Sneaky, Sneaky!

Someone figured out how to bathe herself! She makes it look fun to bathe in cold water.



And the next day, she disappeared for awhile again. This time, with the bathroom lights out, we didn't expect to find this...

St. Patti's Day

I love how holidays take on a whole new meaning of fun with young children! They were so happy to be wearing green, eating green oatmeal, and then headed off to preschool parties!


When Daddy came home from work, we tricked him! As soon as he took off his green tie, he was an easy target for some pinches! We had some neighbor girls over to help, so he was WAY outnumbered! Pinching has never been so fun!

You Never Know Where the Food Will End Up

Snack time...


Is it going to make it in the mouth?



If it's chocolate pudding, then yes!

If it's GV yogurt, then not so much! But I heard that makes great hair gel...

Bunny Love

How much does Claire love Templeton and Ashley?

• She wants to say "hi" to them every time we come home
• She sticks her fingers right in the cage at their mercy
  
• She plays with their food and water
• She picks up the little brown balls near their cage (luckily she hasn't tried to eat them yet)
  

and....


Hey, why not join them?

"Ish"

Sometimes our budding artists get disappointed with their drawing skills. There are plenty of papers that get scribbled all over and then thrown across the table in exasperation! But luckily, we read this...



and the girls learned that it's okay if their picture doesn't look perfect. It can be "ish."


That very day, Gracie tried to draw a hot air balloon but when her circle and lines were imperfect, she started to get frustrated. Then we realized it's a hot air ballono-ish, and that made everything alright! Thank you, Peter Reynolds! It turned out so cute, Grace!

Online Art Class

Miss Dani is starting an online art class which we will take part in. The girls had a great time drawing and coloring this fun info sheet. If you want to join the class, see www.pineapplepaintbrush.com


Millie's...


Gracie's... (obviously trying to do hers like Millie's, but disappointed that hers didn't turn out as well)

A "Nice" Gesture

"Nice" is a key word around our home lately. We are trying to teach our girls the importance of being nice to each other. Like most siblings, they snap at each other, quarrel, and do things to make each other mad. So when they do things that are sweet and thoughtful, we are very happy.

The other morning Grace was disappointed to hear that Daddy left for work before she got to see him. Millie saw her sadness, and in a cheerful, motherly voice, told Grace that she will do something that will make Grace so happy! She ordered her supplies from mommy: a paper plate, a white paper, a pencil and crayons, glue and scissors. And then she got to work, all the time asking us not to look at what she was doing.

The finished product, sure to make Gracie happy...


A picture of Gracie holding a large lollipop. It has a frame that Millie didn't get to quite finish. Grace's favorite things are lollipops, suckers, and ring pops! This is the next best thing! Thanks, Millie!

"Picky Eater" finds something else she likes

Most of the time when I set this starving girl into her high chair, I wonder what in the world I can give her that she won't throw onto the floor.

She will NOT eat: bread, toast, sandwiches, cereal, or pancakes

But she WILL eat: hot-dogs, cheese, grapes, yogurt, olives, beans, avocados, fruit and....(our latest discovery) hard-boiled eggs



Needless to say, I am always wondering what she will eat in the morning. I usually give her cereal, hoping that she will change her mind. But most days it ends up all over the floor. She will try oatmeal, but that's a hit and miss. So then it's fruit! She depends on milk to get her by until lunch time.

To sum it up, most of the food that the older girls will eat, she won't! And most of the things she will eat, they won't! But, good news! Grace loves boiled eggs, and now her little sis will eat them with her!

Moms, ever feel like you run a restaurant? Me too! Good thing I love the customers I'm serving!

Little Cleaners

We are REALLY trying to be consistent in having our girls help out around the house! We have so far to go! But our main focus is the dishes.

So far, it's going well...except that we might have a little too much help from Claire.






Where's Grace? In the bathroom!




This girl LOVES to clean toilets! She will spend 15 minutes just scrubbing it inside and out. Tonight when we told her it was time to finish, she came back with, "No, not yet! I'm not finished yet!" So I gave suggested that she be done in 1 minute so we could start FHE. She quickly replied, "No, how about in 90 minutes." How did we get a toilet scrubber? I hope she never loses this passion!

