June 2013 Summertime Fun Update: Perot Museum, Swimming Lessons, Father's Day Fun and More!

It's amazing how fast summer can fly by! We had a super busy and exciting June. It started off with Madison graduating from Kindergarten, Alyssa graduating from High School and Madison's 6th Birthday, all in the first week of June.

My parents came down to visit and attend all the fun events. We went to the Perot Museum of Nature and Science which was on our Summer Bucket List. Because we love the Perot Museum so much, we have an annual family membership so we are able go often and we were happy to be able to share the experience with my parents.

Madison loved drawing a picture on the computer and then spinning the wheel fast enough that the light projected the picture onto the wheel.

The Perot Museum is so cool, I will have to do a future post all about it, but in the meantime here is a great quick article to read. After having lots of fun at the museum we went down the street to the Spaghetti Warehouse for lunch. They have a trolley in the restaurant! It was really cool!

Madison was able to grow a Zinnia plant from seeds in school. It was outgrowing it's little cup, so she had a blast transplanting it all by herself! She is very proud of how well her plant is growing.

Madison really enjoyed going to a Calloways Kids Workshop. She listened to the book, Princess and the Pea and then planted pea seeds in a cup. It was a nice, quick morning activity. The next one is August 21st!

We went out for Madison's birthday to Texas Roadhouse. It is a tradition and she LOVES to sit on the saddle while they shout out Happy Birthday to her!

We are a foster family for the Humane Society of Flower Mound. In June we welcomed our current foster dog, Sadie. She was kept outside most of her life until she was surrendered by her owners to an animal shelter where she stayed for 5 months! She's only a year old. She is very sweet and loving, but really shy and in desperate need of socialization. She's come a long way so far and I know soon she'll find the perfect family that will welcome her into her forever home.

We had a great time doing a 'Naked Egg' science experiment. We placed an egg in a container with vinegar so it would dissolve the outer shell so we could see the inside of the egg. Madison really enjoyed this! In the end, we couldn't see the yolk as well as we thought we would have. I am not sure if it's because we used an Eggland's Best egg versus a regular one. We'll have to try it again before the summer is over and see.

And after the shell dissolved, we had a squishy semi-see-through egg:

I signed Madison up this year for her summer swimming camp at AquaKids and after being inspired by her swimming Coach, she decided to work very hard to move up 5 levels throughout the summer and join the Swim Team in the Fall. In June, she completed Elementary 3 and Intermediate 1. We are all very proud of her and extremely happy with AquaKids for helping her obtain her goal. I am very grateful that they truly cared about my daughter's love for swimming and that they went out of their way to help her reach her goal! I cannot express enough what a wonderful place AquaKids is. They are currently looking to expand to a third location and are taking suggestions, so if you would be interested in having an AquaKids close to you, please let them know where by clicking HERE. They are in the final three for the Best of Denton County 2013 for Best Swim Instruction, so if you have a moment to vote, it only takes a second (no registration required). Thank you!

This year on Father's Day, Jeff took Madison fishing for the first time. She caught one fish and was SO proud of herself! (Since they left early in the morning, I wanted to note that he dressed her, not me! LOL)

Then they went to Bass Pro which offers a lot of fun and free activities every weekend over the summer. They had a blast!

Madison did a couple of summer dance classes at Top Hat Dance, but then decided swimming was her thing. She is continuing to do gymnastics and tumbling too.

Madison has really enjoyed hanging out at the pool with friends. Here she is going down the outside waterslide!
 

We are currently working on some workbooks and reading books every day so that we don't have the summer brain drain. I bought marble jar reward sheets and marble stickers from the teacher store and when Madison completes a chore (make bed, brush teeth, etc) or does a workbook page, then she gets a marble. When she fills up the sheet, she can either pick a prize from the prize bin which consists of dollar store toys and stickers or she can earn iPad time.

Here's a great blog post on 7 ways to Boost Brainpower Over the Summer Vacation!

