preschool // round two

I'm not going to lie, when I realized my turn to host preschool was quickly approaching, my house + my attitude looked a lot like this: 

I thought of all of the "good" excuses why I couldn't possibly teach (I'm huge + pregnant! I've got no energy! I feel like I've got a constant cold! Etc...) but I tried my hardest to change my attitude (I only have to teach 8 times total during the entire school year...that's not very many!) and it ended up being a really good experience. We even got to host on Valentines Day! So we were able to have a fun party, complete with pink sprinkled donuts.

Our first day we did "V is for Vegetables" (gotta sneak in some healthy eating somehow ;) and surprisingly (or not) they gobbled these right up for snack time:

// V was also for "Volcano!" They were really excited about this science experiment. //

On Valentines day we played Bingo, decorated Valentine bags, and learned a darling Valentine song which they later performed for all of their moms during our little party (wish I would have caught it on video!) The night before, Max worked so incredibly hard on these Valentines for each of his friends. They say, "I wheelie like you! Happy Valentines Day!" Max wrote each of their names, as well as his own, and colored a personalized border around each one. 

// This was the first day, in a reallllllly long time, that our entire preschool class was all together! We were so happy to have Isaac join us again (after a really, really rough go with pneumonia!) //

And our last week, we jumped back a letter, and focused on the letter "U" We talked all about the United States, Utah, Umbrellas, and Unicorns :) A little disconnected, but it works, right?!

As much as it may or may not stress me out, I'm so glad that I am able to teach my kids as well as so many other incredible kids. 

I am one lucky mama.

p.s. Previous preschool posts found here.

calligraphy 101

I'm learning a new skill! And I absolutely love it. I've always been interested in calligraphy (I took a class back in the 7th grade with my best friend, Jenny Pate!) but let's just say that both my skills + calligraphy in general have come a looong way!

I enrolled in Molly Thorpe's class via Skillshare back in October and while I haven't been able to put as much time + effort into it as I would have liked, I was able to address each and every one of our Christmas cards (which was a huge accomplishment; one that I wasn't sure I would succeed at!)

I try to pull out my supplies at least once a week while the kids have their own "art time." Maybe one day I'll be able to address someones invites for a wedding. #mydream

// lots + lots + lots of practice. and smudges. //

// Danny got me a calligraphy book for Christmas, which I love. Who knew there were so many ways to write an "a"?? //

// more practice //

// aaaand more practice //

// Max's drawings never fail to put a smile on my face! //

// This was one of my favorites. The "m" turned out just the way I wanted it to! //

And because this seems like the most logical place to put it (since it's now February 22 and Christmas has long since passed!) here is our Christmas card from 2013. Definitely our favorite so far!!

// the front //

// the back //

late night singing

Avery is our little performer. She loves to sing. She loves to dance. She loves to tell stories. She is incredibly animated + dramatic + I can't wait for her teenage years ;)

But seriously, her little voice is one of my favorite things on earth. Two songs that she sings non-stop are "I am a child of God" and "I love to see the Temple." She knows every single word to each of them! A couple of nights ago, we caught a pretty great version on camera (complete with her crown & an appearance by Penny :)

Of course, Max wanted in on the fun so we had them sing another one of their favorites, "Scripture Power!" I think it's safe to say they love it mostly because of the fist pump...but who can blame them? ;)

moving up in the world

it's been a long time comin' but we finally upgraded the kids' car seats!!!! i'm not sure who was more thrilled (me or the kids!) but they are definitely riding in style now.

next up: an upgraded vehicle!!!! 

(if danny and i can ever come to an agreement ;)

do you want to build a snowman?

danny & i haven't seen frozen yet (are we the only ones left on the planet??) but we're extremely familiar with the soundtrack (ave is constantly found singing & dancing to "let it go"). after looking at these pictures again, i couldn't help but think of the famous "do you want to build a snowman" song. on this particular day, that is exactly what max and avery wanted to do :)

there are a few things that i am far from embracing and one of them includes playing out in the snow. i really don't like to get cold & the time involved in getting ready/clean-up, etc. is just really not appealing to me. 

however, snow is absolutely magical to my children (of course!) and after almost a month of no snow in january (crazy!!) i decided to bite the bullet and seize the day.

// that right there is pure joy + happiness + excitement. i love him! //

// how lucky am i to get to call these two mine?! //

it ended up being a pretty magical afternoon.

that is, until max came running in after we had gotten all of our cold + wet clothes off and warmed up inside yelling, "santa tipped over!!!" (santa is the name he gave to our snowman). who knew you had to balance snowmen so well?! ;)

straight from heaven.

We've got less than three weeks until we meet this little one and find out if it's a HE or a SHE!!!!!!!

My mind is blown. My heart also melted a little bit when I had this convo in the car with Max today:

Me: Isn't it so amazing that our baby is coming straight from heaven?!

Max: Is heaven in your tummy?? :)

I love him so much and can't wait for another little piece of heaven to come to our home.    And while I've got babies on the brain...what do you think?? Are we getting a boy or a girl???

(Throwback to a mini Max & Ave! They were so tiny!!!)

max meets picaso

max has this "thing" where he wants to save & cling onto every single piece of paper/artwork that he has ever completed in his lifetime. it was cute at first...but after finding papers allllll over the house i knew something needed to be done. 

a few weeks ago we sat down and went through each one of those papers and took pictures of his favorites (which meant almost all of them!) and i promised to make a little book out of the photos we took. (i still need to do this! any suggestions?)

ever since that activity (which took all morning!) max likes to document all of his creations and i'll often find him with the camera strapped around his neck, snapping a picture of something he's done (legos, playdoh, wedgits, etc...) he's a funny one :)

i've got at least fifty more pictures, but these are some of my favorites. he really is such a little artist and loves any type of creative activity. 

a bear and his cave // the most colorful batman you've ever seen! i love how he uses such a variety of colors!

 

a bunch of guys playing every sport imaginable // one of the many robots that max has drawn...he went through a phase a few weeks ago :)

 

a very cute & colorful turkey from preschool // a centipede!! adorbs.

for christmas the kids got a sweet shoppe playdoh set, complete with itty-bitty molds to make all sorts of "chocolates & candies." it really is the cutest. the kids (and i!) have had a blast playing with it, and of course, our little documenter has caught all the action on camera:

 

before these pictures beautifully arranged on his plates, he took pictures of each individual item :) this method was slightly more effective!

 

he was particularly proud of these brown "suckers" he made!

we thought the garlic press would make a fun playdoh tool...we were right!! // avey is such a cheeseball :)

another favorite christmas gift: wedgits! (max requested these pictures :)

and lastly, a few more gems i just found on the camera from my budding artist:

 

pretzel letters! max was very proud of these letters he created out of his snack.

and i'll leave you with this last one. he's even got to document his playtime with dinos & dump trucks! i sure love that little guy: