Woah. It's Thursday. There's a theme. Everyone else started school up again this week but we are still off getting our sea legs mostly just because we can. I mean, sure we have places to go, people to see and things to do tomorrow but today is still adjust back to real life mode day. Which I guess, can include Theme Thursday. I mean why not?
Why not? Probably because Micaela picked like actual photography rules and terms as is her right. Only I haven't really picked up the good camera in over a week. And my cell phone shots are pretty nonexistent as well.
So I will really have to get it together here and plan ahead more than Wednesday night to get decent shots I actually want to blog about. For next week because of course, in adjust back to real life mode I haven't taken pictures at all.
Imma go back to boxing day which was our Christmas with my family. Some cute pictures and maybe some rule of thirds right?
I mean not the most shining example of the rule but it technically follows it so it's going to work this week.
This elephant wants to go on a learning adventure. Open the book, there's lot's to explore. Or so the thing says. *Shaking my fist at VTech Toys* But she really digs this one and it does turn off which is a huge bonus. It also is kind of a story, albeit with a terrible plot, so that is kind of a redeeming factor. And did I mention she really loves it? That's enough to keep it in my good graces because it keeps her away from the computers and cell phones. My little Director of Technology.
And with that I bid you adieu until next week when I try really hard not to phone in Focal Points. Happy Thursday everybody!
One of my boy's favorite past times involves looking at animal pictures online or watching animal videos on YouTube. In his sweetest voice he will come up to you and ask to look at "walrus pictures on your phone?" Or if you want to watch on the computer. Etc.
Over our Christmas he had a Grampa and Grandma who were all too happy to indulge him as well as two uncles who liked the snuggles. C will sit in the lap of the lucky computer driver and he would stay there for hours watching and enjoying. From my perspective, the actual video/picture viewing is kind of a whatever, but his reactions are just priceless.
On this particular trip, penguin movies were the big draw. Many many times he found himself in the lap of a kind soul who clicked through YouTube at will. Then one day he asked to watch "Pingu Pingu the regular penguins." And then the adult looked at me to translate that.
"Um... I'm not sure. He likes Pingu, the claymation penguin show." So then they started watching that. It wasn't what he was looking for, but he does in fact like Pingu so he was pacified. But then again a little later he asked to watch "Pingu Pingu the REGULAR penguin." Big emphasize on regular.
I was still clueless. I had no idea. The joy of the trip is that it never really became my turn to watch the animals with him. I take plenty of turns in real life so it was a novelty to not be involved. But that did not help my guy with his task. And people kept looking at me like I should in fact know what "Pingu Pingu the Regular Penguin" was.
We moved on from videos to play another game and I didn't give it much thought. But the next day, sure enough, the request came again while watching with my brother. I explained that no one knew what that was but if he wanted to watch Pingu that was okay. But as they were scrolling through the YouTube list he very dramatically pointed at the screen. "Let's watch THIS one!!"
So they clicked. (I put it there because it goes with the story. You need not click.)
And what do you know? After the image of Mumble from Happy Feet, there is a compilation of penguin clips. Real penguins. Set to the theme song of Pingu. The song's only lyrics are in fact "Pingu Pingu" and is actually one of the most inane theme songs in history.
It was exactly a video of "Pingu Pingu the regular penguin." My guy surprises me daily with things like this. I know he has a terrific memory but to remember what the YouTube clip image looked like and that it was "regular" penguins as opposed to animated set to the Pingu song? And then to express that in such a specific way? I love being amazed by him.
I am so lucky to get to be the foremost expert on this little dude. The one people look at to translate, even when I have no clue. I love spending my days with him, even the rough ones where I think I couldn't possibly make it through until Husband comes home. Even when he is the most threenager that ever threenagered. I love my guy. And my vocation.
Our Christmas started early. Because we were going to travel and such, we had our Christmas Eve on December 23 and Santa came on Christmas Eve. (The joys of littles, the magic can be real.)
I borrowed a tradition from Laura Pearl and did Christmas delivery pizza. As fate would have it, my parents did Christmas crackers at their Christmas Eve this year so maybe we'll have to borrow that bit too!
Our Christmas morning was wonderful. Pajamas and presents and monkey bread. Just blissful!
The rest of 2015 was spent traveling. First to my FIL's and then to my parent's. We had a great trip but we are glad to be home. We spent yesterday packing up Christmas decorations, rearranging furniture and unpacking duffle bags and new presents.
