Leah

Our Leah is turning into quite the little girl.  It seems like not long ago we were putting her in the swing and she would just relax and often fall asleep...now she just looks HUGE in that swing, and it's pretty unlikely she would fall asleep.

She is certainly developing her own little personality and has a "I can do it myself" attitude, when she wants.  There are still plenty of moments when she wants Mommy to hold her tight and not put her down.  She gets heavy let me tell you!  But I try my hardest to hold her when I can.  There will always be time  to unload the dishwasher, cook dinner, or fold laundry with two hands, right?

And, let's not forget how she still demands her milk to be warm.  On our way to Kansas for Thanksgiving, she wanted warm milk so badly.  When we finally stopped to use the potty, she spotted the microwave at the gas station from a mile away.  Boy was she happy!

Her hair keeps getting a little crazier but I just don't want to cut it yet.  There will definitely not be bangs for this girl - not after going through the long growing out process for Lesley.  Thankfully she does like clips and so far those keep the hair out of her eyes.

She LOVES "marffmalls", i.e.marshmallows, and they are proving to be a good motivation for using the potty.  Maybe, just maybe she will be out of diapers by Christmas.  Wouldn't that be fantastic!?

She started asking for "one" more while holding up her finger up.  About a week ago, she got even smarter and more convincing.  I told her her minute was already up and she had to get out of the shower.  She quickly said, "half!"  I guess we will now be having requests accompanied by a bent finger.

Gobble, gobble...our turkey day!

Our turkey day was quite a bit different this year.  We originally booked a hotel room for a few days, but I was sad that we'd be staying in a hotel on a family holiday when we usually hosted people.  So, when we learned that my cousin Tim had room at his house for our family, we jumped at the chance.  Very, very thankful that we got to stay with Tim, Uncle Andy, Katie and Brad, and the kitties for a night.

We arrived at Aunt Denise's Wednesday night, had dinner and snacks there, greeted other Hoffmann family members as they arrived and eventually headed to Tim's to sleep for the night.  Even though the group was smaller this year, Grandma and Papa still had to fight for a small amount of floor space at Aunt Denise's.  Thanksgiving is always an adventure with our family!

The next morning Lesley was pretending to be a cat by crawling into the window sill.  She thought that was hilarious, the cats were less than impressed and hid in Tim's room pretty much the whole duration of our stay.

I actually caught Leah requesting Uncle Andy to pick her up.  She's a shy one, but she does love her family.  We were sad that Aunt Katie couldn't be in KC with us, but we got to see her a few days later when we got to Iowa.

After breakfast and hanging out with the crew at Tim's house, we headed back over to Denise's.  Lesley wanted to ride with Brad and Katie, so Daddy moved her carseat.  We had to make a quick stop at the grocery store but told them we wouldn't be far behind.  When we arrived at Denise's, we noticed Lesley carseat laying out in the yard.  Random.  Jason went to grab it and after picking it up, commented that either someone had an accident or someone threw up.  Uh-oh!

It was the latter.  Lesley got sick in their car right before they arrived.  Poor Brad...his boots got the worst of it since they were sitting below Lesley in the backseat.  Grandma Nancy had already gotten Lesley into the shower and she was ready for some clean clothes.  It was like an immediate change in Lesley - from running around and teasing Tim, to wanting to lay around and not do a thing.

Patrick is ALWAYS on potato duty.  He makes some darn good mashed potatoes!  There was a little extra festive attire in the kitchen this year.

Leah was eating ice cream with Papa.  This girl has him wrapped around her finger!

Lesley was not interested in eating.  The saddest comment from the day happened while everyone was eating and we had Lesley resting on the couch upstairs (trying to isolate her a bit).  I had quickly grabbed a plate and joined her while Jason ate with the rest of the family.  She looked at my plate and said "Mommy, that looks so tasty."  Oh man, I felt awful that I was going to eat a fabulous lunch in front of my sick baby.  Mommy fail!

We did finally get her to eat some mashed potatoes and a little Gatorade later in the afternoon.

However, once we headed to Jason's family gathering, the mashed potatoes and Gatorade came right up....on top of his Aunt Denise's bed where Jason had laid her down to sleep.  Ugh, did I mention it was red Gatorade and her king size comforter doesn't fit into a washing machine.

