fun friday, 2.22.13...

Still wasn't sure yesterday morning what we were going to do for "fun friday", until S made the suggestion for a snow day afternoon - perfect, especially since we had gotten 4-5 inches of fresh snow overnight and throughout the day, the wind was calm and the temps were not frigid.  (I think S was wishing he could have come home early to play in the snow too! =)

(I know there will come a day when shoveling will not be "fun")

(this was H's first official time out playing in the snow!)

(not so sure what to think at first =)

(being pulled in the sled was fun though)

(for everyone...except maybe the momma after many trips around the yard)

(they learned a new game...)

 

 

 (...and made snow angels!  the snow was just perfect for that)

(perfect enough that momma couldn't resist making one too)

(our 4 little snow bunnies)

 

(and the day was topped off with hot chocolate, tomato soup and grilled cheese)

(did someone say "CHEEEEEEESE!"?)

mental health weekend...

You might have noticed a few dates missing in my "fun fridays" posts. Those would happen to be the Fridays that we had the stomach flu, that we discovered G had brought home head lice from school for us all (awful 3 week ordeal that I won't go into, unless you want me to, and believe me, I know way more than you ever want to know about those yucky critters), and when G&W&C got strep throat. We are used to ailments of various sorts, that is the nature of the beast with many small children, but all of these things fell right on top of each other. And that was enough to make this momma and dadda (mostly the momma, who has been trying so hard to have more patience and perspective and grace...and let me tell you grace goes right out the window with head lice) go crazy. So we (mostly I again) decided a little mini vacation was in order over the long President's Day weekend. And while we did not escape to a warm tropical destination, a hotel stay with a pool down the road a bit and some activities we don't do often here in the cities was just right for us. And these photos will be enough to keep me smiling through whatever infectious disease comes next...

the ice castle at the MOA:

 

(SOOOOOO cold, but so fun, must be true Minnesotans....)

fun at the hotel:

(watching Wild Kratts from bed in the morning =)

(then tackling dadda to wake him up for a little fun with photo booth on the iPad)

(nice pool for the ages our kids are at - this side was only 1 ft deep)

(and this side was 3-4 ft deep - G LOVED the slides and that she could touch through the whole pool)

(H was a little unsure at first, but eventually had fun...and learned the cutest trick ever that we will have to take you all back to the hotel pool to show you =)

(and oh did these two have a blast!  many hours were logged in the pool by the time the weekend was over)

We also did Sea Life MN at the MOA, lunch at IKEA in our favorite spot where we can see the airplanes fly in, and of course pizza at the hotel for supper one night.  This is the first time in over a year and a half that we have gone anywhere other than to our parents' houses (we love you parents!!!), and although we didn't drive far (and that part was nice), it did feel like a get-a-way and we all enjoyed it so much!

fun friday, 2.15.13...

(blurry photos brought to you by my cell phone and forgetting the big camera...=)

Anyone guess where we went?  An experience in and of itself that the kids had a hoot with.  S had the day off, we all went to pick G & W up from school, told them we were going somewhere crazy, and drove the half hour out to the large outdoor store where we admired the animal dioramas, camping supplies and aquarium, and resisted buying outdoor gear and large containers of mixed nuts and gummy peach rings...

valentines 2013...

OH, why do I love this silly holiday so much?!  And WHY do I love homemade valentines so much?!!  I know I know I said last year that I would NEVER do this again, but even I knew at the time that I would.  And we did.  After the crazy start to 2013 that we have had you would think that I would cut my losses and buy the $1.99 pre-made packs at the drugstore and call it good.  But I think that we all needed a little fun and extra love this year, and it was theraputic to a point for me to focus on valentines.  And I spent A. LOT. of time looking for and prepping ahead of time so that my dear crafty kiddos could do most of the work themselves, which to me was totally worth it.  There was a little less procrastination, a lot less frustration, and no tears this year  (I attribute this part to a little more planning and starting earlier, and part to having Aahma B visit and help out!)...so I deem it successful.

