Learning the Alphabet

Nicholas has taken an interest in the letters of the alphabet lately. So there are often times that he sees a word on a shirt and points to the letters asking what they are. A few days ago was one such episode.

I was wearing a plain shirt, but it said Old Navy across the top. He pointed to each letter, repeating after me when I named it.

Mommy: N
Nicholas: N
Mommy: A
Nicholas: A
Mommy: V
Nicholas: B (close enough)
Mommy: Y
Nicholas: Cuz

Whenever you ask him the question Why, he always answers 'cuz. Obviously a 2 year old doesn't understand Y as a letter yet.

Dog Fur

Is it possible to just vacuum the dog? Would I be eliminating a step in the daily vacuuming process that seems to be going on these days? Or is that considered animal cruelty of some kind?

A Child MeMe

In other words, not a meme. More of a theythey.

Katie

Age: 5 years 4 months

Favorite colors: Pink

Favorite foods: Anything with sugar. Also ice-cream, pear, strawberries, soup.

Favorite things to do: Play outside and swing. The higher the better. Or when stuck indoors, cartwheel through the living room or color, paint, cut and glue.

Favorite sports: Gymnastics and ballet

Favorite toys: Barbie dolls, cars, and a big yellow bus that she is pretending is the magic school bus.

Favorite TV show: The Magic School Bus

Favorite Movie: The Magic School Bus Creepy Crawly Fun

Favorite Read-Aloud Books: Anything Magic School Bus, Eloise, Capyboppy

Favorite Reading Books: BOB books, Dick and Jane, Sing, Spell, Read, and Write Readers.

Things to Remember: I try very hard at everything I do. From handstands and cartwheels that I have practiced for hours until finally getting it, to my math and reading work. Even though I am technically not old enough for Kindergarten, I have learned to read, count to 100, add, and many other things in our first year of homeschooling. I love to write stories and notes to people. I am creative, and I can be found dancing and singing much of the time. I also love books and reading. I can be a great big sister, when I want to, but sometimes I just have to pick on my baby brother. It comes with the territory.

Nicholas

Age: 2 years 6 months

Favorite Color: Green

Favorite Foods: French Fries, fruit snacks, strawberries, cheese, and pretty much anything that passes his way. The boy can EAT!!

Favorite Things To Do: run, jump off the fireplace hearth, play in the sand.

Favorite Sports: Soccer, basketball, baseball, football. Does it involve a ball? Then it's good!

Favorite Toys: Cars, trucks and balls

Favorite TV Show: Dora the Explorer

Favorite Movie: Dora and the Lost City

Favorite Books: Anything Dora, Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed, Five Little Monkeys Sitting in a Tree, How Many Bugs in a Box, Easter Bugs

Things to Remember: I have a huge vocabulary, and love to talk about anything and everything as I fall asleep. I can be a sweet little cuddly boy one minute, and tackle my sister or parent in the next. I have managed to get into heaps of trouble, but nothing ever too serious. I like to test my limits, and bother my sister, but in the end I love her very much, and we can often be found running through the house racing cars together or just playing chase. I do NOT like to share!

I tag Celeste and Robin

Happy Easter!

Our Easter morning began with a loud 6:30 wake up of "The Easter bunny was here!! There are eggs in my room and on the floor!"

The Easter bunny always leaves a trail from each kid's bed leading them to their Easter basket in the kitchen. Both kids found way too many eggs hidden throughout the house. Some were so well hidden that we are still finding them today.

Nick enjoyed the eating portion of the Easter egg hunt. He quickly decided he didn't want anything to do with his Easter basket, since the only candy in there was a lollipop, and really wanted the plastic eggs he had found.

The kids both got lots of outdoor toys, so hopefully the weather will cooperate tomorrow and let us spend some time playing in the sand and blowing bubbles.

We finished decorating the Easter/ Spring cookies we had baked the night before. Katie makes an excellent assistant chef. Daddy and I frosted in lovely pastel shades of pink, lime green, lavender, and yellow. Then Katie and Nicholas helped sprinkle.

Nicholas didn't totally get the idea of sprinkling each cookie, so in the end we had one that looked like this:

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Coloring Easter Eggs

When coloring Easter eggs, wear nothing but a diaper or stay in your jammies all day.

Watch the snow falling gently outdoors.

Admire your hulk-like hands, after you are finished.

Or just smile at your beautiful creations.

Easter Baths

Everyone should be as clean and sparkly as this the night before Easter!

Easter Egg Hunt

The place that the kids have their gymnastics classes had an Easter egg hunt on Friday. The gym was loaded with eggs and after the egg hunt they had open gym for over an hour. The kids had a great time, and I think they enjoyed the open gym far more than the eggs.

Pre-egg hunt preparations

Hopped up on sugar...literally!

Trip to the Zoo

The weather was absolutely gorgeous last weekend, so we took a quick trip to the zoo.

Here are just a few pictures:

Which one is the monkey??

These two??? OR

This one???

I HATE TAXES!!!

I have always happily done our taxes each year, and kind of found them fun to do, especially with the grand inventors of TurboTax.

This year is different.

Not only did Mike change jobs, but we changed states, creating some strange situations. Such as one state that has an income tax and one that does not. As of last night, I had decided that I was finished with our Federal Income Tax and was going to mail it today, and so I did. This morning at 10:30 I sent it on its merry way. Now at 1:30 I have figured out the problem with our state return, which somehow changed the result in our federal return as well, so now I get to play amend the return.

Let's just say it wasn't my fault in the first place. I will place blame on the lovely people/ computers who send out the W-2's with the wrong information on them. Luckily smart people exist in this world, who know how to go online and find the correct version of the w-2 and then fix the return.

ARGH!

A Child's Hands

The weather has been gorgeous. Beautiful sunny days, a bit windy, but still great for going outside to play and watching all our bulbs that we planted in the fall coming up.

The kids have had lots of time playing in the sand table that Nick got for his birthday last October. And since most of the sand has gradually disappeared due to dumping and wind, I even consented this week to add water to the water side so that they could make a good mess.

It is amazing to watch these little hands at work. Katie carefully constructed a volcano complete with lava dripping down. Then she dug a hole through the side and made it a tunnel. Nicholas was content to make small hills for his cars and trucks to drive over, as well as just to mash and scoop and push the sand around. They are getting so big!

The Mud Pit

This is what a 2 year old looks like after playing all day in the backyard on one of the first nice days of Spring. Happily covered in mud and chocolate ice-cream.

Trust me...the 5 year old didn't look much different.