Growin' Up Anderson

NOVEMBER: Field Trip

2011-03-24T22:15:00.004-05:00

Alice's second project top was grocery stores. I helped to chaperone the trip to Dahl's. This is Alice and her best buddy Maya posing for a picture after they interviewed a grocery store employee...

There was lots of learning going on...

And after they learned there were free cookie samples in the bakery, all the learning was done...

MORE OCTOBER

2011-03-24T22:04:00.004-05:00

This is the candy corn wreath I made that I thought would last for years to come. Will had other plans, he could not stop eating the candy corn off the wreath!

Carving pumpkins was a huge hit with both kids...

And then there was the church carnival...

OCTOBER: Bryan's Wedding

2011-03-24T21:16:00.009-05:00

Bryan and Michelle were married on October 30th and Alice was the flowergirl. She was over the moon excited about being in the weddingand absolutely worshiped Michelle on the big day. She wanted nothing to do with me and it was almost like she was saying, "Mom, I'm grown up now and I don't need you bugging me."

She spent the morning with her Gigi getting her nails and hair done. She looked so beautiful...

And so did Gigi...

And then there was Will... He was such a ham...

Brad and I cleaned up pretty nice too..

After a fun, but exhausting wedding, we still had more celebrating to do the next day. In the morning Mom put on a brunch for both families...

And in the evening, there was trick-or-treating...

The kids were thrilled to trick-or-treat with their cousins...

OCTOBER Alice's First Culminating Event

2011-03-24T14:29:00.008-05:00

Alice's school has many special things about it, and as times goes on, we just love her school (and so does she) more and more. One of the special things is Project Based Learning. The kids study a certain topic for a few months and then have a culminating event, at which they have to present what they have learned. I was always scared to death of public speaking, so I think it's wonderful to start working on this at such an early age.

This is Alice in her shirt she made with her 5th grade buddy...

The first event was about apples. They went to an apple farm, where had to ask a question that they had thought of. After they got their answer, they went back to school and had to find a way to represent what they learned. There were many other activities they took part in a school to further their understanding of the topic.
Alice, being the little author she is, did two...

This is her giving her presentation. She did such a good job presenting and answering everyone's questions. We were so proud.

SEPTEMBER Recap

2011-03-24T13:52:00.017-05:00

With Alice starting school, September was a time of big transitions. Alice had a hard time adjusting to going to school all day. She was used to 2 1/2 hours of preschool, during which there were absolutely no demands placed on her. Her teacher's first comment to me was that she takes are really long time to get things done and has a hard time transitioning quickly. Well that makes sense, because no one had ever asked her to do anything quickly. At the last conference in March, he said he felt like it took her several months to adjust and that she often just sat there staring at the other kids. And when she got home, that was a "whole different talkshow!" She was a exhausted and difficult to deal with, which made me so sad because that was the only part of the day I got to be with her. Needless to say, there weren't many structured activities in the afternoon.

Over the weekends there was some rollerblading and bike-riding...

And a few craft projects..

Painting with corn syrup...

Painting Rocks...

Making apples with colored rice...

We tried out our new apple-peeler-corer. Brad was not excited about a new kitchen item, but as you can see in the picture, he enjoyed it just as much as the kids...

We also made our own apple tree (you can see it in the background of several of the pictures).

After peeling all those apples, you have to do something with them, so we made apple muffins (my Aunt Harriet's recipe)...

and apple crisp...

And that was September!

AUGUST- The Night Before Kindergarten

2011-03-17T22:28:00.018-05:00

When you have an infant, you feel like your child will never be old enough to go to Kindergarten. I just can't believe how quickly those five and a half years went. All summer I was so sad about Alice going to school. I knew she was ready to go and that she needed to go, but I just loved being at home with her and just wanted to keep her for myself. I was the one who taught her everything and was with her for every little moment. It was such a foreign idea to send her off and let someone else take over her education. There were many nights that I woke up from a dead sleep in tears. After she started school, it took me months to get my bearings and I still don't fell whole when she is gone.

The day before school started, I tried to make everything very special for her. We both went and had manicures and pedicures.

She was fairly anxious throughout the whole experience. She hates having her fingernails cut and the toenails are even worse.
I even sprung for flowers on the big toes and fingers. She was thrilled with the outcome.

We had a special dinner...

The MENU:
Alphabet Pasta and Meatballs
Bread Shaped Like The First Letter of Your Name
Pencil Cookies

After dinner we took a family picture which I attached to her backpack so she could see us if she got at all homesick (I really don't think she did!)

And before bed, Brad read her The Night Before Kindergarten

And as was customary in Brad's family, she made a clothes person with her first day outfit...

This is what her face looked like all night. I don't think she got much sleep...

AUGUST- A Backyard BBQ

2011-03-17T22:14:00.006-05:00

I spent a great deal of 2010 working with the Pastor Nominating Commitee at our church to choose a new pastor. It was so much work and so time consuming, but it was one of those things you wouldn't trade for anything. The people in the group became like family to me. As part of the interview process, we had pastors come to dinner at our homes. Here are a few pictures of the BBQ I hosted...

The table before everyone arrived...

The centerpieces (daisies and lemons)...

Everyone having a great time..

August- Back to School Party

2011-03-17T21:43:00.013-05:00

Before Alice started Kindergarten, we invited several Kindergartners over for a little Back to School bash. I had so much fun planning the party, and it gave me an outlet for all my anxiety about her starting school. Here are the invitations...

The kids had a great time playing in the back yard, especially with the rocket balloons. I had a ton of games planned, but we never got to them!

Lunch was served outside, and on the menu: sandwiches cut into shapes, carrots, applesauce, cheese and fruit kabobs all served in a pencil box!

And for dessert: chocolate and pretzel crayons- A HUGE hit!

It was so much fun, I'm considering making this an annual event. We'll see how long Alice thinks it's a good idea!

The Fair-AUGUST

2011-03-17T21:10:00.014-05:00

(I am making an attempt to get caught up on the blog, boy did I let it go!)

We went to the fair without a stroller. Everyone walked!

My most favorite part of the whole thing...

CHEESE CURDS-so good, too good, very dangerous!

Brad's most favorite thing...

The huge balls never get old. The Walking Pork Chop is also a must for Brad.

And the kids' favorite...
My favorite part was when one of the carnies got mad at us because we let Will pick a magic wand as his prize. The guy made every effort to talk him into a race car, but Will wasn't havin' it!

Good times were had by all...

NC

2010-08-12T20:45:00.010-05:00

We had a great trip to NC in July. Alice and Will always love seeing Gigi and Papa and their cousins. I went by myself with the kids because Brad had to work. The kids were the best little travelers this time. For the first time since Alice was born, we did not take a stroller. It wasn't by choice -we couldn't find the umbrella stroller. Also for the first time, I read a magazine on the plane. I had a little stroke of genius and bought 2 headsets in the airport gift shop. They both watched a movie the whole way there.

Will and Andrew really enjoyed each other. It made me a little sad that they don't get to see one another very often.

We celebrated our 35th Adoption Day with the traditional cookie cake.

Mom and Dad invited old friends and relatives for a party. Aunt Rae and Uncle Johnny, who I haven't seen since Alice was a baby, came from Virginia. It was so wonderful to see them. As is the custom, we took a picture of all the "Raes" -Lisa Rae, Jessy Raye, Minerva Rae, Michael Ray
Dad and Aunt Rae are still looking good in their late 70s.

It has become a family tradition to go to the beach for a week during the summer. This year we decided not to rent a house, but I was dying to go the beach, even if just for one day. I love living in the Midwest, but I do miss the beach in the summer. Lakes are great, but they just aren't the beach. Mom and Dad understand this and arranged for us to go for a few days. Thanks Mom and Dad. Bryan and the boys went with us and we really had a nice time.

