“Z” Day: For Z day we went to the Zoo and saw the zebras, and of course lots of other animals. We bought a membership to the Los Angeles Zoo in January and plan to try to visit the zoo about once a month at least this year. Since Z day landed on a day when we didn’t have a lot else planned, we spent the morning at the zoo with the Twichells. Perfect! We also thought of Z words zipper, zippy, zigzag, and zero. I made zucchini bread with chocolate chips figuring there was a lot better chance of the boys eating that than plain steamed zucchini, although I served that with dinner as well. As I expected, they barely looked at the steamed zucchini and declared they didn’t like it. Micah didn’t want to try the bread either, but Caleb ate some and loved it. He asked for more “sweet bread.”

So we made it through the alphabet. Micah wanted to start over again so I told him he is in charge of keeping track as to what letter day it is. Some days he remembers and talks about what letter day it is, and some days Caleb asks what the letter of the day is, but I am not too involved this time around. I put all their animal coloring pages into a report folder for each of them to have their own Animal Alphabet Book. They liked those and were excited to take their pencils and fill in some of the ones they hadn’t colored yet.

“U” Day: Our animal coloring page had a unicorn today. We unpacked our Easter decorations. We talked about uncles, umbrellas, underwear, undershirts, uniforms, unicycles, under, up, and upside-down. We baked a pineapple upside-down cake, but the boys wouldn’t try it. We had Uncrustables peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, but they didn’t want those either. Oh, well.

“V” Day: We made sure to eat our vitamins and vegetables today. I also made the boys vanilla milk. They said they liked it, but they didn’t drink very much. Later Caleb said he didn’t like it and wanted chocolate milk instead. We watched VeggieTales videos. When Daddy asked what we were going to do today, Mommy said, “Go on a vacation!” because that’s a V word, but we didn’t really. We just went to MOPs and baseball practice. We also thought of V words like victory, vehicle, van, Volkswagan, violin, vacuum, volcano, Vanessa, voice, vest, volleyball, vision, violet, Venezuela, visitor, veterinarian, and even a Spanish word we learned from Dora, vamanos.

“W” Day: For breakfast the boys had whole-wheat waffles with whipped cream. Wow! That’s a lot of Ws. We thought of W names of people, characters, and states: Will, Wyatt, Winnie, Wendy, Wall-E, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming, West Virginia. We noticed a lot of homonym W words like: wait/weight, where/wear, way/weigh, whine/wine, weather/whether, woe/whoa, waste/waist. We noticed lots of question words: why, when, where, who, what. We also thought of woodpecker, walrus, window, wheel, water, world, wild, whale, wave, whoosh, win, white, wiggly, worm, welcome, whip, well, wish, wonderful, wizard, wax, worship, whistle, wash, warp, warthog, worry, whirlpool, wet, while, WOW!

“X” Day: We have a kids video that talks about the “lonely letters” and we think X is probably the “loneliest”. There’s x-ray and xylophone, but that’s about all we know. So we tried to find things with X in it. We had Kix cereal for breakfast and trail mix for a snack. There’s Tex from Cars and Rex from Toy Story. We saw our friend Maddox at church today. We remembered X marks the spot and gave each other X’s and O’s before bedtime.

“N” Day: Caleb drank guava nectar for breakfast and for lunch Mom ate a nectarine and we all had Ramen noodle soup and Nutter Butter cookies for dessert. We ate nuts for a snack. We read books called “Noisy Puppy”, “Numbers”, and “The Nursery Quiet and Noisy Book”. We took naps, or at least Caleb did. We thought of our friends Nate, Noah, and 2 Nicholas’s. We thought of states: Nevada, Nebraska, North Dakota, North Carolina, New Mexico, New Jersey, New York, New Hampshire. More N word we though of: no, nest, nine, noon, nature, next, November, newspaper, newt, NoStall, nuts, nose, nails, nickel.

“O” Day: We ate oatmeal and drank orange juice for breakfast. Later Caleb had some olives and an oatmeal raisin granola bar for a snack. We spent some time outside blowing bubbles for the first day of spring and also at baseball practice. We also thought of orange, ocean, octopus, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, OK, onion, Owen, Oscar, Oliver, ostrich, owl, osprey, Oman, obedience. We sang the obedience song too.

“P” day: We ate Peanut Butter Panda Puffs cereal and pears for breakfast and had peach iced tea for dinner, which Caleb tried and really liked. We also had pinto beans with lunch and peanuts for a snack. Other p words were Padres, Pennsylvania, pitcher, president, Panama, Poland, Paige, Pascal.

“Q” Day: We thought of queen, quack, quilt, quiver, quarter, quick, quiet, and Quincy. We had quesadillas for lunch.

“R” Day: We ate raisins and red grapes and ravioli and Ramen noodle soup. Micah said he liked the cheese raviolis but Caleb didn’t. We went to Disney’s California Adventure for the morning and went on a ride, but not a rollercoaster. We thought of Disney names Radiator Springs and Ramone and Robin Hood and Randall (from Monsters Inc) and Rocket (from Little Einsteins). We passed a Red Robin restaurant on the drive down. We read a new book we got called “Meet the Cars”. Here are the pictures we took in front of the giant R in front of CA Adventure. We thought about friends Rocko, Riley, Ryan, Rebecca, Rachel. Other R words we thought of: reminder, railway, road, red, rose, rice, rooster, rhino, rabbit, raccoon, Rhode Island. We brought dinner to the Tabor family because they have a new baby named Rebecca!

