Preschool Lessons

Here are some lessons I, the mommy, has learned from preschool:

1. Empty your child's shoes before coming in the house, otherwise you'll have half the playground on your living room floor. (lesson learned on Sept. 6, 2011)

2. Little girls need to wear shorts under their dresses, especially if your child is a "monkey" on the playground. (lesson learned on Sept. 8, 2011)

Craft Time

My kids love crafts and there is a store in Austin, Lakeshore Learning Store, that offers free crafts on Saturday. We went today for the first time in a long time and had a great time. Today's craft was making a presidential briefcase, in honor of President's Day coming up. The kids got to glue on sparkly dots, foam shapes, stars, and other crafty type items. They also got to blot dots on their briefcases to add color. They spent about 30 minutes working on their briefcases, it was so much fun to watch both kids be so focused on one activity. After that we walked around the store and played with many of the toys the employees had set out on small tables. The kids had a blast and it was a great way to spend a Saturday while Ben was at work.

Snow Day

Last week we had our annual snow day of the year. Here in Austin we usually get one day in February that we get a small amount of snow. This year it snowed overnight and when we woke up our yard was covered in snow. Well, I don't know about "covered" since you could still see some grass sticking up, but it was enough for us. When Heidi woke up I took her to the window and had her look outside. In the softest most innocent voice she said, "snoooooooooow." She was so excited to see snow again. Noah gave the snow the funniest look. Last year for the snow day he was only 13 months old, not really old enough to remember the snow. When he looked outside his eyebrows furrowed and he stared at the white stuff covering his outdoor toys.

After breakfast the kids got bundled up, and of course I could not find both of Noah's gloves so he was stuck with wearing one of my gloves. He didn't mind. After we were all dressed we went outside to play in the snow. The kids couldn't wait to attack that snow. Heidi immediately fell into the snow and made a snow angel. Next she wanted to make a snowman, but the snow was too powdery and wouldn't stick together. Noah walked around and looked at all his toys in shock of the snow on them. After some play time the kids and daddy tried to have a snowball fight, but again the snow wouldn't stick. Instead of snowballs they had a snow-dusting fight. It was very cute and fun.






After all the outdoor excitement we went inside and cuddled by the fire to warm up. Unfortunately the snow didn't last long. The sun came out and by noon most of the snow had melted. One day of snow is enough for us here in Austin. We're looking forward to next year's snow day.

Heidi-isms

Heidi is such a talker and often says things that we just can't believe came from her mouth. So here a few:

As we were walking through Kohl's Sunday night Ben and I heard her say, "Sucks for you mommy". I asked her what she said and she stopped in her tracks and said it again. Then I noticed she stopped right in front of a display of women's socks. "SOCKS for you mommy." (1/30/11)

During bedtime prayers Heidi prayed, "and God can you help my mommy to follow my directions the first time I say them." (1/31/11)

After tripping over a toy in the play room she got out her pretend phone and called her daddy. Here's how the conversation went, "Daddy can you come home now? I just lost my balance and can't seem to find it." (2/1/11)

"Today is Tuesday and the next day is Threes-Day". (2/8/11)

Noah is 2

My baby boy is now a big 2 year old. We celebrated the last day of 2010 with Noah's birthday. The morning started with Heidi excitedly running into his room to wish him a happy birthday. Noah was all smiles from there on out. After breakfast I got the kids' clothes together to get dressed. Noah was so excited to put on his "Birthday Boy" shirt. He normally fights me on getting dressed in the morning, but not this day. He quickly got dressed and kept pointing to his shirt.

The original plan for the day was to take the kids to Chuck E Cheese for Noah's first play experience. Things did not turn out that way. Heidi was running a fever and not feeling well, so we decided to stay home and let her rest. We did take the kids out to lunch at Mighty Fine Burgers so that the birthday boy could have a cheeseburger, fries, and a chocolate milk shake. Normally I don't let the kids get french fries when we eat fast food, but since it was Noah's birthday I made an exception. The few times I've let him have a few fries he loved them so I knew this would be a special treat for him. He had a blast eating his special lunch and really enjoyed dipping the fries in the ketchup. His face was almost completely covered in ketchup by the time we were done eating. He might be a good eater, but not exactly a clean eater.

While the kids napped I wrapped Noah's presents and made the frosting for his cupcakes that I made the previous day. After Heidi woke up she came downstairs and helped me decorate the cupcakes. I frosted (using my new frosting gun my mom gave me for Christmas, and it was awesome!) and Heidi decorated with sprinkles. We had a good little system going. All the cupcakes got frosted and decorated while Noah was still sleeping. After he woke up and came downstairs we let him open his presents from us. He got a new Thomas the Train set and train, a baseball glove and ball (so he doesn't have to use Heidi's pink Dora glove and ball anymore), and a guitar. He quickly learned "mine" and was very reluctant to let Heidi play with any of his new toys. It took a little convincing, but he finally learned to share (not happily though). What can I say, he's a two year old, it'll take some time.

