Magnadoodling

I must say, I am impressed with Grace's Magnadoodle skills lately.

Here we have exhibits A and B

The rainbow fish:

And a crocodile:

Wednesday Morning at Norton

Grace didn't have school on Wednesday, so we headed to our favorite outdoor spot and enjoyed the cooler weather.

My, oh, my, how I miss having these two together all day every day.

After School Mommy Daughter Date

This girl loves some Counter Culture with Gummy Bears.

A Great Friday Afternoon

Last Friday it rained. Jack and I made chocolate peanut butter cookies. Jonathan came home early. We played Candy Land. We drank whole milk. It was wonderful.

Chim-un-nie Builder

Jack likes Legos.

He likes to make really really really tall chimneys.

Reading to Benjamin

Benjamin,

The other day it rained and rained and rained. Jack and I read and read and read. We do this on rainy days. When I asked him to choose another book, he thought we should read one to you. He chose "That's Not my Pony" for you because he thought you would like it. We read it for you two times. We can't wait for you to come and read with us this winter! Reading (especially on rainy days) is a really great thing to do.

Love,
Mama

Playing Church

The kids love to play "church"...

I am pretty positive that when I was this age there was absolutely no way anyone would have ever guessed that this version of "church" would actually be legit. Times, they are a changin' for sure. And although I am glad we are able to worship this way now, I am also really sad that my kids don't stand by my side and hold my hand and sing the doxology every single week at the end of the offering like I did with my parents.

Fine Motor Skills

So apparently boys really are a lot different than girls. Apparently they aren't born knowing how to hold a pencil correctly and write on lined paper easy-peasy at the age of three like certain big sisters. ;-) Now, if you know me, you know these things totally do NOT stress me out. I actually never ever give my kids anything but plain paper to draw with on purpose. I never ever make them sit and do worksheets or workbooks or anything like that. And you know what, they are able to learn everything they need to know... and we don't even pay for them to go to a fancy preschool (another post for another time). However, I do know that it's really important for little ones to work on fine motorskills because they will definitely need them in the near future. So when I sat down with Jack to begin our little lessons on the alphabet and numbers I was more than a bit overwhelmed at the amount of work we needed to do to develop those little boy fingers and hands. We've been working for about 3 weeks now and I am totally surprised by how much progress he has made! He wasn't into coloring, so I didn't push that at all. We have done tons of play dough and cutting and gluing and painting and taping and stickering and then worked our way back to coloring, first with large markers and then with pens and other "fun" mediums. And do you know what? The kid will (for a majority of the time) pick up the pencil and hold it correctly now all on his own! And his attention span is so much more than it used to be. He will sit and color more than just one small area of paper, working his way through a thought process and adding different elements in a scene or sequence. Yay!!! He is also super excited to learn each letter we cover. We have done A, T, B and are working on P this week. He is recognizing them everywhere and is so proud to know some of the same things as Sister. Also he is great at following directions and paying attention (once his attention is gotten). At story time this week the kids were insane. There were literally toddlers attacking other toddlers. Seriously craziness. But Jack did every single thing the librarian asked. He listened to all the books and followed the instructions so nicely... Here he is doing the tootey-ta

Then he went to a table, sat down and worked a long time coloring his picture. It may not look like much to you, but I am so proud of him! He colored each element of the page and worked (because HE wanted to) till the thing was finished.

I couldn't help but think back 6 months or so to a time when I had one kid wanting to meticulously color for hours and the other wanting to run the aisles throwing books on the ground. What a blessing to see this boy grow and develop and mature into a 3 year old with nice (most of the time) manners. (And I'll save the "stick it out on the discipline front. Your child and family will thank you" post for another day too) I am so glad I get to spend so much time helping him along the way. It really is a joy. And it is so nice when fruits are visible much earlier than you expected them to be! :)

Pictures

Grace is really into drawing things lately. She loves to write notes and fold them and give them to me or leave them places for you to find them. It's really sweet. Here are a few pictures that made me smile from this past weekend I don't want to forget.

Practice to draw a mermaid:

Ariel Little Mermaid.
"Ereel leetl mrmad":



A church:



Another church:



We finished Anne of Green Gables (again) last weekend so it must have been on her mind.

Here is an illustration of mean Anne "meen an" when she was disrespectful to Mrs. Lynde.



And Anne apologizing to Mrs. Rachel Lynde for loosing her temper and being so rude. :)

Jack's Birthday Saturday

Saturday, we had a special day of celebration more of Jack. We met his cousins and aunt at Strawn's for breakfast for some Mickey pancakes and orange juice (this kiddo loves some OJ).

Then we went through the music store together.


And the cousins came to play for the day!


We even finished off the birthday cake!


It was a fun Saturday!

Today Grace Said:

There is a boy at school that wants to marry all the girls. You know how we know?!? Cause he holds his hand out to give us five every time he walks by us. At school girls do NOT like boys.

And kids at school say things that aren't true at all. Like, they say kisses are groooooose. And kisses aren't gross! I like it when you give me kisses.

Do you know what Avery's last name is?!? It's kind of funny and so, well, kind of weird. It's Smith! Smith! Like sniff but Smith! Isn't that funny!

