March & April Photo Fun

Still no new baby.  I'm beginning to think she is never going to come out and I'll just be uncomfortable forever.  I had a check-up yesterday and the dr. though it very likely that she would come before the long holiday weekend is over and not make it until the due date of next Thursday.

It is time for a bunch of random photos again.  Here are some from March & April that didn't really fit in any of my other posts.

Our mischief maker.  I quite often let the girls watch tv while I shower so that they don't get into trouble.  This is what I came downstairs to one morning after my shower.  (She is coming out of the bathroom because she had been looking at herself in the mirror.)  If I remember correctly, I think her tongue was also green. . . .

Here I am at 7 months pregnant.  (Yes, I am/was massive already at that point.  People kept asking me if I was sure I still had 2 months and also if I was having twins.)

Getting ready for the baby.  Here are just a few of the containers Kyle took out of the garage rafters for me to unpack.

On April 1, we made our first trip to Urgent Care with the kids.  We had been at a friend's house and when I grabbed Brooklyn's arm to leave (because she was fighting me and did not want to go), it must have twisted somehow and she ended up with Nursemaid's Elbow.  Which basically meant the two bones in her lower arm somehow crossed and did not release as they usually would.  She was ok when she was just sitting with her arm resting, but if we asked her to move at all, she would scream, so we knew something wasn't right.

The doctor took one look at it, bent her arm up and it was fixed immediately.  The pictures below were taken about 15 minutes later when we were waiting for x-rays (just a precaution - everything was fine).  She was completely back to normal within a few minutes using her arm to push off on things.

Evidently I had the same things twice when I was little, fortunately it has not recurred with her, which is a little surprising considering how she always pulls against us when we try to grab her hand.

The girls love to 'work' on our calculators like Daddy & Mommy, here Brooke must have gotten Kyle's number pad and brought it back to her bedroom.

On April 10, we celebrated Kyle's birthday!  It was a big one!  30!!!!  I like teasing him about how he is older than me.  Katelyn also gives him plenty of grief about it.  (My 30th is coming next month.)  For a while he had told Katelyn he was turning 29 1/2, so that is what she went around telling people.

The balloon in the background is because Katelyn thought he needed a balloon (I always get them a balloon on their birthdays).  She had many ideas about what needed to happen on Daddy's birthday, this just being one of them.

Both of our vehicles hit the 80,000 mile mark this spring.  I took this photo to send to Kyle when the Sequoia hit the mark.

I thought it was funny that we walked into Sam's club and Brooklyn immediately walked to the jewelry case and started picking out pretty things.  She might have expensive taste when she get older.

We met some friends at the park for a playdate.  After playing on the playground equipment for a while, they all wanted to go into the splashpad area.  Katelyn and Brooklyn are in the top right.

Drying off in the sun after the splash pad.

Then we ate some lunch.

I love how they enjoy being with each other a lot of the time.  Such good friends.

If you haven't noticed, getting a picture where both girls are looking at the camera is next to impossible.  They give me about a tenth of a second before turning their heads.  Katelyn especially gets really distracted lately and is often smiling but looking at something else.

I am finally almost caught up on posts.  Unless I get really motivated and the baby doesn't come, this will probably be the last post until the baby comes.  I still have a few more I need to do, such as Mother's day and our new closet, but we shall see when I get around to that.  Have a great Memorial Day Weekend!

Preschool Update - Insects, Reading, and Other activities

Tomorrow is one week away from the due date.  I was really hoping our little one would be here by now.  Still waiting . . . .



We have taken a temporary break from doing any units for preschool, instead using some animal books that we have and random things I have found on Pinterest, etc. after Katelyn's reading lessons.  I just haven't felt up to organizing a full unit and related crafts and books after we did the Easter unit.  We have still been trying to do reading lessons a few days a week with a couple other small activities, including a new kids devotional we have done a couple lessons in. 


