Alphabet Days (SUPER LONG POST!)

So we've been working on our alphabet. Lucy can sing the ABCs by herself, but her letter recognition needs some help. 

I'm KIDDING!

She is only 2 :) I don't expect her to know her ABCs already, but I would like her to start becoming familiar with them. We've only done A and B so far. But we have had fun and she is already starting to ask me what certain letters are. She will also pretend to write and she'll say random letters as she scribbles! 

Today we were at Daddy's school and she saw the Y on the hill. She pointed and said, "Yooke, mommy, a X!" She was SO excited to see it. I had to tell her it was really a Y and it stood for BYU. She called it an X a few more times, then she called it a Y. 

Here is the list of sites that I got our ideas from. I am not very creative when it comes to coming up with these things on my own, so I am INCREDIBLY grateful to others who post their creative ideas for me to use! 

OopseyDaisy Alison has a BUNCH of super fun lesson plans. She is very thorough in what she covers. She was a 1st grade teacher and is now a stay-at-home mom. Love her blog!

No Time For Flashcards has a list of upper and lower case letter activities. There are some cute ideas on here too!

Totally Tots has an Now I Know My ABCs section with books and activities to use for each letter! Our library never seems to have these books, but we have used the activities and found fun books while searching for theirs.

Making Learning Fun has some fun ideas for activities and printables to go along with popular books. 

There are probably other sites that I have gained inspiration from, but I cannot remember them...So, if anyone finds them PLEASE let me know so I can give due credit! Thanks!

A

Our first A activity: "Ants on my As"

I cut out an upper and lower case A. We glued it on the paper (with a glue stick) and stuck our fingers on ink pads (I only had pink and purple-they were given to me) and put them on the As. 

Then we added little legs and antenna to the fingerprints to make ants! 

I think she had more fun with the ink than making them into ants. 

But its all about the process, right?

 We made an Apple Tree! Oh my, Lucy LOVED this! I told her I had a tree for her to color and she said, "Oh, Thanks Mommy!" "I color a tree?" I wrote As on the trunk and the tree top and she scribbled over them while she colored the pieces.

 The 'apples came from some christmas pom poms that were falling apart. This was her first time using normal glue and she thought it was SO much fun.

I spelled out "apple tree' while I wrote it and Lucy wanted to write the words too. This was so much fun.

 Next (and as in next I mean five minutes later) we made and ANT! When we finished the tree Lucy looked at me and asked 'What else?' So I asked if she wanted to make an ant and she got very excited! I pulled out her paints and let her pick the colors. Three colors of brown held her over for a while, but when she got to the head she decided she wanted some variation!

 Our ant got some yellow, blue and green on it too!

 Little man didn't want to feel left out...so he played with everything while attempting to climb up on the table and over to the paint!

 Our finished 'beedle'...or ant. She calls it a beetle :)  

(and the rag used to wash hands became her 'Mary' hat)

Little man got his wish....a wet paint brush.

The ant activity took a little longer than some attention spans would like, so I think when we do this in the future I will pre-cut and put together the pieces and she/he can just paint them. 

B

 To introduce our Bs we made some blue bubbles (using food coloring and a little bit of bubble mix) and using a straw colored our Bs!

 Munchkin thought it was a blast!

 The bubbles stopped getting blown when she discovered she could make bigger bubbles by blowing into the bowl!

 We did have and incident of inhalation (hehe, i shouldn't laugh, but it was pretty funny) she quickly learned you only blow out with bubbles not in :D

Our Bubbled Bs

Our next B activity was making butterflies!

We used coffee filters, some pipe cleaners (chenille), and finger paints. 

I didn't get pictures of her coloring them (drat) but she and little man really liked getting their fingers all goopped up with paint and smearing it everywhere :)

They now decorate our fridge! I love them!

Our other B activity (we're doing a couple more the next couple of days) was putting together a mini version of "We're going on a Bear Hunt". Lucy and Cole LOVE this book! I had never heard of it before (Devin knows the song) and we have had so much fun reading the book and doing different activities with it. 

 Here we are gluing on snow flakes to the snowstorm page.

Well, that's all for now folks! We have been having fun with our letters. I'm exited for the activities we have coming up!

Finding God's Beauty in Life

When my Dad passed away last May my wonderful mother-in-law got me this plant. Honestly, I didn't expect this plant to last for very long. I have never been able to keep indoor plants alive. 

 It has been sitting in this window for 9 months now.  

At the time it had dozens of beautiful flowers like this

It continued to bloom throughout the summer. Then fall came and it's blossoms came more sporadically...a few times it looked like it was giving up and I would water it and pick off the dead parts. I was sure it would die.

But I believe there is something special about this one....

it must like me or something. 

I don't water it as often as I should...it really doesn't get that much sunlight in this little window...and still every now and then, 

it gives me one of these beautiful little flowers.

 It reminds me of our Heavenly Fathers love for each one of us, of His power and grace. That he would care enough to not just keep this plant alive, but blossoming in the dead of February...I am so grateful for these little reminders that seem to come when they are most needed. 

These little blossoms rejuvenate me.
They help me to be happy and to have patience.                                        

Look at all those little beauties!

They remind me 
to see God's beauty in all things. 

I've got the itch....

I've been wanting to cut my hair for a while....since it started falling out when Little man was 5 months old (he is now 10 months old). But I've enjoyed having it long for so long I'm afraid to go short again. Since I was die-ing for a change around New Years, I cut some bangs. I LOVE them, but it just wasn't a big enough change.

