A Love For Books....

Kate has always enjoyed looking at books, but just in the last couple of months she has begun to love her books. She wants us to read to her all the time and now she doesn't want to hurry through and turn the pages as fast as she can. It's about the joy of the story and studying and pointing out things in the pictures. She loves her books that she gets from the Imagination Library and we have specific ones that she loves to be read every night. She also loves her family picture book. She loves to go through the pages and point out Daddy, Mommy, Noah, Rachel & Kate-Kate. I love that she is loving being read to so much. I hope she always has a love for reading.

Homemade Cinnamon Play Dough

Noah hasn't been feeling very well this week. Strep and the flu are going around the school, with 8 kids out of his homeroom. He has been running a low grade fever, so on Thursday and Friday he stayed home from school with the girls and I. At times he would feel fine and want to play, while at other times he would be so tired and just want to curl up on the couch. Rachel and I made cinnamon play dough last week and the kids enjoyed playing with it. It was a good low energy thing for Noah to do while he wasn't feeling his best. I love that they enjoy being so creative. Noah made his name and a face. Rachel made noodles and the smaller face - love how hers has eye lashes to make it girly.

Happiness Is A Bath In The Tub...

My first two babies loved the tub... what made me think this one would be any different? Yes, she has had tub baths before. :) But, yes, I still love to give her baths in the sink - easier on the back (it's a sign of getting old, I know)... It's always a serious treat for both these girls to get in the tub together. They love to play in the bath. I remember when Noah and Rachel used to splash and play together. Good memories.

I'm Sewing, Mom!

Aunt Amie gave Rachel a 'My First Sewing Kit' at Christmas this year. I have been shy to pull it out because of how young she is. I shouldn't have worried. Rachel picked it up very quickly and tries very hard to do it just right. We pulled the kit out and checked out all the contents and she was excited to set to work. The first thing she did was just sew a straight line of stitches on a yellow piece of felt to get the hang of it. Then she wanted to try one of the stuffed animals. She decided to sew the cat and has gotten the tummy parts sewed together. She is learning a couple of different stitches to do it and hasn't quite finished yet. I'll have to post the finished product when she's all done. :) Miss Kate was just being her usual stinker self - that scrunch nose kills me.

5 Year Check Up

Rachel had her 5 year check up this morning. She knew she was going to have to have shots and I had told her that she could have breakfast of her choice afterwards. She did really well - She didn't even really cry, more of a yelp. She talked to Dr. Bean, answered all his questions, was weighed, measured, checked out, had to draw shapes, write her name and draw a person and had her ears and eyes tested. She weighs 42 pounds (60th %) and is 45 1/2 inches tall (95th %). Dr. Bean said she is very mature for her age, has great manners and is more than ready for Kindergarten. Good job, Rachel! After the dreaded shots, we headed over to Mc Donald's (Why Mc Donald's? After being offered any restaurant in the entire city? Because she's 5 - and that's her favorite), where she ordered hotcakes and a large chocolate milk shake. I did promise her what ever she wanted...

Snow Much Fun...

Day 2 - More playing in the snow... I mean really, what else are you supposed to do? :) School was called for Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday due to all the snow that we got. The kids were thrilled with all the snow and no school. We spent that day much like the first with lots of playing. We built a new snowman and the kids tore down the old one. This one was taller and out in front of the house so people could see him. Kate got in on the action this time and actually seemed to enjoy being out in the weather.

Cabin Fever?

After spending most of the day home and playing in the snow, we were finally ready to venture out and see if we were going to be able to make our date night at Nama's the night after the big snow. We headed out to our usual 1st stop, Starbucks. :) After grabbing a coffee we headed over to Grammy & Papa's house where Noah got his first lesson in Snow Shoveling 101. After visiting for a while and sharing some popcorn we headed over to Mom's house. She was watched the kids for us while we enjoyed dinner at Nama's. It was definitely good to get out.

Pretty

These guys sit in the tree outside of our workout room window. I love to watch them while I'm on the treadmill - makes it a little more bearable-ha! We have cardinals, bluejays and two fat squirrels that live in the tree.

Magic Wizard's Potions

Noah's Aunt Amie got him this great box of goodies for Christmas this year and he was sweet to share it with Rachel. They were so excited to open up the box and get started. Luckily Kate was napping so that we didn't have too many little hands involved. The kit comes with four test tubes with lids and a holder, a magic wand, magic hat and all the 'stuff' you need to concoct the experiments. Noah and Rachel couldn't wait to get started. The first experiment they did was the magic wand where you turned a liquid into purple crystals to fill your wand with. Very cool - this is one of the coolest potions in the box (in my opinion). That one took about an hour, so there was plenty of time to try out most of the rest of the spells as well. Noah used the new purple wand and let Rachel use his Harry Potter wand - so cute. They had fun changing colors of potions and making potions bubble and fizz. They also made a crystal ball beaker and the last spell we did created a glow in the dark potion. Very cool.