Reading

Back when Devan was around this age, he loved to do this too.  He loved to look at books and "read" to you.  It's just so adorable :)

Birthday

So....  going back over a month....  On my birthday we had a gorgeous day!  It was 50 and sunny!  So, we headed outside to soak up all the Vitamin D we could get.

 On our walk of the neighborhood, we found this really cool fort!

 And we were on the hunt to find the tallest snow pile

 After a nice walk, what do you do?  Take a nap, of course!

Late afternoon, Devan had hockey.  Meanwhile, Dustin left work early, went to Giant and bought cupcake mix, and made cupcakes for me secretly!  He even got rid of all the evidence and put the cupcakes in the basement.  After meeting us for dinner, I sat down to work while he was on kid duty.  He showed them his basement progress, but really they were icing and decorating the cupcakes.  Sneeky sneeky.  The kids were tickled to death, and they got to enjoy a cupcake before bed :)

Teacher Conferences and Potty Time

Jumping ahead....  We've had a very exciting week. 

 

Friday was parent-teacher conferences at preschool.  Of course, Devan is awesome :)  She said he is definitely ready for kindergarten.  He knows more than is expected (if you ask me, they have pretty low standards.  I mean, come on, she was surprised when he could name all 26 letters of the alphabet and write his name without assistance.)  She said he gets along with everyone in the class.  And is a great listener.  He is always the first to clean up and transition activities when it's time.  She also said that he's pretty shy and doesn't like to stand up in front of the class and talk, but will do it because he knows that you want him to.  I am glad that my views were the same as hers.  That means I'm realistic :)

 

Lexi has had an exciting weekend too.  Grammy was here and we went hard core on the potty training.  It was very defeating after a long weekend of accidents and hours in the bathroom.  (Glad my job was mostly to entertain Devan to keep him out of the way).  After Grammy left on Monday, I was ready to give up, thinking maybe she's just not ready, or maybe she's being difficult on purpose (because that is her personality).  But, I think things might be clicking.  So I've stuck with it.  It's been frustrating, for sure.  I mean, I know she has to go but she just holds it and holds it and holds it!  And we sit in the bathroom forever!  Devan was upset we missed story time at the library yesterday.  And they haven't gone to the gym at night (which also means I'm missing out on my uninterrupted work time).  But it's for a good cause.  Yesterday was the best day yet.  So, we will continue on.  Fingers crossed!

 

Doing pearler beads.  Lexi got frustrated that they kept falling over, so then she knocked Devan's and messed his up.  That made him VERY mad...  So, I don't think we'll bring this out for awhile (at least with Lexi around).

 Lexi set up lunch for her animals

Devan's story

So, one of the activities for the Dr Seuss themed winter reading program at the library was that they had to take Thing 1 or Thing 2 on an adventure and write about it.  I thought for sure this would be hard for Devan as he's not the most creative kid.  But, he really surprised me!  He drew a picture and told me a story as he was drawing.  Of course, it had a lot more words than what I wrote down (you know how he can talk in circles sometimes), but I tried to remember it all.  When he was done, he was so proud!  It was adorable :)

 

"Because no binkies..."

I forgot how long this struggle has been with Lexi not napping....  But now that I'm catching up on the blog, I came across these videos from February 18th.  Another no-nap day for Lexi :(  I brought her into our bed to try and cuddle and hopefully she would fall asleep (after her crying for an hour in her crib).  But, we ran out of time and had to go pick up Devan from school.  But it was kinda nice to just hang out and relax, just the two of us.

Valentine party at preschool

Monday came around and they finally had school.  Which also meant that the kids got to have their Valentine party!  When I picked him up he was just grinning from ear to ear because he made Dustin and I a Valentine card and couldn't wait to give it to us :)

 His loot from his classmates:

His Valentine pouch he made to hold all the Valentine's that were passed out (there's only 9 kids in his class)

 And, a little ray of sunshine and hope in this long snowy winter :)

 And, I made special Valentine lunches for everyone (and yes, Devan did eat the salami and liked it!)

Valentine cards from Nana & Papa

Bonus day!  They also got Valentine cards from Nana & Papa!  We opened these later after the box of fun wore off, and Lexi's nap.

What did they want to do with the money?  Put it in their piggy banks, of course!  Haha!  It was pretty funny watching Devan try to get it in the slot.  He kept folding it different ways so that it would fit.

 Lexi's turn!  (I really need to give her more coins for hers.  There's barely anything in there.)

 After she puts it in she says "Hey!  Where money go piggy!  I need back!!!!"

 I gave her another one to put in and she forgot that the piggy "ate" her money :)  And Devan did a good job explaining that the piggy saves it and keeps it safe for you.  "OK" she says :)

Valentine box from Grammy

Grammy sent a Valentine box for the kids.  It came on the 15th, due to the weather, but was perfect because yet again we were snowed in and getting bored.  So, it was perfect timing!

 Read book up there!

 We read some books...

 Did some drawing...

And some painting

Lexi really struggled with the concept of dipping your brush into the water, then onto the paint, and then onto the picture.  She kept going from water to paint and back to water.  But Devan did great.  He painted the water blue, the grass green, etc.  And he was trying to stay in the lines.  He is finally understanding the concept, although this means that all craft projects take a lot longer because he has to stay in the lines and make everything perfect :)