First Day of Preschool

Madison attended her first day of preschool today, September 1, 2009. A friend from our church invited Madison to join her preschool that she started last year in her home. 5 other children (2 boys, 3 girls) make up the class. They range in age from almost 3 to almost 4 (Madison). She thoroughly enjoyed her time and looks forward to the days to come. I don't know how Debbie has the energy to run it. They switch activities about every 10 minutes due to the attention span of these youngsters and she's pregnant...due in November. She plans on taking a short (6 week) break from mid-November until January and then re-starting preschool after Christmas break.

Here's Madison on her first day.

100th post....A NEW DRIVER!

Watch out world...she's got her license. On August 14th, Sam officially passed her driving test after having her permit for almost one year. She did very well....a year ago she passed the written part on the first try and this year after taking a 2 week driver's ed class she passed the driving part on the first try. And she did it in the mini-van...a 3 point turn in a very tight spot and parallel parking...without any prior practice in the mini-van.

This past Saturday she drove away from the house to work for the first time alone....
A little video to capture the moment.

Perhaps a Pool Membership Next Year?

This little pool just doesn't give Matt the opportuntity to do laps that a larger pool may allow in the future. However, Madison sure does love the tidal waves that Daddy creates. She gets carried around in his wake and she loves it.

Fun at the Pool

Yesterday we went to a local county pool for some play time with some friends. I'm so happy that our kids love the water. Madison and Carson became much more comfortable in the water after 2 weeks of swimming lessons and Jason is just a daredevil willing to try just about anything. Here are some pictures from our time there.

Jason wasn't as interested in the water initially. He walked around a lot and played with rocks.

During swimming lessons Madison would barely try anything especially anything involving getting her face wet, then the first time we went to the pool she submerged herself and realized it was actually fun. Here is a little video clip of her showing off her skills.

And this slide is great. It's a huge frog with it's mouth open so you're basically sliding down it's tongue. Madison can't get enough. She has gone down it feet first, head first, on her stomach and on her back. I can't wait until she really learns to swim and can join a swim team!

Carson is a little more apprehensive and he doesn't like to be made to do anything, but let him do his own thing and he does pretty well. He doesn't go under yet but gets pretty close. He's not interested in the slide at all!

Once we got Jason going yesterday, he was unstoppable. He'd go down, I'd catch him and then he'd immediately say "more, more" although it sounds more like "Ma, Ma" Here are a few videos of Jason on the slide.

At first Matt acted as if he was going to put Jason down head first. I immediately said "NO!" He turned him around and sent him down.

Kisses

Madison spontaneously gives me a kiss and says, "you feel soft" and then follows with "daddy feels tickly" and then follows with "that's because he has fur"

So funny how they think about things.

Tiny Hands Crafts

In the spring I enrolled Madison and Carson in an art class through the county recreation program. It was called Tiny Hands Crafts. We went for 45 minutes each week for 7 weeks. Each week we made about 3 projects...some keepers. The kids really enjoyed getting messy, and Carson got messy just so he could wash his hands in the big sink. I really liked the fact that I didn't have to worry about all the paint all over my table and floor. Plus it gave me (the uncreative one) lots of ideas for future crafts at home!

Strawberry Picking

Towards the end of strawberry picking season Madison, Carson, and I headed over to Butler's Orchard to gather some strawberries. Carson did as much eating as picking, but nonetheless we ended up with a nice supply to bring home.