Loving this moment...

Is this not precious? My sweet boys love each other so much they are willing to squeeze into a twin bed to sleep together. I am so glad I captured this sweet moment because my attitude at the time was not so sweet...

The boys started sharing a room a few months ago. It has been lots of fun for everyone AT FIRST! When we first put them together it was so sweet...they would talk and laugh but everyone stayed put...of course Sam was still in his crib. Sam transitioned out of his crib before Christmas(i think) and that is when the trouble started!!!! Both boys started getting out of there beds...WHAT...I found myself saying things like "I am off mommy duty and I am spending time with daddy". After a long road of trial and error and pure irritation...we started to use the SUPERNANNY method...and my word it worked! WE CAN DO THIS...Walk them back to the room, no words or eye contact (hard for me not to give kisses and Chris likes to tell them not to get out again) and put them back in bed. Tanner spent the first few days grumping..."my mommy is ignoring me..humpf" and Sam thought it was a game he said "weeee" when we put him in bed (so hard not to laugh) ! Our lives are now back to normal...well our version of NORMAL!

My mom bought them booklights so now the bedtime routine looks like this:

baths

games with mom and dad or a walk on the greenline...kiddos choice

potty and brush teeth and choose books for book baskets

mom and dad read books, Bible story and say prayers...anything needed must be gotten by this time...water, blankies, stuffed friends, etc.

booklights on and books can only be choosen from the basket...Tanner LOVES books and he was getting out of bed to look for certain books

Seeing Pink and Red...Tanner

Tanner begs me to set up his "school work" at home...luckily I had already hit up Target and The Dollar Tree for supplies because all of this SNOW has us feeling very trapped and I am SOOO very excited that I have something for the boys to do. I keep his "school work" on the bottom shelf of the "school"/"art" closet and he just gets things out as he wants to. 
The top left picture is Tanner working on his school VALENTINE'S...he planned them himself and let me know what supplies he would need:
something "valentiney"(i went with doilies), squeeze glue and a glue stick, my scissors(i said no), Knock Knock jokes (found them here and printed  http://www.box.net/shared/r91vk44sdm ), race car stickers and space sticker
I love what he came up with...cutting, gluing and building is his kind of art!

Seeing Pink and Red...V-Day Work

I just finished reading this book How to Raise an Amazing Child the Montessori Way, by Tim Seldin
and this book Montessori Play and Learn: A Parent's Guide to Purposeful Play for Ages Two to Six, by Lesley Britton both were recommended by this blog http://countingcoconuts.blogspot.com/2010/04/all-things-montessori.html , which I LOVE! I am just learning about this style of teaching but their are some really great ideas for daily tasks as well as play.  I think we will slowly incorporate more!
Sam has become just as interested in "work" activities as Tanner so I am trying to put 6-7 items out on the shelf for him each month as well as Tanner. This month included:

1. Spooning beads into an ice tray
2. Coloring with pink, red, purple crayons
3. blocks
4. Red magnetos
5. Playdoh
6 & 7. Clothspins
8. Counters into container
9. matching Red and Pink

Please Mr. Postman

Please Mister Postman, look and see
If there's a letter in your bag for me...
In light of Tanner's Valentine's Party being canceled at school tomorrow,
we decided to take matters into our our hands and just mail our friends some letters!


Selling Stamps

Mailing our letters

Tanner writing his letters.

Sam writing his letters.

My little helpers...

Both of the boys love helping around the house but they are always getting into my stuff!
I decided to make them each their own cleaning baskets...it was a HUGE HIT!
I put:
a broom/dust pan,
sponges,
dust mit,
dish scrubber,
papertowels
and
a spray bottle
in the cleaning kits.

Who knew
...cleaning the house could entertain the boys for an hour
...I'm thinking they can clean while I drink my coffee and do my devotion every morning!!!

MY REALITY

It's about 9p.m. and all of my SWEET boys are finally asleep. I decided to sit down and catch up on my BLOG READING...I have so many I love to look at (maybe one day I'll post them)! As I was reading about all of these beautiful houses, families and fun crafts it made me think of my devotion from the other morning...it was on PERFECTION! I think as moms it is so easy to fall into the "perfect trap". We have been talking about "words" at church...devoting this year to improving "one word" in your life...what would yours be?

