Abel Update

I have a HUGE announcement. Abel has finally found a couple toys he likes to play with in a seated position! I'd like to thank Legos and Puzzles for making this possible. I'll spend oodles of money buying more of you.

Recently all the places Abel went to willingly (nursery, gym play center) have become sad spots for him. I leave with him crying and kicking on the floor, then peek back in half a minute alter and he's happy playing! It's nice to know separation anxiety is possible with him!

Abe has learned about half of his letters, thanks to Super Why. He loves spotting super letters on signs when we're driving. And he's mastering his colors. Finally.

His newest saying: "Hey look what I got Christmas!" then pointing out any random thing.

Other things Abel loves: playing outside, going to the park, Backyardigans, chocolate, Toy Story, his truck shirt and red super letter hat (pictured above) and playing with Afton.

Afton Update

Afton is a wonderful mix of sweet, feisty and smart. It makes me happy knowing she can hold her own on play dates (it rarely comes to this though), that she can make a new friend in less than 60 seconds and that she is a professional reader these days!!!

We're counting down the days until her 5th birthday. A giant milestone and we'll be spoiling her silly for reaching it.

These days Afton loves: movies, play dates, spelling, riding her bike, going to preschool, and chewing gum.

Easter Videos

I had planned on doing the Easter Bunny on Monday, but Patrick informed me last night that if I wanted him home I had better just do it on Sunday (he had a 3 day weekend so it was a good compromise!) Luckily, I wasn't really giving the kiddies traditional Easter stuff, because Target was sold out of almost everything last night when I went to fetch a few things! Here are some great little videos of the kid's excitement and gorging:

Easter Weekend

I was so excited to get the kids dressed in their easter outfits today. Navy and white for the whole family.

Of course, getting a smiling shot of BOTH kiddies was impossible!

Oh wait! Here's one!

The eggs. Patrick' special egg was Jesus vs. The Easter Bunny. I'm pretty proud of the colors we had this year.

We had a feast, which was mostly a disaster. The look of the table after mirrored my feelings.

And lastly, Afton cleaning up deviled egg from the wall and carpet, which was flung there in a fit of defiant rage by her!

Happy St. Snow Day

Remember the rain we got yesterday? Well, when I was closing down the house last night, I peeked out the window to see if the rain was still dripping. And it was. Only the rain had turned to snow and was 2 inches thick. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that COLORADO gets snow in the spring. But I am. At least we finally got some wet snow so the kids can build a snowman this afternoon!

karate moves

A movie, super craft, picnic-eating, rainy weekend

The title says it all!. Afton and I saw Horton Hears a Who yesterday. Afton's end of the movie quote sums it up:" That was way better than getting donuts with Daddy!" We're HUGE Horton fans and the movie hit our soft spots.

We enjoyed lots of movie-watching-picnics over the weekend. Got around to making several craft projects (giant easter eggs, planting our wheat grass). And it rained (okay there was some snow too) which makes me happy since rain is a dream around these parts.

And I remembered to take some photos of my adorable kiddies...

The New Blog

Make sure you check out my new blog, The Tip Spot, this week.  My sister Christy has joined forces with me.  This week she has some excellent Easter tips (who knew there were that many great ideas for Easter!).  And may I suggest to warm up your comments, there may be prizes in store...

A Full Weekend

Hooray! I'm just getting ready to finish off a lovely full family weekend. It was awesome to have Patrick home without him needing to accomplish much work. We watched 2 movies, hit the park, Patrick organized the garage, went out to dinner, played games...you know the stuff regular families do every weekend and ours gets tickled to do every few months.

I'm so happy when my kids are so happy with a trip to the park. Patrick got Abel laughing really hard, which got Afton and Patrick and I laughing really hard, with a silly thing he was doing when he pushed Abel in the swing and I savored that moment. Sometimes I get caught up in making elaborate weekend plans but it's those really small moments that are deliciously fun. And those are the moments everyone remembers for a long time.

