It really seems that after each busy week, our next week is pretty calm and chill. So last week was pretty busy and this week we didn’t have very much going on!
Monday: Okay, I guess I lied. Because Monday was actually pretty busy! In the morning we had Play and Learn. Our theme this week was “Teddy Bear Picnic.” After reading a book, we separated for our activities. First of all, we played a matching game with bear pictures (well, Makenna played the game. It wasn’t very interesting for Max so he played with a toy instead!).
Showing me a match:
You can see the Mr. in the background. I’m not sure what he was even playing with, but it certainly wasn’t the bear cards! : D
Next we moved on to a craft. The kids were each given a cut-out of a bear. They had to spread glue on the bear and then use a coffee grinder to squeeze dried coffee on the glue to make their bear textured. I like the idea, but I did NOT like the medium used. We do NOT drink coffee and I do NOT like the smell of it! So even though it was just the dried powder stuff, the odor made me sick. Yuck. But it did make a really cute bear and the kids used some fine motor skills to squeeze it out of the grinder!
Spreading the glue:
And of course, cutie-pie Max got glue all of his hands! Wouldn’t be a craft without Max getting it all over himself! : )
Finished products:
Makenna said, “Mom, I put the eyes on the bears ears! I was being so silly today!” : )
Our last center was a sand box. There were toy bears hidden in the sand, and the kids got to dig in the sand and find them. Mostly they just had fun playing in the sand. : )
Classic Makenna pose:
Classic Max pose:
That afternoon, we met with a few moms and kids to finalize our plans for our Preschool group! This year, Makenna is going to be in a co-op preschool. This means that the moms will all take turns teaching and hosting preschool (we purchased a curriculum we will be using, but the moms will take turns teaching from it) for the other children. Preschool will start the first week in September and go through May (two hours a day, two days a week). We are SO excited about it! I also purchased materials for Max, and I will teach him at home while Makenna is gone to school. She keeps saying, “Two more weeks until I go to PLAYschool!” (She insists it is called PLAYschool instead of PREschool!)
That evening, we were excited to have a classmate of Austin’s over for dinner. Spencer and Austin attended class together in Arizona, and he is at a hospital here in Michigan this month on rotation. It was fun getting to see an Arizona friend here in Michigan! Thanks for coming for dinner, Spencer!
Tuesday: On Tuesday, we woke up and it was only 59 degrees outside! And it was only 67 degrees in our house! Brr! After living in Arizona, we were COLD! I thought Makenna was so cute, curled up on the couch with her blanket:
Ha ha, she caught me trying to sneak a picture:
Oh cute girl! However, this just worries me even more… If we are this cold now, we are going to FREEZE when winter comes!!!
By the way, it then warmed up into the 80s and we spent the day at the beach… go figure! : )
Wednesday: Wednesday morning we ran a few errands and then spent the morning playing at the library.
Thursday: On Thursday I spent ALL DAY LONG trying to get the dumb lawn mower to work! Honestly, ALL DAY LONG!!! It just wouldn’t start for me!!! Finally, at about 3:30 p.m., I gave up and just sat in the front yard and let the kids ride their bikes up and down the sidewalk.
We really need to purchase the kids helmets—I’m pretty sure that a princess crown doesn’t do the same thing as a helmet!
Saturday: Today we did our errands (Sam’s Club every week, baby!) in the morning. In the afternoon, we headed to Warren for the Warren Birthday Bash. They were having a lot of fun things going on. We went to the “Touch a Truck” and petting zoo. The Touch a Truck was fun—they had lots of different kinds of trucks parked and let the kids climb in them and on them. Mr. Max was in little boy heaven!!! Especially since they had TWO garbage trucks there! : )
Garbage Truck:
SWAT truck:
School bus (it made me a little teary eyed to think in just a couple of years, my kids will be old enough to really ride that school bus!):
Fire truck:
City bus:
A “Big Truck” (what are these really called?!? I’ve always just called them big trucks!):
Police Car (you never want to see your kids in the back of a police car, ha ha):
It was a lot of fun! Max was running around, SO excited!
And Makenna was having fun posing for pictures, ha ha:
Poor Makenna! She FINALLY fits into those little princess shoes she had on, and they rubbed blisters on the back of her feet! We tried to find a first aid tent to get a band aid, but we couldn’t find one. So we decided to quickly visit the petting farm and then head home to change shoes and get band aids for her!
The Petting Zoo:
Our kids are too scared of the animals to actually TOUCH them (which I don’t mind in the slightest—no stinky, dirty hands afterwards!), but they sure have a lot of fun LOOKING at them! : )
They had an “exotic” animal display—ha ha one of the animals was a PORCUPINE! Soooo exotic! ; )
One pen had rabbits, turtles, and ALLIGATORS! Talk about a random group… but the kids liked this pen probably the best!
I’m really glad we were able to go to this event! Not only was it a fun time, but they also gave us a free bag with books, coloring books, crayons, stickers, etc. in them. Score! : )
After the Birthday Bash, we ran home to change Makenna’s shoes and then went to a park for a Ward Picnic. Super fun! We had dinner and then they had games and then the kids (and husbands!) ran around playing while the moms did what we do best—talked! : ) There was a great turn out (pretty much everyone we know in Michigan was there!) and we had a lot of fun!
Attempting the wheel barrel race:
Austin played a little bit:
I had to laugh at how stereotypical my family is. I stood talking with some moms, while Makenna ran around playing “babies” with some little girl friends, and Max and Austin ran around playing ball in the field with some boys and dads. We are the typical family, ha ha. : D
Sunday: Tomorrow we have church, as usual, and then are having a family over for Sunday dinner. That will be our last friends-over-for-Sunday-dinner before Austin leaves! Sad day!
Pretty good week! This coming week is going to be filled trying to fit in some last minute things before Austin leaves for rotations!
Some of Makenna’s hairstyles from this week (we did new hairstyles pretty much every day this week, but I just forgot to take pictures!):
Last Sunday’s hair (for Sundays, Makenna usually always wants to leave her hair down long and curly. So last Sunday, we just did some corkscrew twists on the side and left it down long):
Lots of braids (hmm, it looks a little uneven in this picture… I didn’t notice that before!)!
Twists that ended in a pony tail:
Lots of twists this week!
