Our Car!

 

 

 

 We've ordered carseats but they haven't arrived yet so we just sat in the car for now.  Even though our kids ride in taxis and busses without carseats (and will continue to as this is primarily a work vehicle for L's business) we aren't going to have them riding in our car without them.  I'm so excited to finally have carseats for them!  Its funny to have an almost 5-year-old and be buying a carseat for the first time.

 

Botanical Gardens

 This is what Ella calls "My Dark Place."  She named it that because there are usually a lot of vines over the walkway and it gets really dark back in there.  She LOVES this place and it is incredibly special to her.  Even this morning when she asked me if we could go to the Botanical Gardens she said that she had been missing her dark place.  Pretty sad when we got there and it was roped off!  They have been making a lot of improvements to the gardens so I assume this site is also in line for some changes. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back again to the dark place for a final goodbye.  She cried for a very long time as we were leaving.  :(  But despite that we had a wonderful time.  So thankful my tailbone was up for it!

A Few Random February Pics

 Making a Tent with Daddy

 Headed out to the Veggie Market (gotta love that 2-year-old style!)

 

 Playing with the tic-tac-toe game and cupcakes I made for the girls.  I'm a bit obsessed with making things from felt now.  Its so easy and so fun and the girls love it!

 Valentine's Day breakfast.  In the background you can see our Valentine countdown banner.  Every day the girls went on a little scavenger hunt for a heart.  On each heart I had written a Bible verse about God's love so we would read that verse and then tape it to the banner.

 Taking a nap in her princess dress

 Reading by the herb garden (we're growing them in our bedroom from now because its so much warmer!)

 Cutting practice - I loved her sweet look of concentration

 

 New chopsticks - these are awesome...really easy for kids to use!  Let me know if you want some for your kids. 

 Another veggie market outing, another great assemble!

Addy, Ella, Emma, Sassy and Lisa (Ella's "babies")

ABCs

 

 

 

For some reason my favorite part of Addy's little preschool curriculum (from here) is making these letters each week.  Each girl does one (they trade off who gets to do the capital letters) and then we hang them above the window in our little playroom. 

A - apple print with paint
B - beans
C - crayons
D - dog (This one is my favorite so far!)
E - eyes (cute but its very confusing to the kids because it sounds like an I so I wouldn't do that again)

To Do List

Ella: Can you add "Watch a video while Mama rests her tailbone" to our list?

S'mores Lollipops

 

I have wanted to make these for a very long time.  Seems like one pinterest idea a year would be a realistic goal for me!  :)  There are lots of recipes for these but to make things even easier I used the Wilton Candy Melts (thanks Momma! and thanks Nan! for the cute pink marshmallows).  I love this group of girls!

FIAR: Katy and the Big Snow

 A friend mentioned that it might snow so I started planning our activities for Katy and the Big Snow because I realized this would be my last chance to row the book with snow on the ground!  I was so excited when it did actually snow that the girls went out that morning in their pajamas before we even ate breakfast!  I felt pretty dorky to be as excited as I was that it snowed for our Katy and the Big Snow FIAR!

 

 

 

 Getting snow to measure for a little science project

 Ella had been wanting to make a snow angel for a long time!

 

Measuring the snow as it melted

 This picture is a big deal because its the last one I will have of Addy with a pacifier (and oddly enough she had it in correctly instead of upside-down and it was always upside-down!)  After much discussion and planning (on L and my part) we decided to get rid of it cold turkey.  She did amazing.  I get the impression that she knew she was too big for it but wasn't about to get rid of it on her own.  I can tell she feels like a total big girl to be paci-free.  And, I feel like I've added at least 15 minutes to each day now that I'm not searching for, talking about, and washing pacifiers!

 

 We reenacted the book by building a town with blocks and train tracks and then letting it snow (with toilet paper).  Idea from this blog although theirs was much cooler!  I guess I'm just not the shaving-cream-everywhere sort of mom!

 

 

 

 

 We also made little cars (which the girls had so much fun with) and then put them in baggies of salt so it looked like the cars were trying to drive in snow.  Another idea from this blog.

It takes us about a month to finish each FIAR book (instead of the 5 days its supposed to take) but for us it is mainly just used when we have time to do a fun activity.  I still would highly recommend this curriculum if that is what you are looking for.  It provides organization for what kind of activities I search for online and gives me and Ella (and now Addy is joining us more and more) a lot to talk about!