Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Chocolate Pudding Fridays

This Fall we have decided to have what we're calling "Chocolate Pudding Fridays." We basically make chocolate pudding and the kids have the opportunity to draw in it. As well as pictures they practice letters and numbers. It's a bit messy but the kids LOVE it. Actually when I say messy it's not exactly what I expected. The girls have pretty much remained clean (much cleaner than I expected) and Jackson is a total disaster (much messier than I expected). As you will see from the pictures below he truly turns into a little chocolate monster! lol :) Here are the kids ready to go at their chocolate pudding the first Friday we did it. Some are obviously waiting more patiently than others... lol ;)Kennedy was extremely proud of the "E" she drew by herself. She has gotten really good at writing her name and this sort of activity seems to really help build confidence in writing for both girls.Jackson didn't waste any time digging in...Reagan, hard at work :)Jackson quickly realized the girls had more chocolate pudding and tried desperately to reach it himself...All three busy little beavers (we gave Jackson more chocolate pudding)Jackson also realized the girls had spoons and wanted them. We gave him some. I figure this is the perfect activity for learning how to use utensils. It's not like we can get any messier, right???A very excited Missy Reagan about her chocolate pudding creations!Missy K loved eating her chocolate pudding too - what a smile! :)I had to share a couple of pictures from our second chocolate pudding Friday as well. This time I started out by offerring Jackson a spoon and more chocolate pudding. He enjoyed both! :)One HUGE chocolate mess!!!Kennedy wanted me to take this picture of her with her letter "Y." She is so proud of herself and her writing accomplishements!

New Paints

I purchased some small Crayola paints sometime last year from Michaels that the girls have loved using and have also been easy to clean up. We have used these paints for so many different art projects! This year as I was looking at purchasing some new school materials (and a few Christmas gifts as well) from one of my favorite places, Constructive Play Things, I purchased big containers of Crayola paint. I also purchased these nifty spill proof containers with matching lids and paint brushes so it's easy for the girls to tell which brush belongs with which paint and our colors stay nice and brights. Super cool! The girls were very excited when they arrived and sat right down to try the new paint out! :)Here's an advertisement for their spill proof lids. This is what my floor looked like after Missy K dumped the green paint on the floor upside down. Not a single drop of paint! I couldn't believe it!Woo hoo!!!The floor faired a bit better than Missy K, however, who caught her eye with the paintbrush as she inspected the damage she had (or rather had not) created. Now if someone would invent some spill proof something that kept paint off the kids and their clothes... At least it's washable and does clean up very quickly and easily!And at least we're having fun!!! lol :)If you've never heard of Constructive Playthings you should check out their website: http://www.constructiveplaythings.com/cgi-bin/s.sh/2.0/index.html

They have such cool toys and everything is basically related to learning in some way. I love this place! I could spend tons of money shopping on this site!!! :)

My Little Mummies

I have absolutely no idea where this idea came from but a couple of weeks ago the girls brought me the bandages from their Animal Rescue Center and wanted assistance in becoming Mummies. I didn't even know they knew what Mummies were. They were pretty dissapointed we didn't have enough bandages to wrap them entirely but I was surprised we had enough to wrap them as much as we did. Here are my silly and very happy Mummies! :)Scary MummiesI can't remember if these are surprised or scared faces. I think it's my favorite either way! lol :)

Monday, August 29, 2011

Jacobson Park with Uncle David and Aunt Jolene

Uncle David and Aunt Jolene were in town to play with Heidi for the week earlier this month and we met them at Jacobson Park followed by lunch at Chick-Fil-A for lunch. It was a super fun playdate and we were so glad we could catch up with them while they were in town! :)Heidi and her Grandma :)Missy K loved getting a ride on Uncle David's shouldersMiss Heidi wanted a picture with her Grandpa and Missy K - this girl knows how to strike a pose - so cute! :)The girls decided they needed one last push on the swing from Uncle David before we could leave. :)Thanks again for making time to spend the day with us! :)

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Grammy's Birthday

Uncle Andrew and Aunt Jen flew to Tennessee for a visit and in order to go to Jared and Lydia's wedding with Mom and Dad. The day the flew in was Grammy's birthday, Wednesday, August 3. Since it seemed like a shame not to spend Grammy's birthday together when we were so close to each other we had about meeting somewhere between TN and KY to have dinner. Then Grammy decided she didn't want the kids to be in the car for even that long (since we had such a long trip to WI ahead of us the next day) so they all decided to come up and see us! While that was really an awesome thing for them to do I did feel bad about them making that trip. Especially since Uncle Andrew and Aunt Jen had just flown in from Alaska. What can I say? Our family is full of crazy travelers!!! We wanted to make sure Grammy had a special birthday visit so we got to work first thing Wednesday morning baking a cake! The girls are getting so good at following directions, knowing what the need to do in general and working together. What a team!!! :)Jackson was an excellent little cooperator and played on the floor by us while we were busy mixing the cake. What a good helper in his own way! :)The girls couldn't wait to lick the beaters and they both shared with Jackson who got the hang of it pretty quickly and happily joined in this tradition for the first time! :)After finishing off the batter everyone settled down to work on birthday cards for Grammy while the cake was baking and cooling. :)Everyone helped decorate the cake although Missy K was nervous and wanted assistance and Jackson just liked holding the icing. :)I put the letters out in the right order and the girls placed them on the cake together along with balloon candles they picked out. The girls also chose the flavor of the cake and icing as well as all the colors and decorations. They wanted a very special cake for Grammy! :)Playing with or more like on Uncle Andrew or maybe it's a living indoor monkey bar???Singing Happy Birthday to Grammy and helping blow out her candles :)The girls both thought they were messy enough that they should have a bath in the sink. They think it's hilarious the couple of times we've thrown Jackson in the sink and always beg to get in there. I'm not quite sure why we decided to let them this time but they had a blast! I'm honestly not sure Reagan had ever taken a bath in the sink before. What little (or kind of big) goofballs! lol :)Kennedy and Reagan thought Aunt Jen made a pretty good climbing apparatus as well... lol :)Reagan had to show everyone how she could stand on her head. I know this isn't good and we're working on doing handstands instead, but Reagan thinks she's hilarious as she puts herself into different poses with her legs. lol :)The last thing before they left (other than going around the circle that is) Reagan kept wanting Uncle Andrew to pick her up and drop her. Not let her fall or help her jump just hold her and drop her. My wild and crazy kids love playing with their wild and crazy aunt and uncle! :)Thank you for making such a crazy trip to come spend Grammy's birthday with us! We appreciated it and had a wonderful time! :)