We ended up hanging out on the floor on top of a red blanket.  Seemed safest in case she threw up again.

Grandma Cheryl and Granny found the girls some new headbands, hair clips, stickers, and Minnie Mouse magnetic paper dolls (the coolest I've seen!).  Leah had fun putting the clips in Lauren's hair.  Doesn't Lauren look super cute!?  She did insist we take the clips home though, sorry Lauren you'll have to get your own.

Then we noticed that Uncle Tony was looking a bit like he was the pregnant one.  Hmmm....Perhaps it's not Mo carrying the new baby GIRL expected to arrive in April.  This will  make 3 girl cousins for my kiddos.  It's time for someone to add some blue to the family.  Jason is voting for Aimee and Mike to take care of that.  We may have to wait until Uncle Andy and Aunt Katie are ready for kids.

After spending some time with Jason' family, we headed north to Iowa.  Poor Lesley threw up just 10 minutes into our trip...it looked to be a long drive!  But, thankfully, both girls fell asleep shortly after cleaning up that mess (it actually wasn't too bad since we were prepared and had a 'bucket') and the trip was pretty uneventful.  If it hadn't been for Mommy and Daddy needing to use the potty, I think the girls would have slept the entire way.  

When we did stop, Lesley was hungry so we gave her some applesauce and part of a banana.  She kept that down and was good to go the next day.  It was like a random 10 hour bug...that no one else got!  Thank goodness!  By the time she got sick, we had already been with the Hoffmann's for a night and portion of the morning, and Jason's family didn't really care, they just wanted to see the girls even if they were sick.

We also enjoyed a great Thanksgiving with the Holtz family on Saturday.  More turkey, more mashed potatoes, and more family time!  No photos on my camera, but hopefully I'll get a few from my mom's camera eventually.

We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and is excited for the the rest of this holiday season!  I am determined not to OVER do it this year - no overeating, no overspending, no over-committing, no feelings of being over-whelmed.  Though we will be traveling which is never stress-free, I'm determined to make as many memories as we can.  I even joined a month long e-course hoping to stay grounded and know that what I am doing is enough

Pre-Thanksgiving trip to Target and the Park

The day before Thanksgiving, I decided to take take off work and spend some extra time with the girls.  We had a few errands to run and then we needed to pack the car for our trip to Kansas.

Our first stop was the doctor's office for the second half of Leah's flu shot.  Lesley made sure that everyone knew she did NOT have to get a shot but Leah would.  "Don't worry Leah, it will only hurt for a little bit and then they will give you a bandaid and a sucker."  Unfortunately what Lesley didn't realize it that we all would have been better off if she didn't remind Leah 1,800 times that she wasn't getting a shot but Leah was.  The anticipation is always worse than the actual shot.  Thankfully Leah survived and Big Sister talked the nurse into a sucker too.  You know, since she was the brave Big Sister and all.

After the doctor's office, we headed to the craft store and Target.  It was certainly tricky walking through the craft store with my little "project girl" and my toddler who thinks she should touch everything.  We got some fun Thanksgiving crafts that will be packed away until next year, and some Christmas stickers and snowman projects.

The plan was to go to the grocery store next, but it was such a beautiful day....I felt compelled to take the girls to the park.  I'm so glad I did!

We had a blast!  Swinging, sliding, and climbing!

We even made two trips to the restroom while we were there.  The girls were very efficient.  Leah said "Potty" and Lesley said "Me too."  So we went, and they both went.  Then, about 10 minutes later, Lesley yelled "Poopy" from the top of the three story slide.  Leah said "Me too."  None of the other mommy's hanging out with their kids flinched when Lesley made this announcement.  I'm guessing they have each experienced the same declaration at some point.

It was a great morning with my girls and they were worn out just enough to take decent naps in the car on the way to Kansas.

Number 1

Total fluke, but I caught this awesome photo of Leah this weekend.  It was actually taken prior to the latest Irish win solidifying their current #1 status, but it's definitely worth posting now that they are headed to the national championship game in January.  It's been fun watching football this year and I hope the BIG game in Miami is exciting as well.

