Since I Know You Were Wondering (probably not.)

Pins and needles. I know that you've all been anxiously awaiting the post about how I taught the letter K yesterday. Well, my friends, wait no longer! 

The theme of the day was primarily koalas with a little kaleidoscope fun. We started with cube puzzles. Fill in the K and various other shapes with counting cubes. It's supposedly a pre-algebra skill but spatial reasoning doesn't seem to make sense as algebra to me. Whatever, I am sure it will help mold their little minds. 

We read a Nat Geo Reader about Koalas and practiced our K sounds and K writing. 

We glued our branches in a K shape then made a hand print with our thumb wiggled around to be a Koala clinging to the K tree for our craft. 

We played pin the Koala on the K tree to practice taking turns and playing a game. 

Music time was everyone's favorite, shaking our sillies out with our egg shakers and also practiced our k-kicks to Kung-Fu Fighting. With some Head and Shoulders fun and determine whether we were happy and knew it. 

A Koala coloring sheet kept everyone occupied during bathroom time. Everyone was in big boy/big girl underwear and everyone stayed dry on my watch! 

For snack we indulged with a fun size Kit-Kat and a Special K bar. (K is a hard snack letter!) 

To add some science to our curriculum we talked about kaleidoscopes and then did the kaleidoscope milk experiment. Perhaps you've seen it? You take milk, add a drop of all 4 food coloring colors to the milk then add a drop of dawn dish soap. The colors will dance and move as the Dawn changes the viscosity of the milk. They recommend whole milk brought to room temp in a shallow plate with only one drop of food coloring and original blue Dawn. So I did all that and I was very very underwhelmed. It did not look like the YouTube videos at all. But the kids liked it and we accomplished some science so whatever. 

We practiced identifying numbers 1-15 by playing a game. I had written numbers on leaves and they took turns flipping leaves over and identifying the number, if they knew it they could feed it to the koala. (A cereal box with a koala picture taped on and a hole cut out.) This was eye opening since all three kids are at very different places. C has 1-10 down cold but is hit and miss with his teen numbers. ('Three-teen" and "Two-teen" trip him up.) One of the girls never got one wrong and the other got most of her's wrong. So... we will be doing some more number games for sure. 

During play time I turned on the Koala Balloon episode of Wild Kratz. The kids half watched and half played with Magna-Tiles or continued to feed the koala. 

Tomorrow we are working on kangaroos and kites and then I don't teach again until November. We are taking a 2 week break at the end of October which I am very excited for. I love our scheduled days but breaks are swell too. Plus it works out to be right during M's birthday and Halloween so there will be a lot of fun going on then too!

Balloons!

It's been a long couple of days over here. My girl has been not quite herself since Wednesday evening when a small fever crept in. It never got very high but it came and went until Saturday night! She had a major decrease in appetite, which is very odd for my girl who likes to eat. Lots of milk and lots of purees and not much else.

She was feeling okayish on Saturday which meant that our plan for a family outing was a go. We headed out to the Hot Air Balloon Festival and we had a great time. It was a little bit precarious there as the launch was supposed to start at 5:00 but the wind was too strong so they delayed.

Except when you got there when the gates opened at 4:00 for a good parking spot and a good viewing spot... and you have a 3 year old and 11 month old. We were really crossing our fingers. C loved last year's festival so much, he had multiple copies of the program and calls them his "balloon map." He still looks at them and in fact when we finally told him it was the day of the balloon festival, he got out his balloon map because he thought he needed to bring it with.

So he had better see a balloon was what I was saying.

Luckily they did launch 8 balloons. The weather was beautiful. (The wind that was just too windy for balloons was just a nice breeze, really. It was gusting at 10 mph.) And my boy thought it was even better than last year. Plus he got more balloon maps with this year's balloons. The excitement abounds.

Yesterday M was totally fever free and even got her appetite back in time for dinner. That smile was a welcome sight after a few days of grump. 

Now today is going to involve soccer and a lot of cleaning because school is at our house this week. 

