Happiness is...

They came. They saw....

2010-06-07T22:57:00.006-05:00

our neighbor sweeping her roof..

lots and lots of hawks
Lucas spraying himself with the hose
things to photograph
small children
small children trying to hassle- scratch that - persuade a camera right out of their hands
a pinecone
small children fighting over a pinecone
and one tiny child.

Totschool

2010-06-07T17:50:00.008-05:00

Lucas is 44 months. Gwendolyn is 22 months. Catherine is 6 months.

We finished up our Ll, 1, yellow, etc lesson this week. The kiddos were starting to loose interest, so we moved on :)

Lucas practiced writing Ls. He is so focused! We are working more on holding the marker properly right now than the actual letter writing. As an added benefit, Gwendolyn keep asking me to help her hold her marker the right way! While Lucas practices letters, Gwendolyn colors her Bible verse printout with the color of the week. It keeps her happy, involved and away from Lucas so that he can concentrate :) (all of our printouts are from the Raising Rock Stars Preschool site)

Gwendolyn is reading out sight word book.
Both kids colored with yellow markers, crayons and stampers. Then added L and 1 stickers. They had so much fun with this!

This week we started on our new lesson:

Tt
2
Thou shall not steal.
green
the
triangle
Memory matching cards

Lucas is still practicing to write L because, well, I don't know. He wanted to? And Gwendolyn is coloring her Bible verse with a green marker.

Lucas made himself a green necklace. Then he made a pink and red bracelet for Gwendolyn :) Such a thoughtful boy!!

The kiddos put green perler beads and green pipecleaners into a cup. Daddy even helped Gwendolyn put some of the beads onto the pipecleaners.

We played with soft fabric triangle blocks. Catherine is enjoying playing with them! Gwendolyn can now correctly identify and point out triangles! We were at the store the other day and there was a sample cart out. The kids got samples on napkins folded into little triangles. Gwendolyn held up the napkin and started yelling 'TRIANGLE!!' She was so excited and proud of herself!

They practiced putting change into a piggy bank. This, of course, ended up with the kiddos pushing the change off of the table to hear it hit the floor. Fun with sound as well as fine motor work!
We built with green duplos.
I set out a farm play set for the kiddos. With green felt as the field. They didn't play with it. Not even once. I thought it was cute tho. (I got the idea from Tired, Need Sleep. Such a fun blog with so many great ideas!!)

Magnets on the fridge. Lucas is working on learning to spell his name :) And every week, I plan to add a new set of letter/number/something that starts with the letter if I have it magnets.

Watching Leap Frog Letter Factory on the laptop. They are currently obsessed with my laptop, so every movie is watched there because it is *so* much better than the television :) We have also been playing a lot of Starfall and other various games.

Our green, T, 2 artwork.

We have been working on being kind and gentle with Catherine. And playing with her in an appropriate manner :) They adore the baby, but can be a little overzealous when sharing toys. And jumping around near her.

Alot of our school has been outside lately:
We played with penne pasta and put it into soda bottles.
Gwendolyn is watering our plants with a spray bottle.
I have started packing a bag of things to take outside with us everyday. It makes it so much easier to head outdoors for our school time when everything is sitting by the door waiting. The bag contains: a container full of penne pasta, a container with a ladybug craft project in it (we made ladybugs out of bottlecaps - I found the idea on a blog, but I can't remember where), a couple of interesting toys for the baby, a few board books that I wouldn't mind getting thrown in the pool, my journal, and a microfiber towel (they like pouring water on their little table. I dry it off before they use it for schoolwork). I usually keep markers and paper in there, too.

Once again, I didn't get pictures of half of what we did. But we did it, and really, that is far more important than capturing a picture of it!

White Pines

2010-05-26T19:43:00.004-05:00

We went to White Pines for the first time this season. Gwendolyn was able to walk the entire trail!! Which was completely exciting :) We all love to hike!! It's so nice that Gwendolyn is able to keep up with us now. After the trail, we stopped to play in the river. The kids threw rocks in. They had a blast! It was so much fun! Can't wait to go again!!

School time!

2010-05-23T17:23:00.003-05:00

Lucas is 44 months. Gwendolyn is 21 months. Catherine is 6 months.

I haven't posted about our school activities for a long time. (since before Catherine was born?) We have been doing some unorganized school stuff the whole time, I just couldn't muster up the enthusiasm to organize, photograph, blog about it. But all that has changed ;) I realized that Lucas really needed the structure and activities of TotSchool back. I went to the 1+1+1=1 website (the home of TotSchool) and found Raising Rock Stars Preschool! Awesome!! It looks absolutely perfect for Lucas!! And easily adaptable to include Gwendolyn, too! I am beyond thrilled about this :) It's lots of fun and super easy to add other complimentary activities to (as is suggested - it's a foundational program, not a complete program) I think it will take us a little while to get into a routine with this (because I have been unorganized with school for so long), so for now we are taking it slow and having fun. And will work on the first lesson (Ll) until the kids seem ready to move on. It will probably be a few weeks :) I decided before we began that this would be more about fun and exposure than about trying to rush through the lessons just to move onto the next one.

This week we worked on:
Verse: Matthew 5:16
Letter:L
Color: yellow
Number: 1
Sight Word: see
Song: This Little Light of Mine

Game: Don't Break The Ice
Shape: star
(And if an activity looks in no way related to any of this - it probably isn't. Some stuff is just random fun)

Coloring printouts of the verse and a craft. (all of the printouts are from Raising Rock Stars Preschool unless otherwise noted) Somehow I forgot to take pictures of the finished products. The kids loved coloring and putting the craft together!!

Lucas really enjoyed cutting and taping. There were thick gray lines on the paper for him to cut along. He did such a great job staying on the line! Then he taped the strips together to make one long strip of paper. That had the verse written on it.

He was thrilled to hang his cut/taped masterpiece up on the wall :)

He loved cutting so much that I drew black lines on a yellow sheet of paper so that he could so it again. He asked (very nicely) if we could hang it up on the wall next to the first one. Of course we did!

Gwendolyn 'helped' by holding each strip as it was cut off.

She tried using safety scissors to cut her own piece of paper. But she still doesn't exactly get the concept. She had a great time playing with them tho! (Before anyone worries - they were true safety scissors. all plastic, no metal blade. They won't cut a piece of paper, much less a little girl)

We played with yellow Play-doh. And used an 'L' cookie cutter, a '1' cookie cutter, a yellow patterned stamp, and a pair of safety scissors. The kids LOVE Play-doh!!

We colored our dry erase book that is meant for tracing letters/number/shapes.

Catherine is hanging out with us :) Gwendolyn has such a long attention span these days. She often stays at the table working on something long after Lucas has gotten up.

The kids had lots of fun painting with Aunt Heidi! They didn't actually like this water color paint activity. They just enjoyed her company that much!

Lucas and Gwendolyn are playing Don't Break The Ice in the background. We played it almost every day this week. They are loving the extra game playing fun!

Not pictured: lots of things. Because I have gotten out of the habit of taking pictures of everything.
We sang The Little Light of Mine many many times a day. Kiddos love to sing!!

Sweet kids

2010-01-16T11:57:00.000-06:00

It's been a while

2010-01-11T12:04:00.001-06:00

(yes, I am now singing that song..)
It has been quite a long time since I posted. The only time I come on the computer is when the kids are napping or in bed for the night. Catherine is always sleeping on me. It turns out she doesn't like it when I type. Or try to plug the camera into the computer to upload pictures. Or really move at all. So, no new posts...
I'll try to put some pictures up soon!!

Farming

2009-12-06T18:54:00.002-06:00

Lucas is in the tractor with Grandpa and Gwendolyn is in the combine with Daddy and Great Grandpa. The kids LOVE driving around the farm!!

The kids got to meet their new cousin.

That's what Catherine thought of being out in the cold... It's so rare she cries that I think it's adorable :)

My little girls

2009-12-05T12:00:00.001-06:00

Climbing

2009-12-05T11:49:00.002-06:00

The places I find them...

(yes, I know that one of the pictures is sideways. But I can't figure out how to use the new camera software. Or the new Windows software. Or Internet Explorer, since I usually use Firefox. Ack.)

Happy days

2009-11-30T19:35:00.006-06:00

We started putting up some of our Christmas decorations. See the stockings on Lucas? :) He is too funny!!
The bliss of a quiet house... I think I might love our new portable DVD player. (Black Friday sales are awesome!!)
The alternate uses of a magna doodle..
Catherine adores Tim! It's the sweetest thing to see her sleeping on him :)

Lucas-isms

2009-11-28T20:10:00.003-06:00

Today we fed Lucas his favorite soup for lunch. Because he asked for soup. He refused to eat it, naturally.
About an hour later he asked for a snack and when we reminded him he didn't eat his lunch he said 'I'm slowly starving.'
Huh.....

Tim packed a whole bunch of stuff into the Expedition behind Lucas's seat. Lucas saw it when he got in, gave it a mean look and said 'I'm deeply offended.'

At least he has a good vocabulary...

A sleeping doll

2009-11-27T19:20:00.004-06:00

Sweet kids

2009-11-27T19:04:00.003-06:00

Tot School

2009-11-24T19:38:00.005-06:00

Lucas is 38 months. Gwendolyn is 16 months.
We have had an exciting month around here with a new baby :) Lots and lots of time has been spent petting our new little Catherine on the head and loving her. We have done a little bit of Tot School, tho. Here's a little bit of what we have been up to since my last post.

We used these neat little plastic building pieces. Lucas really enjoyed building 'structures' (his new favorite word). Gwendolyn liked taking them apart.
We have done lots of coloring lately :)

As always, we enjoy our riding toys.

Lucas has been learning about harvest time (see his combine toy?).

