Allie turns five!

I haven't posted anything on here for over six months.  There are a million reasons why but the good thing is I am getting back in the groove of updating this blog.  I plan on going back over the last six months to post important things that have happened.  I will get to that but first, a post on the present.

My big girl is turning five, yes FIVE, tomorrow!!!!!!  Where has the time gone?  I know, I know we all say time flies when you are having fun but I think somehow time has passed a lot faster for me than it has for anyone else.  I can't have a five year old!  I remember Allie's BIRTH day like it was yesterday.  I can still feel the warmth of her cheek on my lips as I kissed her when they brought her over to me before rushing her off to the nursery.  I can still feel the nervousness that belongs only to a new mother and the pride and pure joy that comes along with it, as if it just happened.  But it wasn't yesterday.  It was 1,825 yesterdays.  It has been five whole years and though I can't get those five years back I am happy to remember them like they were yesterday.  I am happy to have several hundred pictures that take me back to various events and milestones of her life.  And I am happy to be blessed with such a thoughtful, caring, kind, smart, creative, loving, energetic, darling angel pie.  And I am proud to call her my daughter.  

April 27th will forever be the day my heart truly, madly, deeply, and completely fell in love at first site with someone so small and wonderful.  So Allie on your fifth birthday I hope you know how much mommy loves and adores you.  I would go to the end of the world for you my little bug.  

Happy birthday.

Happy October 1st!

We decided to start a new tradition this year.  Last year the girls left their Halloween candy on the doorstep for the Pumpkin Fairy to pick up and leave something in it's place.  We gave them Halloween themed toys in place of the candy. 

This year we may still have the Pumpkin Fairy leave a little something in place of the candy but it won't be Halloween themed.  We decided that every year on October 1st the kids would get baskets full of Halloween things that they can use all month long.

They were so surprised and really loved all the goodies.

We got a couple new Halloween books to read at bedtime throughout the month and some dollar spot finds to go with their costumes like glow in the dark wands and necklaces.  

We also included the Halloween shirts I made for them and the new Spooky Buddies movie.

 

After they opened their baskets we did Halloween crafts and watched their movie!

 

Yay for Halloween month!!

Sea World Homeschool Day

Sea World has a Homeschool day!  Who knew?  When I found out I knew I had to take the girls for their second field trip of the year!

For Homeschool day, the park is closed to the public and it only costs $8 per person pre-k age and up to attend this special day.  They had an itinerary set for four hours.  The first two hours you are free to feed the dolphins and explore the shark and penguin areas.  After that you eat your sack lunch around the ski lake then you go to two educational presentations.  I was very impressed with the set up and we received special maps with the itinerary on the back of them which Allie loved.  

  

We fed the dolphins first.  Since the park had been closed for three days prior, the dolphins were very happy to see tons of people there to feed them!  I imagine for them this is like trick-or-treat time!  They were jumping out of the water and coming up to everyone showing off.  It was really cute.  And they even had a baby dolphin in there!!

  

 

After lunch the first educational presentation was at the Sea Lion stadium.

They talked about what they eat, how fast they swim and how they teach them to perform.

Then they put on a very short show of all of their tricks.

 

The final presentation was at the Dolphin and Beluga Whale stadium.

They talked about what these animals eat, the different sounds Beluga Whales make, and also how they teach them to perform.  This was Allie's favorite part.

 

After our fun at Sea World we went to McDonald's with some friends for ice cream and cold drinks!

The kids were too cute as they put on a special show for us.  Brenden was the Beluga Whale, Allie was the trainer and Kenzie was...I think she was an assistant to the trainer.  Brenden would do tricks at Allie's command then Allie and Kenzie would throw him fish after each trick and he would pretend to eat them!!  They did a great job and had us parents cracking up!!

And this is another reason why I love homeschooling...this year at least!  :-)

Sea Life Theme for School

 It is hard to say whether or not we will always have a theme for school but, as it turns out, Sea World has a Homeschool day each year.  So I decided our second theme would be Sea Life so we would be prepared when we went on our field trip to Sea World.

I made the girls special fishy lunches to introduce the theme.

I do not have a fish cookie cutter so I did my best at free-hand cutting the strawberries and cheese into fishies!  I used the new fish shaped bread for their sandwiches and a couple goldfish crackers for fun.

They were really excited to see this lunch.

They made their cheese fishies swim!

 

I had the school room set up with all of the educational sea life books I got from the library.

 

I got a separate set of books from the library for our storytime.

I also made some sea life felts for the girls.  While I realize these are pretty ghetto looking (they were made during nap time with no template!), the girls loved them.  Thank goodness they are not picky with how things should look.

 

I wrote several sea life words on the white board to use as our vocabulary words for the week.

Allie's writing assignment was to write down all of the words from the board in the same order.

 

She did a great job and it helped me recognize what letters she needs to work on.

Next we counted the number of letters in each of the vocabulary words and graphed the results.

  

The day wouldn't be complete without fishy faces!!

Comal County Parade!

We decided to take the girls up to New Braunfels for the parade and fair.

Next year we know to sit on the other side of the street!  The side that stays shaded for the entire parade!

 

They loved catching the candy and waving.

 

 

Showing off some sunglasses she caught.

 

You simply cannot visit New Braunfels without making the short drive to Gruene for some YUMMY food at The Gristmill.  We had a great family day.  Can't wait to do it again next year.

Tea Party With a Friend

The girls were invited to have a tea party with a friend of theirs at a local tea house.

They dressed in their tea party best and they were so excited!

 

The set up was adorable.

Their tea sandwiches were served on a three tier platter with some strawberries and a few dessert squares.  And a special tea pot filled with milk.  Since none of them will drink actual tea.

 

Allie was so cute and proper holding her little pinky out.

 

Time for a show from the Mad Hatter, Alice and Rabbit.

 

They settled down and colored while me and the other mom chatted.

 

They had such a great time.  We can't wait to do it again.

 

First Field Trip - Botanical Garden

Our first theme for school was butterflies and I planned it that way due to the opening of a butterfly exhibit at our local Botanical Garden.

We took the girls on their first field trip to the new exhibit so they could experience what they have been learning about.

Terrifyingly huge butterfly bicycle ride anyone?

 

Allie enjoyed the garden scavenger hunt.

 

We do have flowers somewhere in the state of TX! Here is the proof!

 

Going through the exhibit.  They became caterpillars then tucked inside their chrysalis before becoming beautiful butterflies!

 

Beautiful butterflies!

Beware of dangers butterflies!!!

Climbing the spider web.

 

After the maze they received flowers that attract butterflies.  They really enjoyed planting them and they water them every day!

 

They offered a few butterfly crafts as well.

It was a great day and Allie related what we had learned in books to the things she experienced in the exhibit.  Overall I call our first field trip a success!

 

Afterward we had lunch with some friends and the girls got to run and play in the leaves at the restaurant.  

My camera was already in the car though so I didn't get pics of their fun.  <---  Thank the hubby for that!  He didn't want to carry my purse anymore!  HA!!  I don't blame him!