Drums and Fun

R asked Santa for drums this year. We said Santa must have felt she just wasn't old enough yet...hasn't stopped her from playing things all around our house since then. I think a small set of some kind may have to go on her birthday list! Check out all three playing along with the music we had on the other day....

Had to add this one! Cabin fever has set in and the kids are getting more creative in how to entertain themselves. Today Kg dumped the blocks and said, "Get in Kb". He, of course, hopped right in and she pulled him around the basement. They took, turns doing this for fifteen minutes or so. Hey, they had fun and knowone was hurt:)

St. Patrick's Day Clovers

We have moved on to decorating for our next holiday...St Patrick's Day! Kb and Kg decorated shamrocks. I gave them scissors to cut out paper while I cut these out. We decorated them with fruity cheerios. The kids don't like the cereal that much so I thought this is a good use for it!

Kg loves using glue!

Hmm, not so bad:)

Letter F

F is for... Faces:)
We had planned for F is for Feathers...couldn't find them in the craft closet. Yep, it needs a good cleaning again! So we used some old pictures we had doubles of and this was perfect. All three loved looking at the faces of their family!

Is it really only Monday?!

What a way to start the week. R had another rough morning...better than last week though. She has had a hard time adjusting to her schedule since vacation. She doesn't want to leave me, says she misses Grandma and Papa, wants warm weather again(don't we all) to play outside. She just had so much fun on our eight days of sunny bliss and family fun that she got used to spending a lot of time together playing outside and having a lot of fun. She has never had a hard time with change so we were shocked with this. It is getting easier and the crying is less every school day and Grandma and Papa come home next week! Not trying to make you feel bad when you read this Grandma, R just misses you a little(or a lot). Oh, did I mention we are still doggy sitting for Millie, another issue for R. Millie has cancer and has started limping a little more the last couple days(again don't worry Grandma-she is okay). R knows she is sick and is going to heaven soon, another thing that worries her. Millie is her dog that lives at Grandma and Papa's house(or so she thinks) and she is really sad that she will leave her someday soon(she was given two months to live almost a month ago). On a happier note...Kb, Kg and I started our week with window paint, scissors and smiles! Some of you are reading this thinking I am crazy for giving two year olds scissors and window paint, they did really well. Plus, they weren't typical scissors, they are snips(is that the proper name for them?). Note to my neighbors who may read this...the window paint is yellow and brown, hence our fancy and colorful windows here(I would wonder what the heck we were up to if I were you:) Here are a few pictures of the morning...

Kb has to see how all paint feels on his fingers. Kg just had to ham it up in the background:)

Kg having some painting fun(yep, she is in a princess dress)!

Kb concentrating so hard on his cutting!

Kg concentrating on her cutting!

"Hey, I did it"!

What a Day

Our original plans for the day were spoiled thanks to the snow. We kept busy though and the kids played really nice together! Okay, with a few exceptions....Kg doing seat drops off of the Kindergarten blocks, all three trying to sneak out to the garage to see Millie(the little ones are allergic to her and can't touch her at all), and Kb learning how to unlock and open the patio doors. Hey, all in all a good day:)
They built together for quite a while

I was told, "I can't look at the camera I am do busy playing"

They entertained themselves coloring and reading

We made cookies. Dh laughed at the odd shapes of them. A four year old doesn't fully grasp the circle dough method(and I spent most my time telling her not to eat the raw dough. She responded with "I know mom, it has raw eggs and I can get sick..as she continued to try eating it)!

Letters and Popcorn

R and I tried something new today. We used popcorn kernels to make the letters of R's first and last name. It was fun, takes some time though. With her somewhat short attention span, we did four letters today. We will work on more tomorrow!

Dot Painting

We did some dot painting today. Little lesson learned a little late(thanks for sharing after the fact Melissa:)...the dot paint we used does not wash off easily. It was fun though!

I turned to see what Kg was doing and this is what happened. Of course, I took a picture and then told him to stop painting himself!

Kg's artwork

R's artwork(she did a nice job of painting one circle at a time:)

Kb's artwork

R's Letter E

R finally made her letter E(with some help from Kb:) Letter E is for Eyes!!

R and Grandma H Projects

Grandma H came over to watch the kids Monday afternoon. While the little ones napped Grandma and R made some cute creations(Grandma came over with a bag of goodies...glitter glue, paper, fun scissors)! R decided she wanted so send her creations to family and friends. Today we worked on writing names of our first special recipients on the projects! R is working very hard on writing her letters, we are so proud of her:)

Rock Star

This is for you Uncle J and Auntie M! R did her "Uncle J Rock Star" moves tonight. She said Uncle J needs to let her use one of his guitars:)

She was singing, "I'm a rock star, I've got my rock moves". We really need to censor her music more:)

This was the start of her lifting her leg and playing her pretend guitar, I just loved the face!

