Books The Girls Are Into

After a recent trip to the library, we've discovered the Magic School Bus books. They go on a different adventure each time. Mikayla's favorite is the Human Body one. Ellie discovered the 5 Little Monkey's books. She makes her lovy puppet monkey get excited when I read her the Five Little Monkey's Jumping on the Bed book.

I'd love to know what books your kids are into right now so we can check them out on our next library trip.

My Raised Garden Bed

I've been wanting to start a garden for a long time. I have tried and failed many times. Nate finally finished my raised garden bed for me. He made it out of cedar so it is very sturdy. When spring comes he'll make me one to match it to go on the right side of the garage window. I told him I was going to go outside and take some pictures of it for my blog. He grinned and said, "Take a picture of the level!" Here's some pictures of it:

Here's a close up of the level for Nate.






Our pumpkins awaiting Halloween!

Halloween Picture

One of Mikayla's homework assignments was to draw a pumpkin, a bat, the moon, and herself in her costume. I'm glad I was sitting beside her as she drew so I could hear her explanation of things as she colored. The pumpkin is wearing an Ariel wig to go with Mikayla's Ariel costume. The, um, anchor looking thing between her legs is her Ariel mermaid fin. I don't know why I didn't think of scanning in her pictures for the blog before. Here is her 2008 Halloween Picture:

MEA Weekend

What to do on a chilly rainy long weekend with two little girls sick with colds and coughs? First we went to the library to get movies and books. Then we played with playdough, set up our indoor play-tent and tunnel, and then played dress up. This picture is of Ellie dressed as superman, Tinkerbell, and a witch. She prefers to have her face covered with the witch hat every time for some reason.



Then, we worked on Mikayla's homework chart. She's pretty much caught up through October now! We even did number and letter flashcards. When I did the letter flashcards, Ellie would name the letter and Mikayla would give me the sound it makes. That's so crazy! Ellie will be reading for sure before Kindergarten.

Then, to tire them out, I moved the vehicles out of the garage and they are playing tennis, chalk, blowing bubbles, riding bikes in circles, etc. Thanks to Nate's hard work last year insulating the garage, we can play in there without freezing.



I'd like to add that I just fed the kids after all of that. My goodness they ate a lot. Ellie ate one whole orange, two boiled eggs, mac and cheese, one vienna sausage, and one 100 cal. pack of hostess creme cakes. Kayla ate well too, but can never match what Ellie eats (I can't either!).

Another FYI and a Medium Mikayla

Last night I was heading to they gym after the kids were in the tub and bathed. I layed out their toothbrushes and clothes. With Ellie's clothes and diaper, I set out a tube of Vicks vapor cream for her chest as she is fighting a cold. When I got home later, I was informed that the tube was mistaken for diaper rash cream! Oops! So, FYI, mention to your husband your intentions of why you set out certain things before leaving...

This morning Mikayla asked me the strangest question, "Mom, am I medium?" "What do you mean?" I asked. "Well, I'm someone whose a little big but still has little parts." "Yep, I guess that makes you medium," I said. I love how they think!

FYI

If you're teaching your child to learn to blow their nose, make sure that you also teach them what to do with the dirty Kleenex. I taught Ellie today to blow her nose since she is too old now for me to suction it (she let me suction her lovey Monkey's nose though). I walked into the room to catch her blowing her nose once on several Kleenex and then stuffing them back into the box! GROSS!

The Human Body

Mikayla has had a book for a few years now, Usborne First Encyclopedia of the Human Body. She's always been fascinated by it. Lately I've had a hard time getting her to use the bathroom. I have to force her to go before school in the morning, in the afternoon, and before bed. I have no idea how she can hold it that long. Anyway, out of frustration, I grabbed this book from her room and explained what urine is and why it isn't good to sit around inside your body. This is when I discovered that this is an Internet-linked book. You go to their website, type in the page number you're reading about in the book and there is interactive stuff. How did I not discover this sooner?! After all, the specific link on body elimination is soooo great (hear the hint of sarcasm?) Check it out yourself:

http://kidshealth.org/kid/htbw/_bfs_USmoviesource.html

There's another one that we actually learned a little from today. I'm not sure why they had to use an Arnold Schwarzineger type figure who says something like, "Help, my body is all floppy, help me find my skeletal system!" It is neat as he requests each system one by one and you have to click and drag each part to his empty body.

http://www.sciencenetlinks.com/interactives/systems.html

Knock Knock

Elyana has been trying hard to perfect the "knock knock" joke. For days now I've had to hear her say "knock knock" and then name a random object. Then, she laughs and there is never a punch line. This morning while the girls were eating, Ellie said, "Knock knock" We answered "Who's there?" She replied, "bah bah (this is what she calls her sippy cup of milk)" When we said, "bah bah who?" she accidentally let out a huge belch. She was so surprised by it that she laughed and said, "Ellie burpie!" Even though it was crude humor, it was hilarious because she finally told her first decent joke. I still think back to each time I was pregnant and Nate and I would worry, "What if this child doesn't have a since of humor and we drive them crazy?" Very funny. They have both kept the laughter constant in this house!

On a side note, the nice pumpkin paintings in the last post are looking sad. I used the wrong kind of paint and the downpour yesterday ruined them. Kayla's sad, but wants to paint them again. I don't want to use permanent paints because of the mess they would make. Kayla wants to use the same paints, but keep the pumpkin inside. I don't think it would last inside either. She also doesn't want to carve it (okay with me, such a mess, but fun). Any thoughts out there?