Oh the snow! WOW! What fun the kids have had!! And I found snow pants in the next three necessary sizes. Apparently, the last time I purchased snow pants I needed 5T ... ahem ... yeah, that doesn't even fit Sam now.
So ... the kids four day weekend was spent playing out in the snow with their good friends from up the street. Oh how I will miss these kids being able to play with each other next month. While I'm really looking forward to the space that country living will allow, the appeal of the neighborhood and children being able to arrange/transport themselves to and from play dates, I am really going to miss this, and so are they.
Kansas got 8-10 inches of snow Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and then the day after Christmas. Being out of town, some good friends paid someone going door to door to clear our driveway along with others in the neighborhood (widows, single parents, etc.) less likely to be able to do it on their own. With the huge pile of snow heaped along the curb in the front yard, the kids wanted to make a snow cave. GR spent an hour this morning with a shovel and a few gardening tools digging out a small cave for the kids to play in ... perfect! If the temperatures hold, I think I may be sent to the store in search of snow pants later today. The multiple layers the kids have been donning for the last 24 hours really only keeps them warm and dry for 30 minutes and by 45 they are inside pealing wet frozen clothes off the body.
If the little ones weren't barking like seals they'd be out there too!
Thursday, November 30, 2006
We ended up on the outer edge of the winter storm that dumped lots and lots of snow east of us. All we managed to get was 2-4 inches of slushy ice and a dusting of snow. School got closed today and I've heard they've already closed school on Friday too. I love snow days and so do they kids!
It is so stinking cold out side!!! They begged and begged to go out and play in the ice/snow ... found their snow pants, dressed in layers, got hats and mittens ... the works and headed out. I could barely stand at the front door to watch them, let alone brave the icy cold air! How do kids do it?
Sam lasted about 20 minutes. I finally had to tell the girls to come in after 40 minutes for fear the cold would do permanent damage to their little bodies. After the peeled their wet clothes off into a heap by the front door, they sat at the dinning room table and had hot chocolate with marshmallows - really it's more like lukewarm hot chocolate cause none of them will drink it if it's hot.
Sunday 29 October 2006
Last week a package arrived for me from my SIL (Thank you Elspeth!), containing a ColorKu game.
While my mother was here helping out after Alex was born, she started teaching the girls how to play Sudoku on her little hand held Nintendo game. We also purchased a couple of Sudoku for kids puzzle books at the local toy store. Ever since, whenever Grandma Mutti is around, the girls want to play Sudoku either on her little game, on the computer, or on paper (in that order of preference).
As you can see from the pictures ColorKu is a version of Sudoku... each color represents a number 1-9, and the game comes with 100 or more puzzles cards.
Despite my children's fascination with the game, until last night I had never played. Rebecca and Emily were extremely patient with me. We started with puzzle #2, on the EASY scale and thanks to my inexperience, we had to start over twice! But once we got off on the right foot, we were able to quickly solve the puzzle. We started the puzzle by working it out together, then I transitioned into letting them either solve rows, columns or squares. It was a lot of fun, and we're all looking forward to playing another game when they get home from school.
Over the last couple of weeks, the kids and I have stopped in the down town quilt stores at least three times (more visits than I typically make in a year). Just a few doors up from the quilt shop is our favorite toy store. I don't know where I've been, but until this month, the kids and I had never noticed the blowing bubbles teddy bear hanging outside their shop door. Now we can't go down town without spending at least 15 minutes outside their shop popping bubbles. It's great fun to watch them play and to watch the faces of the adults walking by two little kids running and jumping and giggling and laughing with delight!
Friday, 9 June 2006
After we got the baby bird delivered to the nature center, we rushed home to finish packing a lunch to take to the zoo. Innitially we had planned on going yesterday (Thursday), but playgroup was schedule to go to the local wadding pool, so we opted to do the wading pool and wait to do the the zoo today.
Sam and I are working on becoming more independent. Picking out his own clothes and dressing himself are part of this - you're nearly three, you can do this, effort. This morning I asked him to pick out a t-shirt and pair of shorts to wear. As she typically does, Rebecca offered to help him. A few minutes later, he came downstairs in his Incredible's pajamas. These are NOT the pajamas he went to bed in, nor are they the pajamas he woke up in.
For a good hour, I tried and tried to get him to pick something else, explaining that it was going to be HOT at the zoo, and his pj's were not going to be very comfortable. He would have NOTHING to do with changing. I finally decided it simply wasn't that big a deal ... heck on Tuesday there was a girl at library story hour wearing her Cinderella dress-up dress. So, I swallowed my pride, put a t-shirt and pair of shorts in the backpack and we went to the zoo.
We had a great time at the zoo. And met up with two other families from playgroup that mentioned they were also going to the Zoo today. We saw about 1/2 the animals this time around, had a great picnic lunch and then rode the train. Every child on the train got a chance to blow the whistle, which they LOVED.
As we rounded the bend to see the Elephants I passed a mother who said ...
"Sometimes it's just easier to let him stay in his PJs?"
"Ahhhh, no." I said, "He actually slept in something completely different. That's what he choose to wear today."
Monday, 5 June 2006
Tonight was Rebecca's first t-ball game! She had three weeks of practice, one practice each week and tonight they showed us and the other team, what they've learned.
This summer Parks and Rec. had enough girls interested in playing t-ball to create six kindergarten all girl teams, which I find really exciting! They are pretty good size teams, and I've been very impressed with the parents and coaches. Everyone is very encouraging and supportive of these girls – who are each at very, very different skill levels! GR and I are both really impressed with how well Rebecca has done over the last four weeks. She has come a long way from last years basketball experience!
Becca’s a social bug, and likes to have fun… and when she has an audience, oh boy! So, we had a couple of conversations throughout the day about staying focused on the game and the ball - not being silly, or loosing concentration, ‘cause that's when the ball goes somewhere you don't want it to and someone gets hurt. Somehow she managed to do exactly that, squarely hitting the ball both times she was up to bat and playing third base. Yet , at the same time, she never let go of her personality - she talked to every person that stopped at 3rd base and a few times enthusiastically motioned them on to home, and of course she had to have a conversation with the 2nd base coach and player when she was tagged out – I fully expected her to debate with them, but she didn’t, nor was she upset.
The games last an hour, and both teams were well matched. Both teams managed to have two great plays, and both were able to get two players out on base during the game.
GR took this opportunity to brush up on his sports photography, and despite feeling VERY rusty, he got some great shots of the girls. I’m hoping we’ll have enough pictures by the end of the season, to put together a little scrapbook of pictures of the season for her coach.
Oh the snow! WOW! What fun the kids have had!! And I found snow pants in the next three necessary sizes. Apparently, the last time I purchased snow pants I needed 5T ... ahem ... yeah, that doesn't even fit Sam now. 
