E

“E”-day was an unplanned, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of day. We decided at the last minute to take advantage of the long holiday weekend and take a drive up north. I was going to hold off on “E”-day until we got back but decided to be open to what we would find. Plus, the kids didn’t want to wait.

We started off with hard-boiled eggs for breakfast… a great “E” breakfast.

And on the way back to our hotel room the kids found an elevator.

Karin was playing pee-a-boo with Braelyn after breakfast so I asked the kids if they knew any parts of the body that started with an “E”. They came up with elbow, ears and eyes.

Since we did not bring any “E” books with us on our weekend trip we decided to stop by the local
library. Caleb and I searched for a while but couldn’t find any books beginning with an “E”. So, I explained to the librarian that we were learning about the letter “E” and were trying to find books that started with this letter. She looked at me like I had two heads and said she couldn’t think of any books that started with that letter. As she was trying to think of how to help me find “E” books Caleb came walking over with four books that started with an “E”. I had to chuckle a little at that. As we walked away from the desk the librarian said, “That’s a neat idea”... good cover. The books we found were Each Peach Pear Plum, Ella, Eight Animals Bake a Cake and Elephants. We sat on a large reading mat on the floor and read our books.

After we finished our books, Caleb wanted to read by himself and found the perfect chair for our “E”-day adventure… an egg shaped chair.

Karin found the computers with children’s games and sat down to play. And guess what game she found? An Elmo coloring game… there were “E’s” everywhere.

Next, we headed down the street to Lake Michigan. When we got there we found the perfect “E”-day event. We stumbled upon the annual Emergency Services program that Parks and Recreation hosts every year for the local school children. Set up along the boardwalk we found a fire engine, a police mobile command center, a weather van, a Coast Guard rescue boat, a Sherrif's van, and two EMS vehicles along with a station for students to learn and practice CPR. The lifeguards also talked about water safety. They made a point of saying that when a red flag is flying it is not merely a suggestion to stay out of the water; it is a rule to be followed. The kids loved climbing on the different vehicles and meeting the different local heroes. They also liked the candy, pencils, and stickers they received.

Caleb took this picture and got an honorary EMS badge.

We stopped by a store on the way to the hotel and Dale/Daddy dropped me off at the door. He and the kids circled the parking lot and eventually parked. Caleb asked his Daddy what the big “G” was on the sign in the parking lot. His daddy told him that it was the label for the section of the parking lot so that you would know where you parked when you came out of the store. Caleb said, “We should park in the E section since it is E day.” Daddy looked up and, what do you know, they were in the “E” section.

We found a lot of “E’s” today even when we weren’t looking for them. It was a really fun day!

And here is Caleb with our sign of the day…

D

The other day we learned about the letter “D”.

We started out the morning with the best “D” breakfast… donuts. Karin and Caleb love chocolate donuts with sprinkles and Braelyn enjoyed a blueberry donut. YUM!!

After breakfast Caleb and Karin played Don’t Spill the Beans. They had fun seeing who could make the beans fall first. We had to put the game up when the baby tried to eat the beans.

Next, we read some of our “D” books. We read Dinosaur Counting and Don’t Wake Up The Bear. Braelyn grabbed a dinosaur while we were reading. I guess she wanted to learn her letters, too.

For Caleb’s birthday this year he got a DS and he said he had to play with it today since DS started with our letter of the day. Karin grabbed her dog and got in on the picture.

Our big plan for the day was to drive over to Daddy’s jobsite at the Dam (just look how many “D’s” were in that sentence). This drive takes about an hour so we decided to look for “D’s” along the way. On our drive we counted 6 dogs and 4 deer. We also passed some ducks at the park but we weren’t able to count how many were there. We also looked for road signs with “D.” We found several at Daddy’s job site: Do Not Enter, Danger. Once we got to the jobsite Caleb and Karin drew on the whiteboard in his office and then went outside and looked at the men in the field building the dam. They got to see all the cranes and field equipment. I think they would have been happy staying there watching all day.

Getting ready for our drive

Karin drawing

Caleb drawing

After we left Daddy’s work the kids watched a DVD in the car. This was Caleb’s idea. He said, “It starts with a “D”, Mom.” At this point it was getting late so we decided to stop for dinner. And dessert.

Our plan was to go to the Discovery Playhouse but we ran out of time. I promised the kids we would go a different day and see how many letters we could find there.

Okay, I know we had dessert with dinner but Caleb reminded me all day that Dairy Queen started with a “D”. We couldn’t possibly end the day without a treat from DQ. So, before bed, we went and got some ice cream at Dairy Queen.

And who could forget our sign for the day?

Since I knew our drive to see Daddy would be a big part of our day I didn’t plan too much more. Funny how we were able to fill our day with “D’s” nonetheless.

C

Yesterday was “C” day. Knowing the workmen would be here again to finish up the basement I planned on activities we could do around the house. I also knew the weather was going to be bad and didn’t want to be away from the house when it hit.

One funny thing happened in the morning as we were settling into our day. One of the workmen who was at the house yesterday came over rather sheepishly and asked, “Is today “C” day?” When I told him it was he asked if we were going to bake more cookies today. He said, “I know you baked yesterday for "B" day but I thought you could make cookies for “C” day.” That made me smile.

We started the day playing “C” games. Caleb and Karin assembled a large construction site puzzle on the floor. They then showed the completed puzzle to the workmen who gave them a thumbs-up.

Next, they played Cooties, Candy Land, and checkers (well, almost… we couldn’t find the checker mat just the checkers).

We then got out Caleb’s cars and race tracks. We drew a track on an empty cardboard box and the kids raced the cars around the track. They actually preferred crashing the cars into each other then sitting back and laughing. This lasted until a little finger got smashed and we needed to switch gears.

I found a large empty box in the attic and we turned the box into a car. We taped a cardboard steering wheel into the front of the box and the kids decorated the rest of the box with another “C” word… crayons. They drew tires, a brake, a speedometer, and a radio. Somehow the car managed to also turn into a bed, a dog house, an army fort, and a boat before they were done with it.

I then had the two older kids make some thank you cards. We thought it would be nice to give thank you cards to people around town with whom we interact as we are learning our letters. They used a variety of “thank you” rubber stamps as well as some stamps with fun pictures on them. After this activity we had to clean (yep, another ‘C”).

After putting away everything from the cards we started preparing for lunch. One of our wonderful neighbors brought over a cheese pizza the day before and, what do you know, cheese starts with a “C”. As we were waiting for lunch to cook the kids and I made chocolate covered pretzels. We melted chocolate bark in the microwave and then dipped some pretzels sticks into the chocolate. We set them on wax paper to cool and set. By the time we were done with our pizza we were ready for our treat. We also got to work on our “C” word (clean) again.

Before the kids went up for quiet time they got out their cameras and took pictures of “C” words around the house.

Caleb's picture of Karin's camera

Caleb's picture of a car

Caleb's picture of the couch

Karin's picture of Caleb

Karin's picture of candy

Karin's picture of the couch

After Daddy got home from work, Karin read with him and I read with Caleb. We read several “C” books: Click Clack Moo Cows That Type, Colors, Count Your Blessings, Clifford’s Busy Week, and Cars. Caleb also taught us the sign for “C.”

As a special bonus, after the big rain last night, we looked outside and saw a great big, beautiful, rainbow of color stretched across the sky. It was another great day.