We got a new, much smaller, water table. I brought it inside and filled it up with rice. The kids LOVE it!! Gwendolyn is learning an important lesson in self control while practicing NOT throwing rice all over the kitchen :)

Lucas has been coloring pages out of a John Deere coloring book. I have never been a big fan of coloring books. But it keepps him quiet and happy for about twenty minutes while I tend to the little girls. I now LOVE coloring books!!

There has been lots of lacing of lacing cards.

Both kids have been working on numbers and number puzzles. Lucas is starting to recognize some numbers and can now randomly count. I love hearing his random number sequences!

Head on over to 1+1+1=1 to see other Tot School posts :)

A few more pictures

2009-11-24T19:17:00.003-06:00

My sweet baby

2009-11-24T19:10:00.002-06:00

A few more pictures

2009-11-21T18:52:00.002-06:00

My sweet baby

2009-11-21T18:45:00.005-06:00

Catherine is the sweetest baby. She's always so happy and content. :)

She's here!

2009-11-17T09:10:00.002-06:00

Catherine Belle Keast was born on November 11th at 9:15 a.m. She was 8 pounds 10 ounces and 21 inches. She's a healthy sweet little baby :) Lucas and Gwendolyn adore her. They can't spend enough time petting her soft little head.

Playful lounging

2009-11-08T19:12:00.004-06:00

She plays.

They lounge.

Tot School

2009-11-07T19:23:00.003-06:00

Lucas is 37 months. Gwendolyn is 15 months.

Work mat
I saw the idea for a work mat at Tired, Need Sleep and loved it! We went out and got a fall themed place mat (that Lucas picked out) to use as our work mat. I'm hoping it will help with getting one activity out at a time and keeping each activity contained in one area, rather than wandering all over the house. Lucas has really been enjoying it. Tho not using it quite how I had envisioned :)
We did play Dominoes on it. And Lucas pulled up a truck and trailer to load with Dominoes.

And we tried out some new finger paint that is only supposed to show up on the special paper that it comes with. Lucas was SO not into it. The colors were really dull and took kind of a long time to show up.Games
We got a Go Fish game. Lucas has loved it!! It's great practice with color matching and numbers. Gwendolyn mostly chews on the fishing pole. She does practice colors, too.
Beads
The kids tried putting Perler beads onto the little pokey boards. It lasted all of about 30 seconds before they were both bored.

Learning through play
Lucas made a fence with the tops of lamp shades. I love hearing the stories he tells with his pretend play :)

Both kids loved putting credit cards into wallets.
And for a unique sensory experience, we played with squishy rubbery balls. Writing practice

Music time
The kids love singing The Farmer In The Dell with our stacking cards :)

Art time
We have been doing some fall themed art. And some gluing. And some stickers.

Life school
We spent a day out on the farm driving big machines around and chasing pigs :)

Recess
This has really become a favorite part of our day!

A day on the farm

2009-11-07T12:52:00.005-06:00

Lucas, Daddy, Grandpa and Great Grandpa standing around looking purposeful :) And waiting for the combine to fuel up.

Aunt Heidi and Uncle Dan came, too!

We had fun running through fields...

And watching big machines drive around. Lucas was in the tractor with Grandpa. And Gwendolyn was in the combine with Daddy and Great Grandpa.

Lucas insists on calling Grandpa 'Farmer Grandpa'.

He spent the whole day driving tractors around with Farmer Grandpa.

The pigs were definitely Gwendolyn's favorite! She climbed the fence herself so she could get in the pig pen. She had so much fun running around chasing the pigs!

Just because

2009-11-04T13:14:00.004-06:00

The look on his face says it all. There is something on the table. And it is trying to eat his toys. Lucas literally climbs the walls these days... Or at least the windows. He loves to climb up and sit or stand on the window sills.

And just because :)

Tot School

2009-10-31T20:04:00.002-05:00

Lucas is 37 months. Gwendolyn is 14 months.

::Sensory activities we had a bowl full of pom poms to pour and scoop into different containers.Gwendolyn LOVED this and asked for it over and over again.
We're still working on keeping little things out of our mouths :)
And we had a bowl full of spooky Halloween things: googly eyes, alien erasers, glow in the dark beads, little aliens, pom poms and craft sticks. I was *so* excited about this one. But neither of the kids liked it. lol::Art time Lucas loved using the foam stickers this week. We have a tin full of them and he sorted them all out into piles before putting them on his paper. He used all of the cars he could find first :)

Gwendolyn is really taking to art! And I am beyond happy about that!! She is using markers all of the time now and she is so happy to see the marks on the paper. Lucas was doing stickers and she asked to do them as well. And she did a fabulous job! I helped her peel the stickers and she was able to stick them herself! Can you tell I'm excited? Art time has always been a favorite for Lucas and I, it's so nice to have Gwendolyn join in on the fun and creativity! ::Beads Lucas made bracelets for Gwendolyn after she went to bed. He left them out on the windowsill for her to find in the morning :)
::Rubik's cubes these have been a favorite around here lately. Both kids love aimlessly spinning them around and seeing the blocks return to a square shape.
::Nesting/stacking/shape sorting cubes
::Skull magnets we practiced counting with these. And put them into an egg carton.
::Pumpkin rolling because what else would you do with a pumpkin...
::Matchbox car fun Gwendolyn enjoyed filling a bubble envelope with them and dumping it back out. Lucas narrated her actions for her 'you are putting that car into the envelope.' 'you have a car in one hand.' 'you have a car in both hands.' He loves teaching her! And she loves his attention :)Lucas did a lot of pretend play. He tells such interesting stories. His black diesel truck was driving on a bridge in this picture.
::Life skills Both kids helped me sweep. They actually do every day :) I encourage them to joyfully help with the housework. And they do! When Gwendolyn spills her water on the floor, she goes over to the counter, pulls down the towel and wipes up the spill. It is so sweet to watch such a tiny person know how to do so many things!
We went to Whole Foods this week and got a handful of things out of the bulk bins. Lucas asked to help scoop the sugar. And to help tong the dried fruits. He did so well! He didn't spill any! It was great practice scooping, pouring and tonging. And it helped to teach him how our food finds its way home with us.

::Recess This has been such a great addition to our days!! Little people just need to be active! The kids love being able to ride their toys around the house and it makes them so much calmer and happier the rest of the time. Which makes a better day for all of us :)

Cushions on the floor just need to be jumped on. And a brother on a cushion on the floor? Definitely needs to be jumped on!

Life

2009-10-31T20:00:00.003-05:00

Little people loving their Daddy is always so sweet to see!

And, I may be partial, but she is just too cute! Her hair is getting curlier by the day :)

Happy mail

2009-10-31T12:29:00.004-05:00

Halloween fun

2009-10-27T20:03:00.005-05:00

Wal-Mart had a Halloween walk for the kids today. It was so much fun! The kids loved it!!! It was great to see Lucas interacting so positively with strangers in such a busy, chaotic setting. (this is far outside his comfort zone. we have been doing a lot of work to overcome his shyness and unwillingness to talk to people.) He happily walked up to the people with the candy bowls and said 'trick or treat', picked out a piece of candy and said 'thank you'. All without prompting. He even smiled and was happy about it!! I was so proud! And Gwendolyn is a tiny people person. She was delighted that she got to talk to so many nice people that gave her treats :)

They got to play a game of tossing an eyeball into a pumpkin bucket.

We stopped to look at Indian corn. Because we do every time we are at the store - Lucas loves it!

They got to make little ghosts out of suckers and decorate them.

Gwendolyn was all about getting candy out of the bowls :) (no, she doesn't actually eat candy. she just thought it was a fun game!)

Lucas colored a pumpkin picture. (he actually wanted to color it ORANGE. what happened to the purple cows and blue trees??)

They had fun wandering through the store.

They got to decorate and eat sugar cookies. This was by far Lucas's favorite part!

It's wonderful how the simple little things in life make them so happy. They're so joyful :)

Less hair

2009-10-27T12:18:00.001-05:00

I got a hair cut today. It is a whole lot shorter. I got 11 inches cut off to donate to Locks of Love. I'm happy!

Peekaboo

2009-10-26T20:18:00.004-05:00

One of those days

2009-10-26T20:14:00.002-05:00

Tot School

2009-10-25T07:14:00.002-05:00

Lucas is 37 months. Gwendolyn is 14 months.

::Dominoes Lucas loved lining up the dominoes the 'right' way and stacking them up into little towers. Gwendolyn mostly sat on the table and knocked over Lucas's stacks when he told her the stack was ready for her :) She tried stacking them up on her own, but kept knocking the stack over on accident and decided it was more fun to wait for Lucas.
We've been playing lots of games around here lately. Both kids LOVE Hungry, Hungry Hippos - but there aren't any pictures because Gwendolyn tends to think she is a hippo and eats the marbles. We also play Yahtzee quite a bit. Lucas has no real idea what he's supposed to do. But he likes shaking the cup of dice and drawing on his score card. And Tim and I love playing board games :)

::Music time Tim has been teaching Lucas how to read music. Lucas saw there were letters on each of the xylophone keys and asked why they were there, so Tim took the opportunity to start teaching Lucas that those letters correspond to notes on sheet music. Lucas is so entertained! And actually seems to get it.
Gwendolyn loves playing her recorder and often walks around with it in her mouth.
We have been listening to the Classics for Kids weekly composer. This week was The Peer Gynt Suite. We all loved this song and have listened to it MANY times. Gwendolyn often walks over to the computer and pokes it until I turn the classical music on :)

Both kids still love playing with this bongo. It lights up and plays music when you tap the top of it. Gwendolyn was actually awake and playing, she just doesn't like the flash of the camera :)
::Games they play so often the kids make up their own games to play together. Lucas hid their two favorite trucks under a piece of cardboard and jumped on it. And Gwendolyn tried to grab the trucks out and then hop on top. They kept at this game for a LONG time! It's so enjoyable to watch them play so nicely together and to hear their sweet little laughs :)
::Art time

This is Gwendolyn's picture! She is really getting the hang of coloring paper (rather than her tongue) and is loving our regular drawing times!
::Play-doh we have been using Halloween themed sugar cookie stamps with our play-doh. Gwendolyn LOVES poking the stamped images!

