A Fun-Filled Day

We had the day off today and decided to make the most of it. My friend Kate and her two daughters, Amelia and Natalie went along with us to Lawton Station and Harbor Town. Lawton Station has a free petting zoo and pony rides. We saw lots of horses, ponies, donkeys, bunnies, roosters, sheep, llamas, and a pot-bellied pig. It was pretty hot, but a good time was had by all. Henry was a little too young for the pony rides, but hopefully we'll be back for him to experience it.

We then ventured to Harbor Town to the playground there. It is shaded by big oak trees, and is huge. We made our way around to everything, but enjoyed picking the sand up in our hands the most. For a kid that cannot sit still, this is the place to be! We ate lunch at the cafe and the kids were great. They both fell asleep on the way home, and even enjoyed some quiet time reading books when we got back.

We decided to hit the pool after a hot day outdoors. We weren't out long before a storm hit, but it was a perfect ending to a great day! It was fun catching up Kate, and I can't wait for our next date!

It's Been A While

Here are some pictures to sum up the last few weeks...

Thanks for the shades, Mimi!

Not quite sure I can get out of here!

My daddy caught flounder when he went kayak fishing. They were really slimy!

One day I'll be able to fill these shoes.

Arts and Crafts- We have been working on colors for the last couple of weeks. They still get mixed up sometimes, but they can say all of the colors and are able to identify them most of the time. We painted these rainbows with cottonballs. We are going to laminate them to make placemats.

Mommy gave Kylee and me a ride in the laundry basket. It was a lot of fun!

Too Tired to Eat

July 4th

We had a nice relaxing weekend at home! Our days consisted mostly of heading to the pool and floating on the lazy river. Tough I know! Henry is definitely liking the water more and more, but he is such a man on the move, that when it's time to go, it's time to go- ready or not.

We celebrated our 4th by eating Mexican (patriotic, I know) and coming back to the house to let Henry pop poppers (or whatever those things are called that you throw on the ground) He had the best time! We knew he would never make the fireworks so off to bed he went and we enjoyed our own show in the backyard. We decided not to try and fight the tourists on the island and were in hopes our neighbors had plans to shoot fireworks. They did not disappoint! I am amazed at how long they lasted and the money they put into them. We enjoyed the great lengths they went to to put on a great show! We were very impressed!

Swim Class and Lesson Plans

To keep you updated on Henry's swimming lessons...

We missed a week because we were at the beach and were late to our last lesson, but Henry was a champ. We jumped right in the water and he did great following all of the directions and was a lot more comfortable! He knows what it means to grab the wall, be on his back,can be dunked with mouth and nose under water, and when we started to jump off the side from a sitting position he kept saying "more" to go back and do it again! He will be a natural before we know it!

For other news, and this may sound cheesy to some but I have started incorporating little lessons throughout our days. Henry and Mary Kate are so interested and quick to learn that I thought it couldn't hurt. This past week was my first week with a theme for the week, bible lessons, songs, and crafts. We now have a routine- not very structured mind you, but a routine all the same.

You think they aren't always listening, and we do do the same thing everyday for a week, but they are picking up on things! Just this week little things I've seen them do that are new...
Say new words like star and house. Sit on their bottoms on a blanket when asked to read books- I was very impressed at this!, try to sing twinkle, twinkle, little star, try to do motions to zaccheaus was a wee little man, and color on the paper to make fireworks (well, mostly on the paper!). It has been a busy week! So if you hear me talk about school, this is what I am referring to. It's funny how when you actually teach school you hate doing lesson plans and getting stuff together, but this is different! I guess once a teacher, always a teacher!

I just realized how long this was. Sorry no pictures, but we'll try to put some up after the holiday weekend. No big plans here, but it should be a nice relaxing weekend!

Happy 4th!!