A week of Easter

I meant to do this yesterday, but with how crazy life got I didn't have it all planned and ready. If you follow this link to sugardoodle, you will find the lessons we are following this week. Princess C didn't want to join in, but Princess V loved hunting down the eggs. It was fun and spiritual. One of the days this week we will play catch up and do 2 days in one.

A little update on Princess R. This morning at 3am I believed I was in labor. I couldn't feel contractions, but I was in some intense pain. I waited until 7am to tell Daddy. He had an interview at 10:30 so we were going to try and wait until after it, but the pain was not getting any better. So at 9am we went to the hospital. They put me on some monitors and Daddy left for his interview. At 11 they told me I wasn't dilated at all, and there weren't really any consistent contractions. After they talked to my Dr. they told me he said it sounded like I had a gall bladder attack. So then they sent me home. They didn't really tell me much else, so thankfully I have a Dr.'s appointment tomorrow and they will tell me what is going on. Fingers crossed this Princess gets here soon!!

He and She

Well I took a break from the academy for a bit. The girls were restless, and Princess R seemed to want to come. No she's not here yet though. I finally tried to get back on track yesterday. Princess V has been working on He's and She's and the proper time to use them. She always calls Princess C a he as well as a prince (because she wears pants, gasp, lol). I know she's only 3years old, but we decided it would be something to start working on.

So with a little help from Daddy we were able to have a great lesson yesterday. Daddy printed out a picture of a girl and a boy (you know the kind from the bathroom signs), and then a picture of each member of our family as well as Big Blue (USU's mascot). I printed the words He and She on note cards and our lesson was ready. We started by putting the figures on our flannel board with that blue sticky stuff. I then asked Princess V what they were pictures of. One was a boy and the other was "that's me, big girl V----". So we had a quick discussion on how it was just a girl and symbolizes all girls. We then went through our pictures adding them under the right figure. She still didn't quite grasp it, which I didn't expect her to, so I think it's something we'll do once a week.

Princess C thoroughly enjoyed looking at the pictures. And according to her Big Blue is a "Piggy".

Teeth

Today I focused on teeth with the girls. We still talked about our healthy foods "sad bag and happy bag". After snack we headed into the bathroom. I gave both girls their toothbrushes and then got mine out as well. We put toothpaste on, and started brushing. I wanted to let the girls do it themselves, because it's just been a fight when I do it. Princess C had fun, and got all over the place in her mouth. Princess V on the other hand didn't want to. She's the one that normally fights really hard. Since I gave her the choice today though, she didn't really fight me as much. She even giggled a bit while I was brushing. We looked at our teeth in the mirror, and found the ones that needed a little extra cleaning too.

Again throughout the day we did colors with Princess C. She seems to be enjoying it, but was still calling everything blue.

Cute little tidbits - Princess C loves the ABC song. Or as she calls it "AB song". She will randomly break out in song with it. Too cute to listen to. Princess V was a big help around the house today. We did a lot of furniture moving and organizing to get ready to welcome Princess R soon.

Healthy Eating

I'll be honest. Today was a lazy day. But I really wanted to try and get some more schooling in with the girls. So when it came time for snack, I decided I'd turn food into a lesson. Before I gave the Princess' their snack, we drew on two paper sacks. One had a happy face and one had a sad face. Then I pulled out the snack - string cheese, banana, and chocolate. I asked Princess V what foods are good for us and what ones are not so good. She was pretty smart about it. We put the healthy stuff in the happy bag, and the unhealthy in the sad bag. Princess V wanted to put the banana in the sad bag, but Princess C knew better and got it in the happy bag for us. We then took a quick look at our food pyramid to remind us how much of the different foods we should eat. Then we looked in our bags. I pointed out to the Princess' that the happy bag had more food in it and the sad bag only had one piece of chocolate (for each) in it. Princess V seemed to have that look of "I get it" on, but we'll see. I've decided from now on, we'll use those bags for snacks everyday. I'll put the snacks in them, and that's what they can eat, but when it's gone it's gone. There will be less in the sad bag and more in the happy bag.

Princess C was really wanting some attention today. Normally she enjoys playing by herself, but she was following Princess V around every where! So I decided I wanted to try and get her learning more on her level. Everything we looked at, we talked about colors. She would bring me a toy and I would ask her what color it was. Today, everything was "color, blue". When I would tell her the right color she would repeat it back. I believe if we keep this up she will catch on pretty quick.

