butterfly playdate in the park

mck and i had so much fun hosting our playgroup's science playdate! we met at the local park for some fun butterfly activities! the kids used their fingerprints to show the life cycle of a butterfly, drank "nectar" from "flowers" with their "proboscises", and talked about the body parts of the butterfly and made their own. . . complete with tortilla wings, marshmallow body parts, licorice legs, and corn syrup colored wings!

ken's rodeo field trip

ken's class took a trip to the rodeo on monday! and the best part was . . . bailey stayed home to watch kam and mck so i could go with her. it was so nice walking around the rodeo holding her hand and only having to worry about her. she loved and and commented several times how nice it was that it was "just us!" the kids watched a cool milking demo, saw lots of livestock, visited the petting zoo, watched pig races, and listened to a cowboy talk about "cowboy things". kennedy was sad that her teacher didn't get to come, but we were joined by the principal instead!

our little reader

ken has been coming home from school with a new little book to read each day. she is always excited to share the book with us and really does well figuring out the words she is unsure of! :) she rarely wants to try reading books we have at home, but this week she picked up little bear, which i checked out from the library for her because i loved it as a kid. she read the WHOLE thing! :) she is so proud of herself . . . 62 PAGES! :) it is such an exciting thing watching her fall in love with books and discovering how much fun reading can be! :) i love it! :)

the tale of despereaux (YEA! we finished it!)

the tale of despereaux is by far my favorite kid's book. i would get so excited when the time came to read it with the kids in my 5th grade classroom. i have missed that terribly the past 2 years! so it was a big treat when i got to share the book with ken and mck! yes, both girls sat and listened to the 250 page book in its entirety! well, it took us a couple of weeks, but we finished it yesterday! ken was a great listener through the whole book, asking lots of great questions. . . mck needed lots of reminders to move her hands off the pages so i could read the words, or that she needed to stop singing so we could all hear the story! :)

as a special treat (and because there's still a lot of teacher in me who insisted we finish the book THEN see the movie!) we took the kids to see the movie last night! it was super cute, but so different from the book! a lot of the magic in the book was missing - a fun story, but nothing beats a wonderful book! the kids were able to name off countless differences on the way home (and yes, the teacher in me loved that too!). can't wait to start sharing even more of my favorites with them as they get older! :)


as an added bonus to the whole despereaux experience we had our own little despereaux IN THE HOUSE (in the pantry in particular!) i saw something scurry across the floor at 4 in the morning and sent bailey to investigate. i don't think he believed me until we looked the next morning and found he had helped himself to marshmallows and muffin mix! :) the girls thought it was fun and cute UNTIL bailey started putting out traps! poor ken cried for at least an hour (okay, not cried, SOBBED!) and kept saying "maybe it's a rat and not a mouse"! poor thing. bailey got a kick out of it, i could sympathize with her. the girls checked the traps all day yesterday . . . i think a little happy that the mouse was smarter than their dad! :)

a visit to the san antonio zoo

we made the "trek" to san antonio to visit the zoo there since we had never been (and i was motivated to go because we could make a pit stop at the pb outlet on the way!!!) . . . well we picked a warm day . . . over 80 degrees in january! hello? where is winter? we started off with a picnic by a little stream there . . . really nice in the shade of the trees. we were all a bit warm, but had a great time checking out all the creatures.

there were three cool things we saw . . . a joey in it's mom's pouch (too cool!) and two hippos chilling in the water (you could see them above and below the surface), and the prairie dog exhibit with all it's tunnels and peep holes was a huge hit with the kids!

ken and mck wanted to be pushed in the double stroller A LOT . . . next time we'll leave it at home! and kam loved her "princess seat" as we tried out her carrier for the first time (sadly we've had it for almost a year!)

would the day be complete without an injury? of course not . . . and of course it was mck who got hurt . . . she rested her arm on a log COVERED with fire ants and was bitten like 10 times. poor baby!

we stayed until it closed and then headed home. the kids were worn out, but had a great day!

butter, muffins, and water experiments!!! a busy morning!

this morning was a combination kitchen and science playdate with our playgroup - the doodlebugs!

mck had fun making butter and blueberry muffins, but of course eating them was the best part! :) even kam got in on the action and stirred the muffins with help from mck! :)

we also did a sink or float experiment. she brought her bath barbie and a small dino from home and had to make a hypothesis about what the items would do in the water. what a smart cookie! she was right about both of them! :) kam had fun throwing blocks in the water - over and over again! :)

our little scholar

we are so proud of ken - our little kindergarten scholar! yesterday she went to ms. f's office to recite her scholarly behaviors! she was among the first 5 kids in the whole school to recite them this year! wow. so impressive! it is so cute to hear her say them . . . such big words for such a little kid and the most impressive part is she really knows what they mean! :) i'm going to try to get her to do it on video . . . you just have to hear it!

today they said her name on the announcements and she got to wear a special medal! we went to have lunch with her at the school cookout so she got to show it off! :)

mck had her first school lunch and loved being able to pick "pink milk" to go with her hot dog! :) kam just wanted to show off to the parents and get smiles! ken was so happy to have us all there. what a great day!

mck in the kitchen!

today mck's cooking group met at our house for some halloween treat making! :) mck and i looked through all the magazines looking for some fun ideas . . . she settled on three . . .

