January 23 = Snow Day!

We woke up today to even more snow than there was when we went to bed last night!  Here's Liam checking it out first thing this morning.  Right after this picture was taken, he slammed the door- he gets it from his momma.

That's my van almost covered by snow:

Our Navy garden flag was barely peeking through:

Since we weren't going anywhere, we decided to have a preschool day on a weekend!  This week was "All About Green" so we did some cucumber printing with green paint in our green pajamas- lots of green!

 And we played with the green rice sensory bins:

Zachary was working hard to get our driveway and the snow around my car shoveled.  The only problem was... we don't have a snow shovel.  And the one shovel we do have was in the backyard.  So he used the top of a rubbermaid container... and that worked for a while but then he decided it would be worth it to look for the shovel in the backyard.  So this is what happened:

The kids stayed inside and when we came back in this is what we found:

Joey was not a fan of the cold:

I know this looks like mashed potatoes or cauliflower but it's actually snow cream!  It was so good!

 

January 18 = MLK Jr. Day

Since Zachary had to work every day this weekend and this was a long week- today, having nothing a free day off, is very much appreciated!  We started out going to the gym and I got some help with doing some new exercises- Zachary is so knowledgeable about good form and what muscle groups each exercise works and what weight I should start out with.  I had to snap a picture of this and I posted it on Snap Chat (which my brother and friend, Alexandra, have taught me to use...) with a caption of "big lifter" because they weighed 2.5 pounds each.  But hey- better than not going to the gym at all right??

Later, I had Liam try a new activity for our new week of at home preschool- putting beads into the holes of an old Parmesan cheese container.  This is a great exercise for fine motor skills and he did great!

We played with his sensory bin as well... can you tell our theme is green this week?

And later we had some sweet sibling time- they love each other!

January 13 = Try Scissors Day

Well today is preschool at home day three!  We did our normal routine without any pictures being taken but I did snap a picture of their picnic lunches.

Later, we tried to do an art project where Liam would cut red pieces of paper and then glue them into an outline of an apple.  I had a pair of scissors for him that had a little lever that made the scissors automatically pop back open- doing half the work for him.  I can't find them anywhere!  So I got a pair of blunt tip scissors for him but they were a little to difficult to use so we'll have to recycle this art project and use it later down the road when his fine motor skills have developed a little more.

January 12 = Prechool Day Two

My world is revolving around preschool at home right now so the titles of these blog posts may reflect that for a while...

Here are Liam and Malia playing with their sensory bin.  I threw some small red things in the bottom of this container and filled it with red rice and encouraged them to find the paperclips, crayons, and legos at the bottom.  They had lots of fun running the rice through their fingers and making a little bit of a mess.

This "homeschooling preschool" idea was mainly to benefit Liam but I think Malia may benefit a little bit too.  She's been talking so much- she says mama, dada, all done, bosh (which means paci), thirsty, uh-oh, yes, no, juice... there's probably more but that's all I can come up with at the moment.

Also, I have a funny story to share about Liam.  There's a pretty good consensus that Liam looks like me rather than Zachary but one thing he definitely inherited from his father is his mischievousness.  Last night, he woke up pretty late- around 11 and was pretty mad.  We went upstairs to make sure he was okay and he kept telling us he was hungry.  So we brought him downstairs for a snack.  As he was walking down the stairs he said "Ickey Ouse, Ickey Ouse" and we told him we would not be watching Mickey Mouse.  There's only so much Disney and Sprout TV a mom can take in one day.  So he immediately requested football.  He's done this several times- he knows that request is more likely to be honored.  He also asked for spaghetti by name- well his name for it: "ettie."  

January 11 = Preschool Day One

Let me start with another Facebook meme that I think is hilarious:

And now I'll tell you about our day!  We started with our morning routine: getting dressed, eating breakfast, brushing teeth and cleaning up Liam's room.  Then we did our inaugural "circle time."  It's more like triangle time if all three parties are engaged... but just go with me on this.  So we updated the day of the week, the date, and discussed the weather.  Our theme this week is "All About Red" so we read a book about colors- I've put a hold on some better books at the library but they haven't come in yet so we will have to settle for a book we already had- and then sang a song to the tune of "If you're happy and you know it," telling him to put his finger on his head if his clothes have any red- which I strategically ensured.   Then we did our matching folder:

 Malia decided to help.

And then it was time to go to the grocery store.  I usually go to the commissary on Sundays but Zachary worked all weekend and he thought he'd be able to go on his way home yesterday but didn't get off in time so I headed to this cute grocery store down the street- it's so nice and clean- and it had this cool cart:

Well they look innocent there but boy, oh boy.  They wouldn't stop fighting each other.  Liam was honking Malia's horn and Malia slapped his hand away and told him, "NO!"  So I moved Malia to the normal baby spot on grocery carts and that worked well for a while.  And then Liam discovered he could get out of the car.  So I calmly buckled him in.  Then he discovered he could still stick his arm out of the side.  And by doing this, he could knock over a whole row of hairspray.  Like fifty bottles of hairspray.  Or like thirty cans of Campbell's soup- ya know, whatever was in his reach.  So that was fun.  We checked out and I renewed my vow of never going grocery shopping with the two of them alone ever again.

Then it was lunch time!  Since both of them do so well eating at a little table at the CDC I decided to try it out at home:

They did great!  Then it was nap time and then I had to go to the pharmacy to pick up Malia's seizure medicine (her neurologist called me on his cell phone and had a conversation with me about her care instead of making me go all the way to the Bethesda) so that threw off my plans for the rest of the day but here's a picture of Malia after throwing her dinner on the floor:

January 10 = New Project Day

First I'm going to share a picture of my football fans- Liam's wearing his Packers jersey from Uncle Matty and Rachel and Malia's wearing Liam's first football jersey- the Redskins jersey.  They played tonight in a playoff game.  Zachary wore a Redskins shirt and I was wearing my Packers shirt so our house was divided!

But while I was watching the football game and cheering on the Packers, I also got to work!  Before Miss Malia had her seizure I had planned on not having a lot to get done tonight because I was going to space out the work to have a little each day but yesterday I did some research on different preschool curricula and today I started preparing for "homeschooling" preschool for Liam.  We had a behavioral specialist come to the house the other day and we were talking about how the CDC may not be so great for Liam after all.  It's wonderful for me because I need a break each week but as I mentioned before, a lot of things the CDC said they could do, they haven't done and so I really have to look at the CDC as a babysitting service, not an educational tool.  So from the conversation we had, Zachary and I had our own conversation and we decided it might be worthwhile for me to put that Education degree to use!  So I spent a lot of time looking at different objectives and methods and schedules and routines and tips and lots of stuff yesterday and then today started getting organized and gathering materials for the activities I'd planned.  Here's the big project that took a lot of printing, cutting, laminating, more cutting, and lots of velcro usage.  

And here's one activity we'll do tomorrow- I have matching pieces that he'll put in the correct place tomorrow:

So here goes nothing!  I hope that Liam enjoys all the activities I come up with and I hope Miss Malia gains some from all of this too!