We stayed at a hotel on Carolina Beach. I haven't been there since I was in middle school, but I have fond memories of my time there. We made some nice new memories during this trip. The kids particularly loved the boardwalk. They still still have homemade donuts and a slushy store with so many choices that I remember.

We had a wonderful time in NC and already miss everyone very much.

Summertime

2010-08-12T20:32:00.004-05:00

A highlight of the summer for Alice was Saftey Town which is put on by the city. For one week, Alice learned about traffic safety, drugs, water safety, etc. It was right up her alley, a whole week of rules. Each night when she got home, we got a little lesson of what she learned. I think she really learned a lot while having fun. For a portion of the day, they drove around the "town" on their big wheels learning about traffic saftey.

When the week was over they participated in a ceremony during which their police officer (teacher) had them take an oath to follow the saftey rules they learned.

Sixth graders led each small group. This is Alice with her leader, Annie.

We've been wanting to try sidewalk chalk for a while, and we were glad when we did. Alice and I spent several hours painting. Will isn't quite old enough to goin in the fun.

Is it July Already?

2010-07-05T19:43:00.059-05:00

We celebrated the 4th of July all week last week. It was the first week we really didn't have much going on so we had plenty of time to do lots of projects!

We made marshmallows on a sticks dipped in white chocolate. While the chocolate was hot, we dipped them in sprinkles and sugar. I caught Will using the marshmallow as a "spoon" for the sugar. Can't say I blame him- what's better than chocolate and marshmallows- chocolate, marshmallows, and sugar of course!

We had some coop kids over, so they got to enjoy this project with us!

There were plenty of left-overs...

It was a good thing, because we had company later...

I used red, blue, and glitter polish to paint Alice's nails.
She got special nail pens for Christmas that we used to write USA on her big toes.

We made RED, WHITE, and BLUE necklaces with beads and pieces of straws...

We made a World Cup soccer game out of clothes hangers and glued flags of various countries on each hoop. Alice made me time her to see how fast she could kick the ball through all of the hoops. She played over and over trying to beat her last time. I'm not sure were she got the competitive determination (ha!) Will has quite a kick too.

She got a new soccer shirt that she insisted she wear while they played...

On Saturday we took the kids to a 4th of July parade. They were super excited about all the candy they got. We didn't last all that long becasue it was pretty hot.

Will wasn't too sure what to think about the clowns...

We made RED, WHITE, and BLUE cookies. It took a ton of red and blue dye to make them the right color. Not the healthiest treats we've made, but they were tasty.

We made fireworks t-shirts. Will really wanted to paint, but he can't stand getting paint on his hands. He washed them after each time he touched the paintbrush. Alice had paint all over her body and couldn't have cared less...

We made red and blue ice cubes. Will was very disturbed when he walked away and came back to find that his ice cubes were missing. Of course he assumed that Alice took them!

We made homemade ice cream. It was so much easier than the way we used to do it when I was litte, although I have fond memories of making ice cream growing up. I got a Cuisinart ice cream maker which made wonderfully creamy ice cream.

If you ask me, July is off to a pretty good start!

Berry Fun

2010-07-04T11:52:00.027-05:00

Oh how the kids LOVE fruit, so we took a trip to a fairly local berry farm. I love this particular farm because they don't use pesticides so you can eat the fruit right off the vines. As you'll see from the pictures, Will took full advantage of this!
The raspberries were a little tricky to pick because of the thorny bushes that grew around the them. I was surprised that Will lasted as long as he did in the raspberry patch. In each area, the story was always the same... We would get to the end of the row and Alice would have a full bucket of fruit. Will would have none. Each time he seemed surprised and said, "I don't have any fwuit". Luckily Alice was in a generous mood that day and shared her fruit with him. I have to savor these moments, because as it goes with siblings, this is not always the case!

The cherries were also a little tricky. Most of the cherries were pretty high up and difficult to reach. Alice made it a game to find low branches and to pull them down so that Will could reach them. Again, I was very proud.

The blueberries were the easiest to pick, but by the time we got there, the kids were exhausted. Will still had enough energy to eat several free quarts!

And when we got home, I made my first cherry pie. It was delicious, if I do say so myself.

The kids thought so too..

A Very Busy Week

2010-07-02T15:33:00.032-05:00

Last week was a super busy week. I was in charge of the preschool portion of VBS. We had three preschool rooms and a nursery with toddlers. It was a huge success and everyone really enjoyed it, but it took us awhile to recover.
Of course we still had the afternoons free and found plenty of ways to fill them.
There were ice cream cones and friends...

There was a new slip-n-slide...
I found one for $3. That's about as much as you should pay for one since they usually rip after one or two uses.
My kids were super cautious. Can't imagine where they got that from!

Their buddies were not so cautious. At one point I found myself saying, "We do not do somersaults on the slip-n-slide." It's just one of those things you'd never think you'd hear yourself say!

At the end of the week the VBS kids put on a show for the parents. It was kind of a nice occasion, so I suggested that Will wear a nice shirt and a nice pair of shorts. He did not appreciate my suggestion and threw quite a fit. After quite a long period of negotiation, we decided he would just wear a nice shirt and that he would wear his t-shirt under it. He wore it in the car and into the church and then insisted that I take it off.

After a long week, we decided to relax at the lake with Dallas and Laura and their boys. We found the perfect spot with shallow water that went on forever.

Will fell asleep before we left the park. Alice would have too if Brad hadn't promised ice cream on the way home!

It was a great way to end a VERY BUSY WEEK...

Let's Back Up A Little

2010-06-22T15:42:00.035-05:00

Just wanted to get you caught up to speed on a few things...

Alice is riding without training wheels. As you can tell, her old bike was way too small for her.

So Brad came home with this...

Alice loved it of course. It took a little getting used to because of the hand brake, but she's got it now! Both of the kids are crazy about riding their bikes and would probably chose it over almost anything I can think of.

Alice had her last day of preschool.

I can't believe how quickly she's growing up and that she'll be in Kindergarten in just a few short months!
Here is with her teachers...

Ms. Nikki

Ms. Connie

Ms. Carolyn

Here she is with some of her best buddies...

Alice was also in her first ballet recital. She loved being on stage!

She finished up an exciting first season of soccer...

Will also finished up Mother's Morning Out.

But his big news is... HE'S POTTY-TRAINED!! It was actually super simple. He wants to be just like his big sissy and it didn't hurt that he'll do anything for candy!

Brad finished his first sprint triahlon. I think he has the itch now and wants to do more!

He also celebrated a fun Father's Day. The kids got him a new hammock, which he loved!

I finished HyVee again. It was cut to a sprint because of terrrible weather. I was disappointed after all that training, but I stil enjoyed it!

So that's what we've been up to!

Do You Know Her?

2010-06-22T15:18:00.005-05:00

After lots of screaming caused by hair brushing, hours spent washing and drying hair after the pool, and after lots of discussion, Alice got her haircut today... 8 INCHES!!! She is going to send the hair to an organization similar to Locks of Love called Beautiful Lengths. She is very proud that her hair will be used to make a wig for a child that has lost his/her hair. I think she looks adorable, and best of all, she thinks she does too!

Summer Solstice

2010-06-22T15:05:00.011-05:00

It has become a yearly tradition to go to the Brammer's Summer Solstice party. It never disappoints and this year was not different. My camera battery died half-way through, but I got a few fun shots. There was the Maypole...

There was the water balloon toss/fight...

There were the flags and best of all the friends...

Not a bad way to spend the longest day of the year!

St. Patrick's Day

2010-03-21T21:57:00.024-05:00

Like last year, I spray painted rocks to look like gold and the kids used a map to find and hide the treasure...

I tried to make a rainbow cake, but it was a flop. I am going to do this again one day because I think it will be really cool if I get it right...

