Leprechaun Trap

Yesterday the girls celebrated St Patrick's Day at school.  They had an assignment to make a Leprechaun Trap.  They came up with the ideas on their own for the most part.  Emma took a puzzle box we had that has a slide top.  She decorated the inside of one compartment with a rainbow and pot of gold to entice the leprechaun and the other side had a sparkly shamrock.  She put a block under the box top and set it up.  The idea was for the leprechaun to want the gold and as he passed the block to get it he would knock it over and the lid would shut down and trap him.

Olivia's was a Kleenex box.  We stapled cardboard to the inside and attached a paperclip across the opening.  Then she decorated it with a sign pointing to the inside reading "GOLD".  Her idea was he would go in there searching for the gold but once he got in, he couldn't push his way out...it only opens one way!  Pretty clever.

The end result was after first recess their room was decorated with sparkles.  After gym and music class there were little dots all over the room.  And after last recess they came back to find leaves all over the room.  Unfortunately nobody caught the leprechaun.  But the kids did wake up to some gold coin chocolates this morning...so maybe it's a good thing that little leprechaun was too smart for those traps :-)

Happy St Patrick's Day everyone! 

Date Nights

Lately we've been having some Mommy/Daddy time.  Thank goodness for our good friends, the Starks, for offering to babysit. 


Our first adventure was a baby shower believe it or not.  It was a Mardi Gras theme shower.  The parents-to-be were actually the hosts and they provided lots of yummy food and adult beverages too (the mom-to-be obviously didn't drink).  It was definitely a different twist to a baby shower...but it was a lot of fun.  It was a good excuse for a date night! 

Then last night we went to Blake Shelton!  I scored tickets the same day!  I wanted to go to this but we just never got around to buying tickets.  Then a friend of mine mentioned to me yesterday that she had a friend who had 2 extra tickets...I jumped at the chance, bought her tickets, found a babysitter (once again...thanks Starks!) and Marc and I went to the concert.  It was a blast!  He was AWESOME!!!  I haven't been to a concert in over 10 years so this was a treat!  I think we are going to have to plan some more date nights soon. 

Hat Day

Friday was Hat Day at school in honor of Dr Seuss's actual birthday. These were the hats of choice for the girls. Aren't they so cute?!?

Tie Day

Dr Seuss's birthday is March 2nd so this week the kids have theme days. Yesterday was PJ day which was very exciting for the girls. Today is Tie Day. Emma chose to wear one of Marc's ties...it has Winnie the Pooh on it! Olivia wanted to make a bow tie. I used the sash from her curtains for that...it's the best we could come up with and she loved it so that's what counts!

Today is also Marcus/Mommy day. Daycare is closed because one of her kids has strep throat and his fever won't break so she needs to get him to the doctor today and change up his meds. I have a tough act to follow though. Yesterday Marc took Marcus to the YMCA to go swimming. He had a blast! Not sure how I'm going to top that! Right now I'm teaching him how to write his name...so far he's having fun (I think).

Wow! Snow!

We had enough of this cabin fever and went out to play in the snow this afternoon. Boy was it snowing too!

Marc took the kids across the street to sled down the neighbor's hill. WEE!!!

They climed up...

And went down...

So much fun!

We LOVE snow!

We tried to tie Tucker on to pull them in the end...he wasn't too sure about that.

Go Tucker Go!

All the kids were soaking wet, but it was a ton of fun!

Dynamic Gymnastics

We went to a birthday party at a place called Dynamic Gymnastics on Saturday. It was a great place! The kids started out stretching and then had free play with rings, balance beams, bars, a play gym and even a trampoline! (I forgot my camera so these pics are from my phone...I so wish I would have had my camera...)

Then it was parachute time. They got a kick out of that! They played all sorts of games with the parachute.

Each kid got a turn to sit in the middle...what fun!

Then we went to a different room where they got to jump into "the pit". Olivia is waiting patiently for her turn to jump.