1. "hootwiches" (because i said she had to pick something "healthy") these were cute english muffins topped with cheese with an owl face - made of pickles, black beans, and a green bean for a beak! :) mck picked off and ate all the toppings and left the cheese covered english muffin. weird!

2. "witch sticks and wizard wands" - pretzels dipped in orange or green chocolate and covered with sugary goodies! mmmm . . . these were gone in no time and she wanted to make more after we picked kennedy up! :) (okay, the base for it is a pretzel, so how bad can it be?)

3. "slimey snacks" - a four layer cup of jello complete with gummy worms! :) (we made these ahead of time!) YUM!!!!

we read two fun halloween counting books - look whooooo's counting and one witch - which have joined our list of favorites for the season. oh, and the kids munched on eyeballs (grapes) and witch fingers (cheetos) while we read! :) we also had "bat's blood" (crystal light) to drink! (i think this is mck's favorite . . . i made that up several weeks ago and now she'll say "mom, can i have some bat's blood to drink? ha!)

children's museum

ken had the day off from school today (and monday!) so she got to pick a fun activity for us to do! :) it was fun to have all 3 of them on a weekday! :) they played sooooo nicely this morning before we headed out . . . oh and did i mention no one woke up until 7:20! :) i think that's a record! :) how nice! :)

we got the the chilren's museum before it opened . . . so were among the first to check out the new exhibit about transportation- mostly the metro - a bit too involved for only me with all 3 because everyone was going in a different direction and almost the entire exhibit involved reading! :) but the girls were patient and had a great time checking out their favorite exhibits . . . the kitchen, grocery store, trains, and of course the craft area. (did i mention that we do ALL of these things EVERYDAY at home! uhhh!)

we did storytime and shrinky dinks, ran back to re-load the meter, and then played for another hour! :)

what a fun day . . . almost makes me wish kennedy were home everyday! :) gosh, i hate this growing up stuff!

the girls' trip to the fire station

mck, kam and i headed to the fire station today for a visit with the fire fighters and a look at the trucks. mck was SOOOOO excited this year (not sure if it was the fact that she would get to see the fire trucks up close or that she got to wear her new tinkerbell dress and "bling" shoes!)!

sweet kam would try to repeat everything i said . . .
me: "fireman"

kam "manman!"
me: "truck"
kam: "uck"

mck and kam couldn't wait to climb in the big seat and take a look! it was a really fun morning! :)

park expo . . . kangaroos, tents, fire fighting, and dead fish! :)

our weekend outing to the tx parks and wildlife expo was great . . . overwhelming, but great! :) there were more than 30 acres of exhibits, activities, and vendors. (yes, bailey was in heaven!) it was a lot to take in, but we'll be better prepared next year! :) the girls did great . . . almost 5 hours of walking around checking things out . . . and they were still in relatively good moods! :)

my personal highlight . . . a talk put on by sea world - complete with cool and exotic animals! :) a bird flew - literally off the stage and right at us! :) oops! :) we even saw a baby kangaroo . . . so tiny and hairless inside it's mother's pouch! (okay, did you know that the kangaroo mom decides when she wants to have her baby and pops it out when it's the size of a GRAPE . . . a GRAPE!!! how lucky is that! :) seriously - no stretch marks! it just stays in her pouch to finish developing! :)

the kids saw all sorts of animals, played in tents, tried out boats, fought fires, checked out the hunting dogs (kam's favorite thing!), learned about habitats, and got to touch lots of dead fish! :)

as the earth turns . . .

mck had a great time at our science playgroup. . . we learned about earth and the solar system! :) mck followed the order of the planets and LOVED scattering stars all over the place . . . kam was happy to pile all of her planet stickers on top of each other! :) what fun.

mck is so proud that she can tell everyone what planet that we live on . . . it's cute! :) we need to work on the other planet names, but earth's a good place to start! :)

it was a beautiful day at a beautiful park, so the girls enjoyed playing on the playscape, chasing squirrels (the pic of kam is her looking for it after it ran up a tree . . . again!), and running around! :)

mck pointed out when we got in the car to leave that the earth was turning while we were driving! :)