Pump it Up!

Little Miss A has been unanimously voted by her teachers as the best in-class pumper!! I bet they love that...pushing that many 3 and 4 year olds on the swings can be an all day job. Miss A LOVES to pump herself though. She's been doing it on her own for a while after a single push start, but has been pushing off and going all on her own for the past couple of months! She can get going as high as they fence in the backyard! :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

What a day!!!! It was so nice to have Valentine's on the weekend so we could enjoy the day together as opposed to rushing the morning to hurry off to work/school. If only Valentine's Day could ALWAYS be on the weekend!

We began our morning with the traditional Valentine exchange and bag opening ritual!!! (I apparently need to rethink the amount of sugar that goes in "the bag" for next year, but the kids loved it.) They especially loved opening mail from grandparents...how special!!! :)

To subside the intake of sugar, we moved on to breakfast...pink eggs with heart shaped sausage and heart pancakes with pink syrup. Little Miss A loved all the pink. Mr D. however, wasn't a fan...I think he would have preferred blue. (It's amazing how those two are still so pink/blue!)

The rest of the day was sort of spent on house stuff. Not the most exciting, but the kids love to help so we all worked together. Not to mention the fact that they are JUST as excited as we are to get a new house that they want to help. (The mention of stairs, sends their minds spinning!) Anyway, we took lots of breaks during the day just to play on the play scape and the new trapeze bar addition we added today. They both love it!

We took the kids to a Valentine party at the Y and J and I hit the town for a nice evening out. A & D had a BLAST, so a good time was definitely had by all!!! :)

Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto

A few of the boys at school (D included) have been building Lego robots and spaceships every day in free center time for the past couple of weeks. Well, of course, these robots have robot voices and do robot things. Mr D. was so into it today, he had to have his robot PJ's tonight and do a re-enactment of today's events. Notice the "robotic" voice that accompanies his description.

Translation:

"Beep. Beep. Beep. I'm a robot. I'm going on a planet. I'm going on the moon. I'm going on my spaceship, so the moon doesn't get dirty."

Valentine's Party

Okay, so a HUGE perk to my job is that my Fridays are somewhat flexible. I was able to go help at A and D's Valentine party at school today.

After putting their valentine's together, they were both SO excited to share. (Asking all week long, "Is our party today?") We've done Valentine's with playgroups the past couple of years, but this year they REALLY got it! Although they were both somewhat confused as to why they weren't putting a Valentine in their own decorated bags, they definitely loved giving! They began the Valentine festivities on Monday. This ENTIRE week has been filled with fun "heart shaped" Valentine activities that the kids have just "LOVED!"

We started today's party with a cooking craft, which of course led to a huge plate of yummies. Then had some time for crafts and of course passed out Valentines. Our Valentine "unveiling" was saved for home. Which I loved. We got home this afternoon and were immediately unloading and checking things out. They were so excited to see all their friends names on each Valentine. They were saying "Look, this one is from..." Not that they can read, but they see their classmates names so often they recognize them almost as well as they recognize their own. It's so fun!

Hilarious D!

Holy crow, so I have NO IDEA where D comes up with half the stuff that comes out of his mouth, but the kid cracks us up! This morning on the way to school we usually pass a particular spot on the road that must have some type of plumbing problem because it always smells. Well, it didn't this morning and you know Mr D noticed. As we passed the spot, D pipes up with "Hey Mommy, it doesn't smell today!! I bet the wind blew the skunk away!" (Referring to a pretty nice storm came through last night.) He is constantly making connections...I need to start writing them down during the day so I can keep track. :)

Coloring Contest? Anyone, anyone?

Little Miss A is a coloring queen lately! She LOVES to color. When I pick her up from class in the afternoon during "free time" she's coloring. As soon as we walk in the house, she heads straight for the craft closet to grab her coloring supplies. It is SO cute! I love it...I could color with her for hours! Too fun!

Valentine Goodies!!!

Life has gotten so super busy lately, that we had to just come home and do something "fun!" So we made our valentine cupcakes and will have to follow up with the cookies sometime this week. The kids loved it...okay, they loved the batter and the frosting. (I wonder where they get that from? Hmm...) I started getting out the ingredients when D said "Mommy we can't make our valentine goodies without our aprons and chef hats!" Sheesh, what was I thinking? He's absolutely right!!! I love it! :)

Differences...his and hers

WOW, I really noticed this morning how much Little Miss A is like me and Mr. D is like his father. A bounces out of bed with a smile ready to play. (I am definitely an up and at 'em kind of gal.) D takes a while to open his eyes and get his bearings on his day before he emerges from his room. (Boy, is this his Daddy or what?) So, that got me thinking...do we have two clones of ourselves, or is this simply a gender issue? I'll have to start researching and get back to you on that. :)

Miss Shy

Little Miss A has been so incredibly shy lately!!! One of my favorite Kinder teachers on campus is constantly saying hello to both the kids every morning. Mr. D will usually give a friendly "hi!" in response whereas A hangs on me and hides behind my legs. With all her dance and performance exposure, I would think she would be the less shy of the two. Nope, not so much. How do I encourage her to open up?