The kids had a little St. Patrick's Day picnic with their friends from the coop...

It has become a tradition that the leprechans leave a trail of shamrocks from the kids' beds to the kitchen. And like last year they left Lucky Charms and green milk. Alice was thrilled but Will was a little skeptical about the whole thing...

The kids made shamrock necklaces that turned out super cute...

My two little leprechauns...

Rafaela took the kids to the parade. The candy was the highlight of course!

It was a Happy St. Patrick's Day!

JAMAICA

2010-03-21T20:31:00.035-05:00

We've been saying that we need to take a trip in February since we moved to Iowa 8 years ago, and we really picked a good year to get away! We rented a villa in Runaway Bay Jamaica and had a blast. We had our own driver, chef, maid, driver, and security guy and they made the trip unforgettable.
Gloria and Kadian spoiled us rotten. They even made a birthday cake for Alice and gave her a dress and necklace...

My favorite part of the trip was the food. Every meal was fresh and delicious and I looked foward to mealtime. Kadian is an amazing cook...

Alice loved her room. She especially loved the mosquito net which she actually needed. She was covered in mosquito bites througout the visit. She didn't mind because she was having so much fun...

We had tons of fun and really got to relax...

Alice and I had our hair braided...

We spent a lot of time hanging out by the pool. Alice became quite the little fish...

Alice's only goal for the trip was to drink from a coconut. Grandpa made sure she got her wish...

Will was quite the beach bum...

Craig made friends with a local "salesman", Smokey, and spent qutie a lot of time making deals with him.

Alice made a friend on the beach...

When in Jamaica, you have to find the best local place for jerk chicken...

Craig and Brad enjoyed a Cuban cigar...

Leaving was so sad, we had to put on real clothes for the first time in a week...

Will was sad to leave the ladies at the villa. They had a serious love affair going.

And when we got back to Atlanta, we got to see Uncle Scott, always fun...

I really want to go back TODAY!!

My Baby is 5!!!!!

2010-02-03T22:56:00.040-06:00

I am a little sad to write this post, because when I do it will be in writing and that makes it more real. MY BABY IS 5!!!! My name is Lisa and I have a child that is 5!!! I know she isn't getting ready to move out for college or anything, but I feel like 5 is too old. In some ways it feels like she was just an infant that I had no idea how to take care of and in other ways it feels like she's always been there and can't really remember my life without her. She brings me so much happiness while challenging me every single day.

Several days before her birthday I interviewed her. I think we'll make this a tradition each birthday from now on. Here's how it went:

What is your favorite...

Cereal- Koala Chocolate Balls (I think she had these once!)
Veggie- Pickle (no comment)
Fruit- Banana (she loves them but is constipated for 2 days after she eats them!)
Drink- Smoothie
Toy- Scooter
TV Show- Dinosaur Train (It's like kiddie crack to her)
Game- Chase
Restaurant- McDonald's (thanks Brad)
Holiday- Christmas-not because of the presents, because it's Jesus' birthday (a people pleaser already)
Animal-Dogs and sea turtles

If you could change your name: Grace

What do you love about Dad?: He's powerful

What do you love about Mom?: You love me and care for me so much

What do you love about Will?: I like to snuggle with him

Where would you go on vacation if you could go anywhere?: Jamaica where it would never snow ever (That's my baby!)

What do you wish for?: Baby Alive and that I could get a dog

Alice chose to have her birthday party at the Animal Rescue League. Somehow we made it out of there without a dog. I have to admit, I was tempted. They were all so cute and available.

They made treats for the dogs (dog bones with icing) and treats for the cats (out of toilet paper rolls)

They got to give the treats to the dogs. I think there were probably a few sick dogs at the shelter that night. The guide instructed the kids to give each dog only one treat. Didn't happen...

And to the cats:

Alice got a stuffed dog that all of her friends signed which she absolutely adores:

I made dog cupcakes. I bought every candy known to man in preparation to make each child a different dog. Turns out this is much more difficult and time consuming then I'd imagined. Everyone ended up with the same dog and were perfectly happy about it!

I also make treat buckets for the kids that came to the party. I added dog stickers, bone shaped cookies in a clear bag tied with ribbon, and Hershey bars I wrapped with special wrappers. I wish I had taken more pictures. They turned out really cute.

When I asked Alice what her favorite part of the party was, she said "opening presents of course!" As if to say DUH MOM!!

On Alice's actual birthday I had a colonoscopy. Good times. Not really. Anyway, I decorated Alice's door with hearts. The big one says, "We love you with all our hearts." The little ones say things we love about her...

We love your enthusiasm
We love your curiosity
We love your persistence
We love the way you dance
We love how funny you are
We love your creativity
We love your laugh
We love your smile
We love your beautiful heart

Brad stayed home with her and they had lunch at their favorite little joint (see above). Alice took cupcakes to school. Brad forgot to send the camera, but luckily my friend Jess came to the rescue and recorded the event for readers like yourself who are dying to see ...

Alice got so many wonderful gifts. So many that she still hasn't taken many of them out of the packaging. We have another day or two of thank-you writing in our future! This is a very tedious process with a beginning writer.

It was a successful birthday. An thus begins another chapter in our lives...

Week of January 18th

2010-01-24T21:05:00.057-06:00

I am really digging deep to keep from loosing it. We had an ice storm on Wednesday so school was cancelled on Wednesday and Thursday. This meant that we have spent way too much time inside. I am dying to go for a walk or to play at the park. This week we have:

spent a lot of time in our pjs
read tons of books
played chase until we were dizzy
ate too much popcorn
colored lots of pictures
did many many puzzles
listened to ABBA on repeat x1000?(Alice)
crafted, crafted, crafted

Brad has been busy in his workshop. He's working on lockers to put by the front door. I can't wait for him to finish. The constant pile of boots, snow pants, gloves, etc. is driving me crazy. Anyway, there was a ton of scrap wood left over so we made wood sculptures. And we painted them...

One of us decided to do some body art...

We tried to make an ice castle. Both kids loved dyeing the water in different containers. And during the week of the big ice storm, it never got cold enough to freeze. We will try this again soon. I'm sure there is more cold weather to come.

I can't even count how many snowflake "crystals" we made this week.

We made snowfake rubbings on tinfoil...

We made beaded snoflakes...

Alice came up with the idea of making bracelets out of them...

And puzzles, puzzles, oh how we love puzzles...

We played cake walk to Dancin' Queen at a sound level that probably caused permanent damage to our hearing...

The highlight of Alice's week, a miniature bakeshop...

It was a long, but fun week.

Happy New Year 2010

2010-01-14T15:30:00.027-06:00

2010 Wow. I'm still writing 2009 on checks. Brad was in Ukraine for New Years so the kids and I celebrated with the Ledinskys...
I provided the decorations...

And the Ledinsky's provided the entertainment...
Jon set up a microphone for the kids to sing. Fun, but very loud!

Wyatt always has several drum sets around.

We ate pizza and drank milk out of champagne glasses. Hopefully that isn't one of those no-nos that is a sure way to cause your child to have a drinking problem later in life... oh well.

An finally to calm things down (and trust me, they needed to calm down), the kids watched "Up".

Christmas

2010-01-07T21:43:00.026-06:00

We celebrated an early Christmas with Mom and Dad in NC. We had lots of fun visiting family and friends. The cousins always have a good time together. It's too bad we don't live closer.

Our sweet friend Kay invited us for Christmas Eve dinner again this year. We had tons of fun and yummy food. The ice/snow storm couldn't keep us home.

Kay gave Alice this adorable penguin apron and hat that she just loved.

She gave Will books. Perfect.

Christmas morning was so much the fun. Both kids were so excited and Brad and I really enjoyed watching them.

Will loved his golf set from Dee Dee. He was quite dangerous with a golf club.