::Potato head our Halloween Mr. Potato Head has been a big hit.
::Beads I set out a cup of orange beads with a few pipe cleaners for the kids to work on stringing.
This is what it turned into. A scooping/pouring activity :) Lucas did make one orange bracelet for Gwendolyn, tho!
::Orange bag I saw the idea for a color theme over at little moments and loved it! We have been working on colors with Gwendolyn for a little while now and I thought she would really enjoy this. I filled up their little white sack with a bunch of orange toys. We practice taking turns and each one gets to take one thing out at a time and I ask what color each item is. Lucas has so much fun and thinks it's hysterically funny to keep telling me that everything is orange. And Gwendolyn is happy pulling things out of a bag :) This has been one of our most played with toys!
::Stacking/nest/shape sorting wooden cubes I do love multi-purpose toys.. Gwendolyn is getting so good at finding the right hole for the shapes and putting them in. And Lucas loves setting the cubes up in a tower for her :)
::Reading we have been reading lots of fall and Halloween books lately.

And field guides. The kids love looking at pictures of the birds and trees. Lucas loves finding the birds that come to our house in the books.
::Pop beads they are such a great manipulative for learning colors, counting, patterning and strengthening little hands. We use these a lot!::Wooden train this is how I often find Lucas these days. He LOVES his wooden train! We have been talking more and more about the magnets that hold the cars together.
::Life skills Lucas has been able to unload the dishwasher on his own for quite some time. He has recently taken an interest in loading the dishwasher himself. He put all of the dishes in without help :) He was so proud of himself! Gwendolyn has started helping unload the dishwasher, too. She can put all of the plates/bowls/cups away in the right place. (we keep the dishes in the bottom cabinets so that the kids can reach them - it's always colorful explaining to company just where the dishes are)::Recess I saw the idea for indoor recess at 1+1+1=1 and loved it! Lucas is such an active kid and needs a lot of physical activity to be happy. No problem at all in the warm weather when we're outside in the yard for hours a day and visiting the parks every day. It gets to be a challenge in the winter. This week I brought one of their smaller ride on toys inside. Lucas was beyond happy to have his little fire truck in the house! And it definitely helped to keep him calmer when we didn't get outside due to the rain.
The kids chased each other around the table in circles. They do this regularly without prompting. We also have a stack of cushions that often get rearranged for jumping on/climbing on.

Happy little people

2009-10-22T15:44:00.003-05:00

A chance

2009-10-20T14:34:00.003-05:00

We tried going to the evening story time last night. We won't be doing that again. Yeah, it was that bad. Gwendolyn literally screamed through the entire thing. Usually we just smile and pretend she isn't causing a scene. But last night it was bad enough that Tim had to take her out of the library.
Lucas enjoyed the program. But not the play time afterwards (which is normally his favorite part) The library with overcrowded with bratty older kids. And parents that were just as rude. It was pretty miserable. But I'm glad we went. We know we aren't missing out on anything now :)
We will still be going to the toddler story times in the mornings. Because both kids like that one. And there isn't too much screaming...

Exercise

2009-10-19T05:22:00.002-05:00

I just saw Susana's post over at My Family My Forever about exercise.
So I thought I would come write about my exercise routine and link up :)
I have been doing Yin yoga for the last six months or so.
I normally do the hip stretches every day. It really helps with the hip pain from laying on my side all of the time. And it's supposed to make labor easier, which is a big plus!
Tho I tend to slack a little bit about doing other stretches - I only remember when I get so stiff I can hardly move. Usually once or twice a week.
The kids often do yoga with me :) In Yin yoga, you hold each pose for several minutes - Gwendolyn loves climbing on me, especially for Butterfly - she lays on top of my legs and looks up at me. It is so sweet! Lucas actually imitates almost all of the poses. Tho he gets bored with each one after 20 seconds or so.
This has been such a great form of exercise for this pregnancy. I've been mostly on bedrest the entire time. And this is one of the few things I can do that doesn't make anything worse :)
But now that I am finally full term, I can start walking again! The kids and I normally walk at least three or four miles a day and we all love it - I can't wait to start again!

A spatula

2009-10-18T13:54:00.004-05:00

I took the kids out to the McDonald's Playplace this morning. They were so thrilled to get to go out two days in one week. Lucas didn't know what to make of it when I told him to get his socks and shoes on.
Tomorrow evening is family story time at the library. It doesn't start until six o'clock. Which is close enough to Gwendolyn's bedtime that I'm not sure it will go well. But I think we're going to try. Unless someone is screaming :)
I love taking happy little people out!

Sand castles

2009-10-17T18:29:00.003-05:00

The ACE hardware in our town had a family fun day event today. Tim wanted to take the kids, but didn't think he would make it home from work in time, so I took them myself. (which might not sound like a big deal, but lately my activities have been limited to laying on the couch..we don't tend to go out much without Tim because I have been so tired) I'm so glad I did! There was a whole bunch of bouncy houses there - and Lucas LOVES bouncy houses! He calls them sand castles. Gwendolyn even went in and bounced around! They had so much fun! And they got to eat hot dogs and Cheetos for lunch, which was such a treat :) It really was a great day. Sometimes I have to remind myself that it is so worth the effort to scrape myself off the couch and take the kids out. It really made Lucas's day.

Tot School

2009-10-16T21:52:00.002-05:00

Lucas is 36 months. Gwendolyn is 14 months.

I had a 'catch up' post last week. But I didn't realize that there were still pictures on the camera. SO this is another catch up post along with what we did this week :)

::Play-doh I finally let Gwendolyn play with play-doh and it was a huge hit! She still tries to eat it and tries to rub it into the couch. But it is so worth the effort to have her play with it- she LOVES it! And Lucas is always happy to get to play with it! We have had it out almost every day, but this is the only picture because it requires close supervision.
::Egg cartons Lucas loves finding small toys to put into egg cartons to make 'presents' for Gwendolyn to open. He's always looking for ways to be nice to his little sister :)

::Tools Lucas has been using his wooden tool set this week. It amazes me how long he can stay focused on it. He also finds alternate uses for some of the pieces. In this picture, he was stuffing a wooden nail into the top of a turkey baster and shooting it across the room. Creative!
::Water play Gwendolyn has been fascinated with water lately. One of her favorite activities is shaking water bottles. And dumping glasses of water on the floor. And playing in puddles on the floor :)
::Blocks no week would be complete without blocks.

::Funny nail thing I have no idea what it's called :) But the kids love it!! Lucas puts his little cars and trucks in it to see car and truck shapes in the nails. And Gwendolyn loves sticking her feet on it and poking each individual nail with her finger.
::Lights there is something so entertaining to small people about lights. They love waving their fiber optic lights around.

::Building Lucas has been creating all sorts of things to play with lately. He made a bridge for his trucks to drive on out of a piece of cardboard held up by a table and a chair. And when a certain small girl came and sat on the bridge and collapsed it, he added a second piece of cardboard and another chair under the middle of the bridge. He was so satisfied with his extra sturdy bridge. After he tried driving his trucks back and forth on it a few times, he told us he was leaving it out for Gwendolyn to play with. He is so amazingly tolerant of her :)
::Fall fun I filled up a wooden bowl with orange, green and purple pom poms and craft sticks. And googly eyes. The contents were intended to go into a sensory tub of rice, but Lucas found the bowl and wandered off with it. So now it's a transferring activity. Lucas was entertained that he could pick the craft sticks up with tongs.I cut pumpkin shapes out of gold paper and gave Lucas cut up bits of the gold paper to glue onto the pumpkins. He loved doing this and asked to hang them up on the window when he was done. (yes, I know gold isn't really a fall color, but we had a big piece of gold paper laying around and Lucas really wanted to use it. And I really wanted some Lucas-made fall decorations - it was a win win situation)

Still pregnant

2009-10-15T20:51:00.002-05:00

We had a doctor's appointment today. I'm 36.5 weeks pregnant. And only dilated a centimeter. Awesome!!! It looks like we're going to make it to a full term baby :) I am so thrilled to have made it this far - it was looking pretty likely that the baby would be born early. But due to some diligent bedrest we're almost to 37 weeks!
We still haven't thought of the perfect name for this little one. Hopefully we'll come up with something soon! I'm actually counting on Tim - he named both Lucas and Gwendolyn :) lol
We have everything ready around here. Or at least everything that I can think of.
It will be so great to have a tiny new baby soon! And I can't wait to get up off the couch and run around with the kids again!!

A small engineer

2009-10-14T22:17:00.003-05:00

Lucas built himself a cardboard bridge from the table to the chair for his trucks to drive on. I love seeing his little mind work and create such things!

My screeching girl

2009-10-14T22:12:00.003-05:00

Some days, this is Gwendolyn in a nutshell. She sits about a foot away from me. And shrieks. For hours. She follows me around. For no apparent reason. She doesn't seem to want anything. She doesn't seem to be in pain. Maybe she just likes to scream? It's a mystery. This picture just makes me smile. It's unusual that I take pictures of the kids in their bad moods, because who wants to focus on that? But, she is just so stinking cute even while she screams.. Tho I do tend to forget that after hours of endless wailing. My appreciation may be because the picture doesn't come with sound. :)

A birthday and quick cousins

2009-10-14T19:51:00.005-05:00

We got to visit Grandpa on his birthday :) Lucas was so happy to bring Grandpa a special birthday present! We got to visit with the kids' aunt and cousin, as well. Try as I might, I can never get a picture of all three cousins. They are just too quick!

