1 week in...

i remember saying at some point this summer that i didn't know how i was going to find time to blog once school started.....guess i was right - i just need to get my priorities in line :) 

it has been a whirlwind the past couple of weeks. i thought i was pretty prepared for the then upcoming school year. the key word in that sentence was 'thought'. wow - so many crazy changes in the time right before & right after we returned to work, made it more difficult than i imagined to get started. a couple weeks ago i was looking at starting the school year with over 30 kids in my kindergarten class - i couldn't wrap my head around that - so i chose to do nothing :) which turned out to be good & bad. i didn't waste any paper or stickers labeling over 30 cubbies (well i only have 25 so that wouldn't have worked anyway), journals, folders, etc, etc...however, when it came down to it, i had nothing labeled - see how that worked out? so i'm still playing catch up, or at least i feel that way. i don't remember feeling this crazed at the beginning of last school year - but, i don't really remember much about the beginning of last school year or at least don't know if i'm remembering correctly. i'm happy to say that i am sitting at a much nicer number of 20 students in my class, we are all very lucky to have gotten a 3rd teacher thanks to my new principal, kids & teachers alike! 

 tire swing fun....sad face when it's time to go

 trying the rings like the big girls at the park...so strong!

so stinkin cute!

all of that being said, we have found time for a little fun now & then. we had a great coffee & park date last weekend with my friend heather & jessie got to stop by too. sunday, we went to glenwood to do some shopping & kennedie got her very own backpack for 'school'! i love it & she looks so darn cute wearing it! i can't believe how fast she's growing up!

a few more days of summer

on the last days of summer as we know it - brought to an end by the beginning of a new school year - we did a few of our favorite things. 

BAKING

one of kennedie's favorite things to do is to watch and/or help in the kitchen. it doesn't really matter what we are doing - it could be cutting fruit or baking a cake - she wants to be up in the action & know what's going on. so, even though we will have lots of time to do this on weekends during the school year, we decided to bake. i had some old bananas that i wanted to use but kennedie wanted to make muffins. instead of making the same old (but delicious) banana bread that i always make and had planned on, my grandmother's recipe, i decided to find a recipe for banana muffins. i found a recipe for banana chocolate chip muffins and boy am i glad i did - they were SO yummy. kennedie helped every step of the way - which is how flour ended up all over the counter, the floor & me (sorry don't have a picture of that one!) - but that doesn't matter because i love cooking with her!

 patiently waiting for the muffins to cool

 this one was right before she decided to stop being patient & grabbed one right out of the pan - i captured her sneaky plan smile i think

making sure she gets the chocolate chip that was stuck to the wrapper

PLAYDATE

we also had to get in one last playdate with calvin & amanda - though those will continue too, we love our weekends!! and this time we got to see caramie too! we took our playdate up to the mountains & had a picnic at sylvan (we actually got to enjoy or picnic this time)! we had such a good time & lots of super yummy food! the kids had fun jumping & rolling in the high grass and stomping, splashing & throwing things in the water. it was so nice to have some girl time with 2 of my favorite friends & also let the kids run around. 

 who knew tall grass could be so much fun :)

 cracking up after we asked them not to stomp & they did it anyway

 kennedie's signature water play pose - squat & splash

 getting completely soaked in the lake :)

a picnic at the lake wouldn't be complete without iphone games right?!?

i am so lucky to have a such a great friend with not only a kid the same age as kennedie, but a kid that is one of her best pals. they love playing together & talk about each other all the time. i have a picture from this trip on my desktop pict (one of just kennedie) & i asked her who it was, she said, kennedie & calvin too! love her & love you guys too! 

success :)

 -  df

after a rocky two day start to potty training - we're talking going through 12 pairs of undies in 1 1/2 days - kennedie is now a super-star on the potty!! she does everything on the potty (pees & poops) plus stays dry at nap time :)

i was really concerned about starting potty training, i didn't think she was ready. i didn't think she was ready because every time i asked her if she wanted to go on the potty she yelled no & ran the other direction. but i wanted to try to get it done this summer while we (tommy & i) had lots of time to work with her - but once august hit, i had surrendered to the thought of a potty training thanksgiving break. lucky for me, we have an AMAZING daycare provider who has more faith in my little love bug than i did. 

