Monday, August 29, 2011

Happy Birthday Derrick!

Yesterday, we headed to Greensboro to spend the afternoon with my brother on his birthday. My dad & Aaron were there...just not in any pictures of these pictures.
Despite very short naps in the car, the kids did well during lunch at Mellow Mushroom & then we headed back to his apartment for cupcakes and icecream. The kids enjoyed yummy desserts, running around, jumping off the fireplace and wrestling with Uncle Derrick!


Carter's First Day of Preschool


On August 29, we embarked on a little adventure we refer to as Preschool...at home. :) This is another area that I must be intentional. Carter is a very smart 3 year old without someone sitting down and forcing him to learn. He learned most of his letter with the help of an alphabet puzzle with individual letters. If he couldn't remember the name of the letter, he could remember a word that started with that letter.
With the resources of the Partnership for Children of Johnston County, we've found some great stuff. I've also had a friend pass on lots of workbooks and a huge binder of A beka K4 materials. Now I have to figure out when I want to "plan". For me, I must have a plan to feel intentional. As a former teacher, I was able to "wing it" if I needed to but I want our time together to matter. So there have been intention days thus far and there have been not so intentional days. We do preschool on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but there have been days were Carter requested to do school on a Tuesday or Thursday so we still do activities together then too. One day, he even requested to do school after naptime.


Looking like Handy Manny

So far, we've focused on the letters: B,C,D,E,F,M,N. We practice writing the letters, picking out words that start with that letter, do flashcards for each letter, do activities on starfall. These letter were chosen based on the kits available to check out at the Partnership. We've spent time on a few colors: Yellow, Blue, Red. Carter struggled with wanting to know his colors. Like most kids, he went through a phase where everything was Red, or Blue or Green. Occasionally, he'll now confuse orange and yellow. We've worked out sorting bears based on color and shape and even used a scale for fun, an interview about his grandparents for Grandparent's Day, made a birthday card for Minnie, Did alphabet puzzle matching game. We've talked about jobs and cereal. When talking about cereal, Carter would roll a di and he would have to count the number and pick out that many pieces of Fruit Loops to string on a necklace (and I would tell him which colors to choose). We've done activities on rhyming words and worked on coloring pictures that feature different shapes. It's interesting to observe Carter. On our first day, I had tons of activities planned but then I remembered he's getting one on one tutoring so things go a lot faster. There have been times where he'll ask me to color the Mop for M because he's tired. :) Not sure how that would go in a regular preschool setting. It would probably result in him not completing the exercise and instead pretending his crayons are football players. :)
Speaking of crayons, they have legs. I think I've already lost an entire box of 24...unless Cameron is hiding them somewhere.



Trying to keep Cameron entertained


Starfall.com

Monday, August 15, 2011

Enter to win...

Hey friends. I love blogs, I love to win things and I love to share cool things with people. Sooooo...I suggest you check out the blog Prayer of Hannah today! There just recently updated their page and are offering a giveaway full of 15 preschool activities. If you don't have a preschooler, you could enter and send me the prize if you win! ;) You have until Thursday at midnight...so check it out! :)

Aaron's last day of summer

We found ourselves running an errand in Fuquay (3 years late) and I was reminded of people rave about yummy icecream at Sunni Sky's so we stopped in for lunch! ;) I can't give a real personal opinion as I am still on the soft foods diet (for some reason I ordered a waffle cone) so I guess I'll have to plan to go back again soon.


Cameron sharing a sample with Aaron


They love each other!


She gets all into her icecream



/>Forcing a smile...my mouth still hurts.


Hanging out outside

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Partnership for Children

We recently purchased a membership at the Partnership for Children of Johnston County after hearing a friend rave about this place. For $20 a year, you have access to tons boxes full of games, books that teach on a variety of subjects, or toys, books, movies, games, etc. for infant, toddler, preschool, & elementary school age for up to 3 weeks at the time. You can check out 3 boxes and 4 other items at a time (or 7 items total). You also have access to their die cut machine (bring your own paper), laminater ($1/foot), and copy machine (can't remember price). You can also attend the Tots and Tales (Literacy Program) that meets the 2nd Thurs of the month at 10:30 and your family gets the featured book of the day to take home, and you may attend the parent workshops, etc. Great resource!! We are currently enjoying boxes on insects & bees(since Cameron, Carter and myself have all been stung in the past 3 weeks) and a box of baby dolls for Cameron and a couple other books on bugs. We will use this resource as we do preschool at home starting this fall. :)

This past Thursday, we went for the first Tots & Tales. The featured book was Are you my Mother? We already have the book, but now we have the English/Spanish version. ;) We read the book and then colored a bird/put feathers on the bird. There was also a flannel boards for the kids. All in all, it was a fun time and Aaron joined us since he goes back to school...tomorrow. :(





Believe it OR NOT, I am currently caught up so I plan to go back and highlight some of our fun times. Plan...haha.

