MOMMY SCHOOL

So Emmalee and I have started a pre-preschool called Mommy School. Bascially we have fun doing activities that expose Emmalee to new things. I choose a theme, letter, number, and shape for the week and plan activities surrounding these ideas. We've had tons of fun so far. I am amazed at how fast Emmalee learns things and how easily she seems to retain them. Here are a few pictures from our Valentine's theme.



Making red jell-o hearts. YUMM-O Emmalee did a lot of the pouring and stirring. I'm trying to let her be more independent.



Transferring red pompoms with tongs into a paint tray. Fine motor skills to get those fingers ready for writing one day.



Cutting practice. Emmalee has been dying to use scissors, so I bought her some and let her give it a try. She wouldn't let me help her AT ALL (yep, she's 2) so needless to say she got frustrated. However, she came back to the scissors 5 or 6 times that day to try again. She's determined, but just not quite ready to cut.



Layering Hearts. Emmalee had to follow the numbers (1-6) listed on the hearts to layer them on top of each other from largest to smallest. I modeled it once and then let her go at it. She's improved after just one week with her oral counting, one-to-one matching and recognizing numbers.



Valentine Sensory Bin. I made pink rice and then added tons of red, pink, and white items on top. She explored and then quickly moved everything off of the rice so she could play in just the rice. Then she found the heart necklaces and bracelets and put them all on and pranced around the house.



Inserting red toothpicks into the holes of a cinnamon jar. Little ones love tiny spaces. Great hand-eye coordination practice.



Pouring M&Ms. I did not mention to Emmalee that she was pouring candy M&Ms or she would have just eaten them. She's still VERY fixated with putting things in her mouth...even non-food items.



We also turned white carnations different colors. We talked about the parts of the flower (stem and petals) and how the flowers drink the water and it goes up the stem to the petals to make the petals a new color. She loves seeing the new colors...purple, green, and red.



Emmalee also worked on her ABC puzzle (love Dollar Tree) with Daddy on Sunday morning before church. Earlier that week we learned about the letter V, it's sounds, and some words that start with V...like volcano mountain, van, vegetables, and vines, to name a few. We put up pictures of these words with the words next to the picture. Emmalee "finger kissed" the V at the beginning of each word. This week we will put a giant V on the floor and walk on it, make a V collage, and go on a V scavenger hunt for capitals and lowercases (and we'll attempt sorting them).

We attempted many other activities, but there were some things Emmalee just didn't want to do this week. First, she was sick most of the week. Second, she's 2 and when she doesn't want to do it there's no convincing her otherwise. I had to adapt! We had a fantastic week and I'll post more about our next unit on penguins. (Thanks Aunt Jenn for all the great penguin ideas!)

Today I Realized...

Today I realized or was reminded of a few important things...

1. I had left my scriptures on the music stand in the primary room at church.
2. Cat vomit on the walkway leading to your front door is a disgusting way to say "Good morning!"
3. I should not have let Emmalee run around the kitchen after bath time without a diaper...she WILL inevitably pee on the kitchen floor.
4. The more attention and time I give to my daughter throughout the day, the less ornery and whiny she will be throughout the day.
5. I have to have a plan for my day or I use my time ineffectively and feel blah!
6. I should be more proactive in kissing my hubby when he comes home from work instead of waiting for him to do it.
7. I cannot let even a little light in my daughter's room when it's time to go to bed or she will not go to sleep.
8. A little bit more about how it feels to have the Spirit with me, how Father communicates with me personally and individually through the Spirit, and the consistent effort required of me to allow this to happen.
9. That I need to more consciously remember my Heavenly Father.
10. Consistent family scripture study and prayer really do make our home FEEL differently...better, happier, holier.
11. I am VERY blessed.

Sweet Baby Girl

I love this little girl! She's just too adorable standing there watching Jungle Book (her favorite movie!) before church while I snap some pix of her. She's wearing her new froggy dress that I finished making and has a bow in her hair, which has never happened before. She kept the bow in all morning until we got in the car to head to church. When she gets tired (we have church at 11am...almost naptime) she plays with her hair. I put her in the carseat and she began playing with her hair. Of course, she noticed the ribbon, and by time I had walked around to the driver's seat she had taken out the ribbon and frayed an end by pulling on it. Oh well! Better luck next time.

Carrie Stroud Hilarious

So, if you don't read Carrie Stroud's blog...you should, especially today. She's a hoot. Oh, the experiences we all go through in life. I should remember them better and blog about them more consistently. I seem to think I need to say something profound when I blog. Don't know why that is, but I guess that's who I am. So, pushing that notion aside and remembering that I LOVE to write, I just started typing today. It's probably the worst entry, with several grammatical and spelling errors, but who cares! This blog is a form of expression for me, and if you care to read it, be my guest, but don't expect any nuggets of wisdom or flashes of inspiration. I also seem to think that I have to put a picture with every entry to make it more interesting. If I can, I will, but no promises. I'm not very tech savvy and can only post what I know how to do. So...hopefully I'll blog more.

