It only gets better!

Over the past 5 years there have been SO MANY play dates. Wonderful play dates full of play dough, spilled juice, runny noses, blowing bubbles, throwing tantrums, goldfish crackers, riding slides, swinging in swings, digging in the sand, building towers, knocking down others' towers, sharing toys, stealing toys, swim diapers, baby dolls, sippy cups, hugs, bumps, tears, giggles, cookies, paint, icing, crayons... But with preschoolers you KNOW there will be squabbles. So it is so nice to see all our hard work in explaining the joys of sharing and giving and taking turns pay off. Today we had a play date, and the toy du jour was Legos. Prepared mom that I have learned to become, I had huge fat legos for Ellary, girly princess ones for Addie and regular duplos for the boys. So the boys built their "bee trap" (I have no idea...), and then they played with Ellary for a bit and built her a little tower and did not complain once that she would take apart the tower and bee trap to chew on the pieces. Then they helped Addie construct the castle she was working on, quite willingly taking instruction from her on what the design should be. It was SO nice! There was no fighting, were no tears, and they all just had fun playing together. So they HAVE been listening all along... ;)

Addie with her princess castle and the boys with their bee trap

Working together to build the castle and
dropping that last little drip of drool in just the right spot on Ellary's tower.

**In an effort of full disclosure, it should be noted that Addie did have a bit of a meltdown once the boys moved on to another activity and she "scrumbled" her castle and sulked for a bit. After all, no matter how big she gets, she's still our Addie!**

Isn't this what you would wear?

Addie NEVER plays dress up. She has the dresses, shoes, boas, crowns and wands that other little girls have, but she's just not into it. Yesterday afternoon Geof was rounding them up to go outside so I could get some things done around the house - you know, "Kellen and Addie get your shoes on if you want to go outside to play!" Addie took a while getting her shoes on, and when she appeared this is what she had decided was appropriate playwear for riding her scooter... Love the hair!

Getting Slimed

Kellen's teacher asked if one of the parents would make Gak for their class during "G" week. I happened to have the recipe, but I had never made it before. I volunteered to do it anyway. I had heard of Gak, and I was thinking it was some sort of slime - sounded like fun! Geof and I found the whole thing quite funny as we made it, though admittedly we were very tired late in the evening. Needless to say, Kellen and Addie LOVED it! We've played Gak at home almost every day for a couple weeks (I'm sure all you former teachers know about this stuff already...). Anyway, here's a picture of the interesting stuff and a little video of me making it - have the sound on! (recipe follows if you want to try it yourself).

Gak Recipe:
(make solutions A & B in two separate bowls)
Solution A
1 1/2 cups warm water
2 cups Elmers white glue (brand matters)
Food coloring
**Mix together until completely dissolved**
Solution B
4 tsp Borax
1 1/3 cups warm water
**Mix together in large bowl until completely dissolved**

**Pour Solution A INTO Solution B. DO NOT MIX. Lift Gak out and knead into shape.

**If you are going to half the recipe, use only half of Solution A and mix the whole amount of Solution B. The results will be the same. This is the only way you can half the recipe. Do not double the recipe and do not reuse Solution B (the borax and water).

Smile for the Camera!

So much for trying to get cute Valentine pictures... :)

Just Had to Post...

...a few of my favorite pictures from a session I had with a newborn this weekend. What fun!

What a Nice Day!

A welcome change from the cold weather we've been having. We went to the playground after Bible study this morning, and Kellen and Addie had a great time playing with their friends! Lots of swinging and sliding with very minimal mishap or bad behavior!! It was so nice! And I actually remembered to bring my camera!

They had fun racing down the slides on their tummies, though Kellen thought it was more fun to stand in the girls' way as they slid down the slide and then jump out of the way at the last minute. Luckily the girls found it funny rather than annoying. :)

They liked swinging super high!

A New Way of Doing Things

Kellen yelled to me "Mom, come take our picture, quick!"

A rare snapshot of all three together. :)

So we're registering Kellen for kindergarten next week (sob, sob, sob), and Geof went to an kindergarten information session the other night to learn more about the process. We started talking about what a big change this was going to be for Kellen and the issues we are likely to face as he transitions into this new big kid phase! We were thinking about what we could do to help prepare him (other than regular preschool stuff), and I came up with a plan. Now I have NEVER been much of a planner. I just like to go with the flow and take care of things as they come up. Thus, I've been a Mom for 5.08 years and have never really operated on any kind of schedule other than what the kids' naps/meals have dictated. Well get ready kiddos, that is all about to change! (actually, it changed yesterday). We are now officially on a daily schedule. It is posted in the kitchen where we can't get away from it! So far Kellen loves it! He likes to know what to expect, and I think this will be good for him. In addition to our normal daily activities, I'm working in designated quiet time (I've been quite the flunky with this up until now), "help time" (chores that they are capable of), table time (crafts and workbooks), one-on-one time (special time with me and just one kid), and playtime/tv time. Kellen and Addie also have "helping hands" charts to document the ways they help around the house each day. They are in charge of things like clearing the table, dust-busting the floor after EB eats, folding washcloths and matching socks in the laundry, making their beds, hanging up coats and putting away shoes, unloading utensils from the dishwasher, and several other things that they are quite capable of. Kellen especially loves earning stars on his helping chart and he LOVES dustbusting since I got the cone-shaped dustbuster (Kellen is obsessed with traffic cones, so a cone-shaped vacuum is wonderful for him). I think he would wear it in a holster on his belt and vacuum the floor all day if we let him! Anyway, this is a very new way of doing things for me, but yesterday went very well and I hope we can stick to it!

Also, Ellary had a MAJOR breakthrough last night. She slept through the night!!!!!!!! I heard her wimpering at some point early in the morning, but I steeled myself against the urge to go in and feed her and she went back to sleep. This is HUGE since she's been in the habit of getting up 3 or 4 times a night, which is ridiculous for an 8-month old. I give credit, in part, to Geof, who has started feeding her oatmeal before bedtime to hold her over (EB still won't take a bottle, but she'll take oatmeal!). And she is 8 months old today!