Watermelon Slices

My mom has made Cameron a couple outfits for this summer and we wanted to get some pictures of her in one while eating watermelon. :) She LOVES watermelon. Watermelon has been a great treat for her when she's teething.




Coordination

I find much enjoyment in coordinating the kid's clothes. I guess it's as close as I'll get to dressing twins! ;)

Saturday, August 13, 2011

I'm just too wise!

At the beginning of August I started having some wisdom tooth pains and it kept getting worse to where my ear hurt, my throat hurt, my neck was swollen, I couldn't open my mouth to eat so I headed to the dentist. He said I was having pain from the way the tooth was coming in and that I would continue to have pain until they were removed. He gave me some antibiotics to take. So at check out time, I said I just needed to go through with the process and get them removed. Flash back to when I was a teenager: My parent's dentist told me I should have them removed...for some reason I didn't believe him. And now I am paying for it twice...financially & physically. After get married and finding this dentist in Clayton, they have recommended I have them removed but they didn't do anesthesia in their office and gave me some places I could contact...and of course I didn't. :) Ok, back to last Wednesday--Now our dentist office offers anesthesia so while I was there, I went ahead and signed up to get them removed...9 days later! and Boy, did I become anxious. The surgeon saw me that day and made sure to give me some anti-anxiety meds to take before the surgery (and they worked!). So on August 12, at 9am I had them removed. I remember them starting my IV...and next thing I remember was throwing up on the kitchen floor when we got home. So for the next few hours I was so nauseous and in a lot of pain and had no appetite. By about 8:30pm last night, I was hungry and was able to keep some mashed potatoes and icecream down. :) I slept great last night and today I was finally able to take a full pill of pain meds. I'm feeling ok, still feeling some pain but I've made sure to rest all day. :) My mom came over around lunch yesterday so Aaron could go to vball practice and then she took the kids to her house after nap and they stayed there last night. So I've enjoyed a restful 24+ hours! :) I'm looking forward to returning to a normal diet soon...but of course I don't want to return too early and be in pain. :)


Before



After & I don't even remember taking this picture! :) haha!

Friday, August 12, 2011

Carter's 1st VBS

August 3-7th, I had the pleasure of accompanying Carter at our church's vbs. This is our first year allowing 3 & 4 year olds (I talked our children's pastor into doing it) to participate and each child had to have an accompanying parent. Carter is slow to warm up to "new" things so I knew the first night would be a challenge. Our theme was Wildwood Forest and we rotated to different stations after we all kicked off in the sanctuary with an intro, skit and group song. The different rotations included more songs, skit, experiment, games and snack. Can you guess Carter's favorite time? The games outside! :) The first night during music, I had to help him do the hand motions while holding his hands. By day 2, he was all into it. Carter learns songs very quickly, is very interested in learning and doing all the hand motions and sings great! :) The kids learned songs from Seeds Family Worship which is a group that all the songs are straight scripture memorization. So this week he learned: Psalms 34:10, 40:1-2, Romans 8:38-39, Psalm 62:1-2 & Psalm 34:18! Cameron has even picked up on some of the songs and motions too!


During the skits we learned about Gideon, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, Paul & Silas, Elisha & Mary & Joseph and that God is undefeatable, unmatchable,uncontainable, unpredictable, unforgettable. Our experiments included making a balloon fly like a bird, making a bag explode, walking through an index card, playing with slime, mentos explosion.
On Saturday night, we had VBS at the White Deer Park with dinner. I spent the next 2 hours icing my hand as I got stung by at bee at dinner.
The game time was a little unorganized at time since we were dealing with 3 & 4 year olds but they just enjoyed running around! :)


Our VBS concluded on the stage during our Sunday Morning service. Carter did a GREAT job sitting quietly on the stage for 1 hour! :) And did a great job on singing the songs. He did need my help on the Romans verse--its long with a lot of motions to remember. Aaron took a video...maybe one day I can get it on here. :) I also took one on my phone...that should be easier to upload.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

The dreaded month of August

August is already here and that means volleyball is already here. Volleyball isn't quite as fun with 2 little ones and the biggest downfall is Aaron being so busy. With practices 3 days a week till 5, and games till 7 or 8...it makes for really long days for Aaron and minimal family time. But, it does provide some extra income and 2 tickets to NC State football games...so...we (yes, we) stick with it. Here are a few pictures from this year's volleyball camp. Because Aaron was teaching summer school, the hours of the camp were moved from 9-12 to 1-4. Attendance might have taken a hit because of this, and/or the economy. Either way, he made 1/3 less than he has in the past. THANKFULLY, Aaron was teaching summer school so that helped make up for the low camp numbers.