Laugh out loud moment of the day

While driving home from preschool today, Afton spotted a man running who had on a full face mask and all black clothes. She said, "Mom, I just saw a ninja running!!!"

Catch up!

Excuse the absence...lots of things have been happening in my little world. First, Patrick and I saw this guy in concert last Thursday.

It took a few days to recover from the late night! A great show and even greater- seeing Patrick relaxed and enjoying some free time. And although this photo was from a concert last year, he was wearing the exact same outfit last week!

And then I removed the BINKY from Abel's life. HOW? I cut the end off so they were "broken." He accepted this quicker than I anticipated but has been having a difficult time napping and then waking up crazy early for a few days. I don't operate well on short naps and need my kids to sleep until 7, so Ive been frazzled to say the least.

And here is a very short binky tribute. I did a good job of keeping the binky in the bed, or at least didn't take photos with the binky in.



And of course Patrick has been burning the midnight oil at work. Of course. But I'm back now. Yawn.

Weekly Plans: ocean

Weekly themes are finally back in my life. Nothing like a bout of the flu to get me itching for order! I LOVE the ocean and Afton's passion for all things ocean surpasses my own. She will sit on the couch and look at her National Geographic Ocean book for a solid hour, rattling off facts she has learned ("whale sharks have gillrakers and eat plankton). So little effort is required to make this week's lessons a HUGE HIT!

Here's a peek at our week:

Today we made the above pictured art project: painting sea colors on wax paper then sticking on ocean cutouts (aren't you jealous of my fancy scissor skills?). The pink thing is the phytoplankton we learned about in depth today.

We also did a hands-on science project finding out which objects will float in salt water but not in fresh water. Easy prep with high amounts in interest...a bonus!

Ocean in a bottle...food coloring, sand, shells and plastic sea creatures...messy great fun!

Sea Creature shadow play. My cut out skills will be showcased in wonder this week!

Ocean collage (thanks to the free magazines at the library!). My kids are mesmerized with scissors and glue!

And as Afton was frustrated to tears that her shark drawing was not perfect today...each day we will practice drawing a different sea creature. I think this will become a standard activity in our weekly adventures now that Afton is intent on drawing things just right. And my drawing could stand for improvement as well!

Tumbling completed

Thanks to our GREAT rec center, Afton has been taking a round robin of classes. Patrick and I want to expose her to a little bit of everything, then let her choose her the activities she enjoys and excels at. She just completed two rounds of tumbling and had lots of fun learning to to forward flips off the bar, backward rolls and perfecting her cartwheel.

And this was the only photo I could manage in 8 weeks of classes!

New Skills

Afton and Abel have each picked up some new skills this week. Afton has been catching onto the reading thing with vigor lately, which has led her to a new favorite activity...WORD FINDS

She's pretty pleased when she finds a word!

And Abel- "Mr. a toy is not a toy unless it can be played with while in motion"- has fallen in love with legos! This is his hot rod he built today...all by himself!

And then a few seconds later he turned the lego bucket into a boat...

flashback

I haven't taken any pictures that last few days. Abel got a 24 hour thing, I've been cooking real food (we having actual dinner guests tomorrow..our first since moving here!!) So here is a flashback. Some of my favorites photos have been taken during the month of February...

a year ago, the kids were just learning to play together (this photo also shows the only amount of sunlight that we got in our den in richmond...so happy not to be there this year!)

and grandpa came for a visit! hmmm...i wonder who's side of the family afton takes after?

and I captured one of my favorite photos of Abel...so favorite it is framed and hung in his room.

and two years ago, this little guy doubled our joy

In 2005, Afton made this disaster while "sleeping"

And in 2004, our bathroom was the coziest space in our 3rd floor weird walk-up in Mt. Vernon (hey, it was 2 bedroom, washer/dryer for $1000! so what if the electricity went out if you dried your hair and clothes at the same time...)

And back then, I was a Mom to one little girl, who was just learning to walk. Hey...I wore that same sweater today!