At the end of June we temporarily watched another foster family's puppy while they went on vacation. His name is Tony and he was a bundle of puppy love! He has already found his forever home, but I feel really good about fostering for the Humane Society of Flower Mound and teaching Madison to give back to her community. She now knows that she is the voice for those who cannot be heard.

Tony was 8 weeks old here and had just found his unknown love for sprinklers and mud. ;)

Jeff took Madison to the skating rink on Memorial Day for a free skate special we saw on FamilyeGuide and she was hooked. She has been skating every week since. The local skating rink, Interskate has skating lessons every Saturday at 9 am for $3 and she LOVES them! She is learning a lot and becoming a great skater!

Madison also started a musical theater camp at Studio B at the end of June. I'll post pictures and videos from the production in my July post.

Check out our 2013 Summer Bucket List! I hope everyone is enjoying their summer and having lots of fun!

Look for more upcoming posts on Walt Disney World, toy room and American Girl Doll accessory organization, and July's Summer Update!

Faithful Blogging

So today begins the day of faithful blogging. I did really well on a previous blog I had, and then I started working. I loved my job so much, but there wasn't time to do all of the things I really wanted to do too. Two years later I left my job to focus on my family and to spend more time volunteering. I miss writing blogs for them, but I am very happy to have the time now to write my own. :) I have so much to write about, like our Disney trip and summer learning and fun, but first....the last two weeks of school....

School is officially out and I am now a proud mother of a First Grader and a College Freshman. In the past couple of  weeks, I survived the last week of school, kindergarten graduation, my parents visiting and a high school graduation.I am going to do short blog posts on each of these, since someone once told me that no one likes to read long things. ;)

Madison. She has had the BEST year of kindergarten ever! Madison and her class were blessed with the best teacher in the world. She had tons of fun participating in Mad Science after school, dance class, gymnastics, tumbling, and art class.

The year came to an end with Field Day, Splash Day and Kindergarten Graduation.

Super Hero Field Day photo credit: Jennifer Bassier

Super Hero Field Day photo credit: Ms. Walker

 

Splash Day photo credit: Carrie Parker

Kindergarten Graduation photo credit: Carrie Parker

First Day of School 2012

This morning went amazingly well and Madison was very excited and didn't seem nervous at all!  Yes I am making my senior hold a sign.  That's what happens when you have a sister 12 years younger than you, however I don't feel too bad since you get to reap the magic of Christmas and Easter for many more years than you were intended to. :) I found the signs on Pinterest!

After pictures Alyssa gave Madison a huge hug and wished her a great first day of school!

Madison's backpack is almost as big as she is!

She was very excited to get to school, but once she got there and sat down, I think reality set in. I think her expression speaks for itself...

She's getting read to color her sheet.

And then I gave her a hug and said goodbye. She asked me if I was going to cry..after giving me a very concerned look and me feel immediately guilty for having her worry on her first day of school, I quickly lied and said no and then she gave me a great big smile. The teacher than proceeded to ask me if I was ok. I wonder if she was afraid I just wasn't going to leave...lol So I took one more picture on my way out. 

Then I went home and bawled like a baby. I am sure she will have a great time in Kindergarten and now I just need to focus on all the projects I've been dying to do the past 5 years. :)  The next post will be on the preparation for Kindergarten...I'm doing the posts a little backwards, but I was so excited to post the pictures from today I couldn't help it. :)

After school we are going to do a 'First Day of School Interview'. Just a great time capsule keepsake. :) We'll also do a Last Day of School Interview as well and make it a tradition.

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie...

It's ironic how this is the book we focused on this past week and somehow it seemed to be the theme of the week...wanting one thing after another! LOL.

I hope everyone had a great Forth of  July! We decided to take it easy and went to Vista Ridge Mall during the day for our festivities. It was an air conditioned event which is key in the middle of the summer in Texas. They had crafts and facepainting so Madison really enjoyed it! Later that evening we watched fireworks. It ended up being a late night, but that's ok once and awhile.

