For Jeffrey

Our nephew Jeffrey loves to see pictures of Smudge.  He is still my best beast, and we certainly have no shortage of photos.  I was looking for the photo of Smudge joining us at the table for dinner because he does that almost every night.  He has his own chair, and he just sits there and patiently waits for bites.  As long as he isn't being rude or grabby, he can stay.  Here he was above, snuggling with our laughing monkey toy.

Here he is, still knowing when someone is sick.  The last two times Aiden was ill, he hung out near him.  Otherwise, he doesn't do that.

This is one of his favorite places to perch himself.

He occasionally chooses an item to sit on, though.  Ethans lunch box.

He made his way to the towel, but was removed.  He's not allowed on the counters.

We thought he might eventually fall over.

He is easy to catch in a box.  He doesn't hang out in the living room very often unless there is a box.

 He was trying to play with Chippy.

 "But what about more peanuts?"

He rolled over inviting play.  Chippy wasn't interested.

Look, Jeffrey!  Chippy came in!

We all love when Smudge joins us for group time.

We don't get anything done when this happens.

My favorite thing about Smudge is that he can sense when I am annoyed with paperwork.  He has, on several occasions, recognized my mood changing, and then proceeded to sit on top of the paperwork that was bothering me.  In this photo, it was the menu for Henle House.  My least favorite chore.  Just this week, he placed himself right on top of the cell phone bill I was griping about.  He senses stress and illness.  Good boy!

Meanwhile, the kids all received a copy of 'The Little Mouse The Red Ripe Strawberry, And The Big Hungry Bear'.

I love this book.  It's got beautiful illustrations and the reader is actually engaging the mouse in conversation.

Here's another one I thought was wonderful- 'the cow loves cookies".  

For art, we created a four leaf clover.  The kids were sticking tissue squares to the clear contact paper.

They had a bit of trouble separating the tissue squares.  

Once they had the contact paper covered with tissue squares, they added a four leaf clover frame and a pipe cleaner handle.  Something green for March!

♥♥♥Happy Thursday!♥♥♥

Our Internet Is Working!

I cannot believe how much I rely on the internet.  Our modem broke last week sometime and we have all been waiting, impatiently, for the new one to arrive so we can get back to normal life.  No Netflix.  No Henle House book keeping.  No science fair project researching.  No email.  Most importantly- NO BLOG!  I now know just how much I enjoy my ten minutes with the blog each morning.  I was forced to pick up a couple of books to read just to keep my mind from shutting down.  Now that we have internet again, I will just give you a brief update on what's been happening.  Last week we read 'Goodnight Moon'.  

 The kids drew pictures of things inside their bedrooms at home that they can say "goodnight" too.

I love the way they draw.  

We continued our work with the letter Mm by creating handprint monsters.

They enjoyed the chance to be imaginative.

Now we are working on counting to 13.

We are working with the letter Nn.  

My favorite thing- the rope chair made a brief return.  Don't let that sunshine fool you though, it's so breezy and chilly.  I am trying very hard to not take myself down to the tanning salon just to feel the heat.  I usually end up doing that for a couple weeks right around now.

This morning at the bus stop, "our" ducks came to say hello.  They flew over all of the houses as soon as the bus arrived and met us in our front yard for breakfast.  I love these ducks.  I wish they would let me pick them up.

♥♥♥Happy Wednesday!♥♥♥

Hi, Duck!

It is duck feeding time.  I'll bet that if you peruse the blog posts from last year right around now, the posts will be similar to what is going on right now.  Ducks, Spring fever, gardening.  The ducks have begun their usual visits to the yard.  I love every second of it!  

Boy duck isn't as bossy about his food.  He stays back a bit and lets her eat most of the bread.

The crows wait in the background.  They will finish off what the ducks leave behind.

I love that it's a great way to get rid of the excess bread in the house.  

Here the kids were, in their socks yesterday morning.  They have become good duck watchers, alerting me when they arrive.

OK, so yesterday we went ahead with the foam dough mixture.  I lost my bravery and just mixed a giant batch of it and gave it to the kids to play with afterward.  Honestly, it is an enormous mess while it's being created.  Even for an adult.  All you need to do is pour a pile of corn starch into a bowl.  Add shaving cream.  I didn't measure.  If it was too sticky, I added more corn starch.  If it was too crumbly, I added more shaving cream.  My hands were completely caked with stuff.  I added some Wilton food coloring gel.  (I'll say it again- I wish the grocery stores would sell that stuff.  I usually drive to Michaels just to get it.)  I am glad that I didn't have the kids try to mix it by themselves, it is just too frustrating and my brain would've shut down.  It took about five minutes of vigorous kneading to get it nice and smooth.

The kids enjoyed it!  Several moms told me this morning that their kids spent a solid amount of time playing with it at home, too.

☺

We also spent about fifteen minutes coloring some diamond cutouts.  We like to play a hide and seek game that involves shapes that we are learning.  This time I thought the kids might enjoy creating one to take home.  They can have someone hide the diamond shapes at home and then go look for them.  Fun!

They just colored and stuffed them into the envelopes for safe keeping.

Out we went to check on the tulip bulbs.

The kids have pointed out several changes!  

Sigh.  Look at this.  It's time for me to start thinking about what to do with the veggie garden this year.  I am so glad to be able to get my hands in the dirt.  I'm thinking zucchini, corn, sunflowers, green beans and snap peas.  (The usual.)  Maybe some soybeans, too!  If that pumpkin will ever decompose, we will have a pumpkin vine or two winding through it all.