My is long suffering/patience...it was the word from a sermon this past week. It was not my original word but God had different plans for me...

I originally choose PRAY...my prayer lately has been that God would show me what He wants from me loud and clear...I have actually prayed "wave a banner in front of my face that I can see Your will!"

...well He answered that prayer by changing my word!

Within that one week:

Tanner's home memory verse was ...Psalm 86:15 "Lord you area compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness."

Tanner's Wed. night church teacher sent a note home to let us know they would be working on the "Fruits of the Spirit" for the next several weeks.

A school packet came in the mail with this verse...Isiah 40:31-"But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint."

My devotional verse was...Galatians 5:22-"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, patience, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, self-control."

and my husband showed me this all week...1 Corinthians 13:4-6-"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs."

 

My desire for PERFECTION leads me to a lack of PATIENCE!

 

I say ALL OF THAT

to

SHOW YOU THIS

...my reality

...in order to have patience I have to LET GO

I was originally going to post about our lovely trip to the zoo today instead I will show you what it took to get to the zoo!

 

 

Sam can now open doors...so he helped himself to stamps and stickers...it's everywhere!

Two sets of Legos are out on the couch...where I just noticed a big brown  marker line!

The pillows and pictures were straight bf I walked out of the room...that means a pillow fight and leaping off the arms of the couch took place.

Look closely and you will see a chairful of socks to sort!

 

Chris cleaned the playroom last night bf bed. I know it doesn't look super messy but the point is they dump from one side of the house to the other!

Oh LAUNDRY...will I ever be finished with you!

HE WAS FULLY DRESSED...that's right... one dishwasher loaded and off come the clothes, on go Bubba's boots and into the Secretary's Desk we shall dig...that's an exacto knife with NO lid...Ugh!

Could everyone please put their shoes away...oh wait are those mine!

and yes

DIRTY floors

in desperate need of a mopping

(which I did manage to do after the zoo trip)

The landing ZONE...library books, Tanner's readers, medicine, magazines, school forms, new shoes, time out for toys, soda can tops...the list goes on and on!

It gets cleaned off about 1x a week only out of necessity to put more stuff on top of it!

NEW DECOR...painter's tape...sweet Sam can open every lock!

This is the game and big floor puzzle cabinet so I tape it at night so when he sneaks out of bed at 5am he won't dump EVERYTHING in the cabinet...oh this has happened...more than once!

So this is my reality...what it takes to get to enjoy my kiddos, give my family my best and honor God by being patient.

We LOVE playdoh!!

I love playdoh. Tanner loves playdoh. Sam loves playdoh.



After playing in the SNOW this morning we came inside to make our own
SNOW playdoh!
We used our regular recipe but added white painted, peppermint and silver glitter!!!
3 cups flour
11/2 cups salt
6 teaspoons cream of tartar or alum
3 cups of water
3 tablesppons oil
Extras...food coloring, scent or glitter
Mix dry ingredients in a large pan. Combine and mixwater, oil and extras in a seperate bowl. Slowly add to dry ingredients, strring well. Cook on medium heat until mixture pulls away from sides of the pan. Turn dough onto counter and knead until smooth. The dough is sticky at first but will improve as its cools and with kneading.

Why I LOVE playdoh:
To make it, the boys take turns measuring, stirring, pouring, and kneading.
It's great fine motor not to mention exploring different textures
and improving hand eye coordination.

Once we've make the playdoh the benefits continue:
squeezing, rolling, cutting, pounding
creativity
sharing
Tanner has made letters, sorted colors, worked on shapes, added and subtracted, patterns and explored halves/wholes.
Sam loves to squeeze it in the garlic press. He is getting to work on strengthening that pincer grasp when he pinches it to throw at us:)

We make playdoh almost every week. It's like a staple in our "PLAY" diet. I know it's messy but get out the hand broom and dust pan and practice some practical life skills: sweeping. Their wives will thank you later!!