Sam - The Preschool Teddybear

For the week of October 6 - 10th Ben was "Star of the Week" at preschool. What that means is that we got to make a board of pictures of Ben and his friends and family. Finding pictures was not a problem, finding room for all the pictures we picked out was a problem. In additional to putting together a collage of photos you get to take home and care for Sam the preschool teddy bear. Sam has a journal and each family is to document the activities they do with Sam that week. The first day we had Sam home Ben asked if we could take some pictures of Sam. I thought that was a fabulous idea! Day 1 Snack time with Sam.
Sam playing Trains!
Friday October 10, 2008 - Sam's visit to Minnehaha Falls
Ben and Sam enjoying the beautiful Fall day. Sam picked out this leaf to remind him of his time at Minnehaha Falls.

One day this week Ben came home from the park and upon entering the house immediately started yelling, "Sam, where are you? I'm home, Sam I'm here don't worry I'm here now!" It was absolutely adorable! Ben has been very serious about his responsiblities regarding Sam. We are enjoying our last few days with Sam in Rochester. Ben was excited that Sam was able to see where Grandma and Grandpa Dockerty live in Rochester.

Tonight Ben is sleeping with Sam as his Mom forgot to pack, pillow, blankie and Apricot!

Thank goodness we had Sam with us!

We had a great week with Sam, we sure will miss him.

Sticker Earrings

Everyone has their own opinion on when little girls should get their ears pierced. Personally, I want Emily to be able to ask to have her ears pierced and since her words are currently limited to Mama, Dada, Nana, Moo, Meow, and the occasional scream that sounds a bit like Ben, I doubt she will be asking any time soon. However, I am not opposed to the sticker earrings that her Nanny so thoughtfully purchased for her. In the next few posts you will see Emily with her sticker earrings, as she has become quite fond of them. In these pictures I believe she is wearing earrings with the Disney Princess Belle on them. Can you name the Disney movie that Belle is from?

Dance Dance Dance

7:00am dancing to our new Laurie Berkner Band CD
5-4-3-2-1 Blast off on the Rocketship Run
Even without music the kids are always dancing these days!
Playing at the Honda dealership. We had two rental cars this week while we had work done on both our cars. Our rental cars were 2009 Honda Civics and Ben called them our race cars. The first day we had a silver one and the second day a white one. The Honda people really know how to treat you well. They have the best customer service and a great play area. Our car was actually ready to go and we stayed to play!

Ben's favorite song to dance to is the "Going on a Hunt" song. Here is a video of that:

Fall Colors - Right in our neighborhood

Apparently I should have started running years ago as running has allowed me to discover how beautiful Saint Paul really is. These photos were all taken within 3 miles of our house! Just yesterday I went on a run and due to some road construction ended up on a different route than my typical route around Lake Nokomis. I discovered the West River Road and it is beautiful. Many of these pictures are taken from the Ford Parkway Bridge that I drive over nearly everyday but have never stopped to take photos.

Last night Mike and I attended a free photography class called Digital SLR I. We are signed up for Digital SLR II next month. We both learned a few things in the class and I was excited to try some of my new skills out. If you want to see more photos please go to the Dockerty Flickr site as I also went to Minnehaha Falls and took a few pictures there.

I bet you didn't think it was possible for me to take photos without my children in them!

Outlaws Soccer Team

Ben's third soccer game of the season.


Emily greeting her Dad as he arrives at the soccer game. So cute!
Emily eating snacks while watching her brother's soccer game.

A beautiful Fall Day - Thursday October 2, 2008

There it is again, that face! Emily thinks she needs to scrunch up her nose to smile for the camera. Where does she get that from? Do I do that? This is Emily's first time in the wagon she has been terrified of it until now. I think it is because it makes such a loud noise as the wheels go over the bumps on the sidewalk, the girl is terrified of loud noises like airplanes, cars, trains, etc.
What a big girl going up and down the slide by herself now! Brother Ben catching Emily at the bottom of the slide!
Monkey see Monkey Do. She wants to do everything that Ben does.

Your Mom has a Camera on her Head

Your Aunt Sheli has a Camera on her Head

This also made me see this mental flash of an Onion article headline specifically made for Ben and Emily's private world: "Children shocked to discover Mom's face behind camera"
Emily rocking out at her first concert. 18 months old! My first concert was something lame like Tiffany with New Kids on the Block opening and hers is The Laurie Berkner Band!
Owen, Sophie, Ben and Emily dancing at the concert.
Emily getting hurt in our own private 4 kid mosh pit.

Okay so if you do not know who Laurie Berkner is you will not get the reference but Laurie Berkner is a really fun children's singer and we went to her concert today. The song starts out by saying "Laurie has a pig on her head, Laurie has a pig on her head...and she keeps it there all day." Then it progresses to everyone in the room, at the concert today Laurie started on verse out by singing, "Your Mom has a Camera on her Head" and it was pretty funny especially for Ben and Emily.

Here are a few videos of the concert. Note the lighting was really bad but if you look closely there are some cute parts. Video of the kids dancing is so much better than a still photo even if it is super poor quality and if you husband looks at a video of your daughter and says is that Sophie dancing?

A special message for Uncle Mikey and Aunt Cassie. Ben picked out Laurie Berkner sheet music today so that the next time we hang out you can play and sing Laurie Berkner songs with him. He is talking about learning how to play the songs himself on our piano.

Grandma Dockerty you will be happy to know she did play your favorite song, in fact she opened the concert with Victor Vito!