Acorns

Yesterday we (the girls and I) got the idea of collecting acorns that had fallen from our little Pin Oak tree and finding a craft/activity to do with them. We got sidetracked by our paint activity and some "not so great behavior" and never got around to it yesterday. So today was the perfect alternative. I sent the girls outside with a cup and told them to hunt for acorns. They both were able to fill their cups in a matter of minutes. And the excitement each time they spotted one was priceless. "I found ANOTHER one!" "my cup is almost full!" "LOOK here's 2 right next to each other!"

Here is their loot

And the supplies to open them. I sent them upstairs to find the "toy" tools that matched my real tools. We tried to guess which tools would work best at opening the acorns. They got to try with the toy tools first then I handled the real tools and actually opened the acorns.

Ainslee tried the pliers first

Then Kaylee gave it a try. They both enjoyed chasing after the acorns as they flew across the room, that was quite funny to watch.


Then they tried the hammer

The concentration was hilarious

Kaylee had the right idea trying to hold the acorn, she had pretty good hand eye coordination, and didnt hit her fingers

When they were finished trying on their own, I opened them with the real tools. Here Ainslee's has a crack in it and she is trying to pry it open.

Kaylee got hers open quickly and was very proud of what she found.

They both wanted to eat the nuts, but we threw them out in the grass to "feed" the squirrels and birds

Before we cracked them open we counted them, made shapes/numbers/letters with them (on the floor), and I even spelled their names with them. All the while I was trying to come up with some sort of craft we could use them for.

ATTENTION all you creative mommy's out there

send me some ideas of fun crafty things we can do with these little gems. Preferably something that the kids can do most of the work. I found a few ideas online, but most include a hot glue gun. I would prefer that they actually get to participate and avoid burns. Im considering letting them paint them orange and then letting them draw faces on them to make tiny jack-o-lanterns. But we dont need 50+ tiny jack-o-lanterns. I need more ideas people!

Fall Paintings

I've been meaning to take more advantage of the beautiful weather outside (while it lasts). I keep telling myself "plan outdoor activities, make lessons that pertain to outside." But in my laziness I have neglected doing so, until today. Painting outside has been on my "to do" list so i thought we would start there. We gathered up supplies, I had to make brown paint by mixing other colors. This was quite funny, because when we make our smoothies every morning the most basic one we do has strawberries and spinach with a few other things too. Our smoothie comes out almost everytime looking like dirt. So when I asked the girls what colors I needed to make brown Ainslee quickly answered "brown like dirt mommy!" I said yes, remember our smoothies are brown, what colors do we put in them? They both immediately said "GREEN AND RED!" So thats where we started. I added a little bit of white and a touch of yellow as well.

I decided since we were painting outside I didnt want them to use the regular brushes and things, so we gathered up "fall" things from the yard, as well as some kitchen utensils and we went to town.

Here are the supplies we gathered

2 girls ready to paint, dont ask me why Kaylee has that look on her face
our supplies from inside, including brown, yellow and orange paint

I showed the girls how to make a stamp out of a leaf

Kaylee preferred the kitchen utensils, while Ainslee enjoyed using the things we collected outside

trying to make her own leaf stamp

adding all the colors

pushing it down

"look what I made mommy"

but then she got a bit upset at the tiniest bit of paint on her fingers, i ignored it and she seemed to be ok for a few minutes. I think the messiness was why she wanted to stop painting so quickly. She was ready to come in and wash her hands

painting with pine needles

Overall, it was a super fun activity that they both enjoyed. We ended up doing 2 sheets of paper, the second one just turned into a big blob of mixed up paint. I wonder when they are going to figure out the whole "art" thing. They would rather just paint in one spot until they make a hole in the paper. Oh well, at least they enjoyed themselves.

Lists - how I love/hate thee

Are any of you list makers? I am!

