Snow: Chillin at Preschool

Appropriately, the weather provided us with snow this week to accompany our snow-themed preschool! 

We did some Upper and Lower case letter matching with this cute snowman I made. The letters attach with velcro. I observed that Caroline gravitated towards the easy ones (Ss Ww Oo Cc) and completely avoided the harder ones. Notice her little tongue there? She was thinking hard! I realized half way through that she really didn't KNOW all that many of her lower case letters or was mixing them up. At that point, rather than ask her to find and create her own matches, I put on the lower case, identified its name for her, had her repeat it back to me, then asked her to find the big one that goes with it. This version of the activity was much better received! I'm sure we can come back to it again for the harder version when she is ready. ;)

We have been working on her writing. Honestly, I don't expect anywhere near perfection here, I just want her to practice holding the utensil and get her hands used to making motions to create letters. Caroline really enjoys it when I guide her hand with mine, which we do often, but when I am holding Emmett during school, that doesn't work so well. :)

Sometimes the simplest math is the most fun! Caroline is really good at sorting. She likes to do it too and will begin sorting objects unprompted throughout the day. Tiny things in parades, toys on the shelf... and in this case, snowflakes. This was just a bag of cheap foam snowflakes that came in three different colors and two sizes. I first directed her to sort the sizes. Then we counted each pile and she had to declare which one had most and which had least. Then we repeated the activity sorting the colors into three piles. She loved this and was devastated later in the week when she had to share these foam snowflakes with friends at our Mommy and me book club!

I threw in a little science with pics of real snowflakes in large and micro pics for matching. I planned to use these with a magnifying glass to increase the 'scientist' authenticity, but last minute I couldn't find the mag. glass and didn't feel like venturing into the frigid garage to see if it is stored away in the summer box (since we used it all summer to look at bugs). I found the idea here, but opted to make my own with color to aide in the matching process (and because the artist in me is fascinated by the rainbow of colors in a single flake's crystals!). If anyone wants a copy for printing, I'm happy to send it. Just leave your email in the comments. ;)

For some reason, Caroline REALLY wanted me to take a picture of her socks... silly girl! :)

We read Snow (Rylant) (I love the poetic quality of the text and the warmth of the illustrations), Snow (Shulevitz) (we counted snowflakes on each page until there were too many), Owl Moon (which was a little too much text for Caroline, but she enjoyed the gorgeous illustrations), Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening (Frost--- DO look for the illustrated version by Susan Jeffers! What a great introduction to classical poetry!), Sneezy the Snowman (Caroline LOVED my silly melting voice and used it herself when she retold the story to me :), and Snowmen at Night (Gwen also loved this one-- they were both drawn to the pickle-nosed snowman in particular, which I found interesting). I didn't do Snowflake Bentley with Caroline because I didn't think she had the attention span for it, but for slightly older children it is a great snowflake science book that pairs beautifully with the large and teeny snowflake matching activity!

and of course, what could be more appropriate for gross motor than outside playing in the snow? We have done that a lot this week.

We continued the snow theme for book club, but I'll save those books and activities for another post. Hope you all are enjoying chillin with your loved ones!

Noah's Ark: Obedience and Follow the Prophet

There are soooo many things you could do with this lesson because Noah's Ark immediately interests kids---I'm certain it is the animals! :) But the biggest lesson, I think, is a reminder of the safety in obedience. Earlier this week Caroline and Gwen didn't obey me in the parking lot of the library and I was very upset about the dangerous situation they created. It seemed a perfect time to remind them that they don't need to understand 'why' before they obey--- they need to trust and obey. And really, they can trust mom/dad and Heavenly Father because the rules/commands are not given for any reason other than love. 

