Here we go again!

This was a BIG week for Kieryn! On Monday morning she had her first day of preschool! She was so excited and very ready! We all had to take the "first day of school" picture with her.

Ronan almost didn't make it up for the picture... he slept until 5 minutes before we had to leave...

We surprised Kieryn with her very own umbrella. She's been asking for one EVERY time we go shopping. The girls across the street have one...

 

 Also this week I started up the alphabet learning again. It went VERY well  last August, so we're doing it again! However, this time I'm doing it a little different. We are starting at the beginning of the alphabet and working our way through, but this time around, we are focusing more on the letter sound and recognizing it IN words, as well as those words that begin with the letter. Kieryn said she wants to learn to read like her cousins Tiana and Chase. I don't know that we'll fully learn to read, but I am sure she'll learn some words in this process! We also do two quick projects a week related to a bible story/teaching that relates to our letter (not sure yet if it will work every week, but we'll try!). 

On Monday we talked about Noah and the Ark... (worked well too that the name of her school is Noah's Little Ark!)

On Tuesday we played an airplane matching game A/a... First you have to start your engine, then "fly"for a card (which had an airplane on it with a letter"a/A") then you had to fly back and drop it in the correct cup. We did it a few times, it was fun!

On Wednesday we did apple painting and had an apple snack. They are talking about apples in school too, so Kieryn put on her apple hat that she'd made the first day.

I am getting to have a little more one-on-one time with Ronan while Kieryn is at school, so I've been working with him on things too. This was a quick ball maze discovery game/toy. He liked it for about a day... then he pulled it all apart! :)

The favorite game of the week was the airplane shape game. We shot paper airplanes off the end of straws and tried to hit shapes (and letter a) that were taped to the wall. Kieryn could name them all, I was shocked!

We did a number match after talking about the meaning of the rainbow in the Noah's Ark story.

On Thursday I did one name activity...we found/listened for the a in the word marshmallow.

Also on Thursday we found a new park... and Kieryn LOVED the tunnel slide!

On Friday morning we read some books about animals, and made animal sounds/sang animal songs. Then we visited the zoo animals and had a picnic lunch! That afternoon we did a "a" sound hunt... Ronan even helped with the hunt! Kieryn learned a lot from this week for sure!

We took a brief break from the hunt to do the ants marching song too.

What a fun week! Now we're busy packing for our visit to Kansas. We'll be there for about 5 days after you take out travel days... so it will be quick, but the kids are excited to see Grandma and Grandpa Haug!

Last week of summer before school!

Kieryn and I began the week with haircuts to get ready for the first day of school! She is getting so good at sitting still...and surprisingly, Ronan sat still this time too!

We did some drumming... I have learned to sit them far apart so there's no confusion on whose drum is whose... and so that the sticks aren't used as weapons! This is one of their favorite things right now.

We visited the ducks and the creek at Bullfrog again this week. This time we brought our friends to join in the rock throwing, duck feeding, bike riding, picnic and playgroud fun!

While at our picnic, I found the biggest spider I think I've ever seen!! I had goosebumps just looking at it! Not sure the type, but man it was big and the kids of course all wanted to touch it, eeeeek!

Kieryn began a new session of gymnastics this week. She was excited to wear her new leotard, thank you Aunt Janell and Grandmom for finding it! 

Ronan has mastered climbing... I've found him on top of the couch, the tub of blocks, the trampoline downstairs, our ottoman, and now the train table ... I hope there's not an ER visit in my near future!

Here's Ronan enjoying some diaper time while watching football with Daddy and playing trains... what a life!

After the game we sported our purple at Hershey Park... Kieryn refused to put her's back on so I don't have pics of her in gameday purple this week. Ronan was practicing his "Go Wildcats."

And..."We're #1"

We had so much fun at Hershey Park and hope to go again on Sunday!

Until next time!

Lots of end of the summer fun!

We had a water play date at a friends house last week... the kids loved the bouncy water slide! We were there for hours!

Ronan had fun playing with buckets in the shade...

Last week was the final week that Hershey Park was open during week nights... so we went to the park nearly every night! The kids loved it and we had so much fun! Kieryn finally rode the big kid roller coasters AND LOVED IT! Sad to think the summer is basically over!

We spent our three day weekend visiting family in Gaithersburg. The Caywood family was there as well... I just didn't take many pictures this time... I couldn't resist taking a few pics of the girls all dressed up for church, wanting to wear matching headbands!

We had such a fun time! It is amazing that most all the kids LOVE trains! They are all entertained by track and trains for hours... but of course, we took them to playgrounds and swimming. Happy to see the family, can't wait until next time! We love you all!