Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Devin's Last Day of School!

Today was Devin's last day of school. To celebrate this, I decorated the front door and got him a basket full of summer time activities. He loved it. We also started his first piano lesson. I was amazed at how well he did. He learned all 7 notes and was able to find the octaves of each notes. He did great!

Tot School....

This summer I am going to start a daily Tot school with Henry and Allison. The model I am following is from the blog 1+1+1=1. It is geared towards two year olds. Since Henry and Allison are younger than this, I am fully aware that some things will be over their understanding, but we will just move on from those things. I love this ladies program and ideas. She is all about exposing new things to kids. And at this age, really that's what it's all about. She also encourages daily play time and calls it play time with a purpose. I love this. I am hoping this helps with Henry's short attention span. Also she encourages you to use the things you already have around the house rather than go and buy new things. But she does have a great list of where she has gotten some of the items she uses with her tots just in case you need them. Each week is a new lesson plan. There is a letter, item, color, and vocabulary each week. For instance, week 1 is the letter Aa, item is apple, color is red, and vocabulary is fruit.

Today we sat on the floor and I got out a set of flash cards I picked up at the dollar store this weekend that focused on colors and shapes and animals...which is exactly what I want to expose the kids to this summer. Both Henry and Allison sat down next to me and as I said what was on the card, they took the card and then put it in front of them. This lasted for about 10 cards...then Henry was off exploring and Allison was turning around looking for the pretty girl who sometimes lives in the TV...ie... her reflection. They did come back to me to get more cards. But by the end of it, the cards had turned into a great teething toy....and most had bite marks in them. Good thing they were cheap! LOL

So, I now know, the kids should probably be up to the table strapped in so they can't wander off. Also, I need to have things prepared the night before so its all ready for them when we start. It was a great morning and a good start to our summer plans.

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Finger painting

This week we tried finger painting...it was Allison and Henry's first time. Once Henry saw Devin using a paint brush though he had to have one too. Allison tried a paint brush but decided it was a bit more fun to use her hands. :) I left Henry's binkie in his mouth thinking that way he wouldn't try to eat the paint...I'm so glad I did...just as I suspected he kept putting it near his mouth. Allison kept wiping her hands on her cheeks and in her hair. It was a lot of fun and despite the fact that it was paint, clean up wasn't bad at all. These special paintings are part of the kid's cards for Father's Day. Hope they enjoy them! Of course, I think they are all very talented artists! ;)

Monday, June 3, 2013

Memorial Weekend...Hayden and Taylor!

A post full of pictures of my two nephews, Hayden and Taylor! (Hayden was sick so most of the pictures of him are of him snuggling...which I didn't mind one bit!)

Memorial Weekend Road Trip

We headed to Idaho for a long weekend to visit with my sister Allie and her family and see baby Taylor get blessed. While we were there we took advantage of how close we were to Yellowstone and drove through West Yellowstone up to North Yellowstone for a day trip. What a beautiful park! You could literally spend weeks here...sadly we only had a day, but we managed to see quite a bit in that short of time. It was fun seeing it with my family (Mom, Dad, Lesley, and Calvin). Calvin, Raj, and my Mom were the main photographers...and boy did we take a lot of photographs! I just took a few on my phone, but once we download the cameras I'll post more pictures.

The landscape changes so drastically so quickly. Seems like every curve we were oohing and aweing over what we were seeing. We saw old faithful and the historic lodge, waterfalls, lakes, fumerols, geothermal mineral pools, hot springs, bison, deer, elk, moose, marmots and birds. On our way home, it was starting to get dark and we saw a herd of buffalo...probably 100 with their babies. It was quite a sight!

The next day we went to bear world, which is in west rexburg....where my sister lives. It too was pretty incredible. You drive in your car and wolves, deer, elk, and black and grizzly bears roam freely in their natural habitat. Most of the bears are retired Hollywood trained bears. They had a few that were born in the wild and came to them either injured or cause they had lost their moms and the rest were born in captivity. We did a bus tour where you get to feed the animals. They come right up to the bus to get the food. Some even do tricks. We also got to see 5 month old bear cubs playing. What a sight! There was also a petting zoo at the park. Henry kept trying to feed the chickens pebbles.

We had a great visit with family and even though it was just a quick trip, we had a blast. We are thinking of making memorial weekend a road trip weekend each year....wonder where we will go next year!?!?