Preschool Week Three

As you can tell, I've been slacking off with the preschool posting. And the truth is, I had a couple of weeks where I did some preschool slacking altogether. Before I did that slacking, I was still in full positive mode and letting Audrey's massive sense of independence roll off my back. If she didn't want to do her little coloring pages, I wasn't going to make her.

For week three, we started things off with Hat Day. I made a hat just the right size for little A's head. I used newspaper and molded it right on her head. It's not much to look at, but Audrey loves it! She wore it while watching Kai-lan's Hat Parade.

The brim was a little wonky, but I think it's rather charming.

This angle gives it a sombrero feel.

Here's Kai-lan with her lily pad hat. Makes me wish I could make a hat out of a lily pad!

Hat Parade!

Cake hats! I WANT A CAKE HAT!!

Kai-lan and her YeYe

On Tuesday that week, we talked about musical instruments. While Audrey watched a few educational cartoons that talked about music and instruments, I put together a rainstick. I made it out of a wrapping paper tube, some short nails... correction: a LOT of short nails and dry beans. I wrapped it all with colored duct tape and put on a layer of packing tape just for safety.

Henry working it out!

It took a few tries to teach the little man how to make the rainstick "rain."

He got it eventually.

Little Miss A had it down pat!

On Wednesday we looked at lots of different dinosaurs, had dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets for lunch and watched Dinosaur Train. Audrey loves dinosaurs almost as much as princesses and fairies. Audrey pretty much loves everything she loves with all her heart... unless she doesn't like it at all. ;)

The next day was St. Patrick's Day. The leprechauns were up to their usual tricks this morning and turned the milk in her cereal green. She was a little disturbed. 

My plans for an all green lunch were foiled by Audrey's squeamishness. The leprechauns let her off the hook. I'm sure they figured it was better to let it go than have a little girl put off her food!

We had a baked potato bar for dinner, green jello, green grapes and Irish Soda Bread (that I made by hand). Audrey was still wigged about everything being green and wouldn't eat the jello.

I topped off the day with a pistachio pudding pie and whipped topping. YUM!

We talked about the jungle on Friday. Audrey loves looking at pictures of animals and she got to look at many animals she had never seen before. After we were done with that, I simply stapled two TP tubes together and called them binoculars for her to look through. I'm so glad she's young. The simple things still work! She watched Go Diego, Go! and I shut my ears for the duration!

We took a little field trip on Saturday and went to Kangaroo Zoo. It's a big play area that is filled with inflatables. Castles, dragons, sea creatures, slides. It was very loud with all the air pumps going at the same time and it took the kids to get over the noise and the sheer busyness of the place. After a while, though, they both got into it and even Henry was climbing the three story ladders to go down the huge slides.

Ben has more pictures on his camera. They're all bad quality because we forgot to bring the camera with us. Though, with how fast the kids were moving, they probably would have been blurry even if we HAD brought the good camera. Everyone went home tired and slightly deaf. Good times!

That afternoon, I had Audrey listen to Didgeridoo music. I think it's one of the neatest noises on the planet. I'd love to see someone play one in person some day.

Where has Spring been?

I seem to be under some sort of delusion that when Spring comes it's actually supposed to spring... You know, spring showers, pale green slowly unfolding from dark branches under a warm sun and gentle breeze. I don't know where this concept came from. I have certainly never lived in a place that has what I would consider a normal spring.

I don't remember Indiana, but I know I've seen pictures of the 10 foot snowman that was built in the front yard. You can't have THAT much snow and still have the classically described Spring.

Southern California didn't really have Spring since it didn't really have Winter. It was simply summer all year round with slight changes in foliage and temperature. I seem to remember it hailing once when I was at school and, since my teacher had us all leave the classroom to look at it, I assumed the apocalypse had come.

New Mexico doesn't have a proper Spring either. Ben and I always say that, in Albuquerque at least, you have Summer, Fall, Winter and Wind. It's true. Just as it is starting to get warm, the wind kicks up and doesn't let up until it's dry and hot. I find the idea of Spring refreshing and replenishing. There is nothing refreshing or replenishing about wind that either tries to blow you away or, failing that, blows dirt in your eyes, ears and up your nose.

Utah is a different animal altogether. Just when it starts to warm up and you break out your shorts, t-shirts and flip-flops, Winter yells "Psych!" and dumps eight inches of snow on you. Even the trees get fooled. They happily start pushing out leaves and blossoms only to have them frozen off overnight.

