Really Reading!

A couple months ago, I was trying to help Sage learn to read. I thought he had the hang of it. But, then I realized he was just memorizing the pattern. So, today, I brought home some new Level A books from school. Sage and Kai were so excited about the new books, they wanted to read them all. We read several. Or, I should say, Sage read several! In just a couple months Sage has started reading! Obviously, being a reading teacher at heart, I am thrilled!!!  Kai did a nice job too - he has figured out one-to-one correspondence and uses picture clues. Check back for videos!

We're Going to Disney World!!!

Grandma and PaPa are taking the whole Cline/Kelly family to Disney World this summer!  Here are some photos and video of us telling the kids about the trip.

The Boys Are Back In Town!

Here we are at our first Cardinals game of the season! 

Back to Nature

My brothers and I spent most of our childhood outdoors.  We played outside from sun up to sun down.  We also spent many weekends and summers hiking through the local and state parks.  I'd love for Sage and Kai to enjoy nature as much as I do.  So, we spent a recent Friday exploring a state park.  We went to Mastodon State Park because Sage and Kai have been really into the movie "Ice Age" lately.  They asked to see a woolly mammoth and I thought a mastodon skeleton was a close as we could get.  We had a blast seeing the mastodon skeleton, picnicking in the park, and playing in the creek.  We also captured some really great photos on a beautiful day!

It's Open!!!

The boys and I were SO excited for opening day of the Children's Garden at the Botanical Gardens.  Here we are enjoying the day.

Hoppy Easter!

Look at all the eggs they collected at their school egg hunt!

Show us your eggs!

Uh oh!  There goes Kai's eggs...

and there goes Charlotte's eggs...

and there goes Ella's eggs!

Stop Fighting!

Any parent with more than one child knows that siblings argue.  As a parent with two boys less than a year apart, I know that siblings argue...A LOT.   After a recent looooong weekend, the boys were arguing incessantly and everything felt like a competition.  In an effort to help Sage and Kai realize that it can be fun to play together and not always compete, I tied them together - literally.  Surprisingly, the boys loved it and had a blast doing everything as a team.  I would've called my idea a success...if only their attitude change had lasted longer than 30 minutes.

Spring Break 2013

Spring break 2013 was marked by a roller coaster of weather typical of St. Louis in the spring.  We started with 75 degrees and sunny and enjoyed a day at the zoo.  As the week went on, the weather grew colder and colder (as evidenced by the additional layers of clothing seen in the pictures below).  Despite the cold, we had a great time at the Botanical Gardens, a field trip with Kai's preschool class to the Dental Health Theater, a first time trip to Purina Farms (HIGHLY recommended), and a roller skating party.  We ended the week with an extra day of spring break and 12.5 inches of snow!

tromping around in 12.5 inches of snow