Song: Follow the Prophet

Scripture:  John 14:15

Lesson: Noah's Ark/Obedience and Follow the Prophet

Activity: ark reenactment

Dessert: 'rainbow' animal crackers

The felt set (available from Keeping Life Creative) was a big hit, though Caroline was pretty concerned that we couldn't fit all the animals 'inside' the ark. Therefore we piled them up on top and they got to ride out the flood on each others' shoulders! :)

Gwen had a strange interest in the scoffers who didn't listen to Noah's warnings. It was a great opportunity to talk about how God wants to protect us and we should obey even if we don't understand why right away. It didn't matter that the rain was not coming down yet or that the ark was constructed on dry ground--- it might have been hard to understand why then too! But if we trust Heavenly Father and remember His love for us, then we can put our faith in his commandments and in the prophets regardless of our personal skepticism. Perfect segue into obeying mommy and daddy even if you don't understand why-- because we want to keep them safe too!

We role played a bit and made the couch our ark. The kids retrieved as many animals from their room as they could and we were happy to ride out the flood together. I misted them with 'rain' and they loved it! Everyone agreed that we DEFINITELY want to be 'on the ark' in life!

Then both girls wanted a chance to make 'rain' so we made arks for the animals out of the kitchen chairs. I think spraying their critters might have been their favorite part of the evening!

My favorite part was the next day when they took the spray bottles outside and sprayed each other in 40 degree weather for almost an hour! I think I refilled those spray bottles about 7 or 8 times each! Who would have thought that the flood was the best part of the story for reenacting in frigid winter weather?

We finished our family night with animal crackers (a peanut butter smear allowed the girls to sprinkle some rainbows on top--- a symbol of Heavenly Father's covenant!)

It was a fun evening! The proof was in the week that followed: the girls were quick to obey (especially in parking lots!) and if they seemed to scoff a bit before complying, all I had to do was ask if they were choosing to be on the ark or off... and they ended up making the right decision every time! Love my kids!

Trains Preschool

I think trains are awesome! Who says trains are only for boys? When Gwen turned 3 she wanted a Thomas the Train birthday cake and carried around her toy trains all the time. They even got 'blinged' with her jewelry. I was pretty excited to have a week of trains for Caroline to enjoy in Pre-K!

Freight Train by Donald Crews is such a cool book! I love the illustrations and we had a great time saying "whoosh" every time the train roared past something. I got this free printable train from Kizclub.com which is an amazing resource for free printables! It comes in color or b/w pdf. To save ink, I did b/w and just colored it in to match the book illustrations. 

After laminating and attaching felt, this train was perfect for learning through play! After reading the book we did memory recall and tried to put the trains in the correct order. Then we did color matching and threw in a couple fun train songs to round it all out. Both girls have asked to play with the felt trains repeatedly this week (which makes me feel great!)

Caroline got to make her own name train. This fine motor activity included cutting and gluing AND picking up all those little pieces to carry as cargo. Since she worked so hard, she needed to fuel her body with cheese and dark choco chips box cars carrying raisins down a carrot track! She loved it and such a simple snack makes the gratification even sweeter!

While I did this activity with Caroline, she only did a handful of letters before losing interest. When Gwen got home for Kindergarten, however, she was all over this activity like white on rice!

The printable ABC train was from Selma Dawani's Transportation Pack (a free download) that I can't seem to find online again. But she has a blog with other free things, so maybe it will pop up again in the future. 

Gwen correctly matched all the capital letters with their lowercase counterparts! We also enjoyed reading:

How to Train Your Train

Trains Go

Little Red Caboose

Hope you enjoy some fun train activities at your home!

Adam and Eve: Choices Have Consequences

This year we are focusing on scripture stories and the values they teach for our family nights. A few weeks ago we started off with the Creation (it was 2015 goals night), but lest I get very behind, I'm going to skip to last week's lesson on Choice and Accountability using the story of Adam and Eve. 

Song: Choose the Right

Scripture:  Alma 37:35

Lesson: Adam and Eve/Choice and Consequence

Activity: choice/consequence matching game or chutes and ladders game

Dessert: fruit

I used the felt figures to tell the story, emphasizing that with every choice there is a consequence and that the best consequences always come from making choices to obey Heavenly Father. 