On the third day of April, Winter had a late April Fool's joke on us. I was not amused.

Here is my "not amused" face.

Here is my answer to Ben's request for a smile.

This is what happens to people when they are stuck indoors for five months.

And here is the joke in all it's glory.

I think I'll move to Hawaii. That sounds good.

The Birthday Boy

Henry's 2nd birthday was earlier this week. He is so different from his sister and SUCH a BOY! 

We went out for breakfast just like we did for Audrey's birthday. We went to the store for a last-minute birthday gift. After that, we went to a nearby park, fed the ducks and played for a while. Ben asked for this night off work as well. It was nice to have him home the whole day.

Ben and I were remiss in our duties as parents and forgot the camera for the candle ceremony! Henry had a banana cream pie and blew out both candles in one try! :)

This is his "ham" face.

From Grammy and Papa

It was a cute sports outfit. Henry was more intrigued with the ribbon. He kept saying balloon. He probably wondered if he'd been gypped somehow and didn't get the balloon that's SUPPOSED to be attached to all ribbons!

Once he realized that there were shorts, he wanted to put them on. One thing this kid is good at is taking off and putting on pants.

Just like Audrey, Henry picked out his pillow pet. He, however, was forced to wait a week and a half to enjoy his.

A duck, of course!

It took me quite a long time to get this gift out of the box. It was SCREWED in, of all things!

The Dad.

Grammy entertained the birthday boy with his very own hat made out of wrapping paper. Please note Mom trying to unscrew yet another superfluous piece of plastic off the bottom of the truck.

FINALLY!!

Audrey was a really great big sister for his birthday. He certainly was a king for his special day!

The Birthday Girl

We celebrated Audrey's 4th birthday almost two weeks ago! It seems that the older my daughter gets, the more surreal the idea of having children gets. 

Ben took the evening off work so that he could spend as much time with his little girl as possible!

We started the day out going out to breakfast. It was a nice change of pace for the kids who normally get cereal or toast for breakfast. We also went to Toys R Us to spend Audrey's free $3 certificate. Of course, she got a princess crown!

I went all out and made my first two layer cake. Audrey thought it was the coolest! ;)

Pink, pink, purple, pink and more pink.

She blew out all the candles on the first try!

The Cake Cutter.

Cousin Lily

Aunt Dara

Audrey already knew what was in the wrapping. She picked it out herself when her mother got an attack of indecisiveness.

I should have guessed she'd want a horse. She always asks if the horses are out when we pass by a local horse barn.

Cousin Eva was right by her side throughout the present opening.

Mama reads the card from Grandpa T.

At this point, Henry decided he'd had enough and wanted out of his chair. What a sincere look of supplication!

Aunt Dara was BEYOND ready to have that baby out! (She had the baby just a few days later.)

The puzzles from Nanny! The look says it all. :)

Audrey had a great day and was pooped by the time it was over.

No Wonder it's a Secret!

Several weeks ago, I received a voucher for a free item from Victoria's Secret. I think I might have blushed a little when I looked at the envelope, but I really can't pass up free. It's in my blood. It mouldered on my desk for a week or two... then it mouldered in my purse for about another week.

Upon discovering that my daughter's one and only wish for her birthday was to have a Pillow Pet, I knew that the mall was the one place I was sure I could get what she wanted. (As it turns out, they were out of the one she's been talking about for the last nine months.)

I figured that it would be good to kill two birds and go to VS as well. I blushed a little as I wheeled my little family into the brightly lit place to look through items that, generally speaking, never see the light of day once you get them home.

Of course, since it had been several weeks since I got the voucher in the first place, I was wondering if they might be out of stock and I was going to be out of luck. I (translation: Ben) ended up having to ask one of the workers where I might find the promised item. *Blush!* To her credit, she was very sweet and talked to my daughter while we walked over to the correct bin.

Once there, it was up to me to feel slightly perverted while I looked through for something that might pass for cute. The lady next to me had an enviable air of cool, collected nonchalance as she looked through the bins too. As I pondered what my choice might actually say about me personally, my daughter sweetly walked up to me and said, "Mom, can I help you?"

I gasped out a nervous laugh and said, "No, Audrey. I think this is something I need to do by myself." The lady next to me burst out laughing and I laughed too. I'm not sure if I blushed since Ben was too busy texting a status message for Facebook. I do know my eyeballs felt like they were on fire, so that doesn't bode well for me.

