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!

Fall Shopping

This is for Brian. We did a little Fall school clothes shopping today and he wants to see what we got. I got a great deal at Gymboree, they were having a sale and I had a coupon on top of that. Guess how much I had discounted!?!?  $100 crazy, eh? Kendall also got a pair of shoes and they both got a few hair clips and socks but I'm returning them to exchange for a pair of jeans because the shoes hurt her feet and I realized she needs a pair of jeans today.

Kate was less thrilled to get her picture taken so I didn't make her model everything.

Another One?!

Just had to share today's Kids Quote of the Day:

The girls and I are watching Mary Poppins for the first time. I love sharing things that I loved as a kid with them. It all started the other day in the car we were listening to kid music when "Spoon Full of Sugar" came on. When it got to the line  about the bird having a "merry tune to toot" the girls laughed so hard they couldn't breathe. To them 'toot' means something completely different.

So on to the Quote of the Day. As you know Mary Poppins is set in London so they have accents. Kendall is watching intently and then turns to me and says, "Does 'pahk' mean 'park'?" Why do they say it like that?" Now she is walking around the house saying, "Mary Poppins is taking us to the PAHK" and giggling.   It cracks me up to hear how well she picks up the accent!

A Day in the Life Part II

When the morning bike ride is over we start getting ready for the beach. Haul all your goods one block down to the water and get your stuff all set up.

Spend the day digging holes (or laying in them), jumping waves, boogie boarding snacking on 'water ice' and playing with family and sometimes FRIENDS TOO! Depending on behavior one of us may go back to the house with one or both girls for naptime but then right back out to the beach afterward and if you are really blessed (like us) your in-laws will take a few shifts at the house during nap time too! If you get bored during that nap time you may choose to streeeetch until you can reach your mom's makeup bag on the dresser and entertain yourself that way.

After all of that it should be around 4:30 and you need to start packing up to get home and shower for dinner.

One More Thing

The girls are in bed and I am here snuggled in my quilt browsing blogs and the first one I read brought tears to my eyes.

Parenting is hard, and we all have days that you just feel like you're not doing it well enough. Today isn't one of those days that I'm wallowing in it but I kind of felt like I was on the verge of one of those days. Well, evidently Stephmodo was feeling that too and she asked on her blog for parenting tips. The first response made me cry:

...God picked you to be the parent of your children despite your flaws. It's not always about teaching them but it's about teaching us too. And for whatever reason, He wanted us to be parents.

Journaling Prompt

On the Wildflowers and Marbles homeschooling blog that I read she often uses these journaling prompts. I think it's a nice record of your day, your space, your plans, your life and will be interesting to read in the future so I'm adding this 'label' and hope to incorporate this kind of post occasionally. 

Outside our window...is a soft slow rain. We love these kind of days every once in awhile. The girls and I did our errands this morning and were excited to get home, change into our pjs, grab our blankets and snuggle onto the couch with a movie and books (and a laptop sometimes too).

I am thankful for...so very very much. Our family,  my relationship with my husband and our home. We've been here almost a year and daily I have think about how much I love our home. There is still a lot that I would like to do, still a lot left to do but regardless I love it.

I am wearing...brown sweatpants, a long sleeve grey Harvard shirt and pink stripped socks. Fancy, I know.

In the kitchen...Is a PLETHORA of fruits and veggies because we went to the farmers market this morning. We also stopped by our favorite bakery and picked up a hearty multigrain bread and had them slice it thickly. I plan to grill it, top it with ricotta cheese and grilled veggies for dinner one night. Yummy. 

I am reading...Darcy's Diary by Amanda Grange. I'm on a Pride and Prejudice kick lately. I just finished (and recommend) Darcy's Passions a retelling of Pride and Prejudice through Darcy's eyes. 

I am hearing...Kendall's movie which is sadly covering up the sound of the rain (but only 5 minutes until nap time)

In our learning spaces...I picked up a nice stack of books at the library and I have big plans to sit down with the stack and plan activities for the rest of the summer.

Around the house...Things are actually pretty clean however there are comfortable messes around: vegetables sitting out on the kitchen counter, papers and crayons strewn over the girls' desk, and books all around...just the good 'life is getting lived' kind of mess.

I will claim a moment for myself...Even though I feel stretched for time alone, I will say that I cherish those quiet naptimes and early evenings when the girls first go down. I'm blessed that Kendall will still take a nap at 4. I think that I'm pretty good about balancing that down time with a little bit of productivity and a little bit of relaxing. Today as the girls nap, I will sit here snuggled with my Grandmother's quilt and relax, with a book, a blog, or maybe even a little snooze.

A few plans for the rest of the week...We're very excited that Dani is coming to visit us. We're planning on cooking together in the evenings, taking a picnic to a local farm, and maybe working on some artwork for hanging in the girls' rooms.

A picture to share:

I will resume our Day in the Life Ocean City posts soon.

A Day in the Life...

...Of Our Ocean City, NJ Vacation. In order to avoid one post with 4000 pictures this will come in installments. As soon as you wake up you dress and head out on your bikes to the boardwalk. You ride the 2.5 miles (one way) and look at the people, shops, houses, gardens, and usually grab coffee and breakfast too. Donuts cooked right before your eyes are always a favorite but this year I really liked this yogurt, fruit, and granola from the Ocean City Coffee Company that Brian likes to frequent. Often times you will run into your other family members that are there eating, riding or jogging on the boardwalk too!