Simple Pleasures

I was reading about "simple pleasures" today on a blog and loved what she wrote... "First of all, the fact that they are simple means you have to slow down enough to appreciate them. Secondly, there's the part about finding pleasure and seeing beauty in the mundane." This made me think of my life to make sure I am remembering to slow down and enjoy the simple things. Here are some I enjoyed today...

* walking with Addi to pick Mason up from preschool - it was such beautiful fall weather that we just couldn't get in the car, we were much happier walking!

* on the way home Mason said, "Mommy, I really love my school. I hope that when Addi gets big she gets to go to my school. She will just love it!" It makes me so happy to hear Mason's enthusiasm.

* Mason started singing "Jesus Loves Me" and teaching Addi the words on our walk home. I just sat back and soaked up the sweetness.

* Addi's favorite phrase right now, "CooCoo Mommy" (or whoever she thinks is being funny)

* a quick trip to the park before dinner. The girls found something they were exploring...

* how simple is a slide - but the pleasure it brings to my girls is enormous!

* this evening as I was making dinner the girls were begging to have their nails painted. I love that Donovan picked up the bottle and proceeded to get the job done :). Addi waited patiently for her turn next!

What are your simple pleasures and are you remembering to stop and enjoy them?

October Projects

I had big plans for the month of October. Unfortunately, due to the flu, some things didn't get done or finished. Here are some of the fun things we did or at least started :).

* We made some felt pumpkin faces (found at Chasing Cheerios). Mason loved this project and played with it for longer than I thought she would. We actually all had fun adding to the accessories and making silly faces (we didn't make it into a game the way she did at Chasing Cheerios, but I think that would be a fun twist for next time). I think I will make another set for the winter using a snowman pattern.

Here are some of Mason's silly faces - made totally on her own.

* I found these great plastic, shiny pumpkins at Michael's on sale. They came in nice fall colors and different sizes - perfect for sorting. I found the pumpkin ice cube tray at the Dollar Store. Addi had fun placing a pumpkin in each spot. We did a lot with the pumpkins, sorted them by color, sorted them by size and played "trick-or-treat" with them. Great purchase! Along with the pumpkins (at Michael's) I got these pretty leaves. Again, we did all kinds of sorting and transferring with them.

* I cleaned out our crayon collection and decided to make some things using the old crayons. Mason helped me peel the paper off the crayons. I couldn't believe how busy this kept her - for about an hour!! She had such determination and loved the feeling of accomplishment as she saw the muffin tin fill up with crayons, sorting them by color as she added them. We were going to make some crayons in fun and different shapes (like these) or make leaves with crayon shavings (like these) but this was a project I didn't end up finishing this month - all well, there's always next month! We did have time to collect some pretty fall leaves and use some crayons for leaf rubbings.

* We also made some pumpkins, of course! I pretended we didn't have any orange paint so Mason helped me figure out how we could make some... yellow and red!! Mason dove right in with her paintbrush swirling it around to make orange. Addi was more interested in the dip and dab method. They were both pretty shocked when I said they could use their hands. Mason liked it and Addi tried it then quickly wanted to wash her hands off and go back to the paintbrush. After everything dried we cut them out and glued faces to them. And the finished product - ta-da!! Pretty proud :)

* While Mason was at school one day Addi made some pumpkin faces using foam stickers (I love these!). I had to work really hard at letting her put the stickers wherever she wanted because I wanted so badly to "fix it", but they turned out very cute and she was very proud of herself. She actually liked taking the stickers off and putting them back on.
* Another Michael's sale purchase were these cute little plastic letters. Mason put them in ABC order and then started spelling words. We used these a lot!

* The biggest hit of the month was the black bean box. I followed other bloggers' leads and filled a tub with black beans and yellowish-orange split peas. Then I added Halloween decorations from the Dollar Store (google eyes, plastic spiders, skeleton hands...) and they got to dig, sift and scoop through the tub. They both loved this! We did have a rule that they were in charge of sweeping up any escaped beans though :). When we put the Halloween things away I just popped the lid on and will save it for next year. I will definitely make a holiday version of this tub with red beans and split peas!

Well, not as many things as I had hoped for the month, but we did have fun. On to November with turkey projects!