“S” Day: We thought of lots of places starting with S including Saudi Arabia, Sweden, South Dakota, South Carolina, San Francisco, San Diego, Spain, Suriname. We thought of people we know with names starting with S like Sam, Sean, Sarah, Savannah, Scott, Steven, Shawna and names of Cars characters Sally, Sarge, and Sherriff. We went to Sears to pick up our portraits. We sang some silly songs in the car and saw many stop signs. We slept a little during naptime (except for Micah). We thought of Disney characters Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Sleepy, and Sneezy. Other S words we though of: Sesame Street, sunglasses, sunflower seeds, strawberries, slide, skip, soccer, sure, smart, say, sea. We splashed a bit at swim lessons. For dinner we ate soup and sundaes with a spoon, and also sandwiches and salad.

“L” Day: Today is St. Patrick’s Day and I was going to skip doing a letter today because I had other St. Patrick’s Day activities planned, but Micah sill wanted to do L today. It works out well since Leprechaun starts with L, and we had Lucky Charms cereal for breakfast. We tried to think of things that start with L and are green and thought of: Leprechaun, limes, limeade, leaves, lilypads, lollipops, lettuce. Other L words: limo, Lamborghini, line, lips, leg, Louisiana, Liberia, Laos, Luigi, lion, leopard, ladybug, list, love, listen, little, Larry. For St. Paddy’s Day we also found and picked a couple clovers on our walk, put some carnations in green and orange water to see them change color, made shamrock shape cookies with green sugar sprinkles, had shamrock shaped sandwiches, green milk, limeade, and rainbow fruit salad for lunch, had a hunt for gold coins (yellow cardstock circles) in the living room, and found the pot of gold/treasure (tissue box filled with toy bead necklaces, plastic coins, and chocolate coins) at the end of the (curling ribbon) rainbow. Books we have with L words: Micah at Legoland, Larry Learns to Listen, Little Einsteins, Ten Little Ladybugs, Lion King, I Love my Family. Songs we thought of with L words: Lollipop, Little Is Much, I Love my Lips. Some L dinner foods for today: lima beans, lettuce (salad), and lime Jello.

“H” Day: We had honeydew melon with breakfast and honey-nut granola bars for snack and hamburgers for lunch. We went to the “Happiest Place on Earth” and while we were driving there thought of lots of H words like hippo, horse, hay, hotel, heaven, happy, Hot Wheels, hat, head, heart, hair, hand, hips, Hawaii, Honda, hungry, Hungary. After the morning at California Adventure we met Grandma & Grandpa Yates for lunch in Downtown Disney and they took the boys home with them, so our Letter of the Day project was on hold for a couple days.

“I” Day: After the boys got home again, the next day was “I” day. The coloring pages had an iguana on them today. The boys have lost interest in coloring every day. Maybe if we use markers or colored pencils or watercolor paints instead of just crayons they will get into it again. We had ice cream for dessert after dinner. We thought of I words like igloo, island, In N Out, ice cubes, Icee, ice, icicle, Indiana, Iowa, Idaho, Illinois, ill, India, Iceland, Indonesia, ivy, iris, Israel, Ireland, and insect.

“J” Day: We drank juice and ate Jello and jerky today. The boys didn’t like the jerky, but at least they tasted it. Caleb jumped in the jumper. We thought of lots of J names like Joseph, James, John, Jillian, Jay-Jay, Jacob, Joshua, and Jesus. Other J words we thought of were jellyfish, jelly, jam, jacks, jet, jolly, juggle, joker, and Jericho.

The next day I asked Micah what the letter of the day should be and he said “A”. So I asked if we should start at the beginning of the alphabet and do a letter a day and he said yes. So that’s what we’re going to try to do. So, for “A” Day, we ate almonds and apples and American cheese for a snack and avocado tortillas for dinner. We thought of other “A” words like alligator, ant, anteater, acorn, axe, apricot, and more.

“B” Day. They had bread for a snack and peanut butter and bread sandwiches and baby carrots and beef summer sausage for lunch. Too bad we were out of bananas. We played with our toy bowling set. We baked some bread in the breadmaker. We thought of lots of “B” words like balloon, bubbles, backyard, back, bottom, bones, books, blocks, ball, bat, bear, basketball, baseball, blue, black, bee, blanket, bake, and more. The boys also watched the second half of “Beauty and the Beast”. (They watched the first half a couple days before.)

We plan to do a letter of the day coloring page each day and put them all together to make an alphabet book when we’re done. I also want to try to eat at least one food beginning with the letter of the day and hope that maybe they will help shop for the foods as the letter days approach and may be willing to try some new things like kiwi or zucchini.

