goop.

i got a nice note from the boys’ teacher today. thought i’d share it …

We made goop (corn starch mixed with water)! We all touched the corn starch and described how it felt; then we guessed how many cups of each ingredient we would need to make the goop. It worked out that we used 2 cups of corn starch and 1 cup of water! It was a great way to experience our sense of “touch” and an excellent math and measuring activity. The kids loved it and we got really messy! The pictures are really cute so check them out!

how cute (and messy!!) are they? i’m so glad they are transitioning well into their new school. having a great teacher certainly helps!

white belts.

alex and max earned their white belts on saturday!! they were so very excited.

way to go, tiny tigers!! we are sooo proud of you!

the icecapades.

tripper took the boys ice skating sunday while i went grocery shopping for the week. he said they did really, really well—fell a lot, but only cried a little. hooray!! sadly i am no help in this department. i do not know how to ice skate. at all. 😦

anyway, we are thinking of signing them up for a learn-to-skate program next season. any thoughts? they really want to play hockey like their daddy. if they like it, then we will invest in proper gear, but for now the bike helmets rock!!

ninja training.

we had a week of firsts last week—alex and max started at their new school (so far, so good!), received a first love letter (so cute) and started taking karate classes. i must say, karate is so good for kids. today they not only learned some basic moves, but all about eye contact and respect and discipline—why did we not do this earlier???

anyway, check out our little karate kids!

one of the boys is slightly more excited about this new activity than the other. can you guess who?

alex. the ninja. keee-yah!

happy new year + a little news.

so, i wanted to start off the new year with a little bit of news. i’ve been thinking about this a lot lately and can’t think of a better time to do it than the start of a brand new year.

over the next few months i’m going to be changing gears a bit. for a couple of reasons, i’m not going to be writing as much on the shooting allens.

1. the boys are growing up. i’m not sure they’d like me sharing every detail of every single thing they do as they get older. i still intend to post about milestones and share the great photos, just not all of them.

2. since i switched over to posterous from blogger, this has been pretty much a one-sided conversation. i never wrote this blog for the comments, but have to admit that without them it’s just not as much fun. crazy that i’ve been talking to myself for the past three years!!

3. i can’t give up writing all together, so i’ve decided to start a new blog—one that talks about kid stuff, kid design and kid finds. for those that remember the now defunct holly’s plate, it’ll be similar to that but focused on kid things, with a little alex and max thrown in here and there for fun. if i could design my dream job, this would be it—blogging about kid products. so without further ado, i introduce you to the littles atlanta. i hope you’ll come along for the ride—and let me know if you do—i do love the comments!! who knows, maybe it’ll turn into something real?

http://thelittlesatlanta.wordpress.com/

happy new year, everyone! here’s hoping 2013 is our best year yet!!