C's favorite Christmas present was "Penguin." Whether he means, the giant Emperor Penguin stuffed animal, the smaller aroma stuffed penguin from France, the wooden decorative penguin puzzle or the set of nesting Penguins I'm not sure, but they were not in shortage. (Neither was the walrus and the excitement was real folks. And the Eric Carle MeReader set has literally not been away from him since he opened it so that's right up there too.
My favorite present was a rug for our bedroom. I was definitely not expecting that but I am a huge fan. I have never really appreciated having hard wood floors in my bedroom.
Husband, I think would tell you hi favorite present is socks. Sounds lame but the situation was getting dire. (For casual socks.)
M's favorite present... it's hard to tell but I think either the little radio/iPod thing or her tea set. But she likes her stuff too. She is one loved little girl!
2015 ended and 2016 has started off pretty good. Since the best of '15 is the thing, here's mine.
Happy Real Life Monday everyone! Reality is a hard pill to swallow, but it's time for some routine again for sure. And the Vikings winning the NFC North last night is kind of a balm for the soul today. Though certain individuals were not happy to have their Daddy go to work this morning. I am sure he feels the same way!
From our house to yours, we wish you a Merry Christmas!
"For to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find the baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angle a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased!" Luke 2:11-14
I could write about our weekend of cookie baking and all that fun but, it's just really not that exciting. We made them. One kind did not turn out. But whatever. Some did. And gel food coloring is legit. Finally made the investment in that and I am so glad!
I want to write about my girl who is 14 months old today. I want to remember everything about this age she's at. I love how she LOVES to give high fives. Once you get on the train you are on it until she decides she is done giving out high fives. She does not like to be left hanging. I love how she says "yeah!" with enthusiasm when palms meet.
My new favorite thing is watching her "jump." Oh she thinks she is jumping. She squats down real low and toddler like and then rises up super fast and goes to her tippiest toes, then repeat. It is adorable and different than her dancing but also kind of the same. But she also says "juh" (like the sound the letter j makes.)
M is so observant. She watches things she sees and then she just banks that in her mind and can figure it out for herself. She is super serious in public. I swear she is so giggly and smiley and talky but just holds it in when she doesn't know you.
She is still my little mountain goat. She climbs everything. This weekend she figured out how to get onto the kitchen table. So baby gates and clearing off the table immediately became a real thing in our lives. We've always had a baby gate to the kitchen but really in a keep kids corralled out of the kitchen. She also has figured out how to open the door to the basement. (Which is in the kitchen and has a lock on it.) But the gate also assures me she's not going down those steps.
She can go down the stairs. She's been going up for so long I don't even remember when she started that. But going down is life changing. And she loves it.
Somehow she has 6 teeth already. 2 on the bottom, 4 on the top. Which is more than C had at the same age and a completely different order.
She is still not a big talker, but she understands a lot and can follow directions if she wants to. She is the most mischievous. She will one day just start spouting sentences I'm sure. I am not the least bit concerned. She is meeting the age appropriate bench marks and she babbles so much more than C did.
To my relief she has finally started to like stories. She will now sit for a story instead of stealing the book and running around. Obviously I know the benefits of reading aloud work the same whether she's in the room or sitting with me but who wouldn't want some extra snuggle time?
I completely love watching my kids play together. They run after each other and wrestle. It's awesome.
She has crazy sensitive skin which is new territory for me. She is still the very best eater.
She can do:
So Big/Touch Down!
She can identify nose and eyes.
Clapping on command or when she hears applause.
Does the clapping, stomping and throwing her hands up in "Hooray!" when singing "If You're Happy and You Know It."
Knows how to point remotes and make things change. Especially likely to do that during her brother's animal documentaries which means they're already fighting over the TV.
Kick a ball into a goal
Signs "more" and "all done."
This little girl keeps me on my toes and I love her for it. She is kind of awesome.
1. So on Tuesday, Husband and I went to a benefit performance. There were drinks and appetizers and a show and an after party. We had a babysitter and hung out with friends we haven't seen in a long long time. It was brilliant. It also felt like a Friday. Then Husband had today off. So yesterday also felt like a Friday. Today, I am assured is actually Friday. (But I didn't figure that out until I tried to put C in his Vikings pajamas in anticipation for the game tomorrow... is Saturday. Right.)
