A Hodge Podge of Pictures..and a LOAD of Smiles

Look at my beauty!! I love this very un-posed, natural smile.  

Two weeks ago was Spring Break in Bettendorf which meant that the Family Museum had special activities for each day of the week. This was the Earth Balloon. It was huge and filled the entire Great Room of the museum. You could go inside the balloon for a 20 minute guided tour, but unfortunately the wait for that was way too long for my kiddos so we just admired the outside and identified the ocean, forests, islands, and habitted land.  The kids thought it was pretty cool.  This day happened to be relatively warm outdoors so we spent the entire time OUTSIDE in the museum's great outdoor park area to avoid the spring breakers. The kids were ecstatic to finally get outdoors.  

I think it was like maybe 45 degrees this day….but by this year's standards that was warm!! So we headed out for our first afternoon outdoor snack!!  We also toured and I mean TOURED the neighborhood on our bikes…well the kiddos ridding and me walking…rather briskly.  We probably rode over a mile. I just kept saying maybe we should head back and they both emphatically shouted no. Kennon is absolutely FABULOUS on the red balance bike and Maddox goes gang busters on her pink big girl bike. They are so adorable ridding together.  Eric and I have honestly been talking about getting Kennon a big boy bike for his birthday in June. He is already balancing fairly well and I think he could be ready by then!!  Amazing!!  

After this long ride Kennon said 'Mom my peanuts hurt!!'  I wasn't quite sure what to say so I said 'buddy talk to your dad about that one!!'  Hah…. 

The Bubble Man at the museum - a spring break special 

So our 'school time' is moving right along.  The letter of the week is 'O'.  We did a hunt today and both kids worked on either writing or finding their letters by sight.  We keep building the curriculum by continuing to work on letters from previous weeks.  I think Maddox's letters are coming along really well and I can actually see a difference in her letters that she complete on Monday as compared to the letters she writes on Fridays. It is remarkable.  That Aunt Diane….she sure  knows what she is doing. Thanks for all the great tips!! 

Name that Tune?? 

Last week I scored a 1 pound bag of basil at HyVee for $1.00. For those of you that don't purchase basil regularly that is a STEAL!!!!  Gotta love Hyvee. So I commissioned the kids to help me prepare some basil to make homemade pesto.  They were happy helpers although not so interested in the final product.  I think Kennon looks so old in this picture.  

Last week at the museum ( yes…we were there again…maybe we should just camp out in the backyard playground area you can see through this window…just kidding!!) the Bettendorf 6th grade students were there and had set up all these fun,  stations for toddlers and museum goers to participate in.  They had this basketball station set up and literally showered KTK with love, balls, attention and lots of good jobs!   He would have stood there all day getting their praise and being handed basketballs to shoot.  Unfortunately for KTK ( and for me who had to wrangle him out of the museum) the 6th graders had to go back to school for lunch about 11.30.  It was one of those terrible mom moments where I wished I was the only one in the museum but nope, super busy and lots of museum goers to witness KTKs tantrum.  When he does this ( which is quite often right now….along with hitting anything and everything mostly humans….a work in progress) Maddox gives me the oddest look like 'uh mom, are you going to do something'.  Magically she starts acting really well when he goes off the handle. Thank goodness.  

We were all invited to Priya's birthday party last Saturday.  It was the kids' first official non family party and it was a hit. Priya turned 4 last Friday and celebrated with a rainbow themed party complete with cupcakes with LOADS of light pink pretty frosting, a candy filled piñata, fruit loop necklaces and a take home bag full of candy that put Maddox and Kennon's Halloween candy to shame!!   We all had such a nice time meeting Priya's family and friends. There were tons of kids of all ages and both Maddox and Kennon ran around with happy faces almost the entire time. Maddox put this adorable dress on at like 6am that morning…all ready for the party.  

Kennon getting blind folded by Priya's mom, Elisha,  for pin the horn on the unicorn. 

