As a reward for a successful start to the school year we took Olivia to United Art & Education and allowed her to pick out something special. If you have never been to this store you must check it out, especially if you are a teacher or just have kids. There are tons of educational activities, art & crafts and great hands-on activities that are not only fun but great learning tools! Out of everything in the store Olivia chose "Ladybug Land".
Ladybug Land is a small container where you house and grow your own ladybugs while watching the growing process. I think Olivia was expecting for us to open the box and immediately see ladybugs. We were a little disappointed to learn that we first had to send away for our ladybug eggs. Inside of the box there was a certificate that we had to mail in requesting our larvae. For awhile each day she would ask if her ladybugs were here yet. After a few weeks we got a letter stating that the temps were currently too high for the ladybugs to be shipped and that they would send them to us as soon as the temps cooled down. This process required a great deal of patience on Olivia's part...something she is still working on. Just as Olivia was starting to forget about Ladybug Land her larvae arrived in the mail.
For about week the larva crawled around their dome. Olivia enjoyed checking on them every morning to see if they had turned into ladybugs. Finally the larva attached themselves to the top of the dome and started their final transition into the tiny red bugs Olivia loves so much! I have to admit that I may have been more interested in the whole process than she was at times, but it was pretty cool watching these bugs go through their life cycle. Soon all of the ladybugs started hatching and before we knew it we had about 12-15 ladybugs occupying Ladybug Land!
All Olivia could say was, "Awwww...they are SO cute!" She checked on them everyday and made sure they had enough water. We even cut up a few raisins for them to snack on, per the instructions. For the past few weeks the ladybugs have run around their "land" and have captured Olivia's interest.
Once it was warm enough outside we decided it was time to start letting some of them go. We started with one each day. Olivia did not want to say goodbye to all of them at once, which I understood. She insisted that each ladybug crawl up and down her arm a bit before transferring it onto a leaf. We would then say goodbye to each ladybug by saying, "ladybug, ladybug fly away home". I thought she would have a hard time letting her little bugs go, but she seems to enjoy setting them free in the "wild'.
We only have about 6 ladybugs left and we will be letting them go this week. They can only live for so long inside "Ladybug Land" and we want to make sure they can enjoy some outdoor time before the temps cool off for good. This has been a fun and educational activity for Olivia and I am sure we will do it again next Spring.
We are in full Halloween prep mode around here lately. Olivia is super excited about her costume, which is close to complete. But you will have to wait until my Halloween post to catch a peek. We did make our annual trip to the Good Shepherd Pumpkin Patch recently, which we have done every year with Olivia.
We always pick out our small pumpkins at this patch. I love it because they call their small pumpkins "spookies" and "wee-be-littles". They are the perfect size for Olivia's tiny hands and she loves having the responsibility of picking out her own pumpkins. This one of our fun little family traditions and it is hard to believe this is our fourth visit.
There is a ton more fall family fun to come. Just wait till you see Ms. Olivia in her Halloween costume! I thought her crayon costume from last year was cute, but just you wait. And in less than a month Olivia will be turning four! Ugh...my baby is no longer a baby! We have a nice friends and family birthday bash planned for her. This is a busy time of year for us, but it is also one of my favorite times of the year! So much going on!
The coaches of the program were the best! Olivia loved all 3 of them. They worked so well with the little ones and made sure that they had the best time. Each time we arrived at class she always greeted them each with a huge hug and she never left before telling them thank you. Here is Olivia with Coach Amanda, Coach Caitlyn and her favorite, Coach Yahya!
Olivia loves Ms. Laura and was thrilled to be able to spend the day with her. They were able to see many of the animals up close and personal which has now become a regular occurrence for Olivia. Kellie made sure they saw everything that day! One of Olivia's favorite animals is Johnny the Camel. He is a very gentle animal and one of the highlights at the park. We found out just a few weeks ago that Johnny had to be put down due to health issues. We were all sad to hear the news but Olivia was so happy that she was able to see him once more. Throughout the day Olivia was able to feed many different animals, including a large black bear named "Ben". Olivia and Ms. Laura had so much fun that day that they decided to make it a class field trip this year. Kellie told Olivia that she could be director for the day and help show the kids around since she has been to the park a few times already. She is thrilled about that idea and cannot wait for that field trip!
