Family Pictures

We have wanted to get our family picture taken for a long time. Plus Grammy has been nagging (oops, I mean asking) to have the generation picture taken. Thankfully, Auntie Carol agreed to work with us. We had a great time.The girls did so awesome and the pictures turned out great. Thanks again Carol. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Pumpkin Time

This weekend it was time for the annual pumpking carving at our house.We got some small pumpkins from Granny and Papa so that's where we started. This year it was Mama's job to do the carving. Now when I say I have no artistic ability whatsoever, I'm not lying. I tried is all I can say. Needless to say, the one that I did myself was the worst. Oh well, the girls had fun, even if Keltie told me hers didn't look they way that she drew it.

Keltie planning out her pumpkin face. I love the tongue sticking out.

Kinsley deep in thought. She didn't quite understand the concept of making shapes, but she did a great job of scribbling.

Carefully watching Mama.

So proud of herself.

The finished products. Keltie's is on the right. Kinsley is the left.

Then it was time to plan the big one.

So proud of Daddy's work.

Who's smile is bigger?

The 2012 pumpkins.

A view at night. Yes, mine is the awful one in the front. Kevin insisted it had to be in the picture.

Swimming Lessons Take 2





This past week, Keltie went for the second week of swimming lessons. She was very excited to go. Actually, she was almost too excited to go. All she wanted to do was go and she kept asking, "When can we go?" Well, when we got there, she was much better than last time. She did get a little bit afraid when they first had to get in the water again. She was also a little apprehensive about "swimming" out to the little island. There were a few tears this time, but it was a big improvement.

 

 

Floating with her teacher.



Looking out at the island she has to swim to.

Getting a little help from the lifeguard.

Back safe where she started.

The gang out on the island.

Safe and sound.

Swimming Lessons

So, Keltie and Kinsley both did a great job of swimming in our pool this summer. They loved to be out there and would have stayed out there for hours if given the chance. We decided that it would be a good idea for Keltie to sign up for swimming lessons just to build on her confidence. I'm not a strong swimmer (that's putting it mildly) so we really wanted her to become a confident swimmer. Last night was her first swimming lesson. She is a worry wart (I wonder where she gets that?) and was scared to go. We all took her because we figured that she might need that little extra support there. We got there and before we even entered the locker room the tears started. She was fine then for awhile, until they called her name and she had to go by the teacher.

I think I was getting a little too close for comfort.

The anticipation is building.


She got her little floaty belt on (with help from me) and then sat by the edge of the pool. The tears started again when she had to get in the pool. Then it was Daddy's turn to help. He stood on the edge for awhile as she kicked. Then he told her he was going to walk away, and from then on she was good. There was only 4 other kids there with a teacher and a lifeguard so there was a lot of one on one. She did awesome. She's only there for 30 minutes so it goes by really fast. When she was finished she said, "That wasn't so bad." Hopefully, she continues to loves them and we don't have to start over every week.

Watching the teacher, but she didn't want to get too far from us yet.

Getting a little help from Daddy and her teacher.

A little more coaxing.

Deciding which way was her favorite way to float.

Making drums in the water and splashing your own face.
 

Parent Teacher Conferences

Last Wendesday was the first time that I got to be on the receiving end of a parent teacher conference. I had no worries about Keltie going in. I was excited to hear about all the progress that she is making since she is sometimes reluctant to share her day with us. Everything I heard was very positive. She knows 49 out of 52 letters. She can recognize the difference between letters and numbers, can identify and name numbers, can write her name, can count to 11, can line items up from shortest to longest and is a good worker. We do have to work on rhyming and putting words together. I came home from her conference and told her all the wonderful things I heard. I also told her the things that we have to work on. One of them is putting words together so I would say "skate board" and then tell her to put those parts together to make the word skateboard. Her response, "you have skate and then you ride on a board." Yeah, not even close. Then there's Kinsley sitting at the table going, "skateboard." There's always something that we can improve on! Keltie, we are so proud of you. Keep up all your hard work! We love you so much.

Fall Fun

After supper yesterday we headed outside. Kevin had raked up the leaves into a nice pile for the girls. They had a lot of fun jumping and raking in the leaves. Needless to say, I am still sweeping up leaves in the house.

This is how I found Keltie and Daddy when I got outside

Leaf tornado.

Kinsley wanted to get in on the action, but was a little bit apprehensive.

Keltie's hood pretty early on in the game.

Leaf angels.

Daddy's angel.

Keltie getting a little help from Daddy.

Keltie's finished product.

Three of our pumpkins from this year.

Going down the slide.

Corn Maze

On Sunday, we decided to head to the Zenner corn maze. It was an adventure. It was a lot of fun, but by the time we were finished, we were all exhausted, the girls were hungry and it was almost 2 hours later than when we started. Luckily, we found all 5 of the stops so we could punch our cards. Now hopefully we'll win something.

I needed to be reminded a few times of rule number 6!

Daddy trying to read the map. I have a difficult time reading a regular map so reading a map with squiggles was extremely difficult for me. I did manage a few times, but for the  most part, Kevin was our fearless leader.

The first mailbox (actually number 5) was found really quickly.

Number 5.

Standing on the lookout tower we spotted a mailbox, but we had to figure out how to get there.

Second mailbox found was number 3. (Notice, Kinsley is still kind of happy.)

Mailbox number 2 was actually the third one that we found.

This one was found by pure accident.

Meltdown in the corn field until the tears dried. She was hungry at this point. (Also, we have been working on potty training and she is pretty much trained, but we put a diaper on to go here. This is after she peed in it and felt bad about it. She wanted to be changed right away!)

Mailbox one was our final one to find.

Keltie had to sit in the hay throne.

Of course, Kinsley had to sit in the corn throne then.