In case you were wondering, the shoe didn't fit and Leah had to find her cowboy boots instead of wearing the baby doll accessories.

A new type of jammies

One night Lesley didn't want to get dressed after her bath.  It was a tantrum sort of night!

So, I told her fine, put mommy's jammies on.  And, she did.  Hilarious!

The best part was getting her real jammies on after this quick "joke" was a piece of cake.

Leah's boots

An obsession - these pink cowboy boots!

The boots are the first thing she asks for when she wakes up, and we practically have to beg her to take them off at night.  I've been speculating whether she would choose the boots or her pink blankie if she was told that she could sleep with only one.  It's a toss up which one she might pick!

She thinks they go with every outfit and she is currently refusing to wear other shoes.  Thankfully I can find plenty of clothes that at least look decent with the pink cowboy boots.

It's going to be a sad, sad day when her feet outgrow her most prized possession.  And, it's going to be soon.  We've been telling her how she'll need to give them to Lyssa to wear because one day soon they won't fit her feet anymore.  Her response, "No!"  Awesome....We do have another pair of hand me downs from Lilly, but so far Leah has not been impressed with them and unwilling to part with these.

Dance Class {Leah's version}

Leah and I are always trying to keep busy during Lesley's dance class. On this particular day she thought putting Big Sister's boots on was the funniest thing ever.  She's got a little growing to do before she can march around in them.

Usually we eat snacks and play Tozzle on the iPad, or multiple trips to the potty and keep her baby away from the other little sisters that hang out, read magazines or look at books.  It's actually funny that all the siblings that hang out are girls.  I guess maybe they are budding dancers too.

Mommy also likes to chat with Adysen's Mama.  We are both working mamas, have similar philosophies on raising kiddos, and have two sweet girls.  Our works schedules are quite a bit different since she is an ER doctor that works mostly nights, but in general we deal with the same issues of juggling daycare with two working parents, finding "mommy" time during the crazy days/nights, striving to feed nutritious meals to the kids, teaching our kids about good manners and appropriate behavior, etc.  It's kind of refreshing to have this time to chat!  If only they didn't live 25 minutes to the east of the dance studio while we lived 10 minutes to the west.

Library Visits

We make a lot of visits to the library these days.  Actually there are three different Tulsa public libraries that we go to, depending on the day of the week, what our schedule looks like, and what activities are going on.  They each have their own library book bags and we usually pick out 5-6 books a piece on each visit.

Lesley loves to go and is very respectful.  She quietly picks out books, puts puzzles together, and knows the procedure for checking out our selected materials.  Her favorite part of the trips to the "library with the boat outside" is using the potty.  "It's just my size!"  

Leah has this habit of throwing tantrums at the library.  Oh my fun little two year old who struggles to communicate!   At the big library, i.e. the one with the boat statue outside, no one really notices because the kids section is nicely segregated from the main area and we usually aren't the only noisy ones there.  But I feel awful when she lays on the ground screaming while we are in the smaller libraries and there are in fact people trying to read or study or whatever.  Sometimes Lesley even tells me that I should just go by myself and pick out books "so Leah doesn't throw a fit".

We also love to check out the free Saturday morning concerts they have about once a month.  Just a few weekends ago, when Daddy was working, the girls and I watched the silly duo The Que Pastas.  Though the girls were quiet during the concert, I think they enjoyed it.  We purchased a couple CD's and now it's their FAVORITE music in the car.  I had no hesitation when buying the CD - seemed like a good idea to support a couple of twenty-something year olds trying to entertain children.  Plus, the tunes are catchy and make me smile.  We are hoping that cousins Lilly and Lyssa enjoy the music too.

More changes, but good ones {School}

We've been continuously looking at our options for schooling for the girls, i.e. daycare and preschool.  They are in an okay learning environment now, but it's just not exactly what we want.  I can't say there is anything specific wrong, or anything in particular we are unhappy about...it's just one of those things where we have felt that there are better options.

