Fun Day at Preschool

Tuesday was Fun Day at the kids' preschool. I love seeing my kids having fun so I volunteered. It is surprising how few parents volunteer for these kinds of things. The director gave me an easy job - helping with the popcorn. I helped Mrs. Pam put popcorn in paper bags for the kids. I found out that the three and four year olds have fresh popped popcorn every other Wednesday for snack (yum!) but Tuesday was the first day the two year olds were given popcorn due to choking concerns. I didn't tell Mrs. Pam that Lydia has been eating popcorn since she was about 12 months old. I did enjoy talking with Mrs. Pam. We had fun preparing the snack.

When all the popcorn had been put in little bags, I went outside to find Wesley's class. Since my "job" was completed, I just hung out with his class and talked with his teachers until it was time for the three and four year olds to go inside for pizza lunch (no packing lunching that day!). Here is his class having their snack - popcorn and lemonade. Normally they have water at snack time.
There were a lot of different stations including a large moon bounce with a slide.

There was also a train that went around the parking lot several times.
Wesley loves blowing bubbles.

This was the last station for Wesley's class. After this it was time for the three and four year olds to go inside for lunch. At this point it started really raining and some of the teachers, administrators, and parents started worrying and praying.

You see, the two year olds weren't allowed out for Fun Day until 12:00 and they had to have a parent with them. We were all concerned that if they didn't get to participate at all they would be very disappointed especially since they had walked past all the fun stuff on the way to their classes that morning. Additionally, a lot of them had older siblings who had just had a very fun morning and those older siblings would be talking about all the fun they had.

Thankfully, the heavier rain stopped and it was only a drizzle when the two year olds went outside. The large moon bounce was too wet for the kids to use and the sidewalk chalk and paint were put away as were the tricycles.

But Lydia got to do her top priority - the carousel!

She also got to ride the train (which was a top priority with a lot of the boys).

And she got to play in the ball pit for a very long time!

It was such a fun day! I had fun playing with the kids and watching them have fun. I also enjoyed talking with the teachers and other parents.

Mother's Day Fun at the Pool

After church on Mother's Day we went out to lunch and then to Cub Run.
Lydia had fun playing in the sprayers and going down the little slide. She also loved swimming! I didn't have the camera out for the exciting part, but she figured out how to swim from sitting on a step in the pool to Chris. She swam about four feet over and over again. She is so proud of herself and she keeps telling us, "I don't sink anymore." She is swimming with her face in the water and isn't yet lifting it out to breath. She just swam into Chris' arm and then he lifted her up.

Wesley enjoyed the water slides.

He also worked on his swimming a lot.

We were in the water for over two hours and only got out for pool breaks. The kids decided they wanted to wear their goggles home.

Lydia finished her lunch when we got in van.

The kids quickly fell asleep and Lydia slept for over two hours once we got home.

I had a great Mother's Day!

One Night Camping Trip

On Friday night we camped at Burke Lake. This was our second time camping there but it had been a while. We had barbeque chicken sandwiches for dinner and strawberries. I made the rub and put it on the chicken and mixed together the sauce the night before. Chris grilled the chicken, sautéed the onions, added the spices, and then added the sauce. Despite saying it looked yucky, Wesley ate 3/4 of a sandwich.

I think the kids' favorite part of camping is eating marshmallows.
Lydia didn't fall asleep until after 9:30 but she was wide awake at 6:00.
Coffee! That is what Chris and I needed.

Since the kids didn't get enough sleep they wanted some extra snuggle time with their luvies.

While we waited for breakfast, Wesley and I played ball with the velcro paddles.

You can see my big belly in this video.


After breakfast, I took the kids on a walk around the lake. It rained us on briefly and we saw this pretty crane while it was raining.

I walked around the lake on Friday night before dinner. Lydia rode in the stroller and Wesley biked. We did the same thing on Saturday morning. Four and a half miles around the lake each time. Wesley rides his bike really well now and most of the time he was ahead of me. He was great about stopping and waiting for me or riding back to me.

Chris packed up our tent while Wesley and I excercised. We decided to not stay Saturday night since the weather people were predicting high winds. I am so glad we went home early because it got very windy. Lydia did have an ice cream treat from the store before we left.

We got home in time to shower and get ready for a kids concert at a local high school. Lydia fell asleep on the way there. Wesley took this picture while we were waiting to go in to the concert.

Muffins for Moms

Last week was Muffins for Moms at the kids' preschool. I would have preferred donuts like the dad had.

Wesley gave me this flower that he sewed. His class started working on them in January to make sure they were finished in time for Mother's day. I think I am going to frame it.
Wesley was very proud of his gifts for me. I love them.
Lydia gave me a nice hand print also.

We did enjoy the chocolate chip muffins. Look how Lydia is sitting. So cute!

Big Truck Days

I took the kids out to Big Truck Days in Herndon. We went one day after preschool so we got there about 1:30 which turned out to be a great time. It was not crowded and we had either no wait or only had to wait for one kid to have a turn. One of the men working there said they might not be able to do it next year because of budget cuts. That would be too bad for all the kids who love it. I think this was our fourth year going.

Lydia is dancing in this picture.

The kids loved "driving" all of the different tractors.

The climbing up and down was also fun.

Notice the snow plow on the front of this bobcat. It seemed that most of the equipment had signs that said it could be used for snow plowing whether it was a dump truck or some type of tractor. I don't remember the signs mentioning snow plowing that much last year. Either I didn't notice it or they didn't mention it. I am sure they used every piece of equipment they could this past winter to move all the snow.

Wesley had to try out hanging on the back of the trash truck.

Look how serious he is about the roller.

Wow, doesn't Lydia look small in the big dump truck!

More fun "driving."

See, no crowds during nap time.

At first Lydia couldn't get the traffic light to work. She was pushing the lights on the controller instead of the little switches.

Most of the equipment had signs detailing what it was and what it does.

Lydia in the tree spade.

They had water, lemonaid, cookies, and chips for the kids (and moms). I was really surprised that Lydia remember the racoon from last year but he wasn't there this time. On the way out to Herndon Wesley was talkng about all of the trucks and Lydia said, "Remember I was afraid of the racoon last year?"

How Old is Chris

We didn't have sufficient candles so Chris found a way to show his true age. Happy Birthday Chris!

Trains Vs. Dolls

The other night the kids had a playdate at our house with some of our neighbors. Wesley and Alexandra are the same age and Lydia and Jonathan are the same age. The kids played together for over an hour. I found it very interesting that the kids matched up by gender, not by age, and they played with gender stereotypical toys. The girls and boys talked to each other a little bit but they did not play together.

The girls played with dolls and the girly little people and they played school.
The boys played with trains.

And more trains.