~SPRING~

Finally Spring is here. Not just weather wise, but officially too. We started the day with some physical exercise and went to the park. It was actually a cold wet day, but the girls had fun anyways. It was so fun to watch Princess V actually playing with other kids at the park. She and two other little girls ran around together and went down all the slides. Princess C mostly enjoyed the sandbox, and even said sandbox today.
When we got home we opened the blinds and turned on some music and got to work spring cleaning our kitchen. We swept the ceiling for cobwebs, and then began on the top of the cupboards. We made it across the top of one side, and through4 cupboards. Many items I haven't been using were tossed into a yard sale box by the Princess', and a few food items were tossed in the garbage as they were pretty far past the "best by" date. When we got to our bean cupboard, Princess V really got on board with helping me. After taking them all out, and wiping down the shelf, Princess V helped me sort the beans. She was very good. We then counted the different stacks to see how many of each we had. It was loads of fun!
At one point we breaked for music time. We have a Winnie the Pooh cd and one song on it was just what we needed - "The Kangaroo Hop". The Princess' and I hopped and boinged all across their bedroom. I do believe this was Princess C's favorite part of the day.
Tomorrow we have more spring cleaning in the kitchen, but I'll try and throw a little more school in too.

Pancakes

I must apologize. Yesterday I said today was National Pancake Day. But when I did a little more research it was actually in February. So I'm guessing it's one of those days that change every year. When the book (Learning Express) was written it must have been today. OH well.

We had pancakes for breakfast. Using our wonderful book Beyond Oatmeal, we made an oatmeal pancake for breakfast. Turns out the Princess' really love to cook. Now if only they would eat it too, lol! I don't blame them this morning though. They weren't the best pancakes I've ever had. Probably my fault though. The recipe calls for raisins, and then says chocolate chips are optional. I figured the raisins were optional too, and since I didn't have any, we left them out. And added a lot of chocolate chips. It was supposed to be like an Oatmeal Raisin cookie (but oatmeal chocolate chip in our case). And I got the picture. But it definitely needed those raisins. It was dry and somewhat flavorless.

After this mornings attempt we decided just to have a fun family day. Dad helped by teaching the girls more about how to wash dishes. And then we took off. Went to a park. ran some errands. Went to a friends, stopped by the DI, and got our groceries.

We were going to have crepes for dinner, but none of us were feeling up to more pancakes. So instead while we ate, I read Pancakes Pancakes by Eric Carle.

Dinner was followed by a major blowout from Chloe, and then a bath. She's had a bit of an upset stomach, but it doesn't deter her from being a happy active little girl. It does explain her lack of appetite though.

Enjoy your Sunday! We'll be back here Monday!

Balloons Galore!!

Haha, ok not really galore. Only one balloon per girl today. We just finished popping all the balloons last week from Daddy and Chloe's birthdays. I did not want too many more floating around the house. The Princess' just love balloons though! I've decided I really enjoy starting school out with a book. So today was Balloons and Other Fun Things by Richard Scarry. Since today was only about Balloons we did not read the whole book. The first section was on gravity, so we read that. And then we skipped to the Balloon section. It told us how some balloons float because the gas is lighter than air, or it is hot air.

After reading our book, we pulled out the bag of balloons. To avoid fighting, they each got a pink balloon. Now it was play time! They got a lot of energy out just running around the house chasing each other with balloons. At one point Princess C was using hers as an exercise ball. She'd sit on it and bounce up and down, and then lay on it and roll back and forth. She is one strong girl! Sadly though Princess C's balloon met an untimely POP. As she was laying on it, it burst and she dropped to her stomach. I expected great cries of pain, and sadness, but was met with more confusion. The poor girl got up on hands and knees and started looking for that balloon under her. I can't really help but laugh at her poor confused face, it truly was funny. When she found the knot, she brought it to me - "broken". We cleaned up the mess, and then blew up another balloon, this time orange.

While Princess C continued her exercise, Princess V and I worked on math and coordination. Really very simple. We played balloon toss. As we threw the balloon back and forth, we counted. If we dropped the balloon the counting began over. We made it all the way to 18!!! And yes she counted with me! By the end though, Princess V thought it would be funny to watch mommy lunge for the balloon, and started throwing it just enough to the side of me. Silly girl.

