E day

Last Saturday, Michaela picked out the first letter for our alphabet challenge.  The letter was E.  I was worried at first that she was not going to have as much interest in this project as I thought, until she started saying things like..."I'm elated, Mom" and "ENOUGH!", all with a little smile on her face.  

EVERYONE

We started the morning with EVERYONE in our family sitting together, thinking of E things.  I made EGGS for breakfast.  We then EXERCISED at gymnastics.  When we got home Ryan and I taught Michaela about *EMAIL.  We had asked family to send some emails and we went some time reading through the ones that were sent.  Michaela LOVES to "type", so she was all too happy to send some emails back.  Later in the afternoon we EXERCISED some more by going to the pool.  When we got home we had an ENCHILADA dinner with EDAMAME.  Overall, I would say it is an EXCELLENT E day.
 
*Several years ago, there was a commercial in which a Dad created an email for his newborn daughter.  The commercial shows the Dad sending emails complete with photos and videos to his daughter as she grows up.  Ryan and I both thought this was a great idea and he followed through and created an email account for Michaela shortly after she was born.  E day was the first time it was really used.    

EMAIL

EXERCISE at the pool

 

Summer Alphabet Adventure - Prep

Back when I was a kid, my Mom had this great idea to entertain my younger sister during the summer.  She created an alphabet jar and allowed her to pick a letter out on special days in the summer.  Then, they would create a day filled with activities to match the letter of the day.  Fast forward about 20 years and I have my own preschooler who is starting to learn to read (not sure how that happened, one day she was all of a sudden reading me an "I Can Read" book), the summer is quickly approaching and I feel like we definitely need some type of structure to survive!  So, I pitched the idea to my two girls and they got on board right away.  

I started the prep work by purchasing a smaller Project Life album and page protectors from Michaels so we could document all our adventures. This way, Michaela and Avery have an ABC book filled with great memories when we are all finished.  Pretty shortly after getting those supplies, Michaela woke asking if we could work on our special project, so we started right away.  First, I had her write all the letters onto a big sheet of paper (this activity already got her practicing writing and remembering her letters) and then she did her favorite part, cutting out all the letters into strips.  Finally, she folded them up and placed them into our letter bowl.  We have also been brainstorming some of the letters ahead of time so that we have a few ideas before we get stuck with a letter and have no ideas.  Can't wait to see where this summer alphabet adventure takes us!

Our Bookworm

We threw a book themed party for Avery's second birthday that was a lot of fun.  I thought a book party was an easy way to have a theme to organize the party without going overboard.  And truth be told, I really liked the idea of giving out books as party favors because I know both parents and kids could enjoy them!  Of course much of the inspiration for the party came from Pinterest, but I did dream up the cake all on my own.  I made up the invitations with some old library book cards and pockets.  I picked out some books to give as favors which included a variety of titles and favorites of Avery.  The girls helped me make some Hungry Caterpillar book marks for favors too.  The girls stamped their fingerprints for the head and body of the caterpillar.  Then I drew on eyes and legs and punched a few holes to imitate the book.  We used some children's book titles to shape our food choices and put the books out for decoration.  The final touch on the party was the cake.  It somehow popped into my head that I should make a Hungry Caterpillar cake, but not a caterpillar cake...the Hungry Caterpillar climbing out of the apple (like in the book).  Besides making a few batches of red frosting to get the color right and the head of the caterpillar rolling off the top of the cake while I was in the shower (luckily it landed frosting side up and was then easily held in place with some toothpicks) it really wasn't too bad of a bake!  All in all it was a great party celebrating Avery's two years.

Book theme at its best...Avery with her new giant Olivia!

TWO!

Avery is two!  I can't believe how much growth happens in the first two years of life. Avery has gone from a peanut weighing under 4lbs. to this little girl filled with energy and joyfulness.  I so love watching her grow and being her Mom! 

At two Avery...

~ loves her stuffed animals

~ loves to "hide" when daddy comes home

~ is singing "Let it go" (well at least the last word in every phrase)

~ loves eating her veggies

~ loves watching Sophia the First

~ enjoys the Ladybug Girl books 

~ loves playing with her Little People Princess castle and Elsa & Anna figurines.

December Daily in March

Chugging along and better late than never?!?

Day 10

Decorating for the holidays is always something that goes on for several days (sometimes weeks) in our house.  This year was no different, especially with this being the first Christmas in our new house!  

The Journaling...

Decorating with the girls is something that is definitely different every year.  Last year, Avery was not a very active participant and this year she didn't hesitate to get started!  Before I knew it, she was racing to put ornaments up on the tree.  She didn't even waste time getting the ornaments out of the boxes.  Look how proud she is of her work though, priceless!

Michaela put her favorite ornaments in the order she wanted them to go on the tree.  Her first choice was the fairy that lights up when placed onto the string of lights.  After spreading some ornaments around the tree she went back to her old method of hanging all the ornaments on the same bough.

December Daily in February

Day 9

When we finally arrived home we had a bit of snow clean-up to do before rushing the girls off to Grandma's so Ryan and I could both go to work.  With this being the first real snow, the girls did not hesitate to get outside and enjoy a bit of snow time.  

December Daily in January

This is the fourth year that I have participated in this project and the fourth year that I haven't finished "on time".  And although I haven't continued to post my pages, I have completed two out of the four years.  I guess I figure everyone else is already done with the project and has moved on to new things and isn't interested in reading about December.  However, this year I am posting more progress because I have been making some great progress.  I am much further along than I think I have ever been at this time in the year!  I'm happy about that!

Day 8

This was the day that we got stuck on the highway driving home.  On a normal day, the drive takes us two and a half hours.  So, by the time we got stuck we had already been in the car for an hour and a half and adding another hour or so sitting still was not ideal with two young children.  When we finally made the decision to spend the night in the hotel, the girls were ready to burn off some energy.  The beginning of our stay was a little rocky with some issues with sharing, rough play, and just generally being a bit wild.  When the girls decided to calm down and "write", I was very pleased...I called it the calm AFTER the storm.