Dead Mouse

Well our mouse has been dropped one too many times, so my posting will likely be sporadic for a few days until we get another one. The tabbing to each widget on the screens here (not to mention the 25+ tab clicks I need to make to login) is prohibitive. We'll get a new one soon, so then I will finish up V,W,X,Y, and Z.

In the meantime, have a great Labor Day Weekend!


UPDATE 8/30: Oh My! My cousin, Karen, just let me know that she thought this was about a pet. I hate to laugh, but oh man that does put a different spin on the subject. Hee hee. I had NO IDEA I was even doing a play on words - feeling daft today. Anyway, no animals were harmed during the making of this post, lest you were worried. Just pieces of plastic, wires, and metal. :) And, we got another. So I'll be back to ABC blogging tomorrow! Hooray!

Yikes!

OK, so we're not at the letter Y yet, but this article made me want to change everyones names to pseudonyms and delete all birthday reference posts. Check out how easy it is to steal someones identity.

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=anatomy-of-a-social-hack

U is for Unicorn

Today we started the day with our U coloring pages, of an umbrella, and we then made unicorn crafts out of paper towel tubes.


Happy U Day!

U words: Unicorn, Utopia, ukelele, umbrella, ugly, under, uncle (Happy belated Birthday Uncle Travis!), USA, unhappy, up, and unique.




As we near the end of the alphabet, I am noticing a definite decrease in interest from Mia and Laney (and perhaps myself) in the activities and in the alphabet as a whole. Taking letter pictures has been like pulling teeth, and so I haven't pushed for it this week. I guess about half the alphabet is all the little ones can handle at a time.

So, that's it for tonight. Tomorrow is V day, and we will celebrate it lightly.

Books we read today: Ten Apples Up on Top, The Mixed Up Alphabet, Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late

T is for Tired!

Today the girls did not have their naps. This happens frequently on Mondays, as the girls spend the morning at the Nanny, where they have a great time at the park, and then Laney falls asleep in the stroller on the way home. Then, she will NOT go back to sleep later. At all. It's a frustration for all of us, but we can't seem to figure out a way to keep her awake in a moving stroller, regardless of the time, and she has outgrown her ability to be transferred easily to a bed. :) Cest La Vie!

Anyway, after the girls went to the Nanny, we took some time to shop for new school clothes and Tried them on at home. Then, we colored our T coloring pages, and we had a lot of great choices for T stories today.

Happy T Day!

Books we read today: Ten Tiny Tickles, Leonardo the Terrible Monster, Tails, The Tooth Book, and Traffic Jamboree!

[Picture Update - the girls have refused to take pictures with their clothes on lately, so they won't be posted until I can get them to pose in something other than just their panties/diaper.]

S is for Sunday!

Today is Sunday. We will go to Sunday School, spend some time in the Sun, color our S coloring pages, read some Stories, and make Sock Puppets (if the girls show interest in Sitting Still for awhile).

Happy S Day!

Some fun things that begin with the letter S: sunshine, stars, seals, socks, start, stop, six, seven, Santa, spiders, silly, smiles, sour, sweet, stand, sit, Spanish, summer, sports, shapes, school, singing, surprise, stamps ...

Books we will read today: Miss Spider's New Car, Don't Let the Pigeon Go to Sleep, Snuggle Puppy, and Seven Little Monsters - We Love You Mama.

Update on the Alphabet Month - it's working!

It's official! Mia now knows all of her letters. For those who don't know, the whole reason I decided to focus on the alphabet to end the summer is because Mia had been really asking to know how to read. (Notice I didn't say learn.) She would try to read a book and get very frustrated that she couldn't just sit down and read like grownups. So, we tried to get her interested in learning the alphabet and the sound each letter makes to no avail. She just didn't have the patience or interest in any of the phonic games or toys we found, aside from singing the ABC song.

I saw the preschool sites early this summer and had wanted to do a theme each week, but didn't get it together in time to really do that. So, we are focusing on a letter a day, and now she at least knows all her letters. Laney is probably close to knowing hers as well, but that's another story we'll tell another day. :)

Mia's Pre-K teacher has also suggested we tape index cards all over the house labeling as many common things as we can. As long as she's interested, we're more than willing to give her the tools. I'm really glad the work we've been doing is paying off, though. It's been fun and challenging.

