Hodgepodge

The last few weeks life has not felt very blog-worthy, plus I think we all have the winter blahs which makes it hard to get motivated to do much of anything. So, this is what we have been up to...because of course I wouldn't go two weeks without taking a picture. :)

We made a small dent in our giant to-do list over a couple of weekends, including getting Makin's name up on his wall...only 3 1/2 years late. :)

Fun With Blocks

The calendar says its spring, and although the temps don't agree, we have done just a few spring crafts. A fun and easy idea I found was painting flowers with marshmallows. :) They turned out super cute and the kids had fun making them!

Fun Artwork By Lorelei

Before bedtime, after books, Brad and I spend 15 minutes (If they earn their 5 bonus minutes, which was a genius idea, they loose their bonus minutes if they continually call us for things after we leave, like water, another blanket etc. Evenings are much more enjoyable now.) with a child. We take turns each night, so they get mom every other night and dad every other night...hope that makes sense! Anyway, they can choose how to quietly spend their time with us (we talk, cuddle etc) and for a few nights we ended up looking at videos from the blog. The evening pictured was a Tuesday night because Brad has a Bible Study so I had them on my own. I'm not big on computer time, but think we will make it a certain day of the week since they were having so much fun looking back at themselves when they were little! And wow does it make me teary to see how much they have grown up. They loved watching videos of themselves from the different ages we found. I'm so thankful they can easily look back and see all of that. It was so precious and I know it makes them feel good too.

Lorelei is still working hard on her school work. She has mastered letters and loves spelling things out. She even started sounding something out without me talking her through it the other day, which was awesome. She no longer skips 13 when counting so I'm totally pumped about that. She does not want to master identifying her numbers and just wants me to teach her to read. :)

I feel like I have been able to breath a sigh of relief at this point. The letters seemed to finally "click" for her so I'm just taking it slow and trying to make sure she enjoys learning.

Brad had to fly out of Omaha for work, so the kids and I spent a few hours at the zoo. Highlights were the butterfly house and getting to touch starfish!

Magna Tiles...hours and hours of Magna Tiles. Thank you Melissa!!! :) I strongly encourage any of you reading this with children to put this on your Christmas/Bday list. They are not cheap...have Grandma get them for you! :) You can order them online or at a specialty toys/education type store if you call around. I cannot explain how much they love these. Today, for example, other than story time and a little bit of coloring/cutting all the played with all day were the magna tiles! Endless amounts of creativity here. Oh, and if you cannot tell, they need me to take many, MANY pictures of their creations before they want to knock them down. This isn't even half of what I've taken this month.

Tea parties. These have been a bit hit, especially with the girls we babysit. Nana got this little set for Lorelei and they are loving it. Often Thursday mornings we spend a long morning snack time having a tea party before story time. Their tea is water and they can pour it themselves. We also have to use tiny food to fit on the plates and talk in fancy voices. :)

Blanket Tents. Enough Said.

Spring could hurry up just a little. It really could! :)