We had a delicious (and completely unhealthy) lunch of cinnamon toast, with frosting for cinnamon rolls, and cinnamon syrup. YUM! And absolutely nothing to do with balloons, just wanted to let you lick your lips.

After lunch we pulled out the markers, and drew faces on our balloons. Princess V knew exactly what to do! She gave her balloon a face, and some hair, and then some color all over. Princess C just enjoyed the coloring.

We got some more exercise and walked to the mailbox, and then played in the backyard. We put off the rest of school to wait for Daddy! So after dinner tonight (a yummy chicken and potatoes!), we pulled out the paper mache and covered mommy's balloon. We'll pop it tomorrow to see what it looks like :) I am so glad we waited for Daddy, because he had never paper mached before! It was so fun! Although, both Princess' were very tired, and Princess V did NOT want to get her hands dirty, so she just stirred our glue/water mixture.

Since the Princess' were both so tired I decided to put them down together today. It worked! YES! At 7pm they were both in bed with jammies. We turned on the lullaby cd, and I sat on the floor and read some more Little Women to them. After 3 pages, they were both sound asleep. Daddy and I are now going to go relax and watch a movie.

Heads up everyone, tomorrow is Cooking Saturday! And what a coincidence, it's also National Pancake Day!!

bubblicious day

Today we learned about bubbles. I don't have much to write because I think I picked something up yesterday (probably from the millions of kids at the gateway), but we still had fun. We read Bubble Trouble by Margaret Mahy about a girl who blows a bubble that picks up her little brother and carries him over the town. Very cute book, and the Princess' loved it. We read it a couple times throughout the day.

For snack we had a little "Bubbly" (aka soda). I had the Princess' watch as I poured it into their cups and it bubbled up. We then examined the cups and found bubbles all over the place. Hey, they thought it was pretty cool!

After a messy lunch, we took a bubble bath. And just before dinner we blew some bubbles in the kitchen. Princess V has become a master bubble blower. Princess C was just cute to watch. She'd get up close to the wand, stick her bottom lip out and blow....up. She'll get there. When we got bored of that, we pulled out some bubble wrap! I love bubble wrap and popping it. Princess V pulled on her sunday shoes and had fun jumping on it. I thought I'd throw a little science in too. So we grabbed an old lightbulb and dropped it on the bubble wrap. What do you know, it didn't break. Once again, the Princess' thought it was pretty cool.

And of course I ended the day teaching the girls a new household chore :) Dishwashing! Those are some fun bubbles!

St Patricks Day

This is such a late post! But Happy St Patricks Day yesterday! We had such a fun time. We began our morning by eating Lucky Charms. Daddy had the day off, so we took off to Salt Lake City. The Discover Gateway Museum was having a free admission day, and we wanted to take part in it. Although it was free, I'm not sure the crowd was completely worth it. Princess C had a ball, while Princess V was in a more observing mood. Once Princess V found the garden area though, she was happy!

After a fun, albeit crowded, time we went for some lunch. We brought pb&j sandwiches from home, and got some fries from Burger King. We ate in the car and watched a bit of Care Bears. As soon as we were all done eating though it was back out for more fun. You can't visit SLC and not visit Temple Square. The Princess' loved it. Princess V's first comment ass we walked through the gate "WOW! Lots of Temples!" Yes there is only one, but from a child's perspective, some of the other buildings look like they could also be temples. We talked to some of the Sister Missionaries. And then let the Princess' get some energy out. Boy did they love all the water features. Princess C had to be carried away when it was time to go. She kept trying to get into them too, but luckily Daddy is fast enough.

After Temple Square, we decided we needed a break. So we headed out to Nana and Opah's. Of course everyone was still at school. But the Princess' got to sleep a bit in the car, and then had fun with some barbies. Before we left, we did get to see Uncle C, Aunt A, and Aunt M. Aunt A is Princess V's "Best Friend". Princess C had a hard time after we left calling everyone M. Oh I do love my girls. From here we wanted to see Uncle M and Aunt N. It had been quite awhile, and we hadn't even met the baby they're in the process of adopting yet. They were home, and we got to spend about 45 minutes with them just talking. The Princess' ran off with their cousin, and really enjoyed their time. The little baby they are adopting is so cute. I got to hold him and he laughed for me. On our way out, before we even made it to the car, Princess V looked sad and told me "I miss Madilyn". We'll definitely have to see them more often.