I call this Maddox's sugar smile! Fruit loop necklaces!! This after cake and ice cream, and preceding the candy piñata. And Priya's grandma sent the kids home with a red solo cup full of fruit loops. I think she could tell after chatting with me for a bit that Maddox and Kennon don't get a lot of fruit loops!! I just found one under the couch as I am typing this.  Gotta love Grandparents to send the kids home with sugar ;)  

Look out unicorn, Kennon has the bat!

Candy!!!  Maddox didn't know until like 1 minute before it broke that there was candy in the unicorn.  She came running to us with the biggest smile after she found out that they were going to get showered with candy. 'Mom there's candy in there!!'   Her smile went from ear to ear. 

Kennon was excited as well but wasn't quite up to speed on gathering the candy up. He was fine to just take a couple of pieces and start opening and eating the candy.  He was happy with his 3 pieces shoved in his pockets. Maddox on the other hand came to both Eric and I and wanted us to hold her pile of candy so she could go back for more. She wasn't interested in opening any until she knew she couldn't score anymore!!  

The kids are starting swim lessons this week.  We have really let that aspect of 'education' slide as Kennon has never taken formal lessons and Maddox hasn't had any since she was 6 months old. They both like the water so we decided with my new status it was time to get them signed up for lessons. Both kids are doing parent-tot lessons which means that either Eric or I are in the water with them.  The classes are in the big pool and work on water basics.  ( putting face in, kicking, scooping water, safe entry into the walker, jumping into water, floating, blowing bubbles etc ) Neither Kennon nor Maddox is really all that excited about putting their face in which is the goal of this class.  It is just one time per week the whole month of April.  Hoping to have that goal accomplished by the end of the month. Then the next class they'll do will be solo hopefully.  

So one final funny thought for you moms. Everyone knows the pool experience is generally fabulous..the locker room not so much. Trying to get 2, or even 1, cold, wet, tired, hungry toddler showered and dressed with only one adult parent to assist is kind of a nightmare.  Today Kennon screamed bloody murder from the time that I wrangled him out of the pool till the time that we literally walked in the door of 5363 and gave him fruit snacks. Again it was one of those moments that Maddox figured out that she should start acting really well because Kennon was struggling so terribly. After getting them both showered ( I felt bad that Maddox didn't have lessons today so I went and grabbed her from the Kid's room so she could have some swim time….in hind sight…maybe not such a good idea )  and dressed and myself rinsed off and dressed I realized somewhere I had lost one of my tennis shoes.  It was freezing outside today so I was thinking, as I walked to the front desk of the Y with one shoe, well this is going to be a cold walk to the van.  Luckily it was at the lost and found!!! Thank you Grammy…my Guardian Angel looking out for me, to make sure I got my shoe back and didn't have to do the shoeless walk of shame to my car.  Another one of those times that Maddox was looking up at me, as Kennon was wailing and I was searching every nook and cranny for my blasted shoe, 'uh Mom what are you going to do now?'!!!'  One for the record books.  Next week has got to be better eh? Maddox starts her lessons tomorrow.

School's In Session

We've had a fun week since I last posted.  Friday we met a co worker of mine at the museum for the kick off of their Spring Break activities.  Friday the Kinetic King was there. He is this dude who was on America's Got Talent last summer and went pretty far setting up these elaborate domino/cup/ball creations that 'detonate' and then all collapse in a patterned fashion. Maddox worked with him Friday morning as he set up a mini presentation, Maddox put together her yellow cup bridge.  Way to go Maddox! 

Maddox working closely with the Kinetic King, left, to set up her yellow cup bridge.    The guy has the appearance of someone who works hours on end in his windowless basement  creating these really huge masterpieces.  Kinda scary looking with big thick glasses but relatively nice. Not super chatty as you could imagine. Kind of a solo type guy…. not that you needed to know that but I just sat and watched his mannerisms and his lack of personality as happy little Maddox worked along side him.  hmmmmm maybe kinda creepy…moving on….

