Giant Gingerbread

Papa Dan and Grandma M bought the kids these giant gingerbread (from BJs, I think) and we decorated them today.

 In the past, we have always decorated one gingerbread house, and that is always fun but I think I liked this better.  Everyone had their own gingerbread man, their own icing, and their own decorations.  It was nice.

 Kate enjoyed decorating her cookie, but I think she enjoyed sampling all of the candies even more.

Here are their finished gingerbread men:

A Thanksgiving Dress

If you know me, then you know that I love to see dresses that have been worn by Reagan now worn by Kate.  It's funny how much this means to me; I know they are just clothes, but they have memories tied to them and I am a sentimental person.  I gave a lot of Reagan's clothes away to be worn by Addie (a family friend), so I am very happy that most of them have come back to us for Kate. Anyway, the point of this post is to share pictures of my girls in a Thanksgiving dress.

This is Reagan in 2007, she was 20 months.

Here is Kate, yesterday, wearing the same dress.  She is 26 months.

If I had thought about it, I would have taken a picture of Kate without the sweater in front of the window.  Reagan wore that sweater too, but I can't find any pictures of her with the sweater over the dress.

The dress and sweater came from Gymboree, and they both still look great.

Thankful Wind Spinner

I saw an idea for thankful wind spinners mentioned at Little Wonders' Days and followed her link to Make and Takes for directions.  I cut circles out of poster board and then drew the swirls on the circles and left them out for any takers.  Reagan loved the idea and went right to work creating her spinner.

Some of the things she listed are just SO Reagan that they really make me smile, like shoes, stores, makeup, and steak!

She colored the other side and then I cut along the lines.  I love the finished product.

Thanksgiving 2013

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  Tyler played in his last football game of the season, and then we all went to Grandma's house.  It was absolutely perfect.  The kids were good, it was nice to be with family, the food was great, and we all just enjoyed being together.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Letter G Fun

We used our homemade pumpkin pie play dough for letter G fun this week.

Kate loves to put toothpicks in play dough.

I gave her some green beads (emphasizing that green starts with G) to push into the dough.

She wanted more beads, so I showed her how to put the beads on the toothpicks she had placed in the dough.

Her letter g snack was grapes, and we have been reading one of her favorite books, Good Night Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann all week.  She loves that book almost as much as Collin did at this age.  It's one book that I don't mind reading over and over again.

We also visited the Fall River Children's Museum this week.

She loved watching the colors drip down in these bottles.  I want to make her a discovery bottle soon.

She was also very fond of using the magnifying glasses to observe shells and feathers.

For some reason I didn't get a picture of her using magnetic wands to pick up paper clips, but she was very intrigued by that as well.

It's so nice to have this little gem of a place so close to home.  It's perfect for Kate, and she has a different experience each time we visit.

Flying Monsters

I always seem to find it easy to come up with special outing ideas for Reagan and I to do together, and struggle a little about what to do with the boys.  So I was thrilled when I received a post card from the Audubon Society about a special screening of Flying Monsters 3D.  I knew Collin would enjoy it, and he was very excited about having a special night for just the two of us.

Grandma watched the girls yesterday afternoon, and Collin and I went to the IMAX for this special event.

The film was very interesting.  I had never heard anything about pterosaurs before, so I learned quite a bit.  Collin mentioned that he thought the 3D aspects of the film were really good, and I have to agree.

The Audubon Society had a table set up with different items for sale, and Collin chose this Dinosaur Poop Excavation Kit.  I knew he would pick that.

After the film, there was a screech owl presentation in the lobby.

This owl's name is Odie and he was hit by a car when he was first learning to fly.  He is about six years old now, and is blind in one eye from the accident.

We had a great time out together!

Collin actually mentioned how happy he was that he had two special outings in just a few days.  On Saturday, Tom took him to the PC Friars basketball game!  I think it's so important to do things with each of the kids individually; I know they appreciate the one on one time!

Picture Perfect

When I posted this picture as part of the wedding post last week, I had a green light in the corner of my eye!  MaryAnne from Mama Smiles offered to photoshop it for me, and she did a great job.  I'm so very grateful for the people I have met and befriended in my blogging years.  I never ever would have thought I would know people online that I would call friends, but there are a few great people that I'm very happy to know, and MaryAnne is one of them.

This picture was taken with my cell phone in low light at a wedding reception, so it certainly isn't perfect, but I still love it.

Turkey Treats

I made these special turkey Rice Krispies treats for the kids last week.  They disappeared faster than I could say, "Gobble Gobble".  Ha ha ha.

Fine Motor Skills Turkey

 I set out this pumpkin pie scented play dough turkey for Kate while I made her lunch today.  I made it by plopping together two balls of the dough, placing two googly eyes and a bead snood on the head, and sticking four pipe cleaners (cut in half) in the back.  I gave her some foam beads and showed her how to put them on the turkey's feathers (pipe cleaners).  She was absolutely delighted by this, and worked on it the whole time I got her lunch ready.

 Placing beads on pipe cleaners is great fine motor skills practice.  I wasn't sure if she would be able to do it, but she did great.  You can see the concentration on her face.

 She had a lot of fun with this and even added her fish bracelet to the turkey's feathers.