Finally it was time for the Big Finale! My old roommate ChaRlie LOVES this holiday. I even bought special shamrock earrings to wear for her. We went back to SLC to her house, and just enjoyed ourselves. We picked up some pizza on the way and had Shamrock cookies for dessert. The Princess' also enjoyed some green drinks. While we were there we played twisted with the Princess'; built towers, and boats our of Lincoln logs; and socialized. ChaRlie's parents were home as well, so we got to talk to them, and hear some pretty fascinating stories. They recently returned from an LDS Mission to Japan, just south of where Grandma and Grandpa are living.

Finally it was time to return home. I believe we got home just before midnight. The Princess' were sound asleep and were easily moved from car to bed. Then Daddy and I put ourselves to bed as well.

Presidents

I debated what to teach the Princess' today. The book I've been using had ideas for John Adam's birthday. I decided we'd be a little more general though. So we talked about presidents. We have two USA coloring books. So I found some pictures of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. And that is who we talked about today.

So the Princess' learned that George Washington helped free America. And then that Abraham Lincoln helped free the slaves. It was nice to play off our Harriet Tubman day from last week and talk about slavery and freedom again.

Then we learned a new song. Sing to the tune of "Do you know the Muffin Man"

Do you know who's on the penny?

Who's on the penny? Who's on the penny?

Do you know who's on the Penny?

Abraham Lincoln!

Do you know who's on the Quarter?

Who's on the Quarter? Who's on the Quarter?

Do you know who's on the Quarter?

George Washington!

Plants

We did a little study on plants today. First we pulled down the plants we've been growing in the window. We planted these about a month ago. Just a little potting soil in a plastic cup and some morning glory seeds. Next I pulled out some crayons and paper and let the Princess' go at it! The assignment was to draw the plant. Turns out that's a little advanced. Princess C made some nice circles. Princess V made some great colors, but by the end said she was drawing dirt, and was using brown. I say progress!!
After drawing our plants, we studied the plant and named its different parts. Stem, leaves, and eventually flower. We also pulled one out of the dirt to examine the roots. Princess V thought they looked like spiders.
To start out afternoon quiet time we read Little Einsteins Farmer Annie. The team is at a farm and Annie finds some seeds. She plants them, waters them, and sings to them. They also get plenty of sun. Soon they grow into plants like tomatoes, sunflowers and corn! The Princess' loved this book. I could tell because they actually sat and listened to the whole thing! YES!
After quiet time we went to get some physical activity in. It was a beautiful day so we went out! We started by looking at the grass. We pulled some up to see the roots on it too. I asked Princess V to find me more plants but she was just enjoying the sun. Princess V got pretty tired so she went in for a nap and Princess C and I took a walk to the mail box. On the walk, I pointed out the different plants to Princess C and had her repeat their names. Ok there aren't that many on our walk, but she can now say grass and tree well and knows what they are.

Sunday

It was such a beautiful day today! A little cold and windy, but the sun was shining! After church we decided to play outside with the girls new kite. Here's some pics

Cooking Saturday!

I'm so excited tonight! I've decided to make Saturday our cooking class! We got up and made Cinnamon Cream French Toast. It was so delicious and so filling! We even have leftovers. They will probably make some good egg and bacon sandwiches.

After we got ready for the day we decided to make some Cinnamon rolls. It was a rainy/snowy day, so it just seemed to fit. The recipe we used is called Cinnamon Buns From Heaven. We had so much fun. Princess V helped me measure and stir, and Princess C helped me stir and pour.

Once we got the dough made it had to rise for a couple hours so we took off to find a yard sale. We found one, but nothing great. So we headed over to the park. The girls thoroughly enjoyed sliding and swinging, but it was pretty cold. So we didn't stay long.

After lunch we pulled out the dough and looked at how much it rose. Princess V thought it was so cool. She got concerned when I dumped it on the table and it looked like it was getting smaller. Princess C was more interested in playing, so we let her do her own thing, and Princess V and I rolled out the dough, added the filling and rolled it up!

After we got it cut and into the pans we again had to let it rise. So we had some family time and watched Finding Nemo. The Princess' just love that movie. So funny! You've got to love Dory. After dinner we baked the rolls, made the frosting and ate our wonderful creation. Princess V loved the frosting.