But, those better options seem to be at the top of everyone's list, which is why when we started the process of looking for a school/daycare for the girls back in April, we were told the waiting lists were long.  I mean rrreeeeaaalllyyyy LONG.  One place expected to have a spot for Lesley in September but the absolute earliest they could get Leah into a classroom would be January.  At the time (and still today), it was more important to keep the girls at the same place versus making our life a logistical nightmare by having multiple drop offs and picks in the mornings and evenings.  I've been told the stage of chauffeur will come soon enough, when the girls get into grade school.

Anyway, I stayed in loose contact with the owner of the place mentioned above and a couple weeks ago I got an e-mail about a pre-K preview that we could attend with Lesley.  I quickly signed up because I figured it wouldn't hurt to get on the list for Fall 2013 in case that's the route we choose for the girls.  We went, and Lesley loved it!  There were lots of new projects, the teachers were so great with her and although she was pretty shy, she seemed to fit in and didn't want to leave.  She spent a lot of time looking around and soaking in her surroundings.  It was a good feeling to see her relax and open up with the teachers, just a great learning environment overall.  I was ECSTATIC when we found out they had an immediate opening in the pre-K room AND an opening in the 2 year old classroom.  This had been the problems, no place had had spot for both girls at the same time.  Plus, they were confident that a spot in the 3 year old room would be open in a couple weeks so we could consider that option for Lesley.  Their students were shifting around, between classrooms which was freeing up space.

That night, we talked about if we wanted her in the 4 year old room or the 3 year old room.  The teachers were confident she would be fine in the older room, but she would probably then stay in the 4 year old room for two years assuming we didn't send her to the public school for pre-K.  In the end, we've decided to put her in the 3 year old room.

The qualifications of teachers and their experience at the new school far exceed the teachers at their current school.  We know the kids are young but we want them to be challenged, and we just think education and being in the right environment is so important.  Lesley thrives on projects and learning right now, and we just haven't felt that her current school is getting her everything she wants and therefore needs.  The curriculum at the new school is outstanding and the student to teacher ratio seemed awesome - about 1 teacher for every 4-5 students.

Also, moving to this school also means the kids will be with other students that are in our school district.  We live right on the edge and the original preschool was actually in a different school district.


Lesley, of course, told all her teachers at her current school before we had made a final decision that she was going to a new school.  This then caused the owner to approach me and ask what she was talking about.  Ugh, I wasn't prepared for that, though I should have known Lesley would talk about it since she was so excited.  But, in the end, the owner understands our reasons and is appreciative of the feedback we have offered.  We understand that she is limited with who she can hire based on the fees she can charge in that town.

Bottom line, we are very happy with the decision and we are hopeful that the new school will be a better educational fit for the girls.  We have been putting money away for the girls' college education since the day they were born, and we decided why not invest in their education now and not just expect returns 15+ years in the future.  It's no surprise that a facility like the one they will be attending, having better educated and qualified teachers, would also cost more than their current place.  

I am praying that that the transition will be as smooth as possible - my girls are like me and change can be hard at times.  I'm not very worried about Lesley given her excitement, but I do worry about Leah.  Both girls will be anxious the first few days, but I'm hoping the "playdate" at the new school I lined up for next week will help with the transition when the first day at the new place comes around.  They will be able to meet their teachers and visit their classrooms, participate in circle time and possibly even participate in a project or two, or play with their new classmates.

Hopefully once our transition period is over, I can report that everything is going fantastic and the girls love their new school! 

Round Fifteen...or so

Though we've been to the aquarium fifteen or more times since moving, it seemed like it had been quite a while since our last visit. We won't count the Halloween event since there was very little viewing of the exhibits that night. Anyway, I heard about a new exhibit opening recently and wanted to check it out with the girls. They were excited and it made for a perfect hour and a half stop between Sunday school and lunch.

All photos were taken with my cell phone.  Though the quality isn't great and the images seem a little blurry, it was nice not carrying around the big camera and hoping it wouldn't get bumped or knocked around too much.  So, please don't judge the images...just focus on the cute kids!

Leah was telling everyone to be quiet.  Apparently the horseshoe crabs were sleeping.

The shrimpees (Lesley's word) and crabs are always the first stop for us.  It's right near the entrance and a spot where the girls can get their hands in the water.