Tot School

2009-10-13T22:27:00.005-05:00

Lucas is 36 months. Gwendolyn is 14 months.

It has been quite a while since I have posted about our Tot School activities. So this is a catch up post of some of the random things that we have been doing lately. Now that the weather is getting colder and we're not spending so much time outside, we'll probably be doing a whole lot more organized Tot School again. Until the new baby comes :)

::Puzzles Lucas has been enjoying his magnetic fish puzzle on the fridge. He's starting to 'get' how to really do it, rather than lining the pieces up randomly.

Both kids have loved the bunny puzzle. Each of the faces has a different expression to represent a different feeling. I thought it would be good practice for Lucas to talk about emotions - he insists that all of the bunnys are happy. :) He is an upbeat kid!
When your little sister wanders off with the puzzle box, what are you to do but stack the pieces up in a little tower?
Gwendolyn mostly enjoyed putting the pieces in the box and closing it.Lucas made some awesome designs with this abstract puzzle! (sadly, I didn't photograph any of the, before Gwendolyn 'shared' them.. ahem.) He loved sorting out all of the green triangle and using them.

Gwendolyn liked chewing on the red circles...
::Art time water coloring is always a favorite around here!

Gwendolyn has taken to drawing!! Woohoo!! We have been doing lots and lots of coloring in recent weeks. She loves seeing the marks appear on the paper :) It's so nice to be able to sit with both kids and let them create.
::Games this has been a favorite around here for a long time. Pulling things out of a little white sack. In the picture, it was filled with random blocks and little toys that have no other home. It makes all of those little forgotten odds and ends so interesting!
Is there anything better than a gameboard you can stand on while you play?? Oh yeah, we love rug checkers :) Although we still play by some interesting rules.

::Cutting Lucas has really taken to cutting with scissors lately. He has tried and tried but just couldn't get the hang of it for the longest time. He was thrilled when he got it!

::String unknotting string is always a favorite around here.

::Toys with a lot of pieces :) anything that has a lot of pieces, that will make a big mess when dumped out, is loved by both kids! So I try to always keep at least one or two many-piece-somethings around. Wooden blocks with bowls and spoons - Lucas likes to 'make soup'.

Lots and lots of bottle caps with lots of containers to put them in.
Bracelets on a tray with bowls.
Duplos. Although we have a Duplo table, these usually wander all over the house :)
Nesting cat dolls.
::Geode cracking Grandma and Grandpa brought Lucas a geode to crack open. He loved whacking it with a hammer!!

::Recyclables The kids love ripping up and stomping on cardboard boxes. Our house is beginning to look like a hampster habitat with all of the shreds on the floor. But the kids to have some well developed small muscles in their hands!

::Bird watching Lucas watching birds with his monocular. And Gwendolyn watching Lucas watch birds. She is such a tiny observer.
::Practical skills transferring ice cubes from the tray to a mason jar. Because, why not?
::Fall fun Lucas loves stacking the pumpkins up. And Gwendolyn has had a lot of practice dumping the little pumpkins out of the big one and putting them back in.

Concentration

2009-10-13T22:15:00.003-05:00

Here we sit. It's after ten o-clock. Lucas didn't take a nap today. Our afternoon was.. colorful. And now, he is calmly concentrating on his little wooden tool set. He has been playing with it for over two hours. Go figure. I just have to admire that sort of concentration. I'm so tempted to tell him to pack it up, it's time for bed (for me!). But, really, it's just awesome that he is calmly, happily playing with such a great toy :) We might be here for another two hours...

Splish splash

2009-10-11T18:34:00.002-05:00

The kids are enjoying Daddy giving them a bath :)
I am enjoying sitting on the couch. (mostly because I am getting regular reminders from Tim from behind the closed bathroom door that the pots do not need to be scrubbed and the laundry does not need to be put away.)
We have been spending lots more time inside lately due to the cold weather. The kids don't tolerate the cold at all. Too bad! I was hoping we would still get to play outside this winter. But they're not having any of it. So I'm searching out fun indoor things to do.
Gwendolyn is getting to be old enough now that she is able to do many more fun activities with Lucas. She has been coloring and using play-doh. It's great! Tho she still requires ALOT of supervision with such things. And we have some well licked play-doh :) Both of the kids really enjoy it!
We finally have everything ready for the new baby. Hopefully she will wait a couple of more weeks to come. But it's looking likely that she will come sooner.
I think that's all of the rambling updates I have for now :) The kids are just about done with their bath and I'm the designated small wet person dresser.

Preparing for New Pet

2009-09-30T13:26:00.004-05:00

The kids have been enjoying the New Pet's carseat.

And the box it came in!

We got the new carseat in the mail a few days ago. The kids were so happy to get to open the box and play with the new carseat!
A few days later, we got a new carseat cover for Gwendolyn.
I was truly surprised and happy to see Lucas's reaction. I thought it might go over badly that we have been getting things for the new baby and Gwendolyn, but not for him (because he doeesn't need a new carseat). I couldn't have been more wrong. He was so excited for Gwendolyn and told her how nice her new carseat is :) And he was thrilled to see the new baby's carseat and talk more about her. He is thrilled that we're going to have a new baby soon. And as more and more of her things appear here, he talks more about her and gets even more excited :) He was actually hopping up and down when her crib arrived!

Opening presents

2009-09-24T02:10:00.004-05:00

Lucas and Gwendolyn opening birthday presents from Great Grammy and Great Grandpa. :)

Just because

2009-09-23T14:01:00.004-05:00

Lucas is three!!

2009-09-23T07:51:00.005-05:00

We went to the apple orchard with Aunt Heide and Uncle Dan. Lucas LOVES it there!! And regularly asks to go to the 'apple store.'

Many apples were eaten.

Much fun was had :)

A new Megablocks bus for the birthday boy. He has such a fascination with buses these days. He has been happily filling his bus up with blocks and driving it around since he got it.

An interchangeable pieces bunny puzzle.

And a square magnetic fish puzzle stuck to the fridge.

A life lived

2009-09-23T07:40:00.003-05:00

We have been far away from home and the computer lately.
We celebrated Lucas's third birthday :)
We celebrated our fourth wedding anniversary. Even though we can't remember when we got married.. It was sometime in the last few days.
We have had more doctor's appointments than I can keep track of. And even more in the weeks to come.
And maybe most importantly of all, we have been out enjoying the beautiful weather everyday.

Today

2009-09-13T13:24:00.003-05:00

Today is a good day.
Because, why not?
I could list a long laundry list of crappy things that have happened today. But I don't think I will. Instead, I think I'll try to think of happy things..
Gwendolyn has such a sweet soft head. And she loves to cuddle up to me. Rubbing her tiny head on my leg. So many times every day, she walks up to me, cuddles her head up, and coos while I pet her. I love how lovey she is!
When I ran myself over with a wagon, Lucas came and pet me on the head and told me I would feel better soon :) And I did. Such a sweet boy!
We were outside and I told both kids that we had to go in because it was time for their nap. Gwendolyn made a happy noise and skittered up the steps and straight over to where her bottle was waiting in the house. Lucas walked over to his bed and crawled in. Both of them fell happily asleep in just a few minutes and have been sleeping peacefully for a long time. They are so good and cooperative!
I have fed them mostly quick and easy meals for the last week because I have been too tired to prepare anything better. Yesterday's lunch was chips and dried fruit. Lucas thanked me over and over for his 'special treat lunch.' I love how thankful and easy to please he is!
I love that the kids adore Tim and that he is such a good Daddy to them! Every morning when Lucas wake up, he looks for Tim and if he can't find him, he asks for him. Lucas is so thrilled every morning he wakes up and Tim is home. He runs through the house screaming 'Daddy HOME!!!!'
And maybe the happiest thing of all is how much the kids love each other. They always want to be together. They play together and come up with the funniest little games. Like racing each other back and forth through the house. And jumping in bed together :)
Yeah, today is a good day!

Tot School

2009-09-13T12:44:00.002-05:00

Lucas is 35 months. Gwendolyn is 13 months.

::Blue links we built a parking lot with the blue links. Lucas loved parking all of his cars and lining up all of the little people. We talked about how each of the cars and people were waiting patiently in line for their turn. Gwendolyn liked coming and swiping various pieces of the parking lot :) She learned a valuable lesson in waiting patiently for her turn to play with a toy and not taking things away from Lucas - something we've been working on alot lately! I let her take a couple of pieces to play with, but then told her she had to wait for the rest until Lucas was done playing. And encouraged her to be happy with what she had. She is getting very good at either sitting patiently and waiting for her turn or finding something else to play with in the meantime.

::String both kids love to untie knots. I often leave various, knotted strings out for them to untie. They are both so proud of themselves when they got the knots out! And it's so great for teaching problem solving, patience and fine motor skills!
::Nesting cats I recently found these nesting cats for the kids to play with. Lucas is able to take them apart, line them up and put them back together easily. His favorite cat is the smallest one that doesn't come apart. He often tells me stories about the 'little kitty cat.' Gwendolyn has a hard time taking the cats apart the 'proper' way, so she throws them on the floor and they all pop open. *ahem* we've been practicing being gentle, too. She can put the largest cat back together and gets the concept that they all fit back inside each other somehow, but hasn't quite mastered putting them all back in yet.
::Stacking caps because who doesn't love stacking bottle caps?? Lucas was making a fence for Gwendolyn in this picture.

::Metal lids we had fun putting the metal lids into little metal snack containers and shaking them. Lucas did 'experiments' to see how putting different lids and different numbers of lids in the containers changed the sound. We also filled metal mugs with the lids and the kids liked seeing how the lids went flying out when the mugs were shaken :)

::Music time with Daddy Tim has been teaching Lucas how to play the trumpet and read music. I don't think they really get it, but they sure do enjoy the music and the special time with Daddy!