Both of today's recipes can be found in the book Beyond Oatmeal: 101 Breakfast Recipes by Carlene Duda

On a side note. Sorry there was no post yesterday. We took Princess V back to the ER and they did more xrays. She has a fractured clavicle, aka collar bone. It's not terrible, and she even used her arm more today. She's a little trooper!

Happy Birthday Eric Carle

I LOVE Eric Carle's children's books. If you haven't read them, or even heard of them, you have been missing out. Today was his birthday, so we celebrated (we seem to do that a lot around here).
Read The Very Hungry Caterpillar. After reading the book, we talked about different foods that we should eat. We printed out a copy of the Food Pyramid, and then went to work making our own. Princess V pulled out some magazines, I got the glue and scissors. We had a lot of fun finding different foods and then putting them in their correct box on our own pyramid. This afternoon we went grocery shopping and Princess V helped me pick out some fruits - yummy! Princess C mostly enjoyed looking at the magazines and spreading glue around her paper, the table and herself (thankfully it was just a glue stick, not too messy).
After our afternoon walk we read Eric Carle's ABC book. Sadly we are missing the first page, so letters abc and d were gone. Princess C loves singing the alphabet song, so we sang first, then read, and sang it again. As we read the book, I had Princess V help me. She would tell me the letter, than the animal, and together we would read the word. She picked up on the fact that the word was the animal. But that's how we learn to read right? We then started finding picture for each letter of the alphabet to make our own ABC book. We were unable to finish that though, so pictures will be coming tomorrow.

For a day to day update - Princess V and I went to a Mary Kay party tonight. While there Princess V referred to the Princess R (still in my tummy) as mommy's friend "Wosarina". She's never given the baby a name before without me telling her it first. It was so sweet! Princess C got to enjoy her evening with Daddy all to herself!

Harriet Tubman Day

We had a great history day today. After lunch we colored some trains and talked about the Underground railroad. We then read 2 books.

Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt

and

Under the Quilt of Night

by Deborah Hopkinson

After reading these books, Princess V and I talked about freedom. We wondered what it would be like to be a slave, and then how it would feel to get to freedom! I think she understood the feelings of sadness and joy, but still quite grasp the concept.

International Women's Day

Mommy wasn't feeling too great today, just a headache, so we didn't do much schooling. We went to a local park and got some good play time in. But on the way home Princess V got tired so she took a nap. Then Daddy came home and took Princess C out for a bit, leaving mommy with free time! What a way to celebrate Womens Day!!!

We did a little though. When Princess V woke up we read a chapter out of Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. We're halfway through it, and loving it! When Princess C got home we colored pictures to send to Grandma. We've got to appreciate all the women in our lives!

For Family Home Evening, we talked about Esther. We found her book in the bible, and then watched the cartoon of Esther. She was a great women full of faith and righteousness.

Unfortunately our day didn't end the way we would've liked. Mommy went to take a bath, and the Princess' hopped on the bed to watch a movie before bed. While in the tub I heard a loud thunk and Princess V screaming. She had fallen off the bed. We tried calming her, but I could tell she was more seriously hurt this time around then other falls. So we packed her into the car and I drove her to the Instacare. Daddy stayed home to be with Princess C. At the instacare they got us right back to be looked at. The dr was one I like and was really nice. She was concerned with how much pain Princess V seemed to be in, and the fact that she wouldn't let go of her neck. So instead of doing any x-rays there they called the hospital and we got a ride over to the ER. They had to put her in a neck brace and a thing they call a papoose. It kept her from not moving but the whole time she kept begging me "please please please take it off. I don't want a bandaid!" I felt so helpless. I cried a bit, but knew I had to be strong for her, so calmed down and took care of her. At the ER she fell asleep, and we let her. They did a CT scan, and thank goodness it all came back negative. No internal injuries, so she will just be sore. They gave me a list of things to watch for just in case though. We're home now and watching Once Upon A Forest. She's awake, and having a hard time falling asleep. We tried a drink, but it seemed to hurt to swallow as well. And moving her neck isn't so pleasant at the moment.

Well, I'm off to relax and see what I can do to make her comfortable. Hopefully she won't be in too much pain tomorrow.

Michelangelo's Birthday

Day of Art

Wow what a fun day we had today! The Princess' loved waking up and having Nana still here from the night before. We started off looking at the weather and putting the Sunny sign up! Then we went for a bike ride. Sunny days make for happy kids.