Alice absolutely loved her scooter.

I don't know what Santa was thinking with the Polly Pockets. There must be 10 million little tiny pieces.

I made a special Christmas breakfast. We didn't have sausage balls like usual. Dad made tons of them and I forgot to bring them home!

Afterwords..

The Ledinskys came over for sledding in the afternoon.

I was super cold and there were lots of red cheeks.

The day after Christmas we went out on a family outing to did some sledding and scooter riding.

What a way to end the year!

December

2010-01-07T21:04:00.032-06:00

December brought lots of snow to IA. This is what it looked like outside...

Brad did a lot of traveling and we have spent so much time indoors. This is what it looked like inside...

Alice learned to sew with a plastic needle.

We made lots of hot chocolate...

Will had his first hot chocolate and loved it of course!

We made our own Polar Express complete with tickets and watched the movie.

Grandpa and Peggy came for a visit. It is always nice to see them.

We did spend some time outside, but it was a huge process to get there!

To be continued...

More November

2009-12-31T23:15:00.007-06:00

In November we also celebrated Brad's 35th birthday. He got lots of new tools which he was pretty excited about.

We decided to stay home for Thanksgiving this year. It was a nice low key holiday.

3 Layer Pie- Cream cheese, pecan, and pumpkin-YUM

The table..

The kids watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

Will Turned 2... in November

2009-12-30T23:15:00.012-06:00

My little guy is 2. How could anyone love someone else more than I love that child. What I love about Will at 2:
Dimples, dimples, dimples
He's an easy laugh
His smile
That blonde hair
He has an opinion about nearly everything
The way he loves his sissy
How he can turn anything into something to throw
"Mom, you hear me? you hear me Mom? MOM YOU HEAR ME?"
"I have an idea.."
"What are we doing today?"
His love of music and books
The way he runs, twisting his body
The games he plays for attention
His little fits he has when he gets upset
The way he holds his blankie up to his mouth and sucks on his tongue
When he sings at the top of his lungs in a public place
Snuggling with him befor bed

Happy Birthday my sweet angel. I love you with all my heart.

Let's Try Again Continued

2009-12-12T20:21:00.029-06:00

More October..
Both kids love playing with shaving cream. Brad is not a fan of this activity. I can't imagine why?

We went to the pumpkin patch...

We made brownies...

We played in the leaves...

We made leaf masks...

We ate a ton of candy...

We carved pumpkins. Alice drew the tiniest little face on the largest pumpkin. Brad did a great job cutting out such a tiny face. Alice was very proud.

We went to the church carnival. Alice was a Bears' cheerleader and Will was a Bears' football player.

Alice had a Halloween Party at school and I made the treats.

To Be Continued...

Let's Try Again

2009-12-12T19:39:00.023-06:00

Blogging is like exercise. If you skip a day, it's hard to get back in the habit. I skipped a few months. Here are a few highlights...
September-
We took a trip to the fire station- A huge hit with both kids.

Alice on her first day of 4 year old preschool. Her last year!

Will on his first day of Mother's Morning Out. He really loves going to see Miss Jill and Miss RaeLyn.

Alice and I went to Every Family Rocks. We saw both Dan Zanes and Justin Roberts in one day(kid rock stars!). Alice had a blast.

Justin Roberts

Dan Zanes

We made caramel apples..

October-
The weather in October was pretty nasty. It was cold and rainy almost all month. It even snowed!!

To Be continued....

Keeping Busy

2009-08-15T21:28:00.013-05:00

I've been having trouble with Blogger. I wasn't able to post the last few times I tried. Anyway, this is what we've been up to. I made a tub of a variety of beans, cups and spoons for W to play in while A is at school/camps etc. I did not intend for them both to play at the same time, but they had other ideas. I had to take a quick phone call and this is how I found them, having the time of their lives.

One afternoon this week A spent a little over an hour cutting pictures out of a Halloween costume magazine. When W woke up he saw her and started screaming, "I cut, me do!" I decided to let him try with my help. He did not want my help!

Drawing with chalk has become a favorite night time activity for both kids.

On Friday we went to the park with A's friend Ellie. They played at the wading pool, had lunch, and rode the carousel.

Today I took A to the fair to see her friend Wyatt play drums. She got to go on stage twice to play. She has been begging me all night to join the drum line.

Those Summer Nights

2009-08-11T21:24:00.007-05:00

Every once in a while Alice falls asleep during her quiet time and she gets to stay up late. The other night was one of those nights and Brad suggested that they watch a movie outside. Alice was thrilled. They rounded up her sleeping bag, the portable DVD player, and Brad's book, then headed for the back yard. When I checked on them, they were both perfectly content.

After the movie we all caught fireflies. It was a perfect ending to a perfect evening.

Tonight after dinner the kids did some finger-painting. Oh what a mess, but oh what fun!

Beatin' The Heat

2009-08-10T20:10:00.011-05:00

SO far this year we've been a little spoiled by "the coolest summer on record", but the temp. got into the high 90s this weekend. It was hot, I mean stay in your house hot. Because our children tend to get a little cranky when left inside for too long (and so does their mama), we had to go out. And this is what we did to beat the heat...
Brad braved the grill. This would not have been my choice of activity, but we gotta eat! Extra thick pork chops, beer can chicken, and corn on the cob, YUM.

I thought the hot weather called for ice necklaces. Super easy to make, and fun to eat? The kids thought they were too cold to wear, but they really enjoyed eating them.

Will played AT the water table.

Alice decided to play IN the water table.

And when it got so hot we couldn't take it anymore, we turned on the sprinkler.

We danced, jumped, and posed. Alice definately took the award for the best pose. The girl has spunk!

We'll give the dance to Brad.

I'm taking the jump!

And that's the way we BEAT THE HEAT!

Spontaneous Fun and Camping Too!

2009-08-05T15:15:00.028-05:00

We decided to take the kids on their first real camping trip last weekend. Fun was had, however more fun will be possible when Will is another year older. We went with Dallas and Laura and their boys who are 3 1/2 and 16 months. I don't think we quite understood how big of and undertaking it would be to get ready to go. There were tents, sleeping bags, and countless other necessities to buy prior to going. Then there was the packing. I was very proud of my packing idea. I found a large rubbermaid tub to put everything small in (e.g. flashlights, paper towels, matches, tablecloth). When I went to look in the basement to find such container, there were mouse dropping in it, which led me to wash the tub out in the back yard. (We had a little mouse issue during the winter which has since been taken care of. It was tough to explain to Alice how we got rid of them. Of course I hate to talk about it too..) Anyway, this is what happened when I filled the tub with soap...

For our first trip we decided to take them to a camp ground which had a bath house, playground, etc. It will be a while before we are able to hike to a site, mainly because of all the gear. We took Will's pack-and-play, which weighs a ton on its own.

There was quite a bit of monitoring involved when taking 2 one year-olds on a camping trip (fire, road), and the temperature got down to the 50's at night, but overall it was a good first trip!

Down On The Farm

2009-07-31T19:35:00.008-05:00

My Triathlon has been over for a month now and our vacation is over too, so there should be no more excuses for not posting. We've done so many fun activities I could post about, but I think we'll just keep moving foward.

We are members of a co-op that provides us with a box of fresh organic fruits and vegetables each week for 25 weeks during the summer. Today was our day to pick up the veggies from the farm. Alice went with me. She was not excited about the long drive there, but was very excited to see the farm. After we loaded up all the boxes, we had a little while to look around. She got to see garlic hanging in the barn, smell herbs, and take a peek in the greenhouse, but she was most impressed with the tractors.

On the way home, Alice asked to eat the cherry tomatoes and asked me if we had to wash them first. She was thrilled when I said "no, just eat them right out of the box." It's so nice to not have to worry about what's going in to her little body!