I'll summarize the whole thing at the end of the month as well. Thanks for following along.

R is for Ringo!

We had hoped to be in Raleigh this weekend, but my parents were in Nashville, so instead we headed out to Reston, Va today. Patrick had volunteered to help our friends Kyle and Cerissa move to their new place. Cerissa and I took the kids to the Reston Zoo for the morning, where Mia got to Ride a pony named Ringo, we fed some baby animals, and all the girls had a great time.








Happy R Day!







Books we read today: The Runaway Bunny, Rainbow Dash and the Hot Day

Q is for Questions

Today is going to be a hard alphabet day. There are a handful of Q words, but not many that inspire activities. One can be Queen for the day, you can do things Quickly, make Quacking sounds, you can make or hide under a Quilt, or you can ask a whole lotta Questions. We are instead going to head to the local play fountain and splash around not so Quietly and later color our Q coloring pages. Today I chose one with a Quarter on it. And, thanks to Amanda for suggesting it, we will be having Quesadillas today as well!

Happy Q Day!

And, Happy Birthday Uncle Neil! Have a quiet, quick, quarrelless, quixotic kind of day.

Books we read today: The Mixed Up Alphabet, Come Along Daisy (has Quack in it), Buzz Buzz Busy Bees (also has Quack in it)

P is for Patrick

Yesterday was P day! We made Potato stamps and Painted Pictures with them, and Mia had a Playdate with her PreK teacher, Ms. Jennifer. We also talked about how Daddy's name starts with a P and got excited about a Potential visit from Aunt Patty!

What a great P Day!





Books we read: Pocahontas, Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree, Touch and Sparkle PETS, Do Princesses Wear Hiking Boots, Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, Piglet's Big Movie

Uh Huh, Unh Unh!

For those of you who liked Skidamarink, here's our friend singing another fun song about yes and no.

http://www.supersimplesongs.com/cd2-11.html

O is for Orange

Today we started the day by making Ziploc bag omelets. Delicious and fun, but WAY too big. Next time, we'll modify the ingredients to reduce the amount in each baggie and cut the cooking time in half. (I should know that small children do not eat a 2 egg omelet each, DUH!)

Today we don't have much planned aside from this breakfast, our coloring pages, and we will get some O photos done.

Happy O Day!




Some fun O words include: owl, otter, octopus, ostrich, orange, onion, odors, on, off, oriole, Oscar the Grouch, olive, Olivia, oak, orangutan, outside!, and of course, Olympics.

Books we read today: Old Hat New Hat, A Fish Out Of Water

N is for Necklaces!

Today we are making beaded necklaces. And we had a playdate with preschool friends at the playground, which was of course, the highlight of the day for both Laney and Mia. We will also color our N coloring page (numbers) and read some great N word books.

Happy N Day!

(How I wish Neil's birthday coincided with N day, but we are a few days too early. Pooh.)

Books we read today: The Napping House, Old Hat New Hat, No David!, and Fancy Nancy

No N Pictures today, the girls were not cooperative. Maybe we'll make it up another day.

M is for Mia!

Today is Mia's day to choose what we do. This morning she and Laney headed to the Nanny while I attended some meetings for preschool, and now they are napping, so we'll do our coloring pages, craft (we're making masks!), and Mia-chosen activity after they are awake.

Happy M Day!



Some great M words include: Monkey, money, miners, milk, mighty, mouse, mask, moose, mousse, motors, mail, mittens, miracles, mine, messy, moon, marbles (try marble painting - very fun and messy!)















Books we read today: There's a Monster at the End of This Book, Are You My Mother, Leonardo the Terrible Monster, Moo Moo Brown Cow, And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street

L is for Laney!

Today, in addition to coloring our L coloring pages, we did whatever Laney wanted. This included running in the sprinklers, jumping on the trampoline, playing with Tarot and Taboo, our neighbor's kitties, and of course, eating ice cream cones.


