P is for...

Our letter of the week this past week was P.  Amazing how many things we were going to be doing anyway this week that went along with our theme!  Some P have even rolled into this week too.  There are also a few bonus pictures included...just because there are some cutie pies in these pictures and I can't help but share the cuteness!

 P is for Party! We went to Mackenzie's birthday party!

Pretending to be like Daddy in a red jeep! Fun times at McKinney Trade Days.

 While there, we saw little tiny Pigs!

 Popcorn sensory bin.  Such fun, but what a mess it made.

 Number practice with the pig picture and stickers...along with all our regular weekly activities that we do from www.thisreadingmama.com

 We delivered a gift basket to Pa-Pa & GramPam to welcome them to town! So glad they are here now!

 This was Jack's first week to get to wear his Cubbies vest at Awanas.  Proud little guy!  He is doing so well learning all his bible verses!

 More Popcorn fun! This was part of our science lesson where we talked about our 5 senses as we made popcorn on the stove - hearing it pop, seeing it changed from golden kernels to white popcorn, smelling the yummy popcorn, feeling the texture before and after, and most importantly, tasting the deliciousness!

 Amelia couldn't resist taking a bite for another second!

 After making the popcorn we Painted Popcorn (& marshmallow...why not add in some extra sugary snack!?) We made paint with milk and food coloring then painted the popcorn.

 Breakfast one morning was Pumpkin Pancakes!

 Puppet Play at the library

 Storytime at the library.

 Puppies at the Petstore

 Ice Cream with Pa-Pa!  Amelia started out at one side of the table and with each bite offered to her she moved a smidgen closer.  By the time the ice cream was gone, she had made it all the way to the other side of the table!

 Jack is sure proud of our new scare crow.  We put our fall decorations up yesterday for the first day of fall.  Since then Jack keeps saying,"I love fall!" and "I like that scary thing!" (meaning the scare crow) :-)

 We got our first pumpkins yesterday!  We got our big pumpkin while out and about. Later in the afternoon our sweet neighbor Ginger brought over 2 little pumpkins for each of the kids. So sweet!  They love having their own little pumpkins and they both keep re-arranging them outside trying to find the best spot for them. They can't seem to agree on where they should be displayed. :-)

 Amelia is all about accessories right now.  This is how I find her quite often - with a purse (or two or three), a hat, while pushing her babies & blankets in her doll stroller.  She often will have picked out shoes to wear and have a bracelet on too.

Today we went to the zoo since it was a BEAUTIFUL fall day! We saw one more thing that starts with P....Penguins!

A Whirlwind of a Week

What a week we have had!  A whirlwind of events - some big milestone, some small. Some expected, some not expected at all.

My little sister Hannah left for college last weekend.  She is now in Michigan at film school.  We miss her!!

My parents left last weekend to take Hannah to college then went straight from their to fly across the ocean to Iceland.

The reason for the trip to Iceland  was for my brother Aaron's wedding which was yesterday! What a beautiful place to have a wedding.  We are so happy for them and the life they are starting out together.

 Last weekend was full of birthday parties!  Here Jack & Amelia are decorating kites...

 ...then flying their kite!

 Jack loved the nature hunt.  He took the job of checking things off the list very seriously!

 Nature hunt

 Next up was Oliver's birthday party at the ice rink.  This was Jack's first time to skate.  Can't say he was in love with the whole idea if ice skating but it got a little better as time went on (especially when I said he was skating like they do in Frozen)

 Practicing their hockey skills

 All dressed for church. Loving those pigtails!

School week #2

Letter: F

What better thing to do when studying the letter F than to go FISHING with Daddy!

 We went to feed the FISH & ducks one morning.

 Craft time: Painting a fish in a fish tank with watercolors and hand prints

 Such proud artists!

 Making a picture to mail to Hannah

 A lesson on how to get the mailman to take outgoing mail. Don't forget to put up the flag!

We got a report from Hannah last night that she was able to use the envelope from the letter as her proof of residency to get her new library card.  Ha!  Glad we could help. :-)

 Counting practice with a dice and goldfish

Beginning sounds picture sorting with things that start with T and F

Breakfast - pancakes shaped like Ff & fish

 The weekend my parents left for Michigan & Iceland, Grandy (my grandmother) went into the hospital after having a heart attack.  We took several visits to the hospital to visit her and then we were able to take her home from the hospital Wednesday afternoon.  So glad we were in the area and able to help out while my parents were away! Amelia was in love with Grandy's balloon that we had brought her the first day and looked forward to seeing it every time we went to visit Grandy.

 The day after we took Grandy home from the hospital,  I got a call from Mimie that Papa was in the hospital! We spent the next couple days at the hospital visiting Papa and helping out in whatever way we could.  One nurse was sweet and brought this orange dog for Jack while we were there.

 Mimie & Jack eating Pizza together in Papa's room

 The kids did awesome for the amout of time we spent in hospitals this week.  That last day they both even fell asleep in Papa's room.

 Papa made it home and is doing ok now too. We enjoyed our week getting to spend some extra time with the great grandparents...just wish it wasn't for the reason that it was.

 To relax after a busy week, we took the kids fishing again and caught something like 6 fish in about 30 minutes!

 We checked on GramPam & Pa-Pa's new house again.  It is really coming along.  Not much longer until they will be moving close to us! We are so excited!!!

 My two helpers are always eager to help out with the cooking. This was super exciting for them...snapping the fresh green beans for me!

 Mom-mom & Pepa made it back from Iceland and were in NYC for a day or so.  We got to facetime with them while they were at Alex & Jennifer's apartment. Jack got a kick out of the deer head hanging in their livingroom!

 Summer is slowly coming to a close. We spent part of our evening tonight playing in the backyard with the hose.  Doesn't get much more entertaining that playing in the water.  We ALL were wet by the time we went inside!

What a week!  So much has happened. Thank you Lord for the blessing of each day You have given us!