Jul
20
2012Sometimes I think I’m missing the point with these activities.
What is the point? To play with my kids or to teach them or to just be with them!
I honestly didn’t do a planned or structured activity last week. But I have tons of great “just be” type moments and I’ll share a few with you. This is real life everyday in our house.
Teaching A & B to pull on their new Keen shoes. (They’re kind of tricky after a life spent wholly in Mary Jane type shoes)
Reading all 10 of the library books in the house in one sitting.
Cuddling a sweet Bronwyn who is only scared of thunder when Daddy is not in the room.
All three of us doing silly things to make Sedryn laugh.
Cleaning up a mixed up pile of puzzle pieces… multiple times! Talk about a game of Memory!
Cuddling.
Talking about what they were drawing.
Hanging out on the “animal” aisle at Hobby Lobby identifying animals.
Talking about Emperor Penguin brood patches and babies. Even walking around with balls on our feet like they were our eggs.
Creating a new family tradition: Tortilla Lunch Sundays (where the girls hand make tortillas with daddy and I figure out what to fill them with!)
It was just a good week full of toddler fun!
Jul
12
2012
It has been HOT here. Well, over 100 degrees for quite a few days! The girls are going stir crazy in the house, but I can’t take the baby out into the heat for too long.
Compromise: backyard bubble pool time. So much fun! I love how their independent enough now that I can actually make dinner while they’re playing!
But by Far my favorite activity of the week: river swimming with our good friends Jen and Abel!
We spontaneously invited ourselves up for the 4th of July. Next thing we know, the girls are riding river currents and flirting with Abel. Which I guess is appropriate because Abel was one of the people that I first swam in a river with!
The girls love this! But it took each one of them a special measure of courage to give it a try! Aeralind eased in after watching Abel do it (she had a bit of a crush on Abel… as you can see with that voluntary hand holding: not something she’s prone to do!) Bronwyn kept announcing “I do it myself!” And then walking in just far enough to sit safely on the rocks. She slowly inched forward over the course of 15 minutes or so… and finally daddy gave her a subtle nudge! Bronwyn came right back upriver and did it again so quickly that we had to holler for Abel to grab her before she bumped into the shallows!
Jul
05
2012
We were pretty sick here last week (at least mommy and the baby… the girls fared pretty well). Watercolors for the first time.
Do you see those black circles on the right: those are people. And those arc’s she’s making: rainbows. She threw a fit at a friend’s house yesterday because she can’t yet draw the letters A and B.
Oh, sweet Bronwyn! She wakes up asking to paint. If she can’t paint, then she pulls out her crayons and creates.
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The night before Sedryn was so sick, Bronwyn had been up 3 hours in the middle of the night complaining of an earache. Mid-morning, both Bronwyn and Sedryn collapsed into bed. Aeralind and I were blessed with two hours of time just to spend with each other. It was such a beautiful blessing!
Aeralind loves detail so I made her up a little sewing card and taught her how to so. I loved watching her quiet concentration and excitement over this new skill.
Jun
28
2012
Be prepared to have to mop up a ton of water… but these girls couldn’t wait until I filled the bucket again to wash the next window! The downside is that I had to do the top :-p But the three of us washed windows for nearly an hour with not a peep of complaint.
Someone please tell me: at what age do ‘chores’ become a chore? They just love helping out… especially if there is water involved 🙂
Jun
21
2012We spent hours last week doing two very different things!
1. Going to a movie. It was the girls first. And honestly… they are not ready for PG movies. Aeralind and Bronwyn both were very scared over a couple of different scenes in Happy Feet 2. But they sat still and very much in awe of the big screen. 🙂
2. Chapter Books. I told you they were complete opposites! We were just loving on some Winnie the Pooh
. We spent a good half hour or so reading before nap and sometimes bed each day. They love it. The illustrations are key, but it helps that they already love the character. Some classics never die.
