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

Mia is Definitely 4

I have heard that 4 is the age when children begin to ask "Why". Now I can confirm that is true, at least for Mia. Here are a few of her questions lately. Notice that most of them have to do with our use and assignation of words.

"Why do we have sinks?"

"Why are they called shirts?"

"Why do we have cheese?"

"What is a moth?" and similarly, "What is an ant?"

"Why do we call them Vitamins?"

"Why do we call this soap?"

And tonight - my favorite, though in no way a Why question:

"Can we go to Ciza's PiPi?"
then, on the way home, "Why do we call them cars?"

I have to mention that Patrick did an excellent job describing the evolution of the word "car" from "carriage". I have been using the answer "They made up the words for things long before I was around" instead of answering to the best of my ability - time to brush up on my Latin!

Off Into the Wild Blue Yonder

The butterflies have been set free. Mia cried, we drew a picture so we would always remember them, but in the end we grown-ups decided that the kids would be better off watching the little buggers be set free than die in their habitat inside our house. Plus, they were mating and I am definitely NOT ready for that conversation. And, it caused some chipped wings during the mating fights between the males (at least that was my very unscientific hypothesis after watching them a little while) so they are now basking in the sun south of here somewhere, we hope.

A funny thing happened as we released the last one - it flew right up under a bird, almost becoming dinner. I actually have a picture of that butterfly, but for the life of me, I can't find it in amongst the leaves. If you like Where's Waldo, see if you can find the butterfly in this picture. --> If you do, let me know. I don't have that much patience today.

This was such a great adventure. The girls absolutely loved the whole thing. From beginning to end, and we'll definitely send off for more caterpillars. Mia was even very good about remembering to feed them (perhaps a bit too much, but hey - she doesn't have any other pets at the moment.) Anyhow, if you are in need of a weeks-long project for little ones, or even big kids, get a butterfly habitat. Amanda and Neil sent the kit to Mia for her birthday, and it came from Discovery Store - very cool.