* U *

Caleb got to ga'dwum to the patriotic songs of the United States of America: National Anthem, Yankee Doodle and Yankee Doodle Dandy, America the Beautiful, Grand Ole Flag, and three different Sousa marches. Maddie just listened. Going for the grand finale smassssshhhh!

We also learned about the universe. We read a book Maddie had received for Christmas about planets. Then we set to work making a very simplified version of the universe. Caleb was running circles so I had to do something to help him get some energy out. We got the big chart paper out and started by coloring the whole page with all our dark crayons.Of course Caleb kept slipping in all kinds of colors, but he was also coloring at a ridiculous speed just like a mad artist. Next we glued some planets onto our universe. We just used one glue stick so we could practice sharing and taking turns. Hmmmm...where should this planet go?

Right here!We added some sparkly star stickers.And there you have it: our universe...
...definitely one of the ugliest things we've created!

PS--My friend Charisa pointed out that ugly is a U word. I feel much better about the ugliness now, realizing that it's all just a part of U week.

they're baa-aaack!

After many months of being ignored, "The Mommies & The Kids" have made a comeback. Oh dear! And now the kids don't just watch, they participate fully. I am completely sure they will be completely embarrassed by this when they are older!

a wee bit o' trouble here

Caleb's been a bit of a trouble maker lately. He loves markers, but after coloring on the stool, printer and kitchen floor, they have been banned until further notice. But then he took a crayon and colored all up and down the wooden legs of a chair. I guess the crayons will be banned too. Then this morning he called from upstairs saying that he "nee' to go poopie," and when I told him to come downstairs so I could help him, he promptly arrived bottomless and dirty. He went on the toilet, so I thought there might not be much of anything upstairs. Nope. There was a nice plop right in the middle of my bathroom floor next to his briefs and pants. Lovely. He told me "I twy ta pick i' up but I can't." Please, don't pick it up! And then a bit later I went to use the bathroom myself and reached down to pick up the toilet paper roll that was on the floor only to realize it was sopping wet. He'd thrown it in the toilet again, but this time he pulled it out and left it pooling on the floor. Nice one. Thank goodness for disinfecting spray!

in maddie's mind

On the potty before bed tonight Maddie said:
Mommy, ya know I still have dat thought 'bout marrying Carson. Every time I go to his house I keep forgetting to tell him when I grow up I can marry him.

* week of the S, week of the T *

Our bible verse for S was "Serve one another" (Gal. 5:13). Maddie has been learning what it means to serve her brother by caring for him, helping him and sharing with him. We listened to that verse put to song from our church's old Galatians cd. The kids really liked that.

We learned about the seasons. Spring Summer Fall Winter.

We were hoping for snow, but there was none. So we made our own snow scenes with cotton balls.

We used white colored pencils to make snowflakes.

We added some cut-outs and extra coloring.

(Maddie fixed her own hair again that day.)

For T we focused on learning to tell time, both digital and the clock face--something I've been wanting to teach Maddie for a while. Maddie glued the arms onto clock faces to make different times. We just worked on "o'clocks." Though for digital, we've been learning how to say the time (whatever the time) correctly.

I've been realizing lately that Maddie doesn't really know her numbers past 20. Even identifying the teens are hit or miss, so we've been practicing those. I sometimes forget the importance of rote memorization for little ones. Developmentally, their minds are perfect for rote memorization, and they normally love to rattle off a list of things they have learned. So as we go about our day, especially when we're in the car, we are practicing these things: counting to 100, days of the week, months of the year. We're even starting to learn to count to 10, the days & months in Spanish and Italian.

overkill?

Madeleine fixed her hair this morning. Not bad for four years old. "I wanted to get da hair outta my eyes."

Oh wait a minute, I think I see a couple more barrettes. Ah yes. "Well, my hair kept falling in my face so I got sa'more b'rettes." Ok, makes sense.

Wait a minute here. How many barrettes?!

No wait, there's more! On the back of her head.Believe it or not, there's another 5 or so tucked away in there. Somehow, I don't think hairstyling is going to be her forte.

gone fishin'

Maddie was eating her lunch a couple days ago. On her plate was a small portion of fish. Maddie picked up a piece of fish and said,

"Mommy, Nonna is out of diss stuff at her house."

"Nonna is out of it?"

"Yeah, she has it sometimes, but she is out of it now. It's fish. She's got to get more."

(Braden and I enjoy egging on these conversations.)

