School Playground

One of the advantages of living next door to the church is that we have easy access to the school playground all the time.

We have a small swing set in our own backyard, but sometimes it's fun to walk a few hundred feet and play on the big stuff.  And you never know what you're going to find... like this giant pile of mulch Cole climbed on, threw, and generally had fun with.

The web climber - this is the first season Mead has been able to make it all the way to the top.

Cole is still figuring it out, but I'm sure he'll get up there soon enough!

And old school tetherball is still a hit.

Thanks, Covenant, for sharing your playground with us!

Fun at soccer

Soccer games have been a regular Saturday activity for us this fall.

The whole family comes out to watch Laine play.

The team hasn't done that well, and sometimes I think Laine is tired of soccer, but she's been a faithful team player and even learned a few things along the way.

Mead and Cole seem as excited, if not more, about being at the games.

They often kick the ball to one another on the sidelines and come up with other fun activities.

Maybe one day they'll actually play on the field too!

Raincoats

Something about a child in a raincoat is adorable.  

This one is no exception.  Love the puppy dog ears on the hood!

Learning to Write

Mead drew this picture the other day, and I noticed for the first time that she wrote her name.  (Laine wrote the name at the very top, but Mead did the others.)  I love how the E looks like a comb!

She ran out of room the first time she wrote her name on the right side of the page, so she started all over again on the left.  So exciting to see her learning to write!

Participating in the process

A few weeks ago Laine found a monarch caterpillar in the butterfly garden at school.  She played with it for a while and then insisted that we bring it home to keep as a pet.

I was extremely skeptical but figured I'd play along and let the caterpillar live in a jar until it died.

Laine put leaves in the jar for food, and by the next day the caterpillar made itself a chrysalis, hanging down from the lid.

We waited the appropriate two weeks (thanks to The Very Hungry Caterpillar) and on day 15 the butterfly suddenly came out of his chrysalis.  It was amazing!  I checked on the jar at one point, and the next time I looked a few minutes later the butterfly appeared!

After convincing Laine that we had to release the butterfly we took it outside to enjoy our new mum.

Very cool to participate in the caterpillar-to-butterfly process!

The remnants of the chrysalis.  We saved the jar for the next caterpillar we find.

Granparents Day at CCS

Last Friday was Grandparents Day at Laine's school.  Since her grandparents live far away I went as the family representative and got to see all the things she's been working on this year.

First, a visit in the classroom.  Love this picture of Laine working hard on writing her letters.

She made this letter "n" in a sign that read "Welcome Grandparents."

Laine and her classmate, Maggie, have gotten to be good friends.

Last year Laine was hesitant to participate in the songs on the platform, but this year she jumped in enthusiastically.

Mead and Mary, in Little Pelicans, got to watch from the balcony.  Next year they'll get a turn singing on the platform.

Cole and I were sitting in the second row, and Laine got tickled watching her brother chew on a rubber cow toy during one of her songs.  Such sweet smiles.

So encouraging to she Laine thriving at school this year!

Fall Festival

The fall festival at the girls' school is a highlight every year.  The school does a great job providing a number of fun activities, and the families all bring yummy food for a nice dinner and time of fellowship with one another.

By far the favorite activity of the afternoon was the hay ride.  This year seemed even more exciting because both girls have friends from school with whom they enjoyed hanging out.

Cole wasn't sure about the "truck" at first, but once he went on a hay ride behind the tractor he couldn't get enough.  He even started calling the tractor the right thing by the end of the night.