Brrrrrr!

I don't think we could have any more unpredictable weather right now. It was 34 degrees last wednesday and yesterday it was 74! Crazy.

But with all of this cold random weather, we've been talking a lot about snow around here. Which led us to a few activities we've been doing. The focus? The arctic/antarctic/polar regions of course!

And if Addie doesn't ask me once, she asks me at least a dozen times a day...what can we do?

We made animal tracks with white paint and miniature animals and talked about predators and prey. The little girls had fun, but Addie loved it; and hers actually looked like animal prints! ;)

 

We made polar bears with torn paper.

A little more challenging across the board than I imagined. Addie wanted to tear the paper into itsy bitsy teeny weeny pieces and the little girls wanted to glue stick e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g! But we managed quite well.

And after the little girls went down for naps, Addie and I did a little experiment. We filled our deep sink up with cold water, ice and some salt. The temperature? Cold. (like my scientific estimation there?). Then we talked about what we knew: the water was cold. polar bears have to find food in cold water. therefore they must have something to keep them warm. What we wanted to find out? What keeps them warm and how!

What would that be? Why crisco blubber of course! It was a bit hard to explain, the whole concept of fat and all, but i think she grasped it to some degree.

So we stuck our bare hands in the cold water. Cold! Freezing!

Then we stuck our bare hands in a single plastic bag. Just as cold (freezing!)!

And then we used the blubber bag (crisco in between two ziplock bags taped together at the top).

Surprisingly not cold!

In fact, it was a bit toasty in there initially! I had some serious doubts about this experiment; but it worked, and Addie loved it!

Since we probably won't be seeing snow around here anytime soon, i'm going to order some of this Snow! Addie's most recent request was to learn about clouds. Snow. Clouds. Perfect segue to weather! Love learning with this girl!

Horsin' Around

(almost) Wordless Wednesday

q-tips ~ colored pencils ~ finn's water ~ cat food ~ entire bins of toys

and

salt

the Queen of...

dumping

pouring

scattering

unloading

unpacking

emptying-of-all-things-possible!

I Heart Faces

It's been entirely too long since I did an I Heart Faces Challenge; but when I realized the theme was By the Book, there were several pictures that came to mind.

Each night, I put one of the twins in her crib while I read to the other one. Then we flip flop. It gives them each individual mommy time, but it also requires them to entertain themselves for a little while too.

On this particular night, Audrey Kate was reading an animal picture book, making sounds and saying a few animal names as she read while I read to Anne Perry. I quickly grabbed the camera to capture her laugh as she was reading!

As always, make sure to check out the wonderful entries at I Heart Faces!

Christmas Time Part 4: Papa Al's Party

our final christmas post isn't really a christmas post at all, but it happened during our augusta christmas week. it was a celebration of paul's mom's husband, albert, turning 70! it was supposed to a surprise, but apparently 60-70 year old individuals men (mainly fellow attorneys and judges!) couldn't keep the secret (not my observation! just the facts! ;) we didnt even tell addie until the day of to make sure she didn't tell!

surprise or not, it was a fabulous party! papa al was surrounded by family and friends young and old to celebrate his 70 years young!

i'll go ahead and apologize for the over abundance of pictures of dancing little girls! of the 370 pictures i took, i actually edited 145 of them, and i'm pretty sure half of those were of dancing little girls! not to worry, there were many others not posted here!

but onto the party! everyone got there early; and papa al might have been suspicious, but i think he was still pleasantly surprised!

gramma had a special kids table set up with crayons and coloring pages and stickers (oh my!) and cool cups! can we say life saver!?! it also proved to be a fun hiding place for all 4 of our girls!

one of very few pictures i got of baby john the whole week. he is so cute, and his little personality keeps coming out more and more! and anne perry is all about kissing things she loves, and her daddy is absolutely one of those!

the little girls were a bit hesitant of all the music and people, but they did get down a little and dance and play with the big girls (my left arm would disagree but here's the proof!)! and see addie dancing away in the background? that kid loves to dance!

and was there ever dancing!

addie and kira had a blast dancing with others...

...and with each other. and when they weren't dancing, they were crawling around all over the place (!?!) because that's what almost 3 and 4 year olds do!

addie had the most fun jumping...and being a pretend guitar!

if i heard when can we have cake once, i heard it a zillion times! love these two big girls, and they love their cake!

thankfully at some point grandpa saved my left arm (and right hand for that matter!) and audrey kate let him hold her; and after that, she let ms. gail feed her cake!

balloons anyone? :)

thank you for a great celebration and fabulous party gramma, and happy 70th birthday papa al!

Ballerinas

Addie started ballet lessons last week. she loves it! she's taking with her sweet friend madeline and one of my friend's little girls that she didn't know beforehand. (i was super excited to get to spend the hour waiting with both moms!)

her ballet outfit finally arrived in time for last weeks class, shoes and all. problem is, she was in a rotten mode before we left, and a picture was not to had. well, a happy picture was not to be had. plus, it was raining.

but a few weeks ago, all three girls dressed up in addie's tutus and pretty dress-up dresses and danced.

and.i.got.pictures!

love

these

three

so much.

i'll work on getting ballet outfit pictures soon.