Just a Walk Around the Neighborhood

Tonight at dinner a nat flew into my salad and died in the dressing. Sigh. That event pretty much sums up how the day was. It could have been worse, but I will be glad to begin again tomorrow. One of the highlights of our day was enjoying the beautiful weather and going on a walk! It feels just like spring outside lately and the flowers are even blooming!

We took a long walk and saw a bobcat working at a house a couple of streets over! Jack LOVED watching him work.

This is where Grace watched from. She is not so much into loud noises.


Further up the street we saw some men working on the roof of a house. They were hammering and Grace really thought that was great! It wasn't quite so scary to her I guess.



My two little ones on our walk...


Right before Grace fell off her scooter and scraped her hands and started crying... Again. Like I said, it was just one of those days... Not terrible or anything, just one of those days.

Today Grace Said:

Whew! I surely am sweaty! It's a good thing I have my sweatshirt on!

Today Grace Said:

I found Jack's favorite song in my head!!! I think we should sing it for him.

It was "Jesus Loves the Little Ones Like Me".

Little Lessons: Letter J

We studied the letter J this week, and had a lot of fun. We took a little break from paint and glue and spent some quality time in the kitchen together instead.

Day 1:
After introducing the letter and scripture verse, we practiced writing the letter.

Then we made...

Jell-O!!!




Day 2:
We squeezed our own fresh orange Juice! This girl was working hard, y'all!

Rolling the orange...


Squeezing the orange....


Ready to try some juice!


We ate our Jell-O, drank our juice and read Dick and Jane together.


This was definitely a good day.

Day 3:
Grace Skyped with Samuel and he read to her all the way from Georgia!!! Way to go Samuel!!!


Day 4:
We practiced writing on the chalkboard and whiteboard...


And then we wrote about Jack...


Jack loves Grace.
Jack loves outside.
Jack loves to put things in his mouth.
Jack loves to play with the tent.


Jack loves trains.

All very true observations made by a very good big sister.

Today Grace Said:

After standing with her face right next to Andrew's car for a good 5 minutes:

Why doesn't Uncle Andrew's car smell like Uncle Andrew?

5 Pictures...1 Boy...1 Day

Cycling Lessons

First Sentence

Today Grace wrote her first sentence...

JACK LOVES TRAINS.

After she wrote it I asked her if she wanted to write another. She said, "No. My arm is pretty tired from all that writing. I think I'm just going to draw with another color now." Then she drew a picture of Jack in a car on a road in a big big big gigantic thunderstorm.

Today Grace Said:

If I have one finger on this hand (holding up one finger) and two fingers on this hand (holding up two on the other) then really, I don't have three. I have 12 cause ya know there is a one and a two right next to each other, and that makes the number 12.

Today Grace Said:

If we are supposed to be thinking of others all the time, aren't others supposed to be thinking of us?

Jack's 16 Month Check-Up

Jack went to the Dr. for his 15 month checkup today (yes, we are a month late). Here are his stats:

Weight: 20 lb 7.5 oz (about 10th %)

Height: 31 in (about 50th %)

Head: 18 3/4 in

He easily exceeded all of his milestone goals and didn't even cry when he got his shot! What a blessing it is to have a happy, healthy growing boy!!! I am so very thankful to have two healthy kiddos!!!

Here are some things you are doing, Jack:

•Sleep all night most nights still from 8:00 to 6:30-7:00 (insert huge YAY here!)

• Take two naps a day. One 30 min nap in the morning and a longer, sometimes 1-1/2 hr nap in the afternoon

• Nurse 3 times a day. (we are transitioning out the middle of the day nap now)

• You say SO many words! I love love love that you can talk with us now! You can say mama, daddy, dada, papa, granny ("Annie"), paw paw, nana, more, eat, bye bye, bird, dog, kitty, guitar ("are"), loud ("oud"), bath, water ("ah"), drink ("een"), paper, cup ("up"), me, you, eye, car, and so many more! You are learning new words every day!

• You love the ABC book just like Grace did. You call the book "QRS" instead of ABC though. So funny! You always find the page that has the door on it and say "knock knock" and knock on the door while I sing the song about knocking on the door. Then you find the picture of the guitar and say the word followed by "oud" meaning loud! Ha!