11 Months Old.

Yesterday, M just ignored my direction that she cease get any older and turned 11 months old. What the heck? I am having a hard time believing that I am planning a birthday party for next month. How can that be?!

New this month:

• Is such a climber. She moves toys so she can climb up on the coffee table, climbs the baby gate like a ladder, can get herself onto a lot of things. She is part mountain goat.
• Consequently, she can mimic saying "Get Down" so well you'd think she was able to talk already. She even points down just like I do. 
• Started walking backwards
• Speed walking. She wants to run so so badly but usually winds up on her face if she tries. 
• Can apparently kick a soccer ball. 
• Had a little growth spurt and is now in all 12 month clothes. 
• Likes to steal books and rip pages out. She is really rough on the books. But she likes to read them too so that's good. 
• Is such a good eater. She loves to eat. Probably to get more energy to climb all over everything. 

This little girl is keeping me on my toes. And we love her for it. 

She was blaming it on the bossa nova, ala Ainsley Hayes from The West Wing. Which is just the very best moment on the show, or at least right up there. Note, the pink cup instead of a pink squirrel. Keeping it kid friendly you know.

Second Annual Zoo Vacation!

We went on a vacation! Okay, so it was only 3 days/2 nights but it was still a vacation! On Friday, we left right after lunch time and drove to Omaha to see their zoo. You may remember last year, on our trip to the Indianapolis zoo we drove through a monsoon. This year's trip did not disappoint on the rain front. It wasn't nearly as monsoony as last year but it still rained pretty much the entire drive. The upside to this is the car looked great and because it was dark both kids took great naps. (Plus the rain was a real sound machine! Fancy!)

Saturday was zoo day. We got there right as they opened and headed straight for the Scott Aquarium to see the penguins because that is what C was the most excited about. They did not disappoint. In case you have a child who loves penguins and can name most of the 17 breeds of penguins by sight, the Omaha Zoo has Gentoo, King, Rockhopper and a Macaroni Penguin in the Aquarium and then African Penguins out by their barn area.

They have a wall of penguins, where you can see how big you are compared to all the different breeds. C thought this was a snazzy wall. The breeds the zoo has were 3D, the others were just pictures. C definitely impressed this lady as he walked down the wall naming all the types. by sight. Heck, he's my kid and I am impressed by this too.

C is the same size as a King Penguin.

They also have a bubble where you can get inside the exhibit a little and they can swim right to you, and he loved loved this.

After the aquarium, which was really cool, we headed out for the polar bear which was C's other top choice to see. Our intention was to get our must sees checked off the list right away when the crowds weren't huge. Which was the best possible plan. I had read a lot about how to best do the zoo and read a tip that going through the gorilla building was the fastest way to the back of the zoo.

I am so thankful for that tip, because we hit the gorilla building while the gorillas were active and excited. Plus there was barely anyone there. We basically had the entire building to ourselves so we got up close and personal with the gorillas.

A little bit further into the building, there were more bubbles to go into the exhibit through this tunnel. We were all in one together and then M and I went to the next one over to wave to the boys. Then I looked up and there was a gorilla. Because the building was so empty and quiet, (in this section were were completely alone) we could talk to each other from the two bubbles and we watched the gorilla as a family. It was so peaceful and so cool. We didn't take any pictures and I am honestly so glad because it was such a great moment to just be present in. 

We headed off to the polar bear and M had a bottle while C spent about 20 minutes with the polar bear. It was so great. The weather was crisp and beautiful, there were peahens walking around and we saw a grand total of 5 other people the whole time we were there. The polar bear was especially active in the cool morning as well, walking and pacing, then he settled down on this rock. 

After that, we conquered the zoo. For having two young kids I am pretty impressed by how much we did. And we had pretty impeccable timing throughout the day. We had a really peaceful lunch overlooking the monkeys in the jungle and just as we were leaving the line to get in was CRAZY. 

The African Penguins were also a lot of fun. 

The Garden of the Senses was really pretty and quite calming for our kids. Which was good because the day was so stimulating. M settled in for her nap in this garden and C was able to regroup and find his happy face on the baby elephant statue.

