Great Find

Today was a gorgeous day in Little Rock, so I soon as I picked Brian up from school, I knew we needed to head to the park. My friend Jenna was at the park at a new church, Fellowship Bible. We decided to meet her there and check it out. It was awesome. It had two play areas, one for the little kids and one for the big kids. It had rubber bark, great slides, climbing areas, ride on cars, and a sand area. I didn't take any pictures, but will add some next time we go.

Valentine's Day(s)

We had a busy Valentine's end of the week. I missed posting Danielle's five month milestone picture, but I did take it on the 12th, so here she is 5 months old. She is getting very heavy, it is going to be time to turn in her infant carseat, since she is too big to lug around anymore. But I am not quite ready to give up the convenience yet. She doesn't have the desire to roll over yet, but she is very strong so I think she could if she wanted to.

Emily had her Valentine's Party at school on Thursday. I think she had a good time, and was totally worn out by the time I picked her up.

Brian had is school party on Friday. They did the party during snack time. They had lots of treats, ice cream, cake, and goodies. Then they exchanged Valentine's, and then played outside.

Eddie and I were able to go to dinner and a movie on Friday night. We swapped kids with Jenna, and we watched hers on Saturday. We tried to get a last minute reservation at a place we had not been too, but it was too late, so we ended up going to Cajun's Wharf. We had a great seat by the river, and enjoyed fillet minion and halibut with veggies, and potatoes. It was nice to have a quiet dinner by ourselves (well we did bring Danielle) but she is still easy to take out. Then we saw Taken. We definitely need to continue to have date night at least once a month.

On Saturday, Emily had a birthday party at Gymboree for a friend from school. Can you say more cake and goodies! We are on sugar overload this weekend. I sent Brian and daddy to a Lowe's grow and build workshop. They have them every other Saturday, they are free and the kids get to build a project. Today's project was a Valentine's treasure box. You get safety goggles and an apron too. At the end of the workshop you get a completed badge for your apron. I guess I get to practice up for when Brian is in Cub Scouts. Brian gave me the treasure box for Valentine's Day, how sweet!

We finished up the weekend with another birthday party on Monday night for a friend in Emily's Sunbeam class. It was a pool party at the local YWCA. The whole family came to the pool party, and mommy had to get in the pool for reassurance and to make sure they didn't drown.

The Beach?

Today while Eddie was working on cleaning the garage, and the kids were "helping" they took the beach chairs out to the lawn, put on their sunglasses and acted like they were at the beach. Eddie came to tell me about their adventure, it was so cute we took a picture. They loved it when we went to Destin, Florida last year for Memorial Day, hopefully we will be able to go again soon.

Primary Activity

Today was Emily's first official Primary activity, that she went to as a Sunbeam. She had been to Primary Activities before, because mom and dad serve in the Primary and Brian was going anyway. Today we made Family Home Evening Kit. The lesson was on Temples. They put all the things they needed into a ziplock bag. They had an outline, songs, a scripture, a story, the lesson with pictures, a puzzle, and a game. Then the kids put together chocolate chip cookie mix in a bag for the refreshments.

It was a great idea to help parents to have FHE each week. We have been doing fairly well with our goal this year to have FHE each Monday night.

Another Beautiful January Day

Usually the weather is the coldest in January in Arkansas. But not this year, it has been very pleasant. We got a chance to spend the afternoon at the Little Rock Zoo. It is the perfect size for us to wander through in a few hours. We met our friend Jenna, and her three kids Lexi, Ashton, and Jacqueline there. It was Danielle's first trip to the zoo. We had a great time checking out the chimpanzees, and the silver back gorillas, with their cute baby. The giraffes were licking the window inside their "house", and the huge grizzly bear came right up to the window to say hi. We finished up our visit with the traditional feeding of the fish. It was a perfect day for friends and fun at the zoo.

We Made It To The TOP

of Pinnacle Mountain. For those of you who don't live here in Arkansas, Pinnacle is not what I would classify as a "mountain", but merely a hill. But don't tell my body that, I am sure I will be hurting tomorrow.

It was a beautiful January day in Little Rock. We took the entire family and hiked the trail to the top. It is about two miles round trip. The first half of the hike was pretty easy. Not too steep, and there is a pretty good trail. I helped Emily, Eddie carried Danielle in the Mei Tai, kept a close eye on Brian and carried the backpack. However, the trail gets very rocky (big rocks), about 3/4 of the way up. I was thinking that we should just stop, but part of me really wanted to get to the top. I was concerned about the kids getting tired, Danielle was getting fussy and I was wondering how we were going to traverse the rocks going back down. Since I knew it was easier to climb up the rocks than it would be going down.

Once on top, we rested, had a little snack, let Danielle stretch, and made sure she had all of her needs met, before we headed down. I am glad that we succeeded, and completed our mission. It was very cool to look out over the lake, the river and the rolling landscape. I was still thinking we were a little crazy, and wishing that perhaps we could go down by helicopter.

Danielle was definitely not happy about being stuck in the carrier, but that was the only option. The kids did great on the way down. I had them scoot down the rocks on their bottoms, I used the same technique. We arrived down the mountain, I mean hill, with only one minor stumble. It wasn't that bad.

I now have another fear to add to the list though, someone tripping and cracking their head on a rock! I don't know if we can do that hike again. I am also glad that we went when it was 60 degrees (perfect) in January, and not ninety degrees in July. We are definitely planning on doing lots of free or cheap outdoor activities with the kids this year. It was a fun day. Eddie and I were tired, but the kids had enough energy that they still wanted to play at the playground when we got to the bottom. We are going to have to get in better shape so we can keep up.

I Went To School Today

...well to Brian's school. I took him to school in the morning and stayed until lunch. Daddy took Emily to school, and then he and Danielle got some time alone together.

Brian's school starts at 7:40, and they have a very structured schedule throughout the day. First, we sign in, mommy signs in, and then the kids have their very own book where they write their name each day. They have to put away their take home folder, backpack and lunch, and also wash their hands. Then there is free time in the centers until 8:00am. The National Anthem begins the official start of the day, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

The next 30 minutes is an instructional time, where they go over the "morning message." They have a line leader, and talk about what day it is, the letter of the day, and work on sight words. The day I went was a Thursday, and the letter was "K".

Then there is another round of centers. I think Brian really likes the "art" center, and most of the girls played, in the dress, house, kitchen area. The new center was "workbench" and it was a big hit. When the bell is rung by the line leader, we get ready to go to P.E. There is also music and library.

Whenever they went somewhere, they sang about colors, numbers or other catchy learning tunes. When they have to wait, they look for the letter of the day on the walls. Every minute is fun learning, even in the bathroom.

They have snack, and go outside to recess for 30 minutes. Recess is Brian's favorite part of the day, and he usually rides the trikes they have during this time.

Back inside the classroom, more centers, and then another instructional period before lunch. Todays focus was a science lesson. The teachers had all received a habitat for ladybugs, so we learned about the ladybug life cycle, what they ate, and got to see the class ladybugs. I even learned something I didn't know.

I left as they were getting ready to go to lunch. But the rest of the day is lunch, recess, story time, nap time, and then free play until 2:30.

I love Brian's teacher! She is awesome. She is very entertaining, and loves the kids. She plays with them, even during recess, sings funny songs all the time, and uses lots of rhyming words. I am so thankful that Brian is in her class. This year has been wonderful for Brian. We will definitely make sure that Emily gets in Mrs. Kriz class in a couple of years.