Our Little Village

I'm not really a very crafty or artistic person. I'm horrible about doing art projects with the kids. I know I mentioned this before, in fact, I think it was about a year ago when I did another project with the kids which consisted of melting broken crayons together. This time around I decided to work with the kids on creating a village using boxes from our recycling bin.

After collecting the right sized boxes and containers, I bought a piece of poster board to use as a base. On a snowy Saturday morning, I gathered the necessary supplies and the girls. It took me a few minutes to convince the girls (i.e. snapping at them) to not touch anything until we figured out how we wanted our village to look. Once we got the general pattern sorted out, Allison and Mia had a wonderful time cutting, gluing, drawing, and putting stickers on our buildings.  It was a good practice lesson for me to keep my patience and a good lesson for the girls to work together as a team to accomplish a single goal.

Allison's Caught the Reading Bug

A few months ago, Allison brought home "Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?" from the library. We brought it to bed and I made her read it to me. This was the first book that she read more than a few words at a time. I was so proud of her. The look on her face when she finished was priceless.

We are reading together every night and practicing her "popcorn" words. She knows all the words on the list we received from school and several other words I have added to her "popcorn bucket". She is up to about 70 words in her bucket.

Recently she was tested on whether she knew her popcorn  words at school. If they knew more than the ones they learned so far, they could read them off the list that was given to them. Allison told me that she knew all but two, so I asked her which two. She looked at me like I was crazy and said "I don't know Mom - I couldn't read them, so how would I know what words they were?" Ha ha. I was thinking that maybe the teacher told her what the words were when they were finished. 

Just Pulling Your Leg...Off!

Allison and Mia spent a few days with their Nana and Papa recently. I love hearing what they did while they were at my parents' house, and this time was no exception. The kids were apparently kidding with my Dad and my Mom asked Amelia if she "was pulling Papa's leg."  Since this was an expression neither of the girls have heard before, Amelia looked at my Mom with a puzzled expression and then looked at my Dad's leg and said, "No, I'm not touching his leg."  My Mom explained to them that the phrase "Pulling your leg" is a way of telling someone that you are only joking with them. However, the girls don't quite remember the actual phrase - so now when the girls make a joke, they finish up by saying "I pulled your leg off!"

Daddy/Daughter Dance

Allison, Amelia, and Brian had their first "official" Daddy/Daughter dance a few weeks ago. I say first "official" because they had one last year at the girl's daycare, but I had to work that night, so I didn't get to dress them up and send them off.  This time around, I got to paint their nails (not Brian's), put their Christmas dresses on them (again, not Brian), and take pictures before they left.

I fully enjoyed the two hours I had the house to myself; something that hasn't happened since May when I became a stay-at-home mom. However, when they pulled up in the driveway, I couldn't wait until they came in the house so I could hear all about their date. Mia came in first with a big grin on her face and Allison was just as excited. They got to frost a cookie, do a craft project, and dance. Mia was very happy that they were able to do the "freeze" dance. She had told me earlier in the day she was going to ask the DJ to play it.

They must have had a good time because all three of them were worn out and were in bed early. Allison already told me that she wants to go every year. At least I will be guaranteed another few hours of alone time each year if that happens!

100 Days of School

When Allison first started school, her 100th day of school sounded so far away. I couldn't believe how quickly those 100 days came and went.  In her weekly newsletter from school, we were informed that for the 100th day of school, the kids could dress up as a 100 year-old person. I wasn't too keen on this because I hate coming up with costume ideas, and it also seemed to me to be just reenforcing a stereotype. However, Allison asked if she could dress up because she really wanted to do it. When I said "yes," she got a big grin on her face and said "Oh thank you mama!"  How could I say no to that?  Also, I remembered seeing a picture from last year and it looked as though a large number of the kindergarteners participated, so I gave into peer pressure.

Her 100th school day was postponed due to a snow day, so they celebrated two days later when their special guest, Zero the Hero, could make an appearance. At the end of the day I picked Allison up from school and asked her if a lot of kids dressed up and she replied, with a big grin on her face, that she was the only one in her classroom that dressed up. All I could think of was "Thank goodness this didn't happen three or four years from now or she would be accusing me of ruining her life because she was so embarrassed to be the only one to dress up."  Because of the delay in the 100th school day celebration, it fell on the Michigan/Michigan State "Spirit Day" so I think a lot of kids opted out of wearing their 100 year-old costumes to wear their favorite school shirt instead.

On the way home from school Allison and I had the following conversation.

Allison - "Mom, we had the ZERO guy come to school today. He has a cape and everything!
Allison - "He can fly mom! For real!! Not in an airplane. He can fly with his body."
Me - "Really! How can he do that?"
Allison - " I don't know. With his cape, I think." 

My friend asked me if Allison has a cape and if she could fly. I realize that while Allison doesn't have a cape, Mia does and she would be the type to try to fly while wearing it. I think I feel a cold coming on for Amelia on the 100th day of school in 2015 - I don't want her getting any ideas from Zero the Hero. 

A Recap of the Holidays

So I neglected the blog again. Hopefully I can catch up a bit and keep up with it this time around.

We had a wonderful holiday season. I was actually sad when Christmas came around because I was enjoying the time leading up to it so much.

We kicked off the season early with the arrival of Santa at the mall and visiting the Meijer Gardens before Thanksgiving.  We also visited with Santa at the Meijer Gardens where Amelia asked for a dog, a REAL dog! Santa nicely told her that dogs are too squirmy and wouldn't stay in his bag. He wouldn't want the puppy to fall out of the sleigh and get cold and wet from the snow.

This year we tried something new - rather than just putting treats into the advent calendar, I also included an activity or small present each day, such as socks, a Christmas book, or decoration. The girls really enjoyed the activities and on days they merely received a present, Allison would ask if they could do an activity instead.

Some of the advent calendar activities we did included: making a ginger bread house (now a yuletide family tradition), attending a family party at Allison's school, making cookies, going to the zoo and bringing presents for the animals, watching Christmas classics, and even buying a present for Toys for Tots.

The girls participated in our church Christmas program this year which was sweet and very touching. I have to admit during the service I thought about the families of those who lost a loved one in the Sandy Hook tragedy and I had a very time holding it together - which wasn't a good thing since I was up on the alter with the kids helping out.  At times the Sandy Hook tragedy made it very hard for me to be festive this holiday season since I carried a heavy heart during those weeks. However, it did make me realize how I can't take things for granted and that I have to celebrate these times I have with my family to the fullest.  

Christmas came around and it was full of celebrations. We had a great time visiting with both of our families. Once again the girls were spoiled with a lot of attention and presents. Allison and Amelia even got to see Aunt Cheryl, Uncle Dale, and their cousins Stephanie and Heather, who all flew in from Arizona.

Allison Update

Age: 5 years old

Likes: Playing board games, putting together puzzles, completing her workbook, and reading.

Dislikes: Hearing about anything "fun" that Mia did while Allison was in school.

Wants in life:  A dog and a trip to Disney World.

Strengths:  Allison is very sweet and is always concerned about others. She is doing well in school and is starting to read words which makes her very excited.

Things she needs to work on:  Knowing she can't get what she wants all the time. She also needs to know when to stop bugging her younger sister.

Memorable quotes:

On the way home from school:
Allison "Mom, I gave someone my phone number today, because he is my best friend. And he gave me his"
Me - "That's nice, what's his name."
Allison - "I don't know. I forgot."