Halloween!

Halloween... this is a tough holiday for us as we don't believe in celebrating it as such, but as a child who grew up also not celebrating but being part of a society where it's almost expected to this has been a challenge. Now it's a lot like Christmas... we don't do Santa, but every stranger that talks to our child will ask them what they want Santa to bring them, well, this is kinda the same thing... "what are you going to be for Halloween?" is a common question. So in the past, before Zoe was actually involved with other children her age on a regular basis we just did the no celebrating thing- we stay home and pass out candy and TRACTS to neighborhood kids while sitting around our fire pit drinking homemade hot chocolate, but this year since she is more involved and is learning about it at "school" we decided to not let her be the oddd person out- ya know the one I mean... the one that just sits there not in costume and not participating. This is a hard thing to ask of a 4 year old. She knows that Halloween is not something we celebrate but we celebrate Fall So..., today was Zoe's first Halloween Parade at preschool, or anywhere really! Since I find it silly to spend an inordinate amount of money for a costume we just let her wear her Dress Up dress and she went as Cinderella! What a great costume since she is in that Princess phase right now anyways! Yeah! She wore her little dress up shoes and even her wig (we picked it up brand new at a garage sale for 25 cents! Bargain!). Since Patrick is out of town this week we invited Grandpa to come see her parade and also for Lexi control so I could take the following pictures! And we've even done one of the ever growing in popularity, Trunk or Treats at our church...

It might be different when she's older, but for now if she wants to 'dress up' for a Fall party, why not? Happy Fall Ya'll!

November Greeblemonkey Photo entry

So, I've just recently discovered http://www.greeblemonkey.com/. It's an online Photography contest open to anyone and everyone! This is my first entry ever and the theme is of course picked around the Thanksgiving holiday and it's "grateful". So, here is a picture of Lexi practicing her Thanksgiving eating... She's very Grateful for Corn! Wish me luck!

Family Photos- Take 2

So, here's a quick follow up from our family photos we took the other night! It was surprisingly fun and we really lucked out that we finished 20 minutes before it started to pour down rain! The whole thing was great! I just love seeing our family in photos! Especially ones that look soo great! Don't worry though... we've saved the best for our Christmas cards, but here are my 3 favorites! Enjoy and have a Happy Fall, ya'll!!

Family Photos

My husband is funny! I mean, he's got great ideas- or at least he thinks so! His latest idea is to do a "theme" picture for our Christmas cards this year! Granted, this isn't a bad idea as he's right and every year we seem to do the same thing... get dressed up in our Sunday best and smile pretty! Now, as a mother with a lousy memory, this idea appeals to me as I love the girls' Sunday best clothes and I love having a formal picture of our family. I take plenty of not formal pictures throughout the year including those spur of the moment pictures we ask strangers to take of our family at different events! So, the idea of paying a professional photographer to take our family picture in costume is a little hard for me to swallow, but I love my husband and if this is his plan for Christmas cards then more power to him but this will also mean he will be in charge of said Christmas cards this year... not a bad trade now that I think about it!

So, the theme this Christmas is "Urban Cowboy". That's right... we'll be going to a local park that is full of historic buildings, barns, hay and other cowboyish things! The girls and I'll be in denim skirts/dresses and boots! Now, I grew up in boots and denim, so this is not fun for me, but despite my upbringing I have no boots anymore, so I'll be wearing my fashion boots with my denim skirt and plaid shirt! The girls though do both have boots, and what cute boots they are. None of us have cowboy hats though, so not sure how to do this theme up right, but we'll give it a try! I did buy Zoe a little party sheriff's hat... kinda corny and don't forget the handkerchiefs... we sure didn't! Now what to do with them? Hopefully I'll be able to post pictures from today's photo session later this week! We'll see! So, wish us luck and a hearty Yee Haw!

Photo Booth Friday!

PHOTO BOOTH FRIDAY!!

Here is one of the best pictures of the week! This is Lexi's 19 Month Photo! I admit that the second born child is not going to get EVERYTHING that the first child gets... ie. the homemade scrapbook, the photos every month on her actual month birthday, etc... It's been a challenge trying to keep up! In Zoe's scrapbook she has a picture for every month till she turned 2. Lexi, I'm lucky if I have a picture of her from each month! So, this is actually really close to the 6th! It was taken on the 7th! Yeah me!! This is her playing in her diaper box! This seems to be THE toy this week! The girls have fought over this box more then anything else lately, even though Zoe can barely fit in it.

Here is my photo of the week of Zoe! !

Here is the best picture of the girls I have together this week! They both got their face painted at the local Rev Up Your Engines! It was great fun!!

Anyways... Here's to wishing everyone a warm and toasty weekend!

The Last Dozen....

So, I just noticed that it's been a long time since I last blogged and though a long time has passed, I'm afraid I still don't have much to blog about... so thanks for my good friend Amy and her blog for this idea! You are a good friend for letting me steal soo many ideas off your blog! I love it! Please feel free to check it out... My Front Porch Looking In...