I make lists for everything! I've always been a list maker and I've always loved scratching things off my list once it is complete! Sometimes I even divide up a "chore" into more than one thing so that I can cross more off my list.  But lately lists and I have NOT been the greatest of friends! They seem to be unending or even growing instead of shrinking and becoming completed. I never get to "finish" my list anymore. I cross things off and the list gets bigger, how does that happen!? And besides my frustration with my ever growing lists, it doesn't matter how much I accomplish in one day, I never have anything to show for it. Most of the time you can't even tell I've done anything all day long! When, in actuality, I haven't sat down the entire day (except to maybe eat lunch). I doesn't matter if I have done 30 things that day no one would notice, definitely not the girls and most certainly not my husband! It is very frustrating and depressing! And I hope that my beloved lists decide to add me back to their good side!

Now excuse me while I go add to my list of things to do, and hopefully check off a thing or two.......at least I was able to scratch "write a blog post" off my list!

Ainslee - food, belly, dancing

I have to share some funny things my little 2 1/2 year old does. I completely realize that it probably won't seem that funny to you as you are not her doting parent and you haven't seen such occurances first hand. But I am going to go ahead and share with you mostly for documentation purposes.


As you all know my girls just LOVE to eat! Always have and I'm sure always will! Their love of food is so fun to watch ???

When ainslee eats or chews her food, she dances. When she thinks she is going to get food she breaks out in dance. It is so freaking hilarious, she gets so excited and "into" her food that she doesn't even realize she is busting a move.  Food makes her happy!

Now you know when she really doesn't like a certain food, because she is capable or holding a bite in her cheek for over an hour, to avoid having to swallow it! I know this because she has done shown us on multiple occassions!

My most favorite thing she does in regards to food is when she is hungry she will walk into the kitchen lift up her shirt (if she is even wearing one) and rub her belly. Like its a little budda belly. Like she has to massage it before she fills it up. It is so freaking hilarious!

The other day when I was getting her out of her crib in the morning she greeted me with the same words I'm greeted with EVERY TIME I get her out "eat momma, hung-gee!" We started talking about what was for breakfast this particular morning and I said something like "you gotta fill that giant belly of yours." She lifted up her shirt and said "I no have giant belly momma, SEE!"
 
I love that little monster!

Days fly by

I'm pretty sure I'm the only one that keeps up with it, but have any of you noticed I have less than 100days left to carry this heathen inside!?! I was meaning to write a post on my 100 day mark, but that obviously didnt happen.  I can't even tell you how the time has flown by! You know when you are a child waiting and waiting for Christmas, your birthday or summer to arrive each year? And each year it seems as though you had to wait YEARS inbetween each "holiday/event"! Now it seems as though there are merely days inbetween holidays and no time to prepare mentally or physically for them. Where does the time go? And why all of a sudden is it moving at mach speed?

I can't believe in 91 short days (give or take a few) I will be holding this little one instead of feeling his/her kicks from the inside. I can't believe we will have THREE children! I can't believe we will be moving Kaylee to the "back" of the car full time! I can't believe I will get to experience nursing all over again, which I LOVE, but not so much the lack of sleep that comes with it. I can't believe I am preparing the upstairs room for my soon-to-be FIVE year old to move up there! But most of all I can't believe that in a few short months marcus and I will be outnumbered!


Yesterday I had my glucose test and I am just hoping that I pass, because I certainly don't want to experience that 3 hour test again and I definitely don't want to alter my diet anymore than it already is!

Based on averages and a chart I found my baby is about 14 1/2 inches long and weighs nearly 2 lbs already! Amazing! I would love to have another ultrasound to get to see him/her again! But am too scared we will see the sex and we really don't want to know, however I still think it is another girl! I do know, if he is a boy he will remain nameless as I can not come up with any boy names that I LOVE!

Oh and Kaylee felt the baby kick for the 1st time today, she was so excited, and she told me very confidently that she has been "practicing" and she no longer needs a boppy to help her hold babies, so when the baby comes out, she can hold her all by herself. She even claims to know how to hold the baby while she is walking, which is an absolute NO NO in my book! I guess I can let her dream though!

