Letter A

So of course after prepping Alligator A, I got sort of addicted and kept prepping...a little local team spirit A and Ants A. She woke up, busted me, and said, "I want to do those!" Note the last minute addition to the alligator -- she insisted that he have a tongue! :)
She was more than thrilled to see her long lost friend glue stick. Using that was by far the highlight of the entire activity!

And she was totally distracted on team spirit A by the fact that we used polka dots! :) I'll have to remember that for P since A is not for "poka dots"!
At the end, with all work displayed..."What letter is this?" SO proudly, "B!" Um...we'll keep practicing and leave these up for a while! :)

Letters!

So when I imagined myself staying home, I totally saw us doing all kinds of artsy crafty, learning kind of things. So far this summer, we have done a star project on the fourth of July...fish handprints on father's day cards...pretty sure that's it. Wow, once a month -- that's embarrassing now that I see it typed out. :)

Anyway, I have a new goal to start doing letter activities with Kirkley a few times a week. I thought I'd blog about this so someone will ask me how it's coming. I'll be to embarrassed to say I quit! Right now, we think she only knows K, M, and O.

I love the site No Time for Flash Cards -- some of the stuff is a little too bust out the paint and glitter for me so I'll be changing it to crayons and glue stick use more! I printed out all of the letter activities that are super cute by using this link:
http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/search/label/Letter%20A
To find each letter, just change the last letter in this address from capital A to whatever letter you want to find in her activities. Most are pretty easy and super cute! I highlighted the title, pic, and step 1 then printed the selection only so that I didn't get all of the step by step pics. I hole punched them and threw them in the family organization binder.

Then we headed out to the Dollar Tree to see what supplies we could mark off of the list to add to our craft box {that has been collecting dust since July 4}. Here is my master supply list for the ABC activities -- most can be found at the Dollar Tree so start there!

• construction paper (2-3 packs)
• liquid glue
• glue stick
• markers
• crayons
• googly eyes (yes, found these for $1!)
• craft feathers
• puff balls
• pipe cleaners
• scissors
• glitter (for use on just a few of the letters -- don't get nervous:)
• cotton balls
• jelly beans (jelly bean J!)
• sequins/rhinestones
• leaves (leaf L)
• marshmallows (for M)

I think the only thing my Dollar Tree didn't have was feathers. Now all of that is in one container so it's not a total pain to get an activity ready really fast during nap.

It took 15 minutes max today to prep Alligator A! Maybe we'll have an Apple for Afternoon snack!? :)

This was it for the prep:
Results to come! Anyone have any other types of letter activities they love???

Bedheads

I love these bedheads!! At approx 6:39am we'd already been awake and seen the sun rise, gobbled up breakfast, had a meltdown about drinking {low cal} syrup, and were off to reading books...

While they were reading, I took a minute to sip. I tell you, this is the mostMy man makes the best half coffee, half skim milk, touch of sweetener/creamer concoction that any preggo could hope for. Mind you that it has to be reheated due to dilution, but it is amazing...perfect way to start my mornings! When I make it myself, it tastes like coffee flavored water -- I try not to watch him make it in case there is something super secret going in! :)

Later in the morning...dance party breaks out!

Meet the Teacher...a rambling post

Sorry, no pics but need to document! Today was meet the teacher day at Kirkley's new preschool. We have been talking it up as the last school year ended with her not wanting to go each day -- really after her hospital stint and lots of time at home with mommy. She's very concerned that mommy will stay with her at school...which of course happened today since it was just a visit. Hoping she will change her tune when she realizes it's only for three hours twice a week. This sounds like a ton after spending virtually all of our time together this summer. I told Alex, I am misty eyed about it. Our summer at home has been precious -- pool, playdates, park...messes, spanking spoons, lectures...it's all about balance. :) And we love our mornings...but seeing as how they typically begin before 6 and school doesn't start until 9...we'll still have them for the most part!

I am L-O-V-I-N-G being able to be home...as school started back this month...the love grew more! :) Especially loving it now that I'm not in my first 20 weeks totally pooped phase anymore. The pace is so different -- no more scooping her out of bed {note that we often had to wake her up when she went to school} and marathon feeding, dressing, brushing, etc. I enjoy some {diluted} coffee and she enjoys a pumpkin muffin {oh yes, I've already busted out fall pumpkin bread/muffins!} before we smooch daddy off to work. I am S-O thankful to have this year off of work and time with Kirkley and soon Jay. Speaking of, discussions have been brewing about sharing with Baby Jay. She was less than thrilled Saturday to see that she'd "shared" a few stuffed animals with him that stayed put in the nursery. I explained she still had 672 in her room and the problem seemed resolved. This morning we discussed sharing mommy -- didn't go over so hot. We'll keep trying!

Back to meet the teacher...Kirkley was so excited to head up there and meet her new teacher. She is way proud of her backpack...so big! She walked right into her classroom, checked it all out...she read some books, inspected the kitchen and baby dolls, said hi to friends {glad she has several in her class she knows}, and seemed to have a lovely time! We'll hope for more loveliness as we drop off for the first time Tuesday morning -- from her and mommy -- no promises for either of us!

Safari Date with Daddy

Kirkley took off with Alex today for a morning safari. They had a great trip and are both home snoozing the afternoon away. I can't wait to hear details!
I tease Alex that when we go places like this that he always takes 200+ shots of animals we'll never do anything with. So I had to show one off!

Photo courtesy Alex Muncie Animal Photography

While they were gone, the task of cleaning out the nursery/playroom and getting it ready for Jay began! Her big girl room is coming along and little pops of blue are starting to appear in his nursery!

Introducing...

James Alexander Muncie IV or as Kirkley says, "Baby Jay"!

Can't believe we've crossed the halfway point, and Jay will be here sooner than later! He's a looker like his daddy, isn't he!? :)

Big Slides!

Kirkley was such a big girl this morning going up and down some really big slides! She had the best time and was determined to make it to the top of the ladders and go down.