Fest of Tails 2013

When our garage sale got postponed, we decided to check out the Fest of Tails, which was a kite festival and dog parade all in one.  We packed a lunch and met up with the Zimmers and O'Herns for a fun morning!  The weather was perfect for kite-flying!  Poppy was obsessed with the dogs!  We would be walking along and then have to go back for her because she had turned off to chase a puppy!

Lots of kites.

 The boys quickly got to work making their own paper kites.

 I was unsure if they would actually fly, but they did!
Lachlan had to take a break from flying.  It's hard work!

 She made one too and tried hard to make it fly.

 Still tired of flying kites, Lachlan decided to dance instead.

 Reef and Ethan flying their kites together.  Love that they are best friends!

Somehow I didn't get any pictures of the dogs!  The parade was disappointing, but we saw plenty of dogs before that.  Each boy wants a different kind:  Reef wants a doberman, Jonas wants a golden doodle, and Lachlan wants one in an elephant costume.  So if anyone knows someone with a doberman-golden doodle mix and a doggy elephant costume, be sure to call me!

Spring Break 2013, pt 2

Aunt Taylor brought her whole family to visit for the second part of spring break.  It went fast, but we had a good time!

We spend the morning at the park.

Lila and Poppy enjoyed a turn on the swings together.

 And so did Jacob and Jonas!

 We enjoyed dinner together that evening and spent time at the house the next day before they headed back home.
We attempted a pic of all the cousins.  This is the best we got:

 Perhaps the slide idea was too ambitious?
The loquat tree began getting fruit during spring break. While it wasn't quite ripe yet, the boys spent several hours up in the tree in hopes of finding a good one.
Where's Jonas?

 3 little monkeys!  Poppy has been seen recently trying to copy them!

 

We truly enjoyed Spring Break this year, and the break it gave us from school and other stuff!  We topped it off with the Fest of Tails. Stay tuned for that post!

Reading Eggs Review

Several of my friends with pre-kindergarteners have been talking about teaching their kids to read.  I shared with them a program that was a lifesaver with Reef: readingeggs.com. 

Reading Eggs is a phonics and sight word program with 120 lessons to work through, including tests after every 10 lessons.  As the child completes mini-lessons within each lesson, he earns eggs to spend on games and avatar accessories later.  At the end of each lesson, an egg hatches and reveals what creature the child has earned, usually a funny combination of 2 animals beginning with the same letter.  This program worked wonders for Reef when we hit a major roadblock to his reading, and we've already started Jonas on it.
Reading Eggs retails for $75 for a 12-month subscription or $49.95 for a 6-month subscription.  If you add a second child, his subscription would be 1/2 off.  The company also sends renewal coupons as your expiration approaches. 
The Reading Eggs company also offers several learning apps and a program called Reading Eggspress for older readers (it is included for free with your readingeggs.com subscription).  A math program call Apple Seeds is in the works, and we're pretty excited to give that a try too.

This is Jonas doing his lesson.  Lachlan (age 3) likes to watch, and I can tell he is picking up some stuff already!  Even Poppy (age 22 months) was repeating the words and letter sounds today!

How we've used the program:  Reef did one lesson daily in Kindergarten until he finished the 120 lessons.  He also got to spend about 20 minutes "buying" games with his eggs.  Jonas is working the program now.  He gets to do a lesson after reading a Bob book with me about 3 times a week.  We will increase to daily in the fall when we start "real" kindergarten.  He just discovered the games today and is super-excited!
Reef has also done a little bit in the Reading Eggspress section for older readers.  He still finds this area a little difficult.  The "books" to read are pretty long for reading on the computer screen, and most of the games are a little over his head still.  We will probably give it another go in 2nd grade.

Pros: This program is really fun and has worked so well for our family.  It's simple enough that even Jonas (in pre-k) can work the program without much assistance from me.  It works!  The game incentives are enough to keep my kids trying when it gets tough.

Cons:  There really aren't many for this program, in my opinion!  $75 for the year seems a little much, but for us, it has been totally worth it.  I wish there wasn't such a gap between the end of the Reading Eggs program and the Reading Eggspress program, too.

I would (and have!) recommend this to my friends, and  my 2 boys have given it 2 thumbs up!

