Larkyn at Home

I love having Larkyn home with me during the days.  She loves to hang out, do preschool, cook with me, help me clean bathrooms, come volunteer at school with me (so far we have volunteered to help with picture day, the apex fun run, and in Summer's class), and go shopping!  We have both enjoyed browsing Once-Upon-A-Child, a resale shop for kids, and she loves to pick out her own clothes and try on shoes!

She loves to sing, and serenades me often with praise songs!  Here I was cleaning and heard her singing and took a hidden video.  It's so sweet!




Larkyn has grown by LEAPS AND BOUNDS in her first 3 weeks of preschool at home.  She started the year not knowing how to write any lowercase letters, and now she not only can write all her letters, she can sound out and write words all by herself!

It has been really fun to see such a huge growth in her reading, as she sounds out and puts together words.  Here is a video of her reading to me this week.



Larkyn, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE our time together during the day when the kids are at school.  Please don't grow up too fast!  Love, Mommy

Apex Fun Run

Each year, Southview Elementary does a school fundraiser put on by the Apex team.  Students obtain pledges for their school, and then participate in a fun run.  The number of laps they run corresponds with the amount they can collect from their pledge donors.  Each year I volunteer as a lap counter, marking the kids t-shirts when they cross a certain portion of the track, to keep track of the laps they have run.  Its crazy and fun.  Larkyn was the best cheerer around as she high-fived runners and enjoyed making friends with the Apex coaches :).  Grandpa and Teddy were able to come cheer on Summer in the morning and Grandma and Grandpa came to cheer on Colton in the afternoon.  Its always an exciting and energy filled day at Southview!

Summer

High fives for Grandpa, Teddy, and Larkyn

Summer and one of her best friends, Anisah

Colton

High fives for Grandpa and Larkyn!

Me doing my job :)

Larkyn made friends with "CooCoo" one of the Apex coaches....

And wanted her picture with him.  She thought he was pretty cool :).

Sibling Love

Last weekend the weather was HOT and the kids had a blast playing outside in the hose all afternoon.  They always make up creative games and activities together, and one of their activities this day was taking turns posing their siblings for a sibling picture...and asking me to take them!  This activity kept their interest for at least an hour until mom called it quits!  I'll share a few of the pictures they posed.  I love how much they love each other and love to play together, and I love that these pictures capture that so well.  I especially love that their grins are true smiles (because they were laughing the whole time!) and not the fake painted on smiles that usually come out when I take a picture of them :).

Soccer

We have been having a lot of soccer fun this fall.  All three kids decided they wanted to play this year, which means Larkyn (preschool team) has soccer Monday nights, Colton (1st/2nd grade boys team) has soccer Tuesday nights, Summer (3-5th grade girls team) has soccer Thursday nights, and all three have games on Saturday mornings.  Its been a bit busy....but the kids all love it and can't wait for "their night" when everyone watches them!  

We have been blessed already with fun visitors coming to games, including Auntie Kristin, Uncle Eric, and the cousins, along with the goalie, Josie, of the AVHS girls varsity soccer team, whom Summer made friends with during a summer skills camp.  Grandparents are lined up to come to future games!

We have also had other fun soccer opportunities come up, like Summer being able to be a ball girl for a high school varsity girls game (she loved it!) and Larkyn being able to take a community ed class, Soccer Shots, which teaches soccer skills to preschoolers (she loves it!).

AVHS girls varsity team and ball girls during the  national anthem

Summer and Josie

Larkyn scored her first goal in the Soccer Shots class.

Larkyn and her soccer shots coaches

Despite the fact that I have the most pictures of the girls playing soccer or doing soccer activities, out of the three kids, Colton's love for soccer runs the deepest.  He will play soccer with Daddy any chance he gets, for as long as someone will play with him!  It has been fun to watch him on the 1st/2nd grade boys team, as the competitive nature of 1st/2nd grade boys is definitely a step up from last years coed kindergarten soccer!  He truly gives his team 100% every time and loves both the sport and the competition!

School!

While I wasn't ready for school to start (I never will be, I love having my kids home!), we had a great first week.  The kids are excited about their teachers and classes, and we really love  Southview.  The kids got to meet their teachers during assessment week.

Colton has Mrs. Gile

Here is his desk

Summer has Mrs. McGregor.  Summer's class is doing "choice seating" instead of desks.  They have several stations including a table low to the ground (sit on the ground around it), different fun chairs, and different table arrangements.  Mrs. McGregor said it worked really well with last year's class!

Summer and Colton were all smiles on their first day!

After saying goodbye to the big kids, Larkyn and I had a playdate to the zoo with the same friend as last year :).

Then we had a preschool filled afternoon.  Larkyn LOVES preschool.  She LOVES the time we spend together, and we probably spend an hour+ every day doing math (counting, tens, addition, subtraction), calendar (weeks, months), handwriting (practicing lowercase letters), reading (we are using a new curriculum my friend recommended), and more. 

A laundry basket boat is the best place to practice letter sounds :)

Larkyn's weekly activities kick off this coming week.  Our weekly schedule will include Monday Chore Day; Tuesday: dance, soccer shots and Grandparent time; Wednesday: BSF,  Thursday: Cousin time; and Friday: Preschool coop and fun days.  Evenings include Summer piano lessons and Larkyn soccer on Mondays, Colton soccer on Tuesdays, Church Night Wednesdays, Summer soccer on Thursdays, and all three kids soccer Saturday mornings.  It will be busy but fun :). Happy Fall!