::Stacking rings no week would be complete without stacking rings :)

::Car table Lucas has been driving little cars around on the car table (it's the duplo table, but it flips over to a road on the other side) He tells all sorts of stories about where the cars are going and what they will do when they get there. It's so great for his imagination!
::Reading We have been reading lots of books lately! Lucas is reading more and more of them to us. I'm still not sure if he's able to read them or if he has a *really* good memory and is reciting them word for word.
::Weather We have been observing the weather at least once or twice a day. Lucas has such a fascination with it! I've seen the idea for a weather station on quite a few blogs lately, so I thought I would make up a simple one for the kids. It has four cards that say sunny, cloudy, partly cloudy and rainy. Lucas gets to pick which most closely matches the weather and change it. He loves it!!
::Outdoor play so often when I see Lucas playing, I think 'not it's intended purpose..'

::Life skills Gwendolyn is learning to be happy in a carrier!!! She has loudly protested the Ergo from the time she was very small. But a couple of weeks ago, she saw Lucas in it and then asked for a turn. And she tolerated it!! Awesome!! It may not seem like a big deal, but the new baby will arrive when Gwendolyn is 14 or 15 months - still an age where she will need to be carried quite a bit. So her happily tolerating a carrier will be a valuable life skill :)

Lucas is getting so much more friendly and talkative. He loves talking on the phone now and telling people stories!
Lucas learned how to properly use a stud finder. And he also learned that his sister *does not* contain studs.
Gwendolyn is learning generosity :) She loves sharing her things with Lucas. It makes them both so happy!

Sleeping well

2009-09-10T21:32:00.003-05:00

Lucas is curled up, snug in his bed. :)
Naptime went so well earlier! Lucas either slept or layed quietly for a nice long nap. He stayed in bed happily until Gwendolyn woke up.
We were a bit nervous about putting Lucas down for bed tonight. We *always* lay down with him until he falls asleep. So we weren't sure how well it would go if we didn't. After Gwendolyn went to bed, Lucas played quietly in the living room for an hour or so. He cleaned up the puzzle he was working on and told us it was time for bed because it was dark out. :) And he walked into our bedroom, not his. Uh oh! I reminded him that he wanted to sleep in his own room, so his bed was in his room now. He walked quietly to his own bed and curled up. I tucked him in, told him the same little story I tell him every night before bed, he told me thanks (like he always does), and I left. That was over an hour and a half ago and I haven't heard another peep out of him. I think he really likes this new arrangement!

Enjoying a family breakfast

2009-09-10T11:41:00.004-05:00

After enjoying a nice family breakfast, Gwendolyn climbed up into Tim's lap and grabbed the bottle of whipped cream off the table. She was so entertained by taking the cap off and putting it back on. :)
There has been lots going on here lately.
Yesterday Lucas asked to move his bed into his own room!! He ASKED!! He has been in our room since he has been born. And has loved it there. Then all of a sudden, he wanted to move his bed into his own room. He's a real boy!! Right after he asked, (less than a minute later) Tim and I went and got Lucas's bed and set it up in his room. Before he could change his mind or loose his enthusiasm. He was SO happy!! Last night went really well. We let Lucas fall asleep watching television and carried him to bed after he was asleep. He woke up less than an hour later and came to our bed. I was too asleep to realize he was there and move him, so he stayed for a little while. But after about a half hour of him kicking me, I took him back to his own bed and told him (nicely) that he needed to stay in his own bed. And he did. Awesome!! Gwendolyn didn't seem to mind having Lucas around at all. In fact, yesterday was the first that she slept through the night! This gets better and better!! Today's nap seems to be going well so far. Lucas had a mild meltdown when we told him it was nap time (not unusual - it happens once a week or so). Tim tucked him into bed while I fed Gwendolyn. I set her down in her crib and she started screeching (also not unusual). But she fell asleep in under a minute. And Lucas has either been sleeping or laying quietly for the last half hour or so. This is just too easy!! I figured that Lucas would still be in our room when the new baby came. And that neither of the kids would be sleeping through the night. And I was completely okay with that. Then out of nowhere, Gwendolyn started sleeping so much better and is now starting to sleep the whole night! And Lucas is sleeping on his own! This will make things SO much easier!!! I got so much sleep last night since both kids were sleeping so well, that I woke up at 5 o'clock this morning feeling well rested. It's usually a chore to drag me out of bed at 7. Hopefully the kids will continue to sleep this well!!

Nice weather

2009-09-03T13:49:00.003-05:00

We have been spending every available minute outside, enjoying the nice weather. It has been beautiful lately!! We spend a few hours a day playing out in our yard. And visit at least one park every day. The kids have been loving all of the time running free :)
This morning we played outside for a long time. I took the kids for a walk on their push toys, then I took them for a walk in a wagon, then Tim took them for a walk in the wagon. They love going for walks! Then we had to go to the DMV to get Tim a new license (he lost his wallet). On the way home, we drove by a park and I just had to stop. Lucas was thrilled by a surprise trip to the park. The simplest things please that sweet small boy :) And when we got home, yup, we played outside some more. lol Both kids seem so much happier and better behaved when they spend lots of time outside. It's great!! I'm hoping our nice weather will hold out a while longer!
Yesterday I had a doctor's appointment in DeKalb. So we were in the neighborhood of our favorite apple orchard (Jonamac in Malta). It wasn't supposed to be open until this weekend, but on a whim we stopped by anyways. And they opened early! So we got to go play in their kids Barnyard area. There's a silo full of corn and toys to play in - think sand, but way more fun. A huge slide made out of tile. Old fashioned water pumps that you can use to race little plastic ducks, industrial strength tricycles and a gravel path to drive them on. And lots of other stuff! Both kids loved it there!! I can't wait to spend the a lot of time there this fall. We'll be in DeKalb every two weeks or so for the next two months. Awesome!

Tot School

2009-08-30T12:24:00.002-05:00

Lucas is 35 months. Gwendolyn is 12 months.
This week I had planned to do a 'g' theme. But we spent most of the week outside playing instead. We want to enjoy the last bit of nice warm weather :) We ended up doing a few of the 'g' activities that I had planned, but mostly it was random outdoor play.

::Gears The kids played with gears on their little table. Lucas enjoyed trying to fit them together the 'right' way to make them all spin at once. And he pretended they were helicopters and flew them around the room :) Gwendolyn mostly enjoyed plucking the 'helicopters' off the table and made little whirring noises as she walked off with them.

::Glass Lucas transferred glass pebbles from a tray to a little metal pitcher using a spoon. It made an amazing amount of noise. He loved it.

::Getting dressed Gwendolyn practiced putting Lucas's shoes on all week. She was delighted when she actually put one on herself! She doesn't actually wear shoes yet, but she has such a fascination with them :) We have tried letting her wear her own shoes, but she starts screaming and tries to pull them off. I guess they're only fun when they're someone elses!

::'G' activities not pictured We went to the grocery store and talked about how groceries get there. (i.e. Tim works at a distribution center and Lucas has gotten to visit it several times. So he has a pretty good handle on loading up trucks and sending them to the grocery stores. Lucas has also spent a considerable amount of time on farms, so he has a good idea of how we grow things like corn - from planting through to harvest. He has also visited a small dairy farm many times, so knows all about caring for and milking cows to get the milk we drink. I think it's important to teach the kids the whole process behind how their food gets to them. I hope that it will teach them an appreciation for it rather than just taking things for granted.)

::Art time We participated in open ended art. The week was yellow crayons. Lucas made rubbings with yellow crayons.

This was the result of some fun random drawing time.
This was supposed to be a stamp activity. I got a few barn/farm stamps for Lucas to use, but he had a really hard time making a good clear print with them. He didn't seem to notice, though. And was happy to color over the faint images.

This was the open ended art project from last week. I was a little late posting about it :) The theme was yellow mixed medium. Lucas used a yellow colored pencil (along with several other light colored writing implements) and glue with geodes to create a night sky picture.
::Workbooks Lucas has been wanting to do workbooks lately. He loves playing matching games and following the simple directions of the activities. It's great handwriting practice. Sometimes he makes up his own little activities using the workbook pages and I think those are the most fun of all.

::Block building Both kids have really enjoyed building with blocks of all sorts lately. Gwendolyn is now able to stack a few blocks together. She is always so proud when she is able to fit the megablocks together :)

Lucas has been making fences for just about everything these days. I occasionally find Gwendolyn in a fence.
::Puzzles Lucas is doing a new puzzle at Grandma and Grandpa's house. There are several different choices for outfits and shoes. You get to mix and match to dress the little girl. Both kids have really enjoyed this one! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!
I wanted to get Lucas a nice set of wooden children's tanagram puzzles. But I haven't been able to find any. So I did the next best thing and made him some :) We have an abstract geometric shape puzzle. I took a few pieces and traced on a sheet of paper in a matching color. I made them really simple because I wasn't sure if Lucas would get it. He did. But I made them a bit too simple, he would only do each one once or twice despite being pretty interested. I am planning to make some more complex one soon :)

This is a Melissa and Doug puzzle that makes noise. When you pull the pieces out, it makes an appropriate vehicle sound. Gwendolyn likes taking the pieces out just to hear to the sounds. Lucas really likes taking the pieces out and using them for pretend play. We have spent a few mornings flying the helicopter and plane pieces around the house making lots of pretend stops.
::Fun with recyclables Because what else would you do with a big jar??

The kids had tons of fun with this egg carton. Lucas pretended to wrap his toy trucks up in it and brought them to us and told us they were presents. So sweet!
They sorted erasers into it.
And put little clips on it.
::Bean bag toss
::Chalkboard Lucas and I used magnetic letters and pictures along with chalk to create scenes on his chalkboard. He loved telling stories about what we drew. He used a paint brush, small jar of water and kitchen towel to clean and dry the chalkboard between uses.