After dinner we put candles in the cupcakes and sang happy birthday to Noah. He was all smiles the entire time and tried really hard to blow out the candles. He got the first candle quickly, but struggled to get the second candle out. Eventually with Daddy's help the candle was blown out. Then the kids dove into their cupcakes, icing first. We had a great day celebrating Noah's birthday as a family and are looking forward to celebrating with friends at his upcoming party.

Favorite Holiday Memories

There were a few things the kids did that made this holiday season so much fun:

*Noah's obsession of Candy Canes. He only ate one candy cane before Christmas, but was completely obsessed with them. And in Noah language it was: "Can Caaaaaaane".

*Heidi singing Christmas songs. She could pick up on just about any song and would sing it over and over. One of her favorites was Ruldoph the Red Nose Reindeer.

*Noah singing Jingle Bells: "jiji bells, jiji bells, jiji way"

*Watching Heidi take over 2 hours to make her gingerbread house.

*Noah learning about Santa Clause. The first time we saw Santa (right before Thanksgiving) Noah was so scared he wouldn't even look at Santa. Not too much after that he loved Santa and every time he would see a Santa he would yell "Tanta".

*Watching the kids get so excited each morning over moving the snowflake on the advent calendar.

*Taking the kids to look at Christmas lights in Austin. There were a few houses that went above and beyond decorating. We were very sad that the Trail of Lights was not up this year (a yearly tradition for us), so we had to make due with seeing a few houses.

*Seeing Noah's disappointed face when he opened a gift and it was clothes instead of a toy, priceless.


*Watching Heidi pick a gift at the store, put it on the ground, and say: "here Noah, pick this gift out for me."

*Hearing Heidi say "pink bike with a bell" whenever asked what she wanted for Christmas. It's a good thing Santa came through with her request. The reason she wanted a bell is so she can warn people she is coming so they can get out of her way.

*Hearing Noah say the words: "Pipmas Tree" and "Merry Pipmas".

*Watching Heidi rip through all the presents as quickly as possible without even looking at what was in the box.



It is so much fun watching Christmas through their eyes. Having little kids at Christmas time is so magical and wonderful. These are just a few of the great memories from Christmas 2010!

Christmas 2010

I loved Christmas this year, it was full of memories. The kids were full of excitement over the entire holiday. Our Christmas started weeks ago when we went to Houston to see my 10 year old nephew in his first school play, A Dickens of a Christmas. It was a very cute play and I'm so glad we got the opportunity to go see him. While we were there we exchanged gifts with my sister and her kids. Noah's favorite gift was a dinosaur piggy bank. He sat on the ground for an hour putting coins in over and over. I took the plug out of the bottom so the coins would go straight through, it kept him busy for a long time.

The next weekend we traveled to Ft. Worth to spend the weekend with Ben's parents. We attempted to let Heidi and Noah share a room, but that did not go over so well. We exchanged gifts with "Nana and Papi" and had a great time there. Heidi got 2 new pairs of boots and has not worn any other shoes since receiving those.

Finally came Christmas at home. On Tuesday we went and looked at Christmas lights in Austin. There were some streets and houses that went all out. One guy takes 2 weeks off of work and devotes his 2 weeks to decorating the outside of his house. It was absolutely amazing. We'll go back there for sure in the next couple of years. Wednesday morning I took the kids to Walgreens to pick out presents for each other. Heidi picked out a little stuffed puppy and then found a little kitty cat that she wanted, so she put it on the ground and said "here Noah, pick this out for me." So of course I got the kitty cat as a gift from Noah to Heidi. She definitely knows what she wants.

Friday was Christmas eve and it was full of fun. We started the day by baking cookies for Santa, or as Noah says: "Tanta". I was really surprised at how well the kids did with helping get the cookies ready. We mande chocolate chip cookies, because Santa at the mall said that was his favorite. The kids rolled the dough into balls or some type of ball shape and plopped them down on the cookie sheet. And of course they got to test out the cookies once they were baked, just to make sure they were Santa ready. After that we decorated a cake for our birthday party for Jesus. The kids poured sprinkles all over the cake and had a blast doing it. After nap time we had dinner, then sang Happy Birthday to Jesus and ate his cake, and then got to open a few gifts. On Christmas Eve we exchange family gifts. The kids got gifts from each other and one gift from mommy and daddy.

Finally Christmas morning had come. When I went into Heidi's room to get her she said, "Santa didn't come." I asked why she thought that and she said, "because it's really far away." The look on her face was so sad. Then I told her that I had been downstairs and Santa did come and left presents for her and Noah. Her face completely changed and she was wide awake after that. I went and got Noah and all 4 of us headed downstairs. I wish I had been downstairs to see the excitement on her face when she saw the pink bike with a bell that Santa had left for her. That was what she had been asking for for months. Noah opened a gift and immediately wanted to play with it. Heidi on the other hand ripped open all her gifts before Noah was done with his first.

After all the gifts had been opened and we had breakfast my parents came over for the day. They brought in all their gifts and the kids had a blast with all the new things they got. We are very thankful for all the family that made the holidays a blast. The kids really enjoyed their Christmas and are all ready looking forward to Santa coming next year.