Preschool

I guess it's about time I write about what Spencer and I have been doing for preschool this year.  We've been doing a co-op with four others moms and kids twice a week.  Spencer loves it, especially when it's at somebody else's house and he can play with their toys.  It was at our house last week so I managed to get a few pictures in between the chaos. :)

We haven't used a curriculum this year.  We have a monthly theme and a weekly letter and come up with our own activities based on those.  It's been fine for this year since Spencer will have another year of preschool, but we'll be doing something much more structured next year.  I have to give a huge thanks to Alan's cousin Lindsy for her adorable preschool blog: Preschool Alphabet.  Lindsy has tons of simple, cute activities and since I'm not very creative coming up with my own, most of what I've done has come from her blog.

We talked about letter S last week which was perfect because it was also the first few days of Spring.  I usually have them start by gluing small items onto the letter of the week.  We glued sunflower seeds onto our S's for this one.  Next, we have a short circle time where we talk about the calendar, weather and sing some songs.

I let them have 20-30 minutes of free play time in the middle of our session.  It's kind of hard at our house because it's small and we don't have that many toys.  We've been able to play outside a few times, but it was nasty and rainy last week.  The kids still love it though.  I think Spencer is the only one with trains at his house so they always want to play with those.

We painted some cute spring trees one day.  I had them use cotton-swabs to dot pastel paints on their trees.  I would use pencil erasers next time though.  We went through a lot of cotton-swabs.

We also decorated some plastic cups with googly eyes and shape facial features and then planted grass seeds in them to grow "hair."  Spencer's seeds started sprouting this morning and he was so excited.  I love this picture because it shows all of their funny, little personalities.  It's been really fun to see them grow-up over the last few months.  A couple of them were still 2 when we started last fall so it was a very young group.  I was really impressed with how much their listening, sitting and sharing abilities had improved last week.

Good Dose of Sunshine continued...

The weather was so warm most of the time were in St. Johns that Spencer and Porter wanted to spend most of their time outside.  The only problem was that it always got windy in the afternoon and I was having bad allergies.  The sunshine was worth it though so I just dealt with the itchy, watery eyes and nose and the sneezing.

We couldn't resist going back to Patterson's Pond for a picnic.







It was even hot enough for a water fight one afternoon!

I made some pretty awesome St. Patty's day cookies with Andies mints, even if I do say so myself. :)

Michelle got a tired of little boys demanding all of the attention, being noisy and stealing all of her toys so she spent a lot of time outside with her ipod.  She's a good aunt to share all of her stuff with just a little complaining though.

Lindsey's name tag came in the mail while we were there.  Check out that smile!

Spencer's first time flying a kite.  How have we never done this before?  I used to love flying kites.

We had a wiener roast the last night we were there.  It was the perfect way to end our trip: sitting around a fire, eating junk food and laughing together.









I always get homesick after a visit home and this time is no different.  I have been blessed with an incredible family and I cherish every second I get to spend with them.  Until Christmas (sigh)...

A good dose of sunshine

Spencer and I just came back from a 10-day trip to St. Johns and my friend Nicole captured my feelings perfectly when she said, "A good dose of sunshine, home cooking, sisters and moms does a spirit good."  It was the perfect anecdote for the stress in my life and the dreary scenery in Oregon.  I feel much better equipped to handle life than I did two weeks ago.

The reason for our trip was that my spunky little sister, Lindsey is leaving for her mission to Birmingham, England on Wednesday!  Lindsey is one of the happiest, most fun-loving people I know and I'm positive she'll have great success as a missionary.  It's impossible not to be drawn to her "sparkling personality" that comes from her testimony and desire to share the Gospel.  She inspires me.

 All four of my sisters were able to come, but we missed Marc.  I'm kicking myself for not getting sisters picture.  We didn't do anything super exciting - just relaxed at home and enjoyed each others company.

Lindsey is so great with kids and Spencer adores her.



My parent's ward had a ward party while we were there.  They had a cookie bake-off for the dads and kids under 10.  Spencer and my Dad made M&M cookies and won!

Cousin bath!  Spencer and Porter are 7 months apart and were great buddies.  I was amazed at how little the fought.  Their opposite personalities somehow compliment each other.  I'm so sad we don't live closer together so they could play together more.

 

Zac and Katelyn only got to stay for one day before they had to hurry back to finish their last few weeks of their undergrads.  I'm so glad we got to see them though and am super excited that they'll be interning in Seattle this summer!

The weather turned into summer after our first weekend there.  It's always sunny, but temps in the 70's felt SO good.  We took the boys to Patterson's Pond to throw rocks and enjoy the warmth.  Spencer probably could have stayed there and thrown rocks all day.

There's not much better than jumping on the tramp with Uncle Marc's awesome dinosaur collection.

To be continued...

Lesson Learned?

Spencer didn't look very happy when I picked him up from preschool on Thursday.  I figured it was just because he didn't want to leave since that's been a hard transition lately.  He kept grimacing after we got home so I started to question him about what he had for snack at preschool.  That's usually his favorite thing to talk about, but he refused to tell me what he ate. 

Five minutes after we got home, Spencer threw up all over the kitchen floor. After cleaning up the yucky mess, I called his preschool teacher.  It turns out that she had served pretzels with peanut butter for the snack, but Spencer had been very clear that he was allergic to peanut butter so she didn't give him any.  I was worried that he had become more sensitive to peanuts and that just being around them made him sick.  But, after about an hour, Spencer admitted that he had sneaked some peanut butter.

I'm hoping the nausea will help him remember that he's allergic to peanuts next time there's a temptation and I'm very grateful that his reactions aren't any worse than a sick tummy.