snow day

What should you do with two little boys when you are snowed in? Read The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats. Spend as much time getting dressed in your snow pants, boots, coats, hats and gloves as you did spending time playing outside in the snow (it was only a high of 19 degrees today and then windchill was nine degrees...brrrrrr!)! Invite your friends from the neighborhood (who's preschool's were closed today) over for a playdate. Warm up spiced apple cider for your mailman and then miss him by a few minutes (we were terribly sad about this one and hoping we will catch him tomorrow). Spend time coloring pictures and completing a book of mazes. Go around your house and make "rug," "floor," "couch" snow angels because you forgot to when you were outside and it's just too cold to go out again and do the real thing. Sit on the floor and sing Christmas songs you learned in music class. Play chase around the house when your daddy comes home a few minutes early to surprise us!!

That's at least what we did on our snowy day! What did you do with yours?
(Sorry for no pictures of this day. We are still without a camera and are making mental and written pictures of these special moments. :))

music for preschoolers

Wednesday is music class day for my boys. We enjoy this sweet time together of making music with percussion instruments and singing fun songs. Today included a Thanksgiving song list. Above are a few of the instruments that they enjoy playing. If you are interested in finding these for your own home, you can go here.

bakers

My mom made these matching aprons for Asher, Jonas and me. They have already loved wearing them. We each have a chef's hat on the front with our names' written on them. Now we just need to bake something.....

independence

It's not always easy to let your kids grow up, but there is something special about seeing them growing into their own independence. Since we have been preschooling at home verses at a "school" I have been trying to find ways to incorporate learning in our every day routine. I have found two blogs here and here to be helpful in finding ideas. Asher has really been wanting to do things for himself or things to help me around the house. We started with him working on getting dressed by himself and have now moved on to other areas. Jonas, currently, wants to do everything that Asher does so we are trying to find ways to allow him to be independent as well.

Some of Asher's tasks include putting the silverware away, setting the table, washing his breakfast dishes (yes, we do have a dishwasher, but he loves to do this so why not let him...I am hoping his wife one day will thank me for these things!), helping with most baking tasks (stirring, measuring, dumping), sweeping and dusting. Of course, these are jobs that we do when we have PLENTY of time to complete! The boys especially enjoy pouring their own juice in the morning. I found a small glass pitcher and these two small mugs at a yard sale. They love it!




Encourage your toddler/preschooler to work along side of you and you will find that they thrive with this newfound independence and role in your home! Would love to hear any ways that you have your kids help around the house.

plan city at discovery center

This picture captures two things that our boys love these days. The first being Plan City toys!! We love them and plan to continue to add to our collection for birthday and Christmas presents. Plan toys are socially and environmentally responsible and safe (no toxic chemicals!!). So if you are needing some creative ideas for Christmas presents, check these toys out. They are available through Amazon and locally, you can find them at Phillips Toy Mart (another one of our favs).

The second great thing about this picture is where it was taken---The Discovery Center in Murfreesboro. It's a bit of a jaunt for us to travel there but worth the extra effort for all the amazing activities they have for these children. We also love the old time firetruck that you can climb on and the donated firemen's hats, boots, coats and pants! Other favorites things include the mini excavator, trains, car garage station and Tiny Tot Town. If you live anywhere near Murfreesboro, you need to check it out (and invite us to come along!!).

trick-or-treating at david's work

One of our favorite Halloween traditions is trick-or-treating at David's work. All of the secretaries set out candy for the kids to trick-or-treat. It's a very calm environment as you can imagine. Do any of you have fun traditions for Halloween?

Porch Living

We have been enjoying our lunch on the porch lately. Asher actually requests to sit out there despite the hot days we have been experiencing. Thankfully, our front porch is on the north side so it stays shady and a breeze often whips around the corner of our house. So, if you are ever walking down our street around lunch time, come on up and we'll serve you some lemonade! :)

Painting on Canvas

Nothing is more fun than painting. But, it's even more fun when you get to paint on canvas! I have been wanting to add some artwork to the boys' rooms but have not found anything out there (that isn't ridiculously priced). So, I thought why not have them make it for me. The entire projet cost less than $5! I bought paint in colors that would match their rooms. Here is Jonas with his aqua blue and chocolate brown. He loved it! Maybe a little too much...I had to keep pulling it away from his mouth. :)

So, the color idea to match their rooms worked with Jonas, but Asher wanted to use the colors he wanted...not the ones that I had in mind. Oh well, I still love that I have artwork made by them.

The finished projects...

Snowy Day

While it may be great to go to Hawaii or some other warm, exotic place for Christmas, you just can't beat going to Ohio and having a white Christmas! The boys and I arrived a few days before Christmas and were welcomed by snow. Asher could not wait to play in it and get dressed as soon as he woke up. We told him that he had to eat breakfast first. Then, we got dressed. My mom went out a bought him some "snow gloves" and "snow boots" that were on clearance. I think the boots may be for girls, but Asher didn't care. They were boots!

Jonas loved just sitting in the snow. Of course, I don't think he could do much more than that with as wrapped up as we had him.

Asher walked all over the yard. I think he wanted to walk through every bit of the fallen snow. His glove looks like it has a lightsaber on it!

Jonas attempting the sled with Nana (my mom).

Asher and I built a tiny snowman. He was so proud and when we turned to go inside, he had a full conversation with the snowman, telling him good-bye and that we would come see him later. It was so sweet.