Proud momma moment

Yesterday I had a shape page pulled out for Ainslee to work on during her "school" time. Since she is only 2 I usually dont have many structured learning activities planned for her, but I like to throw in a few here and there. For this page I intended to combine a few "learning opportunities," shapes, colors, and following directions. I was going to sit down with her and have her color certain shapes the color I told her and then have her draw the lines to connect the matching shapes.  But as it goes in the homeschool/mommy world something came up. I got a phone call right after I handed her the paper, and I got distracted from her for a few minutes. In hindsight, I probably shouldnt have answered the phone call, but it was from the church regarding some Baptism sponsorship info that i needed, so I really needed to answer the call.  Anyways, so when I returned to her desk the picture below is what i found. She had nearly completed the page all by herself, without me even telling her the directions. She figured out that she was supposed to match the shapes and draw lines to them. I was astonished! At first I considered the idea that Kaylee might have helped her, but then I quickly realized that she hadnt moved from her desk, where she was diligently working on her own work. Ainslee had figured this one out on her own. She never quite finished the paper before I began my whole "freaking out scene" so she didnt match the rectangles. And she drew 2 lines to each triangle, I guess thats her favorite shape, or maybe she just wanted to emphasize the fact that she knows her triangle. Either way, I was so proud of my little girl, and the fact that these are the things that I get to witness (or sort of witness even when im distracted by the phone) while homeschooling. I swear I have gotten more validation from our decision to homeschool in the past few weeks, and it makes me so happy to KNOW we have made the right decision!

check out her work (the line from the squares is faint, but it is there)



I know that she is no genius, she does not know nearly as much as other 2 year olds, she does not know her letters (Nicole if you are reading this, clearly your child IS a genius, how in the world did you teach her all of that so young), she doesnt even know ALL her shapes yet, we are almost there on the colors (i think she knows more than she lets on).

Freaky Coincidence

My dad has 3 brothers, all of which look similar, which isnt really THAT important to my story, or surprising considering they are brothers. But anyways my dad lives here, one uncle lives in the St Louis area with most of the rest of the family, one lives in Chicago, and the other lives in Jackson Hole Wyoming. They all look like mountain men if you ask me, check out there picture here from the family reunion a couple years ago. Anyways, the point of my story is that my uncle that lives the farthest away just had a "freaky" coincidental experience! He has lived out there for at least 30+ years. He knows EVERYONE in Jackson Hole! He was in the liquor store the other day, and saw an unfamiliar face with a accent that he sort of recognized, and he knew wasnt local. (just for clarification i have NO idea what a Wyoming accent sounds like)  So he asked the lady where she was from. She told him she was from Tennessee. My uncle asked "Oh yeah? where abouts in Tennessee?" She looked at him a bit confused and said "Well this small town in west Tennessee named Collierville." To which my uncle replied "then you just might know my brother, his name is John Meehan." The lady looked at him, with what Im sure was a WTF look and said "I SURE DO! My name is Lori Averill! Ive known him for a very long time!"

What are the chances? Seriously Jackson Hole is like 1600 miles away (i dont know that off the top of my head, i looked it up), and the fact that they were in the SAME liquor store at the SAME time?!? Really?

I grew up with Mrs. Averill's girls, we played sports together and went to the same school. Her oldest daughter is the one I told you about who owns the organic juice bar Cosmic Coconut. When my dad told me the story I couldnt believe it, but it just goes to show what a SMALL world we live in, which I think is kind of comforting at times.

Ainslee

You all know by now my friend Bethany takes the most AMAZING pics! I love it when she brings her camera with her and snaps a few of the girls!

Here are a few she captured a few weeks ago when we took a trip to the park.



Washington Trip - the planning phase

As I mentioned in last week's wordless Wednesday post, we are planning a trip to Washington State to visit friends and be there for our godson's christening. I have been busy trying to get the trip planned, hoping that the planning will lead us to a successful, educational, problem-free, worry-free trip. Is that too much to ask for?


I have booked a condo about 14 miles from our friends house, in the cute little town of Port Townsend. We will stay with them the 1st night, then check into our condo for the next 6 nights. We are on the wait list for the condo for the 7th night, but if we dont get it, then we will be staying with them another night. Then we drive back to Seattle for 2 nights. While there I am planning our visits to the Space Needle, Science Museum, Fish Market, and maybe a harbor boat tour. While we will be staying there 2 nights, we really only have a day and a half so see Seattle. I was able to book another one of our resorts for Seattle as well, so we will be staying right downtown less than a mile from everything for a fraction of the price. I was STOKED about this incredible find, and the fact that it was available!

