Fishing Trip to Strawberry Reservoir

We went on a fun trip with my brother Mackenzie and his girlfriend Leah, to Strawberry Reservoir last week. It was pretty rainy and a little chilly but we had such a great time! The kids love camping, no matter what the conditions. They were both so excited to run around and sleep in the tent. I've never seen Susie so excited to go to bed.

 

We rented a pontoon boat which was a blast. We got rained on throughout the day though :( 

Braden loved "driving" the boat. (If it has a steering wheel, Braden will love it). Because of the wind and rain we had trouble getting our line to the bottom, even with sinkers so we only ended up catching one fish. The kids loved it. So exciting! It was a pretty big one so we kept him and ate him up for dinner. It was a great little trip! 

Preschool- Just me and my kids

We have a baby boy due in January and I'm new to this area so I opted to just do preschool this year with my two kids. Susie is having a great time (she does ask me occasionally where everybody else is). Braden doesn't usually sit for very much of it, but I know it's still good for him. Here is what we are doing for school! 

This is our schedule: 

We lay out learning squares to sit on and sit in learning position. Then we sing 2 welcome songs. One goes like this "Where is Braden, Where is Braden? Here I am! Here I am! Come sing and learn and play with all of us today. Let's begin! Let's begin!"

We go through different sets of flashcards depending on the day. 

Then we review calendar. We sing the month of the year song and days of the week. Then we count to the number day and talk about what day of the week it is. Then we say it together a few times, "Today is Wednesday, September 2nd!" 

Next we pick 2 learning songs from our song jar. We have songs about animals, space, our body, manners, continents, oceans, etc. (If you'd like a print out of any email me!)

For the lesson we look to the theme. This month's theme is Alphabet and Numbers. I use my Lakeshore letter chart to review the letter of the day, the sound, and how to write it. Then we talk about words that start with that letter and read the short story on the letter chart. We go over our number poster as well during lesson time. (Almost all the posters in this picture come from the Dollar Tree!) Next month's theme is Seasons and Shapes so we will use that time to focus on those things. Flashcard time and learning songs are a great time to review previous themes to keep the knowledge in their brains.

Next the kids get to pick something from the treasure box (if they've been good!). This is Braden's favorite part of preschool. He's missed the treasure box a few times unfortunately for not sitting AT ALL and throwing things at the teacher! 

Next is worksheets and art. Then we play at game to end! I print the worksheets off at the beginning of the month, prepare the art projects, and have the games listed on our monthly schedule so I know which one to do.

Here is our schedule for August and September: 

Here's a look at some of the art projects we have done this month:

 

I have a few of our games pictured here. The first one is sandpaper and yarn. I just cut up yarn in different sizes and Susie tries to make different letters out of them. The sandpaper helps it to stay easily. Braden's favorite game is the Letter Monster. He  comes to life with 3 taps on his head and he is hungry for letters (and occasionally fingers too)! He asks for the letter he wants and Susie and Braden put it in. I also have a picture of letter Bingo. We play number Bingo as well. We have a few more games on our schedule that aren't pictured. They always look forward to the game at the end! 

Braden's Birthday

 Our little Braden turned 2! He loves all things cars, especially when it comes to Lightning Mcqueen! So we had to make him a "ka-chow" cake. He enjoyed helping me make it (aka licking the beaters).

We had a little birthday party for him with some of our family. I told everyone no gifts, but everyone brought a ton! He scored big time. We had pizza and salad and fruit, and of course, cake. Susie was all too willing to help him with the unwrapping. I loved seeing Braden's face when he opened his gifts! He got so many new cars and he loves playing with them. The first thing he wants to do when he wakes up is go and find his bin of cars. We got him a little bike for his birthday too and he's been having a ton of fun with that. 

Braden is my crazy boy. He is silly and loud and likes to throw things. He sometimes hits and bites. He is very good at giving hugs and saying "sorry." He loves playing with Susie. When he doesn't know where she is he will walk around the house yelling "Sue-ee!! Sue-ee!!!" At his well check is was in the 35% for height and 73% for weight (he's a stocky kid). He loves being read to and playing with cars and running around outside. 

The Crazy Fun Month of JULY!!

July has been pretty crazy but it's been a lot of fun too! We moved to Utah the end of June and unpacked in a hurry with Mom's help. We miss lots of things about Flagstaff but are really liking our new home too. I was excited to get a Costco membership and stock up on groceries in our new house. We celebrated with a Costco hot dog and Braden was pretty excited about it. 

Then we celebrated the 4th of July! My friend Amberlee in Flagstaff helped me make these cute shirts for the holiday. The kids LOVED collecting candy in the small town parade. We had a fun barbecue with lots of family. We ended the day with fireworks of course. Susie tried to stay awake but didn't make it through the whole show. Braden did! 

We spent a few days in Cedar City spending time at Grandma Suzy's house. We loved the park there with the fun creek. I got to spend some time with my siblings too which was fun. We went on a beautiful hike in Kanaraville. Gorgeous!! 

Don't worry there's more....

After we got home from that trip we headed down to Duck Creek, close to Bryce Canyon for the West family reunion! All of Paul's siblings and their families were able to make it out which is a pretty big deal. The 9 are scattered over different parts of the US. There were 39 grandkids there, plus all the adults. It was a full house! I didn't see Susie much during the reunion because she was too busy playing with all her awesome cousins. 

They played dress up and built little boats to race and had lots of nerf gun wars. We got to see Bryce Canyon and Zion's National Park. When it wasn't raining Braden loved playing outside, in the mud! 

From that reunion I took the kids and headed up to Idaho for the Garbett family reunion. I got to see lots of family I haven't seen in years so it was really nice. Uncle Claude wasn't ready for this picture! 

 

We spent a couple days in Idaho visiting with Grandparents, too. Susie and Braden loved trying on Grandma's wigs up in the loft. We took them Hooper Springs and to see the Gyser. We had a lot of fun road tripping and seeing so much family, but I'm exhausted!  I don't think I'll go anywhere for another year.