March Madness

Andrew's dad came into town last weekend and the boys went to see the awesome BYU game on Saturday! Yay Jimmer!

March Preschool Highlights

Before I start with our preschool highlights this month, while I was setting up to blog, I looked down at my little blogging buddy sitting at my feet and saw this sweet girl smiling at me. Emily is just a little angel - so easy-going and always smiling at me. I love her!
And this sweet girl is adorable, too.
This idea I got from my friend, Lisa....trace your kids' body on a big piece of paper (or with chalk outside) and draw and label parts of the body (if teaching Spanish or something - you can label with the Spanish words for body parts). Angela's cute people.
I made these ABC tops with canning lids that Angela can slide into a jar a couple of years ago. Great for reviewing letters/sounds.
I also made words that Angela can create using her ABC lids to match on the paper.
(Carolyn likes to trace and make words for Angela to create as well)
We've been learning about volcanoes this month and doing some simple crafts to go along with it...
One thing Carolyn and I are obsessed with is going to the library and getting nonfiction books! We love picking out books to learn from and reading them throughout the week - there are some wonderful nonfiction books for kids out there! Many of them even include simple little "experiments" to go along with what it is teaching (like in the following picture - making a "heart" with a balloon full of water to show how a heart pumps).
On our learning board this month, I got some clocks at the Dollar Store (they are clocks that are meant to stick to windows - perfect for our board). Carolyn loves learning time using these. Below the clocks I put two number spinners (Dollar Store) that Carolyn can spin and answer the addition problem. I also bought this foamy cube at the dollar store...I love it. I switch off what I put on the big dice for the girls to roll. One time this month, I put different states that Carolyn/Angela can locate on our big map (Carolyn rolls the dice...it lands on "IL" and then she finds IL on our big map)...another thing I put on the dice this month was primary songs - Carolyn and Angela roll and we sing the song the dice lands on.
I also put the letters of the alphabet on beans. Angela uses it for various activities. For instance, she can create her name using the beans or match upper and lower case numbers together. Angela also uses the letters to sort (I wrote letters on bags for Angela to sort the letters in the bags).
Carolyn can use the beans to make messages to people like dad :)
Estimation - I put various objects in this jar and Carolyn tries to make an educated guess of how many objects are in the jar...then we count them and see how close she/I was to the actual amount.
We also made some instruments this month. This is a picture of Carolyn with her shaker (an old Parmesan Cheese contain with beans). We are also going to make some drums this week with old ice cream gallon containers.

When I Grow Up...

Carolyn loves to dream and talk about what she is going to be when she grows up. She's always adding more things on her list of "I want to be...", but here are 5 of the things she regularly says she wants to be...

1- Construction Worker - Honestly, she probably talks about being a construction worker more than any other career dream - this girl wants to build (and even promises building me a house). She has this one all figured out...she tells me that she will only build in the mornings before her kids wake up and that I get to go over to her house every morning really early and babysit while she's out building :)

2- Nurse - This one has been fun - since she has expressed a desire to be a nurse we have been studying our bodies in preschool! It's been so fun and fascinating! There are some great nonfiction books for kids about bodies with fun information and activities! Last week we learned a lot about our hearts, lungs, veins, etc!!

3 - Fire woman

4 - Dental Hygienist - Inspired by her aunt! She loves the dentist and begs me to floss her teeth regularly.

5 - Piano Teacher

I Love You

One my favorite things about Angela is how she just loves to tell everyone she loves them...and ALL of the time. Throughout the day, Angela will randomly say to Carolyn or me, "I love you, Carolyn"..."I love you, Mama"....and when Andrew is home, she's always saying it to Dada, too. The last time we were at the park, Angela was on the swing and Carolyn was playing several yards away on other play equipment and Angela kept yelling as loud as she could, "I love you, Carolyn!! I love you!!" I love Angela's constant reminders to me that she loves me.

An Interview with Carolyn and Angela

Here is sorta how my interviews with the girls went today...

Mom: What are your favorite things to do?
Angela: watch a show, go to park, play with Emily, play with Carolyn, dates with dad, puzzles, eat lunch, babies, lip gloss

Mom: What's your favorite color?
Angela: Yellow

Mom: What is your favorite animal?
Angela: Tiger...the baby and the mama (at our zoo there are baby tigers so Angela's favorite animal to see at the zoo is definitely those cute babies and their mom).

We are huge puzzle people at our house...in the last few weeks, Angela has become somewhat obsessive about them...here she is with one of her favorite puzzles to do (she can do some pretty tricky ones by herself)...

An Interview with Carolyn:

Mom: What are some of your favorite things to do?
Carolyn: Heheehe - running, exercising and making my body healthy, praying, reading scriptures, going to church, and doing preschool.

Mom: What is your favorite thing to do with dad?
Carolyn: Go on dates and eat ice cream with him.

Mom: What are your favorite books to read?
Carolyn: Dragon and barbie books

Mom: What is your favorite thing to do with Angela?
Carolyn: Go to the park, do preschool with her, and play.

Mom: What is your favorite thing to do with Emily?
Carolyn: Play with her....be soft with her...feeding her bottle, reading to her, giving her toys..

Mom: What is your favorite show?
Carolyn: Princess shows, barbies shows, and "Jake and the Neverland Pirates."

Mom: What's your favorite thing to do with me?
Carolyn: Give you 100 kisses because I love you so much (I swear I didn't bribe her to say that...I am glad I am recording this answer so we can always remind her of this:)

Mom: What's your favorite color?
Carolyn: blue, pink, and green

Mom: What's your favorite animal?
Carolyn: Alligator, cheetah, and butterfly.

Carolyn loves reading her books to Em....

1 Month Emily!

Today Emily turned one month!! I know I already put this picture on the blog, but I just love it of her little cute smile! We are getting to see her little smile more and more everyday...and today she started making little "coo"ing sounds as I was chatting with her...very cute :) Big Yawn...(I realize that the quality of these pics aren't great, but they still show a little cutie)..
Our little Em is a great eater so she's packing on the weight really well...look how cute and chubby her little cheeks are getting...oh, how I love the chubs!
I love how cute Emily looks in her little hat when we go out...
The girls are just in love with Emily. Luckily, I am not dealing with any jealousy issues (Andrew jokes that I am the only one with jealousy issues because Emily is always stealing my kisses and hugs from Carolyn and Angela :) ), we definitely have our share of "issues" - but I am glad that the girls just love Emily. Just about every time Emily wakes up from a nap or the girls see her for the first time after like 10 min, they act like they've never seen her before...they get so excited. They just can't get enough of Emily.

Bottle Time

I love finding things Angela can do to help with Emily....Emily doesn't get the bottle too often, but when she does, the girls are thrilled to help!