We Live Where?

To say Alyssa is a curious kid, would be an understatement.   And like any good preschooler she asks a million questions.  What's our address?  But I thought we lived in Texas not Katy.  Thank you Pinterest for a cool little craft.

We made circles showing our house, city, state, country, and planet.  I had a super proud mommy moment when she chose a cow to represent Texas and a flag to represent the USA.   James chose a purple elephant to represent the USA.   I believe I was equally proud of that unique choice.

For the birds.

It was one of those days.  No matter what we  did, no matter how much attention I gave them, my kids were whiny.   We needed a project.  Something to keep their little minds and hands busy.

I saw this little project on Pinterest.  It was super simple and I already had all of the materials.  Pipe cleaners and cheerios turn into an instant bird feeder.

Swinging

2012 Comes to an End

The whole month of December I was excited.  It's Christmastime!  That means Christmas decorations, Christmas cookies, Christmas songs. Christmas! Christmas! Christmas!  The whole time I have blogs planned out in my head, but not one gets written. 

You will see our tree that looked like it was decorated by preschoolers because it was!  The OCD Christmas lover in me wanted to fix it.  The mommy in me didn't.  I wanted Alyssa and James to know they did a great job.

We celebrated St. Lucia Day.  My grandfather is Swedish.  On December 13th, what used to be the shortest day of the year, the oldest daughter would dress in a white gown with red sash and a crown of candles.  She wakes up early and serves her parents breakfast in bed.  I love things that are tradition and I want to share this with my kids.

We spent Christmas in Plano with my family.  For weeks leading up to Christmas Alyssa would pray fir snow.  It was forecasted that there would be a light dusting.  I crossed my fingers.  Any snow would delight my little girl.  Plano ended up with 3 inches!  It was a wonderful white Christmas.

Sibling Love

"James, will you be my husband forever?"  I overheard Alyssa ask James this question one night.

Jonny and I decided long before we ever had children that we wanted a big family.  We wanted our children to have someone else.  A person to witness their lives, share secrets, fight with occasionally.  Someone who knows what it is like to grow up in the same house. 

For the longest time I got to be their friend, their playmate.  Now they want to play by themselves.  I get to be the assistant occasionally.  I get to find things or fetch missing items.  For the most part, they just want each other.  It's bittersweet.  I imagined my kids playing happily together.  Laughter filling the house.  I just didn't realize my part would be so short.  I am excited for the future.  I can't wait to see their relationship to develop and how others will fit into their dynamic. 

Now I will just sit back and enjoy the laughter.

My Cute Crazy OCD Children

Alyssa is a great eater and generally eats almost everything we give her.  However, she must have one utensil per food category.

James is not my great eater.  It's hit or miss.  He'll eat everything on his plate one day.  Give him the exact same meal the next day and he won't touch it.  I got him "space" goldfish because he loves stars and moon and space.  He only ate the orange "regular" goldfish.

Unless

"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, it's not going to get better.  It's not."  Dr. Suess

Alyssa got The Lorax for her birthday.  It is a super cute movie and played often at our house.  I also, of course, used it as a teachable moment.  We need to appreciate and love the Earth.  We must take care of it because it won't last forever.

I saw a project on Pinterest.  You cut open a small pumpkin, fill it with soil, and let it grow.  The seeds are already inside.  Then, when the pumpkin starts to rot you plant the whole thing.  It's a biodegradable pot.

Honestly, I didn't have much hope.  I've killed almost every plant I've tried to grow.  No matter the outcome it was something fun to do with the family.  Super cool bonus we will have our own pumpkin vine.

Well, it's growing!  I'm very excited to see how this will turn out and the kids love to help.