Kennon once again was entertained by the large train table!! Which allowed me to hang with Maddox building creations.  Thanks to my buddy Megan who also kept an eye out. Even though we were outnumbered, our kids together vs the two of us it felt just a tad safer  having 2 adults watching out for the kids :) 

So I have become admittedly obsessive about the kid's curriculum the last several days. I am so thrilled that Aunt Diane has decided to feed my obsession :) by providing me with absolutely fantastic ways to challenge the kids daily on their letters. It is really amazing to see them learn. I have always known they were like sponges but to actually be teaching them the stuff that Kcare always 'took care of' is really fun, challenging at times, but I am thankful Diane has been an excellent resource for me the last few days.  The kids are going to work on a letter per week with separate but simultaneous activities that challenges their appropriate skill level.  So Monday we went on a 'K' hunt complete with labeled buckets with both kiddos searching for items in the house that started with K.  Then Maddox worked on writing her upper case K's and lower case K's while Kennon worked  on identifying them out in a hodgepodge type collage of letters. He actually knows his K really well so we decided to go ahead and  start E on Tuesday. We are still on E now and Maddox has been hard at work, writing her K's and E's.  She prints 4 K's and 4 E's to match her age per day…anymore than that and Aunt Diane says it's too much.    We'll start on N next week.  Diane says Kennon is most interested in his own name. Once we get through his name we'll move to the 'new' letters in Kies and then Maddox Eric and Laura etc then branching out to the other letters of the alphabet. Theoretically it will take us about 26 weeks to get through all the letters in the end with Kennon knowing all his letters by sight and Maddox betting pretty proficient at drawing all her letters uppers and lowers. She has been practicing her letters since last fall at Kindercare but needs some fine tuning on her fine motor skills.  Phew….. !! It is really exciting to work with the kids and don't worry we are still getting in plenty of playtime  and some cartoons and movies :) ( Frozen came out yesterday…. I think the Easter Bunny is going to grab it for Maddox…I can't wait to see her reaction)  There is a lot more to the above projects  to further the letter in the later days of the week, including use of magazines and newspapers, cutting out and identifying the Letter of the Week but in all honestly Diane I'm gonna need some clarification of that :)  A tad overwhelming! Thanks so much for all the recommendations. Thanks too to Grandma Jean who has also provided some education recommendations and encouragement!

Kennon marking his 'K's' with a noodle. 

Kennon was feeling under the weather Saturday night so he and I stayed home from church. He was actually diagnosed with pneumonia on Monday and was put on an antibiotic and steroids. He is doing better.  It must have been a walking pneumonia because he didn't really seem that sick! ooops.  Maddox has a cold now….. grrrr! C'mon Spring!

Saturday morning when I got back from the Y, Maddox and I loaded up our yoga mats and headed back to the museum ( having just been there on Friday morning…yes…we do live there practically…it is such a nice facility)   They do family yoga on Saturday mornings and we've never gone…. and still haven't yet!  Unfortunately it was cancelled with all the Spring Break activities. But, I hope to go again in a couple of weeks. She and I played in the museum by ourselves for a while before packing up. Since it was early on Saturday morning we had run of the place. Super nice. 

Maddox and more of her kinetic king creation

So I know one of the activities that Maddox did every morning at Kcare was 'the calendar'.  I quite honestly have been having a hard time keeping track of the days around here so I thought we should have our own. It poses a ton of learning opportunities with letter recognition, holiday education ( like for instance does anyone know what Remembrance Day is… came in the packet of holidays that I bought to go with the calendar and I have never heard of it…a little education for Mom) weather observance, timeline, the list goes on.   After 2 trips to the teacher store we now have a calendar in the basement.  So yesterday the kids set it up and I hope to make this part of our morning routine. Maddox knows all the days of the weekend but really does not remember the order the days go in as well as the months. Hoping this will help.  Don't worry I hear the voice of Grammy every now and then 'now don't push them too much Laura….. you'll push them away from learning'  So far I think we are good but the days are young. The other thing working against us since the transition is the weather. I think once the weather turns there will be less inside school time and more outside fun time. 