• You also love to sing. Your favorite songs are "Jesus Loves the Little ones like Me Me Me", "ABC's", and "Old McDonald". You can sing each song and it is just wonderful to hear your sweet little voice developing.

• You are a great eater and love fruit, cheese and pastas best.

• You are also doing pretty well with discipline. You understand "No no" and obey most of the time. You do very well with your time out's when you disobey.

• You adore Grace and like to play with her, pull her pig tails, and sing with her. You also just like to play quietly by yourself as well.

• You moved up in Sunday School and seem to be doing as well as can be expected for a kid who misses his morning nap. I think Papa misses holding you though.

• Your favorite thing to do is go outside! You can get the t-ball set out, set it up and hit the ball by yourself! You also just like to run and climb stairs.

You are such a sweet natured kiddo, and we all love you to bits! I'm SO thankful I get to spend every day with you, watching you grow!

It's The Little Things...

Like a laundry hamper...

Than can be the most fun of all.

An Afternoon At The Museum

We decided to enjoy the nice weather this afternoon before it started to rain by visiting the museum and gardens.

Here is Grace walking to the car on the "balance beam". I totally remember doing this as a kid! She is also sporting her souvenir button that she got the first time we visited the museum last summer. This child does not forget anything. I'm glad I was able to find it as my memory tends not to be so sharp!

On the Little Red Riding Hood sculpture in the children's area...


With Papa in the National Parks exhibit...


Then the kids enjoyed running around the gardens. Jack can now officially RUN! He is FAST! I am getting my exercise for sure!


It was a beautiful spring-like day in the middle of January. I'm glad we were able to spend some time outdoors.

Riding A Bicycle

This kiddo...

Is a PRO when it comes to riding her bicycle! Last night we took a little family stroll after dinner and she rode her bike with no help the whole way... Even up the big hill at the end! Way to go Grace!

Many Hands Make Light Work

We have another good helper around here, Y'all.

Especially when helping involves being outdoors, getting dirty, moving leaves, and being with Papa. ;-)

January Visit to Arkansas

Last week the kids and I went to Arkansas to visit Nana and Paw Paw. We didn't do much of anything really. Just a little...

Playin' outside....

Playing with play dough...


Cake baking...


Whipped cream whipping...


Play camping...


Good eating...


Park playing...



(even Annabelle)...


And visiting Grandmother, of course...


It was a fun, relaxing, generally wonderful week! We are so thankful to be able to spend time with Nana and Paw Paw!!! A 6 hour trip beats a 2 day trip any day of the week!!! I'm already looking forward to our next visit!

Ring Around the Nosey

Footwear

Check out the new fancy footwear this girl got!

I'de say she is well pleased. :)

Little Lessons: Letter S

Day 1:

We made S's with String...

Then we painted with String...


Ta-Da!!!


Then we made stained glass. We heated some paper on a cookie sheet in the oven (about 10 min or so at 250) and then colored on it with crayons we had peeled the paper off of. As Grace colored the crayon melted and kind of oozed (if that's a real word) around.


Pretty fun. And we managed to do it without burning any fingers!


Day 2:
More stained glass. What can I say, I'm a sucker for stained glass crafts apparently. This time we did the classic "melt the crayon shavings in between waxes paper" method.


This was the first one... We got much better as we kept on practicing. And boy, the smell of melting crayon sure does bring a person back to kindergarten (or the life of a Milford child).


Day 3:
Stamping! We found different objects around the house to stamp with. Then Grace chose the paint colors...


And she stamped away!


She also decided to paint the letter "s" on her stamp collage.


Next, we practiced making Snowmen with playdough... A very important skill for any 3 year old in my book. ;-)


Jack was even able to participate when he woke up and use our playdough stamps and other tools.


Day 4:
Are you ready? It's more stained glass!!! This was by far the most popular craft of the week. I watered down some Elmer's glue (which, by the way, Grace really really really enjoyed squeezing out of the bottle into a huge pile on the plate) and Grace painted a glass jar with it. Then she put squares of tissue that we had cut out onto the wet jar. I painted over them a bit to make sure everything was stuck on really well.


Then we let it dry for a while and lit a votive inside. Grace thought it was SO neat!


But then she got too close and her forehead got hot!



We then had lunch (and later dinner) by candle light!


It was a fun week!