March Cotillion

Yesterday was another afternoon of Cotillion for Faith! And once again, she loved every minute!  They continued to work on their dances, conversational manners, and overall etiquette!  The game this month was to dance the cha cha while keeping balloons between the partners without using their hands!  One balloon was pretty easy, but as more were added the couples started dropping like flies!  It was very entertaining for the parents!  Next time is the last meeting for this school year, and it is going to be a superhero costume party!

Two other exciting things from the week include purchasing the Sound of Music and a Whirly Pop popcorn maker!  For over a year now the kids have been listening to the soundtrack from the Sound of Music, and of course they love all the songs!  While we were at Costco this week, the 50th anniversary edition DVD set was on sale and we just had to buy it!  We are in the process of watching it over few nights!

The Whirly Pop is popcorn maker that makes popcorn in the same way (just on smaller scale!) as they do at the movie theaters!  It is made in a pot over the stove, and it tastes like movie theater popcorn!  We have been loving the daily batches of popcorn Steve is making for us as he tries different oils and balance of ingredients!

One more picture!  Olivia loves going to sleep with a headlamp on each night!  It's pretty cute to see!  And she is showing what a big girl she is by needing a pillow and also to be tucked in each night like the big kids! 

Trip to Legoland

Sunday afternoon we made the trip down to Carlsbad to spend the night before going to Legoland Monday morning!  After almost three hours in the car, the kids were thrilled to burn some energy swimming in the hotel pool!

Shane was the most adventurous, jumping off the side in all sorts of crazy ways!

 

Even though the air temperature was unseasonably warm, Faith thought the water was a bit chilly!

 

Monday morning we met some of our homeschool friends at Legoland and were ready to head in for a day of fun!

 

Faith and Shane found a new ride to go on this year!  They had fun pulling themselves up as high as they could and then letting go and falling down!

 

There weren't many rides for poor Olivia to go on, but we did find some cars for her to sit in and pretend to drive.  It was a bit of a challenge keeping her happy as she was well aware of the fact that the big kids were having fun and going on many rides while she was watching quite a bit with mom and dad! But one thing to celebrate about the day was no accidents for this big girl! She's doing so so well with potty training!

 

Shane earning his drivers license!

 

Faith had been on this ride before and showed she was an experienced driver!

 

Learning from our past trip, we knew to have the kids in their swimsuits so they could enjoy the splash pad and water rides!  Since it was very warm (mid 80's!!), this was a great spot to spend some time!  And Olivia had a blast!!

 

One of the really neat things at Legoland is all the figures and mini cities built out of Legos! Here the kids are with a Lego Chewbacca from Star Wars!

 

Olivia was too scared to go by the Lego Darth Vader!

Drive-in Movie Night!

One of the most highly anticipated, very exciting, thrilling nights of Awana each year is the drive-in movie night!  The kids are to make a "car" out of a box to sit in while they watch a movie at Awana.  Our kids always get really into it and always seem to want a very specific type of car! One year Faith wanted a bus, Shane has wanted a fire engine in the past, but this year Shane wanted a tank and Faith wanted to make a "faithful" car! And if they big kids were making something, of course Olivia had to make one too!  So we found a box for her, and when Shane was getting wheels on his, she needed some too! 

 

A close up of Shane in his tank!  He knew exactly what he wanted - green box, two stars, three wheels on each side, and a "cannon"!  He was pretty excited with how it all turned out!

 

The time change has been a bit of a struggle in our house, as is common in most houses with young children!  Or so I read on Facebook - the source of all information!  I'm trying to be positive about the change, and one of the aspects that I am actually very happy about is being able to eat dinner outside again!  The kids love it too!  So even if we are all a bit grumpy this week and off our schedule, at least we can enjoy a beautiful dinner outside each night!

 

And I'll sign off with our little diva, Olivia!  This was her going to Target!  And the glasses stayed on even while in the store! 

Visit to the Vet!

Our most recent field trip took us to a local veterinary hospital!  We were given a full tour of the hospital as well as the boarding area.  The kids were able to ask questions not only of the tour guide but also some of the vets!  In the above picture, we were looking at an x-ray of a dog!

This was the "doggy playground" area for those dogs there being boarded or at the day care!  The kids were amazed to see play structures similar to what they like to play on at a park!

 

In my mind what made this an exceptional field trip was the interaction they kids were able to have with the vets.  They would take the time to explain what they were doing and why, often comparing it to the kids going to the doctor for a checkup!  Here a vet is using his stethoscope on the dog.

 

Another one of the vets showed us a dog who was missing some fur by his nose.  The vet told the kids he thought this was because the dog had some mites in his fur.  While we were outside, he took a sample from the dog's skin and examined it in under the microscope to confirm his diagnosis. After doing his work, he called the kids back again to look at the mites under the microscope!  This was a highlight for all the kids!

 

Faith having a look

 

Shane's turn!  Olivia of course had to have a turn too, but I held her and made sure she didn't grab the microscope!  The kids learned many things, and naturally the two older kids both want to become vets now!

Ballerinas

This past Wednesday was a parent watch day at ballet!  Since they only have two a year, I made sure to be there! What an eye-opening, interesting, fun hour it was to sit in on Faith's class!  Having only one year of ballet experience myself (and that being about 30 years ago!!), I was surprised to see what they girls did in their class!  Faith always tells me that it's hard work and tiring, and now I know why she says that!

 

After stretching, the girls worked at the bar for about 30 minutes.

 

After all the work at the bars, they did some exercises across the floor!  I don't remember what Faith is about to do in this picture!  The teacher uses the French names for all of the moves/techniques, so I didn't retain any of it!

 

A bit of free dancing at the very end!  Faith works hard, and I was impressed with her ability to count to 10 in French as well as point her toes so well in all she does in class!

 

My wanna be ballerina!  The outfit is about 2 sizes too big, but that doesn't deter Olivia!