“C” Day: The boys had Cheerios cereal and OJ for breakfast and I had a mini bagel with cream cheese and chocolate instant breakfast. We had Kimotion this morning so didn’t get a lot of time to do “C” activities. Cooking would have been good, or playing with cars. Actually they did play with cars at Kimotion today since it was the last week of session potluck and free play. On the way home we talked about things starting with C and especially names that start with C like Caleb, Christy, Cisco, Cassidy, Claire, Christian, Christopher, Cathy, Charlie. Caleb had already colored his “C” coloring page a while back because we had started with the letters in their name at first. So when Caleb went to naps, Micah colored (hey! Coloring is a good “c” activity) his “C” page and then we did a little activity from our “getting ready for Kindergarten” book. After naps the boys had cashews, chocolate chips, Cheetos chips, graham crackers and carrots for a snack. Then we went to the grocery store to get some necessities and stock up on some special foods for the next few letter days. We had chicken, corn, carrots, cucumber, and croutons at dinner and chocolate chip cookies for dessert. And thought of more “c” words like crocodile, cow, crow, come, comb, cat, cup, cuckoo clock, cap, confused, church, Cubbie, cavity, and more. They also watched a Boz video story called “Counting on God’s Love.”

“D” Day: We had donuts and dried dates for breakfast. Caleb liked the dates but Micah didn’t. At least he tried one. We listened to Disney music in the car on the way to my MOPs steering meeting. Micah said, “hey, this reminds me, we should go to Disneyland for D day.” I said that was a good idea but we didn’t have time today because of my meeting and Micah’s t-ball practice. Then he said maybe we can do it the next D day because after we get to Z we’re going to start over. We’ll see about starting over; with how it’s going so far, I wouldn’t mind, but we’ll see if they are still into it by the end. For lunch we met Daddy at Del Taco, then listened to more Disney music on the way home. When Caleb went to naps Micah chose a Diego and Dora book to read before his turn to take a nap. We’ll have Doritos and more donuts for snack and maybe they’ll have hot dogs for dinner. Mom & Dad are having date night for D day: going out to dinner and to see “The Producers” at the Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center. We did the donut & Doritos snack on the way to t-ball practice and noted that Dodgers starts with D too. They also colored their D coloring pages: dog and dolphin. We thought of Disney characters Dumbo, Doc, & Dopey. Each day I’m thinking of more things to add and think about starting with the letter of the day. First it was foods & words, then activities & movies/videos, then names, then music, then Disney characters, then books. We also like to think about states and countries that start with the letter.

“E” Day: The boys had Eggo waffles and scrambled eggs for breakfast. Then we went down Erringer Rd. to Micah’s t-ball game. We noticed signs for entrances and exits along the way. After t-ball we headed to the LA Zoo to meet the Teutschmans. On the way we talked about E words and names like Eeyore, Elmo, Ernie, Emily, Elijah, echo. At the zoo we saw the elephant from a distance through the construction on his exhibit. We also saw a giant eland, the largest kind of antelope. The boys thought of eels as another E animal that we saw at the aquarium, but I don’t think they have them at the zoo. For lunch we had hard cooked eggs (“white eggs” as the boys call them). At home again Micah colored his “eagle” coloring page, but Caleb didn’t feel like coloring today. We had Pecos Pasta made with elbow macaroni for dinner, and thought of two other parts of the body that start with e: ear and eye.

“F” day: I made French toast for breakfast, we had frankfurters at church for lunch, and fruit and fruit snacks for snack. Caleb wanted me to color his frog green for him and Micah colored his fish green and orange. We went for a walk after dinner and ran fast, and saw a flag and a Ford. While getting ready for bed with baths and stories we thought of other f words like fire, friend, family, fox, finger, foot, face, flip-flop, food, Flo, Fred, Father, foolish, full, and more. While brushing teeth we noticed floss and fluoride fit too. We read a story about Mickey & Goofy called Fool’s Gold.

After the carnival it was time for Micah’s game. He is in a coach pitch/t-ball division this year with 4-6 year-olds. As each batter comes up he/she can choose to use the tee or try to hit from their coach pitching to them. If they choose coach pitch and miss 4 times, they get to hit off the tee. So they always get to hit and run. They are also learning to be “baseball ready” and field the ball and throw it to first base to try to get an out. Micah is happy to have two of his best friends from church on his team this year, Nate and Sean. Sean’s dad, Mr. McIntosh, is their coach, or Coach Mac as they sometimes call him. There are 3-4 other dads that help with coaching as well. We have practice once a week on Friday afternoons and a game every Saturday. The league is a ministry of our church, so we like that there are no Sunday games and they keep the whole atmosphere very positive and encouraging for the kids. The league does baseball in the spring and soccer in the fall. We’ll see if Micah wants to try soccer this coming fall. Caleb can’t wait to play t-ball/baseball too; he’ll get to start next year when he turns 4. He’ll be ready since he loves to practice hitting, throwing, catching, and running with Mommy on the side of Micah’s practices and games. It’s exciting to see all the kids learn and improve so much over the season.

Here’s a picture of Caleb and Micah in his new uniform; his team is the Dodgers. Daddy says we can root for Micah’s Dodgers team, but not the real Dodgers since they are of course the Padres’ rivals.