Kalani is also pulling up. This is not exactly exciting news for Keona.

Belly Up!

Kalani is now crawling with his belly off the floor......and he's off to the races!

Soccer with 3 and 4 year olds....

Keona had his first soccer game. Our team "blue" henceforth known as the "Pirates" did a great job and scored many uncounted goals. Keona played for a few minutes, seemed to have fun, and then was inexpicably DONE. He loved practice where everyone had their own ball, but he doesn't like the game because there is only one ball to "share"! Go figure. However, mommy is the "coach", so we are in it for the duration. Go Pirates!

Ocean Joy

There once was a pirate, Big K
Who was celebrating his special day.
So they gave him a party
And called him “me hearty”
And wished him HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Keona has turned three. We celebrated with a Pirate bash, requested by my favorite pirate. So I made a treasure cake, wrote a story, and got everyone dressed up as pirates-- so we could go hunt for treasure. Arghhhhhhh!!!!!! Rumor has it....fun was had by all.

The Cake

The Gathering of Pirates

Before the following story was read, everyone put on pirate gear found in their party bags. It was the biggest gathering of pirates ever...at least on our Court!






Keona, the pirate, sprang out of bed with a big “ARGHHHHHH!”. He was excited about the day because it was his PIRATE birthday. He would be celebrating three years of being the biggest, meanest pirate around. In fact, he had such a fierce reputation that he was known far and wide as BIG K. He was one down and dirty pirate!

He didn’t know exactly what was going to happen, but he knew that it would be BIG (find pirate word). Big K got out of bed and went into his kitchen (galley). On the table he found a box that with his name on it. It was from one of his favorite Pirate friends, Camille. A card read….Happy Birthday, Big K. I hope that you and your first mate, Kalani will have a big adventure in these new clothes I made especially for you! Big K took out the clothes and put them on. They were fabulous. (stand up Keona) He knew that he could be really BIG AND MEAN in these clothes. He knew they were good clothes because his Uncle Bubba and his mates, Tony and Dana, had shown him how to dress like the fiercest pirate around.

He showed the clothes to Kalani, his first mate, who also put them on and smiled a big toothless smile. Kalani was mean, too. He was so mean, someone had knocked out all his teeth!

Next Big K saw that someone had pushed an envelope under his door. He picked it up and opened it. It was a TREASURE MAP. (SHOW MAP) “Arghhhhhhh!” he yelled excitedly. “I knew it was going to be a great day.” He looked at his first mate and said, “Ahoy Matey! Let’s go on a treasure hunt”. Me Nana and Papa have slipped me the treasure map that hides the greatest treasure of all time. Let’s call our friend Maddie to help find it.”

Maddie was really excited about the treasure hunt. She had her hat, an eyepatch and a sword and she was ready to go. (show hat, sword, eyepatch) “I can’t wait to go,” she said. “But we should get some more friends to help us. I heard that some very fierce and mean pirates – Ashy, Matt-Matt, and Ryann –(STAND UP) are guarding that treasure and we will need many swashbucklers to get it away from them.” So Big K, Kalani, and Maddie went to find their friends.

Next door, Ivy, a very happy pirate, was counting her pieces of gold. (SHOWER CANDY) “Ahoy thar maties! Can I come too? I need some more doubloons to fill my treasure chest!” Big K said yes because he knew she was good at finding things.

Around the corner they found….Lydia, Elise, and Mason. They were playing princess but thought it would be fun to be pirates for the day. Big K was unsure, but pirate Ivy said “Princesses can be the fiercest pirates of all when they need to be!” Elise yelled “Arghhhh!” in agreement. And off they all went.

Further along they saw Tommy, Daniel, and Kenny. “Hello you scalliwags!” Kalani called. “We need your help to find some lost treasure!” “Well, Shiver our timbers!” they replied. “We didn’t think there were any pieces of eight left to find anywhere. Ayyyy!!! That makes us happy pirates. Can we use our swords to get the buried booty?” they asked. “Aye me hearties!” Keona exclaimed, “We will have to fight some of the biggest, meanest pirates around. Thar will be much fighting!”

They finally found the last of their pirate friends—Sydney, Hannah, Ashley, Rush and Selina--sharing big mugs of root beer under a tree. They were singing their favorite song, “Yo ho, ho and a frothy root beer!” “Ahoy thar maties! Where you be off to me hearties?” asked Sydney the smallest, but hardiest in the group. She was ready for an adventure! “We are going to fight the scalliwags who are hiding our treasure—we need a few more mates to help us. Do you want to come, me beauties?” asked Big K in his nicest voice. “Ay”, they said in unison. “We need to find some jewels for our collection and we want to have a sword fight!”

Now that we are all together, let’s go find the treasure!!!!! Arghhhhhh!!!!!

The Joy of Water....

On Labor day, the much anticipated World of Wonders opened at the Botanical Garden. There are many things to see and do there, but we'll have to go back to see them. The boys could not get enough of the water sprays!

Kalani Update

Kalani is on the move. Just today, he got his belly off the floor. And he is FAST and curious. He is discovering the joys of solids, though not as quickly as he would like. He continues to chortle away and just the other day, I "swear" he said MAMA...but CC swears it was DADDY.

September

It's hard to believe the summer is gone....and fall is upon us. Many of K1's little friends are starting preschool, so we are embarking on the journey ourselves. Not a whole lot will change in what we "do", but we are beginning to make connections with other homeschoolers in the area.
On September 22, we'll be joining a group for a tour of Rowena's, a local bakery. We have also connected with another family in Virginia Beach whose children are also just starting the homeschooling journey. We look forward to spending some more time with them.
We will be spending a lot of time this fall in the Botanical Garden exploring all the nature we can. They are also opening a children's garden which should add a lot of interest.
Keona will also be playing soccer and hopefully tennis. I grudgingly took on the task of coaching K's soccer team because they were short coaches. This will be quite a journey for me. I'm a little concerned about how Keona will "be" with me as coach, but I guess we'll take it as it comes.
We are also jumping into church. Keona will be signing up for Sunday school (which will give him some of that precious "socialization" that everyone worries he will miss by not going to preschool and (gasp!) public school. I will be teaching the first and second grade class -- which will be another first for me, too.
Kalani will be tagging along as much as he can and growing in his own ways. What a joy to see these two in action together. It is often just a big giggle fest! I am sure there are different waters ahead as K2 gets more assertive, but we will take it as it comes. LOL!