Wisconsin Celebrations

*So we are adjusting to our 'new normal' with me staying home.  We are working on adopting a good schedule including trips to the library, museum, YMCA as well as playing endless hours outdoors when the weather cooperates.  I have the kids signed up for swimming lessons and for spring soccer to start soon.  They still enjoy going to Church School on Mondays and Wednesdays.  We try to do some 'school' type activities the mornings they don't go to church school. Despite the germs and turnover at Kindercare it really was a great educational facility ( NAEYC accredited) and Maddox knows a TON already and seems to excel at Church School given  the knowledge that she has learned at Kindercare so I"m trying to keep that going at home. This morning we all worked on numbers.  I am starting to teach Maddox adding and subtracting and Kennon is learning his numbers by sight.  Yesterday it was all about letters…. the CK   OW   and   SH sounds as well as the silent E…. I never knew it but the English language is seriously confusing. Aunt Diane gave me a trick for her to learn her b's and d's as she keeps getting them mixed up.  We throw in some cutting here and there, reading books and there's always time for play dough which I think is educational too!   Today we went to library story time and tomorrow its the museum. The house seems eerily more peaceful with less stress…definitely in more disarray but I am learning to just go with it. The other odd thing that is happening….. we are going through  mountains of TP. With us all home and all of us using the paper stuff to get our bottom's clean we are going through it like gang busters. Time for a trip to Sam's  :)  

*Saturday morning the kids, Eric and I, went to our first official play.  It was in the newly renovated Bettendorf auditorium sponsored by the Bettendorf Library. The Play was Are You My Mother by Dr. Seuss.  It was really great put on by a traveling theatre company. The kids both really liked it and it was just the right length for toddlers, about 40 minutes.  A great FREE kid's activity in the Quad Cities. 

*After the play we loaded up for a trip up north to Wisconsin for Reid's first birthday.  It was a nice celebration complete with a lot of yummy food!! Aunt Brooke outdid herself on the lasagna.  Reid dove into his smash cake with a big grin and was covered in frosting in a matter of no time.  I love seeing the cousins interact or well RUN AROUND THE HOUSE with loads of energy. Since Reid is up and walking now he was able to join in the fun.   

* So it was Aunt Brooke's fabulous idea to get all the kids together for a picture. There is a small window in the year where the kids are stair steps down in their ages. Maddox 4, Carter 3, Kennon 2, and Reid 1.  What a brilliant observation. We managed to get this task done just before everyone loaded up to go home on Sunday. I love their facial expressions. Notice Reid's doesn't change much throughout..he just continues to hold that adorable grin!!! Love it Reid.

*Aunt Brooke had the boys in matching clothes for their baptism at church on Sunday.  She  managed to get that scheduled into Reid's birthday weekend so we could all be around to see the ceremony.  Eric and I really enjoyed their church as well as being able to see Tyler and Brooke pledge to raise their kids with Christian values. There were tons of children of all ages running around  the church and it seemed to have nice mix of traditional and contemporary.  I am most certain Grammy was watching from Heaven with the biggest grin on her face.  Sure did miss her that morning.  

This is probably the best shot we got….minus KTKs crazy smile…but heh…that's Kennon!!  He's my fun loving outgoing kiddo.  Maddox has her sort of shy smile on….again…. that's Maddox. I think this one really captured their personalities. 

*We discovered that both families have a favorite song right now.  It's the Happy Song ( I have no idea what the real name is) by Pharrell Williams ( and I"m certain I've butchered his name)!  Aunt Brooke played it repeatedly as the kids danced around before loading up for the trip home and for naps in the Knowles family. We had such a nice weekend.  Thank you Knowles family. 

Some Random Tidbits

*Maddox has now decided she is BIG enough to open the fridge and help herself to anything that she'd like. She is most proud of the fact that she can poor herself a glass of milk ( as long as the jug is less than 1/3 full).  And she's happy to help her brother get milk too, as his jug is only a 1/2 gallon and she can handle that pretty well. Now….alls we need to do is put out their cereal bowls the night before, put the TV on the cartoon channel  with the remote  accessible and maybe Eric and I can get an extra 30 to 60 minutes of sleep while they enjoy their breakfasts solo!!   Just kidding!! Although I have heard of quite a hand full of parents in the neighborhood doing this…although I think their kids were slightly older.  Hopefully something in our near future. 

