Oh that boy!

This morning L was walking around the living room with his middle finger in his mouth (as some of you know he has a preference to that finger).  I asked him what he was doing.  Here is our conversation:
L: "That's how you think, right mommy?" 
M: "No L, that is how you annoy your mommy."
L:  "Well I'm practicing how to annoy you.  It's for the annoy your mom contest.  I'm going to tell all the townspeople that the contest is today."
M: "Oh well, okay."

I mean, what can you say to that one.  I can see already that I am going to be in trouble with these two when they get older.

Potato Stamps

The mom's group that I organize had their 2nd annual family picnic on Sunday, and we had intended on having the kids do potato stamps since it is National Potato month.  Well, the kids were having way to much fun at the playground, so I didn't even bother setting it up.  I had the stamps all cut already, so Monday evening before dinner, I took the kids in the backyard.  I had cut a heart, star, triangle, square, rectangle, and sort of a rain drop shape.  I put a dollop of each color of washable paint on a paper plate for each of us to use.  Our friend had donated a large roll of white paper to us, so we rolled it out on our tiny sidewalk in back, and got set to stamping.  At first D would just stamp over the same spot with every stamp.  That quickly become a messy pile of paint.  But once she figured out that you could move around this giant sheet of paper, she became much more creative.  That is until she has red paint all over her hands and wiped the hair out of her face.  Needless to say it was definitely bath night!  They were very proud of the designs that we made and proudly helped hang it up.  I thought even the plate the kids used looked really neat. 

They started out as single color stamps and quickly became a nice mix of colors.

Even the plates holding the paint became art work afterwards!

Back to School party!

As some of you might know, I'm an organizer of a local mom's group.  This year, we have the majority of the kids going to one school or another.  We decided it may be fun to have a back to school party to get the kids ready.  We decorated pencil cups, bookmarks, and had fun coloring pages.  I read stories, and ate a pencil cake.  The cake idea came from Family Fun magazine.  If you haven't checked them out yet, you should.  They always have age appropriate crafts, story ideas, food, travel, toy suggestions, and party planning.  The pencil cups were just cans that I saved from the meals I cooked.  I washed them out, let them air dry, wrapped 2 layers of masking tape over the top lip of the can (so the kids didn't cut themselves on anything), and covered in just plain construction paper.  I gave the kids stickers and markers to help them decorate with.  The bookmarks were donated foam bookmarks that we also decorated with stickers and markers. 

The two great stories we read were: 

D.W.'s Guide to Preschool by Marc Brown  and 

First Day by Joan Rankin

I highly recommend both of these.  They were both well written for the age group and were very funny!

Pencil cups all ready to go!

Pencil cake.  Not exactly how I intended it to look, but not bad.

Our finished pencil cups. 

More Letters!

We have gotten a few more letters done.  Right now I'm trying to catch up with the lower case letters so that they are the same.  We are almost there!  The kids are really having fun with these, and ask just about every other day when we can do more.  I did realize while I was taking the pictures that L put his lower case d backwards.  Oh well.  What can you do, right?  For more info and ideas on the letters, check out Totally Tots blog!  They are amazing!

c is for chameleon

d is for daisy

H is for House

Learning Our Letters

I have started to do a Homeschool Preschool since I can't afford to send the kids to one.  I have found so many amazing websites.  The one that I totally stole these from is Totally Tots.  This site is an amazing resource to have if you are trying to teach little ones.  We started to just do the Capital letters, but are now working to catch up with the lowercase as well.  When we are all done with our letters, I am going to put them in plastic sleeves and then into binders.  That way each kid has made their very own alphabet book, that they can look through when ever they like.  And just what am I going to do with the ones I made?  Well Christmas is coming and I have a new little niece.  You put the two together!

a is for apple

A is for Alligator

b is for butterfly

B is for Bumblebee

C is for Crab

D is for Dinosaur

E is for Elephant

F is for Fox

G is for Goat

L's interview

Over the last few years, there was a meme floating around Facebook where you interview your child with specific questions.  Well the first time around L was 2 1/2 years old.  I did it again with both kids and now L is over 4.  It's funny to see how the answers change a little bit! Oh and the second time around, D had to pipe up and give her answers as well!

 L age 2 1/2 years old

1. What is something mom always says to you?
"say bear?"
2. What makes mom happy?
"me"
3. What makes mom sad?
"fighting"
4. How does your mom make you laugh?
"tickle"
5. What was your mom like as a child?
"mother"
6. How old is your mom?
"2 1/2"
7. How tall is your mom?
"big"
8. What is Mom's favorite thing to do?
"make"
9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
"outside"
10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
"thomas"
11. What is your mom really good at?
"thomas"
12. What is your mom not very good at?
"babies"
13. What does your mom do for her job?
"play"
14. What is your mom's favorite food?
"L don't know"
15. What makes you proud of your mom?
"write"
16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
"a movie cartoon"
17. What do you and your mom do together?
"build sandcastles"
18. How are you and your mom the same?
"like books"

19. How are you and your mom different?
"we not different mommy"
20. How do you know your mom loves you?
"i see you"
21. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
"walk"

L age 4 years old and D age 3 years old

What is something Mommy always says to you? L- Story time  D-Go to Bed

2. What makes Mommy happy? L- being good  D- Cleaning up

 3. What makes Mommy sad? L- being bad D- not going to bed

4. How does your Mommy make you laugh? L- knock knock jokes  D- tickle

5. What was your Mommy like as a child? L- she use to like me, and a movie  D- a baby

6. How old is your mom? L- I don’t know, 13? D-  I don’t remember your number

 7.How tall is your mom? L- taller than me  D- big

8. What is her favorite thing to do? L- I want to do my favorite things, L loves mommy  D- go to the grocery store

9. What does your Mommy do when you're not around?  L- go back home  because you miss me D- do errands

10. If your Mommy becomes famous, what will it be for? L- to win a prize D- tag

11. What is your Mommy really good at? L- being good  D- bicycling

12. What is your Mommy not very good at? L- not very good at playing my games  D- I think um, not being good of um... can’t remember

 13. What does your Mommy do for her job? L- call daddy  D- put everybody and everything to bed on the shelf

14. What is your Mommy's favorite food? L- broccoli  D- celery and carrots too

15. What makes you proud of your Mommy? L- playing my games the right way  D- cleaning up

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be? L- John Lee (the super taster)  D- I think John Lee

17. What do you and your mom do together? L- go out to eat  D- stay home

18. How are you and your mom the same?  L- just tell me my number  D- i don’t remember, your skin is the matching mine

19. How are you and your mom different? L- because we have different skin D- good

20. How do you know your mom loves you? L- because  I have a big brain  D- by being good

21. Where did Mommy meet daddy? L- at home D- at home

22. Where is your mom's favorite place to go? L- the market  D- the market

23. Who is Mommy's best friend? L- um, me and D   D- Jackie

24. What is Mommy's favorite color? L- green D- green

25. Who does Mommy love? L- daddy D- daddy