Hardly a moment later, Ben informed me that my son was pointing up at a picture of a model in her negligee and saying, "Bottom! Bottom! Bottom! Bottom!"


I also have a $10 off coupon for a bra. I don't know if I'm ever going back. I think I've had enough embarrassment to last me the rest of the month.

The Many Faces of Audrey

I know I've been slacking with the Preschool Blog posts... I know because one of my dear sisters asked me about them just last night! Well! I thought to myself, Someone is actually reading them! Whaddayaknow!

I admitted to her somewhat shamefacedly that I had not just been slacking on the blog front, but on the preschool front entirely. It's easy to get excited when your child asks, "What are we going to learn about today, Mom?" but when you actually get down to doing something with the child, all they want to do is watch the latest favorite movie.

This week is The Week of the Young Child, some sort of national observance. This week, Audrey will learn all about herself. To start the week off right, for both myself and her, I took a page from a good friend of mine. Monique Duke is one of the most talented photographers I have ever known and this idea was an inspiration for me. I've been wanting to do it ever since she wrote about it, but wasn't able to find the ideal time to focus just on my girl.

The idea was to call out emotions to her and snap away at whatever expression she gave me. I was worried that she wouldn't understand some of the emotions I was going to ask her to show me, but I went ahead and, with a little explanation, she stole the show. Click on the picture for a larger version. Well worth it!

The Many Faces of Audrey

HAPPY SPRING!!!

The Haul

I wandered around the mall today with a mission. I was going to have fun and I was going to spend some money. I went IN the stores with an eye for purchasing. However, I wasn't looking to spend purely for spending's sake. Well, maybe a little. I was more interested in finding a good deal that I could go home and feel good about. I am not interested in Buyer's Remorse at this stage of my life.

I almost never go into Claire's or Icing because I know I'll buy something that looks fantastically cute in the lighting of the store, but that looks strange once I get home. HOWEVER, upon walking into the store, I found that they were having a big clearance sale and quite a lot of their clearance was upwards of 75% off. I squealed a little, in my head.

Here is my haul, which I am super proud of, so don't say anything mean about it... Or you can, but just know that you will be making me feel sad for about .0000000238 nano seconds. Then I will go back to gloating over my new stuff.

Plaid Hobo (you can't see in this shot, but there are little shiny threads running through the plaid)

Original price: $26

Marked Down price: $13

Final price paid: $3.19

Butterfly Handbag

Original price: $20

Marked Down price: $10

Final price paid: $2.49

Teal Scarf with Skull print

Original price: $14

Marked Down price: $7

Final price paid: $1.69

Love the skulls!!

Various Wallets

The top two plaid ones were originally $12 and $14 respectively, marked down to $6 and $7. I got each one for $1!

The Pink Butterfly makeup bag/purse was originally $7, marked down to $3.50 and I paid $1!!

The Hardcase with eyelets was originally $16, marked to $8 and I paid $1.99.

Ring

Original price: $12.50

Marked Down price: $6.25

Final price paid: $1.49

Brown Plaid Headband

Original price: $5.50

Marked Down price: $2.75

Final price paid: $1

Cute details! (I used the skull head as my little model because I knew I'd never get the headband back from Aud if I used her.)

Charm Necklace (with crosses! *gasp!*)

Original price: $12.50

Marked Down price: $6.25

Final price paid: $1.19

Hello Kitty Necklace (for Audrey, though I may wear it now and then)

Original price: $12.50

Marked Down price: $6.25

Final price paid: $1.49

Dangley Chain Necklace

Original price: $10.50

Marked Down price: $5.25

Final price paid: $1.19

Fabric Necklace with Beads

Original price: $16.50

Marked Down price: $8.25

Final price paid: $1.99

Cute Plush Fennec Fox that whistles when you squeeze it's tummy

Original price: $7.50

Marked Down price: $3.75

Final price paid: $1

He has a crooked face but he's cute anyway... unless SHE'S cute... either way.

The whole purchase including tax was $24.27!

While I am not a hardcore bargain shopper and some would feel that I spent too much, I feel good about my level of shopping savvy!

Yay me!

BTW: If any of you are planning on going to the Orem mall anytime soon, stop by Claire's if this is your kind of thing! :)