pre-preschool

i've started doing some formal "school" with molly. until this time, her learning of letters, numbers, and such has been through play, books, or t.v.. i really haven't sat down and truly taught her anything. however, she's really showing an interest in preschool and is determined to go next year (i need to start visiting the ones in town and make a decision) so i thought i'd give her a head start. i'm always looking at different blogs and websites with activities to do and finally found a curriculum (for free) that i like, a lot. You can check it out here: http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.com/RaisingRockStarsPreschool.html. I've added a few other things in addition to this from various sights. the internet is a great thing!

we started with the letter L, the number 1, and the sight word, see. molly already knew the letter L and number 1, however, now knows the sound L makes and really does recognize the sight word see and can pick it out in other books. She's reading a little easy book called I See with pictures of the "L" words to help out. i'm not paitent enough to wait any longer for this video to load so if you want to see it, check it out on my facebook page.

In addition to reading, we've been practicing writing L's on lined paper.

We also made a cute ladybug thumbprint craft.

i'm still here!

well it's been awhile! mainly because i'm exhausted after the girls go to bed and just want to sit and do nothing, oh, and my insane class i'm taking to complete my masters. i can't wait for may - i'll be done! finally!!! the saying do it while you don't have kids is true...it's much harder when you do! :) anyway, here's a glimpse of what we've been up to.
omaha, nebraska: we went to omaha at the end of february so matt could run in a stair race. we made a weekend out of it and went to the zoo and children's museum.
the stair race that matt ran in was 40 stories, 870 stairs, and 633 feet in the sky! he did great too placing 109/1,417 with a time of 6:54. here's the outside of the building - First National Tower. Pretty impressive building on the inside too! celebrating sophie's 1st birthday - there's a whole blog post to come about this but here's a snapshot of her enjoying her first cupcake!

playing outside. we love to be outside and sophie loves that she can finally get down on the ground (although she needs lots of reminders to walk outside and not crawl!) visiting the mermaid princess at crown center

a family of snowmen

molly finally was able to build her snowmen this winter. it was the perfect day because the snow was melting so it was nice and wet, plus, it was warm out. molly didn't even have to wear a coat (yes, mom, i know it was still chilly - but she had gloves on!).
and here we are: molly, mommy, daddy, sophie! aren't we cute?!

tube painting

need a last minute valentine's day craft/activity to do with your kids? try tube painting. i got this idea from http://tonsoffunpreschoolactivities.blogspot.com/. it's so easy. bend a toilet paper tube into the shape of a heart, dip into paint, press on paper.

done

sophie is completely done nursing. :) :( she weaned herself, which was great, however, i wasn't quite prepared to stop. so i have had mixed feelings. she wasn't really getting much, it was more of a comfort thing for her, but still a special bond that only she and i had. i thought it'd be a gradual process that might be a bit of a struggle, but it was quick, easy, and painless. for that, i'm thankful. sophie lets me hold her, stroke her hair and sing to her to get to sleep and when she wakes in the middle of the night (yes, she still does) she generally goes right back to sleep when i hold her.

she's started on cows milk and is doing okay drinking it. it's not her favorite, but each day gets a little better. she's just getting so big. hard to believe she'll be a one year in a month!

expanding the taste buds

molly is a picky, picky eater when it comes to healthy food. meats and veggies are a struggle for her to eat. the meat has always been better than the veggies, but still something had to be done because molly was not eating. when she was much littler, i would make her something different than matt and i were eating so she would eat, but then, she turned the magical age of 2 and she had to eat what we eat (most of the time -there are exceptions). she's not always too keen on this and has skipped many meals because she didn't like what we were having. sometimes, she didn't even try it. needless to say, she was hungry by the time the next meal rolled around. this worked for a bit but i still didn't feel like she was eating well enough, aka, no veggies. i can't blame her though, i hate them too. i just choke them down because i know they are good for me. i tell molly they're good to eat and grin and bear as i chew up a rubber greenbean or a piece of broccoli that taste like i'm truly eating a plant. i watched on the doctors or doctor oz, some show like that, that some people are born with taste buds that allow them to like, tolerate, or basically can't stand the taste of vegetables. i'm on the tolerate side. i think that is where molly is too. so anyway, we started a chart, a food pyramid chart. now i know the food pyramid isn't used anymore but it works well for stickers. we drew a big pyramid and glued pictures of the different food groups on. molly earned a sticker for each item she ate from a particular food group (we did not include the fats and sweets as she has no trouble in that department!). after 10 stickers in each group she chooses a treat from the grocery store. saturday was her big day. she chose cookies with pink icing. she was so proud to have completed her chart (it took about 2 1/2 weeks). it really did motivate her to eat her veggies and meat (she likes broccoli and cauliflower the best). plus she learned all the food groups and can tell you what grain and dairy is. we're planning on starting a new one this week to keep up the motivation!

serious conversation with a 2 year old

molly treats her baby like a human and it often mimics behaviors and things that she does. tonight, her baby was getting in trouble for throwing a fit. molly took her into her room and disciplined her and made her stay in there. then she came out and the converstation went as follows:

me: molly, when your baby doesn't listen and obey you what is she doing?

molly: making sin

me: does God like sin?

molly: no, she's making Jesus sad and me sad

me: what did God do to help us with sin?

molly: died on the cross for our sins

me: yes, Jesus died on the cross to take away our sin. did Jesus stay dead?

molly: no

me: where does Jesus live now?

molly: in heaven

me: how do we get to heaven?

molly: we probably ride flying horses up there!

me: well, not exactly, you have to ask Jesus to come into your heart and save you from your sin.

molly: yeah, and bears. Jesus can save me from bears.

i love that molly is learning about Christ at such a young age comprehends what sin is. she doesn't like to say that she has sinned when she gets in trouble - just hides her face and says i don't want to say it so i thought this was the perfect opportunity to talk about it when her baby was "misbehaving".

***just so you know, the baby is no longer being punished and has moved on to being sick and throwing up.