::Tot trays

This was the first tot tray that I set out specifically for Gwendolyn. There are wooden napkin rings and a leather string on the tray. She liked picking up the rings and rolling them across the floor, under the couch. But she wasn't interested in stringing them. Lucas liked stringing them, tho. Fortunately, he also liked retrieving the rings from under the couch :)
::Taking picture Lucas was watching birds out the window and asked for his camera to take pictures of the birds. Love that!!

::Reading Lucas and Gwendolyn read a zoo magazine. I was so happy that he sat down to read it and didn't rip it up!!
::Nesting bag I got the idea to make a nesting bag from a recent trip to the zoo. You take a mesh bag from produce and fill it with scraps of fabric, dryer lint, small sticks, ribbons - pretty much anything a bird could use to make a nest. Then tie it to a tree outside. The kids loved making it and hanging it outside! Lucas and I talked about how the birds would use these materials to build warm nests for the winter. And how it's nice to take of wildlife.

::Feelings I made these feelings strips (out of cardstock and clear tape for 'lamination') for Lucas to help him name different emotions. He tends to get a little wild when he isn't happy. I'm hoping that being able to tell me what he is feeling will help him to be calm and not act up as much. We'll be doing a lot more work with this is the near future. We have also been doing some breathing exercises to help Lucas calm down when he's starting to act up. It seems to help him calm down and refocus on what he should be doing rather than running around wildly.
::Outdoor activities Lucas helped me pick these flowers from our flower patch (that he planted). He stuck them in all of the little holes on his tractors. It was manly flower arranging :)
Both kids spent tons of time playing with the sand/water table. We recently moved it up onto the deck from the yard. And it gets a lot more use. Which is great! I still haven't figured out how to keep the sand fresh. It I leave the cover off, it gets rained in and is a mucky mess. But if I cover it, it molds quickly. Ack. Maybe I just need to be willing to replace the sand often? Until we make it to the store to buy another bag of sand, it's just filled with water. And the kids love it! They practice pouring water from one container to another. Transferring water between the two sides of the table. Cleaning their outdoor toys. Driving little cars around under water. There's no end to the creativity that this table inspires :)

I drew shapes on the deck for the kids to identify. Lucas loved jumping back and forth between them. Then I wrote our names and circled them. He loved walking on the names and telling me he 'standin' on Daddy!!' It's great practice for identifying words on sight. And he loves seeing his name written out. Gwendolyn colored with the chalk quite a bit on the deck. She gets so excited to see the marks she makes.
::Music We listened to this week's Classics for Kids. The song was A Midsummer Night's Dream. Gwendolyn LOVED it!! She happily lounged in my lap listening to the song over and over. I played it for them throughout the week whenever I thought of it. Both kids seem so much happier when I play classical music in the background when they're quietly playing.

Yellow crayons

2009-08-30T12:03:00.004-05:00

This week for Open Ended Art, the theme was yellow crayons. We wanted to participate, but Lucas doesn't like crayons. Not at all. So it took me a little while to think of something he might enjoy doing. The solution: rubbings. We found this cute little set to use for rubbings at the thrift store recently. We picked out two train plates and one that said 'have a nice day.' We put them into the tray with paper on top and I handed Lucas a yellow crayon and encouraged him to draw on the entire page. He was so entertained when the train image started to show through. After he finished coloring on the whole page with the yellow crayon, he went and got a blue marker to color over the yellow crayon. We've been doing a lot of resist work lately with crayons and markers :) It's so nice to see Lucas using the techniques we have been learning about. The blue marker was a little too dark for the pale yellow, so you can barely make out the image anymore. But Lucas was very proud of himself and loved the finished product! Which is what matters most!
I tried to have Gwendolyn participate this week. Because I figured crayons would be good for her. She ate a good portion of a yellow crayon. And colored her mouth pink and purple. And colored her legs orange. *ahem* Not a single mark ended up on her paper. But she did happily crumple it up and take a bite out of it. :) I guess I should have taken a picture of her - she was her own canvas. LOL

A trip to the zoo

2009-08-28T22:45:00.003-05:00

Grandparents at a playplace

2009-08-28T22:41:00.003-05:00

Duplos!!!

2009-08-27T20:52:00.004-05:00

Grandma and Grandpa gave the kids a Duplos table!! They love it!! We've been playing with it all day today :)

Yellow mixed mediums

2009-08-24T12:54:00.003-05:00

our materials:
yellow colored pencil
white colored pencil
silver crayon
gold crayon
gold gel pen
glue
geode pieces (we got a geode to crack open a few months ago and I have been looking for a fun project to use it for)
a piece of cardboard with a piece of black paper glued on top (the paper was way to flimsy to glue the geodes onto, and the cardboard was too plain, so this was the happy compromise)

Lucas colored with the colored pencils and crayons. (He couldn't get the gel pen to write because he tends to hold writing implements in his fist and it just wouldn't write like that..) He was pretty entertained by the way the marks showed up on the dark paper. But only wanted to color for a short while because he saw the glue. And he LOVES glue! He used a generous amount. :)
I got the idea for a night sky art project from the Let's Explore Blog. The geodes are supposed to look like stars. Lucas has been fascinated by the moon lately and I thought he would really enjoy doing an art project involving the night sky. He DID like it, but seemed indifferent to the theme.

Sneaky little boy..

2009-08-24T12:39:00.003-05:00

I wonder if Lucas can read. A few days ago I got out one of his old books (I Love You Sun, I Love You Moon) for Gwendolyn. Lucas never really liked it, so we haven't read it very many times. And I've only read it to Gwendolyn a few times since getting it out. Lucas picked it up and read it word for word to me and Gwendolyn. Huh. It's a pretty long book. But it is repetitive. Maybe he memorized it just by hearing it a few times? Either way, I was so impressed! I know that Lucas has been able to recognize some words for a few months now ('baby' and a few others that I can't remember right now). And we have been doing a little bit more with phonics these days since he is so interested in reading. I wonder if it just clicked? Or if he just has a really good memory. The obvious solution would be to ask Lucas. But he usually pretends he isn't able to do things that is able to. (he likes to be babied like Gwendolyn..) For now, I have been taking turn reading books with him :) I read one, he reads one. He LOVES reading to me and Gwendolyn - it's so sweet!!

Tot School

2009-08-21T20:04:00.003-05:00

Lucas is 35 months. Gwendolyn is 12 months.

We went with a 'p' theme again this week. Since we had Plenty of ideas leftover from last week :)

::Popbeads

Gwendolyn got a little tangled up in the long string of beads :)

A Pile of recyclables makes everything more fun! The kids loved filling up the box with the beads and dumping it out.

And filling oatmeal jars up with beads and trying to put the lids on.
Once they got the lids on, they shook the containers and rolled them around on the floor. Gwendolyn really enjoyed all of the noise.
Lucas and I talked about how different amounts of beads in the jar made different amounts of noise.

Lucas made lots of necklaces for Gwendolyn to wear, which she LOVED!
He also strung all of the beads together into a big circle to make a house. I used this as an opportunity to work on some vocabulary words for both kids. We used a little plastic person and talked about whether he was in the house or outside of the house. Then one of the kids would get in the house, while the little person stayed outside of the house. Or both could be inside the house. Or everyone outside of the house. Etc. It was a fun way to work on opposites and comparisons. Lucas LOVED being inside the house with the little person or having the little person outside of the house looking at him :) He laughed and laughed the whole time we played.

::Peeling oranges

Lucas has been more and more involved in meal preparation. He loves helping in the kitchen!

::Puzzles Gwendolyn played with this matching farm puzzle. She really likes if because when you press the pieces in, it sings a song.

::Pieces of Paper Lucas enjoyed ripping up another magazine. I got an issue of Parents in the mail a couple of weeks ago. As soon as Lucas saw it, he came and pet the magazine with one finger and said 'Me wait so patient to rip that up.' And he did.. Every time he saw me reading it, he would come and remind me how patiently he was waiting and then wander off to play. He was delighted when I finally gave it to him.

::Pink and Purple

I set out lots on pink, purple and 'p' letter beads for Lucas to transfer into this bag. Then I gave him a bottle of lotion to squeeze in. It was supposed to be for tracing letters on the outside of it or just for a fun sensory activity. But Lucas didn't care about it at all.

::Plastic vs. wood

We sorted toys into two categories: plastic and wood. We talked about where wood comes (trees), what it feels like, what it looks like, and what it sounds like when tapped against another piece of wood. We examined the plastic things in the same way. Lucas wanted to do this over and over again - it was a big hit!
Gwendolyn came and randomly took things out of each pile and carried them off to another room. But I maintain she's learning just by hearing Lucas and I talk :)

::People

Little wooden people, an abstract wooden puzzle and a wooden shape sorting cube set out on the kids art table. They have really enjoyed having activities set out on their table for them lately.

::Pouring eggs

I set out a few eggs and two cups with lids for the kids to practice pouring and putting lids on.
It was great color practice for Gwendolyn - we named each color of egg she picked up.
Lucas used his imagination and made me coffee and soda to drink in each cup. I love when he uses his imagination in such a thoughtful way!

::Play

::'P' activities not pictured
We went to lots of Parks this week.
We went on a field trip to the Police station. Lucas loved seeing all of the police cars parked in the lot.
We talked more about Pigs. And watched Pig videos on-line.
We played the Starfall game and did 'p' many times.
I know we did more than this, but I can't think of anything else right now.