it all started on july 31st, it was a tuesday, & kennedie woke up from nap dry. sheryl, our EXCEPTIONAL daycare provider, decided to go for it. she let kennedie go commando for the afternoon & even got kennedie to go pee-pee on the potty! this i had never been able to do - we had gotten kennedie to go poops on the potty before lots of times with no regularity, but pee-pee was another story. so this was a huge feat. sheryl gives gummy bears for potty rewards, so i stopped & got a bag of gummy bears & i decided to go with it, afterall, we had a new package of 10 panties - i was ready to go ;) i put on a pair on kennedie as soon as we got home and we had a great night. i remember well b/c we had a playdate w/calvin & amanda at our house and i was amazed that kennedie didn't have an accident in her new panties - that said, she didn't actually go potty on the potty either - so i should have been more cautious that i was. a diaper went on for bedtime & we had a super-full, overflowing, wet-the-bed style morning wake up call. but, not discouraged, i put her in panties & away we went for a full day 1 of potty training.

i was still working at this point in the summer, teaching summer school from 8-11, so daddy was on duty. if you know tommy, you know this really isn't his cup of tea. when i checked in via text at about 10, his response was..'lots of accidents' - i was disheartened but also thought that maybe daddy didn't have the touch...haha, that's what i get for thinking those thoughts. the rest of the day + the next day (thursday) was a mess - literally. pee on the wood floors, carpet, outside in her play house & at daycare she had accidents all day - i was convinced that i had been right - she just wasn't ready & we were pushing her. i decided to give it one more day to see how it went, i made a potty sticker chart for kennedie to try a little something new - 1 sticker for pee-pee, 2 for poops.

friday morning i put kennedie on the potty when she got up & she went pee-pee! 1 sticker, 1 gummy bear - check. i headed off to work with a reluctant tommy left with kennedie in undies. i didn't even check in because i was afraid of how it was going. i got home & kennedie greeted me by saying, 'i went in the potty!!' & daddy confirmed - not 1 accident all morning!!! i couldn't believe it! and that was that. since then, there have only been a couple accidents (& those i think were because she was so constipated - we've had that issue, but no others) and she completed her 1st potty chart on august 12th, so she filled up all 60 slots in just 8 days!! she didn't get stickers for all the times she went potty outside of the house - daycare, costco, city market, calvin's house, etc. - we are both SO PROUD of kennedie & she continues to do an amazing job on the potty. for completing her potty chart she got a new game that we enjoyed playing immediately after she received it!

so proud - w/her chart & new game

learning how to play :)

we have a new chart up & are hoping to continue kennedie's success!! she deserved to be celebrated!

water play

when i was a kid - one of my favorite activities to do on a hot day was to run through the sprinklers.

i thought my daughter should have that experience at least once this summer.

we have our sprinklers set to go on during the wee hours of the night & i don't know how to change the system.

solution: use a rock to set the trigger on the garden sprayer to make our own sprinkler :)

 at first, kennedie was very skeptical & kept a good distance from the water, just getting barely misted as she ran by. slowly but surely (& after mommy showed her how to do it by jumping right through the middle) she gained confidence & got closer & closer to the spray, she even tried putting her face into it :)

we also had a great time holding hands & running through it together - because a buddy always helps & mommy is the best buddy around :)

 we have precious few days together left before i start back to school - hoping to get in a few more afternoons like this!

sylvan lake

we had some friends, aly, shane & emma, visiting for a wedding last weekend & decided to take advantage of the beautiful day & head up to sylvan before the wedding for a hike & picnic...in hindsight it wasn't the best decision to try and fit everything in to one day...but oh well! we got a late start after a big breakfast & made it up there just before noon. the boys wanted to head out on their bikes so the ladies, 2 little ones included, decided to hike around the lake (that was my idea). let me just say, it doesn't look like it would take that long to hike around & it probably doesn't, if you are prepared.

we had a toddler, kennedie - who wanted to lead the pack, an almost 1 year old - in a stroller & 3 adults - cake right...well, having never actually walked around the lake before, i was unaware that the trail wasn't the wide, level trail it is near the campsites...

let's just say it took us about an hour to get around the lake, it was far more challenging than we had imagined & we had time constraints - so no picnic took place, but we did get to take in some beautiful mountain scenery & lots of fresh air plus the great company of family & friends :)

checking out the water temperature

 being the leader :)

 taking a break to catch butterflies :)

she made it about 1/2 way :) auntie t.t. & mommy helped her the rest of the way

why are there no pictures of the people i say went with us...they were there i promise - we didn't get many group photo ops b/c of our rush to get around the lake before we had to leave!!

pinterests projects continue

summer is the perfect time for pinterest projects..i think i shall miss all this free time :)

i've pinned so many projects that i want to do - will i ever have enough time? while i do have some time, i've taken advantage of both some mommy & kennedie projects as well as some classroom to do's. the most recent creations for my favorite big girl have been sidewalk chalk paint & a double-sided felt board w/pieces.