Madison enjoyed making her take home craft from the Lewisville Library

This week we enjoyed reading "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" by Laura Numeroff. We have it as part of the Mouse Cookies and More Treasury.

It has activities and songs and a CD that is the audio version of each book and the songs too. Madison listened to them over and over. Then we did some activities. She drew a picture like the mouse did in the book, she made playdough cookies and molded a mouse out of molding clay.

Then we did some great If You Give a Mouse a Cookie activities I downloaded for free from ingles360 that have activities for preschoolers as well as grade school! For more activities to make books and reading fun visit my Book Lists and Activities Pinterest Board.

If you have a post that you would like to share with activity ideas to go with books please leave a comment below with your link!

Life of a Five Year Old...Weekend of Brave, Swimming, Science and Fun

This weekend was a busy and fun one! Every Saturday for the summer, Madison takes ballet and tap in the morning at Sacred Dance and loves it! Then Daddy takes her to Michaels for their Passport to Imagination craft. This past Saturday was Canada. She made a picture frame and a maple leaf pin to place on her lanyard with the rest of the pins she has been collecting from the different country crafts.  On Sunday morning DH and Madison worked on her Science Kit. You mix liquids to become crystals. She loves doing these types of Science experiments with her Daddy. :)

Then DH attempted to teach her to ride her bike, however she just isn't wanting to balance on it. I am going to try to have her ride her scooter more so that hopefully she will learn that you have to balance. :) It was only 92 degrees which is perfect here for the middle of summer in Texas so we went went to the pool for a bit. Madison loves to jump off the diving board and loves to swim.

My husband took Madison to go see the movie Brave. We have read the books (I got her an easy reader, a picture book and a chapter book) and so she has been anxiously awaiting the movie. She loved it, despite the scary bear scene. Yes, he thought it would be funny to line her up with the bow and arrow for the picture...

I am getting all prepped for next week. I decided that we are going to pick a couple of books a week to do extra learning activities with. The books for this week are 'If You Give A Mouse A Cookie' and 'Runaway Bunny.' I choose this one because my aunt gave Madison a treasury book that includes this story.  It has a CD with the author's narration and a couple of songs for each of the stories. At the end of each story it also includes some recipes and learning activities. I have also found some good resources on Pinterest and from my Story Stretchers Book. Each week I am going to give her options for morning free play. She can choose to do whichever options her heart desires. :) I do not let her watch much TV.  I am not found of it at all. Last week I let her watch one episode of SuperWhy. I also limit her iPad use to 20 minutes a week as well.  I have found that when I let her watch TV or play electronics that she looses all interest in learning and playing and is constantly begging as if she's addicted so now it's once a week and that's it.

 I am looking forward to a great week! We are going to be doing our regular weekly events:

• Preschool Time at the Lewisville Library
• Swimming Lessons at Aqua Kids
• Passport to Imagination Crafts at Michaels
• Kids Yoga at Yogi Kids
• Developmental Team gymnastics class at Best Gymnastics
• Clue Finders Program at the Lewsiville Library
• Kids Ballet and Tap at Sacred Ground Dance

 We are going to finish reading What Your Preschooler Should Know. It is a GREAT book that has stories, songs, history, science and more!

We also should finish up the BrainQuest cards for ages 4 -5 years.

And we are working on sight words. I found this great colorful set for free on Pinterest from education.com!

I was able to complete her room organization. I still have some laundry to put away before I post pics of the closet, but here are the hair bows and her new dress up area in her room:

Here is the before picture of all of her hair accessories

And the after..I put them in bead sorter boxes from Michaels. We ended up having a total of 4!

Here Madison is sorting her jewelry. She had it dumped together in several little conatiners.

Here it is sorted in little pockets. This organizer hangs up in the closet and is two sided.

I used to have her dress up clothes on the lower level of her closet, but I wanted the closet to just be for regular clothes so I had DH take out the shelves in her bookshelf and added a tension rod (hopefully it will stay). She has three bins to the side that hold dress up accessories. Now it's accessible and organized.

