Last week 9- Transportation

This was the last week of our summer and we enjoyed a week of transportation. This week included some fun times with all of Vivi's "Cars" toys, books, and the movie. Even Isaac really got into throwing her cars all over the house. Monday we watched "Cars" the movie and played at home. Tuesday we made some cookies and took them to our local firehouse. The Benbrook firemen gave us a tour and even let Vivi and Isaac ride a mini firetruck. Wednesday we got one last swim in at our friend's Ellen's and we watched "Jonah" and talked about boats that entire day. Thursday was a BIG day for suprises. We cleaned up a bike we've had in storage for a long time for Vivi and got training wheels, a basket (thanks Nana), and a bell. Vivi did a great job for the first time out on her new bike. We couldn't give Vivi such a big end of the summer treat and leave Isaac hanging...so he got his own new transportation toy too. Check out the pics of Isaac with his new plane! TOOO CUTE! Friday we headed over to the forest park train and went for a little ride. This was real sweet and the weather was so beautiful that day. All was great until I locked the keys in the car, but daddy bailed us out. It was a great last week of summer and I have enjoyed keeping up the creativity with the kids. I do hope we can make this a tradition for the summers. Maybe next year the kids will pick the themes.

Week 8- Safari

Last week was a special week and our summer is coming to a close. I convinced Nick to take the day after our anniversary off so we could go for half price day at a drive through safari about an hour a way in Glen Rose. It was a great time! The slideshow demonstrates these shots. Throughout the week we did some other fun things as well. The pics include my niece's safari bedroom, Isaac playing with some new friends in a safari hat, my caged animal, and diego cupcakes, and finally some sweet shots of daddy & my little zebra.

Week 7-Princess Week

Hello loyal readers, again I'm getting behind on posts but I think those are my silly deadlines I put on myself. Anyway...last week we had a princess themed week which involved LOTS of reading, movies, and a little shopping. Some of the highlights included "Aladdin" and magic carpet rides with daddy and mommy (wish I could have caught this on film but hard to do when it required both parents to fly the kids!). "Little Mermaid", a shell crown, swim lessons, and some shopping at the Disney store. I think mommy had the most fun in that place! WOW, it's been awhile since I've been shopping and I had to exercise MAJOR self-control. Still, Vivi got out with a new pair of Ariel pj's. She wore them for a straight week till they crawled in the laundry themself. Over the weekend we watched "Snow White" and cleaned house (taking lessons from the princess herself). We also enjoyed a park where Vivi fed a friendly little squirrel. Isaac has gotten real active as well and enjoyed playing with some of Vivi's princess toys and ponies.

Week 6- Art Week

I'm a little late in posting about last week as we ended up taking a long weekend trip to San Antonio and I'm just getting back into the swing of things. Last week, we studied and did a lot of art! I tried to incorporate all different kinds of art. Saturday we ventured to an art festival at the Kimball A is for Art. I think we were one of the youngest members but hey Vivi got a little exposure to some different art forms there. My favorite was watching her do a self portrait with a mirror in front of her. She colored on a blue tongue as my favorite touch! Sunday I gave her a wheel of new markers (Vivi LOVES markers!) and had her color a cute puzzle (she also loves puzzles). Monday we did cooking as an art form and attempted some pinneapple upside down cupcakes. I think they turned out pretty well. Mostly she had fun wearing the hat and watching Ratatouille in the background. Tuesday was music day which focused on listening and singing to different types of music. Vivi initiated a REALLY sweet moment asking me to read the Bible to her in the living room while she worked on puzzles. I opened it to Psalms and started reading and as I read realized I knew many songs that were the Psalms so I'd start singing. Vivi recognized the songs and stopped to listen and asked me to repeat. It was a special moment! Isaac got into as well, as I introduced him to the crocodile xylophone. Wednesday was dancing day and we had our cousin Chloe over to play and did some dancing workout. The best was walking into the living room catching the girls in nothing but their undies dancing to a workout video I had done with my sister earlier. That night as a special treat I let Vivi watch my dancing show "So you think you can Dance" and we routed for our favorite. Thursday we ventured to our first swim class of the summer and then came home and tie dyed some shirts. Friday, Vivi, Isaac and I all three sported our art work. Enjoy the art week of pictures.

Our Vacation

Friends, as promised here is the slideshow of our vacation. This year we traveled to see Nick's little sister graduate from Northwestern and had a little family reunion as well. We also celebrated Granny Van (Nick's gran) 90th birthday. It was a nice time with catching up with relatives from all over. The furthest travelers were Nick's cousin Nick and wife Annie and kiddos Crystelle, Micah, and Chloe. They are missionaries from France. (I know it's like My Big Fat Greek Wedding- "This is Nick, Nick, Nick, Nicky, and Nick. Well not exactly there were three Nick's there- my Nick, uncle Nick, and cousin Nick. There is also a grandpa Nick that was married to Granny Van and passed many years back.) We spent most of the week hanging at Nick's uncle Scott and aunt Lori's place. They had a great set up and were so gracious to cook and prepare meals for all of us! It was fabulous! We also had built in babysitters, their two girls Sarah and Amy. It's wild to see how much all have changed. Sarah was a flower girl in our wedding and now she's a teenager! What a blessing to get the time with everyone.

Butterflies

We had a new discovery on our Nana and Papa's back porch. They screened it in and brought in a couple of potted plants. On their plants they discovered some caterpillars that we got to watch go through the whole process of becoming butterflies. It was really cool to show the kids how they eat and curled up, turned into a cocoon, and then flew out. Enjoy the shots with the butterflies!

Potty Trained!

Dear friends, we now officially have a potty-trained girl in our house!!!! I am so excited!! This has been a LONG GRUELING process and I don't wish our bad experiences on anyone! I'm not sure what was the kicker except moving Vivi's potty into her room but since then we've gone over a week with no accidents. YEAH!! To celebrate we got some tink underwear yesterday. Way to go Vivi!

Week 5-On the Farm

Well again some of my plans were thwarted by all this rain but I think we did well with it. Monday we got rained out of going to join Papa at the horses so we stayed close to home and watched "Charlotte's Web". Tuesday we had some friends over Jillian and Amelia and we had some major craft time that spilled over in to the next day. Vivi had a great time making farm animals out of paper plates, paint, puff balls, and pipe cleaners. (It's amazing all the things we've been able to do with that cheap set of balls and pipe cleaners!) Wednesday we headed to friends who spoiled us with yummy lunch and a creative craft of cowgirl vests. Mostly I think Vivi liked hanging on the swing. Thursday we headed to the farmer's market when the rain stopped for a short time. Friday was our best day...again plans changed but I'm finding this is life with kiddos! We joined my sister and niece at the zoo. We rode the train to the carosel and also stopped in on the petting zoo and ended up playing in the barn at the end. We had a nice week and now I'll be crying over all the increase in temperatures again.