Fall Fun

A few weeks ago someone was telling me that she is teaching her 3 year olds how to write their names. I laughed because they are just older than Lauren and I didn't think she was anywhere close to being able to write her name. I knew she could write an "L", but that is an easy letter. Anyway, we were playing outside one day and she wanted to write her name. The next thing I knew she had written it with a little help from Cameron with her "R". Of course, she wrote it right to left, but otherwise she had done it! I was amazed and glad that I was proven wrong! Now she knows how to spell her name and can write it with little or no help. The lowercase "e" can be a problem, but other than that she has it down. Today she asked me how to write beard (it had to do with the page she was coloring). She surprised me how well she did; the only letter I helped her with was "e". I guess she has most of the alphabet down now. I love seeing my kids learn!

One Sunday afternoon we decided to take a trip up to Dubuque to see the leaves along the river. The kids did a good job and didn't complain too much. We had fun and saw some beautiful scenery. I love fall and all the fall colors that God has created and it's neat to see the kids appreciating it too. We also stopped by the ferry and watched it come and go. The van ride home was a little long for the kids, so I introduced them to "smell mop" jokes. They were excited to learn the jokes and like to make up their own now.

Last week we took a trip to the Niabi Zoo. You can't beat free for the price and of course it was a great day to spend time with friends too. I love taking kids to places like the zoo and seeing their excitement over the little things. One thing that was new to us was the noise the buffed check gibbons (think monkey) were making. It was so loud, we could here it long before we saw them. It kept our attention for quite some time. After awhile it did get really loud and we moved on. It was strange to think about being in a jungle with lots of gibbons and how deafening their sound would be!

Back row: Abby, Lauren, Aubrey, Brayden

Front row: Cameron, Zach, Alaina, Ema