♥♥♥Happy Thursday that I thought was Friday!♥♥♥

(The joke's on me!)

Birthday/Foam Dough

We celebrated a birthday yesterday!

The kids enjoyed decorating a cupcake.  We sang a nice rowdy round of "Happy Birthday" and she blew out her candle. 

We jumped around with the party favors to the traditional "Birthday" song by The Beatles.  

"Cheese!"

After opening up a birthday surprise, we ran outside to play in the cold sunshine. 

It was all a blur, it happened so fast.

Meanwhile, I found tucked away in a cabinet in the garage, several pre-measured containers of corn starch.  I added some shaving cream to attempt to make foam dough.  It was A BIG FAT MESS! 

My hands were completely caked with foamy stuff.  It's a really wonderful consistency, though!

I washed my hands to test the stickiness of the dough, and added just a bit more corn starch to make it smooth.

See?  It's light as a feather.  Do I dare have the kids create their own?  I'll have to get out my apron since I'm wearing black, and chances are, I will need to help every child because it will just stick to their hands.  It'll be a good sensory project that the kids can take home.  (Sorry, parents!) (Insert evil laugh.)  Maybe they won't mind the mess as much as I will.  This stuff is so cool that I just have to do it.  Today.  I don't even dare to add food coloring.  I'll experiment, I guess.  GREEN!  Thank God that I will just be able to sweep it up afterward, it's that cool. 

♥♥♥Happy Wednesday!♥♥♥

Cut, Glue, Trace & Write

Instead of cutting the worksheet up for them, this time I let them try to do it themselves.

We are working on the letter Mm, the number 13, the diamond shape, and the colors violet, teal, gray and tan.  The kids completed a letter Mm worksheet yesterday.  They cut out the sections.  They glued the pieces to another piece of paper, just for fun.   They traced and wrote the letter Mm. 

My camera battery died at this point.  What we did for the entire rest of the day is a mystery!  

Actually, the kids did check on their bulbs outside and noticed some exciting changes happening.  I will have to take some photos of that today.

Our preschool routine will take pause as we are celebrating a birthday today!

♥♥♥Happy Tuesday!♥♥♥

Stephanie's Lamp & Funny Kids Speak

"Mooooom, can I paint my lamp shade?"  Of course.  Worst case scenario is that we would have to pick up a new lamp shade.  Steph is an artist, so why not? 

Her latest canvas painting. 

She painted the lamp shade with black acrylic paint and then used a thumb tack to poke out the Seattle skyline.  She was using a sharpie marker to touch up the paint imperfections she was finding.  She painted the inside of the shade, too. 

She loves stars.  For Christmas we stuck a small container of high end glow in the dark paint in her stocking that is commonly used by artists.  She painted a nighttime sky on her ceiling.  It's incredible! 

I love how the lamp turned out!  

Meanwhile, kids say the funniest things.  It's been a while since I have shared the things that they have said.  I haven't had many to write down over the last year or so, but what I DO have is pretty funny!

A four year old girl, "Nicole, do you have minutes on chicken nuggets?"  She meant "seconds"...but was thinking of the seconds and minutes on a clock. LOL!

A four year old boy told his mom that I said that he is allergic to carrots and doesn't have to eat them.  Only Nicole's carrots.  :)

One of the kids had chicken pox and had been absent for a while.  I heard the kids talking about why she got them, "It's because she swallowed gum!" 

I was knitting in the playroom while the kids played on.  

A seven year old boy said, "I see that you're mothering now."

Another child said, "That's what old people do!"
Knitting=Mothering.

Gasp!

I got the sewing machine out one day.

A four year old girl said, "Oh you better be careful with your spinning wheel!"  (Sleeping Beauty reference...)

Three year old girl said, "My Mom said that Chuck E Cheese is closed on my Birthday."  I told her that it is closed on all of my kids' Birthday's, too.  Forever, actually.  LOL!

Three year old boy said, "Today I am playing self help!"

Our Aiden when he was five said to me at the dinner table, "Mom, this dinner tastes like dead chicken."  (Hamburger quiche..)

Aiden also told me, "When I grow up, I am going to be a VERY hairy man." (Noticing the hair on his legs. )

Some throwback comments that we love to laugh at--

We were commenting on how fat Chippy was getting. 

A four year old girl said, "Oh- let's not say it to her face.  We don't want to hurt her feelings."

Aiden age five, whining because he was sitting in time out, "But MoOom, you think I'm cute."  As if being cute would save him.

Ethan at age 7 was watching something on t.v.  I told him it was time for bed.  "Aaaw, come on Mom! Tonight at ten, they FIND Bigfoot!"

Aiden age five stopped in the driveway at night and stared at the moon.  He said, "When I stare at the moon I feel funny."  He placed his fingers to his temples. "It makes my mind how to defeat Ethan." LOL!!!

Adam had some hot fire sauce from Taco Bell.  He asked our kids if they wanted some.  He told them it would put hair on their chests.  Ethan responded, "You put THAT on your chest?"

Ethan age six, "Mom, you're too remembery." 

I told my niece,"Auntie loves you!"  She replied, "Well, I eat a lot."

One of my favorites:

Ethan age seven, at the dinner table as we discussed what age Stephanie would no longer be able to trick or treat, was trying to hold back his elation.  "When will her last Christmas be?" LOL

♥♥♥Happy Monday!♥♥♥