First Day of KINDERGARTEN!!

Today was my (baby) girl's first day of Kindergarten! (sniff, sniff) Here in WV we have full day kindergarten, so she goes to school from about 8:40-3:30 every day. She was excited to go this morning and we were able to walk her in on the first day, so it was nice to see her off and make sure she got settled in. She ended up knowing a boy in her class from her preschool, and there is a little girl from the neighborhood that she'd never met but is now in her class so I would imagine they may become friends. Before bed tonight she filled me with stories about her day...getting snacks during the day, eating lunch (and finishing it all!), playing on the playground and discovering that school has the same parallel bars that her preschool had (I wasn't super excited about this as I worry they are a broken arm in the waiting by the way she hangs and swings on them!), and I think one of her favorite things was a "treasure hunt" they were sent on to find a missing gingerbread man around the school. She said they went to the library and had to ask the librarians if they'd seen the g-bread man, only to discover that it had knocked over a bunch of books and left, then they headed to the kitchen to find out that the cooks had accidentally baked it in the oven, and then they looked for it on the playground, only to eventually discover it had found it's way back to Mrs. Cline's classroom! It sounds like a great way to explore the school in a fun way, and all the kids were rewarded with treats at the end. She said they colored pictures of cupcakes and g-bread men, and she also got to go to Music class at the end of the day--she said her tummy hurt a little during class (it was at the end of the day), and she also said she was tired (those of you who know her know that's pretty rare!) but she seemed to have fun regardless.
I arrived at the end of the day to pick her up (I will be driving her to and from school for now--we don't know anyone in the neighborhood that takes the bus so I feel more comfortable with this for the time being) and she was one of the last kids waiting for pick up but she was patiently waiting at the door for me! It was so good to see her and hear about what a good day she had--big relief for me! She was rewarded with a trip out for ice cream with Kellan and Adelaide since her day went so well, and I think it's fair to say she was pretty tired by the time she went to bed (I like that!). Tomorrow morning she begins soccer practice at 9:00 so there's no sleeping in for her!

Children's Museum trip

Last week we made a trip up to the Pitts. Children's Museum -- the last family trip before Marlon's soccer season gets underway. We hadn't been to the children's museum since our last trip so it was good to go again. We met up with the wife and kids of Marlon's college roommate Greg so we were able to spend a little time with them at the museum. We then met up with Greg after work at their house--it was great to see them and let our kids play together. Their son Luke is Alex's age and Sarah is Kellan's age, so they have a good time together. Here are some pictures:

The only picture of all 4 kids playing at the same place-after that they were off and running in different directions

Sarah Alex in the imaginary castle from Mr. Roger's Neighborhood
Luke

Kellan

Christa and I

Enjoying the silly mirror

The big kids are focused on playing...

Cool art project that allowed you to take a video of yourself and it would project up on this huge wall along with a whole bunch of other videos--Kellan was checking it out (see Alex's videos along the bottom)

Sand wheel

Cool thing that allowed you to "catch" letters as they fell - I think this was my favorite exhibit :)

Water Play area (complete with rain coats)

Alex and Luke building their water structure

It was a fun trip, long overdue. It was a good time had by all!

Becoming a mother of 4 (for a week)

A few weeks ago I got to play "mom" to Nolan and Mia for a week so Jon and Renee could enjoy a childfree vacation with friends. I was more than happy to spend some quality time with my niece and nephew, and the kids were SO excited to have their cousins stay with them for a week. Marlon was out of town for part of the time so my mom was kind enough to come stay and lend an extra set of hands while he was gone.
I think the kids all enjoyed themselves--they particularly loved going to the water park 2 times! It was our first visit there and I'm just sad I waited all summer to take the kids--it's at the local pool in town, and a few times during the summer they open the play area before the pool actually opens and allow kids under 6 to come play for a few hours. It's the perfect activity for my kids (we'll be going back again this week!). Here are some photos from our week:

Kellan decided to tackle the waterslide head first!

Nolan enjoyed turning the wheel and spraying people when they walked by Kellan enjoyed jumping off the stairs
all 4 kids taking a snack break Mia enjoyed sitting with Grammy the most--she didn't really enjoy getting sprayed with water
Relaxing at the house with Grammy Nolan showing off one of the gifts his mommy and daddy left for him--orange tic tacs! Mia eating a good dinner Swinging Slip and Sliding I think I can safely say a good time was had by all! I also have some video of Alex and Mia singing some songs at VBS--hopefully I'll be able to upload those later.

Hovatter's Wildlife Zoo

Last month we ventured out to a nearby wildlife zoo with our friends--this place is within 3o minutes of us and we'd never been there before. It's a local little zoo that's affordable and not at all crowded. It's pretty much in someone's backyard but it's great because the kids get to see a ton of animals and feed them as well. It was Kellan's first zoo-like experience and all the kids enjoyed themselves. Marlon doesn't like the idea of animals or petting zoos so he cringed at the thought of being so close to all the animals, but I think he held it together well and just remembered to clean his (and the kids') hands well with hand sanitizer when we were done!
Sorry that almost all the pictures are behind fences--but that was the only barrier between us and the animals!

Marlon is even entering with a smile on his face!

Brown bear-he's opening his mouth for a moon pie (healthy diet for bears, huh?) We fed them moon pies and popcorn

Peacock

Turtle

Adelaide and her daddy

Camel that Desiree was feeding

Things that make Marlon cringe: a pig eating out of Alex's hand

Marlon and Kellan throwing popcorn to the goats and sheep

The only way the little ones manage to get fed--they get smart enough to stand on the big ones!

Dropping popcorn down the chute for the black bear

Mountain lions

Kid's Day 2010 and the Slip and Slide

We continued our annual tradition of attending Kid's Day in Morgantown this year. The kids love it and mommy loves that it's free! The kids get all sorts of free things, get to play games, get their face painted, balloons, cotton candy, popcorn, ice cream, the works! Unfortunately this year Alex wanted to wait in the world's longest face paint line so we ended up only making it through about 1/4 of the activities before it was time to stop for lunch. Regardless, the kids had fun and got to spend the day with all of their friends!

Alex and her BFF Layla

Riding the fire truck

We've continued to love using the slip and slide this summer--last year the little ones weren't able to go down on their own so it's been fun to watch Kellan and Adelaide successfully go down on their own.

We've also gotten to use a variety of water squirters--the kids think they're so fun. When Marlon squirts them he says "Say Hello to my little friends"---I believe it's a Terminator quote??? So the kids now say it to each other any time they use them--I think they think that's the way you use water guns! They try to say it in the deep Arnold Schwartzenager voice, which makes it even funnier!