When we came back inside we worked on our self portraits. Princess V drew each part of her face separate. So one paper had her head, one her lips, one her teeth and one her hair. I thought it was very creative of her. I attempted helping Princess C and we got something that looked like a round cartoon bird. Daddy even joined in the fun today!

After running some errands around town we came back to work on sculptures. Food sculptures that is. Once again Daddy joined in. His are by far the best!

Venice's letter I and rocking chair in progress

Creating their sculptures. Princess C made half-eaten creations

My limited creative mind at work

Daddy's Dog. Oh yeah, it rocks!

For a little quiet time we pulled out Baby Einstein's Nursery Rhymes. The book has paired artwork with different nursery rhymes. For example, Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh with Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

If we had had more time we thought about putting paper under the table to color on, and recreate the Sistine Chapel. Lots of fun! One future day we will have to try this!

In like a Lion, Out like a Lamb

Weather

The last two days have been a blast!!! Yesterday we were talking about the weather, and today was kites/wind. Although we had so much to do yesterday, that the weather spilled over to today as well.

Thursday morning we spent coloring Lions, and then talking about how the wind can roar like a lion. Then we made our own wooly sheep, and talked about how lambs are sweet and gentle like a nice sunny day.

When we looked out at the weather it was so bright and sunny we just couldn't stay indoors anymore. So we headed to the park with some friends. The Princess' absolutely loved it, and were sad when we had to leave.

When we got home we began making our weather chart. They are not quite done yet, so I don't have a picture to share. But we made signs for Sunny, Snowy, Rainy, and Cloudy. Each day we will look at the weather, and post the correct sign for what it looks like. We'll be calling it our "Weather Station". This was great letter/sound recognition for Princess V. I'd name the type of weather and then she would pick out the letter that it started with. She did a great job! Princess C had fun adding a snowman (with mommy's help) to our Snowy chart.

This morning we had a rough go of it. We had been up late last night after going to Daddy's first concert as student teacher, and the Princess' still got up at their normal 6:30am. So we laid around a bit before getting started. We finished up the charts, and researched how to attach them to a flannel board (sand paper). We took a quick shopping trip to get baby items, and were quickly home again.

This afternoon we talked about wind and kites. If it had been a little nicer out and we had some wind we would've made a real kite and gone out, but the weather wasn't as nice today as it was yesterday. So we improvised and made our own little kites, and created some wind. Check it out!

Happy Birthday Alexander Graham Bell

Today we discussed the telephone and different ways of communicating. We pulled out our toy rotary phone and found all the numbers. It was good recognition for Princess V and a nice brush up on counting for Princess C.

After some free play with the telephone we had music time. I really enjoyed this today. I always enjoy music time, but I felt I really got to teach the little Princess' today. We pulled out our bongos, boomwhackers and ukulele. I started by telling the girls how sound on a phone is sent by vibration. So we had a quick definition of vibration, and then we felt it. As we put our hand on a bongo head, we would then talk. You can feel the vibration in your hand. It's slight and not much, but it's there. Next we enjoyed whacking the boomwhackers to create our own vibrations. For this we also put our hand over one end and talked through the boom stick. You can also do this with a pvc pipe, toilet paper roll, or any other cylinder object with openings on both ends. We finished up with the ukulele. I showed the girls how as you pluck the strings they vibrate. It's the strings vibrating that create the "music". Just like our voices vibrating through the phone.

Here's Princess V thoroughly enjoying her ukulele and the vibrating.

For arts and crafts today the Princess' made their own telephone. Princess V got to practice her scissor cutting skills. She is getting much better at it, but sometimes holds them upside down. I pulled out an old phone book, and let her cut up the pages. We then glued the pieces of the phone book onto plastic cups. Add some string through the bottom and you have your own home telephone. At first they didn't see how it was a telephone, but once I showed them how to use it, they had a blast. Although Princess C thought it was more fun as a fishing rope off the side of her bed. Creative.

The last part of our lesson today was on sign language. It's something I tried getting into with Princess V when she was younger, but once she learned to talk, we stopped using. Sadly I never really gave it a try with Princess C. So today, Princess V and I went over some of the signs we knew - Please, thank you, mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, sit, and table. I talked with her how some people can't hear, and other can't talk. The only way they can communicate is through sin language. She seemed curious about that. For anyone interested in more signing with your toddlers, I've really enjoyed the dvd's "Signing Time". Very fun and interactive for the wee ones.

