Chicka-Chicka-Boom-Boom at the Library

We have been on lock-down in the house this week for potty training, and I will be posting quite a detailed post on that probably next week (once I see how she does outside of the house, etc.), however, last week Friday we went to a local library for a fun (and free) event.

Katelyn has now been in soccer and swimming with the city next to ours as their programs seem to line up better with our budget and schedule.  So, I now try to pick up their city guide each quarter and browse it for fun activities.  Their library was having a Chicka-Chicka-Boom-Boom event for 2-5 year olds.  I signed up the girls and we went this past Friday.  (Chicka-Chicka-Boom-Boom is a very popular children's book that tells the story of all the letters of the alphabet climbing up a coconut tree and then falling out because there were too many.)

They started off by coloring by number coconut trees. 

Then they sang some songs and the book was read to them.  The girls love doing songs with motions.

Then they played alphabet bingo. (More Katelyn than Brooklyn who just covered, or uncovered, all the letters.)

Next was decorating the first letter of their name.

Then came watching a video of the book, that was a little bit animated with the book in song, followed by some more singing.  The highlight was that the kids then each made a coconut tree hat.

And to end the morning (a total of 1 hour), they gave the kids Alpha-bits cereal and apple juice for a snack.

Overall I thought it was super cute, very age appropriate and a lot of fun for the girls.  Katelyn especially enjoyed it.  I will be keeping my eye out for more similar events in the future.  They have a winter one planned in December. 

I have signed up the girls for weekly story time at a different library with the same city in the coming months.  I think they will really enjoy it.

Side note:  As you might be able to tell, I had my new phone, so I was snapping more pictures than I usually do with the camera.  However, I had a little trouble figuring out which service to use to upload them to the computer/trying to figure out what works best to link up Kyle & I's photos, and then getting them to link up with the blog, so this post took me a couple days longer to get published than I had hoped.

Back to reality

We might not have kids in school yet, but this month has been crazy for us just the same.  So far this month we have been to Sea World, the county fair, and an Angel's baseball game.  Katelyn has started Sunday School (and Kyle & I have been attending adult class) and soccer for the first time.  My Wednesday morning Bible Study and our couple Bible study both started this past week for the year.  Kyle took a 3 day trip to Seattle for work and has again been quite busy for work.  This is also my busy time at work as we have been working on a large project and also the budget for next year.  I've been working more like 2 days a week, than 1.  So that's a little summary of what we have been up to, I hope to do some more detailed posts on some of our day trips in the coming days.

I have been continuing to work with Katelyn on 'preschooling'.  Right now (as previously mentioned), she is learning to read!  We are day 16 of 100 in Teach your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons.

She is now starting to sound out small words like 'mat', 'rat', 'read', etc.  It seems to be working well, but she does get frustrated that I ask her to sound out words before I tell her what the word is.  Telling her that is the point doesn't seem to help. . .

We are also getting close to completion in the bathroom.  Kyle leveled the vanity yesterday and we glued on the counter-top.  Pretty much all that is needed is the sink faucets, mirrors, and some more framing around a couple doors.  The bathroom and shower are completely done and we have been using the shower for about a week now.

As I mentioned above, we went to an Angel's game last night.  Kyle's work had their annual trip.  They actually had a hotdog buffet and snacks for us near one of the entrances before the game, which was a first, and quite nice.  Brookie was pretty tired and we left after the 6th inning, which was more than we thought we would be able to see.

The Cuties.  Katelyn has been needing a new hat, so she was pretty excited about this one.

Oh, and we got something else exciting this past week.  I got my first smartphone!  I'm a little excited.  Kyle has had one for almost 2 years, but my phone still did not have internet.  I got the Samsung Galaxy S3 for all you tech people out there.  Kyle also got a new upgraded smartphone.

Tomorrow will be a big day for us.  I am going to be potty training Brooklyn.  I'm sure I will be sharing more in another post, but it will be a pretty intense day for me as we are going straight to underwear.  Katelyn will be with my Mom for the day so I can focus on Brooklyn only.  Wish me luck (and pray that God will grant me patience - even more than normal).