Thursday, August 4, 2011

Kalamazoo Valley Museum - better than Chuck E. Cheese's

Yesterday, Lillie Sophie and I met our playgroup at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum. It is a free Children's museum, so, you only have to pay for the parking downtown. Yesterday, they had a "hands on" event featuring Curious George. There were 10 tables set up with different craft activities. Lillie and Sophie had a great time. We were there for 3 hours. They did a lot. Here are a few pictures to show you just a few of the things that they did. They played in the "preschool" area.
Lillie played a bango.

They played in the learning area. In this photo, Lillie is linking washers attached to the magnet.

Sophie's favorite thing (see photo below) was dropping the balls in at the top of the box and watching then roll down to the bottom.

Lillie had such a great time that she said, "It was better than Chuck E. Cheese's."

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Soccer Camp and Bunny Love

Lillie had soccer camp last week. She had a great time and can't wait to play again this fall. She liked learning how to play soccer and socializing with the kids. After just a few days, Brian noticed how her soccer skills had improved.

Lillie is pictured here on the last day of soccer camp, with her soccer camp shirt and soccer ball.

Sophie has fallen in love with a bunny. So much so, we had to go buy a "back up" bunny last week. She sleeps with it at nap time and at night.

Here is Sophie with both of her bunnies.


Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Busy Summer

It has been almost 2 weeks since we posted an update, but we have been very busy. Two weeks ago, we went to a puppet show at the Library and the girls loved it.

We went to a baby birds event at the Kellogg Bird Sanctuary. We saw baby geese and swans. Lillie even made her own bird nest and baby bird.

Later that week, we went to the fish hatchery for a play date and we saw lots of fish, frogs and turtles.

Last week, Lillie went to Vacation Bible School for the first time. She learned about saints, sang songs and made lots of crafts like this one.

Brian and Lillie went fishing and she caught 2 fish with her Dora fishing pole. Lillie was the only one on the dock that caught a fish. She almost caught a turtle, but Dad did some fast maneuvering to avoid it. Lillie said, "she wants to go fishing everyday." I told her "you can only do that if you are retired." She responded, "But I am tired everyday." This past weekend we went to the Battle Creek Air Show and Balloon festival. We saw the Blue Angels and after the air show we rode a few rides at the carnival. We stayed for the balloon festival. But only one balloon flew, because it was too windy for the balloons to fly. We watched a night time air show featuring planes with fireworks on them. Sophie was so exhausted from the day of fun that she fell asleep during the fireworks show.




On the 4th of July, we were all in the Richland Parade. The Jack and Jill Preschool had a float advertising the school. Lillie rode on the float with some of the other kids from Jack and Jill. Sophie rode in her push car, while Beth passed out information cards and Brian passed out candy.








A few weeks ago, we had a playdate at one of the other's family's farm. Lillie got to pick eggs from the chicken coop. She can't wait to have another playdate there, so she can pick eggs again. Overall, Lillie has had a great start to her summer and we hear her say, "this is the best day ever" a lot.



Sophie has been enjoying her summer too. She picks out the can of cat food for Mitties to eat. She is funny. She has learned to say "AH" after taking a drink.



Well, we better go to bed. We have another busy day tomorrow with a visit to the park with other Jack and Jill preschool friends, a craft class at the library and possibly another event at the bird sanctuary.

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Bouncing into Summer

Last week, Lillie attended a "Bounce into Summer" Gymnastics camp. The session was 2 hours a day for 4 days. She did several gymnastics activities on the bar, trampoline, and balance beam.
On the last day they even jumped inside a huge bounce castle with slide. They did activities with hula hoops.
Practiced on a foam beam.


Climbed the rockwall.


Jumped into the foam pit in the big gym.


Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Butterflies!!!

When bought a butterfly hatching kit last month. Lillie watched the caterpillars change into Cocoons.
And we transferred the cocoons to the habitat.

And waited a week for them to hatch. A Butterfly emerged each day. The first day, the one on the right emerged. The second day, the one on the floor of the habitat emerged. On the third day, the one in the middle had just emerged from it's cocoon.

Last night, after gymnastics (Lillie is wearing her leotard) we released the butterflies.

Lillie got to hold each butterfly in her hand, before they flew off.

Monday, June 13, 2011

Lillie's Dance Recital

This past Saturday was Lillie's dance recital. She danced with her class and with all of the girls at the finale. She had a great time and did a great job. We were so proud of her. After, she chose to eat at Chili's. In Lillie's words "It was the best day ever!"
Lillie with a picture of her classmates.


Thursday, June 2, 2011

Party in the Park

Yesterday, was the Kalamazoo Library's "party in the park" event. The kids got a snack, drink box and a free book. Our group of kids found a spot and several volunteer readers came to our spot to read books to the kids. The Very Hungry Caterpillar read to them:


Sophie also enjoyed the stories and animal crackers.Lillie and Sophie eating crackers while listening to the story.

A banana read them a book:

The man in the yellow hat read them a story. Lillie is pictured with her Jack and Jill friends in this photo. The 4 year old Jack and Jill classes' mascot is Curious George.

They also had a chicken, a frog, a pizza man, the Kalamazoo Sheriff, and many city leaders read them books. They also got to meet Clifford the big red dog.