We didn't have a fire drill today, but we had a different kind of drill. It was a lock down drill. A lock down drill is really kind of rude. See, if someone comes and knocks on the door during a lock down drill you DO NOT open the door for them. You can't even look at them or make a sound!

I guess they have lock down drills so that kids get used to being in the dark. We have to turn off all the lights, like every single light, and sit there in the dark and you can't make any noise at all. And we just sit in the dark. I guess kids who aren't used to the dark will be used to it after they practice lock down drills.


I guess more than reading lessons have been learned at Kindergarden.

Jack's 3rd Birthday Party

Friday afternoon we had a little birthday party for Jack.

Here is a little preface to the event: Part of me always wants to throw a huge bash for my kids every year... and then I have to make myself stop and think realistically. The party is for Jack, not me. What would he have the most fun doing and how much can we really spend to make it happen? The reality is in actuality quite different from my initial party goal list. In the past I have noticed that when I do a big party I'm actually not spending much time with my kid on their birthday doing things they enjoy because I'm stressed out about planning a party. Then I'm not enjoying them at the party because I'm stressed out about throwing the party. And by the end of a week of celebrating the birthday kid with all the party business they are so overwhelmed and sugared up and spoiled that they can't handle it all, end up having a major attitude problem, melt down, and are actually kind if miserable. Then we have to discipline. No fun on a birthday day! And then we all have to spend a day inside detoxing... reading books in bed together, playing with the new toys together, coloring together, singing together, eating regular meals together, playing games together, relaxing together... All the things that actually make for a really happy kid... The things that might actually make for a really special birthday.

So this year for Jack we had a little afternoon birthday party. I invited his best friends (all 3 of them + siblings). I had a few little activities planned. But mostly I just let them play like 3 year old boys like to do. And I didn't stress about having a crowded house, or a messy house (these were our close friends who would have probably been over to play that day anyway), or not inviting every child in his class, or having fancy favors, or proving a meal, or making fancy decorations, or having umpteen different options for snacks. I bought a roll of brown craft paper and...

We made pretend paper party hats using fun things from the craft closet...

3 year olds really like to glue...


Grace and Eva had the most fun with this...


The boys played "hit the balloon up in the air" like 3 year olds like to do...


The kids and I made a batch of play dough together and I filled our fruit bowl with toys...


And the kids did this for a long time and the play dough was their party favor...


Then we read one of Jack's favorite books, Freight Train by Donald Crews, while Jonathan cleared the table, and we all sang and ate cake and fruit and goldfish!








Then when the boys were done eating way before all of the other people they played for a while.


And we all headed outside to break the piñata that The kids and I made together.


They filled their bags...


And sat on the front steps and ate ALL the treats! The Dum Dums were the most popular treat. :)


Here are JW, Grace, Jack, Eva, Julianne, and Marshall. Not pictured are Nanette, Caroline, Catherine and Dylan.


Then, when it started to get too hot, we came in and played pin the party hat on Jack! Do you like my Jack?!? He is kind of funny looking, but recognizable at least.


Eva won the game and put her hat right over his face! Grace edited a bit before I could take a picture and made sure her hat was in the correct location.


These were all of the activities I had planned, but after the party time was over the kids played for a long time and the adults were able to chat some.

Although I was still exhausted by the end of the day, this was by far the most relaxing, fun, and budget friendly birthday party we have thrown. And most importantly, I think Jack had a GREAT time! The kids helped me with all of the decorations and some of the prep. We had fun preparing in the afternoons throughout the week! And I liked that we still had all day Saturday to do a family birthday day full of snuggled and play and reading and low key fun. What a blessing to be able to celebrate this special kiddo!!!

Happy 3rd Birthday Jack!

Our sweet Jack turned three on Friday! We had a great time celebrating him!

We all got up a little earlier than usual so that we could do breakfast and presents before Grace had to be at school. I figured powdered doughnuts were the way to go since he lives them and there was no way I could cook a big breakfast. Sigh.

He was SO excited to wake up to a decorated house and a special birthday treat and presents!


Ahhhh...


Whooooo....


He got them all! Have I mentioned lately that I love this sweet smiling boy with all my heart? I do.


And I can't get enough of these faces!!!


Then we did presents. Grace got him a guitar stand.


Jonathan and I got him a new story book...


And a real microphone and stand...


We aren't telling him that you an actually plug it in and actually amplify your voice. He is loud enough without it and I probably is not the best quality sound in the world since it didn't cost any lore than a toy microphone. He LOVED all of his gifts and even gave us a great concert. He kept on saying "this is a song I wrote for Mr. David. This is a song I wrote for Mr. Daniel" (two of our worship leaders at church) then he would sing "nothing but the blood of Jesus". Hilarious and really sweet at the same time.


After we picked Grace up from school we had a little birthday party with his good friends!


And then we had his requested birthday meal, chicken and dumplings! He cleaned his bowl!


After baths and some family playing it was off to bed as a big 3 year old. Oh my, where has the time gone? We are truly blessed to have this sweet, smart, hilarious, musical, witty, helpful, and all around fun little boy in our home!