Locomotive museum & the park

On Friday we started our next lesson plan which was trains. So, on Saturday we met up with Landon & his mommy to continue the learning fun at the Southern Locomotive Museum. The boys had a great time exploring together, as always.





Today we took the boys to the park to play. Ryan is absolutely loving the fact that Lucas can finally interact with him the way that he wants.

The Zoo and "why didn't God bring me any presents?"

We had Gavin all day on Saturday while Jaclyn worked. I knew I was going to have to keep the 3 boys busy all day...so we packed up the three of them and our lunches and headed to the zoo. Ryan and Gavin had a blast! Ryan always has so much more fun when he has a friend to explore with.

This morning, we started our second week of summer learning. I had purchased a bag of alphabet sponge stamps that Ryan has been begging to use so we started off with those.

He already knows the sound that each letter makes and can identify the letter if you make a sound so I figured why not try to work on spelling. As he stamped each letter we talked about the sound it made and which words might start with that sound. He picked the words and we spelled them together. Please excuse my illustrations, an artist I am not. lol

For our second week of lesson planning we are working on learning about God & The Bible. I know when I was little I always thought God was a man that lived in the clouds :) So, I thought Ryan would enjoy starting at the beginning. He already knows that God loves him and that he's talking to God when he says his bedtime prayers but I think that's about it. His time at church is spent on snacking and his etch a sketch.

Anyway, we started off by talking about God. I was explaining to him that God is way up beyond the sky & clouds in a place called heaven and although we can't see him that God is everywhere and always looking over us. Ryan proceeded to calmly walk away. I didn't know quite what to make of it. He promptly returned and said "God is like Santa & the Easter Bunny?" I told him maybe a little bit, only because we can't see them but we know that they are there- but that God was more like the wind-we can feel it but can't see it. And he replied with "then why didn't God bring me any presents?" I had to hold back my smile while I told him that our presents from God aren't wrapped or toys, that God gave us the earth and trees and that He gave daddy & I two healthy little boys to love. He looked at me like I wasn't speaking English! Precious moments like that make me so incredibly happy to be a mom. And it should be an interesting week of learning!!

Today our focus was that God created day & night

Catching up...

Last week was a busy week for us. Ryan had his last day of soccer and his last day of school back to back.
On his last day of soccer he got his very first trophy & a pizza party. He was so proud of himself, as he should be! This was his third time doing Soccertots, and his favorite. Of course, having all of his buddies in his class didn't hurt!




getting his trophy from Coach Carrie

The following day was his last day of mom's morning out. His school had a picnic at the park to celebrate. It was so neat for me to get to see him interact with his teacher and classmate...I say classmate because only one other child from his class was there. Luckily, it was the one that Ryan has been talking about non-stop since he started school. It was so incredibly cute to watch him with his favorite friend from school. And I learned something about him that I never knew...he is super bossy! :) I thought when I wasn't around he was shy and reserved, but turns out...not so much!

Lucas enjoying his first cupcake...compliments of Ryan's teacher!

On Saturday, we decided to take daddy to the zoo since he's never gone with us before. First stop, Parakeet Adventure. Ryan just loves feeding the parakeets! We spent nearly an hour feeding them, and still had to drag him away. Both boys got the birds to land on their sticks, which Lucas loved, but I wasn't quick enough to get the photos!

And finally...partly out of a desire for Ryan to be learning this summer, and partly as an idea to keep us busy...I decided that Ryan and I are going to have our own little summer school session. I found a great website with step by step pre-k lesson plans that includes learning, crafts, puzzles and more for each individual theme. This week we decided to start with weather and water. We're just getting started so we are still trying to get organized and figure out what works for us and what doesn't, but I think it will be fun for both of us. Ryan is already loving the projects that go along with the lessons.

We learned about clouds, rain & rainbows...

and came up with this

And then we talked about the ocean and waves, so we made an "ocean in a bottle"

Let summer begin! :)

On Thursday, Ryan had his very first field trip with his school. Dave and I were so excited that we both tagged along. Ryan had a great time! He got to plant a sunflower seed, watch a cow milking demonstration, pet some baby animals and feed the cows some hay. Even Lucas got to join in on the fun this time.

Ryan & Lucas would like to send out great big Happy Birthday wishes to Mattie Lou & Nicholas! They were lucky enough to celebrate with their friends this weekend.

Mattie Lou had a barnyard bash. Ryan got to meet some animals and hold a baby pig. He had so much fun!

And Nicholas had a super fun 1st birthday! Ryan, Lucas & Dave just loved the clown! He made Ryan a balloon airplane that somehow got broken (daddy!) and Ryan said "maybe the silly man at Thomas' house will make me a new one" :) Dana, I think your house is Ryan's new favorite spot!

Luke's 9 month pictures

Easter

We hope everyone had a very Happy Easter!

We started the festivities last week. Jack, Caroline & their mommy hosted a fun spring break play date and the kids got to color their eggs and enjoy some yummy ice cream.

And then they were nice enough to invite us to the egg hunt at their church. Thanks Kim!!

The boys (Jack, Riley, Thomas, Dru, Ryan and Landon) waiting to start the hunt....

Daddy & his boys

When Ryan saw this bunny he hid behind me. I thought those days were over since he finally sat on Santa's lap this year, but I guess bunnies are creepier than a strange man in a red suit. Luke, on the other hand, was happy to snuggle up.

Right after the egg hunt we were off to a cowboy birthday party.

Happy 1st Birthday Alex!

Ryan has been to 2 parties with animals in the past. At the first one, he cried the entire time and wouldn't go near the horses. At the second one, he ran in the house to hide every chance he got. But, apparently he's had a change of heart. He rode the ponies (and donkey) over and over again and cried when they left to go home. Later that night as I was putting him to bed he told me that he was sad because he missed them, it was incredibly sweet. Don't tell Ryan, but I think he'll be seeing those ponies again come November 9th ;)

And....Easter morning. Ryan was so excited about the bunny coming to his house that I heard him talking to himself in his room until about 11:30pm so he was a little out of it on Easter morning. He was so psyched about his Cars toy that he didn't care that his basket was full of other goodies.

And Luke was just excited about his Wagon Wheels...it doesn't take much sometimes

Then it was off to Grammy & Papa's house for lunch and another egg hunt. Luke slept through the whole thing and somehow I forgot to take pictures of his adorable Easter outfit after his nap. I may put him back in it and do a little re-enactment...stay tuned

Ryan was disappointed at first because he was shaking the eggs to make sure there was a treat inside but didn't hear anything so he thought that they were empty. He (and his mommy) were excited to find dollars for his piggy bank inside instead of candy to rot his teeth

Ryan and Gavin took turns giving each other wagon rides. What I didn't get a picture of is when they teamed up and pulled Uncle Rick around for a ride...I was impressed!

And last but not least, a random picture of Ryan and Luke's new favorite game. Ryan pushes his brother around in this bin on wheels and they both think its hysterical. They have so much fun together, I can't wait until Luke can really play with his big brother.