::Counting we read a construction equipment counting book. One of the pages had eight hard hats on it. Lucas told us how he remembered men we saw working wearing hardhats to protect their heads. And then he pretended to put on his own hardhat. I love seeing the connection that he makes between things! As far as actually counting: Lucas can count to four and knows the one to one ration up to four. He knows the other number up to ten, but doesn't seem to know their actual value and doesn't necessarilly put them in the right order. He usually randomly lists numbers once he gets past four (1,2,3,4,8,1,9,4,3,7 etc) But I'm not entirely sure that he isn't just being silly. He likes to play funny little games, pretending he doesn't know things that he really does. Although, I'm happy as could be that he can count to four :)

A climbing girl

2009-08-21T19:57:00.002-05:00

White Pines

2009-08-19T22:10:00.004-05:00

We went to White Pines state park today. The kids love the playground there. And Gwendolyn is getting so good at climbing! It's so nice to see the kids playing together! They both have so much more fun together now that Gwendolyn is able to keep up with Lucas a little bit easier.
After the kids got tired and overheated from running around the playground, we went and walked through this great wading area in the river. Lucas was so happy to splash around in the water and loved kicking it to see how high up it would go. And Gwendolyn sat at the edge and splashed a bit, then asked to be carried through the water :) She did find a nice puddle of mud to squish around in, tho. And, really, there's not much better than a mud puddle when you're a small person.

Fresh picked field corn

2009-08-19T22:00:00.002-05:00

Lucas asked for corn for lunch. We didn't have any, unfortunately (we usually do because Lucas has had an odd fascination with it lately). As we were heading out the door to the park, I saw a lonely field corn plant in our strawberry patch. So we plucked it and Lucas got corn for lunch, after all.

Although I'm not sure he liked it very much...

Cushion hopping

2009-08-18T23:18:00.002-05:00

A marshmallow blower

2009-08-18T22:11:00.007-05:00

When we went to the fair a few weeks ago, we saw this marshmallow blower and we thought Lucas would like it. Because, you know, what little boy wouldn't love flying marshmallows? It turns out, he LOVES it!!

Even Gwendolyn enjoyed playing with it :) She ate a few marshmallows, then
she was happy as could be to try and put a few into the blower. And then just play in the bowl. Both kids loved playing in the bowl, scooping and pouring.
After we played out on the porch with our new toy for hours, we went to the splash pad and had fun running around in the frigidly cold water. And once the kids decided they were plenty wet, we had to sit down and have a nice snack of dried fruit and almonds. (Because what else would we eat? If you told Lucas that you could eat something other than dried fruit and nuts at the splash pad/park I don't think he would believe you. I'm all about quick, healthy, easy, non-perishable food to take with us. I love that I can throw a few containers of dried fruit and nuts in the car and always have something good to eat with us and it won't go bad if I forget about it for a few months :) Always a plus.) Then we went and played at the adjoining park and Gwendolyn was able to climb up the slide and go down by herself!! We were so excited!! She has been climbing more and more lately and is getting so good at it! (and it's actually a pretty big slide - about five feet high or so) The kids stayed up way past their regular nap time since they were so happy playing. As a result, Gwendolyn didn't wake up from her three hour nap until four o'clock. So, we thought we had better take them out to burn off some energy, so she wouldn't stay up until midnight (because she does if she takes her nap late...) We went to another park and they ran all over the place. And on the way home, we stopped to check out this new riverfront area that the town just finished putting together. The kids loved running up and down the steps and playing by the water.
We brought home two very tired, very happy little people :) We had such a great time playing outside all day!

Great new toys

2009-08-17T14:06:00.003-05:00

We went to the thrift store this morning in search of a few things (none of which we came home with) But we did find a whole lot of great stuff while we were there!
We got:
A melissa and doug wooden shape sorter - Lucas LOVES it!! And it has lots of shapes beyond the usual ones, which is great for Lucas because he knows all of the basics. Gwendolyn likes taking the top off and throwing the shapes in that way - it's adorable how proud of herself she is!!
A wooden puzzle clock. Lucas has been working on lots of puzzles lately and has taken a definite interest in telling time, so this will be great practice!!
A set of wooden alphabet magnets and animals/farm magnets. The kids love magnets!!
Another set of pop beads, to go with the set we already have - because can you really have too many pop beads? Lucas thought his five foot long train of pop beads was all sorts of entertaining :) And Gwendolyn loves running behind Lucas and his train and pulling one bead at a time off.
A really nice jump rope with wooden handles - Lucas has had an odd fascination with jump ropes ever since Aunt Yvonne showed him how to use one :)
And three random wooden massage things. Lucas insists that two are cars and one is a steam roller :) I started getting massage brushes/rollers to rub Lucas down with because I heard it was really good for kids with sensory troubles to be pet with them. He's not overly fond of it.. Tho he frequently asks to be rubbed, he laughs and runs away. Or tells me it hurts.. Gwendolyn, on the other hand, LOVES to be pet! She finds the massage rollers and hands them to me and sits down next to me and asks me to rub the bottom of her foot. It is so sweet!! She sits contently in my lap for long periods of time if I pet her :)
And a set of eight while Correlle cups (that match our set of dishes). A certain small person keeps finding our regular mugs and throwing them. And they break. We don't have many left. I'm hoping these will be a little more sturdy and stand up to Gwendolyn's throwing... Because I'm tired of cleaning ceramic up off the floor :)
And a magnetic fabric pouch to put on the fridge to hold all of the dry erase markers that go with the kids' magnetic calendar that's on the fridge.
All of this for the low, low price of 8.65. Awesome!!!!

Kids at play

2009-08-16T19:45:00.004-05:00

Peeling oranges

2009-08-16T19:33:00.003-05:00

Lucas has been more and more involved in food preparation lately. He loves helping get meals ready. Yesterday he was standing around while I was making lunch, so I asked him to pull up a chair and help me peel an orange. I didn't really expect him to be able to do it, I just thought it would keep him happily busy for a few minutes. Much to my surprise, he peeled the orange perfectly by himself. Then he asked me for a bowl and broke all of the slices apart and put them in the bowl. Wow!
He enjoyed it so much, I set him out four oranges to peel for lunch today. He was thrilled and so proud that he was able to help prepare our meal :)

Muffin tin lunch

2009-08-16T19:26:00.006-05:00

our menu:
mushroom slices
tomato slices
lettuce pieces
ranch dip
orange slices
don't even ask if the oranges ended up in the ranch dip....

Playing by the river

2009-08-16T19:14:00.003-05:00

We went to play by the river and take the kids swimming. They do not swim, it turns out. So we played in the sand and jumped on rocks instead. It was great!!

The little things in life

2009-08-15T22:58:00.003-05:00

I FINALLY found a way to carry Gwendolyn in a carrier!!! I am so excited!!!It's been a battle with her since she was tiny. She tolerated being carried in an Ergo in front until she was two months or so. Then she just wailed and scratched whenever I put her on. So I started carrying her in a pouch sling facing out. She loved it. She outgrew it. We moved on to a ring sling in any position imaginable. She hated them all. I started wrapping her facing out in a front cross carry. Is was bliss. Until She outgrew it. I tried the Ergo again with a back carry. It was a joke. She was already nine months or so by this point and HEAVY. I was desperate for a carrier! So we went to a baby resale shop and got a cheapy Snugli carrier out of desperation. I thought she might enjoy facing out on the front. I don't know why this didn't occur to me sooner (maybe because she was more than old enough for a back carry?). She loved it! Bliss! Then.. I couldn't wear on the front anymore because I was too pregnant and wearing her made me have bad contractions. I tried the Ergo and the ring sling again. It was almost funny to think it would work. I thought I was out of options.. until last week. When I remembered that the cheapy Snugli carrier could be used for a back carry. I tried it out and Gwendolyn tolerated it!! WOOHOO!!! We've used it a few more times since and she doesn't love it. But she tolerates it. Good enough for me! And it doesn't make me have contractions! Finally a way to carry Gwendolyn!!! My hope is that she will eventually get used to being carried in a carrier and come to like it. And maybe, just maybe willingly be carried in an Ergo (by far my favorite carrier. and the only one that Tim will use). For now, I'm thrilled to pieces that I can carry her all day and have my achingly tired arms free :)

Tot School

2009-08-15T21:21:00.005-05:00

Lucas is 34 months. Gwendolyn is 12 months.

This week, I decided to go with a letter theme. We worked on 'p'. I was hoping it would help Lucas connect letters to the words we use for everyday things. And it has. He has been walking around saying 'pig starts with a 'p'. And he is able to guess what letter some words start with, now. It was so easy coming up with fun activities that started with a 'p' that this may may to carry over to next week because we couldn't fit them all in!

::Puzzles

The kids enjoyed this magnetic people puzzle.
Gwendolyn mostly liked picking up the pieces and putting them back in the bag. (And I encourage her love of cleaning up!!)
Lucas liked picking various pieces to make a person. He seems to find it offensive when we make the people the 'right' way.

They played with this farm puzzle for days. Lucas drove the tractor puzzle piece around while making appropriate tractor noises. And Gwendolyn pointed excitedly at each animal saying 'Dog dog dog!!!'

::Pipe cleaners

I set out a cup full of pipe cleaners, beads and straws. And let them play.

::Pasta

I filled up their sensory tub with egg noodle pasta and various 'treasures.'
Lucas liked whacking the pasta with a hammer, as usual.

I filled a little cloth bag with egg noodle pasta and 'treasures' and let the kids stick their hands in and feel around and pull things out. It was a great sensory activity for Lucas because it encouraged him to feel for the treasures.

::Push toys

We went for many walks with the kids on their push toys. They loved it!!! And I was so happy to have the inspiration to take them out for more regular walks.

::Pouring

I set out a jar of erasers and two spoons.
(And CLOSELY supervised Gwendolyn because she still puts things in her mouth. She did surprising well with this. After a few gentle reminders, she didn't put any of the erasers in her mouth. I'm thrilled she will be able to do more of our Tot School activities as she gets less likely to stick everything in her mouth.)

