Pictures for dad

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This afternoon (after a busy time playing outside with Parrish) Lex decided to make five pictures for Alan and write “From Lex To Dad” on each of them.  On one of the pictures he wrote “From Lex To ALI.”  When Alan asked what he was writing he said:

Lex: “I’m writing To Alan”
Alan: “My name doesn’t have an I in it.”
Lex: “Yes it does.  It has the “ih” sound!”

I love how he sounds words out.  It’s important for him to spell correctly (especially his dad’s name!) but I always hate correcting him.  He abandoned that picture and started over with a new picture and went back to writing “From Lex To Dad”  Alan ended up with five pictures from Lex anyway.  That’s pretty cool! :)

A picture for Alan

A picture for Alan


I guess he did do one with Alan’s name :) See Alan’s comment for details. I LOVE that he is interested in writing. Yay Lex!

Arts & Crafts

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I have been feeling crafty lately so yesterday I took Eve to JoAnn Fabrics (the only craft store around, that I know of!) to buy some more supplies. We are well stocked on crayons and coloring books, but I thought it was about time to venture out a bit. We got paints, a big pack of funny paint brushes, a few Thanksgiving projects, pipe cleaners, mini pompom balls, and… that’s all I can remember at the moment. This morning we got out the paints to make egg-carton caterpillars and turtles. The kids LOVED it! Lex kept saying over and over how happy he is that we bought paints (and not finger paints because he doesn’t like finger paints). This afternoon we will get out the googly eyes and pipe cleaners to finish the animals.  I’ll post pics of the finished products because I know you all are dying to see them!

Painting

Painting

Soon we will do a popsicle stick project too. Any suggestions? We’ve had a bunch of them in the art drawer for awhile and Lex keeps asking if we can do something with them. My next project is going to be to organize the art drawer!! It’s horribly messy. Oh, also, any good suggestions for a piggy bank project? The paper-maché ones we made awhile ago are getting soft and not going to last much longer. The kids love them though, so I thought it would be fun to make new piggy banks.

Dog-gone?

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Big hugs for doggie

Big hugs for doggie


I was all ready to write a sad post today about Lex’s missing doggie. This dog has been with us since Lex was born and has been through a lot! Several weeks ago I even performed abdominal surgery on poor doggie to remove a long-broken music box that was becoming more dangerous by the day. It was as tense surgery (my sewing skills are only adequate!) but doggie pulled through just fine… only to be lost several days later!!! He’s been missing for weeks and I was finally coming to terms with it. Oddly enough I think I was more upset about it than Lex! He moved on pretty quickly to “big dog” (a bigger, shaggier dog we got last year). This morning Eve opened a toy cabinet and found doggie (and his partner in crime, Snoopy Dog) stuffed in the back. Lex was VERY excited to see them again (and I was pretty happy too!) So we are not dog-gone today, just dog-gone cute! (as doggies belly says)

Week one

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Preschool artwork

Preschool artwork

We are one week (and two days) into the whole school thing. So far we have a new wall of artwork, an improved drop-off. Today’s went like this: him saying “yeah, bye mom!” and me saying, “don’t I at least get a hug?” Today we also got our first fundraiser packet?!?! Really?!?! My son is 4yrs old and one week into school and they are asking him to go door-to-door to sell candy and wrapping paper. Hmm… The cover letter said this year we get two options, sell stuff or write a big check to the PTO. Ummm…. I’m going to take option 3 – do nothing! They don’t even say what we are raising funds for. Maybe everyone knows this but me? Welcome to school!

Eve on camera

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Eve got herself dressed the other day, including hat, coat, shoes, backpack, etc. Why? She was going to the meeting. What meeting? Watch…

After dropping Lex off this morning we came home and parked the car outside. Getting out she noticed the leaves on Alan’s car and got very happy about the car being “all leafted.” :)

Leaf clean-up

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Just as I was starting to think about raking, Lex announced his own leaf clean-up solution: pick them up and store them in an old cream cheese container! He got started today :)

Lex cleans up the leaves

Lex cleans up the leaves

Ready for college?

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Little Miss Eve in Hello Kitty PJs

Little Miss Eve in Hello Kitty PJs

This is what Eve wore to drop Lex off at preschool this morning.  Heads were turning!  (in a good way, of course!)  All of the grownups were gushing over how adorable she is and even some kids came over to chat with her.  At one point she put the phone to her ear and called Mema.  “Hi Mema.  We’re at Lex’s school.  He’s in preschool.  We are dropping him off.  Goodbye Mema.”  Later in the car she called Popcube.  “Hi Popcube.  We dropped Lex off at preschool.  Yes.  Goodbye Popcube.” :)

The whole ensamble and behavior made me think of college.  Wearing PJs and flip flops, coordinating cell phone.  Yeah, it’s going to come way to fast!!!

Eve, after she got dressed

Eve, after she got dressed... in Lex's clothes (current and hand-me-down). The shoes are hers anyway.

Muffins

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I wanted to share a muffin recipe that we’ve been making a lot lately.  I think it’s fairly healthy with carrots, pineapple, and sunflower seeds.  The muffins come out kind of cakey and delicious.  Just the right amount of sweet, but not too much.  I double the recipe because the pineapple cans I find in the store are 20oz, so I double the recipe and use the whole can.  We all eat them… A LOT!  I say I make them for the kids but I’m sure I eat a lot more than they do, mostly because I regulate their eating better than my own!  Anyway, give them a shot if you want a tasty, healthy treat.

Pineapple Sunshine Muffins
From Best of Country Breads (a great book!)

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
2 eggs
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 can (8oz) crushed pineapple, undrained
1/2 cup shredded carrots
1/2 cup sunflower kernels

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and ginger.  In another bowl, mix the eggs, butter, and vanilla; stir in pineapple.  Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.  Fold in carrot and sunflower kernels.  Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups (or Pampered Chef stoneware muffin pan, awesome!) until 3/4 full.  Bake at 375° for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to wire rack.  Serve warm.  Yield: 1 dozen.

Monsters and bathtub drawings

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What do you do with monsters?  Eve has taken an interest in monsters and talks about them a lot.  She’s not really scared, but will often ask if there are monsters in her room.  I say no, of course.  It’s a funny thing and not something we’ve had to deal with so far.  It started shortly after they watched Monsters, Inc.  When she started talking about monsters in her closet (or in the office, or any other dark area) decided to not let the fear get to far.  I found a book at the library about a monster boy having a birthday party.  It was about sharing, really, and the monsters acted just like people, not scary monsters.  Now she wavers between asking me about monsters in dark room and pretending to be a monster herself.  I’m trying hard to keep it silly and not scary because I really don’t want a kid who is afraid of monsters or the dark.  She has such an awesome imagination.

On another subject, I love how Eve draws.  She holds the crayons/markers/pens the right way and makes somewhat recognizable pictures and puts eyes on people and other fun things.  I bought the kids bathtub crayons recently and they have been loving them.  In the tub tonight Eve drew me (a big circle) and her (a little circle) inside my belly.  She gave us both eyes and I got a mouth and a “pagina” :)  She is facinated with babies in bellies lately and talks a lot about when she was a tiny baby in my belly.  It’s so cool to see her developing the ability to put those thoughts into pictures.