House Guest

Or should I say Garage Guest! Millie, Grandma and Papa's dog(or as R says...her dog that lives at Grandma and Papa's since Kb and Kg are allergic) is staying with us. Uncle D and Auntie L were taking such good care of her and now they are on a little get away so she is staying with us. R is so excited, she is in the yard playing with her and visiting her in the garage whenever we let her! Welcome Millie:)

Happy Birthday Cousin C

We want to wish our cousin/nephew C a Happy Birthday...hope you had a good day! You are growing up so fast!!

Vacation Day 8

Our last day on vacation. A sad day in the end...none of us were happy to go home. R took it the hardest. We did have some fun though. We went to lunch in a little town who call themselves 'A Quaint Drinking Village With a Fishing Problem'...how can you not want to visit that village:) After lunch we went for our final swim at the little pool and then we finshed packing for our trip home. Here are a few pictures of our final day on vacation...

A great view of the boats

R was playing waitress and taking orders(hey, she was practicing her letters:)

The view from our table

Playing in the little pool

R is a little fish after this week! Here she is jumping in!

Kb plays catch with Papa!

Kg is swimming! Eight days in the water and she finally takes the leap and jumps in!!!


Saying goodbye to Grandma and Papa was rough. There were tears shed, it was hard to leave them:(

Yep, I made them pose outside waving as we left!

R had a really hard time leaving Grandma and Papa. She cried for 15 minutes or so in the car. She called Grandma and Papa when we landed in Wisconsin to tell them. Hearing Grandma's voice made her cry again. To the point that she just could't talk to her. She was even crying when we got home. Kg asked at the airport, on the plane, in the car and at home where Grandma and Papa were. I hope tomorrow is better, poor things...they miss their grandparents after a great week together! Thanks for all the fun and great memories this week Grandma and Papa!!

Vacation Day 7

Today started out cloudy and cooler(low 70s). I was a little worried, but by the time we got to the beach it was sunny and inching towards 80. We went to a different beach today, we liked it a lot more than the one we went to earlier this week. This beach had seashells and nice sand for sand castles. The water was chilly at first, but we got used to it. Lesson learned though...lunch at the beach is not a good idea. As soon as the food came out the seagulls swarmed around us. Kb dropped a piece of bread in front of his foot. Before I could pick it up a seagull came in and took it! Kg loved the birds and pointed out the mommy, daddy, and baby birds. She also wanted to feed them, ick. The people around us said she was fun to watch as I apologized for her encouraging the birds to stay near. Here are a few pictures of our beach adventure!

After the beach we made a stop at a store called the Best of Everything. To sum it up, it is a lot of costume jewelry at cheap prices. Some really cute stuff! We pulled up and saw a row of chairs full of men. Inside were women everywhere. It was a little crazy! R went in with Grandma and I and loved it, she was a great shopper. We also stopped at another little shopping center. It reminded me of stores you see in Wisconsin Dells with the layout of Sheboygan's boardwalk. Cute to walk around(also on the water so pretty scenery). We then made our way to the little pool. If you are reading these posts and wondering why we call it the little pool when really, it isn't little I will give a little insight. Two year olds and a four year old need simple terms to describe the pools. The little pool is a nice size pool, but is inside our complex(town house neighborhood). Only residents of this neighborhood can use it and it is walking distance from our vacation home. Hence the little pool name. The big pool, as we like to call it, is the main pools for the entire resort/community. There are actually four pools so we call it the big pool. Make sense? After the pool we went to dinner with intentions of going to an italian restaurant we passed a few times. An hour and a half wait led us down the road to a rib restaurant...great food and an excellent choice! Another great day on vacation...do we really have to end our vacation soon? Can't we just stay until spring hits our hometown?!? Yeah, I know it isn't going to happen. Here are a few pictures from our pool adventure today...
Another visit to the little pool. I have noticed throughout the week the the number of people(grandparent age people) has increased at the little pool when we are there. For some reason they all say our kids are 'delightful' and 'adorable'. Small doses people...do you want them to visit for a few hours:) Just kidding, for the most part they have been really good down here while out and about. One guy got a kick out of Kg. She saw him sitting across the pool and started yelling, "Papa". When he got closer she said, "Hey it isn't Papa, it's a guy". He told her that "all fat old men with gray hair look like grandpas"...not quite how we would have worded it! It stuck with him, today when we saw him and his wife she mentioned it and was chuckling that Kg called him Papa. The guy made a comment to my dad on how the real Papa was with today. Such friendly people here!

The best we can do for a family photo...everyone can't seem to look at the same time!

Kg finally left the steps today. She will go in the ocean, but not to far in the pool this week.

R has turned into a fish! She has practiced all she has been learning at swim class this week!

Kb is turning into a little water bug too! He was climbing in & out and pushing off the side to swim today on his own!