The Desert Dome was very interesting. And it took a really cool picture. But the actual animals in the desert weren't super interesting to me. But in the basement, they had Kingdoms of the Night. Which was pretty cool. Except for the giant giant giant room full of bats flying around. I could have done without that for sure. Still giving me the creeps just thinking about it.

The very last thing in the building were crocodiles. While looking at them, they turned the lights on in the exhibit, to feed them or something. Most of the crocs swam away, but one came right up to the glass up to C's face and they were nose to nose. There were a lot of people watching C and his reaction, because hello, crocodile. C, ever the animal lover was all "So cute! Look at the crocodile, look at his big eyes. Look at his nice teeth." So not scared.

I feel like when I was three I wouldn't have been so excited about the same experience. We saw a lot of kids scared of a lot of animals throughout the day but not our mini zookeeper. In fact, when it was time to leave the building, this was the end of our day, and it was one of C's only moments of tears. Someone walked in just then and said "It's okay little boy, there's a lot of glass there, they aren't going to hurt you." Which was a nice sentiment but not exactly the problem. 

My kids by gorilla statues. Proof M was there, since we didn't take a lot of pictures. 

We had a really great time at the zoo. We walked in at 9:00 and stayed all day, not leaving until just before 5:00. While the buildings stayed open until 6 and we never made it inside the jungle or a few other things, we packed a lot in and it was time to go. It was so good to have a fun family mini-vacation. 

Kick! Kick! Kick!

Soccer went well again today. C was a pretty good listener until the end when he was kind of done. But that is to be expected at some point with 2 and 3 year olds. The uniforms on the group are just darling. I can't handle it. I really hope we can get a group picture before this is all over but I don't want to be the one to ask. 

There were a lot of dads there this week. I think some of the moms went home an explained how their kids did last week, and the "my kid is going to like sports" dads rallied and showed up. It didn't make a huge difference for some of the kids though, in fact one dad was just getting all riled up and then his kid got all riled up and it just wasn't good. 

So M did a good job watching from the stroller. We would talk about what was going on and she seemed to like watching a lot. So at the end, after the kids had dispersed to the playground I let her out and handed her C's ball. She immediately put in on the ground and took off, kicking the ball. She might just be a soccer savant because she kicked it across the field and all the way into the goal. It was kind of amazing. 

I might have to get some good camping chairs and a soccer ball fleece tie blanket, maybe start practicing slicing oranges, because it looks as though I might yet turn out to be a soccer mom. 

Soccer Champ!

C started his soccer camp this week. It is run by a British soccer company and his coach, Scott, is British with the accent to boot. (LOVE IT.) I wasn't quite sure how it would go this morning but I was pretty hopeful. He's been in school now for a few weeks and he did swim lessons this summer so I figured it was totally worth a shot. 

It was. There are 10 kids in his class and I would put C in the top 4 as far as listening and participation goes. While that may sound like I am bragging, I can admit I did a little sideline coaching to help him but that's NOTHING compared to some of the parents who spent the entire 45 minutes helicoptering over their child on the field. Or the two kids who wouldn't play at all. 

The camp is about learning skills, not competition, which I like. Since, you know, he's three and doesn't know how to play soccer. The whole day was based off pirates. They learned how to "scrub the deck." (Dribble)

This is him running and dribbling. I took it at a weird moment but I was totally impressed by how well he did.

They "climbed to the crow's nest" (Toe Taps)

He was also really good at this. 

They also learned how to "be the Captain" (stop the ball) "shoot cannonballs" (shooting the ball) and "protect it from the albatross" (I assume this was the basic of saves?) We will work on him picking up his soccer ball for next week but all in all I think he was certainly on par. 

Here, they were supposed to be carrying their ball over for a team meeting. He did pick up his ball quite a bit at the beginning though. #keepitreal

Towards the end, they played a game where they kicked the ball to knock over cones (in the game they were called penguins but C called them "crayons.") and he really enjoyed that. Might have to get a small pack of cones for the yard. 

