Pre-School

Kendall started preschool today. She LOVED it. I asked her tonight what her favorite part of school was and her reply was, "Everything I did at school was my favorite part." She had a blast, I extended her day by an hour and a half this year so she gets to eat lunch with her friends and have recess, she loved that.

Kate had a hard time at first, she wanted to stay at school and was really upset the whole way home. Finally, I mentioned that she could play with Kendall's toys and suddenly all was great, ha. She kept forgetting where Kendall was and would say, "Is Kendall asleep? Oh I fo-ghot." She was a lot more talkative when she's on her own.

After school the girls played so incredibly well together. They were non-stop all afternoon keeping themselves so busy and playing so nicely. It was a great day.

Smarty Pants

Remember how I said I brought out some of the harder puzzles for Kate? Well, I think I should have done it a long time ago. Check this out:

Painting Shirt

Kendall's supply list included a "painting shirt." Initially I thought of grabbing one of Brian's old undershirts and tossing it in with the rest of supplies but it sort of grossed me out a little. Yesterday during our special outing we ran to the fabric store and picked up a sweet pink patterned fabric and some green double folded bias tape. Today during naptime I put this together. I think her teacher will like it because she wont need any help getting it on.

The girls played great together today. They spent a large portion of the morning doing this...

Two More Days

I heard it multiple times today, "Two more days and then I start school!!" She is so excited. I wanted to spend some quality time with her since I'll have time with Kate before she starts school. We left this morning and bought fabric for her painting smock. We stopped in the pet store to pet the puppies. At one point she decided that if we brought a puppy home it would be the best surprise for Kate. I think Daddy would have been slightly more surprised. We did a little more shopping together and even played at the indoor playground in the mall. Tonight she got a little quality time with Daddy. They ran to the sporting goods store since Brian's work softball team starts tomorrow. They went straight to the front yard when she got home and this is what I found. I ended up with her baseball cap so she could see the ball better. 

NOTE: She did NOT ride in the front seat of the car (see top picture) we got to the store 5 minutes before it opened and so she climbed in the front with me. Just felt I needed to add that disclaimer!

Goal

I have plans for Kendall and I to have a mommy/daughter morning today since she starts school on Monday. I'm going to try very hard to take pictures so I can do a blog post!

What We're Doing

My goal is to do two special projects or events a day, one before nap time and one afterwards. As long as the girls get that special fun time then they are able to entertain themselves a lot more of the rest of the time.

Today we made chocolate chip walnut cookies. The girls had a lot of fun measuring, so much fun that they didn't want to stop so they took all their little measuring cups out to the sand box to "make more cookies" yum.  This week we also used all our broken crayons to make fun flower shaped ones. We also took our drawing pads (and my magazines) outside to enjoy the August weather. We're just squeezing in every fun minute we can get outside.

Brian is going to be off work this week so we're going to find some fun things to do with him too.

The Projects

I was looking through old pictures recently and was reminded how much Kendall loved puzzles when she was Kate's age. I have been guilty of giving Kate too many "baby" puzzles and not enough practice with the big girl ones. So this morning after our errands I pulled out some puzzles and Kate is so proud of herself! I love how every time I took a pictures of her she stuck those shoulders way up high next to her ears. As of now she has finished all four of the Melissa & Doug puzzles in this animal set and has moved on to the ABC puzzle. I love the ABC puzzles, number puzzles and the US puzzles because the girls learn their letters, numbers, and states

We're also working on some number recognition with Kendall. This girl LOVES to color so I was thinking that color by numbers would be a great activity since it combines learning to recognize the numbers with something she already loves to do. She also completed a connect the dots puzzle and colored that. I was so lucky last week, we stopped by a garage sale a couple streets over and the lady used to have a pre-school!  Granted, all the stuff was a bit dated but I loaded up on great workbooks and activities for the girls!

So here we sit at our table working on our own projects. Speaking of projects, I have a huge list of tutorials saved from various websites. I am getting in the mood to start creating again. I think I'll have plenty to keep me busy when the winter weather traps us indoors. Here are a few for you to browse:

Bagsket

Men's shirt made into a girl's dress

Cleaning

Today I'm trying to get my office cleaned (well, that and we had a little trip to the pool, and craft time, and lunch together...). It's going great so far, check it out.

First I did this area, I spent a lot of time folding fabric and organizing supplies.

Next came the paper rack, it has never looked so neat.

I can say with absolute certainty my desk has never been so bare.

Wouldn't you say it's going well. 

Wait, stop right there, don't look there...

Oops, I guess I still have some work to do.

Nature Walk

Last week the girls and I embarked on a little project. First I cut an egg carton in half and let the girls paint each of the holes a different color and then we painted the outside anyway we liked. Afterwards the egg cartons sat on the kitchen counter for a week because we had crazy weather and couldn't take our walks. Yesterday we finally were able to take our nature walk and the girls collected various things that would match the colors in our carton. They had a lot of fun and Kate did a great job sorting items into the right spots.

This morning the girls were all dressed up (as usual) and I declared that we needed to run to the grocery store. Instead of making them change I let them go as they were.

 First I had to take a picture of them in their finery. As we're loading the car Kendall asked me why I wasn't fancy too. Humph, the nerve, so I took a picture of myself so you could see how unfancy I was. Maybe it was my freshly showered wet hair. She's a little young for me to already be embarrassing her in public don't you think? Of course as soon as we walked through the doors two older ladies ooh'd and aaaah'd over her and Kendall walked away with a big smile and yelled, "I knew everyone would think I was cute!!" Humph, she's so modest.

Ocean City Life Part III

This is the final installment of our day in the life of our Ocean City vacation. After dinner you hop in the stroller (grab your jacket because sometimes it gets cool!) and head back to the boardwalk. Every evening you get one prize or ride. We rode the Thomas train, the boats, Dumbos (Kendall looked like she was in a car with hydraulics and she almost bounced herself out of the ride) and the carousel. The first night they chose Dora and Elmo balloons. You also get one treat each night: big pretzel, salt water taffy, carmel corn or the usual favorite is ice cream! Sometimes you're just too exhausted to eat it!

Where Ya Headed?

We were at a stop light this morning and Kendall asked where everyone was going. I said that I didn't know and asked where she thought they were going and she responded, "Oh maybe to their house, or some other place, to the grocery store, maybe to Pensacola or the Eiffel Tower." I think she about covered it all, ha.

I know I'm overdue on a blog post or two. We're playing a lot lately and we're all exhausted at the end of the day. Despite the exhaustion Kate isn't sleeping well so I wake up tired and start all over again. I'll post with pictures soon!