*Kennon too thinks he can get anything he wants out of the fridge….although he struggles a bit more and has to have the step stool in place. He hasn't quite figured out that the stool needs to be back away from the fridge in order make room for the doors to swing open. I've watched from afar as he has tried to open the two big doors with his body up against the fridge…it is kinda hilarious!!  He is going to figure that out soon I"m sure…and afraid of.  

*The three of us went to the grocery store on Tuesday. I have not recently taken both kids to the store and actually it ended up being a rather pleasant trip…despite the fact that the bill was $208.00!!!  That is the most I've ever spent.  I have to be a bit more firm on my answer to 'Mom can we get this….Mom can we get this?'  I wasn't quite prepared for that, normally shopping solo in the last several years. 

*Most of you know this but just to log it on the blog. Kennon clogged up the upstairs toilet last week…primarily with TP ( another reason why we are going through so much).  I watched his eyes get bigger as the water came up the bowl and the contents didn't go down.  After it stopped running he proclaimed, rather happily,  'Mom the potty needs new batteries!'   Hah…too funny!!  I was able to get it unplugged with the plunger later in the day. 

*Yesterday I asked Maddox what she wanted to be when she grows up. First she said a dancer. Then she said a singer.  I think both are great choices for her given her current loves. I then asked Kennon and he said a refrigerator …..seriously? The kid has an imagination doesn't he!! 

*With the warm temps the last few days the snow has been a meltin'  Which means our yard has a lot of muddy spots…especially back by the berm. But that doesn't stop KTK.  He loves these water boots and splashing around.  ( yes..I know Grandpa Jim…he is likely putting foot print ruts in the yard…but you are only 2 once :)    You'll notice both of my children have no pants on. For like the last 3 months straight they have shucked their socks/pants for nap and post nap they never find their home again. I don't know what they are going to do in the summer when it is actually hot in here. Eric and I have been hanging out in the house in sweatshirts/hats and they are running around half dressed. 

*The band aid is covering a rather large war wound compliments of his big sister…. brotherly sisterly love…or something like that.  I have 2 very stubborn children. 

I"m sure Aunt Diane and Grandma Jean recognize these puzzles.  They are great and there are so many ways to use them to teach. The kids love them and and their mate the NUMBERS…!! Thank you so much.  

Yes…Maddox is watching the TV but it actually has on Jeopardy :)  and NOT cartoons.  

The Children's Museum Storybook Ball

So I surprised Maddox Friday night with tickets to the Children's Museum Storybook Ball. We had an absolute BALL and my expectations for the evening were far surpassed.  The theme for the Ball was Alice in Wonderland and they had decorated the museum up with playing cards,  wooden trees,  rabbits,  tea party accessories, but I was also pleasantly surprised to see ALL the Disney princesses….. Belle, Snow White, Tinkerbell, Cinderella, and Aurora.   We entered the beautiful museum and they announced over the loud speaker that 'Princess Maddox' had arrived for the ball. We were then greeted by Aurora who took us too our table for the evening.  All the back rooms they use for dance lessons had been transformed into a beautiful ball setting with table decorations, beautiful lines, and lots of baskets with princess type themes for raffle. We enjoyed a lovely dinner with both adult and kiddo friendly food and then the dancers put on several little skits/dances. Maddox loved them all but probably liked Tinkerbell's dance, Cinderella and the Mice and the Alice and Wonderland dances the best. The dancers did such a good job. After the presentation we all went back out to the Great Hall of the museum where there was a DJ and disco lights and we all danced the night away.  All the princesses danced with the little girls and the museum was open as well so the kiddos could roam free to all the exhibits.  I was so overwhelmed with excitement and watching Maddox's face as she was loving being able to dance with all the princesses ( after a bit of a warm up period…she was a bit timid initially but warmed up in time)  She LOVED Aurora and especially Goldilocks who was just a pretty blonde haired girl who seemed really sweet, which is why I think Maddox latched on to her.  All the kids got to decorate a tea cup as a souvenir to take home.  The museum had hired Walgreen's to take pictures of each of us entering the ball ( which they had printed for us to take home) as well as they stayed on staff all evening and took pictures. They are compiling them on a website and have put together purchasing packages. I think they had just as fun 'working' as we did as participants.  I know the Walgreen's photo ladies and they are Grandma type people and were just LOVING all the little girls. Maddox and I had such a great time!!  I"m so glad we went.  The tickets sold out in 1 day as the space is limited to about 160 people I believe. The event is a fundraiser for the Children's Museum Dance Company which I have looked into getting Maddox in but none of the classes ever matched my work schedule…. hmmmm going to have to look into that again eh??  Enjoy the pics. Unfortunately it was pretty dark in the Great Room and I only had my iPhone so the pics aren't great. I"m looking forward to getting the link to the Walgreen's ones and I'll forward it on to you. 