This is what M thought about soccer camp: 

#notimpressed

But let's just talk for a second about jeggings. I wouldn't in a million years wear them myself but she got an outfit that came with them for Christmas last year and they just now fit... and holy moly. She looks put together but she's also comfy? I'm sold. Can you pair jeggings with a onesie or only shirts? What's the fashion rule for toddlers?

At the very end of class they got their jerseys and shorts so prepare for the ridiculous cuteness that will be those pictures for the next 5 weeks. Also: I am glad I went with soccer socks and shin guards but skipped the cleats. Cleats would have been overkill but socks and shin guards had him right on par with most of the class.

Fantasy Football: What I've Learned So Far

My cousin who I last saw when I was 10 started a family fantasy football league. I know only a little about football, my knowledge comes down mostly to: beat the Packers. But anyway, I joined. It's kind of fun. My dad, his siblings, all of my cousins, my mom, and Husband all had a draft last weekend.

That was kind of fun. I prepped lists and did some practice drafts and tried. And even though Yahoo gives my draft a B- rating, I was pretty happy with my team.

So football started this week (if you are under a rock and you weren't quite sure) and I'm learning a lot.

Pretty much it's all a guessing game and anything can happen. 

Also, if you watch your stats and scoreboard all afternoon you'll drive yourself crazy. 

Learning a lot in this family bonding football league. So go Team Sportsball! Beat the other team!

7 Because It's Friday

one. Due to an extremely last minute project (invented by his boss yesterday at about 3:00) Husband had to go into work at 6:00. I think we have established here that me + mornings = not the best of friends ... so I was not a fan but whatever. At 7:15 I was still bleary-eyed from the wake up of the group, post diaper change but not quite to the go downstairs stage. C was like, "Ish Mom," (he spends a lot of time with me) "a bug."

It was a spider of quarter size proportions. VERY fuzzy and sadly, very quick. This spider had a spouse/sibling/friend in my room earlier in the summer and there was a very dramatic text message interchange as I watched it crawl across the ceiling while I was stuck nursing M. Suffice it to say, Husband did not think a spider was a worthy reason to leave work to rescue me, but he did in fact, commit murder later that evening.

Obviously, this guy wanted to exact revenge for the death of the other, and because it has impeccable timing, picked the only day with my designated killer of insects gone early. By the time I put a paper towel on the end of the Swiffer stick to go into battle, it had disappeared. I kid you not. Which, of course, is the WORST. Because now every tickle of hair is the spider no longer on the ceiling but ON ME. I have already jumped in recoil five times in the last hour. I am living in a constant state of fear. It's going to be a long day.

two. It was my week for preschool this week and I also hosted book club last night. All of the planning and cleaning has made this short week feel very long.

three. C starts a soccer program on Monday. It's just 6 weeks and just to see if he has any interest at all in soccer. I think it will be cute and I am inferring that the program will be very small. (Since they resent the email to sign up just yesterday...) Perfect.

four. For my second day of Letter L, we made a fine motor lollipop tree, (putting dum dums in colander holes) read a lion book, made lion masks, did yellow painted hand prints on our lemonade stand signs and used our painted finger to trace the letter L (Down down down, over, over, over) made lemonade. did lacing cards, had a special lion dance party, sang "Aikendrum" and played upon our ladles, walked the giant L on the floor, made an L with their bodies, went on a lion hunt, and sold our lemonade to the moms the cost of which was 1 penny because Lincoln. In case you needed some L ideas of your own.

five. 

Oh the comment sections. So entertaining. So infuriating. So many times you just have to wonder "Why?"

six. Do you ever look at the milestones your children are supposed to be hitting and see the red flags in your own actions? Apparently, by the middle of October, M is should be pointing at things. Only I never point. Never. How would she ever learn to point unless I do? So I have started and she has started and things are good. Sometimes those charts are really more a guideline for the parenting I swear.

seven. In the most awkward thing you'll read on the internet today, M thinks toilet paper is among the best toys. First you can unroll it, then run around with it and sit in the big pile of it, entertainment for days. But to combat that for the most part we have been leaving it on the counter. Only someone (neither kid will fess up) walked off with the spring rod and now we can't find it. I was so happy no one had to use the bathroom last night! It looks so trashy to just have the roll on the counter.