Gwendolyn poured the erasers out on the floor and picked up each one and put it back into the jar. And then she put the lid on. And repeated.
Lucas was so happy spooning up the erasers and filling various containers with them.

::'P' on a magna doodle

It's so fun to play with magnets on magna doodles!

::Pink and purple clips on a purple megablock

Both kids loved pulling the clips off of the block. Gwendolyn liked putting each small clip into the little compartments on the underside on the block.

::Play-doh

Okay, this isn't actually play-doh. It's a stiff modeling clay. But clay doesn't start with a 'p'.

::Pillows

We took all of the pillows off of the couch and had fun jumping on them on the floor.

::Police

Lucas got to watch a police car out the window.
(Tho the real entertaining part for him was when the tow truck arrived to haul the car away)

::Painting

Lucas painted with water colors. With both hands.

He also painted with water on his chalkboard. And after he dried it off, he got to play with his new bug magnets.

'P' activities not pictured:
We played with lots of pig stuffed animals, plastic pigs and pig puppets. We watched a few movies on the computer about pigs. And made up informative songs about pigs. ('Pig starts with a 'p'. Pigs are pink. A baby pig is called a piglet.' Sang to pretty much any tune that makes you happy)
We also played with a stuffed animal platypus. We read an article about them and listened to what their call sounds like on the computer.
We got out some action figures and various little plastic dolls and talked about how people starts with a 'p'.
We ate: pizza, pitas, pretzels, and plants (this is what Lucas calls alfalfa sprouts).
We read several library books relating to 'p': If You Give a Pig a Pancake, Pigeons Have Feelings, Too, Pinnochio, and a non-fiction book about Police.
We took a few field trips to parks.
And we went to a party.

::Ice

The kids chased ice around on the kitchen floor.

Gwendolyn used her carrot to whack the ice.

::Water play

Someone forgot to put the lid back on the rice tray. And it rained.
So the kids got a water/rice sensory tub to play with. What a great accident! I was amazed that Lucas was willing to stick his hands in the wet rice. He was concerned when he couldn't shake the wet rice off, but he kept playing anyways. Awesome! He is getting so much more tolerant of unpleasant things touching his hands :)

::Reading

Lucas has been reading books to Gwendolyn. SO sweet!!

::Sticker book

I got the idea to make a sticker book here.
I used a few of Lucas's drawings and paintings along with a helicopter he requested that I draw for him in page protectors.
And stuck it all in a three ring binder.

He LOVES it!!!

And Gwendolyn loves peeling the stickers back off :)

::Gluing

No week would be complete without puddles of glue.

A day in DeKalb

2009-08-13T21:01:00.003-05:00

Lucas asked to go to a park in the morning before we left the house. After a long drive, he was so happy to end up at a park!! He took off running as soon as he was out of the car :)

We also went to the lagoon at NIU. The kids loved running around the water. Gwendolyn was thrilled that there were ducks there. She kept happilly screaming 'Duck duck duck!!! Water water water!!!' Did I mention she loves ducks?? She even found a feather to play with.

Pregnancy update

2009-08-13T20:49:00.002-05:00

I'm 27 weeks pregnant. The baby is so active. She kicks all the time in a sweet fluffy little way. She's still feet down. I'm hoping she will flip soon!! I've been doing a lot of crawling around in hopes of encouraging her to flip :) We had a doctor's appointment today. It looks like she's growing well! We have to go for a fetal echo sometime soon. (because of Gwendolyn's heart condition, there's a 3-5 percent chance that this baby will have a heart condition, too - in which case she needs to be born somewhere with a NICU, not in the middle of nowhere).
So, everything is going great!
I'm feeling great and the baby is growing :)

Fun in the yard

2009-08-12T21:12:00.004-05:00

Playing at the park

2009-08-12T21:05:00.003-05:00

A watery baton

2009-08-12T03:28:00.003-05:00

Ah, the things you can whack with a watery baton...

Gwendolyn singing

2009-08-12T03:10:00.003-05:00

Gwendolyn's favorite book is a Wheels On The Bus board book we have. She asks Tim and me to read it often. And we do. I think we've read that book over a hundred times in the last week. She really likes it. A couple of days ago she brought it to us saying 'round round round' over and over again in this sweet little song voice :) Now every time she wants us to read this book to her, she comes and sings 'round round round' to us and holds out the book. It may be one of the sweetest things :) And it amazes me that she is already talking so much.

Muffin tin snack

2009-08-10T12:55:00.002-05:00

Theme: planes and automobiles
our menu:
two racecars made out of mushrooms and olives
two planes made out of apples
and a carrot windsock

A visit with Grandparents

2009-08-09T22:31:00.003-05:00

An excursion to go get pizza, playing with Grandma's Blackberry and building blocks with Grandpa and Daddy. The kids were so happy!

A cucumber

2009-08-08T19:57:00.004-05:00

Our neighbor brought some cucumbers and parsley from his garden over for us today. Gwendolyn LOVED the cucumber!! Once she figured out how to eat it :) Lucas said that the parlsey 'tastes like good grass.'

Boxes

2009-08-08T19:50:00.004-05:00

My sister gave us TONS of diapers for the kids. Awesome! So, of course, we had to set up all of the boxes like a train track for Lucas to 'drive' on. The kids played with the boxes almost all day today. Lucas walked around on top of them. Gwendolyn crawled up on random boxes and sat on them. Lucas rearranged the boxed many times to make fences. They drove cars and trucks around on top of the boxes. They ran back and forth between the boxes racing each other across the room. They had so much fun!! It's amazing just how versatile something as simple as a box can be.

Tot School

2009-08-07T22:09:00.003-05:00

Lucas is 34 months. Gwendolyn is 12 months.
We have had a fun busy week filled with lots of Life School :) We spent a day at Grandma and Grandpa's house. We had a playdate at the Splash Pad. We celebrated Gwendolyn's first birthday. And Lucas has been working on potty training. Never a dull moment!

::Art time

Putting jungle animal stickers on a piece of jungle themed paper.

Making yellow prints.

::Music time

Whacking orange juice jugs with wooden spoons :)

Gwendolyn did not approve of the noise. She wanted to knock the jugs down with the car she was holding.

We sang lots of songs and shook maracas.

::Water play

It's always entertaining to see what finds its way into the sink while I'm not looking. Lucas washed several bottles of juice :)

::ABCs

Magnetic letters and chalk for the chalkboard.
(see all the shreds of paper on the rug? Lucas got ahold of another magazine...)

We also talked about the letter 'e' (it's taped on the floor under the chalkboard) and played with our elephant puppet and eggs.

::Beads

(can you see the Thomas sticker stuck on Lucas's chest?)

::Blocks

Gwendolyn likes to fill the little blue container with megablocks and try to shake them out.

Tim and Lucas built a grain elevator on top on the new megablocks barn. Lucas carefully lined tractors up on top on the blocks.

Gwendolyn stuffed shreds of paper into a megablock. (the paper shreds are pretty plentiful around here)

::Bowls

The kids stacked bowls and knocked them over.

Lucas used wooden spoons to flip the bowls like pancakes.

Grandma and Grandpa's house

2009-08-07T21:57:00.004-05:00

The splash pad

2009-08-05T13:06:00.009-05:00

We had lots of fun at the splash pad! Kids and water always seem to go so well together.

(see Gwendolyn making a break for our little friends sandals?)

I was trying to get a picture of Gwendolyn in her new swim suit cover up before we left because it is adorable. But she had other ideas. So, here are a few blurry pictures of her standing under my feet trying to get the camera :)

Peaceful times

2009-08-05T12:37:00.003-05:00

This morning we woke up and made apple pancakes with banana cinnamon sauce. YUM! Then we went to the Splash Pad and had a great time playing with friends. We came home and made a mysterious lunch out of all of the leftovers we have sitting around (pitas stuffed with cucumbers, sprouts and olives aren't as good as they sound. and they don't even sound very good..) Gwendolyn is napping. Lucas and Tim are out in the yard doing manly chores. Lucas even insisted that he needed to wear deodorant :) And here I sit on the couch. I'm thinking about all of the chores that need to get done. But, really, they can wait. It's so nice to sit and enjoy the quiet that this house so rarely hears. So here I sit :) And instead of worrying about chores that need to be done, I'm going to think about just how great my kids are. And just how great my husband is. Because they are great. And that's the sort of thing that deserves thinking about.

Kitchen fun

2009-08-04T23:26:00.004-05:00

Lucas loves playing in the kitchen sink. And he loves helping with meal preparation. One of his favorite activities? Washing fruit to eat in the sink!

I plugged the kitchen sink and filled it with water. And gave him a bunch of grapes to put in. I set a strainer out on the side of the sink and let him do what he wanted.
He plucked, washed and ate each grape until he was full.

Then he got out his plastic cups and bowls that we use for playing in the sink. And he threw in three cucumber slices just for fun.
He spent about a half of an hour filling the cups with grapes and water and pouring them back and forth and dumping them back in the sink. He had a great wet time!

Yellow prints

2009-08-04T23:15:00.004-05:00

our materials:
stamps
green stamp pad
3 yellow markers
yellow crayon
yellow colored pencil
yellow star stamp marker

Lucas loved using the stamps to make prints! He is getting so good at making clear images with the stamps and it makes him so happy :)

Lucas's artwork!
He was so proud of it and told me 'this for Grandma!'
So, of course we had to pack it up in a yellow envelope and mail it to Grandma :)

And just for fun - this is my finished project. I almost always sit and do art with Lucas. It seems to really encourage him to sit and create for a longer period of time and he enjoys it so much more. And, really, who couldn't use more art in their lives?? I sure enjoy the quiet time spent creating with my small one! It's so peaceful and happy :)