2009-05-08T20:44:00.016-05:00

Alice has been very interested in writing lately. She is always very proud of her work...

We have a set of dot-to-dot letter stamps that I used to stamp out friends' and family members' names. I taped each person's picture beside their name and laminated the strips so Alice can use dry erase markers to practice writing names.

What to wear? Temperature 55 degrees. A swimsuit sounds good!

We finally got around to planting. We planted giant sunflower seeds and milkweed seeds that we found at the park. We are hoping to attract monarch caterpillars.

Will got his second haircut. Out of force of habit I put him on the motorcycle where Alice always sits. I wasn't sure if he would be able to stay on the whole time, but he didn't want to get down. He wants to do everything his sister does. What a big boy!

Alice had a blast making May Day baskets this year. She loved going up to the door to deliver them and insisted that she do it by herself. She spent all day waiting for a knock at the door and caught several of her friends in the act of delivering their baskets. I tried to get her to wait until they left, but she was so excited. She ate so much candy.

Rockin...

We waited all winter for the Farmer's Market to start again and it did on Saturday! Breakfast Burritos! YUM!

Dancin' in the street...

Everybody loved the train, even Mommy!

For the Birds

2009-04-30T07:25:00.024-05:00

I found this great book about birds at the church nursery. It tells all about how birds develop and how they make their nests. After we read the book we made nests in two different ways. First we made our own nest.

We gathered sticks, grass, straw, hair, yarn, newspaper, and mud and gave it our best shot.

Alice learned all about weaving and we talked about how nest building must take a lot of effort for birds.

After we were done, we put the nest in a tree in our backyard in hopes that a mama bird may decide to make it her home. Yesterday we added some bird seed to make the nest more inticing to potential ocuupants. No luck so far. I'll keep you posted!

After all that hard work we decided to make ourselves a treat-edible birdsnests.
We used milk chocolate chips and chinese noodles. Alice didn't like the noodles without the chocolate, but she sure loved the chocolate without the noodles. I couldn't get her to stop eating it!

Here's our Muffin Tin Monday entry a few days late. The theme was "the ocean". I made tuna fish, an apple and peanut butter boat, a hotdog octopus, star-shaped toast, and gave her pretzel rods to use a fishing poles.

PINK!!

I would have never given Alice a Tootsie Pop at 17 months, but that's the beauty of being the second child. You basically get to do whatever your big sister does. It was the stickest mess ever. At one point Will wiped his hands down the wall leaving sticky handprints all over it. And I thought flat paint was a good idea!

Just had to add this picture. This is Will with his little friend Hope- SO CUTE!! He is a giant beside her. I think I could clean the whole house holding her. I don't even think I could clean the counters while holding Will.

This is Brad in all his glory. Last weekend he purchased 2 inch steaks and made a very labor-intensive rub and sauce. With shopping it was basically an all day event, however it was well worth it. They were really tasty. Luckily the steaks took so long to make that the kids were already in bed when we ate them, so we got to eat them in peace!

I am crazy about making sure that the kids get enough fruit, so much so that I bought an enormous container of oranges on my last trip to COSTCO. In an effort to use them before they went bad, we made homemade orange juice. Both kids enjoyed this activity.

Just a note on all the swimsuits. Looking at these pictures you would think that they were taken in the summertime, or that Alice has been doing a lot of swimming. In reality she would like to be swimming everyday, but we only go once a week. Her friend Phoebe gave her a bag of swimsuits and that is basically her uniform when she is at home!
A typical afternoon at the Andersons...

Spring Glorious Spring!!!

2009-04-27T21:29:00.042-05:00

Spring is finally here. We are like caged animals being released into the wild. We've tried to fit in a walk each day. Alice could live on her bike and Will tolerates the stroller as long as the park is his reward. He could live on the swings. On one of our walks we took pictures of signs of spring and made a book for Alice to take to school. Here are some of the pictures. We love spring!

I made picture cards of spring flowers that we take on our walks so we can hunt for them. This has made Alice and Will very aware of flowers along the way.

This is the robin's nest in the tree in the front of our house. You can get a really good view from our bedroom window. We are eagerly awaiting the baby robins.

In the backyard we found a patch of moss. We decided to see if we could grow some more moss. Alice mixed the moss with milk and poured it on surfaces around the yard. I found this idea at 5 Orange Potatoes, one of my favorite blogs. This sparked interesting discussions about what different plants need to grow and about roots. I will post pictures of our moss in a few days.

I also found this cute idea on the same blog. Alice made crayon shavings and then placed them in between two pieces of wax paper. And then, yes, I let my 4 year old use an iron to press the flowers.

They turned out great. Here is a picture that doesn't really do them justice.

Of course the best thing about spring is SNOOKIES! Our mom and pop's ice cream shop in our neighborhood opened this month. Alice asks to go there everyday. She loves ice cream.

Will on the otherhand was not impressed.

Easter Recap

2009-04-18T19:45:00.034-05:00

I've fallen way behind with blogging. I have so many pictures of things we've done recently, so I'll just give a quick recap of Easter.

Here's the kids at the mall visiting the Easter Bunny.

This was Alice's favorite Easter craft. I bought a 3 dollar salad spinner from Target and we did homemade spin art. She loved it!

We took the kids to the annual Beaverdale Egg Hunt in our neighborhood. We really lucked out with the weather this year. I am remembering a hunt a few years ago when the temperature was 13 degrees. It was a perfect sunny day. As always, we were taken a little off guard when the air horn went off. Both kids stood there like a deer in headlights, but with a little prodding they had a blast.

After the hunt, Brad gave the kids their first golf lesson. I think they both got a little sunburned! OOPHS!

These are the beautiful flowers Mom sent for Easter. Thanks MOM!

On Easter morning the Easter Bunny left a trail of jelly beans to the baskets. Alice followed the trail to the baskets, Will ate his way down the trail.

Once again we hosted our annual Easter Brunch. We had a great time with good food and good friends.

Growing up, we made this bunny cake at Easter so I wanted to start the tradition with Alice and Will. They both enjoyed making it, but eating it was better!

Busy Kids

2009-04-10T08:31:00.028-05:00

A few weekends ago Alice and I went to IA city with Patty and Phoebe for an American Girl Doll Fashion show. The first thing Alice asked when she got there was, "when do I get to go on stage?" Luckily when the show was over the kids were allowed to go on stage. It wasn't easy to get her off!

The girls got chairs that attach to the table for their dolls.

They watched Mary Poppins on the way there and on the way home.

I've been trying to take daily pictures of the kids doing their thing. Lately, one of Alice's most favorite things to do is Leapster. This is her playing in her closet.

She has also been interested in puzzles. She is so proud of herself when she finishes a puzzle on her own.

This is Alice helping me wash the floor. The end result was what we decided to call "Lake Anderson."

This is how I found Will one day. He LOVES Chapstick. We have to hide it now.

I've been trying to create some new activities for Will, because after all, he's not a baby anymore! He loves putting the Easter eggs in the egg carton and then putting them back in his basket.

I thought I would see if he could sort by color. He was pretty good at it.

Of course his favorite activity is stacking blocks up and them making them crash.

I let him try "painting" with a wet paintbrush on the chalkboard. He loved it and had a complete meltdown when I made he stop. Even so, we will definately do this again.

I had to go to Chicago for a continuing education class last weekend and Alice went with me. She spent two days with Aunt Cindy and had a blast. They went to Build-A-Bear, Rainforest Cafe, the Disney Store, and to a salon to have their hair and nails done.

This is Alice having a picnic outside- YES OUTSIDE with her little friend Wyatt. So cute.

Introducing.... VIDEO!

2009-03-28T18:34:00.005-05:00

A Day In The Life

2009-03-23T20:26:00.033-05:00

Spring Break is over, and Alice went back to school today. I was a little sad about it. We had so much fun just hanging out at home last week. Both kids were so happy playing uninterrupted, and I loved not rushing around to school and activities.

