Craft of the Week: Space Mud and Stepping Stones

 

As promised and requested here are the past two weeks, craft of the week. First is SPACE MUD!!! I loved making this as a child. I would beg my mom to buy the supplies all the time, I think until I was like 16. So needless to say I was pumped to do it again.

Space Mud

1. In one bowl mix 1 cup of hot water, and 2 ½ T. Borax

2. In another bowl mix 2 cups glue, ½ cup room temperature water, and food coloring (optional)

3. Mix together both bowls until all liquid is gone. Store in a zip lock bag.

 

Every kid needs to make this at least once in their life. I only allow this to be played with outside. Ours is still in great condition and it is over a week old.

 

 

The other craft was a Tinkerbell Stepping Stone. I bought, well stole, the kits from Target’s clearance section. They were only $2.49 and each kit came with enough plaster to make 4 stones each!!!

There was a picture that Brady used to aid and her painting. I was quite pleased with her patience as she copied the colors. Check out below how well she did! She even painted a border like the photo.

Mat Sat.

I know I have uploaded a lot of videos of Brady’s love of language on here. I think there are a few reasons for this. 1. It is amazing to watch this journey. Not even a half of a year ago could she even name letter sounds. 2. I am math minded and Karl is amazing at Science, however we both seriously lack in the language department. Therefore I LOVE that her passion is reading.

 

Without further ado, I proudly present Brady reading a book to us for the first time EVER!

 

She keeps wanting to ‘read’ the pictures and not the words.

I’m Back

Sorry for the 8 day disappearance. Our family had QUITE the weekend and I have spent the second half of the week trying to ‘catch my breath’!

 

Between Saturday early AM to Tuesday AM this is what we juggled:

 

• All four of us catching the 24 hour stomach bug
• Reese having SEVERAL relapses in potty training, including in the middle of the Chick-Fil-A jungle gym
• My getting too brave in fingernail trimming by not using the infant safety clippers and taking off the end of Reese’s thumb, which kept reopening for three days
• Brady putting her tooth through her lip while trying to do an air turn, yes second lip injury in a week

Let’s just say there were all sorts of bodily fluids everywhere, yep count it up four different types of fluids! On Saturday when I was cleaning Brady’s vomit, Reese kept hollering to be excused from the breakfast table, but I was busy so I left her there. Well, she needed to be excused for a reason, and I was soon cleaning up pee. Before I could finish that task, Brady was throwing up again.

 

There are more similar stories about the weekend, but I am sure you wished I had already limited the details, so I will leave it at that!

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But I feel great now, and will be updated the blog for your reading pleasure!

Word Families

I have posted about Brady’s love at preschool before. SOUND BOOKS AND FAMILY BOOKS! So those links are from like 6 weeks ago. Well today Brady wanted to do her family books for me and OMG she is now blending which means she is READING!!!!

 

 

 

I am so proud of my Brady girl. Soon Karl and I will have to find a new tactic to communicate besides the spelling aloud code.

 

When I was filming her, the proud face she gave me after each word reminded so much of this video…

 

 

It is amazing how EARLY personalities show!

“Her injury Just Saved you Money”

In a store today, Brady and Reese were spinning around holding hands (while I was chatting with the store owner). Reese fell and busted her lip and ripped her frenulum on her upper gums.

 

Sidenote: Frenulum is that fold of skin that attaches your gums to your upper lip. The dentist says he wants to do a surgical procedure to clip to separate it. He says it was too thick and would cause her gap teeth to remain as an adult. I personally wanted to leave it because I think her gap teeth are special to her look and I saw no reason to try and change the way she looks.

 

 

So back to the injury. When I noticed the ripped frenulum, I called the dentist and asked whether or not to bring her it. Long story, short the receptionist told me that Reese just gave herself a frenectomy (the surgical procedure) and just saved us the $300 dollars it would have cost to get it done! HAHAHA I think that is the first I have ever heard those words.

 

Here are some pictures of her 30 minutes after she fell. I know some of you would get a kick out of her already full lips, very swollen. Angelina Jolie has got nothing on my injured Reesey Poo!

Wordless Wednesday: Romeo and Juliets

Tuesday Tidbits: Sweetness, Hotness and Smartness

So I tried a Applesauce, raisin oatmeal sugar free cookie today with the girls. One word: FAIL. If you want a salty raisin bread this is the recipe for you….The girls did have fun making them, so I guess some good came out of it.

 

Let me tell you about my date night last weekend. I really wanted to try a restaurant last weekend, so I called over Danielle last minute and Karl and I got to go on a date. I don’t ever do my hair or makeup so I decided to get ‘cute’ for Karl. I put on a dress….extreme I know…and apparently it made Karl fell like he needed to dress up. When I walked in and saw him, my jaw dropped. HE WAS PURE HOTNESS!!!! Those pants, I will have you know, are the ones he wore on our first date (which is was a Meredith College semi-formal dance). My sister helped him pick them out. They fit him VERY well. Then he put on his custom tailored shirt from Bahrain, again fitting him extremely well. Then to top it off, he stylishly rolled up his sleeves and put on his glasses! I will honestly say, this is the cutest he has EVER been. I love how I say this often, he is getting better and better looking with the years, not too many people can say that! Ladies, back off, he is all mine…

 

footnote: Brady is the photographer in all these photos, so I couldn’t use my nice camera that grabs such nice photos

 

Lastly, I want to share a link with you. This is a promo video that is on a local channel that just runs info shorts. It is about Brady’s (and soon to be Reese’s) preschool. If you take the time to watch it you will know why I LOVE this school too death and want to not move from it. And none of these shots are posed, this is how the school runs on a regular basis.

