Loving Our New Swings

Grandma and Grandpa bought us swings when we moved.  And the kids are loving them!!!  Thank you so much Grandma and Grandpa!!  :-)



I have so many hopes and dreams for them.  :-)




I hope they will...




LIVE




Every Moment...




LAUGH




Every Day...




LOVE




Beyond Words...

 
 

Can you tell they are having fun?  I think this may be a new favorite thing to do.  They definitely didn't want to stop when it was time to go inside.  I had to tell them we could go back tomorrow.  :-)

Our Day at the Beach



{S is for Sand}

My friend created a wonderful "tot time" for us this week.  We spent the day at the beach.  And the kids loved it!!  Of course we started with our "S is for Sand" photo shoot. 

{Shells at the Beach}

The first thing she created for us was a sensory table - she put sea shells throughout their sand table.  This was a big hit!  All of the kids seemed to enjoy digging for them and just playing with the sand in general. 




{Playing with Beach Balls}

Of course every day at the beach needs beach balls.  The kids didn't play with them that much though.  I think they were too busy with the sand and water tables.  (We did play with the beach balls big time when we got home though.)



{Beach Umbrellas}

She had a really cute craft set up for us.  She had umbrellas and sea shells set up for us to put in a hand made sand sculpture.  My two enjoyed the umbrellas and the sand but weren't as interested in the craft itself.  Her two made some awesome sand sculptures though.  It's amazing how much difference 4 months makes.  We will definitely be trying this again soon.  ;-)



{Beach Ice Cubes}

Then she brought out some ice cubes she made with sand and shells in them.  I thought this was such a neat idea - the kids all seemed most interested in the fact that they were "cold" though. 

{Sweet Kiss at the Beach}

And who could resist a cute kiss at the beach.  I thought this was so sweet!!!   Little Miss has been so loving to every one lately.  :-)

{Beach Day Out Takes}

 We had such a great time!  And I definitely got a little picture happy. ;-)  Thank you to our friends for such a great day!

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Linking up to Tot Time and Wordless Wednesday. 

 

Our version of "Back to School" - An I Heart Faces Challenge

This week's I Heart Faces Challenge theme is "Back to School".  The kids aren't really old enough to go to school yet but we have started our own version of "Tot Time" - basically where I'm trying to teach them something new while we play.   My friend and I who are doing this together start each session with a photo shoot so that we can make personalized alphabet flash cards for them.  This week's theme was "B is for Bear".  But it also makes the perfect "Apple for the Teacher" picture too.  :-)

You can check out other entries on the I Heart Faces website as well.

Fun Family Time

Because we've had such a beautiful week, we've been able to enjoy going outside more in our evenings.  It's been great!!  And since I had made the kids fire trucks during the week I decided I wanted to get a few more pictures with them before they were destroyed.  Here are some of our outtakes.  :-)



Little man wasn't sure he wanted to take a picture in the truck at first but he quickly warmed up to it and gave us a great smile!



But my sugars wanted nothing to do with the truck so Daddy had to get her smiling for us. 



They played chase.  She just knew he was going to get her.  :-)



Then he let her sit on the mailbox.



That was fun for only a few minutes and then she was ready to get down.



Then she, little man, and Daddy all started looking for flowers to pick.

That was the trick!!  I put the truck next to some flowers.



Success!!!  We all had such a great time!  :-)

 

F is for Fire Truck

{F is for Fire Truck}

We had such a great time at tot time with the kids this week.  This week's theme was safety.  We started with our "F is for Fire Truck" photo shoot. We took a nice walk to a fire hydrant down the road from us to take our pictures.  I had made each kid their own cardboard fire truck to play with (which I have to admit I had so much fun doing).  :-)   



{F is for Flowers?}

 

{Stop, Drop, and Roll}

 {Our walk}

The kids loved our walk.  We could tell they loved the freedom to run and play as we went.  They were having such a good time playing outside that they were only mildly interested in the fire trucks but it was well worth the trip.  (Honestly I didn't get any good pictures of my little girl with the fire trucks so we tried again later with Daddy.  Hehe...and the only way I could get her near the truck this time was by putting it beside some flowers for her to pick.)    :-)



{Stop, Drop and Roll Games}

 After our walk and photo shoot, we read our book and talked about how to "Stop, Drop and Roll".  The kids loved this!  And it was so cute to watch them all stop, drop, and roll on the floor.  

Once we were done with this, we played with our red "Stop" signs (like in the first puppy picture) and matching green "Go" signs.  We did this rhyme while holding up our "stop" and "go" signs:
        '
              "Where is Red Light?  Where is Red Light?   Here I am.  Here I am.
                When you see me, When you see me.  Stop, Stop, Stop.  Stop, Stop, Stop."

              "Where is Green Light?  Where is Green Light?  Here I am.  Here I am.
                When you see me, When you see me.  Go, Go, Go.  Go, Go, Go."

Then we played a "Stop and Go" game where we would have the kids "Go, go, go, go.....STOP".  The kids loved this and were so interactive with it all.  It was so much fun!

{How to safely cross the road.}

I had also made a road so that we could learn to stop and look both ways before crossing the street.  This was probably our least successful part of our day.  The kids immediately tore up the road and that was that.  :-)




{Our Fire Trucks}





We have continued playing our "Stop and Go" games, "Stop, Drop and Roll" and playing with our fire trucks ever since.  It was so exciting watching the kids learn something new.  I can't wait to play again next week!

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Linking up to Tot Time, Wordless Wednesday and You Capture's "Back to School" Challenge. 

B is for Bear - {Tot Time for 2 year olds}

{B is for Bear}

A friend and I have decided to do tot time for our kids once a week.  Our hope is to expose them to new things and help them learn through having fun.  Today's theme was bears.  We decided we would start each session with a quick photo shoot so that we can create alphabet flashcards to go with our lesson.  The kids really seemed to enjoy going outside for a few minutes even though it was still pretty hot out.

{Going on a Bear Hunt}

We started our morning (after the photo shoot) with circle time which included reading "Going on a Bear Hunt".  The kids listened to the story really well which really impressed me.  Then after we read the book we went on our own bear hunt.  We went through the "Dora tunnel", around the kid table, over the aluminum foil path, and down the slide.  We found the bear with a prize of homemade bear ears for each kid.  The kids were semi-impressed with the ears and the bear hunt.  :-)

{Playing with Puppets}

After our bear hunt, we played with our bear puppets.  This only kept our interest for a few minutes but it was nice to see that they were somewhat interested in them - makes me look forward to all the future craft activities we can do.  :-)

{Teddy Bear Picnic}

We finished our morning with a teddy bear picnic.  We gathered up all of our bears on a blanket and enjoyed a nice lunch.  We counted that 9 bears joined us.  Oh and we practiced our bear growls.  :-)  All in all the kids had a great time!  And it gave my friend and I more insight on what the kids might and not be interested in as 2 year olds.

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Disclaimer:  Everything was moving too fast to get a lot of pictures of the kids today.  :-)

Linking up to Tot Time and You Capture's Peace Challenge.  (The tot time really is giving me more peace of mind about doing something positive for my children's future.)

Hope - {An FStop Frenzy Challenge}

When the world says, "Give up,"
Hope whispers, "Try it one more time."
~Author Unknown

When I saw how much these two adore each other, all I could think of was "Faith, Hope, and Love..."  Such a beautiful relationship between this aunt and niece.  I was so glad I got a chance to capture these moments.

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Linking up to the FStop Frenzy Challenge of Hope.