The new exhibit was a tank straight from the Amazon.  The tank had a tunnel that went under it for young kids to crawl through.  Once inside the tunnel, there were some ladders they could climb up to peek into the habitat of the Amazon.  The girls had a blast!  We had to literally yell inside to tell Lesley to come out when it was time to go home, and that was the second stop at this exhibit during our visit.

The fish above was in the tank, but it was impossible to get photos of the kids area.  The crawl space was pretty small and this mama wasn't going in.

I think guy was in there too.  Jason had taken my phone and was snapping some pictures.

My only complaint about this new exhibit was that there were multiple spots for the kids to get in and out.  It would have been easy for a kid to go in, get disorientated and then crawl out on the other side.  Thankfully there were two of us so one parent could be on each side.  And, it helped too that the aquarium wasn't very busy on this Sunday morning.

We always like to see the turtles.  Leah was cracking me up because she would lean down real close and they would swarm around her thinking she was going to feed them, and then she'd say "hi!".

I had to tell Lesley to keep her fingers back since those turtles were hungry.  I guess being there at the beginning of the day meant they hadn't yet gotten their fill of carrots from kids whose parents are willing to buy the tiny cups.  We've never bought that or the other fish food, and so far our girls have never asked. Hopefully we can get away with that for many, many more visits.

Leah is getting a little more brave each time, and taller.  We haven't lived in Tulsa that long but it feels like she can lean a lot farther into those shallow pools to touch the starfish.

Lesley likes to feel all of the marine life and tell us if they are squishy and soft, or hard and scaly.

They are also a little obsessed with using paper towels and hand sanitizer, especially after touching the animals.  I try not to get too frustrated, but I really dislike them wasting paper.  Is it too hard to just wait and use a paper towel when you are completely done touching?  Why must you dry your hands, then immediately put them back in the water?

I'm trying to teach them about the environment, but it's so hard for them grasp - especially a certain potty training 2 year old.  "You are wasting electricity" is usually followed by a deer in the headlights stare.  Lesley has gotten better at turning off lights, so that's promising.  Now if only Daddy would listen too...he might be the worst one at leaving on the TV ALL NIGHT LONG, forgetting to flip the switches when leaving a room, or taking entirely too long of showers.

Very blurry, but still a kind of cool snapshot.  I wish my phone could have picked up the colors a little more and focused.  Lesley moved right away so I really only had one chance to grab this shot.

These are the stingrays you can't touch.  They swim up to the window and we often get to the see the underbellies of them.

Daddy could have stayed here ALL day.  He was a big fan of "petting" the sharks and stingrays.  He did eventually walk away after one of the string rays came up and splashed him.

I'm not sure if Lesley ever touched one of the sharks or sting rays, but she didn't show much fear while next to her daddy.

I like the shark tunnel, but I always walk out of it feeling like something was missing.  I mean it's cool to be able to walk among the sharks, but I wish they had some vegetation or something to make it  a little more real or better than a big bathtub.  I suppose the fish don't care and it would be difficult to clean and maintain with all those sharks in it.  I feel like the Omaha aquarium had sharks AND a ton of other fish and sea life in the same tunnel exhibit.  Maybe after they finish the sea turtle exhibit, they can begin renovate this one. Suggestion box?

This is probably the first time we could see one of the raccoons.  Usually they are up high in the "trees" sleeping.  Pretty sure they purposely fed this fella right in front of the window.

There was NO chance we were getting them both to look at the same time.

But we tried!

Jason and I might be a little tired of going to the Aquarium, and I'm sure you are sick of seeing the same photos over and over again, but the girls always seem to have a good time.  And, we can tolerate the shorter visits every once in a while.  It's just so convenient and having a season pass makes it an obvious selection when we need something to do.

My New Friend

Our family LOVES crock pot meals.  Seriously, I mean loves!  We probably make crock pot meals 2-3 times, and sometimes more, each week.

We currently have 3 crock pots and all of them get their use.  The one above is kind of our standard medium sized crock pot we got as a wedding gift.  We also have a smaller one that was a wedding gift and it comes in handy when you're just cooking meat or a side dish.  It's round in shape so is perfect for certain layered casseroles.  We also have an extra large, programmable crock pot that we got for Christmas just last year.