INSECTS
Earlier this spring (before Easter), we did a unit on Insects.  It took us 2 weeks to get through the materials as there are a lot of preschool packets on the internet for insects.  Here are a few of the worksheets the girls worked on.  I find these for free on the internet.

At the top of this photo are the picture we reviewed each day.  The other items are activities that both of the girls did together.

Some of Brooklyn's work.  She is getting good at size identification colors, and drawing along the lines.

Here are some of Katelyn's worksheets.  She did the wordsearch by herself and was also able to identify the name of the bugs without me reading them to her.  She is also starting math, which she seems to like and uses regularly.

One afternoon we went for a walk and the girls took along their magnifying glass to look for insects.  We had fun.

 

 

 We read a story book at the end of each lesson, but we also studied this book about specific types of insects at the beginning of each day.  The kids seemed to enjoy both.

We also did a couple of crafts.  Caterpillars and Butterflies.

Brooklyn's on left, Katelyn's on right.  Still trying to master the matching of the 2 sides on a butterfly.

The girls still talk about the different types of insects and have memorized the body parts, etc.  This unit was definitely a success.

READING LESSONS

Well, we haven't finished the reading book yet.  It has 100 lesson and we are on 84 now.  However, I am starting to feel like it is not really worth finishing because Katelyn is reading EVERYTHING.  It has been a great book overall.  She really caught on about halfway through and ran with it.  I do still plan to finish the book as some trickier sounds still need to be addressed, etc, however, her reading is already great!  She is reading books like The Cat in the Hat, Level 1 storybooks and she always follows along with the words whenever we read to her.  She also reads my blog aloud.  Actually though, she seems to have already grasped the idea of reading in her head.  (Maybe some mommy bragging in this paragraph, but I am pretty proud of her.)

Here is a pic of the story at the end of her most recent reading lesson, just to give you and idea of what she can read.

OTHER PRESCHOOL ACTIVITIES

As I mentioned above, I have been finding other small items to work on while we are not doing specific units.  Here are the kids working on some other items.

CRAFT TIME

We also recently attempted putting glue and sand on paper to see what we could make.  Brooklyn really enjoyed it and did several pages.  

It will probably be a little while before I am up to doing too much more that is incredibly organized. 

Easter Blessings

Still no baby news.  I will likely be posting pics etc. to facebook and not getting to the blog for a little while after the baby comes.  We shall see how it goes.  For now, here is a post about our Easter.

We started preparing for Easter at the beginning of the week, working on preschool lessons related to Easter.

Below is our theme verse and the objects that we studied each day.

We also read the following Easter books:

The girls each also did many worksheets and activities.  (I know that most people aren't interested in their exact skill sets at the moment, but for their out of state family, I think it is nice to share what they are learning, so sorry if this bores you.)  Here are some of Brooklyn's:

Here are some of Katelyn's:

On Good Friday, the girls each painted a cross.  We put painter's tape where the cross would be and then they had fun mixing different colors to paint around the outside of the tape.  Just using the colors that were provided wasn't really an option as you can see.

Katelyn's on left, Brooklyn's on right.

On Saturday, we dyed eggs as a family.

Below are the Easter baskets that I assembled for the girls (gardening themed).

It was decided that I had the best backyard for an Easter egg hunt, so we hosted Easter this year.  I made a ham in the crockpot for the first time as I was tired of the ham not getting heated all the way through when I made it in the oven.  It worked pretty well. 

We tried to get the kids to pose for some pictures.  As you can see below, that went well (not).  Laura did finally get a decent one.

Finally!  A good one!

Baby bump pic (I was thinking this baby might feel neglected if I don't take a couple).

We took some photos as a family and of the girls, but they must have gotten deleted as we can't find them.

After lunch we headed to our backyard for the egg hunt.  The kids had a good time.  We used color specific eggs so that we could hide them harder for Katelyn.

Waiting for us to say they can go outside.

Overall, it was a better Easter than last year when the girls were both sick.