 Then the kids got to take a turn telling the story to me. Caroline was really excited to be the snake (which was just fine with Gwen, who wanted to be the trees) and she enjoyed using her 'bad guy' raspy voice to tempt Adam and Eve. 

I found these adorable printable Adam and Eve felt figures at Keeping Life Creative (free download at her Teachers Pay Teachers store). But since the printable only came with one tree, I paired it with this one from LDS.org. I like that the fruit is multicolored and non-specific so that the kids don't think it was definitely an apple! I saved it as a jpg and then edited it in word to enlarge the trees before printing. I also wanted to complete the story with expulsion from the Garden of Eden, so I made my own fur/leather clothing for Adam and Eve. Everything except the clothes is backed with felt. The clothes are 'worn' using clear velcro dots (one side is on the people, the matching half is on the back of the fig leaf clothing and fur clothing). 

I loved that the kids even seemed to pick up on the nuances of the story-- that families and learning through experience were essential components of Heavenly Father's plan for our happiness. Some deep thoughts here about free agency and Heavenly Father's omniscience. Not that I think they picked up on all of THAT, but at least it wasn't a shallow re-telling that cast Eve as the culprit. 

Then we played a little choice/consequence matching game that I made (simple illustrations, but they get the point across and gave the girls tangible life examples to help the concept sink in). Alternatively, could just play chutes and ladders. (Our FHE time is very short because of the time Eric gets home from work, so I opted to plan a much shorter game. Nothing worse than telling your little ones mid-ladder/slide that we'll have to put the game away now for bed time!)

Fruit makes a perfect snack to finish up! 

Gwen and Caroline both loved this FHE and wanted to keep playing with the Adam and Eve figures throughout the week. I still have to remind them (*constantly*) that choices have consequences, but I have hope in the promise that the Holy Spirit will carry the truth to their hearts. I want them to know they can turn to the Lord's Holy Scriptures to find truth to guide their lives and ultimately to point them towards their Savior. I love Him so much and want them to discover His love too!

I Adore Chubby Babies

It is way harder than I anticipated to get these blog posts completed! Hang with me while I get a rhythm down for getting pics off my camera, editing them, uploading them, and then drafting fun entries!

I adore chubby babies! They just seem like pleasant little fat Buddhas to me. :) Luckily, I have one!

Emmett turned 4 months a couple of weeks ago and his stats qualify him for the Buddha category of cute!

4 month stats:

weight: 18 lb 4 oz (91%)

height: 25 1/4 in (49%)

head: 16 1/2 in (30%)

He wears 6-9 month clothes (here he is wearing a 9 month outfit-- fits perfectly around the waist, but a little long on his legs)

Side effect of a chubby baby is a good sleeper... and therefore a pleasant baby! Emmett is both! He didn't complain about being outside until he realized it was nap time. :)

He is very ticklish! Every time I change his clothes he just giggles and giggles. Here you can see his adorable rolls!

Emmett loves his sisters-- they can get him to laugh every time! Daddy and Mommy come in at a close second. He also loves milk and challenges me to keep him supplied adequately. When I am out and he isn't satisfied yet, he growls and complains at me, all the while gnawing as if that will make more milk appear. But he won't take a bottle (he doesn't get it. He just mouths it around with his tongue but never sucks). Therefore, we have spent the week practicing rice cereal and bananas. He is getting pretty good! Oh, and he is rolling over from back to tummy (but not the other way) like a pro now. :)

We love our sweet chubby Emmett!

Resolve to Record my Riveting Rowdy Rascals

 One of my resolutions this year is to pick back up on a journal. Too much of life has passed by in the past 2 years with scarcely a mention of specific memories. I find holes in my recollections and that saddens me. I started this blog to share pics with extended family. It turned into a journal. A place I can share experiences and testimony and have visual reminders of my progress and purpose (for those days when I wonder why I work so hard at being a mom)...and I think it is time to re-invite myself to keep this blog journal. 

