Leaves & A Picnic in the Park

In Katelyn's birthday package from her grandparents, there was a leaf book for both her and Brooklyn that Kyle's mom made. 

The girls enjoyed looking at the books and I thought it might be fun and timely to do a unit on leaves.  We got a few books from the library that were leaf themed and did a bunch of worksheets that incorporated leaves.


I thought it would be fun to do a craft gluing leaves onto a wreath and have the girls collect the leaves.  We took a walk to the park and the girls collected leaves on the way.

Picking up brown leaves.

As you can see from this picture, most trees still have their leaves

Watching her sisters play.

Katelyn wanted me to take her pic after she climbed up the slide the entire way (we were the only kids at the playground).

Brooklyn headed up the slide.

Always happy.

Picnic time!

My reading materials while the kids were on the playground.  If you know me at all, you know what kid I am reading this for. ;-)

It was a beautiful day.


We made the wreaths the next week.  They didn't turn out too great as we do live in SoCal and don't really have much variation in leaf color other than green and brown :-).  But it was still a fun learning experience.

I had good intentions of doing a Thanksgiving unit after the leaf unit, but I ran out of time.

Madison - Months 2 and 3

Here are some pictures of Madison - growing so much over the last few months.

5 Weeks with her big sissy.  They love each other.

6 Weeks:

7 Weeks:

B is sharing her mankie (blanket).

B likes to give Madison stickers.

8 Weeks:

10 Weeks:

11 weeks:  (Waiting for sissies at the park.)

12 Weeks:

13 weeks:

 3 Months!

July & August

It's random picture catch-up time.  Below are some photos from this past July & August.

We attended a local parade the morning of the 4th of July.  I usually host a party, but with a 2 month old baby, I wasn't ready to do that this year, so we celebrated the evening at my parents.

Watching fireworks in the backyard.

Yes, Brooklyn was actually sleeping like this . . . 

Working with those small beads that melt with the iron for the first time.  Katelyn got really into it.

We went to a Luau at the retirement home I work for.  Aunt Lisa did some dancing with the girls.

Practicing cutting & gluing and our colors by finding pictures in magazines that are the right colors.

We went to Sunday lunch at my parents one day - here is GG & Katelyn reading together.

 We joined my sisters up in the high desert at the fish hatchery.  It was a pretty warm day, but the kiddos enjoyed feeding the fish and walking around for about half an hour.

(Katelyn)

Micah came over to play one day while his mommy went away with friends.  He caught a ride with Brooklyn . . .

 The girls were invited to a birthday party that had a dance class instructor - they loved it.  (They are in the middle of the next photo.)

Katelyn's turn in the middle of the parachute.

 There was also water play at the party when the dancing was done.

Before the end of the summer, I took the kids to a local splash pad.  We had a good time, but they spent more time on the playground than in the splash pad.  They prefer splash pads that come up from the ground, not with big high water features at this age.

Taking a break from 'splashing' to have a picnic at the park.

Madison slept for most of the time.

Mommy & Madison watching the big girls.

Life is busy, but busy is good!