Olive Faces

Olive can go through about 10 different emotions in 60 seconds.  This girl has personality.  And she has been this way since she was a baby.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cowgirl Hannah

This was her alternate Halloween costume.  Hannah has loved horses since before she was two.  She requested a horse backpack and lunchbox for preschool.  Granny bought her this cowgirl outfit and boots.  But when she found out Olive was going to be a ladybug for Halloween, she changed her mind to a butterfly costume because "cowgirls and ladybugs don't go together."

 

Preschool Update and Art

I meant to do this awhile ago, but as usual, time gets away from me.  Here we are in middle of November and the girls have been in preschool for 3 months.  It seems like we just started!  The weeks just fly by. 

Hannah has three girls who are her best buddies at school.  She doesn't play with the boys, which is funny since most of our friends' kids are boys and she likes doing boy things.  They have a letter, color, and shape of the week that they study during whole group time.  The classroom has lots of centers to go to during free play time: house, book, art, computer, puzzle area, etc.  Hannah's favorite is the house area where she and her friends play dress up and pretend to be mommies and sisters.  She is very into pretend play now.  She also loves all the art projects- cutting, painting, and jewelry making.  She says her favorite thing about preschool is recess and playing with her friends.  Both girls have two outdoor recesses a day.  In September they started special classes: Monday- phonics, Tuesday- Spanish, Wednesday- music, Thursday- movement, Friday- art.  Art is Hannah's favorite.  Although she also really likes her phonics teacher.  I'm impressed by the amount of Spanish she has learned with only one lesson a week.  The other day we had this conversation:

me: Who was at preschool today?

Hannah:  There were only 4 boys.

me:  What about the girls?  What girls were there?

Hannah:  Diez.

me:  Who is Diez?  I don't know her.

Hannah:  Silly Mama!  Diez is a number not a name!

Hannah loves all of her teachers.  I often get parents who ask me, "Would you tell my kid that is okay to (insert random thing here)?  Because he won't believe me, but he'll listen to his teacher."  And it's true.  Teachers have magical powers.  I tried to get Hannah to write her name all summer.  She would do an H, sometimes attempt a A, but refused to try the N.  The first day of preschool her teacher asked her to write her name, and she did it on the first try!  She can write all of her letters now.  It makes me wonder how homeschooling works when your mom IS your teacher.  

Some of Hannah's artwork:

 

 

These next two are from their first phonics lesson. I think it is neat to see what the same lesson looks like at different age levels.  Yes, I'm a weird teacher-nerd.
 

 

Olive got off to a slow start, but she soon warmed up to preschool.  Her teachers are wonderful.  They have a different learning theme every week.  Usually it relates to the seasons or holidays.  One week they studied apples and the kids tasted all different kinds of apples and apple products, made art with apples, sang apple songs, read apple books, etc.  By the end of the week all of the kids could say apple.  It's so fun to watch how fast she is learning new words.  Olive's preschool favorites are singing and coloring, and of course she loves all the toys.  Her least favorite things are sharing with other kids, getting her diaper changed, and finger painting.  Her teacher writes very detailed descriptions on the backs of Olive's artwork.  This is what she wrote on one (I think it is hilarious and so "Olive"):  

Olive was very reluctant to touch the paint.  I put my finger in the paint to encourage her to try.  She let me put some paint from my fingertip onto her fingertip.  She made a motion of wanting it off so I showed her how to rub it onto the paper.  I did this with all three colors then Olive said "no" and signed "all done".  She was excused to wash.  This activity strengthened her fine motor skills, color recognition, and sensory experiences.

 

 

This was during their week studying family.  She pointed those scribbles out as us.

We're very happy with preschool.  The teachers are great, the special classes are amazing, and they even bring in field trips and speakers.  They had a petting zoo, pumpkin patch, and firetruck come to the school.  About the only thing we don't like is the cost.  Oh yeah, and the sickness.  Being around so many kids has meant the girls get sick just about every week.  So far we've had coughs, runny noses, ear infections, wheezing, vomiting, hives, and fevers.  Just this week both girls missed 2 days because of fevers.  Oy!  Thank goodness for Grandma and Granny or else I think I would have used up my sick leave by November!

Dada Shoes and Mama Boots

 

 

Leaves

  

 

 

  

 

Park Playdate

 

double baby!

showing off their moves
 

Hannah walked on the stumps all by herself

best buddies
 

Voting

I always remember going to vote with my parents when I was little and how I liked getting the sticker.  So I was excited to bring the girls when we voted tonight.  Hannah was excited too.  Then she realized that she wasn't actually voting.  Even the sticker didn't make up for the let down.  I told her we could have another election at our house.  She said, "Yeah and the kids will vote!  And the adults will stand around and watch like I did at the church." (We vote at a nearby church.)  We built a voting booth out of pillows and Steve made up a paper ballot (although Hannah asked for a computer since that is what we voted on).  She checked in as "Tinkerbell", which was pretty suspicious, especially since she didn't have any ID. 

Election results:
President of the House- Olive
Best Snuggler- Ainslyn
Best Movie- Tinkerbell
Best Ice Cream Flavor- vanilla
Best Ice Cream Topping- sprinkles

Tower and Park

Here are Hannah and Steve going up the tower at Shawnee Mission Park.  Olive was excited to climb after watching Hannah, so she was not happy that I carried her instead of getting to walk herself.
 

 

 

Then we found a new park: Electric Park in Lenexa.  Hannah went through all of the circles by herself.
 

 

The elusive (at least in pictures) Olive smile!
 

 

 

Five Little Pumpkins

Olive learned some hand motions to this rhyme at preschool, but I couldn't get her to do them in the video. Her hands were already occupied in the mouth and bellybutton.  Hannah loves playing teacher and reading books.  Unfortunately, Olive isn't always a willing student.

Halloween

It is color week at preschool.  This was from orange day on Monday.  I was going to take pictures of every day, but the girls wouldn't stand still long enough to cooperate.  They think it is pretty cool to dress alike and it is fun to pick out the clothes the night before.  Then their teachers do activities and snacks related to the color.

 

My (very low budget) school costume.  What are we?
 

Ready for trick or treating at night.  Steve was a replacement ref at work.  I didn't think we were dressing up, so I threw on a pirate hat last minute.  Hannah finally had her butterfly costume (without the wings in this picture).  Nevermind that shoe in the background.

 

First we went to the Prairie Village shops, then to friends' houses, and also a few random houses in the neighborhood.  We did a little bit of everything.  After trunk or treat and Boo at the Zoo, Olive was a trick-o-treating pro.  She knew how to get the candy and put it into her pumpkin.  It was fun to watch them both so excited about the holiday.  Hannah loves the decorations around the house and dressing up.  Olive liked that she was a bug and Hannah was a butterfly and she kept saying "bu" and "bufly".

Fun with glow sticks.
 

Two very happy girls on the ride home.  Suckers are their favorite.