Homemade Play-dough

I am a little ashamed to admit that in the 5 years I've been a mother, I have never made homemade play-dough. My excuses seemed legitimate: the homemade stuff had a strange consistency, bad colors, dries out fast, and calls for a strange ingredient that I wouldn't know where to find. So it was with a little hesitation that I tried out a recipe that was strongly recommended on one of my new favorite blogs (housewifeonfirewrites.blogspot.com). Luckily, that strange ingredient nowadays is just cream of tarter, and I happened to have some on hand. We had SO much fun mixing colors. Here's what we came up with:



We made fruit to trick daddy when he gets home from work...



And Millie gave her first haircut...




Claire loves demanding new colors and tools, and then throwing it all on the ground in a big mess. Today, she actually squeezed the playdough in her hands and rolled it out. She's getting the hang of if!




Recipe
1 cup white flour
1/4 cup of salt
2 tsps cream of tartar
1 cup water
1 tbsp oil
food colouring

Mix flour, salt, and cream of tartar in a medium pot. Add water and oil. Cook and stir over medium heat (it will seem clumpy at first, but keep stirring and it will eventually turn out). When mixture forms a ball in the pot, turn out, knead, divide, add colors (I wore gloves while adding the colors), and play!

"A Brooklyn Day"

We just love the days that Millie goes to preschool and Brooklyn comes to play with Grace & Claire. The girls seem to have a regular routine down that involves: cereal (a mid-morning snack), coloring, painting, play-dough, dress-ups, dancing, dollies and pet-shops, reading books, doing puzzles, and more snacks!

Procrastination

When the kids do something really naughty, sneak a picture. And just thinking about how you'll laugh later will help you find humor in the present.

Same principle...
When the dishes are really bad, just take a picture...and then it will seem humorous!

All the credit for the picture and the dishes getting done goes to....my wonderful husband! Thanks, Sweetie!

Valentine's Day

Valentine's boxes, cards and sweets, ring-pop lips and kisses, making pink heart cookies, love letters from Daddy, Valentine's parties at preschool, delivering valentine's and learning not to ask "do you have a valentine for us too?"; doorbell ditching service project, beautiful cookies from friends, Family Home Evening with Eric & Rachel, telling what we love about each other, learning how to show that we love someone, Ken Jennings vs. Watson on Jeapordy, a fun talk with the "love birds," and chocolate covered cinnamon bears...who could ask for more?








The next day, while quizzing me about which day yesterday was, one of the girls asked, "So is Valentine's Day every Monday?" We seem to have the same conversation after every holiday. What a let-down to find out that the holiday we just celebrated won't come around again for another whole year. That's like an eternity for a child! So then we start naming the next holiday, and the next, and the next birthday, and the next, and soon they've gotten over it!

"Yes Day"

We read a children's book called "Yes Day" where on a certain day, the parents try to say "yes" to everything the child asks for. Our girls begged to have a "Yes Day" of our own. So, we did! The only change was that THEY had to say "yes" to us as well! It was a fun day! We let them eat way more treats than usual, and we did fun things all day long. In return, they quickly obeyed when we asked them to do things. It was fun to hear them say "Yes" so willingly, and with a smile on their faces.


A few days later, when we were realizing the need for more respect in our home, we decided to have a "respect day." It was fun and helpful to have the big sign right there in the living room reminding us what we were working on. We weren't sure if our girls knew the meaning of respect, so we simplified things as defined it as:

1. Ask permission
2. Listen & answer
3. Talk softly & nicely; say "please" & "thank-you"
4. Honor Father & Mother

(Notice my sweet mother folding my laundry! She brightens up our days almost every Tuesday!)

Wind Painting

Very easy, very fun! Just water down a thicker paint, give some drops, a straw, and let them BLOW!

Scripture Bags

This is a project we did one day while Grandma was visiting. Our primary is really encouraging each of the children to bring their scriptures each week. Of course we kept forgetting...but I knew if they had a cute bag to carry them in, we'd remember!

So we drew out the plan and then they each chose the colors they wanted for the different parts. They helped to braid the handles and watched while Grandma and mom did the sewing. In the morning, they were surprised to see the finished product!


And here's Claire wishing she had a scripture bag too! Either that, or she is just WAY over-tired...it's a Sunday thing!

Hair "Things": Our Never-ending Craft Project

The craft hair "stuff" may get put away for a time, but it always makes it's way back out and onto our counter top. We love having new hair things! Here are a some of the more recent creations...