"Where does she get fish from?"

"She catches the fish."

"She does?"

"Yeah."

"How do you know she catches her fish?"

"Well, her has a picture of her catching fish in her basement."

"Ohhh, that's right. She does have a picture like that. Where does she go to catch them?"

"The ocean...or the pond." (My parents have a small pond in their neighborhood.)

"Ohhh...Where do I get my fish from?"

"The store."

heirloom

Maddie recently received this chair.She inherited it from her Great-Grandmother.

She received the chair as a toddler back around 1928. When she got it, it was not new, but we are not sure who or where it came from. So we know it is at least 80 years old. My grandmother must have loved it because it is one of a very few things she kept.I love watching Maddie sit in and play with this little chair just like her great-grandma did 80 years ago. One day I hope she will get to watch her own little girl sitting in the same chair and tell her about her great-great-grandma.

you ain't nothin' but a hound dog

I sent Maddie to go find her sweater before we left Nonna's house. She came back about a minute later saying, "Mommy, do you know how I found my sweater?! I put my nose on the ground just like a hound dog!"

just one of those (old) things

Maddie was playing a GeoSafari game of growing stages--a seed to a tree to an apple, an egg to a chick to a chicken. She had just completed a baby to a boy to a man. "Mommy, a baby grows into a children, and a children grows into a man...(and she went on)...and a man grows into a grampa, and a grampa grows into a...one of those old things."

valentines morning

A few simple decorations...

...a couple of treats...

...lots of chocolate pancakes...

...dollops of pink whipped cream...

...a dash of sprinkles...

...my chocolate-loving girlie...

...my silly boy...

(He lit up & giggled when my note to him was read--"I love your snuggles.")

... and a little surprise for me from The Hubs...

...makes for one special family breakfast.

the many uses of crayons

You know you're a mom when...

...you run into a friend at the store and jot down your number for her on the bottom of your shopping list with a jungle green crayon, because you don't have a pen in your purse only a pack of 24 crayolas.

back to the ol' diaper bag

So it seems that as we were leaving my parents' house yesterday, Caleb decided he would shove his backpack under the van before getting inside. Under the van, in the van, what's the difference?

This.I didn't happen to notice that Caleb's bag was not in the van...that is until I heard a thump-crrrrrunch. Whoops!It seems I'll be toting my diaper bag just a little while longer.

(You may be wondering if Caleb's upset? Nah. Not a bit. Maddie was the one quite disturbed and near tears.)

dress up with mommy's hats

Gotta love the marker-face.

I'm just helpin', Ma!

So this morning Caleb had to go potty...or so he said. Maddie chose to help him. Most times, she really is a help, but today we were dealing with poopie in big boy briefs. While I was innocently making oatmeal downstairs, Maddie was helping Caleb. I think it was the "Oh no, Buddy! Now we're going to have to throw away your underwear!" that I heard coming from upstairs that clued me in. I ran up the stairs and was greeted at the top by Maddie holding his rather full briefs and offering them to me. "Here ya go." Yikes! She'd helped him alright. Helped him make a big mess of himself and the potty seat. Oh my, what a way to start a day!

valentines craft

This week we decorated our doorways with hearts. What we did is basically the same idea as this craft, which reminded me of this craft I did with Maddie 2 years ago. (Wasn't she a cutie?!)

We used only the Valentine's colored crayons...

...to color all over our papers.

We also did the same with watercolors.

I cut hearts out of their colored and painted papers while they were making more.

Then we taped them to a long ribbon the length of the doorway...

...and hung them up.

gotta go!

The other day when Caleb said he had to go, Maddie rushed him into the bathroom, helped him get his pants down, kissed him on the forehead, then knelt on the floor before him on his throne and waited.Caleb is trained for #1's. It's just the #2's he is still workin' on. I've really hardly done a thing with him--he just picked up on it...which has been so nice after the challenge of Maddie. She was somethin' else! Now, all squeamish readers should just stop reading here.

But recently after doing 2 little #2's on the potty, Caleb took a peek and exclaimed,
Iss a snake! Iss anudduh snake...a Maddie snake and a Cawib snake!

blooming

After an overnight trip, Braden and I brought back a pot of little crocus bulbs for the kids. This week we've been watching them grow.

The crocuses bloom so fast--a bud in the morning will have bloomed by dinner.

There's been a new bud almost every morning.

After they are done blooming, I'm going to keep the bulbs and plant them outside in the fall.