Aubrey Riding a Two-Wheeler!

One of my goals for this summer was to teach Aubrey how to ride a two-wheel bike. We didn't practice much this summer because of the heat - most of our time outside was spent in the pool. The week before school started was cooler so I decided that we should work on it. I tried running behind her in the gravel (that got tiring after a while). I took the training wheels off of Chloe's bike and had her practice gliding on the sidewalk just using her feet to push (Ingrid said that's what worked for Maximus). After a few days of this, we practiced riding her bike without training wheels down the small hill in our backyard over and over and over. After practicing like this for a couple days, we went back to the gravel and she did awesome! The gravel was much easier than the grass so she was able to go farther. She fell multiple times, but is doing great! I'm so proud of her for keeping at it (even when I thought she'd never get the hang of it)!

End of Summer Fun

The week before school started we tried to cram in as many fun activities as we could. Here's a few pictures from that week plus a few from last week as we got into our new school routine.

Playing at the park - we had wanted to do a picnic lunch at the park but the day we set aside to do that it rained. So we had to go a different day, which was fine with the kids.

Coye playing on the little playground

All three trying to go down the slide at once

Chloe and Coye on the Gator - he loves riding that thing

Chloe's rock "pie"

We made kool-aid play dough. They loved playing with it and it smelled so good!

The green kind was just a regular play dough recipe without the kool aid. We didn't like it as well.

Chloe's cheesy grin

They played with it for at least a half an hour - Coye included.

Aubrey's finished cake

Chloe's cake

Picnicking on the playground at home

Aubrey teaching Chloe how to play piano - she started piano lessons last week

Chloe's 1st Day of School

Chloe started 4 year old preschool on Wednesday. This year she will go to school Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings. We switched to mornings this year because it works better with the boys' (Coye and Wade - the little boy I babysit) schedule. I found out a week before school started that Eileen (my mother-in-law) was not going to be the aide for the 4 year old classes this year, just the 3 year old classes, which meant no Grandma in Chloe's classroom. I have to admit that I was sad. I love having Eileen there in the same room as the girls. I don't ever have to worry about them being sad or not wanting to go to school because she's there. But Chloe wasn't really affected by this at all. She loves her teachers - Mrs. Ahlden (who taught her last year and is our neighbor) and Mrs. Schuldt (who Aubrey had both years of preschool and who attends the same church as us). She was still super excited about school and anxious to meet the new kids in her class (only two other little boys from the afternoon class moved to the morning class so she has to make all new friends this year). She loved her first day. She got to paint, color, and play. She had so much to tell me about when she got home - she is my talker you know. On Friday, I told her to hang up her backpack while I took Aubrey to her classroom. I gave Aubrey a kiss and turned around to find Chloe gone from the hallway. She had hung up her backpack, got out her folder, went into her classroom, gave her teachers the note in her folder, put her folder where it belonged, and was already playing in the sand table by the time I got back to her. I was only gone for about 2 minutes maybe. She definitely loves school!

First day of 4 year old preschool!

The girls ready to go

I really wanted a picture of the three of them before the girls went to school but Coye was having none of it.  I like to think that he was just upset that they were leaving him. :)

In front of her name tag at school

Ready to paint at her table

My super sweet four year old

Aubrey's 1st Day of School

Aubrey started school on Tuesday. She's been so excited and ready to go for weeks. Toward the end of the school year last year, we found out that Aubrey's two other classmates were going to be moving over the summer leaving her as the only first grader for the following year. While neither Calvin or I were very excited about her being the only one, she was undaunted by it. (Her school has double grades so she is with the second graders all day except for when they split for reading.) She was excited to be with some of the other kids from church who were in second grade and to be in a reading class by herself with the reading teacher. (I have to admit that I was excited about this part too. One on one for an hour and a half every day - oh yeah!) The week before school started we found out that she was going to have another little girl in her class. We were all very happy about this - at least she would have someone else to do things with. Her first week of school was great! She gets to write in an assignment book. She's had math and reading homework. She gets to keep a book in her desk to read (she's very excited about this). She started piano this week during school and loves to practice on the keyboard we have. She has her first loose tooth and also learned how to ride a two-wheeler. The girl has had a big week!

Ready to go to first grade!

Aubrey's new backpack

My sweet little six year old

Summer Fun

It's so hard to believe that the girls start school next week! The summer has just flown by. I've been trying to enjoy these last few days with the girls before they head off to school. I know I've posted a lot of pictures lately but here's a few more cute random ones. 

I made strawberry-banana smoothie popsicles. The kids loved them! Not only were they good, but they were good for them too.

Yummy!

Calvin built a deck around the pool this summer. It's absolutely awesome! He did a great job and we've really enjoyed it. The kids loved having him at home every night and spent a lot of time outside with him while he worked. (This reminds me that I need to take some pictures of it and post them.)

The floor of the shed next to the pool is dirt so the kids took some sand toys out there and dug in the dirt and sawdust. It was like a  giant sandbox for them. :) As you can tell, Coye loves playing in the dirt!

