Kamy was super sweet this month. She wanted to pick out a birthday gift for me. We told her she could spend $10 and anything over that she needed to pay for. She picked out an angel necklace and paid $15 of her own money. I made a point of wearing it a couple times this month to show her how much I appreciated her picking out something special for me.
We started swim lessons! The local school district has an outdoor heated pool and we have been doing lessons with the swim coach’s wife twice a week. She offers affordable private lessons, so each kid gets to spend 30 minutes in the water with her. The biggest downside is January has been COLD! The pool is heated, and it is supposed to be 83*, but it was definitely chilly when you add in the windchill. Both kids use a swim cap to help keep them warmer in the water and they are usually pretty chilled by the end of the lesson. When it’s time to change, they go stand under the hand dryers in the bathroom to warm up!
Kamy was very anxious about putting her head in the water and gets herself worked up if she doesn’t want to do something. Mrs K is doing a great job working with Kamy and helping her gain confidence. Kamy wants Caden to go first all the time so she can postpone her lesson and see what she may have to do that day. I am already seeing improvement — she is getting better and has more confidence in the water!
Kamy moved up to level 3 in gymnastics. It took a bit of shuffling to get her in the right class time, but both kids now have gymnastics at concurrent times each week. Level 3 is definitely harder for her; most girls have been in the class since September, so she feels a little behind. Kamy loves to compete though and the other girls are supportive and encouraging.
We each took a kid on a one on one weekend this month too! I took Kamy and we spent a fun weekend in Dallas. Our first stop was Sam Moon — the mecca of shiny and sparkle. She had a budget of $25 and bought a gold purse, butterfly necklace, gold ring, and two headbands. Kamy loves bling!
After Sam Moon, I took her ice skating at the Galleria! Ever since our first trip to NYC, Kamy has expressed an interest in ice skating, so I finally made it happen. She did great and had a lot of fun! We spent more than two hours on the ice and my feet were killing me by the end.
Next we grabbed lunch at Panera Bread and drove up to Frisco to ride the carousel at Stonebriar Mall. She rode it three times!
From there we went to a local playground for a bit before having dinner at Kenny’s Italian Kitchen in Addison. We spent the night in North Dallas at an AirBNB that worked out great. Sunday morning went to Dallas World Aquarium and the Perot Museum before driving home. Kamy took her camera to the DWA and loved taking photos of the animals.
The trampoline has continued to be a big hit. The kids were jumping on the trampoline despite it being 42* with a wind chill of 37*! Kamy was wearing a summer short sleeve dress, fleece jacket, hat, scarf, and socks. And no pants. Brrrrrrrr! I guess she kept herself warm with all that jumping.
It’s been fairly rainy this month too, so when they aren’t jumping on the trampoline, they found a puddle and mud to splash in. Clearly bicycle helmets were required for puddles!
School keeps rolling along. Kamy finished up the second grade math curriculum! I love how homeschooling allows us the freedom to skip ahead or refocus on different subjects as needed. Math just makes sense to Kamy, so it is fun to watch her pick up new topics and master new skills. In science we are working on the animal kingdoms and some of the less familiar animal groups. We’re still learning about Ancient Egypt in history and we started reading Poppy for our literature study.
The kids are also working on a Valentines card exchange with other homeschoolers, so they are creating cards and we’re counting that as our writing practice. =)