The Vandewater Voyage

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Daddy Dolls?!?!?

What do you think...yes or no!?!? Helpful for the kids or not????

https://www.hugahero.com/store/hugahero-dolls

Let me know what you think!

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

It was so nice last week...we were able to get the baby pool set up. Brynna was more than happy to just play next to it (she did eventually get in, and loved it) and Grant was super excited to "swim." Can't wait to take them to the water park in Winterset soon!

Didn't even realize they were red, white, and blue...until they were out on the deck, TOO CUTE!

Home school for preschool!

Okay, it's official, we are NOT sending Grant to preschool! We are starting our home school adventure now! Some of you may think we are crazy and some of you fully support our decision. Bottom line, after much discussion, thought and most importantly, prayer, we have reached this conclusion. We have NO idea how long we will home school, we'll take it one year at a time. In the state of Iowa, mandatory school age is 6, so we don't have to do anything official for two more years. There is much more information I could add here, but I'll save it for later.

I have been browsing lots of curriculum. WOW!!! I had NO idea how much was out there. Different companies, books, thoughts, ideas, and theories on how to do it. I've decided on (with recommendations from a few more experienced home school moms) a few work books and an interesting curriculum based on children's books to start with.

I ordered the Beginner's Activity Set from this website:
http://www.clp.org/store/by_grade/1
and still want the ABC Readiness Series.

I am planning to order this book also.
http://fiarhq.com/fiveinarow.info/beforefiveinarow.html
It's called Before Five in a Row. The idea is to use literature (read the same book 5 days in a row and do different activities based on the book) to start a foundation for more formal education while preserving childhood and not pushing too hard too soon.

The Before Five in a Row book requires lots of children's books to go along with it. For now, I plan to check most of these out from the library, but eventually wouldn't mind having them all here in our own personal library. So, for you grandparents that always want ideas on things to buy for the kids...here is my WISH LIST of books that I would LOVE to have to go along with this curriculum. Some of these are old books and out of print, so search garage sales too (Mom)!

Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear?, by N.W. Carlstrom
Yellow Ball, by Molly Bang
My Blue Boat, by Chris L. Demarest
The Little Rabbit, by Judy Dunn
Ask Mr. Bear, by Marjorie Flack
Blueberries For Sal, by Robert McCloskey
Goodnight Moon, by Margaret Wise Brown
The Big Green Pocketbook, by Candice Ransom
The Runaway Bunny, by Margaret Wise Brown
The ABC Bunny, by Wanda Gag
If Jesus Came to My House, by Joan Gale Thomas
Caps for Sale, by Esphyr Slobodkina
The Carrot Seed, by Ruth Krauss
The Snowy Day, by Ezra Jack Keats
The Quiet Way Home, by Bonny Becker
Play With Me, by Marie Hall Ets
Prayer for a Child, by Rachel Field
I Am an Artist, by Pat L. Collins
Angus Lost, by Marjorie Flack
Katy No-Pocket, by Emmy Payne
We're Going on a Bear Hunt, by Michael Rosen
The Red Carpet, by Rex Parkin
Corduroy, by Don Freeman
Jenny's Surprise Summer, by Eugenie

We ask for your prayers and support as we begin this new adventure!

Monday, May 31, 2010

Whitney!!!

Whitney (Wade and Stephanie's daughter) had her first big adventure away from Mom and Dad last weekend. Wade and Steph were both in a wedding, so Whitney got to stay with us! She was such a good girl! We kept her so busy playing, she didn't have time to miss Mom and Dad...and she slept GREAT!!! We really wanted to play with Owen over the weekend too, but he was stuck home sick, poor little guy :(

They thought each other's toys were pretty cool.

Getting ready to go out to dinner.

Snacking

Playing soccer.

Whitney wished she was big enough to ride Grant's trike.

Playing in Brynn's closet. Won't be long until they are trading clothes :)

We didn't have the baby pool out yet, but buckets filled with water kept them pretty busy.

Brynna's first pony tail!

Yay!!! Her hair is long enough for pony tails, well kind of :)

In the back...

and on top!

Now, I just need to figure out how to get her to sit still long enough for me to do them!

Look Ma, no training wheels!

Grant had been practicing without training wheels for a couple weeks. Lee would take them off, let him ride a bit, and then put the training wheels back on. Well, one morning, Grant went out to ride his bike, and the training wheels were off. Lee wasn't home, so I told Grant he'd have to wait for me to come out and help him get started (he needed a push to start riding). Well, a few minutes later, I saw him driving by the window. He had figured out how to start by himself. That day, he just kept getting better and better, so we never put the training wheels back on!

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Grant...birth to age FOUR!

Ok, I know some of you having been waiting A LONG time for these pictures (Aunt Heather) or any update at all (grandmas)! We've been BUSY, and I'll explain all of that later, but here are Grant's tree pictures!