 

http://www.blabtvshows.com/?v=3091.FLV

 

Brady is in the video clip twice, but you only see her from behind. Both times she is in the corner they work on letter sounds and word families. That girl loves to read!

While it is Snowing for ya’ll

So I know that NC and VA has had some sleet and snow over the last couple of days, so I share with you in pictures what our day was like here in sunny Pensacola! Yep, that is right 80+ degrees and pure sun! As you can see, Dewy loves the water fun as much as the girls!

 

Temporary stay at home dad

So I was driving home from my two days in Orlando yesterday and I called Karl to see how things had been while i was gone. I had talked to him briefly several times but hadn't had the time to have a in depth conversation.

Karl's response to me was "our girls are unbelievable". I immediately teared up because I knew he had a glimpse of how wonderful my life is day to day. Yes, he meant this comment in a good way. This is the first time Karl has had the girls for three full days by himself. He couldn't stop talking about how great our girls were in several different situations.

Karl got the real taste of parenthood when Dewy had a abscessed anal gland that was bleeding, 30 minutes before the vet closed that day. The vet with dogs and young girls is never that easy. But the girls he said were amazing. He also got new tires on the van and Reese waited the hour and half with him never whining once.

I will have to say that I am quite proud of my husband for watching the girls for three days with such grace and of the girls for showing daddy why i love my 'job' so much!

Wordless Wednesday: Bought a second house…without taking out a mortgage!

Who is your favorite?

I just wanted to know from all the American Idol viewers, who are you picking to go all the way this year?

 

I have always preferred male singers, so know when I tell you my choice, I am not even considering the girls. So my pick to win it all is Paul McDonald. I really think he is unique or should I say quirky but not over the top.

 

I want to hear what you think!

Tuesday Tidbits: Helpers and Mickey

I was loading up the fridge with my soda the other day and Brady ran over to help me. She wanted me to hand them to her and then she placed them in the spot. Reese quickly came in and took over my job. I love my helpers that are always there to volunteer!

For mom’s with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse watchers, all I need to say is Hot Dog dance! But for the rest of  you, MMCH show has a song that plays at the end of every show. All six of the characters dance and each one has a different set of moves. So Karl likes to try and imitate the characters. Well over time, we all have our specific character we try to dance like. The girls love having daddy dance with them!

Speaking of Mickey…you like Reese’s mickey pancake and Brady’s Minnie pancake complete with bow? The girls were pretty thrilled about it!

Rededication

I recently have decided to rededicate myself as a stay at home mom. What do I mean by this? I want to be proactive, create environments that will benefit my children in several different faucets, and give them the positive attention they hunger. I don’t think I had stopped being a good mother when I decided this but I had started letting day to day pass by doing what was comfortable and easy. Just getting through the day as it comes my way.

 

Here is how I am rededicating myself as a stay at home mom:

• weekly crafts
• planted a vegetable/flower garden with the girls
• heavily involve girls (individually) in one dinner preparation a week
• trying to decrease TV viewing

So I have been doing weekly crafts for two weeks now. The first week we created the garden. The girls shopped for materials with me, picked out the seeds, filled the garden with soil, water on a regular basis. All around it is a wonderful learning experience. 

This is the day we created it. WE now have corn, lettuce, cucumber, strawberry, zinnia, pumpkin all sprouting in there (I know that is too much but it was what the girls wanted).

The cinder blocks is a trick my sister taught me. In the holes you plant invasive herbs. Well that is not what made it in our holes, but the girls grasp which seeds are which with the divide. This week’s craft was a bird seed wreath (thanks for the idea Amy). It was a dud and we ended up with a pile of seed on the slide outside. I do have quite a few ideas for future weeks that I am eager to do.

 

The dinner planning has been the biggest hit thus far. The girls had been begging me every night that I cooked to help out, well with my Zumba schedule and Brady’s ballet on Friday there are a lot of nights that I am in a rush to cook so I ended up yelling at them to get out of the kitchen more then they deserved. They are trying to help, why am I yelling at them? So I read about a family that lets each kid in the fam have a night where they completely decide the dinner menu. Well I took it one step further. Both of the girls get a night so completely decide the menu and then they help with every step of the preparation, table setting, and clean up. Brady has Monday and Reese has Wednesday. This has been a HUGE hit. Brady has had tacos both weeks. Reese’s first week she requested “strawberries, lettuce and chicken” this past week she wanted “strawberries and pancakes.” Now they know they cook on their one special night a week and mommy does it every other night. I wish I would have thought of this earlier.

