Virtual Book Club

In September I joined a virtual book club on Facebook. It's timing was perfect since we have instituted a no TV policy for Anna unless she uses the potty. I knew I would need extra ideas on how to keep this kid (who doesn't nap anymore) busy.  We thought this would be the magic thing we did to motivate her to get out of diapers but so far (7 weeks in) she hasn't gone at all. *Sigh* We thought maybe after a week or two she'd give in because she was complaining a little bit. I reminded her of the rules and her response was "Sometimes rules change Mommy". After this response we knew we had to stay with it and we've done really well. The only exception was when she stayed with the Grandparents while Kevin and I took a trip. Now she tells me she will go when she turns 4. I'll believe it when I see it. In the meantime we've been having a really fun time doing book club activities. It focuses me a little bit, provides tons of ideas, and keeps me accountable. It also helped me learn about the collage studio on my phone that I had no idea was there! Below are some of the things we've done the last couple of months. I don't have pictures of everything but a pretty good representation of what we've up to.

This particular week we read Should I Share My Ice Cream by Mo Willems and talked about friendship. The girls made cards for their friends telling them something they liked about them and Anna made friendship bracelets. We also pulled out our pumpkin play dough to spell our friends names. 

Another week was Pumpkin week and we read Five Little Pumpkins by Dan Yaccarino. This was a very fun filled week (I was feeling excited about fall and therefore very motivated). We made mosaic pumpkins, did counting with our pumpkin play dough, used our dot markers for some worksheets, made pumpkin shaped borax crystals, and decorated a pumpkin. 

Another week we read Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle for Farm week. That week we visited Deanna Rose to see the animals and did watercolors to make our own little blue trucks.

We had fun with Spiders a couple weeks ago when we read The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle. One project included making sparkly spider webs. 

We also made these little spiders out of paper plates which I am in love with. I came up with this idea by myself which I was proud of and I think they turned out super cute.

Last week was Night week and we read Time for Bed by Mem Fox. Anna did a star number recognition game, we practiced some relaxation stretches, and decorated stars so we could sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. 

We also did some crayon resist watercolor painting and the girls found their name in the night sky. They also decorated cups and poked holes in them. Then we stuck a glow stick in them and looked at them in the dark.

Back in September we read Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert. This was another one of my favorite weeks and we did a lot of activities. It was a gorgeous week outside so we went on lots of walks and collected tons of stuff to make our own leaf people. 

Jane had a little bit more direction with hers but I was still impressed with what she came up with. Anna pretty much constructed everything herself and I was super impressed with her little guy. It looks a lot like these little people she's been drawing lately and it was fun seeing her create him with tree parts. 

There have been a couple other books including Ten Apples Up on Top by Dr Suess for Apple week (this was our first book and my pictures aren't that great) and this week we are doing Owls and reading Owl Babies by Martin Waddell. With Halloween we've had a slow start on activities but hopefully I can get motivated and do something fun later today. 

St Louis

We finished up September with a mini trip to St. Louis. Kevin had  a work meeting and we wanted to take advantage of a partially paid trip before Kevin gave 2 weeks notice to take another job. We left on a Sunday and made a stop along the way so Kevin could visit his brother. During the visit I took the girls to a nearby park. We had fun wandering around and came across this HUGE slide. The girls insisted on trying it out and ended up having a blast. 

I took a few videos and my phone but I'm having trouble loading from my phone. They were pretty funny though. Jane would come flying down and had a look of terror as she came down (I was at the bottom to catch them) but then she'd get out, smile, and run back up to go again. I tried to get them to flex for this picture but they didn't really understand what I wanted them to do so this is the best I could get. I was pretty proud of my brave little girls though. 

By the time we made it to the hotel we were pretty tired and we all managed to snag a nap thanks to an early check-in. We missed out on an afternoon of checking out St Louis but the nap was delightful. Luckily our hotel had a pool and the girls were pretty excited to check it out. 

Ready to head to the pool!

On Monday we went to go see the St Louis Arch. We had planned to take the bus from our hotel but it was running really late and we ended walking (and eventually saw our bus pass us by). It was a hot walk but we made it and had a lot of fun. Kevin had been to the arch as a kid but it was my first time.

We all felt pretty small standing next to this huge monument! 

Waiting in line for a ride to the top of the arch!

It was a cozy ride but the girls did great. Ignore Anna's 'freaked out' face. 

Looking down on St Louis!

630 feet up!

Checking out some aerial photos of the construction of the arch. 

I love these pictures of the girls. 

Walking with Daddy. 

Another view of the arch.  

We grabbed some lunch nearby before making our way back to our hotel.  

I love Jane's cheesy smile.  

Made a quick stop at City Garden while waiting for our bus to take us back to the hotel. I wish we could have spent more time here but Jane was in need of a nap after an active morning. 

I stayed back with Jane during nap time and Kevin took Anna to the Botanical Gardens. I would love to take Jane sometime because they had a wonderful time. 

Being silly with Daddy

The gardens had a ton to see and the visitor center was full of things for kids to do. 

We did more swimming that evening and took advantage of the free popcorn in the lobby. Anna was a big fan. 

 The next day it was just me and the girls since Kevin had meetings. We decided to check out the Butterfly Garden just outside of St. Louis. The girls loved seeing all the butterflies. Anna's Young Explorer's Class for the month was canceled (low enrollment) and the topic was 'Birds and Butterflies'. She was disappointed but this visit helped make up for it :) 

It was so humid and hot in the butterfly area so we cooled off in the center with the various activities they had available for kids. At one point Jane had a meltdown and we had to leave kicking and screaming. I take partial responsibility because it was close to lunchtime and sleep had been difficult in the hotel.

We grabbed some lunch nearby and because we had some time to kill before we needed to pick up Kevin we went back to the Butterfly Garden. 

 

It was still hot but Anna and Jane had fun trying to find different plants and butterflies off of a chart they handed out. I was glad we were able to go back. 

Once we left the gardens we picked up Kevin to head back to Olathe. It was a brief trip but I'm glad we were able to go and make a few memories.