Happy Birthday Daddy! and Dr Seuss

We took it a little slower today and just enjoyed celebrating. Being that it was Dr Seuss' birthday we stuck most of our learning in Literature. Here's some of what we did:

Read Cat in the Hat - worked on posture balancing books on our heads. Princess V made it a couple steps before the book started to fall. Princess C thought we were weird and refused to have a book on her head.

Read One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish - Princess V even read the title of this one! Probably more from memorization than actually reading, but it was still so exciting to hear. We then ate rainbow gold fish for snack. We also had "Pink Ink to drink" (any pink drink works for this, but we had Pink Lemonade).

Read Green Eggs and Ham - had green scrambled eggs, and rolled deli ham for lunch. YUMMY. Princess C is normally our big eater, so I was surprised when she wouldn't touch her eggs. Princess V declared how much she loved them though.

Throughout the day we also read, Hop on Pop and Mr Brown Can Moo Can You. For a little creativity we printed some coloring pages. One of the Cat's Hat, and one from Green Eggs and Ham. You can find these by doing a google image search for Dr Seuss Coloring Pages.

The rest of our afternoon and night was celebrating King Dad's 28th Birthday! The Princess' love their dad so much. It's always a delight seeing their reaction as he walks in the door. Today just seemed a little more special, being his birthday and all. Of course we have decided to keep the tradition my parents set, and we took Dad out for his birthday dinner. We then went to get his birthday book. Sadly, our favorite restaurant was closed (possibly moving), so we tried a new one. It was good, and we even brought home our leftovers! At the bookstore we left with a new book on Opera. As Dad put it, "It's like a picture book, but for me!" I love this guy! Once home we pulled out the Superman Carrot Cake and ice cream. The Princess' are now in bed, and mom and dad are on the verge of dropping off.

Come back tomorrow to see our adventure into the land of telephones (It's Alexander Grahm Bell's birthday!)

National Pig Day

After doing a little research it's not actually national, but has been celebrated around the country by some pretty interesting parades and "pig outs". So get ready march 1ST, we're having a pig of a day!

We started our day with a little math. I pulled down our piggy bank and jar of coins. We talked about the different coins, and their names. This may be one we'll have to try a few times, before we figure it out and move on to value. But the Princess' thoroughly enjoyed sorting out the coins, and the feeding the pig.

After Math we moved on to Science and Literacy. We talked about different names for pigs. Babies = Piglets

Mommy's = Sows
Daddy's - Boars

And we looked at where they live in our Baby Einstein Books. We really enjoyed reading The Princess and the Pig by Heather Amery. Can be found in The Usborne Book of Princess Stories.

While talking about pigs living on a farm Princess V broke into song "Old MacDonald Had a Farm". So we had a quick singing time, while making our noses look like snouts.

After a "recess" we gathered back together for arts and crafts. An egg carton, markers and yarn make great pig snouts!

We followed up these activities with some quiet time watching Piglet's Big Movie. The time was well used with resting by Teacher mom.

Following the movie and lunch, we had story and drama. The tale of the Three little Pigs was created right here in our home, with a Big Bad Wolf! Oh what fun!! Check out these straw, stick and brick houses :)

We also enjoyed the many things pigs give us:

Breakfast - it was supposed to be sausage, but teacher mom was a bit too tired to cook. But you could also enjoy some bacon for a good breakfast. (We had cereal)

Lunch - Pigs in a Blanket. Wrap hot dogs in crescent rolls and bake for about 10 minutes. Kids love these. Unless your Princess V and then you just like the blanket part :)

Dinner - You could have pork chops, but we had Sloppy joes. As long as we're celebrating pigs, there's no reason to stay clean all day long!

Snack - "Mud" Pudding. The Princess' had a lot of fun measuring, pouring and stirring the pudding. For a little more piggyness we added some mini marshmallows.

Desert - Pig Cupcakes. you're favorite flavor cupcake, frosted in pink icing. Add a large marshmallow for a snout, and black icing for eyes. Fun for all, and tasty too!

Here's a list of other activities you may enjoy :)

- throw around the old pig skin (we would've done this, but we don't have a pig skin)

- Discuss manners. We don't want to act like pigs, but rather Princess'.