B's Visit

Drew's Mom, known as "B" to the kids, came for a visit last week.  We LOVE having her here and the kids just love spending time with her.  It's great getting that one-on-one time with her, plus she's a HUGE help while here.  This visit she took Jenna and Grant the majority of the time so I could have some "alone" time.  I was able to cross a few things off my list that I've been wanting to do, but just haven't found the time for, did some crafting (that I haven't done in well over a year), and was able to spend some time cleaning the house.  It was GREAT!!  Plus, I got some one-on-one time with Hannah!

Drew took one of the days off from work, and we were able to go on a lunch date while Mom watched all 3 kids - thankfully Hannah cooperated and slept the entire time we were gone.  We so appreciated all her help and for giving us the chance to go out alone for a few hours.  We almost don't know what to do with ourselves when we have a quiet meal together where we can hold a conversation without any interruptions.  :)

Most of these pictures from are Mom's cell phone...thanks, Mom, for sharing your pictures with us!

Now that the weather is warmer, the kids love spending time in the dirt pile.

"B" had some gifts for the kids.  This toy drill set is AWESOME!  It actually goes forward and in reverse so you can drill the screws and then unscrew them too.  So fun!

B was so sweet to take them to McDonald's for lunch and some playtime.  They loved it!

And of course you have to get an ice-cream cone when you're there too!  Yum!

This was the first time B met Hannah.  We decided Hannah has some similarities to Aunt Cathy when she was a baby.

Jenna wearing one of her new dresses from B.

During B's visit, we discovered that Hannah likes laying on her tummy just like her Daddy did as a baby.

 We decided to have a picnic at a local nature center.

We were going to hike after our picnic; however, the mosquitoes were SO bad that we didn't last very long.

So we decided to go to the hotel pool instead.

Daddy is so much fun!

Playtime with B in the basement

 I have no idea why these next four pictures are sideways and I'm not able to rotate them, so just tilt your head to the side.  :)

Hanging with Ron

 We went to visit Kelley and the boys so Mom could meet Aiden and Bentley.

Jenna wearing and looking at her goodies from B.

She loves books!

Star gazing with B!

We had a wonderful time with Mom and can't wait for her next visit!!

Week 28 - Letter X

Letter X was spread out over a few weeks.  We'd just do a few activities whenever we had time.

Starfall iPad app

Wikki Stix - she's gotten good at folding the ends over for pieces that are too long.

Xylophone color puzzles

Xylophone lacing card

Size Sort

She made the letter X on the geoboard all by herself.

We played this counting game together.  First I put a number at the top and she added the correct number of xylophone bars, but her favorite is to be "the teacher" and make me add the correct (or sometimes incorrect) number of bars.  It was good practice because she always had to check my work.

Pattern Blocks

For her ABC book, she stamped the letter X all over her X page.

Finished product

Color-by-number paper - she did a great job coloring!

Patterns

She wanted to color the dots rather than use her do-a-dot markers.

Another one of Grant's favorite file folder games.  More practice with colors and matching shapes to their correct silhouettes.

Phonics page - She has gotten very good at sounding out each of the pictures and circling the correct ones without my help.

I can't believe how LONG she looks in this picture!

Cutting page

Letter writing

Xylophone puzzle

Shape puzzles

Number writing - obviously she wanted to give a little more practice to the number 4.  :)

Adding the letter X to our coconut tree.

She also did more pages in her Kumon Number Writing book.

We're almost done!!  We're just finishing up letter Y this week and then on to Z!  I can't believe our preschool year is coming to an end.  We decided to send her to preschool next year.  I'm excited for her because she's such a social butterfly that I know she'll just love having a classroom of new friends, but I can't believe we're already at this point.  I'm feeling a little sad that it's already school time even though it's only 2 days a week for 2 hours each day.  I'm sure I'll survive!  Plus, I'm planning to start preschool at home with Grant this next year (since he'll be 3), so now I can have some time with him too.

Wright Patt Carnival

A few weeks back we had seen signed advertising the Wright Patt Carnival.  It's not sponsored by Wright Patt AFB - that's just the location of the carnival.  The kids loved riding rides at the fair last summer, so we thought it would be a fun treat to take them to the carnival.  The idea was good in theory, but we will not be going back in the future.  There wasn't anything "wrong" with it - it was just small with only a few rides for the kids.  And the rides seemed (to us) to be...boring.  Even so, the kids really enjoyed themselves and had a good time, so it wasn't a complete bust.

This first ride was one of those spin 'n twirl ones.  Drew and I both rode it with the kids...and we both felt a little queasy afterward.  Funny how that doesn't affect you as much when you're a kid!

They both love the merry-go-round!  They went on that one a few times.

Octopus ride - one of the ones that seemed to be very BORING.  It just went around in circles as opposed to going up and down as well as around, but, like I said, they seemed to enjoy it anyway.

Hannah hanging out in her stroller.

This was a fun one, and of course the fact that it was a fire truck made it even better for Grant.

By far Jenna's favorite ride - the swings!  Grant wasn't tall enough yet to ride this ride, which I'm fine with.  I was nervous just having Jenna on it with how high you go.  Or at least how high it appears you go from my viewpoint on the ground.

Overall it was a fun time, but I think from now on we'll save our carnival rides for the Miami County Fair in August.