The one in which Braeden plays in snow for the first time....

The day after Christmas we were hit with our first snow of the season...in a blizzard type fashion... I was unamused... however, Ryleigh and Braeden were so excited!!! Ryleigh has had so much fun playing in it this week... Marc has been home from work on vacation so she has gotten to go out in it every day... it did not take long before Braeden really wanted to go out and play too... after all this was the first time he has seen it (that he is aware of)...

Ryleigh stuck in a drift...and trying to move...Braeden stuck in a drift....watching Ryleigh make angels in the snow...

Braeden examining the snow...

Braeden and Ryleigh shrieking with laughter while throwing snow....

Braeden having a great time....about 2 minutes later there were tears after snow got in his face and he came inside shortly after....

Thanksgiving 2010....how cute are these two?

You have no idea of the effort it took to get this photo.... thank you to Erin for being able to capture one!Braeden with Daddy...itching to get down and follow the puppy...

Petting Peanut.... Braeden is so in LOVE with this dog...

Continuing to chase Peanut...

And what was Miss Ryleigh doing while Braeden was running around all morning chasing the puppy? Her "projects"....here she was doing maze work...

Ryleigh snapping beans for the green bean casserole... she made the whole thing herself! She was sitting at an island in the middle of the kitchen on a tall stool...which put her at the perfect height! I may need to check out some home bar furniture for our kitchen.

Ryleigh with Mommy and Aunt Lisa...

Ryleigh putting the finishing touches on the green bean casserole...

Dancing slowly away from the picture....

More interested in Peanut...

Ryleigh pretty much giving up getting Braeden to stay still...

Ryleigh posing nicely by the fire...

Braeden....continuing to run away from the cute picture I was trying to take of the two of them in their outfits...

Ryleigh excited to see Lights on the Lake...

Braeden trying to take the camera...

Some of the lights that we saw...

Breakfast at the Eggplant... Yummy!!! Ryleigh with Aunt Lisa and Grandma...and Daisy...

Merry Christmas from Shutterfly...what a funtastical opportunity!!!!

One of my favorite Holiday activities is sending out Christmas Cards (Holiday Cards)... This year I plan on using Shutterfly to create my photo cards.... as soon as I get around to taking our holiday photo....(shocking that I haven't already with the amount of photos I take each day...)

Ryleigh decorating the tree...within the confines of the baby yard....

Up until now, I was pretty unfamiliar with all that they have to offer... After browsing their site I found that they have so many fun things to choose!!! From Calendars for 2011 to Birthday Cards to Christmas Photo Cards... you are sure to find what you are looking for...

I am having a hard time deciding which of the new Christmas Card designs to use for our cards this year....

So far my favorite designs are:

Full of Love

Charming Gift Wrap Christmas 5x7 folded card

How Holly Story Christmas 5x7 folded card

Of course I will have to wait to make the final decision until after I capture that (almost) perfect picture!!! Happy Holidays!!!!

For your own chance to get 50 FREE Holiday Cards from Shutterfly go HERE.

Disclosure: I will receive free cards for writing this post to participate in Shutterfly’s holiday card promotion however these are my own unbiased experiences and opinions.

stART- Handprint Menorah

A Story + Art = a great stART!!!

This week for our project we read The Hanukkah Trike, as Hanukkah starts tomorrow... I thought it would be a good idea to expose the girls to some of the culture behind this holiday... and this book does just that...in a cute relate-able way...

For our project this week, we made Hand Print Menorah's. I actually had Ryleigh do this project last year as well... since I love hand print activities... I have been waiting patiently to do this one again... even though it is very simple, it is one of my favorites!

The girls used white paint to make their handprints.... I had the thumbs almost overlapping to create the illusion of one candle...

I had the girls do fingerprints in yellow and then in red to create the flames....

Teagan adding some flames to her Menorah...

Ryleigh's finished project...

For more great stART posts check out A Mommy's Adventures!
For more fun projects check out My Delicious Ambiguity , ABC and 123... and JDaniel4's Mom

The one in which Braeden has his first haircut...

Wednesday Braeden had his first haircut... he was so good...he just sat in the chair and let Beth cut it... he didn't even try and climb out...

The Before...Another before picture...big sister Ryleigh came for support...and wanted to know if Beth was going to braid Braeden's hair like she did when she cut hers...

Braeden...curious as to why I am frantically snapping pictures while he is sitting in the chair....also...wondering if he is getting lunch anytime soon...

Beth gave him a game to look at while she cut his bangs...it worked...he didn't notice....

Completely unaware that he is even get his hair cut...

Braeden's new look....still perplexed why the paparazzi followed him to the hair salon....

School Daze... Ll is for laughter...love... and ladybugs...

Ryleigh is 42 Months and Braeden is 15 Months...

TOT SCHOOL
Braeden remains hard to photograph lately...he is very busy running around... his favorite game is running around the house with a blanket over his head crashing into things...this stresses me out beyond belief and I am constantly removing the blankets...
He has learned two new signs this week- "No" and "Yes", as well has the words Bump (as in fist bump) and EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE (as in Mickey).

Here is Braeden...too busy for a photograph on the phone and using his sister's pajama bottoms as a blanket (since I took his others)...

A quiet minute where Braeden wanted to do a puzzle....

Moments later he started throwing the pieces and puzzle time was then over...

Next favorite activity... flipping things over...notice the table in the background... here he flipped the chair and then decided to carry it around...it is as big as he is...

PRESCHOOL

This week we did Ll is for ladybug... some of the things that we worked on not pictured below were patterns, sequencing, upper and lower case matching...
Ryleigh has been playing with her Bitty Twins...(Twin...and Twin)... and also with her imaginary friend...Grover (don't worry he already knows Elmo)...

Ryleigh working on her alphabet book...printable found here...

For the last two weeks we have been doing Noah's Ark during Bible Time (right after calendar time each day)... this week we did a storyboard on my felt board and then had the girls put the story in order... I got the sequencing cards from here...

We did 1 to 1 correspondence with numbers/ stickers 0-10... download the printable here....
After the girls counted the numbers, we then went over the numbers in Spanish to help re-enforce what they have already learned...

On cardstock with white crayon I wrote a secret message for the girls "Ll is for leaf"...(and drew a fantastical picture of a leaf)... then they used watercolor to reveal the message... we did this a few weeks ago for Halloween as well...

For our stART project this week, we did hand-print turkeys...you know it had to be done at some point during the season... here are the final turkeys...

I had the girls do a water transfer with a pipet...yellow water and blue water...(making green)... this is a great fine motor skill practice...and a great art/science lesson...

This week I had the girls make l is for ladybug... Here is Ryleigh working on gluing...

The finished ladybug...

My favorite picture... Ryleigh.. literally hanging around with my Grandfather (he is 90)... on the tree in the front yard...

To see what others did this week check out Tot School at 1+1+1=1; Preschool Corner at Homeschool Creations; and the Weekly Wrap-up at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers.
To find more Ll projects check out the Attached Mama...