Character Development- Obedience

Since we decided to pull Carly out of preschool, I have been trying to do some teaching at home on a regular basis. It's been really neat working with the girls on character development, and I'm glad they seem to enjoy it just as much as I do!

Here are some pictures I took the day we talked about being obedient:

Kaitlyn the Teacher

Carly setting up our party for after the lesson

I had the girls build a road out of blocks. 

We then had the cars drive on the road

I printed out some road signs and put them on sticks and stuck them around the road they built. 

The cars had to obey the road signs or something bad would happen

One car didn't stop at the stop sign and ended up hitting another car

We had a lot of fun with this lesson. We obeyed the signs and then took turns dis-obeying the signs to see what would happen.

We learned that when you dis-obey the road signs, you could get hurt or you can hurt others. The girls had to go to the 'hospital' to get treated for the injuries they got from the crash.

They learned a great lesson on Obedience this day. Carly still talks about how she wants to obey so she can stay safe and not go to the hospital... ha.

LOVE these girls!

Downieville 2012!

I realize it's been over 3 months since we were actually in Downieville this year, but thought I'd post some pictures of our trip. Wish I knew how to make a collage of some sort on here... oh well! Here are some of my favorite pictures from our annual trip to the Yuba River:

Fun new beach

 The girls and I met some friends at the beach the other day and had some fun new experiences...

Kaitlyn finally wanted to get within 100 feet of the ocean (ha)! The sound of the waves crashing used to scare her a bit, so she did not like getting to close to the water. But this time- I couldn't keep her out of the water! It was so much fun and so cute to see her brave the ocean with the big girls!

Our friends brought a little kick board to play with, so Jenna had a great time boogie boarding for the first time!

Carly had fun digging for sand crabs and found the biggest sand crab I have ever seen! 

Jenna lost her 4th tooth while we were playing in the sand! How cool to lose a tooth at the beach! We were happy she was able to dig through the sand and find it for the tooth fairy (=

What another fun day at the beach! Love these kids!!

Fruits and fun at the barn

The girls had such a great time at the Avila Valley Barn last Sunday, we decided to go back this Sunday with Daddy! We had fun feeding the goats, sheep, pigs, llamas, and peacocks. We also took a hay ride and got to see all the fruits, squash, corn stalks, and flowers they have on the farm. It was a great morning with my favorite people!

Unfortunately I forgot my camera, but did take a few pictures of the girls enjoying the delicious fruit we brought home:

Jenna has been such a help in the kitchen lately! She's very proud to be able to use a 'real' knife now and cut her own fruits and veggies.

Kaitlyn had a great time exploring the farm as well... she was definitely ready for her nap after lunch!

I love Sundays! It's so nice to just be with the family and enjoy the beautiful weather and each other (=

Snakes are not nice!

This is the snake...

that bit my little Carly, who was taken to the ER yesterday.

 And this was JUST the co-pay amount that we had to pay:

..... I hate snakes!

Luckily, it turns out the snake was not a venomous one and Carly is OK. Thank GOD!!

Adventures

We've been trying to explore a new place at least 2 times a week. It's been a lot of fun checking out all that the Central Coast has to offer! We've been calling our outings 'adventures' so the kids will get excited and be more into the walks we take. Here are a few places we've gone so far:

The Charles Paddock Zoo in Atascadero

Nojoqui Falls Walk in Solvang

Exploring also comes with lots of driving with loud kids!

Fun walks along the ocean in Shell Beach

Walking for 1 1/2 hours (total) to the library and back

The kids did great, even with all the hills!

The Pismo Beach Pier

 Jenna wanted her picture taken in front of the scary pelicans!

Walking/ riding bikes on the Bob Jones Trail in Avila Beach

The Avila Valley Barn!

Jim was in San Diego for a couple of days this past weekend, so we decided to spend the morning at the barn. When we were buying our fruits and veggies, the girls noticed some flowers for sale. They thought it would be fun to surprise Daddy with some, so we they each picked out a bunch. Jenna chose lavender and Carly got the pink Gerbers (I think that's what they are?!). It was very thoughtful of them and he loved it!