I was expecting this morning to be rough because we've been out of the routine for a week, but it went very smoothly. Alice did not argue about getting dressed or about getting her hair brushed- a small miracle.

In the mornings while the kids eat breakfast, I get a few minutes on the computer. This morning I was sitting in the computer room and Alice was talking to herself in the kitchen. She constantly talks, even when no one is listening. I usually tune her out while I'm on the computer, but I heard her say, "L-O-F-T, this says Loft. T-A-Y-L-O-R this says Taylor" She was reading the Ann Taylor Loft bag I had hanging on the door! She has become a little reader. I attribute this to Super Why. It's such a well designed show. A little while later I heard her reading other words from the newspaper. Yep, she loves the morning paper, just like her dad.

Today was a very rainy day. This is her in her rain gear-so cute!

Here's what was for lunch today on Muffin Tin Monday. The theme was rainbow, but I forgot about that-OOPHS!

Our afternoon project was a huge hit today. I found this idea at Ordinary Life Magic. We had bird races all afternoon and then again after dinner when Brad got home. Will laughed so had when we started shaking the birds.

Our house has been overtaken by Asian Lady Beetles. For the last few weeks, I have probably collected 30-40 a day. The bug guy said that these are they are the hardest bug to get rid of, and I believe it. Anyway, Alice loves using her magnifying glass, so we decided to take a closer look at the beetles this afternoon.

Little William is WALKING! It has been a long time coming, but his primary mode of movement is now walking.

When I unload the dishwasher, I have to find something to keep William busy, or he will climb up on the door of the dishwasher and go for the sharp knives. Tonight I gave him the sippey cups and the lids. He was completely occupied by this. I watched him put lids on and take lids off until he had the correct, mathcing lids on each cup. I was pretty impressed with the little guy!

Happy kids...

You may be thinking to yourself that these pictures were taken on different days due to the number of different outfits Alice is wearing, but that's JUST A DAY IN THE LIFE of Alice!

Warm Weather!!!

2009-03-17T21:04:00.086-05:00

I think we hit 70 degrees yesterday and 75 degrees today. It was heavenly. I can't wait for warm weather to stay. We have spent a lot of time outside the last few days. I think Alice might even have a tiny sunburn. This weekend was so beautiful.
We went for a family bike ride-Will's first.

Alice climbed the tree in the front yard. She was very determined and fearless.

We went on lots of walks. We basically had to pry Alice off of her bike when it was time to go inside.

Brad finally got his birdhouse up. We have been watching for birds, but none have used it as far as we can tell.

Last week when the weather wasn't so warm, I had to get creative to keep the kids from going stir crazy. I took the cushions off the sofa in the playroom and the kids had such a great time jumping and climbing. I think I took a million pictures at Alice's request. She loved when I was able to catch her mid air and tried to jump higher each time so I could catch her "floating".

We've been very busy doing lots of St. Patrick's Day activities. We made shamrock-shaped rice crispy treats. There weren't many left when we were done because we ate so many while we were making them.

We made green slime!!

When we weren't looking, a leprechaun dyed Alice's pudding green.

We dyed some flowers green.

We made some gold and had a blast searching for it.

We made a 5 Orange Potatoes pasta rainbow. Alice was covered in glue and had to finish the project in her underwear.

On St. Patrick's Day, the leprechauns returned and brought breakfast. They left a trail of shamrocks leading to Lucky Charms and green milk.

We went to our first St. Patrick's Day parade.

And to end a most perfect day, we had an impromtu cook-out with some good friends.

Just Will

2009-03-10T19:33:00.015-05:00

I have had so many entries just about Alice, so this post is dedicated to "just Will".
Will had his first haircut last Friday. I was very reluctant to do it because I knew that it would make him look so much older. I just got tired of the mullet and comb-over comments so I did it. He loved it because they fed him the whole time. Even when she got out the clippers, he just sat there and ate his hairy crackers.
Before...

After...

On the walking front, he's getting there. Tonight he took 8 steps from Brad to me and he was so proud of himself. He's really turning into a toddler. He loves his music class. When I tell him we are going to music, he starts to sing. When we get out of the car he knows where he is and starts to squeal. It makes the trek there worth it.
We've had a few warm days off and on in the last couple of weeks. It's almost torture because you get a taste of what warm weather feels like and then the temp drops down below freezing. We have taken full advantage of what warm weather we've had. Will absolutely loves to go outside. I'm hoping he will perfect his walking skills before the weather gets warm for good. Everytime we go out he ruins the knees of a pair of his pants!

I just added this picture of Will and Nash eating dinner together because it is just so darn cute!

Mixing Colors

2009-03-04T22:10:00.012-06:00

Yesterday we read the cutest book- Little Blue Little Yellow about mixing colors. Afterwords Alice did a coloring mixing activity. I prepared 3 cups with primary food colors (red, blue, and yellow).

She loved using the eye dropper, although they were a little difficult to squeeze. Her favorite part was trying to guess what color she would make.

I gave her little pieces of colored paper so she could record the what colors she made. She was so proud of herself when she guessed correctly.
Head over to Just For Fun to see other book procjects!

Brad has developed a new hobby. About a month ago he decided to take up woodworking. He cleared out a space and created a work room where our old laundry room was. His first big project is a birdhouse. I am very excited to see it outside. Our house backs up to a park so we get lots of interesting birds. Can't wait to see which ones visit our house!

My Messy Children

2009-03-03T14:56:00.012-06:00

If I haven't mentioned this before, Will LOVES blueberries! He can eat two large clamshells from COSTCO in a week. I did not have time to get there this weekend, so I thawed out some that I had bought for smoothies. He ate 2 cups. What a mess. The juice was all over the place.
This is him signing "more" after we ran out!

Yesterday we started talking about St. Patrick's Day. Alice is very intrigued by leprechauns and rainbows. Last night, she made a fingerprint rainbow.

When she finished, she asked for somthing else to paint, so I printed off a shamrock. She started off like this...

Then ended up like this...

I love my messy children!

Getting Back on Track

2009-03-01T13:20:00.035-06:00

I've haven't posted anything in over a week. I don't know what I've been doing, but I plan to get back on track! I have cabin fever in a major way. I think the temperature is supposed to get up into the 50s this week and daylight savings time ends next weekend. It's a good thing because I'm holding on by a thread! I have started to get spring fever and have had that urge to organize. My biggest accomplishment on that front so far has been my office project. It was a costly and time consuming project, but well worth it, and besides that, what else do I have to do? HA
I bought baskets and transferred all of our craft supplies into them. Prior to that I had them all shoved in a cabinet in the kitchen. Everytime I opened it, an avalanche of craft supplies fell on my feet. Also, Will was becoming very fond of opening the door and playing with its contents! So here is what it looks like now...

I haven't labeled each basket yet, but I plan to label each one on the tags I attached to the handles.
Here's a quick recap of last week:
I have been going to the gym 6 days a week. It has taken me a while to fall into the routine, but it is manageable now. It works out best for me to go in the morning before the kids get up. Brad has been a trooper and has been getting up with the kids. I am really loving the swimming. I think I have gotten a lot better in the last few weeks. Not so much better that I wouldn't drown if I did the triathlon tomorrow, but better.
We tried out chocolate playdough this week and it was a hit with both kids. Alice made cakes, muffins, cupcakes, and cookies. Will ate lots of her creations. Luckily all of the ingredients were edible!

We did a few fun Mardi Gras activities. After watching lots of YouTube videos about Mardi Gras, we decided to make our own masks. I found the templates online and cut them out.

Alice glued purple, yellow, and green tissue paper squares on the masks.

After they dried, I laminated them so we can use them for years to come.

Here is Alice modeling the masks.