I spend an exorbitant amount of time planning and preparing activities for my family. Whether it be preschool for Caroline:

Or engaging Family Home Evenings for all of us to enjoy:

I love doing this! It is fulfilling AND fun, exercise of talents AND weaknesses, and keeps my mind alive with ideas! 

But, I don't want to spend time during the day writing about memories instead of making them. So I hope to blog 3 times a week. I'll share my favorite FHE lessons/activities, my favorite preschool/kiddo activities, and maybe throw in a funny kid happening or field trip to round out our week. I hope this sounds fun to you all too! (feedback welcome!-- just be nice :)

That is my goal. Now it is achievable, measurable, written, and shared with anyone who reads here... so keep me accountable! 

Welcome!

Emmett Scott Allan was born 5 days early on Sunday, August 31st at 5:36 in the morning. We barely made it (he was delivered naturally-- which was not our plan-- in triage)! We were only in the hospital for 5 minutes before he was in our arms! But at least we didn't have him in the car or the lobby! He weighed 8 lb 1 oz

That is the synopsis. Here are the details:

I had been having contractions every evening since Thursday. In fact, they were so intense on Thursday that I put my toiletries in the already-packed hospital bag because I just knew I was going to wake up in labor. I had 4 distinct dreams that night that I WAS in labor and was sorely disappointed each time I got up (to go to the restroom) to discover that it was only a dream and I was NOT in labor. Same deal with contractions on Friday and Saturday. So you have to understand that when I woke up at 3:50 am on Sunday morning with contractions, my first thought was NOT "let's get to the hospital!". Actually it was more like, "hmmm. let's see if this does anything today."

Well, within 20 minutes I knew I would have a baby that day. So my second thought was, "well, it is only 4:15 am. I'll be in labor for a couple of hours. Might as well let Eric sleep a little while he can and I'll just labor a little here before rousting him." By 4:30 I was unable to keep quiet and Eric woke up. So, I texted our middle-of-the-night babysitter. Had to wake her up and all, so while we waited I went ahead and ate breakfast and brushed my teeth and everything. The contractions were painful, but still very far apart, so I thought we had time. 

We left the house at 5 am and discovered our tank was empty. We went ahead and stopped for gas. Contractions were painful, but STILL very far apart, so I wasn't worried about the stop. I texted family members that we were on our way to the hospital during our 25 minute drive down there. We pulled up to the hospital and Eric asked if I wanted to be dropped off while he parked the car. I said I'd rather stay together. (good thing too or he would have missed Emmett's arrival!) So we parked the car about 5:27 or so. Everything was still manageable. 

When I stood up to get out of the car, things were not so manageable. I could barely walk. Eric practically carried me to the bridge between the lot and the hospital, then he ran and found a wheel chair for me. The contractions were REALLY painful, but still at least 3 minutes apart, so the thought never occurred to me that maybe we were cutting it close. 

When we got up to triage, the receptionist seemed to share my feelings. I heard her say later that I was so "calm and coherent, she never thought"... Well anyway, we spent a couple minutes at the reception desk filling out paperwork. Yes, PAPERWORK. I stood up from signing... and felt recognizable "pressure". I was surprised! I think I even remarked "that's a lot of pressure to be feeling already!" before the receptionist cheerfully and unhurriedly gave me a gown and showed us to a triage room "where the doctor will come check you to see just how far along you are, sweetie". 

Right about then the intensity picked up about 10-fold. Everything happened so quickly. I was in the midst of very painful contractions, but Eric managed to help me undress and get the gown on. I stood up so he could tie the back... and then I peed all over the floor. Or so I thought. I was crying and apologizing over and over (certain that I had just peed all over Eric's feet or something equally embarrassing) but Eric took one look and assured me that was not pee. Apparently it was pink tinged. My water had broken. 

The contractions were awful at this point and Eric's proddings to get on the bed were met with me saying "I can't, it hurts to much to lay down!" But he was firm and persistent, practically putting me on the gurney (not bed, I should be clear) himself when I was deliriously struggling to get up there. That's when the fire started. 