Since I'm now working from home, I can quickly and easily throw together a casserole or other dish during the morning or around lunch time and then we are all set to go for dinner.  I've probably said this a time or two (or ten) but the 20-30 minutes after the kids get home are the craziest and most frustrating part of the day.  Having dinner ready makes this transition period so much easier!  Now instead of throwing something on the table to eat cooking while the kids are starving, I just have to get the table set with plates and utensils and dish up!

I splurged a bit when I bought this new cookbook.  It wasn't all that expensive, but it just seemed weird to buy a hard copy of a book when you can get so many awesome recipes online.  But, the whole family is grateful for this purchase.  We have probably made 10-12 of the items in the cookbook, some already more than once, and I have 20-25 more things flagged and on my list to hopefully make in the near future.  I'd say of the ones we've tried, there are probably just 2 that won't be repeat customers.  The recipes with meat have been especially impressive and so EASY.  Oh, and there are a few fantastic soups with lots of vegetables - always a goal for me!

I'm thankful that my girls are pretty easy to please in the kitchen.  I once read that young kids typically do not like casseroles and dishes that combine more than a few foods, and it's best to serve things individually.  But that's not reality at my house.  They love casseroles and we've had a lot of luck with crock pot options.

I'd ask for recipes and ideas to try in our crock pots, but I already have a ton in the queue....and no one ever leaves comments on my blog anyway.  :)

Pete's a Pizza

One of the latest books we found at the library is "Pete's a Pizza".  It jumped out to me from the book shelf because the drawing on the front was familiar.  We happen to have the Scholastic video of this story.  I think it's on the same DVD as Chicka Chicka Boom Boom which is one of Lesley's favorites.

Perfect, we checked it out and took it home to read.

Then, the perfect (or you could say not so perfect) chain of events happened.  The story is about how Pete was in a grumpy, no good mood so he dad decided to make him into a pizza.  Lesley was having a "fussy" evening last Sunday and the book laying on the coffee table caught my eye.  Let's make her into a pizza!

So, we got started.  Leah was my assistant and in charge of the pepperoni and cheese.  We went through all the steps.  Rolling and stretching, adding sauce and toppings, baking and then eating.

The girls thought it was hilarious...so we had to repeat about a hundred times.

Then they wanted to make Daddy into a pizza.  We followed the book loosely and made adjustments where necessary.  I'm pretty sure their favorite part was adding the "sauce"...in which I encouraged them to put water on daddy with a kitchen brush.

Daddy was more than happy to just lay on the floor.  Let's just say that the part where the "pizza" runs away didn't happen when Daddy was playing the part.

I've been using distraction a lot lately when Lesley and/or Leah get fussy or grumpy.  It was fun that my distraction tactic this evening lasted for hours....and even into the next day.

Teaching Thankfulness

I ran across this holiday countdown on a blog that I view frequently.  The blog owner had a online code for 50% off the sale purchase price so I couldn't pass it up.  I'm always looking for little ways to make prayer and faithfulness part of our daily routine.  It's not really something that comes naturally to Jason and myself, but we are doing better.

One thing I love about this countdown is that it covers three holidays.  Right now we are obviously working through the Thanksgiving prayers and reminders, but we will also use our countdown during the Christmas and Easter seasons.

There are 12 boxes, with little cards inside that include pictures and a few simple words.  Then, there is a book which provides a scripture reading and a few more comments regarding the daily topic.  There is usually a question that is simple enough for the girls to think about, but also an important reminder to mommy and daddy.

Today, the card reminded us to be thankful for our church.  Lesley's favorite part of church is Sunday School and the donuts after Sunday School.  Leah likes putting money in the collection basket (Mommy helped her think of this one).  And, Mommy likes spending an hour in quiet prayer and reflection, while also listening to God's word and joyful music.

The boxes have numbers on one side, but then also act as puzzle pieces - with separate pictures on the other sides, one for Thanksgiving, one for Christmas, and one for Easter.  In the end, we'll have a completed puzzle and 12 things to be thankful for during this season.  I'm excited to reflect on Christmas in just one month, and then also Easter next spring.

During the past few months, we have also been more purposeful in praying before we eat our dinner.  This tends to only work well when we are all sitting at the table, and it's actually a good incentive to get the girls settled and ready to eat.  The girls refuse to pray without Daddy so the evenings when he works late can be frustrating!