The Last Dozen

1. Last movie you saw at the theater....

The Proposal- comes out to DVD on Oct. 13. I must admit it's my new favorite! If you haven't seen it- DO!!! I've already seen it twice!! It's a great girls night out movie or couples night in movie!! Fantastic!

2. Last place you went out to eat....

El Mezcal... Love their T-Th specials!!

3. Last game you played...

4. Last place You drove to...

Went to pick up Zoe from Preschool! Normally this is an easy task, but she was expecting Patrick to pick her up so lots of tears this time... whatever happened to that little girl that was thrilled to see me no matter what? I miss her...

5. Last thing you actually wrote down on paper...

Happy Birthday... in dot to dot for Zoe to trace for Grandpa's birthday card!

6. Last website you went to...

Facebook, of course!

7. Last person you actually picked up the ringing phone to talk to and not let go to voicemail- LOVE CALLER ID!

Patrick... on his way home from working late tonight!

8. Last thing you baked...

Chocolate cake mix cookies... best cookies ever!

1/2 cup oil

2 eggs

6 oz chocolate chips

1 cake mix- any flavor...

mix and bake at 375 for 10 minutes

9. Last time you actually took out the trash....

Hmm.. .that's a tough one as in our house it's Patrick's job... but I must admit for it not being my job I think I do it more then he does- hint hint honey!!

10. Last thing you read in your Bible....

In this Tools For Motherhood class we are supposed to memorize 1-2 Bible Verses a class and this last week was Proverbs 23:7... For as he thinks within himself so he is!

11. Last really fun thing you did with extended family...

We went to Gary's Pumpkin Patch with my dad and Lyn and Shyra... what a great time!! The Corn Maze is a blast... but I must admit probably not so much fun for Patrick as he walked the almost 2 miles all the while carrying Lexi!! But I enjoyed it!

12. Last Book you read...

I read a ton, but the last book was book #3 in a triliogy. The book was Enduring Love... I love to read! If you have any good suggestions pass them on to me!

Well, thanks for sitting through my Last Dozen. Hope you all have a great weekend... enjoy the rain!

Tools for Motherhood!

So, I'm taking this great class at my church. It's called Tools For Motherhood. I've taken a quick day class overview of it, but this is a more in depth 7 week class that is just wonderful! It basically gives us stats of children and how they learn and how their little brains work. It's mainly geared toward mothers of preschoolers and teaches us how to use everyday items in just 10-15 minutes a day and give them a firm foundation for the schoolyears! We are soo indisposable to our children right now. It is soo true that we are indeed our childrens first and most important teacher! We give them their attention span, their respect for others using eye contact, their love of reading etc...

We learned that a childs attention span is 3 times their age! So I can't expect my 4 year old to sit through and pay attention to an hour long church service. It's been very good to know this info! I learned that in between the ages of 0-4 they will learn 50% of all they will learn in life! Wow! If that's not pressure I don't know what is! By the age of 8 they will learn 80% of all they'll ever learn in life! Wow! Who knew?

Anyways... along with this our teacher, Mary Duncan, gives us ideas of using everyday household items to teach our children through play. What a great way to learn.

This week our class was on Pre- Math skills. Now, really, can a 2-4 year old grasp the concept of multiplication? No, we all know that, but did you know that just by talking about things, i.e... when shopping at the store and just saying out loud how much something weighs and the price and then doing the math, this is laying a foundation later for those children. By doing something as simple as a 1 year old putting golf balls in a muffin tin and teaching one to one corrospondance also lays the foundation for great math skills during the school years. It's like reading to a baby. They don't necessarily understand it at all, but they are getting to hear the words and thus their little brains are developing. This is just wonderful. My favorite game that I took away from class this week was the simplest game ever and honestly most of her games are and I sure feel stupid that I didn't think of them myself, but this game is great for those days when you are trying to get your grocery shopping list done and you've got the ads spread out on the table and your child is, the dreaded word, "bored. So, you take a dice or even just shout out numbers and let them circle them in your ads. The first person to get say 5 or 10 of those numbers can win. It's obviously geared toward the 3-5 year olds, but wow! How easy. It keeps them occoupied and no longer "bored" and lets you still get stuff done.

There are soo many other games too. I like the one that teaches shapes and burns off that energy. Cut big shapes out of material ( we all have that old shirt that just has to go) and then on a block draw the shapes and take turns rolling and running to get the shape. The first person to get 2 matches or one of each shape wins! I mean, really how easy! Then I just put all the little pieces in a ziplock baggie to save for another time when I'm going insane with all the extra energy they seem to have that I never do! I can also make this game grow with the child by cutting the shapes out of different colored cloth so they can learn the colors and then the shapes later on! And when they know their shapes and colors then I'd write the shape word on the block for them to "read" and then go get their shape! The game that just keeps growing and growing.

So, next time you find yourself at a loss for what to do with those little ones yet you still have stuff to do and you've already let them lick the cookie dough utensils while you ate the cookies remember that there are a lot of ideas out there if you just get a little creative! Enjoy and happy weekend to all the "teachers" out there! Feel free to visit www.toolsformotherhood.com for more info and ideas for each age your child is now!