Park Play

There's like a bazillion parks around us...for real, they're everywhere. We've visited a few, but there are still so many that I want to explore with the girls. We've already found some really neat ones...some with long bridges, some with duck ponds, some that are completely wooden, some that are great for bigger kids, some with water features, some with nature trails, some small, some large...you get the idea.

But there's this one park. It's small. Not usually crowded. And simple.  It's the first one I took Finley too. It's a few miles down the road from our house and I just happened to pass it one day many moons ago. So we took Finley. And she loved it. She loved the swings and climbing. It's not the greatest for small kiddos, and it's a tad small. But to me it's precious. Probably because I remember taking Finley there for the first time. And I remember stopping by there with her after running errands. Back when I just had one kiddo. And when Finley was tiny. We've taken Rowynn a couple of times, back when she was a tiny bundle and couldn't fully enjoy it.We go there from time to time. Sometimes on Saturday mornings so Dada can join us. And sometimes on Wednesday mornings before a trip to Wal-Mart.

Like we did the day before yesterday. This time Rowynn got to fully participate. And we had the whole park to ourselves.

It was a lovely morning.

What We've Been Up To

We've been kinda doing a pond theme, but mostly focusing on a variety of activities. We've also been doing The Days of Creation, but I'll post more on that later. Maybe. If I remember. Which could be three months from now. Cause that's how I blog. Anyway..... Next week we'll start our fall/pumpkin/apples lesson and I'm so excited!

But for now, this is what the girlies and I've been up to!

I wrote letters on clothespins and Finley matched them up to the letters on the card. She did really could with this, slowly but surely she's learning all her letters.

I got this mat at IKEA and it's been a big hit! We may have a house full of girls, but it's important to me that they get to play with "boy" toys. So we have cars, trucks, knight armor, tools, balls, etc to help balance out the fairy wings, Tinkerbell dolls, babies, dresses, and necklaces!

Finley has recently become obsessed with singing! She sings several songs and loves using a microphone. I found this echo mic in the dollar section. So it makes her voice louder...not sure if this was the best buy for my ears.

Sorting objects. She would feel them and decide if they were Hard or Soft.

Discovery Toys Castle Marble Works...A HUGE HIT!

Coin sort

Learning about frogs and making her frog hop.

I got this idea from Maile! We've started a tree journal. We went outside and drew our tree and talked about what the bark felt like, what color the leaves were, etc.

She picked out the colors and did pretty well with drawing her tree. We also added a leave from our tree to this page.

She loves pretending she's a doctor. She gives shots and says, "All better" and listens to your heart and then says, "Sounds good!"

She loves counting

I got these at the dollar store and we had fun racing them down the slide. Also a quick lesson on identifing the different vehicles.



We made a snake! It was a great way to work on patterns. I started the first couple and then we talked about what color came next. We did two colors and then three colors.




She got these fun Discovery Toy blocks for her b-day and loves them!





This dollar store tray has been great for different sorting activiteis. We're sorting different shapes this week so I started out with basic shapes that I was fairly certain she knew. I was surprised at how well and how fast she sorted the shapes. Tomorrow we'll move on to more uncommon shapes.

Another Catch-Up...

So once again I'm behind on blogging...shocking, I know. Here's what we've been up to the past couple of months:

We had fun with our Ocean theme!

Splashing in her sand and water table

Listening to shells

We made a crab, an octopus, a Noah's Ark craft, a tissue paper fish, a handprint octupus, sand and shell craft.

We made cookies

Finley ate a large amount of sprinkles

Here's a video of Finley. I asked her what she was eating and she said, "I eat sprinkles!"

She loves jumping on Mimi & Papaw's trampoline

We went to our family reunion and my family confirmed that I have OCD...or just act like my mother.

Uncle Ben helped Finley

Rowynn decided to have markers a la crayola for breakfast

Finley and her cousin at our reunion playing in the rain

We took the train downtown and got a yummy hotdog

The aquarium

Love watching her discover her world

Also, check out this cute video. Finley has started doing this everytime Rowynn fusses. It so funny!

One

Today my sweet Rowynn Faith turns one! I can't believe how fast the past year as gone by.

