Horsing Around

Well I am embarrassed... this blog has been quite neglected (as I wipe the dust and cobwebs away).  Today was a big day in Flynnanigan Shenanigans news.  Holly and Heidi had a big horse show! Holly has been taking lessons since October 2012 and Heidi since August 2013.  Today their hard work came together.  Heidi was debuted in lead line and Holly was debuted in 4 solo events for walk-trot events.  Both girls cleaned up in the ribbon department and WOW are we proud to have one blue, 2 yellow (3rd place) and 2 green (sixth place) ribbons adorn our walls.

Heidi was the belle of the ball by opening the kiddo events with the lead line.  The judge asked questions and Heidi trotted, walked, and halted while on the lead line. Not too shabby for a 4 year old!  Holly got to be a ribbon presenter to her sister and Heidi beamed! She is poised and determined.  She has such a connection to animals and being on top of her buddy is a perfect setting for her in and out of the competition ring. I can't wait to see what this year brings for her equestrian growth.

Heidi being asked questions by a judge.

Heidi and Ms. Erica finishing the lead line event

Heidi getting a blue ribbon presented by Holly

Holly's Kindergarten Class has a motto, "We CAN do hard things!" and that is exactly what Holly displayed today and days past training for this moment.  She just floors us by her determination and and enthusiasm for the sport. She has been "dumped", "dropped" and fallen off close to a half of a dozen time and just jumps back into the saddle and presses on with no coaxing from anyone.  She and Itsy Bitsy have a special relationship and you can see that when they are in the ring together.  For a little 6 year old, she stays calm and collected when things don't go her way, like she experienced today when her partner in crime had to stop and take a bathroom break in the middle of an event (apparently judges don't think ponies should go potty during working hours).
The next event Holly and Itsy Bitsy made up for the impromptu potty break and came in at 3rd place! She was youngest by at least a year in her 4 events and cleaned up with two 6th place slots (judging on her polished ride) and two 3rd place slots (judging on how well her and her pony worked together)  -not bad for a kiddo that was up against 7,8,9, and up year olds!

Holly in Walk- Trot

Sixth Place!

Getting the scoop on Walk/Trot Polls with Ms. Erica before heading to the event.

Walk/trot polls

click the link for a video of Holly in the poll event where she took 3rd

http://youtu.be/Bv1Kkwqn2tw

Outside of me being a nervous wreck, I had a blast watching my kiddos relish in the fact that my kids have such an amazing opportunity to do such a rewarding sport, have the influence of a great trainer and pony and connect with something that teaches sportsmanship, responsibility,respect and compassion towards another living creature!

Home Schoolin' Hummin' Right Along . . .

We are humming along into our second month of trying out the pre-k homeschooling gig and I have to say we have been having a blast even with a sicky day due to me passing kidney stones again.

The girls get so excited when I announce to them that school day will be the next day as I tuck them into bed. 

 

We have been starting to get in the spirit of Halloween, but not without facing a new dilemma that Holly is terrified of all that is Halloween.  We realized that at our recent visits to Home Depot, Lowes, Target, and CVS.  They all have one form of scary ghoul among all the Halloween swag and that just did her in.  So the prospects that we will be trick-or-treating this Halloween may be quite slim...

 

Here is a little taste of what we have been up to these past couple weeks!

 

The girls kept asking "How long until Halloween?"  So I came up with this idea of filling a candy jar full of candy corns and decorated the jar to countdown the days until Halloween.  Everyday each girl gets to have two candy corns until they are gone and then it will be Halloween! Now if we can get Holly out to actually trick-or-treat. 



 

 

Nana Pat gave me these plastic colored teddy bears she used with her Special Ed students when she was teaching.  I use them for all types of activities and for this activity we were learning how to add different colored bears to equal a certain number.  

 Nana Pat made me up some sight word flash cards and Holly and I work on them each week.  She is amazing on her memory!  She not only can recognize the words we are working on, but can tell me the meaning of each word. 

 Heidi learning how to tell time.  I found these little time clocks at a local teaching store and the girls are starting to get to know their way around the face of a clock.

 Progress chart! The girls have so much fun putting on stickers to update their progress.  They know that once this whole chart is filled, a LEGOLAND trip will be in order!

 This week's craft.  Each girl had to glue all the foam pieces to make a butterfly and a fairy.  They loved this project!  I think them having carte blanche of the glue was their favorite part!

Heidi made the Butterfly and Holly made the Fairy!

 

Till next time!





Holly and Heidi Happenings!