We just happened to get this adorable dress from the girls across the street in the 'hand me down bag' they brought over on Sunday. The timing was so perfect!!  She looked adorable in it and it fit her perfectly. I only had to go find some black patten leather shoes. We curled her hair and she got to wear make up just like Mom. 

So Tinkerbell happens to be the daughter of the director of Our Savior 'Church School'.  So she came right up to Maddox and said 'I know you Maddox…you go to Our Savior' . I thought Maddox was going to pee her pants to have Tinkerbell know her name.  She told Maddox who she was but I don't think she ever made the connection. 

This is one of Maddox's good friends from church school. Her name is Rowan and we hear a fair amount about Rowan at home.  

Maddox dancing with Cinderella 

Maddox decorating her tea cup. 

Maddox and Aurora  aka Sleeping Beauty… I didn't know that was her name until like 2 months ago. 

Goldilocks and Maddox. 

Belle and Maddox

Surely I don't have to tell you who this is :) 

Once Maddox warmed up she was SOOO chatty with all the princesses but particularly Goldilocks ( as you could see Maddox was talking to her in the picture above ) and Aurora.  I love this picture.  You can tell Maddox is saying something truly important to Aurora and Aurora is just playing right along….very engaged. 

Our entrance onto the red carpet to the ball. 

So a couple of quick notes. We have officially booked our Disney trip, flight and hotel!! We are really going!!  I am so excited. I finally just called in an expert to help me get organized. I was feeling a bit overwhelmed. She is a travel agent that came highly recommended and so far she is SOO great. Apparently there are a lot of travel agencies who book only Disney trips and literally give you the same prices as I would get if I just called Disney myself. They do so much business for Disney they are able to offer the same rates. She is this bubbly gal from Georgia who herself has been to Disney great than 25 times!! and has taken her 2 girls as well…great to be able to chat with a Mom. We talked on Monday for 1.5 hours on the phone!! I thought I had been talking for like 30. She gave me tons of insight which allowed Eric and I to make some good decisions and get the thing on the calendar. She will also make all our dinner reservations as well.  We can make those 180 days before our arrival and NOT a day before. There are several eateries that are fairly difficult to get reservations for so I"m hoping her expertise with the computer/phone/ and her ins with Disney will allow us to get the places we want. She'll tell us what parks to visit when and when to ride which rides based on the crowd factor. We can book our rides at 60 days out which she doesn't do so I"ll have to be ready for that…but I"m assuming that won't be quite as difficult as getting some of the special reservations we need. I"m so excited. I think I can multiply last night's ball by like 200 and that would be Disney!!

*Kennon is soooo terrible two's right now. I really think he spent the majority of the day today throwing a fit on the floor about something or another. But he does still throw us a cute saying here and there.  Right now he says 'mines'  instead of mine. So like he'll point to the Shamrock shake on the counter ( yes….got the kiddos one tonight after church..YUMMO!!)  and say 'is that mine's??'  Cute. I just can't correct him. 

*Maddox has another funny thing she has been saying.  If you tell her something really cool like 'Maddox we are going to a Storybook Ball tonight' she might say back 'Are you seriously?' she has been adding that 'LY' for quite some time and again I just don't want to correct her.  The other thing she is saying a lot lately is 'ya better believe it'    So yesterday on the way to the museum she spotted a herd of deer up on the hill.  So today she was telling Eric about them and he said 'really Maddox you saw a herd of deer' and she promptly and excited replied ' Yep, ya better believe it'.  Too cute!!  

Till next time…enjoy!!