While in Port Townsend and Sequim (thats where they live) we are planning on visiting Olympic State Park and driving up to Hurricane Ridge, there are supposed to be some fantastic views from up there, and considering my 7 month pregnant state and the time of year we are going to have to forgo the hiking part of the trip and opt for driving instead. We might pay a visit to a local winery, where I plan on buying some bottles to bring home with us and enjoy after this little one is born. We are going to take a driving tour of the Olympic Game Farm. And maybe hang out at the Dungeness Recreation Area a couple of times. I cant express how excited I am to finally get to make it up to the Northwest part of our beautiful country. I know that this trip will NOT disappoint!

We are also trying to arrange to visit some long time family friends who have lived out there for YEARS. They used to live up the street from us growing up, and since moving to Washington they travelled back here for our wedding and to Mexico for Crista's wedding. I am hoping that while in the Seattle area we are able to hook up with them.

As usual we will be flying standby, and with only one non-stop flight per day, and considering our circumatances and the distance of the trip I REALLY hope that we are lucky enough to make it on each of the non-stop flights! And maybe, just maybe, my husband might give me an early "birthing gift" and let me sit in 1st class while he takes care of the girls in coach. That is IF a 1st class seat is open, but here's to hoping!

Craigslist is ANNOYING!!!

Lately we have had a few open listings on craigslist to try and get rid of some of the things in our house that we dont use/need. Among the things listed are the rug from our "dining room," which is now the school room. We never actually used it as a dining room so it wasnt much of a conversion. The coffee table from the living room, which we bought 4 years ago and has been sitting in the corner of the room for about the last 3 3/4 years. We barely ever used it, only pulling it out on rare occasions when we had people over. It was big, bulky, and just in the way, so it had to go. And the 3rd thing is an OLD TV. It is so old, it has been up in the playroom, for the past couple of years, but hasnt been used for probably 4 years.

We have finally sold 2 out of the 3 items! After days, maybe even weeks of frustration, broken appointments, and LOTS of emails! I had 2 people try to scam me out of the coffee table, about 16 people interested in the rug and 6 of those actually made appointments but never showed up (or had the decency to cancel the appointment). So i would sit around the house waiting for someone, when I couldve been doing something else, it was just plain annoying. Then I had about 7 people interested in the TV of which ALL of them either broke appointments, would give me their phone number to call them and meet them but then never answer to set up a time.....UGH! And the coffee table didnt have many lookers, but finally it ended up being the easiest sale. The couple literally walked in looked for about 45 seconds, asked us if we had $10 in change, handed us the money and began loading it in the car. They were here and gone in less than 8 minutes!

Even though craigslist is so annoying and loaded with frustration we are about to attempt to sell our pool table on there too. We have had this pool table for probably 7 years now. It sat in the garage for the first year or so, then made its way to the attic for the next 4 years, and when we finished the upstairs it had to be relocated to the garage again. It is an OLD Dixie table from the 1950's. We would love to keep it, and possibly set it up and actually USE it, but we have NO room for it, and it is just taking up space in the garage, so it has to go. If you know anyone who might be interested in a slate pool table (that needs new felt), please pretty pretty please let me know, so i can avoid the dreaded craigslist! I can send pictures of it if you are really interested, however I only have ones of it in pieces, not put together

Gymnastics

We havent been to gymnastics in SOOOOO long. This past week, I decided it was time to pay them a visit and check out the new facility. We met our good friend Bella there and the girls had a BLAST! I was busy chasing after all 3 girls, so i didnt get many pics or videos, but here are the ones I got. The new gym is so much better than the old one, and we are going to make this a weekly (or maybe every other week) outing.

The videos are pretty self explanatory.......so enjoy

Wordless Wednesday - Baby bump

24 weeks

25 weeks

(I put on these shorts just for this picture, it's kinda a tradition now, so these are my new Tuesday shorts, I wear them for my belly shots)