Happy Halloween!

Well, our two cheetahs had a funfilled Halloween night! I even got to get outside and walk around with them - a sign of improvement after being in the house for an entire week! We started off altogether but then Addi got cold and Donovan wanted to get back and finish watching the Duck game, so Mason and I hit a couple more houses. We had a blast! Here are some pictures from Halloween 2009~

dressed and ready to trick or treat the cheetah pose practicing saying "trick or treat"

The girls practiced trick or treating all day. Here they are right before leaving to do the real thing. Love it!

getting candy from our wonderful neighbors (gotta love their tails!)

checking out the candy and organizing it into piles (my favorite part!)

organizing Addi's candy into piles - Addi could care less, she is just pumped that we let her have another sucker!

checking out their glow in the dark shirts in the dark bathroom

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

AND

GO DUCKS!!

Catching up from October!

It has been quite a while since I've updated this blog. Here are some highlights from October...

Annual Cousin Halloween Picture:

Each year we dress the girls up in their costumes and get their picture taken. Last year the theme was "Under the Sea", this year each girl was a character from Peter Pan. Emily, the girly-girl of the group, begged to be Captain Hook with the big sword and scary hook! Mason loved the Peter Pan costume, Elizabeth was a tiny and adorable Tinkerbell (Emily's old costume from two years ago) and Addi become a beautiful Wendy. We were thrilled that we got a picture with all the girls looking AND smiling! WOW! My girls LOVE to dress up so they have some choices about their Halloween costume. Memaw got them these adorable cheetah costumes so I also got a picture of my little cats. They're still deciding on what they'll wear for the "real" Halloween!

Preschool Teacher:

I got the chance to substitute Mason's preschool class while her teacher was at a conference. What a sweet group of 4 year olds! It was fun seeing Mason in action with her friends. Besides locking my keys in the car when we got to school and having Donovan buzz over during a break to unlock them, it was a smooth yet very active morning! Boy do preschool teachers have to have lots of energy :)

The Horn Guy:

Dave the Horn Guy came to do a performance at our church. He was unbelievable! We were totally entertained! A couple of former and current Templeton students came to sit by us and "helped" Donovan get up on stage when they asked for volunteers! Donovan got to put on shades and use a horn with some other guys to play a tune - very funny!! We cheered for him loudly - what a good sport! The night ended with a huge hot dog feed and of course ice cream - the girls couldn't have been happier! It was a great family night at our church - completely free! Oh... check out the shirt Mason's wearing... the Horn Guy threw out a free shirt and Donovan's go-go-gadget arms grabbed it - sweet! :)

Bike Fun:

We borrowed a princess big-wheel from Lindsay and Addi is in love! She has quickly learned how to lift her feet up and cruise down hills. Mason pulled out her old bike and they had fun on a beautiful fall afternoon riding together. I love the color of the trees in the background!

Potty Talk:

No, we aren't officially potty training yet, but Addi has been loving using the "big girl potty" on her terms. I thought this was a pretty cute picture of Mason the potty coach. She is Addi's biggest cheerleader in there!

Halloween Box:

Whenever the girls go over to Memaw's house (which has been a lot lately thanks to the flu!) they get to pick a treat from the "treat box". She has this cool chest from Hallmark that creeks when they open it and says spooky things. Of course Memaw keeps it stocked with great Halloween treats and the girls love getting a turn opening it. This time they picked out suckers with funny teeth on the end! This is one of their "favorite Halloween traditions" - OK Mom, that box must come out year after year!
Loving Little Sister:

Mason was giving some sisterly love to Addi after a bath one evening. It reminded Donovan and I of when Addi was first born. Too sweet! You can see Addi's "stinker" side in this video and now I have proof who has taught her - pretend crying, very realistic - love the evil giggle at the end...SISTERS! :)

Disney on Ice:
Donovan put Mason's name in a drawing awhile back when they went to the Zoo. A couple weeks later he got a phone call that she had WON - four tickets to Disney on Ice and a bag full of Disney goodies (Donovan was just thrilled!)! We had to invite cousin Emily since she is the biggest princess lover in the family (I mean check out her head to toe outfit in pink, her crown, her purse, and her princess pose - too cute!).