It's the cutest thing to watch the girls pray.  Lesley has picked up on it pretty quickly, knows the sign of the cross and most of the words to the blessing we say.  She mimics us for the sign of the cross so whichever parent she is watching has to do the sign backwards, or she will do it wrong as she watches us.  We are acting like her mirror I guess.

Leah is the best little reminder to pray.  She'll run over to the table and say "pray, pray, pray!" and start tapping her shoulders.  She hasn't figured out the sign of the cross yet, but she puts her hands together and says "Amen" at pretty much the right time.

Like I said, we are trying to be more faithful and be thankful for the blessings God has given us.

Nap-head

Leah has a small problem. Nothing that can't be fixed...but still a problem.

She gets nap-head.  You know, like bedhead but after her nap.  She came downstairs over the weekend with this crazy do.

Our sweet girl gets sweaty and apparently tosses and turns during her nap.  And, her hair is getting longer and a bit unruly even when it's clean and brushed, so I guess it makes sense this messy head happens during sleep.

How rude of daddy to try and take photos when she was just waking up, and still a bit groggy.  I don't even think she knew photos were being taken.  Sort of a deer in the headlights look.

Little Sister had the perfect solution.  A hair clip.

I think that solved the issue, right?

Well, I love that messy, cray hair, even after nap time.  And, I'm delaying her first hair cut for as long as possible!  The mullet is trying to make an appearance in the back, but so far we can just fluff it a little and she's good to go.

Our Turkeys {Another project}

I feel like I am constantly trying to think of projects for Lesley to work on. She is a busy little girl who always is asking for something to work on, i.e. something to paint, something to cut, something to trace, something to spell, something to glue, etc. It wears this mommy out!  I'm thankful that although I work full time, I work from my home office which gives me certain flexibilities I never had before.  My lunch time to-do list often includes stopping at the craft store.

Leah insists on being part of the action.  That's another reason for continued deep breathes and the need for patience.  Whew, she wears me out too, and she requires a lot more supervision and clean up than big sister.

Notice that she is painting with her left hand.  We aren't positive she will turn out left handed, but she has lasted a lot longer than Lesley did with the use of her left hand.  By this age, Lesley had switched over to her right hand.

Painting is tough.  Lesley LOVES to paint, but it's just a stress inducing activity for mommy.  For this project, Mommy picked the color and Mommy insisted that only one color was used.

After all, how many purple turkeys have you seen?  Lesley, the answer is ZERO.

She was very focused and thought this was a great project.  She got to paint AND glue.

We started out by getting online to pick a turkey out to print.  My vision was to use brown construction paper and try to free hand, or even use her hand to trace.  But Lesley insisted we print something from the computer.  I often search for coloring pages for my Sunday school class online and I think she had that in her mind so my construction paper turkey idea didn't fly.  "That's not a good idea mommy."

This was a weeknight project so we didn't have a lot of time.  After they finished painting, I told them they had to let the pages dry before putting feathers on.  It was a painfully slow process!  We distracted long enough to get their pj's on, but then I knew we needed a plan B.  Turns out that Plan B was awesome!

This three year old thought drying the turkeys with the hair dryer was the funniest thing ever.

Leah doesn't like the hair dryer, but she happily watched as big sister took care of this (unplanned) step for our project.

Next up, adding some feathers to our holiday birds.

I let each girl pick out four feathers from the craft supplies to glue on the turkeys.

Leah was so proud of her turkey.

Though frustrating at times, this project turned out to be pretty educational for Leah.  We worked on counting and our colors.  She stills calls everything blue or yellow, but hopefully if we keep throwing in red and green she'll figure those out soon.

For counting, she prefers "one, two, lots".  Actually "lots" is a pretty common request for her...you know, lots of candy, and lots of milk, and lots of marshmallows (our current potty training bribe).

Lesley added names to the sheets and then we decided to add googly eyes a few days later.  Four feathers didn't seem like enough so Mommy backed off on the original limitation.

I think this weeknight project turned out fantastic.  Now to keep coming up with more projects for my "project girl".  Let's just say I'm happy we are changing holidays again soon.