The splash pad

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

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

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

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 :)

Gwendolyn's first birthday!

Sweet tiny Gwendolyn is one!
We had a great day celebrating our girl!
She woke up to a new barn and a new truck set out to play with :)































We did lots of Gwendolyn's favorite things - we played with musical instruments, we went to the library, we played on the back porch for hours, we read lots of books.












After her favorite dinner of grilled chicken and cheese, she got to open her birthday present - her very own set of tractors!
















She couldn't quite open the package herself and asked Lucas for help.





































He happily ripped open the cardboard for her and handed it back so that she could take out the tractors :)

She was thrilled to dump them all out and was sure to share one of her new tractors with Lucas before she started playing with them.



We had a pretty low key birthday celebration because Gwendolyn wasn't feeling well. She got a high fever and was up the whole previous night. She wanted to mostly lay in my lap all day. But she sure was a happy sick little one!
And, yes, she did get all 'boy' presents for her birthday, but it's all that she likes to play with. Maybe because she has a big brother? She has almost no interest in dolls or anything 'girl'. Which is just fine :) She gets so excited when she sees a truck driving down the road or a loader moving stuff around. It's adorable! Her favorite toys, by far, are Lucas's tiny tractors. So, of course a girl needed some of her own to play with. Because they're pretty in demand around here.

Muffin tin lunch

our menu:
4 mini cups of olives
6 mini cups of cherries
2 mini cups of Kashi crackers

Lucas really enjoyed his muffin tin lunch last week, so I thought we would give it a try again. He was much better this time about eating what was in front of him and not asking for more of each thing as he finished it. Awesome! Of course, I was eating alf alfa sprouts and he *needed* some of those :) He is a sweet little bunny. And it is hard to say no to a kid that wants to eat something as healthy as sprouts and thinks it's a treat to eat 'little plants.'


Check out this blog for more ideas :)
Her Cup Overfloweth

Tot School

Lucas is 34 months. Gwendolyn is 11 months.

::ABCs


I have been taping letters to the rug for the kids to play on. Lucas is driving his Matchbox cars on the letter 'm'.
We also worked on 'l' and 'e' this week.

Gwendolyn found all of Lucas's cars lined up just so.




















This was the result.... Oh yeah, he threw an epic tantrum. Then he came and gave Gwendolyn one of his cars because he realized he wasn't sharing nicely when he threw a tantrum. What a sweet boy :)








::Music time



Tim played with the kids and their musical instruments.
























After we read a book about butterflies, I turned on some music, got out the play silks and we all ran around pretending to be butterflies.




















The kids ended up chasing each other in circles. It sure was good exercise!













::Ring stacking




They love rings of every variety. We spend lots of time playing with stacking rings every week. It's great fine motor practice for Gwendolyn. And Lucas loves teaching her the colors. So it really reinforces his knowledge.








































































::Smoothie shop


I set out a set of nesting cups. Lucas scooped them right up and said he was making smoothies for all of us. He distributed a cup to each person, asked us to drink it, then refilled it :)




















Every smoothie shop needs a blender :) Lucas and Gwendolyn both loved pushing the buttons to mix up the smoothies. I love that Lucas is really using his imagination and making up his own games.
When they started to get a little fidgety from sitting still playing with the blender for so long, I asked Lucas to pretend to be a blender. He got up with one of the cups and ran around the living room in circles making a whirring blender noise. Gwendolyn was quick to follow :)





::Fun with food


Shaking pasta in a plastic container.


















Hammering pasta on the deck. It was such a hit last week, we did it again this week.

















Playing in a pan full of rice. We talked about why rice can go through a big funnel, but not a little funnel. And why a matchbox car couldn't fit through either funnel. No matter how hard we shoved *ahem*.
We gently tossed rice into the air and talked about how it looked like rain.
We stood penne pastas up in two rows in the pan of rice and used it like a road for Lucas to drive his little matchbox car on.






And when we get bored with it all, bring out the hammer.
















::Pipe cleaner activity


Gwendolyn is trying to figure out what to make of the cup full of pipe cleaners. She ended up really liking to chew on them and wad them up into balls. We named the color of each one she pulled out and talked about the texture. Then we strung one bead on for her and let her pull it off. She LOVED that!











Lucas and I made the pipe cleaners into letters. And shapes to show to Gwendolyn. He loves including his sister :)













::Water painting


Lucas painted with water on his chalkboard. He loved it!! He asked for it almost every day! He painted random blobs and told me all about them (this is a big black truck. just for you!).












::Reading


Gwendolyn has *finally* taken a liking to being read to! Awesome!!! It has always been a favorite activity for Lucas and me. Now she finds books and brings them to me wherever I am to be read to :) And, of course, I read every single one to her over and over to encourage her love of reading.
As a result, I have been able to read to Lucas LOTS more than I have been able to for quite a while. Gwendolyn now either sits and listens or wanders off to play quietly on her own. It's great!













::Games we play


Throwing a ball and two stuffed animal dragons into a laundry basket. Gwendolyn scouted out a wipes case on the changing table to throw in, too.















Lucas is helping Gwendolyn get the wipes case out.
















A tiny game of bowling. Two wooden pins and a wooden ball. The kids were not in a sharing mood. See the look on Gwendolyn's face? Lucas asked her for her pin.












She was kind enough to give it up. Eventually. And Lucas set up the game for them to play.















::Puzzles


We did a numbers(for Lucas) and shapes(for Gwendolyn) puzzle.














::Art time
Lucas has been gluing. We did the Open Ended Art project this week along with lots of other gluing. Lucas also played with stickers a few times. And lots of coloring with markers for both kids.

Learning to rollerskate

Lucas has been begging for roller skates for ages. We finally got him some (yes his roller skates are pink). He had them on his feet for all of about 20 seconds before he said he was done. He has enjoyed putting matchbox cars in the skates and pushing them around, tho.

Lucas and artwork

Sticking new stickers that arrived in the mail from Grandma and Grandpa :) He said that he made it for Gwendolyn. So sweet!!















Gluing elastic bands and googly eyes because we have been talking about 'e.'

Gwendolyn playing