Emma's turn.

Don't forget about Marcus. This was the perfect place for all of Marcus' energy.

The birthday crew...notice Marcus is the only boy! He didn't mind. Little Bella is the one swimming in the pit below...she's only 2 and LOVED this!

There's the birthday girl, Makayla!

What a friendship! Even though they go to different schools this year and never see each other, you would never know. The minute Emma and Olivia walked into the party, Makayla was right by their side. I remember when these three were 2 years old! Now Makayla is 6 and the twins are close behind! Where does the time go?

Emma Lost a Tooth!

Emma finally got a loose tooth (Olivia has already lost 2!). She's been working on it for a while now. Every day she tells us that if we just tie a string around it, attach it to a door and shut the door it will just come out! I haven't been brave enough to do that though. I looked at the tooth tonight after brushing and it was bleeding and looked like it really needed to come out...so we recruited Daddy for the job. He tied a piece of floss to the tooth and then we headed to the bathroom...Marc was a little gun shy and actually ended up pulling it out before even closing the door. You can see all the action in the video below. Pretty easy. Emma was so brave! She is amazing!

Here she is...first tooth out!

Thanks Daddy! She put it in a special place for the tooth fairy. She is very proud that she actually has a tooth for the tooth fairy. Olivia's first one fell out at a friend's house and we never found it; her second one fell out in gym class at school (or so she thinks). Olivia really makes that tooth fairy work for those teeth. Olivia has gotten a quarter per tooth so far...Emma thinks she'll get a dollar since she isn't making the tooth fairy work so hard...we'll see :-)

100th Day

Today was the 100th Day of School. The girls' assignment was to display 100 things in a creative way.

We came up with Emma's pretty quickly. We cut out a heart and glued 100 candy hearts onto it. She did all the work and was so proud!

Olivia's was a bit of a challenge. Everything I suggested was turned down. I came up with froot loops on a string, popcorn on a string, we had crazy sticks and she started to put them together in a star shape but said she didn't like it. I suggested using 100 Cheerios to make a picture...nothing was appealing to her. She was getting a little sad too. I said "we have a few days, we'll think of something great" She said "please don't think of anything with food though"...ok then! I asked her what her favorite thing was and she came up with butterflies. I came up with a mobile. We took a hangar, tied 10 pieces of ribbon on it, then I found a butterfly template online and printed it. Olivia colored all 100 butterflies and used scrapbook picture tape to attach each one to the ribbons...10 on each ribbon. She was so excited through the whole process. She kept saying "This is going to be the BEST one Mom!" When she finished she had a great big smile on her face...she gave me a big hug and said "That was such a great idea Mom...thank you for thinking of it". This is her this morning before school...she even wore her butterfly dress.

The girls said everyone loved their projects. The 100th Day of School was a success!

Valentine

(goofy picture...but sweet story)

I wanted to share this sweet Valentine's Day story. I picked Marcus up from Daycare on Valentine's Day. He had a little bag full of frosted sugar cookies (some large, some small) from his party that day. The conversation in the car went something like this:

Marcus: "Mommy, can I have a cookie?"
Me: "Of course you can"
Marcus: (after a little while of thinking)..."Mommy, are you hungry?"
Me: "I'm Ok"
Marcus: "But I want to share my cookies with you"
Me: "Awe, thanks Marcus" (he gives me two of the small cookies)
Marcus: "Mommy, I gave you the small cookies because I want to save the big ones for my sisters"

Sure enough, his sister's got off the bus and were greeted by a very excited Marcus. He gave them both a big frosted sugar cookie and was beaming. The girls thanked him and took a bite of their cookies. He stood there and said "Well, do you have anything for me?"...I burst into laughter, the girls looked at each other then down at their bag full of treats. They each pulled out one piece of candy and gave it to him...he said "Thanks girls!" They all gave hugs and went on their way. I have the sweetest kids ever!