enough

Sometimes I wonder if Makenzie doesn't get enough attention, or if it just feels that way because she's not yet as active and verbal as her sister. Saturday Libby was out and about with her Dad, and Makenzie and I had a pajama day. We played hard and ate lots of homemade banana custard.

space

Libby just piled all her toys onto the rug in the playroom and dubbed it her spaceship. She and her baby sat up front and drove. She just came out and announced that she and her baby had to turn the spaceship around and come back because they ran into a witch in space. The witch told her she was going to find her, and Libby said "I live far away in Connecticut, you will never find me witch!" and turned the space ship back. Notice the witch's hat just off the rug in this picture--she was approaching at the time it was taken.




Makenzie and Max are both enjoying a rest--no space venture for them. (And yes, my dog is sleeping with a Christmas blanket at the end of February. It's his blankie, he's attached.)

streaks

I am so glad that spring is in sight! We are at the point in winter where I can just see spring at the end of the tunnel and am SO ready for it! I can't wait to get our garden going, leave the back door open, and let the girls run in and out of the house!!

We've been doing a lot of creative play in the house and out and about, impatiently waiting for winter to end. Libby has taken to starting her day by painting. It's actually really fantastic, and I think it's great that she has taken such a love of painting. She is now only going to preschool two days a week, and the other 5 days of the week she eats her breakfast and then spends about 45 minutes painting. Makenzie is loving painting as well, and likes using a think brush to water paint, or doodling with markers on a piece of paper taped to her high chair. Her scribbles are starting to look more deliberate, and she loves watching her streaks appear on the paper.

I'm also excited about trying a project I saw here. (Actually, I intend to do several projects I found there, including felt notebooks this weekend. I bet the girls would LOVE those!) We have a stack of felt sheets at home, but we've been pretty limited with our felt use--mostly just as accents on other projects.

I just ordered some new felt from here and can't wait to get started on making some felt beads with the girls. I am sure they will love the process--it looks like it will be fun for all of us!

salad

Libby told me a couple months ago that when she grows up she wants to work hard like her dad. (She called it "do hard working.") When I asked her what hard working she would do, she responded that she will be a chef. She has always loved playing in her kitchen and helping me cook, but ever since then she is way more into it. Makenzie is also the perfect helper--naturally she steals the dishes her sister just can't live without and runs off with them, opens the oven of the play kitchen while Libby's cupcakes are baking, etc. :)

Last week I decided I was ready to attack my sewing machine, but none of the projects I had laying around seemed like a fitting start. I stumbled upon these dishtowel aprons and knew they were perfect for my little chefs, and perfectly easy for a challenged sewer such as myself.

I know they are ridiculously easy and anyone with talent is probably laughing at me right now, but I'm ridiculously proud of myself. Brian was very surprised that I pulled it off as well, as he knows the history between my sewing machine and I. I think they came out quite nicely:


Makenzie was very pleased with hers.


At some point before the end of the weekend I'm going to dig into our craft box for some felt and embroider their first initials on them.

Today, our first day back together since our vacation, Libby announced that she would be the chef to make us dinner. We asked her what she wanted to make, and she thought salad, baby carrots, baked potatoes and chicken would be good. So, tonight she put on her apron and scrubbed potatoes, counted carrots, washed, shredded and dried lettuce and picked a mix of added goodies for her salad, while Daddy (who she dubbed "little chef") grilled the chicken and the baked potatoes.


Now I have done the whole "get your kids involved in cooking the food and they'll eat it" thing before. I let Libby help all the time, and she maintains her pickiness. The only logical answer here is that these awesome aprons I made possess a veggie-loving magic. Not only did she take a big part in preparing her food, she also proudly announced that she loves salad, ate her whole bowl full, and polished off all the rest of her food as well.



Kenzie Benz, on the other hand, is easy-peasy and as laid back as kids get. She is always happy to eat what we give her. And she looks darn cute doing it--makes me want to get her out of bed and hug her.


Libby was very proud of her empty salad bowl, and Makenzie was equally proud of how cooperative she is.

mexico

The husband and I are just back from our first "real" kid-free vacation. Pre-kids we did little weekend stuff in New England, and we had our honeymoon on Cape Cod...but we've never flown off together and been carefree.

We just spent 5 days in Mexico and it was amazing. It was really hard to leave the girls, and we both missed them a lot, but really, really enjoyed ourselves. Vacation was fantastic, but coming home was nice too. We got to talk about things we've been meaning to catch on for months, chatted about the kids, and even things that had nothing to do with them. We stayed at a beautiful ocean-front all-inclusive, over ate,sipped lots of mojitos and pina colodas, walked through Cancun together, swam in the ocean, laid on the beach---it was really amazing.

That said, by day five I was feeling a little bored, like my life lacked purpose. Vacation was great, but so was coming home to Libby and Kenzie.

Adios, Mexico. Espero que nos vemos otra vez.

foam hearts

It is hard to believe it is already February!

We have been busy with lots of art projects lately, field trips here and there, back to school for me, and the very, very early beginnings of learning to read.

We started the DISTAR reading program. Although it's been about two weeks now, we have only done the first two lessons. I am in no rush to master this, and while she is very eager (surprisingly), I am content to do one lesson per week at this point. I'm sure a time will come when it is more fluid and we'll move more quickly, but for now she seems satisfied with the pace we are taking.

We've done "s" and "m" sounds, and Libby has had lots of fun finding these letters all over the place, or doing simple m & s "projects." Early this week I went to get Makenzie up from her nap and found Libby on the floor "reading" a magazine when I came back downstairs.


She was really just flipping through and pointing out all the "M" and "S," but she was extremely proud of herself.



Makenzie has mastered feeding the dog, and does it all by herself. It's actually really cute how close she and Max are. Here she is carrying a little scoop of food over to his bowl. She is also very proud of her new accomplishment.

We also did a Valentine's Day themed project. Libby declared that Makenzie should be her valentine, because Makenzie is "in her heart." (Swoon!!) We bought unfinished wood frames at Michaels and Libby painted them, then each girl got to place some wooden accents on their frame, which I hot glued on. Libby also cut out foam hearts to add to hers. Next we'll put in a picture of the girls together.


While Libby painted the frames, Makenzie used water to paint a piece of red construction paper.



I've been on a big psychology of childhood kick and doing a lot of reading in that area. Surprisingly, this is only reinforcing the idea that homeschooling is the best option for my children. Opinions about homeschooling are mixed, but most (if not all) of the actual facts I have found have cited the potential psychological detriments caused by public education, and the psychological and emotional well-being that comes from avoiding such a setting. Beyond that, the transition back to school (for me) after break has been quite the adjustment, but it looks like we are finding our routine again.

The best news -- if it is February, spring is REALLY around the corner!!