Yes. A whole take about the placement of our toilet paper roll. Excitement abounds over this way. Have a good weekend and wish me God Speed since after two trips upstairs with Mr. Potty Trained the spider is still MIA.

A Typical We Host Preschool Morning

7:00 Everyone is up and we are eating breakfast. Both parents are running around trying to do last minute cleaning/stashing/fixing breakfasting. I make muffins for the snack. C has to use the bathroom with 4 minutes left to go on the muffins bake time. Chaos. But muffins look good and no accidents so that's a win!

8:00 Everyone gets dressed. I clean up muffin mess, and breakfast mess. I keep putting out stuff for school and making sure the plan is solid. I run some cardboard boxes from the porch to the garage. In the rain. Because it always rains when I host preschool. 

8:30 I sit to just breathe for a minute. Then keep going with the making sure everything is ready to go.

9:00 M goes down for nap with a snuggle and some milk. C watches Puffin Rock. (Newish on Netflix. He likes it. I am meh.) 

9:14 M is taking a LONG time to drink this milk and I start to panic. I still have some stuff to do.

9:22 I am back downstairs and getting out the black construction paper for Abraham Lincoln hats. There is no black construction paper. How is that possible? We've never done a black craft?! Okay, they used some for bear noses and eyes 2 weeks ago but that doesn't use up all the black. But apparently it does. Crap. 

9:24 Furiously text Husband to vent about construction paper issue. Lay out the blue fish blanket for circle time. Set out Duplos. 

9:30 Our friends are here! L for Legos on the blue blanket while I get a backup craft ready. 

9:40 Legos (Duplos) are all cleaned up and we start circle time. Attendance, weather, introduce the letter L, how to write the letter L, trace the sandpaper letter and we read our L story. 

The Very Lazy Ladybug is a hit. Kids act out the characteristics of the animals the ladybug rides. Smiles all around. L

9:55: Last-minute Ladybug craft. I thought it was going to go a little bit better but 2/3 are over it two minutes in. I push them through the craft and get them to glue on the dots I made while they were coloring then trying to escape. I herd the cats three-year-olds back to the table to use the glue sticks. They like glue sticks. 

10:03: They all have to wash hands because one of them was sticky and asked to wash hands. No one can be left out. 

10:05: Counting to 12 with Ladybug Shakers. I show the kids the ladybug jars I made them. They are not impressed. I give them bowls of 12 red hots (ladybugs) and we start to count to 12 and put them in our jars. C is done way before J. MC hasn't started putting red hots in yet. 

10:10: We are supposed to shake our shakers to Ladybug Picnic. I can't get the internet to work. Stupid rain. Seriously, I need a 51 second clip and I can't get it to work.

10:15 I have finally gotten the Sesame Street DVD in, cued up to Ladybug Picnic and no one moves. They're tv zombies watching the 51 second clip. It isn't even exciting. I remind them to dance and shake the shakers. 2/3 do. That's almost like success. I make the executive decision to skip the rest of music time right now. 

10:18 I set them up at the table with the new reusable sticker books I bought. C understands them because I had him play with them before. The girls are a little confused. But it's bathroom time and that's what these are for, a quiet distraction during bathroom time. 2/3 use the potty successfully and the holdout did try. Hands are washed. 

10:29 Snack time. Lemon poppy seed muffins and water. 

10:35 C is already done with his 3 mini muffins and has spilled his water everywhere. He gets another muffin because he asks and the girls haven't even made it through their first muffin. 

10:40 I go get M from nap and bring her down and set her up in the fort. J is done with snack too. MC still has 2 muffins. What the heck? They're like 2 bites big! 

10:42 I start Wheels on the Bus because C and J are going crazy waiting on MC. Then we do Little Red Wagon. They used to not like that song but they're really into it today. MC joins in, final muffin in hand. I can live with that. 

