Jumping Bean

This kid is a jumping bean.  He jumps off of anything and everything.   With abandon he jumps from the coffee table to the couch and back.  He jumps from the side of the couch, the  back of the couch, on Josh, off Josh.  He jumps off his bed.  After taking a few bounces on our bed, he threw his hands out in sky-dive position and sailed off.  Both my husband and I looked at each other in disbelief....it was a pretty high fall for a kid his size....but he was fine.  Before jumping he usually looks at me with a twinkle in his eye and states, "Jumping bean."  While I open my mouth to plead, "NO jumping bean," it's too late, he's already taken his jump.  I'm looking into trampolines for christmas.

First Taste of Fall

Back in the spring, before it warmed up significantly, I would sometimes take Ryan with me for a special treat at Starbucks.  I would get some sort of latte or hot tea and he would get a child's hot cocoa.  Now that mornings are getting chilly, Ryan's been begging to go back to Starbucks and get another special treat.  I was able to hold him off by buying hot cocoa packets at the store for a while...but one chilly, sunny, gorgeous morning, I decided it was Pumpkin Spice Latte time.  Ryan got his special treat.  He felt super triumphant I think, judging from the expression on his face.

Glimpse of Fall

 Well, it is "that" time of year again...Fall. We're starting to see glimpses of bright reds, oranges and yellows in the tree-tops.  It won't be long before the entire landscape is aflame with color.  Although this summer was very rainy, this fall is shaping up to be beautiful with sunny chilly mornings, and breezy warm afternoons. The kids and I went to a local park for a nature hike.  We were looking primarily for really beautiful leaves to take home with which to make a picture. 

 We did find a few, although the leaf in the picture above is not one of them.    

The hill on the opposite side of the road in this picture was...simply enormous. Ryan saw a few runners jogging up and down that giant hill and thought it looked like fun.  He persuaded me to climb up that giant hill with Dylan and run down with him.  Fall is so much fun! 

Apple Picking

We've been learning about the seasons in school and talking about all the fun things we get to do in the fall.  I think we cleaned the library out of all their "fall" season books.  One of the things we talked about (and actually do) annually, is to go apple picking.  Last year we went right around Labor Day and it was still super hot.  This year, it really felt like fall.  It was a beautiful sunny day with rolling white clouds and started out chilly and breezy but warmed up to a nice 65 degree day.  

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It's a bit of a drive to the farm, but once we got there the kids were SO excited to be there! We bough our apple bag but got sidetracked by the cool farm animals.   Dylan is obsessed with all animals and burst into a rendition of "Old Donald had a farm...e-i-e-i-o!" in front of one of the farmers, who took it good naturedly.  One of the little goats escaped through the fence and made immediate friends with my two food-holding little boys. 

Dylan was especially attached to the pig.  For the first time, he heard the pig "oink." Every time it oinked he got a little scared and backed up.  It was a big pig.  

 The apples this year were beautiful and round and red and virtually free of spots (unlike last year).   They were crisp and juicy.  

 Ryan and Dylan found a nice patch of tall grass to sit in and enjoy their apples.  

 Dylan gave me some sass when he caught me taking pictures.  

Before leaving, we bought them each an old fashioned soda, and by then it was starting to warm up nicely and we were all thirsty.  

 We let them play at the little playground and kids barn before we left, which really wore them out. They ran through the corn maze and climbed on tractors and up the ladder in the  barn and down the slide.  They got a good nap on the way home.  Ryan will be helping me made some delicious fall treats with our apples including: apple crisp, apple pie and apple dump cake.  We love fall!

Back to School!

Wow! It's already September?! The wonderful season of apples and pleasant days full of sun and breezes and cooler nights.....the season for yellow school buses and new fall clothes? The season for crisp new notebooks and freshly sharpened pencils? I LOVE this season!

This year, we are doing something new and I couldn't be happier.  We're going to try homeschooling.  I have a little nook set up with all the important curriculum and manipulatives.  I'm still not done adding visuals to the walls, but I'm sure as the year progresses, this won't be an issue.

We started our day with the obligatory "back to school" photo session.

 I'm still not sure if I want to label this as "Ryan starts Kindergarten" or "Ryan continues preschool." The math, reading and science curriculum are all kindergarten...but with parental glasses, that seems too far "in the future." Technically, Ryan would be in preschool anywhere else because his birthday is after the cut-off.  So, the jury's still out on this one.  We're doing kindergarten work but right now I'm calling it pre-school part 2.

Here's Dylan at 2 years 3 months.  He will primarily be learning through play and stations and generally watching what Ryan does.  He was such a good boy on this first day of school! He held the flag while we said the pledge of allegience. 

I was really surprised how quickly we breezed through math, bible and science (our reading curriculum hasn't arrived yet. That will start next week). Our science experiment led us outside with home-made boats to experiment with the affects of air (e.g. how can we make this boat go across the water without touching the boat?) 

Once the kids were outside....Dylan couldn't help himself.  He just had to get in that water. So off came the pants and shoes (but not before he got in the water fully dressed).  While they enjoyed some gross motor activities, I cleaned out the sand/water table. 

When I dumped out the old sand, Dylan couldn't resist that either. 

We are all so excited for this school year and enjoyed our first day "back to school." 

Water baby

This kid is my water baby.  He is happiest when submerged in water.   It was significantly hotter at my parents house than our own little corner of the U.S.  Besides, after experiencing the wondrous ocean, this little guy was really missing just being wet.

My parents don't have a pool.  But they do have some pretty big storage buckets.

 We rounded up some bath toys and filled it with hose water.  He got his swimmy diaper and climbed right in.  He was happy as a clam for the next hour.  For the next hour he was content to pour water into various containers,  put things in various buckets....for the next hour he left Grandpa's turtles ALONE and his mommy was able to relax, reading a book on the porch.