After her room is complete I will be moving on to the Toy Room. Ugh. First I think we are going to try to find a way to organize the doll area first.

And...Madison lost her 3rd tooth today!  The front left one. It is going to take some getting used to for both of us! LOL

A great summer of fun so far!

I am determined to make the most out of the summer before Kindergarten and we are doing just that! Our summer has been filled with different lessons, crafts, treats and fun! I promised myself I would blog about our summer NO MATTER WHAT! :) So here I go.

Madison was extremely excited to turn 5 so she could get her very own library card! I am so delighted with everything the Lewisville Library has to offer for kids over the summer. They have a phenomenal children's summer reading program! Madison is able to read over the entire summer and earn really cool prizes! They also have GREAT children's reading times and programs. Here are some pictures of Madison with her library card and a picture of Zooniversity who presented endangered animals at the library program today. We are so lucky to have a library close that offers so much!

 

Madison completed the first level of her summer reading program through the library and one of the prizes was a free kids meal at Chili's. 

 And the best part of eating out is ordering desert!

 In the morning while I'm still waking up, Madison has free time. She built her Lincoln Logs all by herself by following the instructions! I was so impressed and she was so very proud!

 Here are other pictures of her morning free time activities.

Playdough Fun!

Building a castle

Painting on aluminum foil

Painting

Sand Art

Mosaic Art

Coloring

 

Madison just finished up a two week swimming
camp at Aqua Kids. She passed to the next level and will be starting once a week lessons next week. I am so very, very proud of her. Here are the details for the class/camp she just did:
Requirements to enter the class: 10 second breath control, jump turn and swim to wall, swim 25 feet, get independent forward breath with good recovery, back float, back glide
Goals for the class: Proper body position with forward swim, swim 1 length of our pool with rollover breathing, finning on back 1 width of our pool, introduction to frog kick, underwater swim

And here are the details for the next class she begins on Monday:
Requirements to enter the class: Proper body position with forward swim, swim 1 length of our pool with rollover breathing, finning on back 1 width of our pool, introduction to frog kick, underwater swim
Goals for the class: Freestyle 1 length of our pool with rollover breath, finning on back 1 length of our pool, frog kick 1 width of our pool, underwater swim, diving
Yep, I am one VERY proud momma!

We have been participating in every Passport to Imagination craft at Michaels. Each craft represents a different country and she gets to make a pin as well. A super cool fun activity. We go every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.  (She dressed herself that day)

Madison is continuing to take gymnastics at Best Gymnastics and is loving it.  She is on the Developmental Team and loves Coach Josh. She is excited about becoming a team girl one day and is even more excited to practice hard after watching the Olympic Trials.

Yogi Kids and Sacred Dance opened a new studio together in Flower Mound and are offering $5 classes all summer long. Madison has been taking Kids Yoga, Hip Hop, Storytime Yoga, and Ballet and Tap. I don't currently have pictures, but will be posting some soon!

Downtime is also very important. I have finally discovered how to implement it for both Madison and I for an hour every day....books on CD. I checked out a bunch of Magic Tree House books on CD and downloaded them onto her iPod (temporarily we delete them after she listens to them). She LOVES them and lays down and listens for an hour or more.  It's GREAT!

We also have started a reading list of books that I read to her and she is on Set 2 of BOB books that she reads to me. Next week I am going to start Story Stretchers to go with the books we are reading.  Lots of different activities. I also hope to involve her in cooking and start some music. Trying to find a balance without putting anything off for her can be very difficult sometimes. I am very, very lucky to have a great helper (Madison's sister). She has been wonderful this summer.

I can't believe it is already almost July! It is crazy how fast time is flying by, I need a pause button! I am very fortunate to have a 'cheat sheet' website with all the activities for kids in North Texas right at my fingertips. Thank goodness for FamilyeGuide or I'd miss out on all the fun things to do this summer!

So far it's been a busy and productive summer and his doesn't even include all of the organizing of Madison's room! I'll save that for the next post!