Using a spindle from the deck to play in the dirt

The kids and the sand/dirt toys

When we got back from Iowa we had a new kitten at our house. I'm not really sure where it came from but the girls love it because it's tame. They named him Oscar.

Aubrey tried pushing him in a doll stroller. I had told her that I used to do this as a kid with my kittens so she wanted to try it too. Oscar wasn't too sure about it.

Coye wearing Chloe's sunglasses

Playing on our playground - it's been so nice this past week!

Chicago Trip

Last weekend we headed up to Chicago to spend some time with Danielle. We've been trying to figure out a time since spring when to come up but between both of our busy schedules, August was the first chance we had. The girls had a birthday party Friday night and Danielle had a volleyball game, so we got up right away Saturday morning and left around 9:45 a.m. I thought for sure that traffic would be fine because it was a Saturday morning and we were doing great until we hit 90. Apparently this weekend was Lollapalooza, a music festival, so there was extra traffic for that. It took us probably an extra twenty minutes, which wasn't terrible. I was hoping that Coye would take a nap on the way up, but he, of course, did not. He actually wasn't too bad though on the drive. I finally just quit giving him toys and books because he just kept throwing everything on the floor. Once we hit Chicago, there was tons of stuff to look at so he was pretty entertained looking out the window. The girls were awesome. We got to Danielle's just in time for lunch. We ate and then I put Coye down for a quick nap. I woke him up after about an hour - it was already after 2 and we wanted to head downtown. We got the kids ready to go and had to rush to the train station to get on the right train on time. We made it and got on the train for one stop before switching to another one. This time there were tons of people waiting to get on the train (again for the music fest) and I was a little worried that we wouldn't be able to get on. The train came and we pushed on and barely made it. Danielle was holding Chloe and carrying the stroller. I was carrying Coye and holding on to Aubrey's hand. The doors literally closed right behind my back - we were that scrunched. I had nothing to hold on to so I was rocked back and forth trying to hang on to Aubrey and Coye. I was so glad when we got to our stop and could get off! The first place we headed was The American Girl Doll store. Aubrey had been saving money since her birthday so that she could pick out an outfit for her doll. We walked around the entire store I think twice before she finally made her decision - a ballet outfit complete with tights and a tutu. It's pretty cute! Next stop was the Lego store. Ever since Aubrey got some Legos for Christmas, the girls have been very into Legos, especially with the launching of Legos "Friends" line for girls. They each got to pick out a small set and I bought Coye a set of Duplos. Hannah's birthday was that day so Danielle and I were looking for something for her so we went into Macy's, but didn't really find anything. We decided that we might have better luck at Kohl's so we headed back to Danielle's apartment. The train was still full, but two nice men got up once they saw us with our arms full of kids and bags and gave us their seats. It was so much better sitting down! Coye loved looking out the window and watching everything go by! It was starting to get dark out (it was supposed to rain) and we were hoping to make it home before it started pouring. We were just about ready to make a run for it when it thundered really loudly and Aubrey and Coye started crying. We went back inside and sat in a corner waiting for the rain to stop. I figured it would be over in less than 5 minutes - that's what it does at home, but it didn't stop. After about 15 minutes it had let up a little bit and we came up with a new plan - Danielle would run through the rain back to her apartment, get the van, and then come pick up us since we were going to go to Kohl's anyway. The kids and I stayed where we were and waited for her. She came after about 20 minutes - it was still raining! Crazy I know. There was so much water in places we even had to turn around because we couldn't make it under a viaduct. We found lots of good deals at Kohl's and then went back to her place for supper, baths, and bed. The kids fell right to sleep - they were exhausted! Sunday morning was lazy - breakfast, playing, and watching the Olympics. After Coye's nap, we went out for lunch and then had frozen yogurt that was amazing! The girls wanted to go to the park and play, so we changed into our suits (there was a splash pad there) and walked to the park. Danielle had to coax the girls into the water at first, but then they loved it. Coye, on the other hand, was not a fan at all. He preferred to just watch. After playing for a while, we went back to Dani's, changed, packed the van, and headed home. Coye slept again on the ride home, and the girls were pretty quiet. It had been such a fun, busy weekend. 

Playing a game with Aunt Dani - Jenga

They were cold so they borrowed Danielle's hoodies

Picking out Legos at the Lego store

Coye in his stroller - he was so good. Yes I know he's in a girl stroller, but it's the only umbrella stroller that we have. :)

In front of the giant Lego man at the Lego store

At the American Girl Doll store

Aubrey with her doll and purchase

He just loved the doll store - can you tell?

Waiting at the L stop for the rain to quit

Luckily we were in a little corner so Coye was corralled.

Eating frozen yogurt

Getting ready to run through the water at the splash pad

Coye did not like it

Chloe did though

So did Aubrey

Coye preferred to watch ....

... and play on the playground.

Aubrey on a climbing wall

Chloe had to try too