Happy L Day!












Mia Quote of the Day:
Mia: "Daddy, Can I PLEASE have some ice cream?"
Daddy: "No, you've already had some today."
Mia: "But that was a long time ago."
Daddy: "You've had enough sugar for one day"
Mia: "But it soaked into my FOOT!"

Books we read today: Leonardo the Terrible Monster (a favorite!), Ten Little Ladybugs, Corduroy Lost and Found, and parts of The Lorax

K is for Kite Flying

We made kites today. They were not very aerodynamic. In fact, they didn't fly at all. But that didn't stop the girls from trying. Mia must have spent an hour or so running with hers trying to get it to lift off the ground and fly away like a kite is supposed to do. I'm glad they had fun anyway.

Happy K Day!


Books we read today: Knuffle Bunny, Knuffle Bunny Too, I Will Kiss You (Lots and Lots and Lots), and Counting Kisses

Skidamarink a dink a do

Why do my kids love this video?!?! I'm going a bit batty watching it over and over. Nice that they have lots of free videos, though.

http://www.supersimplesongs.com/cd3-14.html

J is for Jumping

Today the girls played outside in the backyard all morning, jumping on the trampoline, jumping for joy when their friends Catie, Ben, and Mina came over, and jumping off a stool and the deck, and just about any other raised surface the girls could find.

Happy J Day!

Other J words that spark activity include: Jell-O, jam, jars, jitterbug, jack-in-the-box, jungle, jaguar, jeans, juice, Japan, jellyfish, jambalaya, jump rope

Books we read today: Traffic Jamboree! and Backyardigans' Jungle Colors

I is for Ice Cream

Today our goal is to make our own ice cream - here's how:
http://crafts.kaboose.com/ice-cream-in-a-bag.html

Happy I Day!



A day late and a bag of ice short - somehow I managed to get home from the grocery store without the ice! So I just froze the bag of ice cream and we ate it the next morning - it was very delicious and tasted just like regular premium vanilla ice cream! AND, the battery in my camera died, so I took pictures the next morning, too. Notice the same outfits in I and J days.

Books we read today: I Love You Through and Through, ABC Animals

Lamenting the Closing of Kool Korner

For my Atlanta friends, it has come to my attention that Kool Korner grocery, the ABSOLUTE BEST place to get Cuban sandwiches in the whole world, EVER, is closed for good. How sad. How sad. And, it's been years since I've had one.

H is for Hats Off to the USA!

Just have to say Congratulations to Michael Phelps for Kicking Booty in the Olympics this week and being dubbed the "greatest Olympian ever" and to the Girls Gymnastics team for their silver team medal.

Today for H day we made paper hats, did our horse coloring pages, and did some tracing of the letters (well, Mia did anyway).

Happy H Day!







(Note: this is supposed to be an "H")



Books read today: Horton Hatches an Egg, Hokey Pokey Elmo, and My Little Pony Hide and Seek

G is for Great Time at the Fair!

What a great time we had at the fair this morning! And, yes, we did get to see some goats, so we fit that into our G Day theme. I'm sure Mia will say her favorite part was getting to ride a Pony for the VERY FIRST TIME, and Laney will probably say that seeing the baby ducks was her favorite. Laney also kept telling us "I a Moo!" meaning that she was pretending to be a cow. :) How darling. I, of course, was nostalgic for my 'tween years when I participated in our local county fair with 4H in the cooking, crafts, and rabbit showmanship areas. I was really tempted to purchase one of the pet rabbits they had for sale this morning. Wouldn't Patrick be enchanted if he came home to a new pet he had no idea about?!?

Anyway, after the kids wake up from their naps/"quiet time" we will attempt to Grow some seeds. Well, we will plant them at the very least. The corn that Grandaddy got the girls for planting a few months ago is doing quite well, though so far no corn to eat. But the plants are tall and great fun to see!

Happy G Day! If you are following along, some interesting G things include: giraffes, goats, granola, growing, golf, gold, growl, grizzly bear, garlic, go, giggle, ganache, gyroscope, grasshopper, goldfish, gingerbread, grandparents, Germany, and gelato* (YUMMY!).