Reasons I'm afraid to go short? 
~ Honestly I don't know why I would be scared to cut it all off....I've had short (and I mean short short) hair most of my life.
~First well, Short takes time, you can't just throw it in a pony tail and be done.
~Second, it won't keep me warm (but if I'm always putting it in a pony tail it's not adding to my warmth anyways. )
~Third, I don't know how my poor kids will react. My hair is Little Man's comfort.....When he is sad and I hold him, the first thing he does is reach for my hair....he plays with it while he eats (nurses)....Munchkin has recently started playing with it when I hold her too..
~ Sometimes I still love my hair. But those days are becoming fewer and fewer.

Why do I want to cut it?
~ I feel like my hair is too thin to have long....Just doesn't look as full as it did before it all thinned out.
~ It gets all tangled when I wear it down, and so I end up putting it in a ponytail.
~ Kids are constantly pulling on it...Cole thinks it is his handle.
~ I just want something different.

So...that is what I'm thinking....

Here are are my favorite styles....

Love Sandra Bullocks hair, and our face shape is the same so her short hair tends to look good on me...This would be a simple bob. Not very many layers, which is the only drawback to this one. And easy to style, curly or straight. 

 I really like the texture in this one. and all the layers :)

 This one is just super cute and fun...Don't know if I want to go quite this short though. 

 I just like the wavy, layered look. 

 I cut my hair like this almost almost two years ago....I really liked it So I'm including two of this one. 

SO...

What is your vote? 

Do I cut it? If so, which style do you like best?

Or do I stick it out and wait a few more months?

Here is the most recent picture of my hair

I know...this is a horrible hair picture (but still cute right?) 

Naptime

I've been wanting to take pictures of the kids sleeping all week, but I was finally inspired to do it today when I read this post. 

Since Cole was born coordinating naps has been a struggle. Well, I guess I shouldn't say that. I LOVE it when their naps coincide, but I try not to force them to nap at the same time. When he was little, he never napped for very long so that was hit and miss, and then for a little while they napped at the same time, then for a month or two they were just missing each other for every nap! (that was rough and nice at the same time).

Cole now takes a morning and afternoon nap (most days) and Lucy just takes her one nap in the after noon. So, usually that afternoon nap is at the same time. This has been really nice lately. It gives me some time to get things done around the house, (or do nothing and spend the whole time on the computer), or work on my (many)projects that I have yet to finish

 (that I started last year!).

I love the quiet that these afternoon naps bring. The other day I was standing in their door way watching them nap - they look so peaceful - and when I looked at Lucy she looked EXACTLY like she did when she was two weeks old sleeping on our bed..

this is the picture that came to mind. 

I took this picture just a few minutes ago...

My how they grow...

Lucy has a few items that have to be with her when she sleeps (these items she also carries from her bed to our room at night when she wanders in...sometimes it's pretty comical to see her with her big bundle in arms), those items are: her blankie (that her great grandma Dixon made for her), a sippy cup of water, her purple baby (present from Oma on her 1st birthday), and 'baby jesus' another purple baby she got for her second birthday. This baby was dubbed 'baby jesus' after Christmas. He is also the baby she is resting her face on in these pictures...purple baby's head is on the other side. 

 She lays her blankie on her pillow so it's under her when she sleeps, then she places her two babies on either side and usually puts her arms around each of them, and makes sure the blanket is over their bodies but not their heads :). 

 Here is little man...oh boy I love this kid. 

He just grows up more and more everyday. 

One of my FAVORITE things about naps with Cole: When he starts to get tired we go into their room, turn off the lights and sing some songs. When he starts to relax and his eyes droop, I try to lay him down so that he can learn to put himself to sleep. He'll rub his face in his sheets and then turn his head to the side and peek through his hand or over his blanket and smile while he looks up at me, with a look that says, "haha, you thought I was sleeping? Psych!" Then I'll pick him up again, bounce for a minute, lay him back down and he'll go to sleep almost right away.   

TANGENT - This is the blanket I made for him for Christmas. It was fun, but I'm not patient enough for a project to last for several weeks. But I am happy that I actually finished it! and he seems to like it enough. 

Those are our sleeping kids!

Dinner time

So we've been struggling the last little while with Lucy eating her dinner. She is usually a really good eater (especially when she likes what we're eating), but then sometimes she will just not eat anything...I know toddlers don't have to eat a whole lot to survive and they will eat more some days and less others. But I want her to get into the habit of eating at mealtimes. We try to have two snacks a day with three main meals - sometimes there are more snacks, it just depends on the day. So this last week Devin and I decided that we wouldn't do snacks after three o'clock, that way Lucy was hungry enough to eat dinner. Some days have been easier than others to say no to snacks after three, especially when she's crying for food (don't worry, I don't starve her! :D ). But when dinner rolls around and we're not having screaming and crying fits, and everyone is eating, I don't feel so bad anymore.

 Jambalaya

 a.k.a. best meal ever! (recipe below)

Cole LOVES it,

 especially the sausage

 If the above face doesn't convince you that this meal is good, then you should go and try it out for yourself. 

(Okay, so she was eating a zuccini in this picture, but she ate everything on her plate - and then asked for more)

Here is the recipe (this is how I make my mother-in-laws version of it)

Jambalaya

1 kielbasa sausage

1 red bell pepper

1 1/2 cups of rice

1/2 onion

2 cloves of garlic

3 cups of chicken broth

optional: 1/2 tsp of red pepper (i'm not a fan of spicy so I just put in a tiny bit)

Mince garlic and onion. Chop up pepper. Throw it all in a pan with some oil, while you slice the sausage. Put the sausage in the pan and brown it. Then add the rice and broth and simmer for 20 mins, til rice is done and water is all absorbed. 

SUPER simple and tastes amazing! You can always add a veggie as a side and there is your meal! A way to make it faster is to cook the rice separately while you are cutting up everything and by the time the meat is brown the rice is usually finished too!