Cheesecake

Happy National Cheesecake Day!

I love cheesecake, it's one of my favorite desserts!  But I decided today we would try it with a twist.  So we had  Cheesecake Berry Parfait.  Oh it was so yummy.  Princess V was a good help even though she kept sticking her fingers in the berries.  Princess C just wanted to eat it (until it was actually made that is), but she also counted the parfait cups for us.  The end result was delicious!

Books

Wednesday we read a Peek a Boo book with jungle animals.  Each page had a small description of the animal and then you lift the flap to see the animal.  When we first read it I had Princess V and C guess the animals, then the second time I wanted to see what they could remember.  They did pretty well.  The third time reading it we acted out each animal.  Princess R had the giggles watching us prance, hop and roar.  Although the roaring did scare her a bit, we fixed it with the hopping frogs.

Yesterday we read One Lonely Seahorse by Saxton Freymann and Joost Elffers. 

All the animals and scenery in this book are created out of food.  So after reading it, we built our own fruit animals.  Princess V and C used grapes and cherries to "draw" pictures of seahorses and fish.  I used a half cantaloupe and made a turtle.  Princess V helped me with the apple slices for the turtles head, feet and tail.  Then we made an octopus out of a banana peel.  The Princess' helped me count the legs to make sure it had 8!  

colors

Today we read Chameleon's Colors by Chisato Tashiro.  Princess V had fun finding the Chameleon on each page, while Princess C pointed out all the other animals and colors.

This evening I pulled out the paint and let Princess V paint like the chameleon.  Princess C would have too, except that she was sleeping.  

Princess R has mastered rolling over back to tummy.  Only problem is she doesn't like being on her tummy.  She has also discovered her toes, and loves holding onto them.  While Princess V and C were playing barbies today they decided to get Princess R involved.  I found Princess R covered in barbies with a pony house on her lap (she was in the bouncer).  I thought she'd be crying, but she was all smiles.  She really loves getting attention from her big sisters.  I'll upload pics soon (no card in camera, so I need to find a way to transfer them).

Moving!

We are so pleased to announce that within the next two weeks we will be moving.  Daddy had an interview yesterday morning and within 30minutes they called him back and offered him the job.  YAY!!!  I know many prayers were answered yesterday.  Not only did we find a job, but it has everything Daddy wanted in a job.  It's full time, has benefits, they want to start a marching band, and get a pep band at the sporting events.  Onward to finding a home now!  Tomorrow we will be house shopping all day.

Random learning

Schedules have been crazy this weekend, but here's some of the fun we had!

Sunday morning while getting dinner in the crockpot Princess V asked me for her cookbook.  So I gave her her pink princess cookbook to look at.  She found a recipe for a pink princess cake and decided she wanted to make it.  So once we had dinner going, we made a cake.

On Monday, Princess V had her last day of dance class.  Parents were invited to come watch.  I was so proud of how well she listened to her teacher!  She's been having so much fun, it's sad it's now over.  She's the blonde third in from the left.

Monday afternoon Princess R had her 2 month checkup.  She now weighs 11lbs 1oz, and she is 24inches long!  She's developing well.  Then she got 3 shots and 1 oral vaccine.  I didn't know she could make that many facial expressions, and boy does she have some strong lungs!!

This morning Princess C woke up and wanted to get dressed immediately, it was wonderful.  No fight involved!  After getting dressed she helped me make some scrambled eggs, and strawberries with sugar.  She was a wonderful help.

Sewing

Today marks the birthday of Elias Howe.  Mr Howe is credited with inventing the first lockstitching sewing machine.  I love sewing.  So, the Princess' learned a new skill today.  They are fascinated by the sewing machine whenever I pull it out, so they're fairly familiar with that.  To start out our lesson, we talked about how a long time ago poeple didn't have sewing machines.  They had to make all their clothes by hand.  This led us into our first activity.  I pulled out a hoop, some fabric and thread (pink!) and let the girls each try their hand at it.  Here is a pic of Princess V loving every minute!

