Planned activities

Looking through my posts on FaceBook and my blog posts, I give the impression that I'm this uber-organized mom who does all these planned activities and crafts with my kids, but that is not the case. However, Monday through Friday, I try to get the kids out of the house (music class, the creche, Tons of Fun, the park, an errand) if possible and then do a craft or activity in the afternoon.  And if we don't get out in the mornings, I like to sit down and play with them for a while, though not the whole morning. LOL. The reason I do this is because otherwise, none of us would survive three-year-olds who were bored.

We had a birthday party to attend in the morning, but before that, we sat down and had a tea party with our stuffed animals.

This afternoon we tried q-tip painting a Christmas Tree outline

Gordon kept all his dots to one side of the tree.

At first, Adele kept all her paint within the lines, but eventually found that boring. 

The trees are currently drying and tomorrow we'll decorate them. I haven't decided how, yet.

After the project, comes free-painting time. They enjoy painting their hands and making handprints. 

Gordon also like fingerprint painting and making a layered handprint.

Walt also did a lot of experimenting with the q-tip, like putting paint on the ends, then rolling the q-tip on the paper. Overall, we had fun.

Getting fresh air

Walter and Adele are sick, so I kept all three kids home from the creche today. This morning we did a quick outing to Bake Away. This is the bakery that made the kids' birthday cakes and they recently moved next to Super Valu which means they are more conveniently located and have a ton of seating. The ladies there were entertaining the kids with chatter and funny faces and the kids were so well behaved. I was amazed. It was a nice outing.

It has been dry, if chilly, all day. I thought some fresh air (though not too much) might do us all a bit of good. I bundled the kids in their winter coats, hats, and mittens (which they miraculously kept on) and we headed outside. 

Walt pushing Adele around on his 'car'. I can't believe they haven't seriously injured themselves yet with this game.


Heading up the hill, then running back down. The best way for kids to burn energy is just to run, run, run!!

Gordon sportin' his mittens and hat

Walt is all bundled up. The temperature said 41, but felt like 33. Brr!

Adele went and got this watering can and started watering plants, because we obviously don't get enough rain in Ireland. 

Once Adele started, Walter wanted in on the action.

Walt and Adele working hard to keep our plants from getting thirsty

Finally, Gordon decided he had to help, too. 

Is there anything more fun than throwing leaves and rocks in the air? 

Painting and an update

One of the amazing things now is when I go pick up the kids from "school" (i.e. the creche / daycare) and they get in the car and tell me about their day.

 It goes something like this:
 "Walter, what did you do today?"
"Walter eat pasta."
"Was it yummy?"
 "Yummy pasta."
Silence for a minute.
"Walter go on slide."
Silence.
"Walter paint."
Gordon pipes in, "Green paint."
"That's right." Walter nods. "Blue paint all gone."
"Purple paint. Green paint."

 All three of my kids talk now, which is amazing to me. And like typical toddlers they talk a lot, but Walter talks non-stop. It blows my mind because as a newborn, he was so serious and silent, looking around and taking in the world. Now he wants to point out every tree, every tractor, and every car. With books he likes to point at the pages and describe what he sees. One night, he was processing that Daddy was on a work trip, so the whole book was about how this and that was the mommy and a baby, but the Daddy was on a trip and he would be back.

 Gordon has gotten so tall. The neighbor boys were over the other day and the eldest commented to me how Gordon had grown just since the last time we saw them two weeks ago. Gordon also is the most social with other kids. When we go to Tons of Fun or a park, Gordon is the one I'm most likely to find running around with another kid who isn't his sibling. At home, he's also the one most likely to go off and do his own thing. He still loves books, but he's not obsessing over them like he was a month ago. He also loves playing with small dolls, little people, figurines, or stuffed animals and having them be his little babies or students. He pretends to help them potty, swing, and take naps. 

Adele is pretending she is a cat quite often and meowing her way through the day. She also just likes to pretend a lot. She'll announce Swiper (from Dora the Explorer) is hanging out around the corner and we have to find him. She also tells me little made up stories all the time. When scary things come on the tv, she runs out of the room and peeks around the door frame to watch, telling me, "Mama, it's too scary." If we are going or coming, she is making sure we have her brothers. I think she's worried if she doesn't watch out for them, we'll leave someone behind. She loves to climb and play. At Tons of Fun, she's the first to climb up to the third story structure and peek down at me from the heights. I also love that she's my quietest listener when we read books. She loves to cuddle up and have me read her a story.

Today we did some painting, so I took a few photos.

Painting time!

Gordon thought painting his hand was hilarious

Adele got very good at making handprints. Plus, I just love when she leaves in her ponytail.

She ended up covering the whole paper with handprints. And I didn't help her at all. She did it on her own.

Gordon getting a little more serious now.

Walt tried to convince me he was done painting after just a few minutes, but I convinced him to stick with it a while.

Can't complain about the weather!

Friday is our music and art class. Then, this afternoon was gorgeous, so the kids and I went for a walk, then played in the yard for a while. Afterwards, I threw them in the bath for 45 minutes.  So we managed to stay pretty darn busy all day.

Mommy's Knight in Shining Armor, Walt.

This knight (Gordon), kept on his cape

Adele decided she had to be super Grover today, also with cape.

This is a recent addition to the music class playlist and it has quickly become one of the kids' favorites.


Both of the boys get really into the dance.

This is what Adele did during the Hokey Pokey

A song where you first clap on your legs (beat on your drum).....

...then shake your shaker in the air. It is neat to see my kids *get* it.

I've started bringing smocks for the art portion and we're all having a lot more fun painting without me fretting and hovering.

On our walk this afternoon, we walked the street behind our house and checked out the view.

Heading back towards our street, Adele in front with elephant and Gordon behind her. Walt was walking next to me (and yes, Bear was with us.)

On our street, we decided to walk past our house down to the end of the cul de sac before heading home. Then we played in the yard for a long time after that. Overall, a great time! And you can't complain about the weather at all.