Kyla's Art Classes

Kyla's second session of art classes just ended last week and we have now signed her up for another session for the summer. In the first session Kyla got to do finger/foot paintings, collages, modeling clay and chalk. Kyla enjoyed the art projects and we decided to sign her up for a second session. In the second session she had a new teacher named Alex who had some really fun ideas of art projects for them to do. There were five kids in the class and they meet once a week for just half an hour.

On the first day of class grandma came with us and we made scrapbooks with family pictures. Kyla made a cute little scrapbook with pictures of all of our family, ribbon, bows, cotton balls and more. She was very interested in using scissors at art class too. In the other classes we made a crown, finger puppets, Mothers Day Card, did an art project with dyed rice, made bread dough into shapes to bake, made animals after different shapes of construction paper and much more.

The next session that Kyla starts next week is a painting class and for four weeks they will use different types of paints each time. Kyla absolutely loves painting so it shoud be a lot of fun. I think this upcoming session will probably be her last since she will begin pre-school in the fall and I'm sure will do plenty of art there. div>

Kyla and Daddy

We went to the park to fly a kite one night, but Kyla was more interested in playing at the park while Daddy flew her kite.

Silly Daddy and Daughter!

Kyla and Daddy sound asleep on the couch


Just a few pictures of Kyla and Jon from this past week.

Kyla's Sandbox

Grandma and Grandpa built Kyla a sandbox the other day at their house. Kyla was very excited to get a sandbox. We had talked about a few days earlier and the next day Kyla said she had a dream that Papa built her a sandbox. I asked her about her dream and her sandbox and she said that it was a circle sandbox. I told her that I didn't think she would be getting a round sandbox. The next day I said something about Papa working and she got all excited and asked me if he was working on her sandbox. I said no he is just at work. The next day she did get her sandbox. She watched as Grandma and Papa cut the wood and screwed it together and then her and Papa stood in the back of his truck and shoveled in all the sand. She was very happy to have a sandbox and has lots of fun sand toys. She told Daddy she had a new sandbox and in a very excited voice she said "It's a square", so I guess she was not too dissapointed with it not being a circle.

She has had fun playing in her new sandbox, the first night she played in it from the outside sitting on a chair. But today she did sit right in the middle of it and was covered in sand while playing.

Fun in the Greenhouse

Planting Tomato Plants in the Greenhouse

Grandma's Little Helper

Playing in the Water Table

Watering the Plants in the Greenhouse

Filling up her watering can

Silly Girl

Warming up in the water table

Bathing Beauty!



Kyla has been having so much fun in Grandma's greenhouse this spring. She has had her water table in there for awhile and loves playing with it and all her water toys. She loves to play with her water squirting toys and also her watering cans. She fils up her watering cans and helps water all of the plants in the greenhouse. Kyla has also played in her little swimmimg pool in the greenhouse and blown bubbles. It has been nice to play in the greenhouse since it is still not too warm outside.

Happy Mothers Day!

We had a very nice Mothers Day! Kyla, My Mom, Jon and I all went to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center and saw all of the animals. Kyla really liked the bear cubs and had a good time. It was cold and windy so we drove around the park and just got out of the car to see the animals. Kyla thought she was so special because she was sitting in the front seat with me to look at some of the animals.

On the drive out to the Conservation Center we saw some Beluga Whales in the Inlet. After the Conservation Center we went to one of Kyla's favorite parks in Girdwood to play for a little while before brunch. We had a very good brunch at the Alyeska hotel and were all so full when we left. They had really good King crab eggs benedict and red velvet cupcakes and tons of other good stuff.

In art class yesterday Kyla made me a very pretty Mother's Day Card with hearts and butterflies on it. She also really wanted to buy me a tree for Mothers Day. She said "I want to get you a tree for Mothers Day and put it outside and then you can sit on the couch and look out the window to see if it is pretty or not." Instead of an outdoor tree she ended up getting me some new indoor plants, We were too worried about a moose coming by and eating all the branches off a little tree if we had it outside.

Gymnastics

It's hard to get good pictures of Kyla at Gymnastics because you can't use a flash, so I just took these using my phone.


Kyla absolutely loves her gymnastics class. It is only once a week for an hour, but she talks about it all week and sings her gymnastics song everyday! She has such a great time each day that we are at class and is getting better and better and gymnastics every class as well. It is hard to believe how much she has learned since January and how much more strength she has now. Her favorite things to do at gymnastics are the high bars and the high beams. She can walk across the regular balance beam without help and can walk across the hign beam by herself as long as you are holding her hand to catch her in case she falls. On the high bars Kyla can jump from the mat and grab onto the bar and then swing and land on her feet. She is very strong and can really grip onto the bars good. She also is learning how to spin around on the bars.

Kyla also loves all of the routines and activities they do on the mat. She is great at doing tuck and rolls (somersaults), straddle rolls and backwards rolls. She can almost completely do the splits and she loves all kinds of jumping activities (jumping and spinning, jumping in a tuck...). She also learning how to do handstands and cartwheels, at her age they learn basically how to do a handstand by doing a donkey kick with their head on the mat and cartwheels by putting their hands on a mat while jumping over it.

Her class ends in two weeks and then she will start the summer session. She is going to have busy Saturdays this summer, she will have gymnastics at 9 a.m. and a painting class at 10:30 a.m.

Easter Sunday

Helping Grandma make Easter Egg Rice Krispie Treats

Decorating Easter Eggs with Grandma

Yummy Chocolate Bunny

We started out Easter by going to Alyeska Ski Resort for another egg hunt. It was a little rainy, but not too bad out. We met Kyla's friend Eli there for the egg hunt and the two of them probably ended up with more eggs than any other kids in their age group. They did not want to leave the toddler egg hunt area so they stuck around and made sure that they found every last egg that was hidden. The egg hunt was in a very small area and there were a ton of kids there, not quite as good as the egg hunt the day before, but Kyla had a great time anyway!

After the egg hunt we wemt to Grandma's house to find more Easter Eggs and another Easter Basket. Her easter basket had a Dora watering can, shovel and rake in it. It also had a stuffed animal bunny, cars and more candy in it. Kyla had a very cute Easter Dress to wear but unfortunately it was a little too small and uncomfortable so she did not last long in it.

We next went to Great Grandma Elsie and Great Grandpa Dave's house for a big Easter Brunch. We had a great meal and got to visit with a lot of family. Kyla got to go on another easter egg hunt (her 5th) outside finding eggs first at Great Grandma's house and then following the path of eggs across the road to Aunt Carols backyard. Kyla also got a basket full of goodies from Aunt Lynn. Kyla got another chocolate bunny, books, glitter glue, stickers, bubbles and lots of other snacks and fun stuff. Kyla was very spoiled this Easter and received tons and tons of presents and candy.