Josh and I decided that we wanted to enjoy our children to the fullest this summer, so we are trying to do so many fun, educational and memorable activities with them :) This morning was Josh's day to sleep in, so I got the kids dressed, fed and ready for a fun "environmental walk". Callie walked holding her baggie and I pulled the boys in their wagon (we use this thing so often - great Christmas present mom & dad!). I, of course, was drinking my iced coffee that I make every morning from my Keurig :)
Callie was on a mission to find a lot of different "nature" items that fit inside her bag. When we got home, we filled a shoe box lid full of glue and then she put the items in the glue. We added glitter and sparkle! We've been waiting all day for it to dry, so tomorrow I think we will be ready to hang it up on the wall :)
We played in chalk - Callie drew her first "rainbow!" I was so proud. Carter then crawled through it and even ate some chalk - seriously these kids eat EVERYTHING!
Shortly after, we caught the boys doing two things they do best. 1. Attacking each other and wrestling! and 2. playing in the bathroom together that we accidentally left open. I swear -they hear that door open and BAM - they are in there and the toilet paper is off the roll! This time, Collin came running out waving a long piece while Carter stayed back unrolling more...I'm too anal to roll it back up, so all of it is wasted. Once it touches the floor it's GROSS to me!
We've also been taking advantage of the Free Lunch Program our district offers for all children ages 1-18. We go to Southgate Elementary since it is so close! They have a hot lunch meal and 4 different sandwiches for the kids to choose from. Fruit and veggies are offered as well as milk and a snack! Seriously an incredible deal! Josh and I just eat when we get home!
Callie with her "God Sister" Ava :)
Callie with her friends, Natalie and Aubrey
Callie's FIRST "Big Girl" School Lunch
Callie has been moving OUT of nap time - which she should as she won't be taking them next year when she starts preschool, so now is the best time as any! But we started "quiet time" today. She has to stay in her room for 1 hour. She can read books on her bed, play games, do puzzles, etc...but she has to be quiet and in her room. The only way she can leave is if she has to go potty! So far - so good! We've also started new incentives for Callie. If she has successful quiet times, she can put a sticker on her chart. After X number of days she earns a new toy (ones I bought on Clearance from the Disney Store)! For her dinner time one, she's working towards Tinkerbell mini figurines (if you know Callie you know what toys I'm talking about...she has a million of these!) She has to try 3 bites of a new food (3 different times), eat all of her vegetables (she's not as fond of anything other than peas and corn), and finish her meal 3 times. So she has to receive 9 stickers...when she does, she'll receive her toy :) She is totally motivated to eat and try new things! LOVING THIS Incentive Program we started with her! After she is used to how it works, we're going to add more boxes to make it last longer before she earns her reward. We had to start easy so she understood and was excited about it. We also let her "see" her toys as often as she wants so she remembers what she is working towards!
We wanted to do something fun tonight, and Josh came up with a great idea - Family Painting night! So we ran to Joann Fabrics and picked up a bunch of canvas's! Callie picked out the one she wanted and some really fun paints! While we were there, I picked up a bunch of rainy day crafts that were super cheap!
Something I have learned over the years from paining so much with Callie:
1. Put a cheap $1.00 table cloth down (especially if you have more than one child paining-with Callie I just used newspaper)
2. Ice Cream bucket lids work GREAT for putting paint on them. You aren't wasting paper plates and you can reuse them - we're going Green with our painting!
3. Different paint brushes for different colors - we did this only with her glitter paint tonight. 4 colors = 4 paint brushes. This helps paint mixing!
4. Paint on bath nights!
5. Write names and dates on the bottom FIRST - even write the event. Tonight I wrote "Family Painting Night", names & dates!
6. Use nontoxic paint - the boys ate it!
7. We put Callie in a paint shirt (one of my old shirts) and just reuse that EVERY time & the boys paint naked :) When they are older, they will wear paint shirts too!
8. For the boys - instead of using the ice cream bucket lids - I had forgotten at this age - just put the paint right on the canvas. Collin got the idea to use the paint brush the correct way, but Carter was more interested in spreading the paint around. I had forgotten this lesson!
Painting with cars is SO MUCH FUN! That and they wash off really easy and make really cool tracks on our art work :)
Adding a touch of glitter paint to her picture - adds a little something don't you think!
Happy painting everyone :) Now we have awesome artwork to keep FOREVER! Plus, canvas's are VERY cheap and keep forever! I love having their artwork displayed in our house :)
A couple other fun things we've done:
Baked cookies and given some friends mini baggies full!
(don't worry, this beater did NOT go back in the bowl!)
School work every day - Callie works in her preschool workbook while the boys are read to, work on our touch and feel flashcards and play with books! They really enjoy puzzles right now too! Taking out the pieces and eating them - oh and throwing them all over! Never putting them back together :)
Check out the really good "C's" she wrote :) She's doing a really good job hearing beginning sounds in some words too! "B-B-Butterfly"
And this picture, just because I love it! Callie fell asleep with a sucker in her mouth :)