the sidewalk chalk paint was SO easy...cornstarch & water (equal parts of each) & food coloring - that's it! it took like 3 minutes to throw together, with kennedie's help of course, & kennedie had 6 colors of paint that lasted her about 30 minutes - she LOVED it!

next up - a double sided felt board with lots of fun pieces for kennedie to do with as she pleases!

i got the idea from a friend, who saw it on pinterest, & it too was super simple. it just takes a variety of colors of felt, scissors, a pieces of cardboard (i used the back pieces of a notebook pad), & sewing skills or in my case - a hot glue gun :) (because that's how i roll). i took two solid colored pieces for each side, placed the cardboard piece in the middle (it took a little trimming) & glued them just around the edges of the cardboard to each other - so the glue was just on the felt for the most part - that made the board more stable. for one side i cut out shape pieces for a 'house' scene - large square & triangle for the house, a small rectangle & 2 squares for the door & windows, two skinny rectangles w/circles for 2 trees, a sun, & 2 or 3 clouds. for the other side i cut out pieces for faces - like a mr potato head :) i cut out one circle for the face - one set of eyes, one set of shades, 2 different shape noses, 2 different lips/mouths, & so far one hair piece (i need another color felt - yellow probably for another hair piece) - i didn't take pictures of the process - but kennedie really enjoyed making her own designs with the shapes!

 my next project was crate seats for my classroom. there is a variety of these seats all over pinterest - some used buckets but i thought the crate style would be more suited to my kinders. they serve double duty - a seat + storage - which is much needed in my classroom. they are pretty easy & i'm getting better at it as i go along (i've done 4 so far & am planning to have 6 total for my room + 2 for kennedie's play room) materials: plastic crates, plywood cut into pieces that will set inside the crates (if you take a crate with you to home depot/lowes - they will cut it for you - though i had to have tommy round the edges/corners so they didn't fit so tightly - glad he's a shop teacher!), foam (i got a roll from wal-mart - i actually had to go back to get another), fabric - my rough calculations are that 1 yard will do 2 seats, ribbon & a loaded staple gun. 

to make: cut the fabric a bit larger than the wood - i usually give myself about 1-2 inches on all sides, then cut 2 pieces of foam - one the size of the wood & the other about an inch smaller all around. place the smaller piece of foam down first with the larger one on top, then cover with the fabric & pull tight (really tight) around the edges of the wood & staple (i start with the ends & then do the sides). last take a piece of ribbon, fold in 1/2 & staple to one of the ends - this will serve as a handle or tab to lift the seat to get to the storage :)

 so, these are my most recent endeavors in the crafting world - pretty successful for the most part. these make me wish i had the space to have a crafting room in my house - imagine the possibilities :) one day...

100 years

my grandfather celebrated his 100th birthday on july 23rd. he's an incredible man & has lived through what is in my opinion the most amazing 100 years in recent history. think about everything that has transpired over the last 100 years - world wars, depressions, changes in technology - he's seen the toaster & the microwave invented as well as the computer, the cell phone & so many more, he's seen presidents assassinated & the election of the first black president. grandpa built the house he still lives in today, still only has a home phone line & only has a small flat screen tv b/c my dad got it for him. he reads the newspaper everyday & has a memory like an elephant! we were so lucky to be able to go back to sioux city, ia (i was born there by the way) to celerbate with him. here are some fun pictures from our trip

we walked in to milaukee wiener house - a tradition - for lunch and were greeted by a sign recognizing my grandfather! the resaurant has been family owned & opperated since opening 80 years ago & they were telling us how grandpa has been a loyal customer for 80 years!

kennedie's first milwaukee weener :) mommy has 3 - no onions!

great thing about the mini blowup pool - just deflate & pack!! kennedie had a great time with her cousin kayla splashing & playing in the pool :)

great-grandpa calls kennedie his 'favorite little lady' - love that!!

checking out the missouri river

kenndie loves birthday's & candles!! she was the first to sing great-grandpa happy birthday & helped him blow out his candle :)

most of grandpa's great-grandkids

all of the family that was able to make it out to iowa to celebrate

4 generations on my dad's side :) my brother derek & his two kids, kasey & kayla, kennedie & i, 

and tina & her yet to be born little one (sex unknown)

after the party, we were able to take in some drag racing in downtown sioux city...kennedie loved seeing the fast cars and kept saying, "did you see that?" there were also quite a few times when she said "jeez, thats too loud" :)