We went to the Fat Tuesday Pancake Supper at church. I forgot to take my camera, but I wish that I had. Will ate and ate and was very sticky!
We also made a King cake by rolling out cinnamon rolls from a can. We then made a cream cheese filling to put in the middle.

The tradition is to put a baby in the middle of the cake and whoever gets the piece with the baby has good luck.

We made our own colored sugars using food coloring.

And here is the finished product. Not so cute, but very tasty according to both kids!

We made sure that Alice got the baby, just to avoid a crisis!

An finally, Will's big news this week is that he got his first pair of real shoes. He started screaming as soon as the salesperson place them on his feet. So sad. On Friday he took 7 steps in a row and initiated walking several times on his own, but he went right back to crawling on Saturday!

Birds

2009-02-18T22:33:00.021-06:00

I'm sitting here trying not to scratch myself to death. I just finished my triathlon class and the pool always makes me itchy. I'm going to need to bathe in lotion before bed. I am feeling much better than I did last week after class, so I guess that's improvement! When I got home, I ate everything in the house that wasn't glued down.

Recently I bought a IA bird identification book, so we have been watching the birds in the back yard quite a bit. We decided to make some of the birds we've seen. The first two birds are the Cardinal and the American GoldFinch (IA state bird).
I found the pattern on DLTK's website and traced them on a cereal box.

Alice painted the cardinal and then added the red feathers while the paint was wet.

We didn't have any bright yellow paint, so she glued yellow tissue paper on the GoldFinch and then added the feathers.

Our sitter, Stephanie, took this picture of the kids today and I just love it!

Muffin Tin Tuesday? and Bird Sandwiches

2009-02-17T13:41:00.026-06:00

I was a little late getting to Muffin Tin Monday. We had muffin tin tacos last night for dinner. Alice enjoyed putting her own toppings on her tacos. It was a huge mess, but lots of fun! Head on over to Her Cup Overfloweth to see what other moms served for lunch yesterday!

Yesterday we made food for the birds. As Alice was making them she said, "these are bird sandwiches", so that's what we'll call them. First she spread peanut butter on both sides of old bagels. Then she poured bird seed on top. Mainly, she also ate a lot of peanut butter! I tied string through the holes so we could hang them.

This is Will while we went outside to hang them without him. He was so sad that he didn't get to go. He is such a little person now. He wants to do everything that Alice does! He is so talkative now. He is constantly babbling and trying to say words. So far this week he has learned to say help, up, ball,and go, but blueberries and cracker continue to be his favorites. This morning at music he got a stamp on his hand. When I told him it was a bunny, he said, hop!

What We've Been Up To This Week

2009-02-15T20:32:00.062-06:00

What a week! I've been trying to get into a schedule at the gym and I'm totally exhausted. I went to the gym 5 times this week. I also went to my second week of my triathlon class which consisted of spin class for 1 hour followed by an hour of swimming. It took me 2 days to recover. We were also very busy with Valentine's activities.
Alice wrote out one Valentine and I color copied it for each of the kids in her class. It took long enough to get her to write out one. There was no way she could do 16, so copying was a good solution. We also made heart shaped crayons by melting crayons in a heart shaped muffin pan. Alice really enjoyed tearing the wrappers off the crayons.

I made cake pops for her teachers and put them in jars with conversation hearts and m&ms.

Alice had her friend Ellie over on Wednesday. They both brought home enormous bags of candy from their classmates. I took the bags and put them on the counter until after lunch and then ran upstairs to change Will's diaper. When I came downstairs everything was very quiet. Quiet is never good. In the kitchen their was a chair pulled up to the counter and one bag was missing. I found Alice and Ellie behind the couch chowing down on the candy. I took it away and then found them again later under the dining room table eating candy again. This is kind of how the whole week went me vs. candy. Candy usually won.

Stephanie, our babysitter, made Alice a special Valentine's float with pink lemonade, raspberry sherbert, and 7-up. She even bought her cute ice cream glasses and we found a heart shaped straw. It was such a thoughtful thing to do, and Alice loved it.

I made these crayons for Alice's playgroup on Friday. I got the idea from the Gourmet Mom on the Go blog. I downloaded the wrappers from her site. So cute!

At playgroup, they decorated heart-shaped sugar cookies. I think most of the kids ate more sugar and sprinkles than cookies.

Will had his first sugar cookie-and his second!.

We made a graham house cracker house. We used icing as the glue to hold it together and all the extra candy we had sitting around to decorate it.

On Saturday, we went to Alice's friend Sophie's house for a Valetine's Party. They deorated cookies and there were tons of heart-shaped treats.

Alice decided to wear her ballerina outfit to the party. Who am I to get in the way of fashion!

This afternoon, we saw Brad's new office for the first time. The kids had a great time going through the boxes. They don't really have furniture yet, but I loved the design, very modern. I can't wait to see it when everything is done.

Heart Button Pins

2009-02-10T08:23:00.008-06:00

Alice made Valentines' Pins for her grandmas and our next door neighbor. I found wooden hearts shapes in assorted colors at Michaels. She used a paintbrush to apply glue and attached buttons to the heart.

After the glue dried, I added a clasp to the back.

Alice is very excited to walk over to our neighbor's house to give her the gift. She's probably so excited because our neighbor always has large chocolate bars!

Muffin Tin Monday and Camping

2009-02-09T13:34:00.023-06:00

It's Muffin Tin Monday. Today's theme was red/valentine's day. Head over to Her Cup Overfloweth to see what other mom's made for lunch today. It's hard to see, but I added some cute heart shaped picks. The muffin tin is from the dollar section at Target. You gotta love that store.

This weekend we were invited to go on a group camping trip with some of our friends. The weather was perfect, around 50 degrees, which is a heat wave for Iowa this time of year. I should have taken a picture of our luggage. We only went overnight, but it looked like we were going on a long vacation. As I was packing, Will roamed around on his own. After a while it got quiet. Quiet is never good! I found him by the front door surrounded by graham crackers, his favorite. Apparently, he climbed on top of a basket and got them out of his backpack which was hanging on a hook! Lately he has been eating non-stop. He must be going through a crazy growth spurt.

We got to do some hiking. Will really loved being in the backpack. Alice didn't make it as long as we would have liked, but we had a great time.

There were tons of little girls for Alice to play with, so she was in heaven. They put on a show that they put together themselves. Alice was very dramatic during the performance.

Yogurt Cup Challenge

2009-02-06T16:34:00.014-06:00

Michelle from Her Cup Overfloweth asked for ideas of what to do with all those empty yogurt cups. During the summer, I save them and so the kids can play with them at the wading pool, but during the winter I just recycle them. That's why I'm a little late getting to my idea. It took my daughter a week to eat enough yogurt to have the needed amount of cups. With Valentine's Day coming up, I decided to make a flower delivery box. Please excuse the first few pictures, I didn't have the camera on auto-focus, OOOPHS! Here's how I did it...
First, I covered a shallow box with white paper.

Then I traced around the yogurt cups and used an exacto knife to cup out circles.

Next, Alice decorated the box with heart stickers.

Then, I attached ribbon to the front and back. (I found it at Target in the dollar section). Next, I poked small holes in the bottom of the yogurt cups so the flowers would stay in. The flowers are old silk flowers I had in the basement.

To complete the costume I made a paper hat and attached a flower.

Alice has been playing flower delivery girl all afternoon. I was a fun project for both of us! If all else fails, just use your cups in the bathtub for pouring or save them for the sandbox when the weather allows!

More Celebrating

2009-02-02T21:53:00.016-06:00

Today was Alice's actual birthday. I feel like we've been celebrating her birthday for a month! I decorated her door after she went to sleep last night. She was very excited about the balloons.