Princess C needed my help holding the hoop, so we didn't get a picture of her.  She also wasn't that interested in it.  Oh well, she's still  a little young to be using sharp things. 

On to bigger and better things, the sewing machine!  Princess V has been begging for a new apron.  So today she got one.  She helped me make it.  We had to measure, cut and sew.  While sewing she did the foot press and I kept the fabric straight.  She quickly learned that if she lightly pressed, it went slow, and hard pressed went fast.  She then had to prove just how awesome she is by watching the fabric and stopping when it got to the end without me telling her to!  Wow, she is talented!

Liberty!

The Liberty Bell

Today we talked about the Liberty Bell.  Had a fun little history day.  It was nice because it fit so well with having the 4th on Sunday and being able to continue with that today.  

We started out reading The Story of the Liberty Bell.  Afterwards Princess V told me about the bell and tried to read the story back to me.  I was very impressed with her.  Then we made our own bell.  A plastic cup over turned with a bead attached to a pipe cleaner and poked through the top (bottom of the cup).  It doesn't make too much noise (hardly any) which is fine by me.  But if you're looking to get some noise out of your bell, use string istead of pipe cleaner, and a jingle bell inside.

I hope you are all enjoying the freedoms and LIBERTIES of this wonderful country as much as I am.  We truly are blessed to be living here!

National Puppetry Day....

Well once again this is a day that moves around each year.  And it isn't anywhere close to today.  Aw well, we celebrated anyway!  I started with the Princess' coloring 3 little pigs, a big bad wolf, a straw house, stick house and brick house.  Then Princess V helped me tape them onto plastic knifes.  We covered Princess R's hanging play toys with a blanket and put on a puppet show.  Oh the girls loved it!  After I told the story the girls shared and each told their own story.  We had pigs blowing houses down and a wolf eating a house.  Imagination is so cool!  We ended our celebration watching Jim Hensen's "Kermit: The Swamp Years"

Beatrix Potter

Happy Birthday Ms. Potter

Today is Beatrix Potter's birthday.  She wrote many wonderful children's stories.  If you've never read them I suggest you do!  We started our day today with stories 

The classic tale of Tom Kitten

The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies

The Tale of Peter Rabbit

The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle

After a little break we did the Bunny Hop.  Only we had to change it to the "Kangaroo Hop".  We have a Winnie the Pooh CD that has the Kangaroo Hop, but it's pretty close.  All 3 Princess' loved dancing around to that.  The song is just under 2 minutes and we hopped the whole time.  What a workout!!  Princess R giggled a good bit while watching us hop around.  It was so much fun.

After our exercise we used our imaginations.  I asked Princess C and V what their favorite animals are since Beatrix Potter wrote about animals.  They both said cats.  So we got on all fours and pretended to be cats, meowing and cleaning ourselves.  Or in Princess C's case cleaning Princess V and R.  That girl is a hoot to watch!

For dinner we ate Peter Rabbit looking biscuits.  To make open a can of refridgerated buttermilk biscuits.  Cut 1 into 3 pieces, and shape into a bow tie and 2 ears.  Attach to another biscuit.  Cook according to package directions!

For dessert we had Raspberry Creme pie with fresh raspberries on top.  I think a treat Ms Potter would have thoroughly enjoyed!  Now if I can convince Daddy, he and I will be ending the night watching  Miss Potter 


Tomorrow is National Puppetry Day!  I'd love to see any ideas you have or puppets you've made!  We'll be creating the 3 little pigs here!

4th of July Weekend

We spent the 4th of July weekend at Nana's and Opah's.  Princess V and C went to a baseball game with Daddy and Opah on Friday night.  On Saturday we all took a picnic and went to watch the fireworks.

The Princess' had a lot of fun watching from inside their tent.  

Mmmm, what a yummy flag!  Made with a tart bottom, and a cream cheese frosting.

I am so grateful to live in a free country.  In THIS free country.  I know I've said it before, but I want to thank all our troops who continue to fight to keep this country free!  Thank you!

National Picnic Month

July is national picnic month.  So in honor of that -

And for our craft which worked on the Princess' fine motor skills we made picnic blankets and ants