10:45 I get the Ladybug Counting Games and spread them out on the blue blanket. I introduce the game. J has set her's up correctly, but I don't know if it's a fluke or if she's that good at counting?! Probably a fluke. C and MC are enjoying playing with the ladybugs but not so much the counting the spots. Whatever. 

10:53 We move to the kitchen for making log cabins. I become very glad I set these up early. C immediately pulls his milk carton off the plate and wrecks all the tape. I retape his up. I start slathering frosting on the cartons explaining the activity. 

10:57 I begin reading the Abraham Lincoln book and talking to the kids about Lincoln, while they stick pretzels on the milk cabins to make log cabins. L is for Lincoln and Logs. J is having a really rough time. She is just making a mess. C and MC are having a ball. I help J with hers. 

11:10 Everyone washes hands for playtime. J uses my apron as a towel. Apparently the playtime today is centered on Jake and the Neverland Pirates. I lead the kids in an imaginative play, singing the theme song and getting on the couch boat. 

11:20 I put on Pandora on the Jake and the Neverland Pirate station and begin loading up backpacks with the ladybug game and ladybug craft. The kids are all playing nicely. Even M. She likes playtime with the school kids, she gets to feel like a big kid. 

11:28 The first mom is here and I give her the report and they take off. MC still has that final muffin in her hand. she's had it for an hour. I guess she's in a slow eating phase. I hope that's not contagious! Right as they go down the path in the backyard, mom #2 pulls in. 

11:36 Everyone is gone and I sit down to breathe just a few minutes before we make lunch. I still want to do the Abraham Lincoln craft. I decide to do it on Thursday. Lincoln is far more important than lemons. 

Happy Labor Day.

Hey O! How's it going on this lovely day of Labor? Pretty good? Same here. I love a good national holiday. Except for the no mail part. I could do without that. 

I have often wondered why no one gets all upset about people shopping on Labor Day but they do care about people shopping on Thanksgiving? I was going to stage a personal protest of this by having a big ole turkey dinner today, but it's hot and I don't like turkey. So we will be grilling cheeseburgers. How utterly predictable, but tasty I'm sure. 

Honestly, there's nothing much new to report. I am gearing up for this week in which I host preschool and book club so there's been lots of prep work.

M has decided in the past week to really buckle down and work on her games, so now she can clap and do "So Big!" I don't know why my kids hold out for so long on actual palm to palm clapping. C was a late clapper. M has been banging toys together and signing "more" for a long time now. But now that she's got the clapping thing down everything she does deserves a round of applause.

She has also learned how to climb up the step stool. Whether it is opened or closed. She is keeping me on my toes for sure. 

A totally unrelated picture of my guy post penguin cupcake on my birthday last week. He liked it. He was a messy sugar fest and very happy. 

Alright, well, that's basically what I know. Which is not a lot. Ah well. Happy Labor Day! Have some turkey or something grilled. It's all good. 

September. Already.

So like I predicted last week, the glorious weather has gone and left us muggy hot summer in it's place again. I'm not surprised at all by this, my birthday has seldom had lovely weather. But September is officially here with the promise that Fall is a mere 20 days away. It's all going to snowball from there... M's birthday, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas. We are going to blink and it will be 2016!!

I'm 29. That is so bizarre. I know a lot of people who stop here at my age but I'm going strong until at least 31 because I am excited for my golden birthday. :) My birthday was really low-key because it was Monday and a normal work day for Husband but it went okay.

The shower on Saturday was actually really good. We had just the right amount of attendees and the right amount of friends of the bride mixed in with the relatives. It was super fun. The games and coloring contest went very well, except no one was really that good at Name That Tune. Do you want to play?

12 songs and artists. 24 points possible. The answers are at the end. This was the design from her shower invitation and we put it in the video. I didn't think it was that hard (every single song was on the top 150 first dance songs list) but maybe I just listen to too much music?

I've got to fold some laundry before M wakes up and I have to go pick up C from school so have a wonderful day!