For W, we made valentine postcards (fitting in with their post office theme in Kindergarten this month), borrowing the heart guy from this blog.  I printed the postcards on the computers with the heart body on the front and "Happy Valentine's Day!" on the back, and W drew the heart guy on the front, glued his given labels for his classmates on the back as well as signing his name.  Oh, and stamping a heart stamp for the stamp.  He also made some for his Sunday School classmates and cousins.  We were really impressed with his focus on this!  While it took a couple days to complete everything, he would diligently work for 15-20 minutes by himself completing them (although he loved having a little help from Aahma B too!), even paying attention and adding ties to the shoes of his classmates who had tie shoes! 

C also made some of these guys for his Sunday School class and cousins!

 I thought they turned out pretty cute!!!

For G, we had a hard time coming up with an idea, but then I saw this blog post and asked her if she wanted to make bookmarks.  She didn't really want to do those bookmarks, but she liked the bookmark idea.  So we came up with something similar that allowed her to paint, which is really all she wanted to do this year.  G started by painting a bunch of abstract watercolors.  I then printed out "Happy Valentine's Day!" on a bookmark template, and she then addressed and signed them.   We cut apart both the printed sheets and the watercolor sheets, she punched heart shapes out of the water color side and we glued it to the printed paper so the white showed through.  Lots of little steps, but easy to accomplish and once again G did most of it herself!

(oh what our college textbooks are used for today...)

G didn't have enough of the bookmarks to give to her Sunday School class and cousins, so she also did some heart guys like the boys, and a few of these, gluing some of her punched out heats to the back of some of the printed bookmarks.  Also cute!

We borrowed Auntie C's corner punch (thanks!!!) with the intent of rounding the corners too, but the paper was too thick to easily do this.  So she did that for teacher ones to make them a bit more special...

G also had to make her own Valentine box at home and she came up with this adorable mailbox. 

Now being that I love homemade valentines so much you don't think that I would let the kids have all the fun, do you?  I also came up with a valentine to send, but due to the craziness of getting the kids' done on time mine were sent out a little late.  Good thing we love each other all year, right? 

 I took this to frame for S as a Valentine's Day gift, and then sent out prints to family and friends as well... 

fun friday, 2.8.13...

lots of love this Friday prepping for a fun holiday next week...

...and happy to have a very loving guest with us too!

another doodlebug...

So using the new tractor calendar that Boppa R gave him, C got to put a sticker on everyday that he was able to go to the potty all by himself all day with no accidents.  And we told him that when he had 10 stickers in a row, he could go to Doodlebugs, the pre-school program at the nature center that W attended last year.  Everything finally started going smoothly and sure enough, those stickers lined up and soon it was Doodlebugs Day!

I was so proud of him!  But being that we know the Doodlebugs routine, I don't think it really hit me until that morning how big my little guy was getting!  Really, off to pre-school?!!!

be still my heart....

OK, and when they all lined up I seriously died.  How can I have 3 kids in school already?!  And how proud and happy do they all look!!!!

C was not nervous at all about going.  First of all he knows the Doodlebugs routine since W went through it last year, and since W doesn't have school on Tuesdays, we signed him up to go with!  So fun for them to do this together and it really made the transition easy for C.  Then he will be a total pro when he goes by himself next year.

The program is on Tuesday mornings from 9:30am to 11:30am.  They play, read a book about nature, and do crafts and activities that go along with the book.  This first day they talked about Groundhog Day, read a story(don't remember which one), played shadow tag outside (they always go outside no matter what the weather!), and then turned cracker and cereal boxes into little groundhog faces!

C was beyond excited and so proud to tell us all about Doodlebugs and his teachers and the kids in his class and show off what he had done.  We went over to Mrs. L's after school and had a special snack and told her all about it, and then when Dadda came home, we celebrated with supper at noodles & co!

We are so proud of you C!  You are such a big 4 yr old now and we are glad that you can go to Doodlebugs and learn and explore on your own!  But we are even more glad when you come back to tell us all about it...