Howell's Pumpkin Patch 2012

We took the girls out to Howell's Pumpkin Patch again this year.  We picked an extremely windy day to go so we skipped the hay ride out to the pumpkin patch and corn maze.  Thankfully the girls are young enough to not know what they were missing out on. Here are a few pictures:

Daddy enjoying the activities.

Harper spent much of the afternoon snuggled up in the stroller.

Contemplating the jump!

Not so sure about the jump

Slide!

Washing our pumpkins after our great search for Spookly.

Happy Halloween!

Riley's First Swim Lessons

Riley started swim lessons at the Waukee YMCA this past weekend.  She is in the beginner level, Eel.  We worried a bit that she would get there and refuse to go in the water since the class is not parent/child, but she did wonderful!  They have a great set up at the YMCA.  The pool there is zero entry and has a slide for the end of lessons.  They split the kids up into small groups of 4-5 to one instructor and have 4-5 groups in the pool at once.  Riley started in a group of all boys and within 5 minutes they switched her into a group of girls with a girl instructor.  She loved floating on her back, but refused to go under water completely.  When she was all done she asked if she could come back tomorrow for another lesson.  Hopefully, she'll love them all winter long!

Preschool Update

We are well into the preschool year and I thought I'd give a quick update on how Riley is doing in the classroom.  We had a very rough start with crying and screaming fits the first four days of school.  Day one Riley made me stay an hour into the day before I literally snuck out of the room.  The next few days there was crying and even some screaming at the top of her lungs as we left.  We heard, "but I love you" and "but I miss you" each day.  According to the teachers, she eventually calmed down and had a great day. Every afternoon she would be very happy to fill us in on the fun she had.  Finally, we were all stressed to the max that we set a reward:  No crying, whining, or clinging at drop off on Thursday and Daddy would take her to "Old McDonald's" to get lunch.  Thankfully, it worked.  The following week we set the reward: All week with no whining, crying, or clinging and Daddy would take her to Old McDonald's again.  It worked like a charm.  Week three we didn't offer a reward and she didn't bring it up.  So, who says a little Old McDonald's can't solve your problems?

Since those first couple weeks Riley has been doing great.  She is excited for school, has made some friends, and is really starting to show an interest in reading.  She's always had a love for books, but now we hear her constantly reading the letters of words and making the beginning sounds.  She's recognizing her numbers more regularly and putting together sequences of numbers.  The one thing we really worried about was her lack of socialization with the other kids.  Every day we ask her who she played with and what she enjoyed.  Over the last couple weeks she will usually name one little girl, Ryenn, and then a couple others that she plays with. 

This year, the school has offered some add-on programs.  On Tuesdays, Riley attends music class for a half an hour after school.  On Wednesdays, she attends Spanish class for a half an hour after school. And on Thursdays, she attends Kid Power (a children's bible study program) for 45 minutes after school.  She loves all of the programs and looks forward to them each week. 

We've had little homework so far.  She's had to decorate a picture frame and put a picture of her family in it.  She's also had to bring an item from home every Thursday that starts with the letter of the week.  Our first big homework project came this week.  Riley is the Star of The Week.  We had to find pictures, her favorite book, her favorite toy, bring snack one day, and Mommy and Daddy had to write a letter to the class about Riley.  What fun!

Riley's Fourth Birthday Party

I'm playing a bit of catch up on a few important events these past couple of months.  First, Riley's 4th Birthday party.  We decided to keep her party to just family again this year.  But, we changed up the location and let her have her party at the local hotel with an indoor water park.  We rented a poolside room and bought the birthday package to celebrate.  Riley thought it was the neatest thing and loved having her cousins run around the water park with her.  I have to say that it was really a lot of fun.  All of the girls loved the slides and water, and the adults loved the pool side bar!  The big girls even swam until 10pm!  Overall, it was a great time and something that Riley will remember for a long time.

State Fair 2012

We took the girls to the Iowa State Fair (back in August) again this year.  We decided to make it a day and the girls had a blast.  We were out there from 9am-3pm and I think we all saw and ate everything that we wanted. Riley loved seeing the baby animals (even though they were so stinky!), Little Hands on The Farm, seeing the Hall of Law and the fire truck, the rides, and watching the kids bands.  Harper loved running anywhere she could, eating her Fair Square, and seeing all of the animals.  By the end of the day we were all pooped and ready to take our shoes and socks off and take a nap!  Here are some pictures of the fun:

I Phone Photos

Here's some of my favorites from the last couple weeks...

Sisters Sharing

Sisters Not Sharing

One of Harper's Favorite Spots

Joined by Big Sister saying "cheeseburger!"

Riley's Preparation for Baby Brother....Breast Pads Taped To Her Closet Door :) It's Still there, FYI.

Sisters Take 1

Sisters Take 2

Sisters Take 3...Harper on the Run!

Self Portraits

Riley got a hold of my camera and I found these cute pictures...

 I love how you can see her personality...and that she looks somewhat cross eyed trying to focus on herself in the phone.