Before breakfast she opened her presents. Dee Dee gave her a daybed/trundle and PJs for her American Girl doll. This was a huge hit with Alice. Before she went to bed tonight she tucked her dolls into bed and sang them songs. So cute! The doll bed is right beside hers. I would sneak in and take a picture if I wasn't afraid that I would wake her up.

I read Alice's favorite book, Pinkalicious to her class today. I am posting the picture, but I look awful. I was dressed for YPUMP. She took pink cupcakes with tiaras on top to celebrate with her friends.

We made a "stained glass" heart this afternoon. I cut up tissue paper squares and a heart shape. I placed the heart shape on a piece of contact paper and then Alice filled the opening with tissue paper squares. When she was finished, I put another piece of contact paper on top and cut off the excess.

We told Alice she could choose where she wanted to go to dinner. And as most 4 year olds would do, she chose McDonalds!

A Big Weekend

2009-02-01T20:41:00.049-06:00

We had Alice's 4th birthday party on Saturday. Her actual birthday is on Monday, but she claims that she has been 4 since she had an early birthday party at her Gigi's house in NC several weeks ago. What do we know? I had grand ideas of an indoor bike party or a sledding party, but Alice had other ideas. She wanted a princess party and there was no changing her mind. I started planning several months ago. I was going to do it all myself, but with our recent trip to the inaguration, it was too much. I gave up and decided to hire someone else to do it! I had been so against this, but now I'm glad I did. It was so easy and calm. It was a drop off party which cut down on the number of people in the house. Last year we had about 10 kids and their parents which was so chaotic.
Prior to the party Alice tried on several outfits (princess, ballerina, etc.) She finally decided on a play dress. I was so surprised that she didn't want to wear one of her princess outfits. Even when her friends arrived in costume, she didn't change her mind. She said that she was dressed like Kit from Kit Kitredge. She loves that movie and has been acting it out all weekend. I am proud of her for having her own ideas and sticking to them regardless of what her friends were doing.
I love this picture. When I announced that Sleeping Beauty was arriving, everyone ran to the door to watch. Alice was dissapointed that she did not have a pink car.

I bought wooden frames for $1.00 at Michaels and painted them pink for the girls and green for the boys. They used princess stickers to decorate them. I printed out pictures of the kids with the princess to put in them.

These are the favor bags that I made for the kids. Mom gave us chocolate lollipops shaped like crowns with "princess" written in pink on them that we put in the bags.

Sleeping Beauty and her maid did a great job of keeping the kids busy for an hour. At the beginning, they laid out a red carpet and the kids took turns walking up to Sleeping Beauty where she declared each child a "real" prince or princess. They played tons of games. Marti Gras necklaces were the prize for each game and they all ended up with tons of them.

One of Alice's favorite games was singing "Bippity Boppity Boo" while popping bubbles with "magic" wands.

At the end, they all had their pictures taken with the princess.

Even Will had a great time! He loves the piles and piles of necklaces.

This is the table prior to the kids trashing it. I made a crown for a centerpiece. It's kind of hard to see.

After the princess left, I lost control. Opening the presents was totally chaotic. Alice's favorite present was a huge bag of make-up that she got from her friend Sophie. She has already gotten out of the house with make-up on 2 times without me noticing this weekend.

I bought 2 pizzas from Costco for the party. They were so large that they did not fit in the fridge, and I had to put them on the back porch in a garbage bag in the snow. Thank goodness nothing got into them overnight. The pizza was not a hit with the kids. I think they were too excited to eat. Alice didn't eat because she was obsessed with getting into her make-up bag.

This is the cake that I ordered. I wish I could say that I made it, but she wanted a cake with a doll in it and I was too afraid of messing it up. It was so beautiful and I really did not want to cut it!

After the party I took Alice and her friend Phoebe to see Hotel for Dogs and when we got home it was warm enough to go for a family walk. It was a really special day.
I can't believe that my baby is four. She is growing up so fast, but no matter how old she gets, she will always be my baby. She is so funny, creative, loving, smart, and kind. I am very proud to be her mom.

This is the peanut butter and jelly sandwich shaped like a football that I made for Alice's lunch in honor of the Super Bowl.

I spent a little too much time this afternoon working on these football cupcakes. The footballs are oreo truffles I made from a recipe on Bakerella.

This is Sara and Austin's adorable puppy Alabama. She is so cute. She slept through practically the whole game. I want one!

This is Will "cheering" at Sunday night dinner while we watched the Super Bowl.

What a weekend! I'm off to bed. So tired! Way to go Steelers!

Busy Busy

2009-01-30T19:19:00.010-06:00

We've been so busy this week that I just haven't gotten around to the blog. I'm still trying to catch up after being gone last week. All the boring stuff like laundry and cleaning has caught up with me. I tend to get focused on one thing and forget about everything else, so I have a mountain of laundry to do and some serious dust build-up to take care of. This week I have been consumed with getting ready for Alice's birthday party which is tomorrow. More to come on that later.

Alice and I made brownie snowmen earlier this week. My little chocoholic had the time of her life. I think she had more batter than brownies when it was all said and done. Will was a fan of the brownies too. He just sat under the pan and made lots of noise until someone gave him another brownie. He has become very vocal and verbal this week. His favorite word is cracker (usually said "crack") which is very funny because crackers are like crack to him. He sits by the pantry and says cracker very emphatically until he gets what he wants. Are you seeing a pattern here?

Alice was very excited to have her best buddy Ellie over for lunch on Wednesday. They made snowman bagels using raisins, carrots, and sunflower seeds. They decided to add their strawberry applesauce to make cheeks and grapes for eyes. I can't imagine that it tasted very good, but they ate it. For "dessert" they made banana snowmen on skewers.

In honor of the Chinese New Year, we ordered chinese food. Will loved it. It took us forever to clean up all the rice he got everywhere. Alice on the other hand was not a fan Chinese food. She did take several tiny bites hoping that it would be enough to get her fortune cookie, but we decided to hold off on that until another day. I bought chopsticks earlier in the week but could not find them at dinner time. I am so mad at my self. I have to work on my organizational skills. Alice has learned a little something about China this week. We have been looking at the map and talking about how China is far away and that you would have to take a long airplane ride to get there. When the delivery man left she said, "he is a man from China living in Iowa." I guess she understands!

I'm off to put the finishing touches on Alice's birthday party.

What's New

2009-01-27T13:03:00.025-06:00

I decided that since Alice is almost 4, it is time for her to start doing a chore. My friend Jeanie suggested putting away silverware, so we gave it try yesterday. She was really in to it for the first few minutes, but after a while she said, "this is not really that much fun." I tried not to laugh, but it was so funny. She got it done with minimal help. I think it's the perfect job for her.

Recently Alice has been very interested in what's next. She often asks me to go over the schedule for the next few days. I decided it was time for her to have a calendar. I made strips with each day of the week and pictures of the activities we do every week (e.g. school, art class, church, Sunday night dinner). I made an arrow with sticky tack on the back that she can move to the appropriate day. I also made pictures of special activities (e.g. party, playdate, movie) that can be added and removed.

I also made a countdown to her birthday. Each day she moves the sticker to the next number.

Yesterday was the start of the Chinese New Year Celebration so we made a flag collage. I cut up little pieces of red paper and Alice glued them on a piece of paper to make a flag. After the flag was complete, she added little stars that I cut out.

Will did a little crafting too. He was in to coloring for about 2 minutes. Of course that is his attention span for just about everything, so I consider the activity a success.

Muffin Tin Monday

2009-01-26T14:24:00.005-06:00

It's Monday again so that means it's Muffin Tin Monday! There was no theme today so I went with winter. I found these cute snowman picks(really for cupcakes) on sale after Christmas. They were a hit with both kids. I shouldn't be surprised that Will liked them because he loves forks so much! Head over to Her Cup Overfloweth and check out what's for lunch today.