*brought to you by Julie, who just returned from Italy.














Mia Quote of the Day -
"Mommy! HELP! I dropped my tiara in the potty and I already pooped!" (Some days you just LOVE being a mom...)



Books we read today: Grandma and Me, Goodnight Moon, Guess How Much I Love You

F is for Fun Day!

Today the kiddos are at the Nanny for the morning, so tomorrow we will head to the Montgomery County Fair, and make sure we see some Goats. But this afternoon, we will return to our F coloring pages, our photos of the girls in the shape of an F (how on earth will we do that one? Hmmm) and we will make paper fans with glitter, stickers, and paint.

Happy F Day!












Books we read today: Bee Frog, The Foot Book, Fancy Nancy

E is for Eating?

Well, today we slacked on our Letter a Day efforts. Besides eating 3 square meals, we didn't do anything E related. No eggs for breakfast, no E photo, no E coloring page, craft, or activity.

Instead we went to church, went out to lunch, spent an hour at Borders looking at new books (not even ONE about Elephants), visited our neighborhood fountain, played outside a little, and watched the Olympic diving events on TV. And, Mia still has a cold. Poor little one - this summer has been hard on our health. Bizzare.

Perhaps some of my readers can help me make the events of this day relate to the letter E - I'm already trying to figure out a way to make F day a Fun one although the girls go to the Nanny tomorrow morning. (I was planning to go to the Fair, but I think we'll have to go later in the week instead. I really need my Nanny days.)

Oh WAIT! We DID read Eloise Takes a Bawth! There we go! Happy E Day!

D is for Day Trip?

In light of the fact that if Patrick is home, he will be sleeping all day, I'm hoping to take the kiddos on a day trip. This is where we are considering going. I'll let you know if we make it out - yesterday Mia was complaining about not feeling well, so we'll see...







Well, we didn't take a day trip to the shore. Mia came down with a case of Grumpy-itis and a runny nose, so we stayed home and made Duck puppets and Blueberry Cream Cheese Buckle (yeah, no 'D', I know), played outside in the sandbox, and of course, Danced. But we did read No David, Dinosaur Roar, and My Daddy and I.

C is for Cuddling

This weekend Patrick has a big migration at work, so he is sleeping in this morning in order to head into work at 5 and stay the night, and perhaps the whole weekend. What this means to the girls - Daddy Cuddle Time! I'm not sure he noticed, but they got a whole hour this morning in bed with him while I was out running walking and getting a shower. How lovely for all of us.

Hope everyone has a great C Day!




Some ideas for C: Cookies, Cake, Candy, Cheese, Cantaloupe, Cherries, Crayons, Chalk, Colors, Crafts, Car rides, Clowns, Carousels, Corduroy, Cats, Cows, and of course, China!

We made corduroy monsters today, from the Family Fun magazine - how cute! Little did I know, however, that Laney would have NOTHING to do with hers come bedtime - it seems she was afraid of it. And here I was telling them it was a friendly monster that kept the mean monsters away... Oh well, I still think they're cute.

Books we read today - Corduroy, Cheep Cheep

B is for Backyard Bicycling!

Today we are focusing on the letter B. There are so many options today, from food choices (bananas, broccoli, beans, barbecue, brats, berries...) to activities (bubbles, bicycling, bouncing, basketball, ballet...) to animals (birds, bears, bees, butterflies...) that I know it will be a really fun day!

Happy B Day!





Mia's Question of the Day:

"Mommy, Why do we have floors?"





Books we read today - Bee Frog, Corduroy's Birthday, Dr Seuss ABCs, Eloise Takes a Bawth

A is for Aunt Alicia

Today we begin our Letter-a-Day month of August* with A. It also happens that today is also Aunt Alicia's birthday - how Appropriate!

Happy Birthday, Aunt Alicia! We love you!

* if you'd like to join in, we are celebrating each letter of the alphabet with its own day. Our activities will be pulled from this site - have fun!
http://www.everythingpreschool.com/alphabet/index.htm














Books we read today - Mixed Up Alphabet, See You Later Alligator