Jungle Playland Fieldtrip

Yesterday was Ethan's Preschool Field Trip to Jungle Playland in a town North of us. It is a longer drive than I am used to taking but whenever we go it is well worth it. Kiera was disappointed to find out where we had gone during the day while she was at school but to be honest, it was nice only having to chase one kid around.

Emma also enjoyed herself and I am sure she would have loved it even more if I was up to playing with her in the ball pit but unfortunately our first run down the waterfall slide resulted in a bruised tail bone for mom. OUCH! I am still paying for it.

Here are a few pictures from our outing:

I am still trying to figure out the best setting on my camera for indoor shots under florescent lighting. I had to doctor up these shots with a few noise filters on Photoshop to get rid of the pixels. Any suggestions?

And here's a shot of Miss Emma getting into my freshly organized shoes later that day. She seemed pleased with herself.

Little Conversations

Ethan: "Kiera, you know what mom looks like?"
Kiera: "What?"
Ethan: "Her looks like a Whoaman"
I am not sure what he means but the conversation happened while I was sitting at the computer with a towel wrapped around my head from my morning shower. 

Emma's 10.5 Month Update

 

My baby is getting so big! I can't believe that her 1st birthday is just around the corner in the next couple months. This weekend Emma seems to have grown two full inches, and has started talking (ma ma and dat dat sounds), and now pulls herself up to stand. On Saturday morning I went to get Emma out of her crib and found she had pulled herself up and was on her feet ! I am soo not ready for this!

Emma now has four teeth. Two on top and two on the bottom. I will miss her gummy grin. But I am loving her toothy smile. Something about her teeth makes her look so grown up and she has this thing that when she smiles at you for no particular reason, she squints her eyes and tilts her head back just a touch as if she is putting on a show. I love it!

Emma's nursing days look to be at an end as well. She doesn't stay focused when we try but will gulp down an entire 8 oz. bottle in no time flat and is then on her way scooting and exploring again. I guess nursing with mama just takes too much time and she has places to go. I am going to miss our snuggle time.

I love my little girl and love watching her as she discovers her world. I am just so thankful I get to be a part of it.

Bird Feeding Frenzy

So strange to see this in January! Where did the winter go?

This morning the kids were out riding bikes/scooters and coloring with sidewalk chalk. This is not normal. Should I start planting my garden now?

Self Portraits In the Bathroom Mirror

I was experimenting today with taking some self portraits and decided to try a few in the bathroom mirror. I even took a couple shots of what I looked like while setting up the shot (oops). I then edited each picture in Photoshop with 3 different levels of my "Vintage" action. Played around with color levels and burned edges. It was fun. I probably should have been taking advantage of nap time a bit more and catching some shut eye for myself, but oh well...

FHE Valentine's Day Mailboxes

Last night for Family Home Evening the kids got excited. For school Kiera is supposed to make a Valentine's Day Mailbox for her kindergarten class party in a few weeks and so we decided to turn the homework assignment into a family activity.

I found a couple of shoe boxes that  I was saving in my gift wrapping closet and wrapped the box and the lids separately in aluminum foil. I then cut some hearts out of different colored card-stock and let the kids color, glue, and glitter to their hearts content. It was fun and they turned out pretty cute. The picture below was taken before the glue was dry so you can't really see the clear glitter but now that it is dry it sparkles.

Three Year Old Conversations

Yesterday while I was cleaning, Ethan was playing on the floor with Emma. He is such a good big brother. He was being so gentle and soft with her. Then alll of a sudden he turns to me and says, "mom, when Emma grows up I going to marry her!" It was so cute. I explained to him that he couldn't marry his sister and it would probably be someone he didn't know yet. Then he said in a concerned voice, "then who am I going to marry?" I said I don't know. Ethan then chose the next best option, "I think I am going to marry the babysitter."
I love three year old conversations.

Emma's Baby Groove

 The other day I was cleaning with the radio on and I caught Emma dancing! It was the perfect video opportunity.

We FINALLY Have SNOW!!!!

And it's still coming down. We have over 7 inches out there! The kids are in heaven!

Little Miss Mobile!

Watch out she's on the move now. I'd better go sweep and vacuum!

wood+screws+duct tape+cardboard=?

What do you get when you take some scrap wood, duct tape, a few screws and a cardboard box?

Snowshoes of course!!

I have been itchin' to play in the snow but we still don't have ANY! Yesterday I decided to take matters in my own hands and am planning on taking the family up where there is some. I'd love to give the kids the experience of snowshoeing and finally decided to go for it when I saw a friend's blog and how she spent a lot of her Christmas vacation. All her boys had their own snowshoes too. I however was not about to spend that kind of money. Those things are expensive! So why not DIY? I googled DIY snowshoes and saw a TON of ideas. The one that got me going was one I found here. When soaking a couple branches in my hot bathtub resulted in two broken sticks I had to come up with something else. So I winged it and made two wooden frames with some scrap wood from the garage. (little did I know I was using some of Dan's hard wood maple, ooops!) Oh well they should last longer that way right? I have 3 more pairs to go. Wish me luck. I think the next pair I will try using some fun duct tape and maybe jazzing the gray pair up with some color too.

Ethanisms

Today I was looking over some of my little brother's wedding pictures from almost a year ago. Ethan was over at the kitchen table playing with some play-dough with his sister. He must have been watching what was on the computer screen because all of a sudden he says, " I don't want to be married!, I just going to be handsome." Alrighty then...there you have it girls.