The Senses

I always laugh when I hear women say that the only reason moms put their kids in preschool is to get a break from them. Well, is that such a bad thing? Ha-ha! Even though I don't find anything wrong with moms wanting a break from their kids from time to time (why do women keep insisting on trying to put down fellow women...come on, ladies, we all have our individual personalities as well as struggles), that is not the main reason why I put my own children in preschool. I value education above most things and want my children to develop a love and a thirst for knowledge. I think preschool not only provides children with wonderful social opportunities but also makes learning fun for them. They not only learn how to interact with other kids but with other adults as well which I think is extremely important. My kids have so enjoyed coming home from school and showing off the many crafts and projects that they have made. Xander's latest project is this cheerio rope he's showing off.

This project is part of their "The 5 Senses" unit. They put together these cheerios on a pipe cleaner which we then hung on our tree. When the birds come to eat the cheerios, they knock the rope and the bell at the bottom rings. Xander couldn't wait to hang it up and when we did, he started calling out, "Birdies! Birdies! Come eat some cheerios, birdies!" This is a perfect example of why I LOVE preschool for my kids. Xander had fun, learned something, and was proud of what he had made. Some moms are great at doing this kind of stuff with their kids at home; I'm just not which makes me even more grateful that I have this option for my kids.

Ice!

Last week the kids didn't have school on Monday and Tuesday due to Teacher Inservice. Then, during the night on Tuesday, I heard the familiar "ping, ping" of ice hitting our roof...so, no school on Wednesday either. The kids were excited to have another day of play; I wasn't as thrilled. Needless to say, we didn't go anywhere even though the roads weren't that bad.
Here are Savannah and Xander picking up some pieces of ice from our deck.


On Wednesday afternoon Xander and Noah went outside to see how much ice they could break off of our patio and deck. They actually did a great job clearing the ice from our stairs.

January Keepers Meeting

For Savannah's Keepers of the Home meeting in January, which was at our house, we did scrapbooking. We had each girl bring some pictures from a favorite vacation and we made some scrapbook pages with them. The girls got to tell everyone about their fun vacation and the pages they made were really cute. Savannah had such a great time that she and I are going to have a Mommy/Daughter scrapbook night once a month.

Snow...Finally!

If it's going to be cold, we might as well have some snow to go along with it, right? Well, we finally got that snow yesterday. Not much, maybe an inch or so, but the kids were so excited to get out in it!

"My, What Big Lips You Have!"

"All the better to kiss you with, Mommy."

Seriously, where did Xander get his lips?

Winter Activities

I grew up in beautiful, sunny, warm Southern California so when I look outside and see the sun shining, I expect warmth. I grew up without coats or scarves or mittens; those winter items were foreign to me. The past few days I have looked out on the beautiful sun shining in the sky but when I step outside I am entering an arctic world...and I don't like it. I don't know how to bundle up or remember to put on my gloves. Who chooses to live in places where the temperature doesn't even hit 20 degrees during the day? Apparently, we do. Trying to make sense of this freezing world in which we live, the kids and I decided to do some "fun" winter activities inside the house. One night the kids made winter snow globes which turned out really cute.



Another night we made snowflakes to hang in our family room. While cutting snowflakes, we all sipped yummy hot chocolate. And just so you know, we do pay our heating bill...we just thought it would fit the spirit of things if we dressed in our warm hats and scarves.

Fun Uncle Bryan

My brother Bryan is living in Mexico right now, earning his Masters Degree at a university there. So, we were extremely happy to find out that he would be able to come home to Cinci for the Christmas break. I loved spending time with my brother and so did my kids...they absolutely adore their Uncle Bryan! He is so patient with them, too, putting up with their crazy antics.




We love you, Uncle Bryan!