Of course this ended up being the night that I came down with the flu, so my sweet husband took the two big girls by himself to Disney on Ice - what a good man! He even took pictures and little videos so Addi and I could see what it was like! The girls stayed for the whole thing and loved it! Thanks, D! While the big girls were at the performance, the little girls stayed at Memaw and Papa's house (I was home sleeping). Thanks guys!They had their own fun!

Fall Festival at Templeton:
Friday was Templeton's annual Fall Festival. Lucky Donovan once again got to be a single Dad and take the girls on his own since I'm still under the weather. But look how cute they all are! Mason decided to wear her Peter Pan costume and Addi decided to be a bumble bee (another adorable costume from Memaw!). They had fun collecting candy, eating donuts and cider and seeing lots of "Mr. C's" students. Good practice for tonight!

Well, that was a lot of catching up! I'll post again soon after our evening of Halloween festivities!

Returning from the dead...

...or at least trying! I got hit with the flu (probably H1N1) and I was sick, sick, sick! I guess someone in our household was bound to get it and I'm glad it was me rather than the little girls or my working husband. Thank the Lord I have a loving family that lives close by that took wonderful care of me. Everyone stepped up and took turns - my parents took the girls for most of the week (keeping them out of germ central), my sister Lindsay shared in the babysitting opportunities, Donovan took a day off work and set me up in a cozy "sick room" (I took Mason's room for the week), Cuts and Suzanne took numerous phone calls about symptoms and questions and called to check in (even while out of the state), good friends sent over homemade applesauce and a blueberry cream pie to help with the healing, and I got endless email messages, cards and phone calls from family and friends with well wishes. It all helped so much to kick the horrible flu! And boy, is it taking FOREVER to get over. I am slowly on the mend thanks to all the help I received during the week - thank you so much for showing the love! I really don't know how stay-at-home Mom's get better without loving family around - I was able to rest and heal while knowing that my girls were not only taken care of but having a blast! THANK-YOU Mom, Dad and Lindsay!

OMSI - teacher night

We went again to the free "educator's night" at OMSI on Tuesday evening. We had a blast exploring the exhibits in a practically empty OMSI. Last year, Mason and Donovan went as a date night, but this year the whole family went.

We...
- explored the inflatable (traveling) observatory,- jumped around inside a giant replica of a Blue Whale,- ate Subway for dinner - one of the girls' favorite places to eat, - sat in a space shuttle to see what an astronaut feels like, - dressed up like chipmunks (of course!) - read this sign and breathed a sigh of relief that Mason is learning something when she becomes an animal :) - splashed in the water (Addi could have stayed here all night) - and used some art supplies to make "bugs"! (the finished products)

What a fantastic evening. We love OMSI and the way they treat teachers - thanks for the fun (and free) night!

Bauman Pumpkin Patch

Last Sunday we took a fantastic trip to a new pumpkin patch called Bauman Pumpkin Patch. It was pretty spendy to get in ($10 a person 2 and older) but it was well worth it. We spent the entire afternoon there getting our money's worth. Also, once you get in, all the activities inside are free. The cousins got to the farm earlier than us but we overlapped our visits so we got to spend a short time together. Here's the classic Addi/Eli hug when they first spotted each other!Here are just a few of the activities we did at the pumpkin patch...

* "Zip Line" swings (here is Donovan and Mason doing them right before we left. This was the very first activity Mason and I RAN to do when we got there - SO FUN!) * Animal barn * Giant bouncy "pillow" (we were all crying we were laughing so hard!) * Hay maze * Tractor ride to find pumpkins * Barn swings (these were so fun - the ends of the swings were attached to the ceiling of the vaulted barn so they could swing so high! Lindsay and Mark are actually going to make these swings in their own garage - COOL!) * Giant tunnel slides (these too were so much fun! It doesn't look like Addi loves this but actually she's pissed because she wanted to go by herself. She got a turn alone next - then we heard high pitched squeals all the way down!)
There was so much left to do but we had to head back for Donovan's basketball game. We also got to do some apple tasting, run through a giant pioneer village, crawl around a nut house, sample some apple cider and fresh donuts and dance to some accordion music in the farm store. Wow - this place was awesome and we will definitely be visiting again next year! Happy Fall!