We have had snow in Nashville since Christmas but when it's less than 1/4", it don't think it counts. We were so thankful to have fun with it in Ohio!!

Pillow Fun

Who needs toys when you have pillows on your couch?

Asher has turned our pillows into all kinds of things....slides, castles, tables, steps, surfboards, sailboats, and as seen below, a train.

He also enjoys the couch (once pillows are removed), which has become our firetruck, car, tow truck and his favorite, the trash truck. The pillows on the floor then become the trash cans that we empty into our trash truck. What an imagination this little one has!!

Reading at Christmas Time

Asher received this book, Merry Christmas, A Storybook Collection, from his great-grandmother for Christmas last year. We have already been enjoying all three stories that are inside. I especially like the first story, Once There Was a Christmas Tree. It is such a sweet story about taking what you have and sharing with another. What a wonderful tale to share with your small child, especially when this season often turns into wanting things for yourself. Hope you can find this story to read to your child this season. You can find it at Amazon (as shown above) or you can borrow ours! :)

My Little Elf

As soon as the first box of Christmas ornaments was opened, Jonas decided that he wanted to help in the Christmas tree decorating as well. He would pull out the boxes and I would hang them on the tree.

I gave him our only knitted ornament and you can see him below trying to get it on the tree...ooops, didn't quite make it. I realized I only have two soft ornaments to hang at the bottom of my tree so the tree is a little bare at the bottom this year. Not going to risk the the breakables within a one year old's reach!

I am sure you all are wondering where David was in all of this. Do you see what's on the tv in the background....College Football....does that answer the question? :)

Travel potty training

I have been potty training Asher over the past week. He is responding very well within our home and even today went without an accident. However, we have yet to go out of our house wihout a diaper, although, we have had successes of being gone for over 2 hours and returning with a dry diaper. So, this weekend we will be traveling to Ohio and I am not sure what to do about the potty training. Should I put it on hold until we return? Take the potty with us? Stop frequently along the way and have him "try" to go? If any of you have any experience in this, please let me know. I would love some advice.

"Cheese"

I have had the camera out a lot lately since I am trying to catch moments of our day to blog about. On this occasion, Asher said, "Mama, take my picture...Cheese." I took several of him while he posed for the camera but these two were my favorites. Too cute for words! (Meanwhile, Jonas, in the background, is oblivious to us.)

Following Fall

We have been trying to enjoy this unseasonablly warm weather and follow fall wherever it takes us. So, we have found ourselves playing outside for most of the daylight hours we are getting these days. Asher, following fall into a pile of leaves...

The boys enjoying our homemade sandbox (an under the bed storage box)...

Jonas trying out crawling through the leaves...

Looking forward to seeing where more of these warm days take us.

H1N1 Vaccine

Okay, so what have all of you decided about getting the H1N1 vaccine for yourself and/or for your child? I am still on the fence with it, although leaning towards getting vaccinated. I have read the CDC's report on the virus and also listened to various arguments from both sides from moms to microbiologists! If you have decided one way or the other, would you mind commenting on the reasons for your decision? I would love to hear and I am sure many others would too!
(picture from here and is an article about vaccine trials)

A Box of Fun

I gave the boys a box awhile ago that they have thoroughly enjoyed playing in separately and together. I had great plans to cut windows in it, paint it and make it more of a "play place." They don't seem to mind what it looks like.
The game of hide and seek begins...

Jonas is getting old enough now to interact more with Asher. It has been fun to watch them play together and enjoy each other's company.

Oh, how I love the simplicity of this toy...a cardboard box!

Please feel free to share simple toys around your house that you have created.

Preschool Beginnings

August marks the beginning of a new school year for most kids. There are many great preschools that we could send Asher to, but we have decided that we would rather keep him home a little longer and enjoy watching his little mind soak up all the new things he is learning. My friend Rebecca who lives in our neighborhood and also has two boys has joined me in the venture of starting our own preschool with our two older boys. School will be in session two days a week for 2 1/2 hours. Today was our first day! We had so much fun and the boys did too. :)

We make up our own curriculum but have had help from books, websites, both of Asher's nanas, and it helps that Rebecca used to teach. We are going to have a theme for each month. The month of August is all about WATER! Some of our activities today included learning the properties of water (by making their own colored ice cubes and then melting them in boiling water), learning what things sink or float, eating "water"melon for our snack, and reading and singing songs about rain and water. To top things off, we got to play outside in the misty rain and jump in puddles! I made the string collage above to help the boys see different types of bodies of water and learn the letters of water.

Let me know if you have any fun ideas for our water lessions--books, songs, crafts, etc.

Summer Craft Ideas

How beautiful are these sunprints! You can see how this came together and directions on The Light Garden blog. I have been trying to find new and exciting craft ideas from different blogs and books. I recently flipped through the book, The Creative Family by Amanda Blake Soule. She has some amazing ideas with imagination and nature in mind. It's definitely on my wish list. She also has a recent release called The Homemade Home that I would like to get my hands on soon! We have been doing a lot of painting around our house as well as collages with paper and glue. Any favorite craft ideas you would like to share?

Double Jogging Stroller

I am searching for a double jogging stroller that will work for my 2 y/o and 10 month old. My current double stroller is just not working out and I would like to start exercising in the mornings, which means taking the kids with me. Does anyone have any advice in this area or have one that you would rave about?
Picture from Amazon.