Taking trips to watch our local baseball team (
Now she is deathly afraid of the team mascot, Johnny TinCap. So much so that we have to watch very carefully to make sure she does not come into direct contact with him while we are in the stadium. She loves him from a distance but she is still harboring her intense fear of mascots so I try keep it a pleasant experience for her. Since she has no interest in having her picture taken with him like most kids do we settled for a picture with the giant Johnny bobble head statue. Olivia does not have much interest in the game itself but still finds a way to use up all of the time walking around the stadium, playing games, having snacks and visiting the TinCap store. 
She was most excited about the last game we attended because she earned a free ticket by completing the summer reading program with us this summer. Once she ticket came in the mail she could not wait to go to "her TinCap game". The field trip was the "school TinCap game", the one for Todd's reunion was "Daddy's TinCap game" and the one for my company picnic was of course "Mommy's TinCap game". She was most excited about her game, probably because she earned it. My Uncle was in town visiting and he came with us. Olivia got a megaphone as her reward for the summer reading program and a free meal that night. She also got her face painted and played numerous games. It was the perfect night for a ballgame and fun was had by all! The TinCaps season is over now, but we can't wait to go to more games next year! Seems to be one of Olivia's new favorite summer activities!
Like most summers we made many trips to the zoo. We love having the zoo pass because it allows us to come and go as we please and not feel like we are wasting money because weonot stay long enough. I cannot tell you how many times we have gone. Olivia loves for us to take her to the zoo but she was pretty excited when her cousin Eric and his girlfriend Jackie offered to take her. She loves spending time with them and they are so good with her. I gotta hand it to my teenage nephew. He actually goes out of his way to spend time with his 3 year old cousin. He offers to take her places and spend time with her, and she loves it! 
As the summer started to wind down and the pools started to close we were looking for a way for Olivia to cool off on one of late summer hot days. She loves visiting the splash pads around town so a late afternoon trip to the park was the perfect fix. A little time splashing around in the fountains followed by some time on the playground, and Olivia was one happy girl. While she was climbing and running through the playground she ran into one of her little friends from soccer. The two of them had a great time using their imaginations and going on "adventures" together. She was sad to say good-bye but hopes to see her friend at soccer again next summer.
So as I mentioned at the start of this post, last month Olivia started her 3rd year at Three Rivers Montessori School. This is her second year in the 3-6 classroom and with her teacher, Ms. Laura. Over the summer our school merged with another montessori school in town. This allowed our school to grow and it also brought many new teachers to our already wonderful staff. Olivia has a new secondary teacher in her classroom this year, Ms. Julia...and of course she fell in love with her from the start. To kick off the school year the teachers held a class picnic the Friday before they headed back to class. This gave the kids a chance to meet their new classmates as well as their new teacher, Ms. Julia. Of course a handful of the kids from last year returned which made Olivia very happy. And no big surprise here but she quickly made new friends as well...a skill that comes quite easily for Olivia.
With the class picnic out of the way the stage was set for the start of another great year at Three Rivers. Olivia was super excited to get back into the classroom but even more so, she was excited to show off her new ladybug backpack! When we asked Olivia what kind of backpack she wanted this year she immediatley said, "ladybug!". My Mom was kind enough to get her this adorable backpack to kick off the new school year. The ladybug on the backpack even came with a name, "JuJu". This is currently Olivia's prize possession and she treats it like one of her friends.
She headed off to her first day of school with the biggest smile on her face, just excited to kick off the new year. I really hope her love for school and learning stays with her over the years. In just over one month she has already started the beginning stages of reading. Her teachers are working with her on C-V-C words. Ok, come on...know what that means? I must admit it took me awhile but I finally figured out it meant, consonant-vowel-consonant. She is learning to sound out each letter and put the word together and she is doing a great job! I can only imagine what she will have learned by the end of the school year if this is what she has accomplished in the first month!