Did find a great website today. www.dealstomeals.blogspot.com It compares the local store sale prices for you and then gives you recipes using those sale items. It also lets you know what items to stock up on, cuz they're cheaper than Wal-Mart and Costco, so you can build your food storage. There's a 2-week trial offer and then it's $5 a month. You save money while building your food storage. So, I think next week, when it's time to prepare my 2-weeks worth of meals and then go grocery shopping, I'll sign up for the trial and see if I really do save money. I really feel supremely impressed to get our food storage going, but money is always the problem. So, maybe this website can help.


***By the way, can anyone tell me how to pull a picture off the web and add it to my blog? Have tried and failed. I'll be better about adding pictures if I can figure out how to do this. Thanks!

The PHantom's Lair

Our 4-year anniversary was this last week and my mother-in-law put us up at a theme suite inn for a night. So we left Emmalee with her and off we went to Lion's Gate Manor in Lava, Idaho. From the outside, the inn looks like a small apartment building, but when you enter it's exquisite. Everything was imported from Indonesia and WOW was it beautiful. The owner gave us a tour of the rooms that were unoccupied...the castile room, the secret garden room, and then through the dining room with the throne chairs to a bookcase. He pulled out a book about the Phantom of the Opera to make sure we were familiar with the story. He told us that the room they created in their inn took up 1/3 of the entire downstairs and was meant to be like the Phantom's catacombs under the Opera House. (Remember when he takes Christine down there for the first time...that's what this looks like.) And with that explanation, he pulled on the bookcase and opened it. Behind it was a purple silk curtain and a cast iron spiral staircase leading down to the Phantom's Lair. Of course, I giggled with excitement.

At the bottom of the staircase was a little river and boardwalk with sound effects and everything, a jacuzzi tub that lit up, and a wall mural of the catacombs. There was a Box 5 theater room off the main bedroom with flat screen, surround sound and everything. There were candles and silk and roses everywhere. It was incredibly romantic. And the jucazzi tub...had the water came from the ceiling into the tub. So COOL! Oh yea, and the mirror...look closely and you will see the Phantom himself. If you don't know there's a manequin behind the glass it will freak you out. Luckily, I could turn off the mirror at night. Needless to say, we had a fantastic time and Emmalee was perfect for grandma (LuSi, our dog, whined though.) So here are the pictures. Enjoy!

Looks Just Like Her "Da-Da"

I just had to show you what an adorably cute daughter we have...who looks nothing like me. She's the spittin' image of her dad. But I think he's dang good looking so I'm alright with that. We got her a little sand box and this is her first time in it. She didn't like sand the same way she didn't like grass at first. She's better now. The other picture is of her first experience with a Fat Boy ice cream sandwich..."YUMMY, YUMMY" is what she said after eating. Oh, and the topless pictures are how I found her one day after her nap. She's stripped her top off before I could get to her. Funny girl! Love her so much!

Thoughts on Motherhood

Yesterday, Emmalee taught me something. While in nursery (I've been taking her to get her acclimated before she goes in next month) a little girl came in with her mother. The family is new in the ward and the girl won't stay by herself yet. So, when her mother left, the girl kinda lost it...screaming, snotty, nobody could touch her kinda thing. Emmalee looked at this girl, and without prompting, walked over to her and gave her a hug. We call it "giving loves" at home. I looked up and saw this and my heart overflowed with love for my daughter. And then came the confirmation that I NEEDED...that in some small way I was succeeding as a mother.

And then this morning I read a quote. A mother wrote in a letter to Elder Holland, "Through the thick and thin of this (motherhood), and through the occassional tears of it all, I know deep down inside I am doing God's work. I know that in my motherhood I am in an eternal partnership with Him. I am deeply moved that God finds His ultimate purpose and meaning in being a parent, even if some of His children make Him weep. It is this realization that I try to recall on those inevitably difficult days when all of this can be a bit overwhelming. Maybe it is precisely our inability and anxiousness that urge us to reach out to Him and enhance His ability to reach back to us. Maybe He secretly hopes we will be anxious and will plead for His help. Then, I believe, He can teach these children directly, through us, but with no resistance offered. I like that idea. It gives me hope. If I can be right before my Father in Heaven, perhaps His guidance to our children can be unimpeded. Maybe then it can be HIS work and HIS glory in a very literal sense."

What an ncredibly humbling thought. What an inspiring experience. Thank you, Emmalee, for teaching your mother that she needs to be more like the Savior. No wonder we are commanded to be as little children.