First Hair Cut & Last Park Program

Today was Linda's first haircut. Miss Jenn from church cut it for us for free, thank you! It was really just a good trim. Her hair looks the same, but it's evened out a lot now. After the haircut, we went to our last park program. Today's theme was pets. As you can see from the pics, the kids got to pet a turtle, snake, and rat. They also made a "pet" rock. Too cute. Linda has really enjoyed this program thru our city. They will start it up again in the fall, so we will be going again then.

A trip to the symphony

Today was Linda's first intro to the symphony, in an extremely abridged version, lol. Our local library and the symphony put on a program of the Big Bad Wolf. They had a bass, bassoon, flute and trombone (not in the picture). The bass player also narrated. It was a really cute production. They are doing another one next week, of Aesop's fables I think.

Park Program

Linda went to the 3rd program at the park. The theme this week was sounds animals make. They read a book, then they listened to animal sounds on a CD and tried to match them up to several pictures. Then they got to see a toad, and an owl. After that, they made a little frog band. Linda was banging two rocks together making it sound like a type of frog. She was also running a stick over a comb, and strumming a rubber band over a cup. The kids were cute doing all the different sounds of a frog. They did a craft at the end. They made little ducks and put them around a cup. The colored them, glued eyes and feathers on. Inside the cup they tied a string and put a sponge on the string. When you put the sponge around the string and pull, it makes a duck sound. It was a neat craft. Can't wait to see what next week brings w/a theme on pets. She loves going to the program.

Busch Gardens

Words can not even begin to describe how much fun this child had a Busch Gardens. From the time we got there to the time we left, she was on the go. She didn't sit in her stroller at all the entire day. She had no nap, and was a perfect angel. We had such a good time. Linda and Collin (linda's 4 1/2 year old cousin) enjoyed themselves so much. Morgan(Linda's other 2 1/2 yr old cousin) had a great time too. Poor Morgan, Linda and Collin never want to hang out w/her. So she just did her own thing. I took some super cute video of Linda driving the mini bumper cars. It was priceless. I'll try to get that up sometime too. I don't even know where to start telling about the day. The whole day was great. I can't wait to go back. thank you so much to Linda's grandma and grandpa for a wonderul time.

couple more farm pics

another egg hunt

We went to another egg hunt today at our local farm. We had an absolute wonderful time. The weather was so nice and sunny and warm. There were so many activities to participate in. Linda enjoyed it so much. It was supposed to rain, so we didn't tell Linda we were going until right before we left. When she found out we were going to the farm, so was so excited. We got there right as it opened. We did the pony ride and egg hunt first. I'm so glad we did b/c by the time we left the line to get in was very very long. Linda bounced on the bouncers, went on a hay ride, collected eggs, rode a pony. Her favorite thing was, as usual, the chickens. That child caught a chicken so fast. She went in the chicken coop several times. I think she would have stayed in there the whole time if she could have. She was also very excited to know that we were going as a family. We have been devoting an outing each week together as a family, and she has really enjoyed that. Today was just a great day, and we are so thankful to be able to share it w/each other.

playgroup egg hunt

One of my playgroups had an egg hunt this morning. The weather was so pretty. Linda was in shorts, t-shirt and flip flops. She was so excited to participate. We arrived early to help out the hostess b/c she was in a car wreck w/back complications. She asked us to hide the eggs for her. Linda was so excited to hide the eggs. She was talking about how the children were going to find the eggs, and asked me if I thought the children would find this or that egg. It was really cute to see her thinking about other kids, and not herself. She enjoyed opening the eggs and finding out what each egg held. We also had a pot luck lunch after the egg hunt. The food was yummy. It was a great morning.

Our lilac bush is in bloom right now, and it smells so good when you walk out the door. I snapped this pic of Linda smelling it up close, lol. The other pic w/the wheelbarrow was Linda helping me do some gardening. She really enjoys helping her mom do all sorts of things. I am very grateful. The sun was in her eyes I think, that is why she is making that silly face.

Tonight Linda said to me, "OH, I'm just so tired tonight. I played so hard today." It was so funny the way she said it. I had also asked her tonight what her favorite part of the day was. After she told me, she said, "what about you mom? what was your favorite part?" It was so sweet.

Park program

we went to the park for another program today. The kids learned about seeds. It was another great program. They played a game (two of the pics) and pretended to be a seed. The roots were their legs, and that is why on one pic Linda's leg is out to the side, b/c the root is shooting out. They went on a nature walk and talked about plants they saw. they saw several different types of seeds. They saw several different parts of plants that we eat. Then they decorated a little flower pot, and started germinating lima bean seeds. Linda enjoyed the program very much again.

Reading update and French

We went to the library today and got some new books. Tonight while reading books, I pulled out a new book called "The Kite." She read it all the way thru! Here is the book: (* will denote words I helped her with) "See my kite. See it fly, fly, fly. See it fly so high*. See it fly in the sky. Will it touch* the trees? Will it touch the birds? Will it touch the clouds*? Will it touch the sky? See my kite. See it fly so high*. If I could* ride on my kite, I could* fly, fly, fly." I was surprised that at the end of the day she was able to read thru this book. She plays so hard each day, and is tired at the end of the day. I'm just so proud of her. She continues to recognize that she can learn things by reading. There was a loose insect card that had fallen away from the pack outside. She picked up the card and again didn't recognize the insect. She said what is that mommy? I said, well read the card Linda. It was a tick, and she read the word. We talked about ticks and how they suck out your blood like a mosquito. She said, "I don't think I would like having a tick bite me." We have also taken on beginning to learn French. So far she is interested in learning French. When we were reading the kite book and were on the tree page she said and pointed, "l'arbre." It was pretty cool for her to do that I thought. All the other times she has spoken words it has been w/my prompting. Please let me emphasize we are in the very beginning stages of learning the language. I'm not sure I'm going to continue teaching her or not. It's funny b/c I speak French at the moderate level, far from fluent. She wants to know what different words in French are. Some of them I just don't know, like grass (we looked it up tonight, and now we know it). It's just amazing to see her love of learning, from reading to insects to now French. She is so amazing!

playgroup craft

We had an Easter craft on Friday at playgroup. We are so blessed to belong to two wonderful playgroups w/so many wonderful activities for our kids. Linda painted and decorated a wooden Easter egg. It was a nice warm day outside, so the kids played outside most of the playgroup. At one point, the skies opened up and it poured while the kids were out there. It was so funny seeing 15 kids running as fast as they could to get inside. We had such a nice time that day.

The other picture is Linda coming out of the bath. We switched out her towel, and she adores this new one. I thought it was such a cute picture.