Transportation Week-Week 5

This free scrapbook design made with Smilebox

Gearing up for the release of "Cars 2", we decided to have transportation week this past week. It was really fun! We started off with a trip to the mall last weekend hoping to catch a car race at the Disney store, but false advertising got me again and it ended up being kind of lame. Still, the kids had fun riding the pretend ambulance and trucks in the play area and watching the flying helicopters the stands try to push you to purchase. We brought along our Papa and Nana and treated Papa to Chickfila for lunch. Thanks for being a sport Pap! Happy Dad's day! The rest of the week consisted of watching "Cars" the first movie, reading transportation books of all kinds, and playing lots of cars games around the house. Tuesday we had our friends Ellen and Aaron over and revived an old race track and Flo's cafe from when Vivi was really into cars around age 2. We had put them in a box in the attic once she was over it and thought if we had a son we could pull them back out. It was like Christmas! All 4 kids spent the entire day around these two toys racing and making the cars talk. It was fantastic! I need to do this with more toys!! In the afternoon the boys napped and the girls helped me make cupcakes to take to the firemen. I was so impressed with their precision. Wednesday we had our cousin Chloe over and hit Chucky Cheese lots of transportation rides which was a blast! Thursday was train day which included some episodes of Chuggington, and a ride on our little train outside the zoo. Nana joined us for this fun as she hadn't ridden it before. It was a great morning! Friday we studied boats not really really but we played in a splash pool at our friend's Clara and Beckett's house. We had a great week! It all lead up to Saturday when we went to see "Cars 2". I think it was cute, but my husband's evaluation was that the story was too complex for kids. Our's made it through but got a little bored. I will say it made me want to travel as they go to many cities and the animated version made it look inticing! Better hold off on that dream!

ARR!! Pirate Week- Week 4

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Week 4 started off with some MAJOR fun! My sister discovered this sweet pirate event at a local bookstore in her neck of the woods, so we headed over there for lots of fun. Kids were encouraged to dress-up so we did this and then there was a craft (buried treasure in some mud type goo, pirate cuisine- hot dogs (worms), carrots (swords), grapes (eyeballs) and a cupcake, then they had treasure hunt, and finally a bounce house. We got the kids a cute book and nana bought the best milkshakes I've ever had-tasted like cotton candy and bubblegum. We then followed this up with some swimming at her house (as it was HOT!). What a fun start to our pirate week. The rest of the week was pretty filled with the start of Vivian's swim lessons in the morning and VBS at our church in the evenings. It was lots of fun but pretty hectic at the same time. Thrown in between these big events were some fun crafts including a treasure box, pirate newspaper hats, a pirate treasure map (created by Vivian), parrots created by each kiddo, and plenty of fun pirate movies (think Tinkerbelle, Peter Pan, and Hook). Enjoy the slideshow.

Art Week-Week 3

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Week three we ended up studying art. This was switched with week 2 so we could attend a special event at the Museum in town. Monday we laid low and didn't do too much art. The kids had painted some egg cartons with colors and they searched for items to match the colors to place in them. We did talk about colors and read color books this day. Tuesday we joined our friends Aaron and Ellen for a music class at their church. The kids had fun seeing their friends but I think really enjoyed the free play of music time at home. Vivi practiced playing piano, while Isaac jammed on his guitars. Wednesday was our busy day at the museum. The museum has a storytime with a little tour. The kids heard three stories in three different parts of the museum followed by an art and craft they got to make. It was a fun day. Unfortunately, we didn't see our friends Clara and Beckett until the very end. We'll have to try again soon! Thursday we spent the entire day cleaning but Vivi did get to do some stamping and we got to have a fun night out to dinner. The kids enjoyed the company as well as rainbow push-ups. They'd never had these before. YEAH CHUY'S! Friday I was on a mission to find a special story for the kids. I didn't have luck with Isaac's "Harold and the Purple Crayon" but I did find it at the library. After three stores, I finally scored "Purplicious" for Vivi. She really enjoyed this story and it's perfect for art work. Saturday morning I carried on with art having the kids practicing their painting for an early gift. More to come on this one! Enjoy the slideshow.

Mother's Day Tea

This is a bit past due, but I wanted to include this little post about Mother's Day. We left on our cruise on Mother's day but there was a little celebration I got to have at Vivian's school before we left. Her preschool just does an amazing job of "celebrating" and hosting fun events. They hosted this Mother's day tea which included lunch for the moms, a little song by the kids, and lots of sweet artwork created by our children. I was really honored. Here are a couple of shots.

Friends of the Forest-Week 2

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Week 2 was off to some challenges! We originally had a different theme planned but this turned out beautifully changing it over to Friends of the Forest. Monday was Memorial day and we laid low. We took our kids to see "Kung Fu Panda 2" and we all loved it! We grilled out that night and hung out in our new splash pool. Lots of fun. On Tuesday, my mom joined us and helped me pick out a couple of hanging plants for some color and I replaced our hammock which lovely friends of the forest had chewed through! Looks much better now! We spent time in her garden as well. Wed. we headed to the library and got more enchanted forest books. Vivi and I made a diagrama of the forest. She enjoyed putting all her Bambi characters in there. Thursday we went to our good friend's Ellen and Aaron's to try and help pack, but it ended up being more a playdate. The kids enjoyed watching "Tangled" and running around their backyard for a last visit. We brought paint with water of all enchanted characters. Even the boys got into the dragons. Friday we joined my sister for a splash playdate at a park so I clumped it all in. Saturday I headed to Dallas to host a baby shower for a dear friend-even went with the theme-BIRDS! Daddy took on two kids for a full day of adventures. He set up an adventure that involved some surprises and clues. The kids ended up with a "warrior" hat and shield for Isaac and a unicorn jammies and big unicorn stuffed animal from aunt Janna for Vivi. They had a ball!!

Summer Theme's start-Week 1 School

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We are off....it's summer time! YEAH! This means hot hot weather, lazy days, and our summer themes are back. We started this year a little differently with a theme of "School". I know you are saying "WHAT? Didn't school just end?" Our kids are so little it's not really overwhelming to them. Also, I wanted to start a reading program with Vivi this summer and I thought this theme might help to make it more fun. So far we are on day 10 and she's doing great!! Here are a few pics and highlights. We tried to study different "subjects" each day so we hit math, letters/reading, geography, science, meteorology, and just general school info. Our math day we colored pics with number and practiced counting with Isaac and addition with Vivi and we also did some cooking which is an easy teacher of math=think measurements! Geography we took our cousin to the airport and looked at our US map and talked about where she's flying and where we are flying to for our uncle's wedding in the fall. On meteorology day we talked about weather and the kids got a treat of "Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs". We had some magnificent weather going on too-storms, tornadoes, etc. We prayed for the people in Joplin and talked about all that is going on in the world weather wise. On letters day we hit the library and got all kinds of books as well as worked on our word puzzles. On science day we took a trip to our Museum of science and played and studied all kinds of science experiments. In addition, Vivi helped me paint and create a "school" board with daily things we are discussing calendar, time, number counting, weather, money, and our theme. She and I had so much fun with this. We are off to a great start to summer! Check back in to see what else we study!

Last Day of School

While we were away, our little girl had her graduation ceremony from her preschool. This means she will start big girl school in the fall! I CAN'T BELIEVE HOW FAST THAT WENT! Fortunately, my sister filmed the ceremony so I didn't feel like a totally negligent mother. Also, she had two more days of school so here is a picture of her on her first day and her last. She has grown up so much this year and we have enjoyed every minute of it. This also means, keep checking in because we will start our summer theme's right away! Get ready!!