3 Years Old!

It's hard to believe...Lucas and Addison just turned 3. Although, if you ask Lucas, he'll tell you he's 6. I'm not sure where 6 came from, but he's pretty darn consistent with that answer. Which is probably why I haven't been able to get him to show me that he is 3 like Addison happily does each time someone asks her how old she is!




They both had a hard time understanding what a birthday really meant. They've been to so many birthday parties (seems like every other weekend since this Spring--okay so it's not really that many, but it feels like it!), that they associate birthdays with going somewhere and eating "happy birthday cake". So in the morning when I woke them up and said "Happy Birthday" they both chanted, "I want to go and eat happy birthday cake".



Lucky for them, they get to celebrate their birthday twice...once just as a family and again with their friends this weekend. Lots and lots of happy birthday cake!

A Good Laugh

The kiddos have been really into animals lately. Identifying what they are and the sounds they make. Well, last night I'm making dinner and completely oblivious to the mess that Addison is making in the family room. Jeff gets home and witnesses it. Addison has unzipped one of our cushions on our oversized chair and is removing the stuffing. She says "sheep in pillow, daddy!" Definitely cute and funny...or is it?! We'll see if this becomes a new "game" in the next few days. :)

"Play Necklaces"

Yesterday Mardi Gras made it's first appearance in our home via Aunt Barb and Uncle Matt. As you can see here, the kiddos wasted no time at all taking out all the fun new accessories.




Lucas was first intrigued with the necklaces...he didn't miss a beat as he would see one in the box...yell out "blue necklace" grab it, then "red necklace" grab it...and so it went.




Until of course, he saw the hat. Then the necklaces came off and the hat went on. He was definitely interested in how it made noise (for at least 2 seconds) and then it was back to the necklaces!




As you can see, Addison was also quite excited by the necklaces. She definitely kept pace with Lucas (not wanting to miss out on any necklaces of course!).





That is until she found the purse with money!! And then it was all about the money...no more necklaces for her (well, maybe just one...)

Is it true that possession is 9/10 of the law?!?

In the end, Lucas made out with the most necklaces. Addy was just happy to have her money! :) So today I kept hearing from each of them "play necklaces, mommy?" Definitely a hit with them for sure! Thanks Barb & Matt!

In other news, we are finally starting to make some "visible" progress on our home addition. Here is a picture right after our beautiful redwood tree was removed. Our yard is definitely more open and gets a lot more sunlight.

And here is day 1 of "prep" work for doing our foundation/basement. I say "prep" work as we still haven't gotten our final building permit, but our foundation contractor is chomping at the bit to get started (like we aren't!). We'll keep you posted.

Back in January, one of the moms in my Moms' Group came up with a wonderful idea of doing our very own "renegade" preschool. We find a location, purchase our own supplies and then teach our own lessons while still giving the children the experience of a preschool at a fraction of the cost.

Sign me up!!

The pressure to send your kids to preschool at an early age is very strong here. Plus, the cost is pretty scary too. Then, multiply that by two kiddos and it's down right frightening! So this idea was very appealing to me.

Pictured above is our first day. Week 1 we discussed the classic (well, at least it's a classic in our home!) "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" by Eric Carle. We discussed the Red Bird, the Brown Bear and the Blue Horse.

Week 2 we discussed Things We Love to go along with Valentine's Day. Unfortunately, I neglected to get any photos of our adorable Valentine's Cards we made before I mailed them out. Sorry...but then again, maybe you were the lucky recipient of one! :)


Week 3 I taught the concept of Rain and Rainbows. We read "The Little Cloud" by Eric Carle as well as "What Makes a Rainbow" by Betty Schwartz. We colored rainbows and made our very own Rainstick!



Week 4 we discussed the concept of Up and Down. We read a couple of books dealing with this as well as sang "The Itsy Bitsy Spider". So of course we needed to make some spiders to go along with the song! And being the particular person she is, A felt hers needed one green leg! :)

Week 5 we discussed Birds. To go along with this theme we made these fabulous bird feeders out of large pinecones, peanut butter and birdseed. (Ironically, the very same day we made these, we were also cutting down our beautiful Redwood tree to make room for our home addition. So sad.)

Week 6 we discussed Caterpillars and Butterflies. We read "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle (do you see a trend here? It is my belief that he writes fabulous toddler books...or at least L&A think so!) You may notice that one butterfly is a little more "spot on" than the other. A was more into putting the glue on the pieces than on actually placing the pieces together. Whereas, L preferred putting the pieces together. Together they make a great team (well, sometimes!)

So this has become our "new" activity in our regular routine. They both really seem to enjoy it. In fact, we'll be driving there and still be 2 blocks away from the school building and they both start chanting "school, school". I'm excited to see where it will lead us. I'll be sure to keep you posted...

Look What I Made

Okay, I have to admit, I'm pretty darn proud of these...on Tuesday night I got together with some friends for a little crafting and 2 of the ladies showed me how to make these adorable animal towels.

I've always loved these at the craft fairs but have never wanted to pay the $40+ for one (especially when I'd need 2!). I'm totally addicted to these now...I can feel myself wanting make a bunch to have on hand for gifts. It's just so empowering to do something like this...I mean I'm creative but generally in the papercrafts/scrapbooking arena...definitely not in the sewing one!

L&A wanted no part of the towels at first today. However, as soon as I wrapped them around them after getting out of the bath, they didn't want to take them off for at least an hour! Each time I said, "okay, let's get dressed" I was told, "no, more bear towel".

Too stinkin' cute!!

Twin Buddies

Yesterday we were fortunate to have our favorite twin buddies visit us from Portland. Unfortunately, I neglected to get any pictures of them together (that's what you get when you have two 3-year-olds and two 2-year-olds running around!). So the best this scrapbooker could do was share this photo taken from last April at our "last supper" before they moved to Portland (sniff, sniff). We sure do miss them!

We had a good time catching up while the kiddos ran around the house and then we went and had lunch at Fresh Choice. You can't ask for a better place to do lunch with toddlers...free food (that for the most part they like), buffet style, plus there weren't many people there so that meant even more running around for the kiddos which means a fabulous nap should occur (and did!)

It was really fun seeing L&A interact with their old friends A&K. Plus, it was interesting for us to see what the 3-year-old stage will bring for us! A&K just turned 3 in November so they've always served as a great marker for us to see what is to come since they are about a year ahead of L&A.

All done for now...

Happy 2009!

That's right...L&A were up for the New Year. We actually put them to bed at their usual bedtime so I was surprised when I heard little footsteps walking into the kitchen around 11:55pm. J thought they should be up to ring in the New Year so he got them up and out of bed. It was no surprise that A perked right up (she is a nightowl afterall) whereas L was super groggy and limp as I held him in my arms. Both enjoyed seeing the "ball drop" at midnight. It will be fun to see what this year brings for them. They continue to change so much each day!

Happy New Year!