Playing Away the Winter Days - January

We've spent a lot of time playing this winter to try and pass the days!

Painting

Super baby!

Silly!!

Lots of playdates with friends

Brothers!

Making jewelry

Play Museum with friends! It was Elijah's first time there when he could run around and I don't think he stopped the entire time!

More playdates! :)

Fishy Business

Many of you know how much I love to paint on walls :).Well, I love it when I get the opportunity to do it for friends because I'm running out of walls to paint in my own home! My dear friend Nan had asked me a couple years ago to do a decorative painting of sea reeds around her master bedroom to match her comforter, and I love how it turned out. When her son, Drew, decided he was ready to retire the Veggie Tales bedroom and upgrade to a fish room, she asked me if I'd be willing to come back again and do an aquarium mural for him. I was MORE than happy to whip out my brushes and get to work :). I did a school of fish that matched the ones on his fish bedding and then got creative with the rest. Drew even helped me by painting a fish of his own in the mural, which I think is so cool to have his mark on there! It was so fun working with him - he had some great ideas of which sea life to include and I think it turned out fantastic!

Refreshing Teacher Gift Idea

It's hard to believe it, but Riley's last day of preschool is tomorrow! He's all registered to start kindergarten in the fall, and (the part that makes me a little nervous) he'll be riding the bus home from school everyday. I am really excited for him and I think he is really going to be challenged academically -- it's a fantastic program!

I put together a little gift for each of his preschool teachers to thank them for investing their lives in him this year. As a former teacher myself, I know how much work they put into their job and how much they care about my child. I want to give them something simple, but meaningful, to show our appreciation. Those were always the best gifts -- I did love all the candles and Bath and Body gifts too, but was stocked up on those for years after I finished teaching :). Plus, I did the candle and B & B soap thing for them already at Christmas!

I found this great idea on another blog I follow here and this is what I came up with:

I got them each a Sun Tea jar ($5 each) and filled them up with all kinds of "mint" items - peppermint and spearmint candies, chocolate mint candies, doublemint gum, peppermint patties, freshmint tic tacs, mint three musketeer bars, peppermint tea, etc.

I attached the following note:

Thanks for your commit-"mint" to help me learn.
Thanks for your encourage-"mint" to always do my best.
Thanks for your involve-"mint" in my life.
Thanks for your invest-"mint" of time and energy

to make school such a great place to be.
Thanks for making each day an enjoy-“mint."
Thanks for helping to create a nice environ-"mint"

for me to learn and grow.

Everything you have done this year
has really “mint” a lot to me!!!

Praying you have a refreshing summer!

And since I'm on the topic of preschool, here is the picture Riley made me for Mother's Day...sooo sweet! (That's his little school photo on the butterfly!)

I can honestly tell you that even the most simple recognition made all the difference as a teacher, so be sure to let your child's teacher(s) know how thankful you are for them!

Wordless Wednesday

The Final Weekend

The final weekend of waiting is here! We are getting a lot of cleaning and tidying up done around the house today. Brad is on his first day of vacation from work! He got his car inspection done, and is getting us groceries later, and has been a huge help with the housework today already. My friend, Allison, came over yesterday to help take Riley to school and was a huge help, and we made a couple batches of cookies. (Here's a sweet pic of Naomi and her Auntie!) I'm hoping to get one more batch of Christmas cookies made today. And then tomorrow we should be able to just relax and spend some time over at my parent's house.

Just wanted to share a few more pictures of the kids and what they've been up to recently while I have the time :). Both kids love to draw and color (they each spend probably an hour a day working on pictures), and as Riley is getting older it is so fun to see so much more detail in his drawings. He loves to use all different colors when he makes his pictures. I complimented him on how I really liked all the colors he uses and he replied, "Yes, 'cause that's why I'm an artist!" I love how he already considers himself an artist. That's my boy! :) Here are some photos of him diligently working on a drawing of a pirate ship yesterday.

And here is the finished product!

(A pirate ship with pirates)

We get a masterpiece or two like this just about every day. I am going to eventually put together a book of our favorites that will be fun to look back on as he continues to grow and develop his skills. Here are a couple other recent favorites:

(A T-Rex - notice the 2 fingers)

(My family - he drew mommy, daddy, and himself and ran out of room so he squeezed Naomi and the baby in)

(Volcano - he loves drawing these, and brought home this one from school)

Earlier this morning, I worked on organizing the changing table. I pulled out some of the newborn diapers we had pre-purchased to put in the drawer and I can't believe how little they are!!! I thought Naomi would like to have one to play with and she was very excited to take it and headed off right to her room. I continued working and a few minutes later passed by her room to see her sitting on her bed diligently trying to get the diaper on her dolly and stuffed animals. So adorable.

I think she is ready to be a big sister and a big helper too! :)

Well, I can't wait to be able to share about our new little guy's arrival in just a short time. We will be sending out cards late this year so we can include him, so don't think we forgot! :)

This is going to be one of the best weeks ever! Merry Christmas everyone!