A little after midnight Kyle & I snuck into Rowynn's room and very quietly sang Happy Birthday to our sweet girl. We've done this for both of Finley's birthdays and it such a fun tradition. Kyle & I sneak in there, he puts his arm around me and we quietly sing to our girl. We watch her sleep so peacefully, so care free, so innocent, so lovely. We marvel at how wonderfully she is made. We think through the past year and wonder why time has to go by so fast. We thank God for her.

And we snap a picture of our sleeping beauty...

We set-up this little treat for our birthday girl and big sister! Found the idea on pinterest and loved it!

Streamers, lights and a hall full of balloons!

Balloons!

Is all this for me?!?!

Exploring her surprise with Dada!

Twinkle ligths!

The birthday girl got to have special chocolate milk in her big girl chair!

Chocolate Chip Pancakes with Powdered Sugar :)

This is some good stuff!

Big sister throwing the balloons up for her sissy!

Finley kept saying, "Happy Day Rowynn!" It was so cute!



Dear Rowynn/RoRo/BoBo,

Hello my sweet girl. Today you are a whole year old. I can't believe that you are already one. It makes momma so sad at how fast you are growing. You were our little surprise, and I can't think of a better blessing! You are such a sweet cuddle bug. You've turned into a bit of a momma's girl, and I can't say that I mind too much, I love it! Little RoRo, you are such a chill kiddo. Pretty content and laid back most of the time. You eyes light up when you see your big sissy and you love watching for Dada to come home in the evenings. I love that you've started giving kisses when asked, they are the best! You also love clapping your hands and dancing to music. It's so funny and cute watching you dance and rock back and forth to the beat, makes me laugh! You've given up your bottle (not so willingly) but still cling to your paci. You know the sign for "milk" and can stand for a few seconds at a time.
Shaking your head "no" when you don't want something is a new thing you've started doing and it's pretty neat that you've started communicating with us, just means you're getting bigger! You say "momma," "dada," "bye," and "nigh-nigh." You love putting objects/toys into different containers. You also enjoy clapping, playing with shape toys, coloring, picking out books for us to read together, climbing in my lap, snuggling with blankets, and eating markers...

You are such a sweetheart. I love you so stinkin' much. Every night I rock you and sing to you...

You are my sunshine
My only sunshine
You make me happy
When skies are gray
You'll never know dear
How much I love you
Please don't take my sunshine away

I love you something fierce Rowynn Faith Davis. More than you'll ever know. And then some. Happy birthday BoBo.

It was a hoot!

Yesterday we celebrated my youngest daughter turning one! She won't actually be one until Tuesday, but we had her party yesterday--funny enough yesterday was her due date.

We choose a woodland creature/owl theme for her first birthday. Her room is decorated in owls and birdies and we've always associated owls with our RoRo. And her room is purple, and purple is her signature color. Finley is all pink, but Rowynn is more of a purple kind of girl! So I knew I wanted purple as the main party color. After searching the blogs and an unholy amount of hours spent on pinterest, I found the perfect color scheme. It was deep purple and red and white (the red and white to mimic toadstool mushrooms).We had a ton of family come in from out of town and lots of friends here to help celebrate!



This was the "guest" book!





I love that the book has the purple and red colors to match the party!




Aunt Sissy signing the book!



Travel roll-up chalkboard mats for the kiddos!




This was the kids craft area. The had little wooden birdhouses to paint and they made bird feeders by stringing cheerios onto pipe cleaners.




Big sister painting her birdhouse...pink of course!



Apple cider punch, yum!




The cake table: Carrot cake with brown sugar frosting, toadstool cupcakes, fall cookies, and goodie bags for the grown-ups (pretzel, rolo, and pecan candy)



The food table! Key Lime Cheese Ball w/ twisty grahams, veggie soup, pb sandwiches, chocolate squirrels, bird nest fruit cups, acorn doughnut holes, cheese sticks & tomatoes, roasted peanuts, granola & banana chips, chocolate dipped apples.



Pictures of Roro Faith :)

Momma, Dada, and the birthday girl!

Gimme gimme!

This is some good stuff!

Opening presents!

The table for our guests

Our family!!!



Happy birthday sweet Rowynn Faith! You are my sunshine!

OWL LOVE YOU FOREVER!!!