Our Family Unit
  • Archives
  • February6th

    If you ever wondered if preschool boys had any interest in dinosaurs, let me emphatically assure they do!  For the last 2 weeks we have been learning about dinosaurs in our homeschool preschool.  We talked about meat eaters and plant eaters, we sorted by size, we matched pictures to shadows, we made play doh fossils, and we roared…A LOT!  We played dino games, made dino puppets and even learned to how to draw dinosaurs!

    He drew pictures for dad and all the grandparents and then we mailed out his one of a kind artwork.

    We also learned that they came from eggs.  And what better way to learn this, than by making dinosaur eggs!  I found a recipe online for making a dough out of old coffee grounds and flour

    then you mix it into a dough and hide the dinosaur inside

    Once that’s finished, just dry out in an oven, low and slow.

    The next day, Rex had babies!  (No, we haven’t had any sex ed classes yet.  :)   Ever since I got pregnant with Berlin, every now and then he talks about babies being in his tummy.  Then he “opens the door” to let them out so they can play.  The door has a latch sound.)  But I digress…

    Kyle came home from work one night to help the eggs “hatch”.  Kade loved every minute of it.

    The proud “mama” and her babies.

    There are some days that I think this is what I look like as a mom…and I only have two!

    The highlight of the week was pretending to be a paleontologist.  I found this cute kit on Amazon and then Kade and his dad donned their safety glasses and went to work.

    To put it mildly, it was a messy project…

    but that couldn’t dampen the joy of discovery!

    Look out plant eaters, here we come!  ROAR!!

     

  • January27th

    I don’t know if this happens to anyone else, but sometimes it feels like our days are intense.  Not intensely bad or good, necessarily.  But we eat our breakfast intensely, clean up furiously, then play vigorously.  Emotions are only felt in the extreme.  We giggle instead of laugh, sob instead of fuss, scream instead of yell.  Some days this doesn’t just go for the kids, but me too.  My theory today is that it’s because of the weather.  The mornings lately are cold and gray and dull – so everything else is vibrant and INTENSE to compensate.  That goes for the editing of these pictures from our afternoon at the park this week, too.  Whatever the reason, sometimes being a mom just calls for a little intensity.  Today I’m intensely grateful!

  • January14th

    I’m in a bit of a reminiscent mood this morning, hence the photo editing above.  Bear with me…

    My brother Jacob and I are the same age apart as Kade & Berlin, except that in my case, I was the older one.  I like to imagine that I was as nice to him as Kade is to Berlin, but in reality…there are stories.  Like me feeding him pennies when he was an infant or coaxing him to touch the oranges that Mom had forbidden us to touch or Dad coming downstairs to find Jacob crying, with a red hand print across his face.

    Dad: “Did you hit your brother?”

    Me: “Nope”

    Lucky for Berlin, Kade is a very sweet older sibling (most of the time).

    We went to the park this week to burn off a little energy.  It was a gorgeous day and we had a great time!

    Just want to give a little shout out to my cousin, Amanda.  One afternoon about 20 years ago, she and I went to a thrift store and found the tiniest clothes we could.  They were so small and so cute and she might have been a little baby crazy and pulled me into her craziness.  (I blame her entirely!)  But I ended up saving a pair of shoes and a little plaid vest and this jumper for 20 years so that one day my baby girl could wear them.  But of course, I lost them and forgot about them.  After Christmas, we cleaned out the garage and guess what I found buried in a plastic storage tub!  Only problem, my baby girl wasn’t a baby anymore and this little jumper was the only thing that fit.  I couldn’t help but think how things have turned out just like I imagined 20 years ago.  Am I lucky, or what?!

    On to the playground…below he is ignoring me and she is blowing me kisses.  Together it’s a good balance.

    Priceless!

    Hope everyone is having a good weekend.  Tonight is our first “Family Night”, Kade is making dinner and we’ll all play a game or two.  Then tomorrow night we hope to have installment #2 of “Foodies in Training”.  I’ll try to keep this updated.

  • January4th

    Welcome to 2012!  We hope everyone’s holidays were merry and bright – ours definitely were.  The kids and I headed back to Colorado a few days before Kyle, just in time for a perfectly white blanket of snow and even better, the arrival of my first nephew, JR.

    Isn’t he beautiful?!  And obviously a genius…we took this when he was four days old and asked him how old he was – he holds up four fingers!  (OK, so that story may not be true, but he is definitely a handsome boy and so precious.)

    Christmas Eve was at Kyle’s family this year and the kids were more than ready.  Kade remembered all about Christmas and presents and was ready to dive in.  Berlin just wanted to wear her new shoes, even with her Christmas jammies.

    I made the mistake of asking Kade if he wanted to kiss Berlin on the cheek.  Perhaps I should have checked with Berlin first!  I love how proud he is that he “won” at the end.

    Christmas Day we drove out to my family’s place where Kade got to be Santa’s helper and pass out Christmas stockings and Berlin discovered the joy of independence as she figured out how to walk alone with her new baby stroller.

    It’s always so much fun to go back and be with family and friends.  We did puzzles, drank hot cider, played games, held babies, and slept in.  One of the best days was going thrift shopping with my mom and sister.  I literally doubled my wardrobe in 1 day!  We had so much fun hunting for deals and I may have actually purchased 15 cardigans for myself.

    Now we’re safely back home; Christmas is packed away; we’re mid-grandparent-detox with the kids; and I’m trying to sort goals, resolutions, and to-do lists.  Thank goodness for vacations and thank God for His blessings.  Happy 2012 and may you see Him work this year!