Hannah the Mermaid; Pt. 2

Hannah has done remarkably well during swim lessons this week. Monday started off slow. As in, Hannah refused to get into the pool at all. But we are so glad we returned Tuesday morning! She has been active and excited and trying all sorts of new, and challenging, things this week!


Hannah has progressed to doing the 'frog swim' technique, as long as a teacher is holding her. She stood off of the wall, touching her feet to the bottom of the pool!! This was HUGE for her!


Hannah also used a kick board to kick around the pool, with the teacher holding the kick board rather than her. She even went down the kid's water slide! Hannah also says that she 'bobbed' her head under the water, which would be the ultimate accomplishment for this girl, but I haven't seen that yet. But she probably did!!


(Out of order, but here is a dress I made for Hannah. She finally wore it for me!)


Smiling after swim class!


My big, brave lady in the water! I am so proud of her! We're thankful her teachers were extra patient with her, and will be baking them a few dozen cookies this afternoon to show our appreciation.

Happenings

Let's begin this blog by me stating that I do, in fact, brush her hair. Girl Scouts honor! But my girls like to do crafts first thing after breakfast, pre-clothing and hair brushing. And I consent because if they accidentally get paint on their 'jammas' versus their clothes, well... who cares?We had a few rainy days keep us inside lately, so we tried some new crafts. Here is Hannah painting a peg doll! Which we will later construct into a necklace, once we get more hook things at the craft store. We, mostly me, are excited about the endless possibilities found in the unfinished wood aisle in Michael's in conjunction with the weekly 40% off coupon which allows me one new craft per week at a bargain! Yes!!
This week's craft bargain (Yes!!): Peg doll necklaces for the girls. Came across this terrific idea here. The girls named them Hannah and Blue. Can you guess which is which?
Here is an adorable photo of Hannah from last week, a couple days before a tornado almost got us!! Yeah, did I mention the tornado? We were seriously, incredibly fortunate it dissipated 3-4 minutes prior to reaching Fort Knox. Thank God Eric is such a weather fiend, and once he heard the sirens he turned on the news, firmly stated we were getting the girls out of bed and bringing them downstairs in case we needed to crowd into our little windowless half-bath (it's actually more like a glorified shoe box with a toilet--but whatever).... and then right before it was time to grab a blanket and crowd in there, it was gone. Crazy.
At last week's story time there was a guest speaker from the Humane Society of Nelson County. The woman brought her 11 yr. old cocker spaniel, Tater Tot, in to meet the children and teach them about dog safety. We learned to only approach dogs on leashes, and only pet them if you receive permission from their owner. And if you see a dog approaching you in an aggressive manner you:
get down and pretend to be a rock! Amelia had fun copying the big kids.
There's Hannah approaching Tater. What a sweet dog!! She likes apples, so her owner brought a baggie full of apple pieces for the kids to feed her.
Hannah pretending to 'be a mountain' while you wait for the dog to sniff you prior to petting them. Sweet girl! What an animal lover she is. She says that when we get a house of our own she wants another dog named Daisy, and also two cats named Brown and Brownie. I see a compromise in there somewhere... and a lot of lint rollers...

This Week

(ignore the slight snot-nose here, please. it was one of those times where it became dried before you even realized it was there,
and she wouldn't let me do the 'lick my thumb and wipe it' trick. shameful.)

We have been experiencing gorgeous weather this week! Needless to say, we've been spending a lot of time playing outside and blowing bubbles, taking wagon rides, going to the park, etc.Hannah showing us her latest trick! She even dangled with no hands for a few seconds!

Hannah wanted to take a picture of us. So, in a rare moment, the parents on the other side of the camera.

Hannah looking ever so precious at breakfast the other day. The girls are on a big breakfast kick this week; every day the girls gobble up two bowls of Nature's Path flakes each! Which is Mommy and Daddy's favorite cereal right now, as well. Needless to say, we're having trouble keeping the pantry stocked.
One of our crafts themed around "The Very Hungry Caterpillar." Hannah wrote her name on the circles, one letter per circle. Then, she glued them in order onto a piece of construction paper, and added a face and antennas. Amelia needed Mommy to write her name and draw the face, but she very much enjoyed playing with the glue.
We also tried this craft from "No Time for Flash Cards" where you use cookie cutters dipped in paint to make shapes on your paper. Our cookie cutters are cheap plastic ones (Dollar Tree-- they were 6 for $1), so while we weren't quite able to identify every animal, it was still fun.
After a little while, and by that I mean 4 minutes, the girls just wanted to finger paint anyway.
Hannah has gotten fairly good at writing letters. Maybe half the alphabet? Either big, little or both. The only word she writes is her name. And our little lefty has started switching hands on me lately! Strange. She has a few 'sight words' she can read: 'a, I, no, on,' and 'all.' Hannah also is showing a natural propensity for math. When we are eating multiples of an item, say grapes, we will use subtraction as we eat. "I have seven grapes. If I takeaway one, that leaves me... six!" It's awesome to see children learn through simple play, with no stress or strict agenda.
Amelia has also made some huge strides in her vocabulary recently! In the last week, she has added the following phrases to her repertoire:

"I wu you!"--I love you!
"Boo!"--blue, or really any color. She will point at other colors correctly if you ask her to, but verbally identifies them all as blue.
"Na-na!"--Hannah! (this generally has a negative connotation)
"Dee-du, Mom."--Thank you, Mom.
"Okay, Mommy."--Okay, Mommy. (she replies to everything I say to her with this phrase)
"See Amy!"--Show me my dang picture, woman! (as she's pointing to the digital camera)
"Tickle me, Daddy"--Father, would you please engage in the sport of tickling me for my amusement?

Leaps and bounds, I tell ya!