 

Lastly, the TV has been the hardest. I like it as a babysitter of sorts. It helps when I need a shower or have phone calls to make, etc. So they are in the habit of one hour a day. They know that means two Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. So when I say no TV lets go to the beach, I get the response, we can go to the beach AFTER two MMCH shows. UGH! I am trying to keep them busy, but honestly they need the wind down time too. So I am having an internal debate about TV and what is my stance about how much the girls should watch.

 

That is all for now, I am sure there will be future posts about a weekly craft or update on the garden!

Orthnerisms

BRADY:

 

“Daddy, what is your nickname?” I don’t really have a nickname “No, no daddy, your nickname is Hot Karl!”

 

Hot Karl is his ‘call sign’ which in the military pilot world they make up names for each other that are condescending or poke fun of them in some way. So this nickname is not spoken in our house. Look it up on urbandictionary.com if you want to know why. Let’s just say it involves a sock and bowel movements.

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I started to conversation with Brady about what she wants to do for her birthday party. Yes it is three months away but I like to plan parties. So listed several option for her. This is the response I got…

 

I want a ballet party when I turn four, when I turn five I want a gymnastics party, then when I turn six I want a Minnie party. For seven I want a Pinkalicouis party, eight I want a Fancy Nancy party, (I forgot nine but there was something) and then when I am ten I want a Ladybug Girl party. Okay mommy?

 

REESE:

 

We were at a craft store when I pushed the cart down the wrong aisle. I told the girls (who were both walking behind me) to turn around. Brady promptly started walking back out of the aisle. I look down at Reese who is not making her way back down the aisle, that is because she took me a little too literally and was doing her twirls.

15 days later…

REESE IS POTTY TRAINED! I want to shout it from the rooftop because lets just say what took 2 weeks for Reese took 18 months for Brady! I seriously struggled with the potty training with Brady, I had called it my Achilles heel of motherhood. I also to listen to people who did it in a very short period and thought, that is impossible, and even thought they were making up that they were able to pull it off.

 

Well, you ask me what was different this time….WHO KNOWS! I think the biggest thing was I didn’t feel the pressure I did the first time around to have it completed by a certain age. Honestly I was going to wait until Reese’s third birthday to seriously pursue the whole potty adventure since it was a headache first time around.

 

So here is the refresher on the how it all got started this time around.

 

So since that last post, the ups and downs continued but there were a lot more ups than downs. But on Tuesday she made the huge leap of knowing how to control the muscles and go on demand. So by midday she was going 5 times more then the previous week, so she could get rewarded. Well Wednesday she started telling me when she needed to go instead of waiting for my prompting. Well that means today we are in panties at home AND in public! I decided that means we are officially potty trained!!!!

 

In a 1-2 month period she has gone paci and diaper free! I have two little girls in my house now, no more babies here!

 

Reese with her sticker chart from this week, quite proud of herself

Wordless Wednesday: Curly Club’s Fun in the Sun…FL has its perks (now that is the oil is gone!)

Interviews…for your viewing pleasure

Wordless Wednesday: Almost a Gold Medal Olympian

Reese is a Big Girl, big girl, big girl! Reese is a Big Girl…

She went pee pee on the potty! (Okay those are the words to my made up potty song) I wish I could sing it for you, because at our house we are singing it over and over and we are super excited about that. You know what other song we have sang several times, including twice today “Reese is a big girl, big girl, big girl, Reese is a big girl she went stinky on the potty!"

 

SO here is the story, Thursday night I randomly put Reese on the potty, with no expectations. After about 5-10 minutes she went ‘stinky’ while exclaiming she needed her diaper because she didn’t really understand what was going on. However, she enjoyed my song and dance that came afterward. I put her in panties and told her she was a big girl. Thirty minutes later she did pee-pees and that was it, I decided to go into full on potty training. I had originally planned to train her this summer when Brady was not going to school, so we could avoid all those hour long car trips. However, Reese showed she was ready so here we go!

 

Friday, with a couple accidents, we had the success of 3 pee-pees so I was stoked! Saturday and Sunday was a little tougher (she was getting tired of sitting on the potty every 30 minutes). However today was a AWESOME break through day. Two stinkies and three pee-pees on the potty!!!! One of those pee-pees was even at the mall! She has had no accidents either! YAH YAH YAH

 

So far this has gone a lot smoother then my first experience! Let’s keep our fingers crossed!

 

Also, an update with the paci removal (poor Reese has to deal with so much right now). Reese is no longer napping. You know, I thought saying that would have been awful, but really I don’t mind. I don’t have to be home at certain times and she goes to sleep a lot easier at night, which she needs the assistance since she doesn’t have the paci to help. The girls spent a couple of weeks sleeping together in the same room. We had to separate them though, even though that is where they were the happiest, because they were waking up together at 5 and playing like crazy. Making a mess of both of the their rooms and Karl couldn’t sleep through it. Reese still struggles a little but we can say we have come through the paci removing experience with little scars!