2. Fuller House. Pretty sure I know where I'll be Friday February 26.
3. So today we had a fun family day. We all went to art class which was really fun. Then we went to the "red store." (Target.) We had a special "Old McDonald's" lunch. Had rest time where Husband and I cleaned out our entire closet. Then we watched Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. Had dinner and we are watching Elf for the annual #clanunseen party. I was going to watch it tonight anyway but it works out. We started the movie late but that's okay.
4. Tomorrow we will be baking. I am excited. 3 kinds of cookies. All kinds of excited.
5. I'm not sure if you knew there was a new Star Wars movie? Apparently it's a really big deal. I have seen only snippets of the original ones. There's this part where they're in a giant garbage compactor, and then there's like mean teddy bears or something. And I remember that horse/dog/red guy with the long tongue from 7th grade when the old new ones first started coming out.
6. In 7th grade my friend from gym class Constance asked me if I liked Star Wars and I am sure I said no pretty rudely, when really I just hadn't seen them. It turns out she was just asking because for her birthday her parents were going to take her and her friends to the movies. She didn't really have many friends and only one of our friends went. (I wasn't actually invited because I said no or I swear I would have gone. It was Episode 1, I would have started at the true beginning!) I still feel guilty about this and wish I had a better response or could have shown her more love on her birthday that year.
7. For funsies, type Do A Barrel Roll into Google.
We had school today and Tuesday at our house, learning about the letter G! Today was also our Christmas party.
Tuesday we did "Gluing Gumballs" as our opening activity.
We made garbage truck and (clean) garbage murals on contact paper. This was a HIT with my not super excited about crafts boy, but wasn't as fun for the loves crafts girl. Something to note.
We learned to graph with goldfish. Also something fun for my visual learner.
We read Good Night Gorilla while stacking the animals taped to mega-blocks. They practiced following along with a story and following patterns.
Today was our Christmas party and it was almost entirely gingerbread themed. We started with gingerbread playdough that I made. We just worked on our fine motor skills and played. It was fun. Then we rolled out the dough and put one gingerbread man into the (cold) oven.
We read the story of the gingerbread man and did our typical circle time activities. And we did some music time with the "G" songs, Jingle Bells and Sleigh Ride. We then did what I call a jingle bell jangle. We put the jingle bells on the red blanket and shook it like a parachute. It was great fun to hear the bells and see how far we could shake them. Everyone really seemed to like it.
We played pin the button on the gingerbread man. It was fun. I am kind of attached to my gingerbread man dude. He took like no time at all but I don't want to take him down. At least he's festive!
After that we went back to the oven to get our gingerbread man but when we got there... HE ESCAPED! But he left us a clue!
Oven: You’ll never find me! I don’t think. Especially not by the sink!
Run Run as fast as you can! You can’t catch me I’m the gingerbread man!
Sink: You’re pretty smart I’ll give you a test! Pianos are a good place to rest!
Run Run as fast as you can! You can’t catch me I’m the gingerbread man!
Piano: You’ll never know where I’ll choose. I think I will hide by the shoes!
Run Run as fast as you can! You can’t catch me I’m the gingerbread man!
Porch: Oh my you’re smart, but for a laugh, chase me to where you take a bath!
Run Run as fast as you can! You can’t catch me I’m the gingerbread man!
Bath Tub: Wow you’re good, I’m barely ahead. I think I’ll take a nap in bed!
Run Run as fast as you can! You can’t catch me I’m the gingerbread man!
Christopher’s Bed: I am on my way, I’m off this floor. I think I’ll head right out the door!
Run Run as fast as you can! You can’t catch me I’m the gingerbread man!
Front door: I fooled you good, I’m like a fox! You’ll never look in the toy box!
Run Run as fast as you can! You can’t catch me I’m the gingerbread man!
You Caught Me!
Then we took the baked cookie back downstairs and everyone got one (not from the toy box) to decorate and eat. You can also kind of see the "Grinch Kabobs" too. It's a green grape, slice of banana, strawberry and mini marshmallow. They look like little grinches in Santa hats. We read the book while they ate snack.
After snack time we played at the popcorn table, then had a gift exchange and playtime. It was a solid fun two hours and I think everyone enjoyed it!
So that's what I have been up to during the days this week.
