Happy Birthday, Anique!

Today is my youngest cousin's birthday!  Her name is Anique and she's in the photo above with her two sisters Lisanne and Marloes and her niece, Lisanne's daughter, Jasmine.


Lieve Anique,
Van harte gefeliciteerd met je verjaardag...van ons allen hier aan de andere kant van de oceaan.  Liefs!

En, Anique, hier een foto van de jongste aan de jongste...

Nog een prettige dag vandaag, Anique!

Tub Time

Oh, how we love tub time!

Owen and Mzee

Austen has an amazing teacher this year and he is absolutely LOVING school. 

Mrs. D has introduced a true story called "Owen and Mzee" to the class and now they got turns taking Owen and Mzee (the stuffed animals) home.  Austen was beyond excited (as was the rest of the class, apparently).  We read the book last night and it's such a good story on friendship - and true!  I'd highly recommend it for your own at home library.

Picture Day!

It's Picture Day at school today...and at our house too!  Yay for seizing the moment they're all clean and "dressed up".

My Birthday weekend and PA Day today

I had an awesome birthday this past weekend.  We didn't take many pictures but here are just a few.

 

 

We went for a bike ride while Daddy made lunch.

 

I had a little birthday party for the daycare.  I made some Elmo and CookieMonster cupcakes.  They turned out quite cute!

 

I also made these teddybear driving car treats for a treasure hunt.

 This little man got new pants from his Godmother...so cute!

 

Today, PA Day, the kids prepared the soil and plowed and hoed to prepare the field for planting....

 

We made a fall window scene with tissue paper leaves...

And Megan (and Austen a bit) made another Halloween scene completely on their own.

More updates to come...it's been a busy month and I haven't had a lot of time for blogging...more to come in October hopefully!

FRIDAY!!

"Hey people!  Hope you have an awesome Friday!  I sure am!"

These days...

These days we're pretty busy. 

I'm back to work and have another wonderful little boy around during the day...it's fun but oh so busy! 

We're busy with daycare, kinder-preschool, back to my SCDiet (for my Crohn's Disease since I couldn't tolerate a lot of regular food anymore lately), and Ian's super-busy with the start of school. 

The kids are crazy-tired at the end of the day with our new school-routine (it takes a LOT out of them) so we try to take it easy....this past weekend I showed the kids some Full House reruns and they're obsessed!  Same with Little House on the Prairie...good laughs.

I'll catch up soon!

Oh, and creating the saying "I so pretty" brought me back to this.  Seriously, Austen was 3 and Megan 5.  It's one of our best videos of Austen EVER! Click HERE to watch it: I sooooo prettty!

10 thoughts on random things...

1)  Megan and I are doing this.  She adores reading, writing, making lists, colouring, as much as I do so this is perfect for us:  the little journal project.

2)  I don't want to judge either but I always thought this looked so funny.  I do prefer a stroller over these though:  Leashes for kids.

3)  This is the.funniest.blog.ever!  If I ever need a good dose of laughter I go through some of her posts.  They're hilarious:  Crappy Pictures.

4)  This experiment would be so awesome to do with a class - wow!  Unpoppable balloon.

5)  We've been watching these old classics.  The kids are totally into them, especially Mason since it's all about a farmer!  Little House on the Prairie.

6)  Totally want to make these!  Now just need a good excuse:  Edible Flowers.

7)  I read this awhile ago and I totally agree.  I'm sure there are many who do, and that's ok!  This resonated with me.  It's a strong opinion.  And though I am friends/family with people who do spank, for me it's a big NO.  If you spank your kids, we can't be friends article.

8) Hmmmm...another interesting article..not sure where I stand on this...Waiter refuses to serve pregnant woman wine.

9)  A cute craft to do with young girls...it's very easy and soooo darn cute!  Braided headbands.

10)  I'm putting all the activities I do with Mason's preschool learning on a different blog.  That way I'm ready for when Ethan is a bit older and I don't have to hunt down all my lesson plans!   Kinder Preschool.

Ethan's Birthday and more

A few pics from Ethan's birthday and more...

He wasn't too sure what to make of everyone singing him "Happy Birthday"....

Leather jacket from Grandma and Grandpa!  Now he can join Grandpa on his Harley!

 

Like 2 peas in a pod....

Finally...here's his 12 month laundry basket picture...what a change from 1 month!  See previous post for his 1 - 11 month pictures.

 

 

Note how Mr. Mason didn't get out of his farm coveralls...they're like his permanent costume.  Usually his cow rubber boots accompany his assemble...today he opted for sandals.

The arm belongs to Ethan's friend "J".  J and his sister "L" come to our house for daycare 4 days a week.  It's been wonderful!

 

Bus didn't stop at our driveway.  Stopped here, then as he opened the doors, the kids ran for the doors.  THEN he decided to back up.  Oookkaaayyyyyy....

Mason, "J", and Ethan are taking part in a little "preschool" education...just fun learning...  I'm teaching them the alphabet...mostly Mason since J and Ethan are a bit too small still.  I've centered it around a farm theme since NOTHING else will keep this 3 year old's attention...so weekly we a letter... A is for AppleTree, B is for Barn, C is for Cow, D is for Duck, E is for Eggs, etc...

That's all for now, folks!

Happy Birthday Ethan!!

Oh, and he loves his Mommy too but his Mommy made this birthday update and forgot to include herself. LOL

More to follow re: his birthday...