Spring Break 2013

To celebrate Daddy's return from Survivor and the beginning of Spring Break, we decided on a picnic at the park with pizza.  These guys love their pizza!

 There were lots of bees in the picnic area and the playground was crazy crowded, so we headed on a hike.

 On Monday, we met the Zimmers and Torres's at a semi-new park. 
Jacob and Poppy in the plane.

 Lachlan and Liam.  He was very proud of himself at trying these stepping stones on his own.

 Climbing.  Someone thinks she is as big as her brothers.

 Jonas and Isaiah.  So cute!

 Ice cream and Spring Break go hand in hand in our family!

We had a great first half of the week!  Stay tuned for Aunt Taylor's visit in the second half of the week!

Survivor 2013

To wrap a week of Spring Break fun, Mommy headed off to join Daddy at the annual Survivor retreat.  This was year #8 for this retreat and a highlight for the youth group.  I am so thankful that the Chapmans and Andersons tag-teamed watching our kids so that I could go too!  For both nights!

The kids arrived late Friday night and were up bright and early on Saturday.  The group was a little smaller than usual, but they were ready to play.

 My job was to follow this team, the Rad Pentads.  They were a fun group.

 Loved this game.  Just like on the show, they had to launch balls at those boxes, going for a tic-tac-toe.

 The obstacle course this year rocked.

 More than one kid took a swim in that cold water, but they were good sports about it.

 For lunch, Phillip taught the kids how to cook on the type of stove many people use in the African villages where his family is relocating.

 The Wheel of Grossness always causes some gagging...and vomiting...

 Last year only a few kids got a chance to shoot; so this year the guys planned several shooting rotations for them.  It was a big hit!  Even I got to shoot a gun! 

 They brought back one of my favorite events:  the cross build and carry.  The last time was four years ago, so none of these kids has ever done this event.  It wasn't a race, which made it a good time for them to reflect on Jesus's moments carrying that cross.

 They erected the crosses on the top of a big hill and spent some time just looking at them and reflecting.

That night we had a campfire devotional, another favorite part of the weekend.  I was so glad to spend the weekend with these kids and can't wait till next year!

Meanwhile, the kids were spoiled by the Chapmans.  Who doesn't love book time with Mr. Mark?

 AND a trip to Chuck E. Cheese with the Andersons!  They still talk about it everytime we drive by!

Morgan's Wonderland

While the daddies were at Survivor, Erin, Sara, and I headed to Morgan's Wonderland for a mom's group meeting.  The cool thing about this meeting is that it was only $15 for all 5 in my family!  That's a savings of $30!

A quick group pic.  I'll take what I can get with that many kiddos in the picture.

 After a quick Easter craft, it was time for playing!
Lachlan loved this big rock.

 Reef acted like he fishes everyday, but nothing was biting.

 These guys played so well together!

 The much anticipated Jeep ride.  I have pictures of my kids too, but none as good as this one!

 

Emily and Titus

 Then we were off to the carousel.  This girl hated her last ride on one of these but loved this one and threw a mega fit when it was over.

Then it was off to the train.  As the field trips rolled in, we wanted to hit everything that might get crowded soon.

After the train, it was sandbox time.  My kids could've spent the whole day here!

 She thought throwing sand was fabulous....

 Until she was sent to time out.  Is it bad that this picture cracks me up?

After the sand, we ate lunch, played on the playscape, and then visited the water table even though it was sooo cold.
What a great day we had and can't wait to go back!

Preschool Program 2013

March brought extreme busy-ness to the Gibbins house!  ISD party, Ladies Retreat, Survivor, Kite fest, Tulsa Workshop, and Easter all in one month! So, that's my excuse for being over a month behind on the blog!
Since there are no pictures of the party or ladies retreat, I'll start with the week Troy was gone for Survivor.  That Thursday was Lachlan and Jonas's school program.  They went with a spring program because of our church move in May.
They both did great during the group songs.

 Lachlan hung in there for the first part of his class's song...

 Then added his own moves...

 ... He wrapped up his performance by scratching his bum on the way off stage!

 

Jonas did his songs exactly by the book!

 Afterward, they enjoyed snacks in the hallway with Rachel and Larkin, who were kind enough to join us.  They boys were excited to see them in the audience!