Wearing "Green"

In our house, we use a lot of paper for art. Even with coloring on both sides, using scratch paper and always, always recycling leftovers, it can feel like a bit much at times. So we've been using our imaginations lately, and seeking out projects that utilize our 'trash' a bit better.
What are some things you do to be more conscientious crafters? Do you have any specific resources you turn to for ideas?

Some scissors, a mixture of blue and yellow washable paint (makes green--didya know?!) in our cleaned-out applesauce cups, Mommy's hot glue gun, and viola! A lovely pair of "green" St. Patrick's Day hats. Top of the mornin' to ya!

Pictures

A few random, recent pictures of our family posted for your viewing pleasure.

Mommy caught the girls jumping on the couch.  Again.  For the eighty-thousandth time this week.  It's like Charlie Brown.  I say, "No jumping on the couch, girls," and all they hear is "wa-wa-wa-waaaaa."

I took an old work polo of Eric's, and sort-of did it wrong, but successfully made Amelia these!*

Hannah working on her beading.  She got a bead kit for her birthday and adores it.  Every waking minute was spent making necklaces for the first three days after.  Thank you very much, Uncle Mike and Aunt Angie!!  

Walter looking oh-so-cute while sitting in his favorite spot staring out the window.  

*These pants!  They are a little long, but give her room to grow.  She needed another pair of play pants, and I was itching to try this idea from Soule Mama.  I'm eye balling Eric's tee shirt drawer now for another...

P.S.  Don't you just love that toothy, cheesy grin of hers?!?!  And her baby-mullet is getting longer!

Hannah 'heart attacking' our windows.  We took the idea from my Martha Stewart Living February issue (golly, that sounds domestic) and used the remaining pink paper napkins from her birthday to make round heart doilies.  Hannah's taping up the ones that didn't turn out like a doilie because we cut it in the wrong place.  But quite a few did, and are taped up on the windows I didn't take a picture of.  :)  Like that?  The napkin, once folded over twice to make the doilie, was a little too thick for her to cute through.  I did that by myself with my heavy duty kitchen shears.   So the kids' craft turned into something crafty for Mommy.  But Hannah always enjoys playing with scissors and tape, no matter what the finished product looks like.

Ok, bye.  

Warm weather for a day!

Last Thursday it was gorgeous out!  A whopping 50-some odd degrees and not breezy!!  We just had to get out and spend quality time at our park.  I'll admit, on 30-degree days when it's wet and windy, I'm less motivated to go outside.  We haven't logged in enough hours at our park this winter...  

Walter, our lovey boy.  He enjoyed chatting with a few pals on the walk to and from...

Hannah climbing up the curved ladder thingy, with her wild woman hair that cannot be tamed.  (She says she wants to grow it long.  But she doesn't like me putting it in pony tails, and I dislike it looking like I neglect her.  This is now an 'issue.')  

Amelia brought her "baw" to the park, and we tossed and kicked it around.

I attempted to get a recent picture of both the girls, together, smiling and looking precious.  Amelia wasn't feeling it.  Neither was Hannah's hair.  Maybe next time...

Apple Trees

We made apple trees the other day.  The girls used green and brown crayons, markers, pencils, etc., to color the top and trunk of the tree.  Next, they cut out the top and trunk, and glued them onto a sheet of construction paper.  Hannah cut it all by herself!  Our little lefty is getting much better at manipulating her scissors around curves.  Then, we picked out red, yellow and green puffs, and glued them onto the tree as our apples.  For Amelia, I taught her the sign's for "apple" and "tree."  For Hannah, we talked about different colored apples, their names (like Pink Lady, Granny Smith, etc.) and how they each grow on different trees in an orchard.  Lastly, we sliced up a delicious Pink Lady, looked at the seeds, talked about how to grow a tree from seeds...  They need dirt, sun and water, you know!  And of course, we ate it!!

Home schoolin'

We continue to do little activities or lessons with the girls to encourage their learning through play.  Last week, we made these new heart crayons!  It was a great way to recycle some of our older art gear.  The girls had fun peeling and breaking up older crayons.  Next, we sorted them by color and put them into muffin cups to be melted in the oven.  Then, we poured the melted crayon into a silicone ice cube tray that had heart shapes in it.  Once they cooled, we popped them out and colored with them!  And like their Crayola and RoseArt counterparts, they easily wash out of the rug.  Or feet, as some children like to color their toes.  (Up top are a few photos.  I can never seem to put them where I want them.  Or in order).

This week, we are doing some art projects based around rain and snow.  For instance, the girls used water colors to paint an umbrella and raindrops drawing, we did a craft based around the book, "The Mitten," and we cut/glued felt scraps on a paper snowman to 'dress' him for winter.  (There are photos of that somewhere.  Not in order).  Later this week we will make this delicious, sweet snack: First, take a round tortilla and cut into it to create a snowflake.  Then, lightly fry it and sprinkle a little powdered sugar on it.  Ta da!  An edible snowflake!  

We have some very artistically inclined children.  It's rather fun that they are so creative, and enjoy crafts and projects of any sort.  Hannah drew her first self-portrait this week.  It had an identifiable head, eyes, torso and feet!!  I was so blown away by her drawing skills, I had to take a picture of her with it before she decided to cut it into pieces and paste it onto something else.  That picture is up there, too, somewhere.  :)

Let it snow!!

A little ornament I made with our extra Scrabble tiles, now that Walter chewed up too many vitals.... I think they're kinda cute...  Thank you, Hubby, for the glue gun!!

The girls by their snowman.  Hannah named him "Jackson."

Fresh snow!  Hannah was most excited about coming inside for cocoa afterward.

Amelia giving Jackson a little "pat-pat."  We used prunes for his eyes, and a carrot for his nose.