Now I did not intend to deliver naturally, so I had not done any research. Apparently this is a common feeling often described as "ring of fire" when the baby has entered the birth canal. That name does NOT do it justice. I was certain there was a flame torch on my skin, inside my skin, on my legs... it was EXCRUCIATING. Nothing I've ever experienced has been so painful. and I was terrified. Of the pain. Because I didn't know how much worse it could get. (Lucky for me, that WAS the worst. As you'll see, we weren't in pushing mode for long at all) 

Eric took a peek between my legs as soon as he got me up on the gurney and said later he could see Emmett's hair. I was just screaming by this time, so Eric stuck his head out the door and saw doctors and nurses scurrying around in Labor and Delivery, trying to locate the woman on their floor giving birth at that moment, unaware of the fact that I was actually in triage still. Because the receptionist had not even had time yet to enter us in the system. They didn't even know we were at the hospital. Eric called out that we were here, in triage, and a baby was coming RIGHT NOW. That only took 10 seconds for him to accomplish, but when he came back in the room, Emmett's head was out. 

I could feel his head come out and that worried me. Because I couldn't see what was happening, there wasn't a doctor there yet, and what if the umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck? I know Eric is a doctor, but if something went wrong I didn't want that to be on him. So at this point I was holding Emmett in. As soon as I saw a flicker of movement at the curtain, I knew a doctor had arrived and I just let him go. He popped right out. And just like that the pain was gone. I never pushed. Quite the opposite, actually. :)

Needless to say, I was in shock. So was Eric. (He says he held it together while I was screaming and he was the only one with me, but as soon as the medical team arrived, he pulled up a chair next to me because he was a little woozy.) So, shaking all over, pleased to be holding my boy, but honestly just in disbelief that all of THAT actually happened, I was informed that the time of delivery was 5:36. Time in the hospital, about 5 minutes. 7 if you count the parking garage. Quite an adventure! I guess Emmett was just in a hurry to join us!

I am proud to say I did it all by myself, naturally, I mean (since I wasn't alone-- couldn't have done it without Eric by my side). Though I have to admit I'd prefer an epidural next time. Interestingly, I discovered that my tolerance for contraction pain must be very high, but I definitely don't have a high pain tolerance for the actual delivery. Wooh, if I can not do that again, that would be great! Good news is that I no longer need to fear natural child birth. I know I can do it if I have to. 

So that is the story! Exciting, eh?

Anyway, Emmett is healthy, recovery has been great for me, we were home by middle of the day on Labor Day, Eric took a couple days off since my mom didn't get here til Thursday and we both loved the time to cuddle and get to know our little man. The girls adore him, he nurses like a champion, and makes the most adorable snorting noises when he is ready to eat (mostly because he seems to be congested more often than not)! We are so blessed!

 Emmett 4 days old

 these precious portraits were taken by my talented MIL... THANK YOU!!!!

 baby toes...aw!

 The girls LOVE their brother

Everyone getting in on the snuggle action. Mama Allan and her magic spankings could put this boy to sleep almost instantly.

Grandma Sugar arrived just in time to catch the HEINOUS cold that Gwen shared with the whole family. We were all exhausted!

 Caroline maintains that NOTHING is quite as exciting as a newborn brother!

 Gwen tries very hard to be a good big sister.

Grandpa got to come for a very brief visit, but made sure to get lots of Emmett snuggles during that short time! 

While Eric spends much more time holding the boy or helping Emmett get some shut eye, I just love this one of my two boys sleeping side by side. ;)

Emmett regained his birth weight and then some by his 1 week appointment. At his 1 month appointment he was 11 1/2 lbs in the 83rd percentile. Quite a change from my 25% girlies! The good news is that his chubbiness also makes him a good night sleeper. 4-5 hour stretches are the norm (when he is not so congested that he gags on his boogers). Now that he is just a week shy of being 2 months, his grins are starting to be bigger and easier to get out of him. Love that boy!