to the restroom.  While I was away with Alicia, Olivia had slipped in the only mud puddle of the entire park.  It was a very large puddle, and somehow she had landed in the middle of it. 

Our fun trip to the park was cut short as I pulled this cute little one out of the mud and took her home to clean her up.

It all turned out well, I told the girls we would come back soon.

Alicia’s Kindergarten Program

This year Alicia has become an amazing reader, great at math (she is working on her multiplications) and just bright.  This year instead of a long program, a few teachers put together a few songs and a number then we got to see the years work of progress in class.

Here is Alicia in her program singing.

We are very excited for Alicia.  This is her last year at Discovery and we are amazed at her progress.

Happy Fourth Birthday Olivia.

This is the first time Olivia has been able to help with her own birthday party planning.  She helped pick out the cake, put it together, and here she is watching it cook. 

 

She picked a Dora princess theme and I changed the Dora cake pan I had to a dress so that it would work.  I worried about how it looked, but Olivia was thrilled, in case you couldn’t tell in this picture. 

It is hard to believe that my baby girl has just turned four years old.  Olivia loves Dora when with her younger friends, but I can see that this phase is starting to disappear.  It is hard to watch her grow up, but exciting as well.

She invited her cousins Katie, Aubrey and McKenna, and friends Lily and Eliza.  They got along well and had so much fun dressing up for the Princess party.

With so much fun you can tell that the party was a grand success.