Thursday, January 23, 2014

Snow Days

We had a first big snow of 2014 earlier this week.  We are on our 3rd snow day this week.  Tuesday we woke up to a dusting of snow on the ground and it snowed all day long.  Then it snowed again Tuesday night because we woke up to fresh snow on Wednesday morning.  Today it is flurrying outside again.  The kids are absolutely loving the snow!  This has been a great age because they can help get themselves dressed and they will stay out and play until we make them come back inside.  Even better, they can carry their own sled up the hill so all Jay and I have to do is give them a push and catch them at the bottom.












Sunday, January 19, 2014

Charlotte the Explorer

Given Charlotte's obsession with all things Dora, it was a no brainer to have a Dora the Explorer themed birthday party.

We started off the party with a taco bar for lunch.  It worked out great because Dora is Mexican (hence the Mexican food) and one of Charlotte's favorite foods is chicken tacos.


After lunch the kids went on an adventure.  The whole premise of an episode of Dora is that Dora has some place to get to and she has a map to follow to get there.  Along the way there are 3 different places to go through and tasks to complete so Dora can get to her destination.  Jay told the kids that Charlotte had a birthday surprise to find and we had to follow the map to get to the surprise.  I wish I had more pictures of the adventure, but kids ages 2-8 move pretty fast so it was hard to get pictures before they moved to the next activity!
The first stop was through the Grumpy Old Troll's tunnel.  The kids had to solve a riddle then go through the tunnel.

 The rest of the adventure was in the basement.  I had hoped to do some outside, but with the temperature in the low 30s we decided the unfinished basement would be a better location.  We used all the toys in the basement to make the Toy Garden.  When the kids got to the Toy Garden they had to find the bean bags Swiper had taken and then toss them in the bean bag toss.


Then they got on saucers to go through the Balloon Forest to play Pin the Tail on Swiper.


Finally they arrived at the birthday surprise, a pinata!! Each kid got to hit the pinata and then Jay showed them how to pull the strings at the bottom to get the pinata to open.


 After the adventure Charlotte opened her presents.  She was determined to open them by herself and did a great job opening and thanking her friends for the gifts.



At the end of the party we did cupcakes and ice cream.  Charlotte got a tiara as part of her presents and she wore it the rest of the party!



The boys went home with Diego "Rescue Pack" goodie bags with a coloring book and crayons.  The girls went home with Dora "Backpack" goodie bags with a coloring book and crayons. 


Charlotte had so much fun with her family and friends!  


Monday, January 13, 2014

Charlotte is Three!

Last Wednesday Charlotte turned three years old.  I can't believe she is that big!   We had a two hour delay for the extremely cold weather, which meant there was time for a yummy breakfast and opening presents to celebrate her special day. 


When I look back at pictures from last year at this time Charlotte seems so young.  She is truly now a "big girl" and Miss Independent.  She has an answer and opinion about everything and is not afraid to share it. Charlotte loves to be on the go.  When Jay or I have to run errands she always wants to come with us and never wants to stay at home.  She talks to people out in the store (or talks about them!) and likes to be where the action is. 

Charlotte is very compassionate and wants to please others.  Whenever Trey gets upset about something she tries to give him what he wants so he feels better.  She is very excited about the new baby and talks about the new baby all the time.  She says she wants to hold the baby gently, give the baby a paci if the baby cries, and sing to the baby.

Charlotte continues to be my more adventurous eater.  She doesn't like to sit still long enough to finish a meal, but she will try just about anything you offer her.  Right now her favorite foods are beans, tacos, pizza, strawberries, and applesauce.  She has been able to feed herself for a long time, but she likes the attention of someone else feeding her.  She has just recently stopped asking us to feed her at dinner. 

Charlotte's favorite thing right now is crafts.  She loves to cut, glue, put on stickers, and color anything.  She also loves to help in the kitchen.  Anytime I am fixing something she will bring up a chair and stand beside me to help.  She also enjoys playing with her imaginary friend Sophia.  Sophia doesn't show up every day, but about once a week Sophia is doing something with Charlotte and she expects you to be able to see her too.

Charlotte's other obsessions are baby dolls and Dora.  Charlotte is a sweet little mama to her babies and she wants to take care of them.  She also talks for them and often in spanish using words from Dora.  Charlotte loves anything to do with Dora: books, stickers, the tv show, and her new Dora microphone.  She loves to belt out a tune for her audience.  Today when Trey asked her what she wanted to be when she grows up, she replied, "A Dora." 





Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Big Kid Room

When we built our house we started out wanting four bedrooms upstairs, but our contractor talked to us about how much better three bedrooms would look.  We have three very spacious bedrooms and two large bathrooms upstairs and if we had put in four bedrooms they would have been much smaller and broken up the flow.  At the time of design I was pregnant with Charlotte and we thought we might have more children so our contractor made the kids' bedrooms easy for kids to share with large closets and plenty of space for multiple beds.

We spent 4 days last week priming, taping, and painting the "big kids" room.  And by we I mean mostly Jay.  I helped out by keeping the kids occupied downstairs so he could work.  We had a few hangups with the wrong shade of yellow at first, Jay getting sick from one type of primer, and the hour and a half round trip drides to Lowes to get more paint.  However, we got their room set up and ready during winter break, which was our main goal.

During the painting time all of Charlotte's furniture was moved to the hallway or Trey's room and they had sleepovers in Trey's room every night.  They did such a good job sleeping in the same room and not disturbing each other that it confirmed our decision to move them in together.

We decided on painting the room yellow because it was a gender neutral color and not a "favorite" of one persons (trying to be fair).  Then each kid picked a color for a stripe on the wall.  Charlotte chose purple and Trey chose orange.  I wasn't sure how it was going to look all together, except for very colorful, but we all love how it turned out.

Helping Daddy with taping

Trey was in charge of handing Daddy his tools to tape.

The was the yellow we rejected after it was up on the walls, but they liked getting a chance to paint.

Did I mention we also started potty training Charlotte during this week? Probably not the best time, but since I was off work I decided to go for it.  
The first things we moved into the finished room was their beds.  They are on opposite sides of the room. 

Charlotte was so excited to move from a bed on the floor (we always start with that when they move out of the crib) to a real "big girl" bed. 
This is the wall that adjoins the new nursery.  We plan to put up a pinterest inspired display of books on the empty section above their seats to create a reading area. 

The walk in closet.  Charlotte's clothes are on the right and Trey's are on the left.  Charlotte doesn't really have that many more clothes than Trey, his are just all in his dresser except for sweaters and button down shirts.  I want to get a basket to put on the floor for their dress up clothes so they are all in one place. 

Nana made the kids quilts out of Dr. Suess fabric.  They turned out really cute and look great in the room. 

We plan to put some oversized art work (TBD) over their dressers. 
I like the idea of living in a space for a while to make sure the furniture is in a functional layout before putting anything on the wall.  We have ideas for art work that will probably come to fruition over spring break or summer break.  When we moved in just the beds Trey said, "We have room in here for our new baby's bed when he turns 2 or 3 like Charlotte!" 

Saturday, January 4, 2014

Christmas Break

As Christmas break is coming to an end and we are gearing up for going back to schedules and routines, I want to remember all the fun things our family did.  The first part of the break was spent doing all kinds of Christmas activities that there was no time for when work and school were in our lives.

We did some Christmas crafts.   I had a great idea from pinterest to let the kids make our wrapping paper this year.  It was a great project that was actually fairly easy.  I did learn that scotch tape will not stick to craft paper, but that gift wrap tape will stick to craft paper. Who knew?The kids used sponge circles to make dot wrapping paper and some gifts I wrapped ahead of time and they make Christmas trees and wreaths on the top of the package with their handprints.  Instead of using sticky labels for the gifts Trey wrote everyone's name on cardstock that we attached to the gifts.  He was very proud of himself for writing the labels.





 We made gingerbread cookies.  The process lasted about 2 days.  We made the batter Monday morning and then rolled out the dough and baked on that evening and on Christmas Eve we decorated the cookies and ate them. 












The kids got really good at opening presents and trying out all their new stuff. 






 After Christmas we went down to Richmond to visit family.  The kids love spending time with their cousins.



Our Sunday school class had a "kid-friendly" New Years Eve party where we celebrated the new year at 9 pm.  The kids wore each other out and then we put them in pajamas to drive home and laid them in bed when we got home.  They had never celebrated New Years before and I think the dance party, beads, and noise makers have made this a holiday they won't want to sleep through again!





We were one of the lucky counties to get a whole 2 weeks off for Christmas.  We spent the second week painting the kids' rooms, moving the big kids into a room together and setting up the nursery.  Pictures of the rooms soon to come!