I have to admit, I am not a fan of the idea of letting go of my kids and I know that Holly will be heading off to the big world of Kindergarten in less than a year so I just want to enjoy them as long as I have them all to myself . So. . . I decided to not send Holly to Pre-K this fall and table real Pre-K until January and do a mini Pre-K home school here two days a week with both girls.  This week is our THIRD week and I have to say it is soo much fun and the kids love it.

I was a tad bit nervous to do it at first, but after I pulled everything together, I structured a curriculum, crafts, and activities, they settled down.  Thanks to Costco and Target I found all my workbooks for under $25 for both kids!  It honestly took me a few hours one weekend to pull it together from scratch.  Granted I used some concepts from a Co-Op Pre-K we participated in last year to help with the day structure. Each week we are focusing on one letter of the alphabet and one number.  Using the letter from the alphabet I come up with a theme and base the story and craft around that.  We will begin to head to the library to check out books that work with that letter too.

I tend to be a craft hoarder and with the help of Pinterest, I manged to organize crafts with the supplies I have collected along the way with a minor additional shopping list to Michael's. 
I have developed a field trip schedule that we can do on the weekends with Daddy to bring him in on all their learning!

Holly is in dance once a week and Heidi is in gymnastics once a week, so they are getting that exposure to learning to be a part of a group and listening. 

Our day starts out at around 9 and ends at 11:30 and boy does the time fly!  Since Holly and Heidi are only 17-months apart, a lot of the activities we do are pretty equal and adapting to meet Holly's growth is easy. 

Here is our day:

Flag Pledge - yes a bit corny, but the kids love it and take turns on holding it each week

Calendar and songs

Center Activities (workbooks, activities that involve writing name, sight words, coloring and telling time) I got this amazing kid craft table at Costco a few years ago and it make a great area to do this and our crafts.

Story Time and Berenstain Bear Science Book (found on E-bay for $5).

Craft Time (their favorite time)

Here are some picture from the first two weeks.  I plan on blogging about this experience so the kids can have a snapshot of this amazing experience with each other and to share with family and close friends that want to follow this fun time in our life.

A is for Apple Week!  This week we painted and made applesauce from our tree.

 Weekly Chart where the girls get to place stickers on the items when complete.  Once filled, a very big and special trip to Lego Land will be in order!

 

Calendar Time

 



Had the girls write their names and draw faces on the first day of school as a marker for growth as they learn!  

I cut apples in two and had them "stamp paint" with them!

 

B is for Butterfly: This week we learned about how caterpillars turn into butterflies. We read the Very Hungry Caterpillar and made a caterpillar out of egg cartons and butterflies out of paper towel cores. We headed to the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History on Saturday to see the Butterfly Alive exhibit and played with both the butterflies and caterpillars with Daddy!

  

Heidi saying Hi to a caterpillar

 Holly saying Hi to a caterpillar



Butterfly Kisses! 

We had a map and the girls had to ID the butterflies.  They were really good at this game!

 Till next week and Hugs, Flynn and Co!

 

More Happenings Here at Flynn and Co

It has been busy and fun since our last post!  We have had birthday parties, a trip to Disneyland, first ballet recitals, and fun in the rain!

Heidi found a bowl to be the best hat option of the day!

 Ready to go out and run errands in the rain!

This is how we roll on rainy Sundays!

 Hot Coco in the playhouse on rainy days are sooo fun!

First  Ballet Recital! Holly was her favorite food group!  PIZZA!  Yes, I had to make the costume and loved every minute of it!

 Art time!

 Getting ready for a Princess themed birthday party - Heidi did not want to be a princess, she wanted to be Minnie Mouse!

 Playing Pretty, Pretty Princess with Grandma and Grandpa... Note:  Grandpa is wearing an earing! 

 Hello Kitty Party!  Happy 4th Birthday Holly!  This was a game I made called, "Pin the Bow on Hello Kitty!"

 In Grandma and Grandpa's RV ready for our VERY early mornign trek to Disneyland!

 Disney here we come... Note: Holly never left the lap of Grandma unless it was to get onto a ride. 

 Ariel Ride!

 Holly meeting Sleeping Beauty during our breakfast/lunch with the characters at Goofy's Kitchen!  She was princess struck!

 Meeting more Disney celebs!

 Holly and Grandma doing the "Twist" with the characters!

 Holly's favorite ride! Dumbo!

 Opening a package sent from cousins Trent and Zach!

 How did they know she wanted a sprinkler?  The cupcake kit was a big hit as well!