Snow Day

We actually got a little bit if snow & sleet this year! Although the MayHouse school didn't get an official day off from school, The girls did enjoy getting to play outside in between lessons.  One coincidental lesson Ilanned was Snowman Sight Word and Math game. Atlie enjoyed getting in on the action by rolling the dice and coloring in the corresponding sum.  Branna is such an awesome reader she had no problem winning the game!

Cinderella

I have posted before about how much Atlie loves Cinderella, and especially dressing up like Cinderella. So, I thought it would fun for Atlie to make a Cinderella lap book. She really enjoyed it and especially liked the fold put book with her name.

Cinderella counting cards

Color identification book

Shape book

Aisley at 14 months

New words: boo, see (still signs lots of things and just like with the other 2, this has been so useful for communication)

Milestones this month: Walking alot more (about 60% of the time), Starting to use a fork well

Aisley at 13.5 months

I miss the "monthly" post again, but I wanted to still get something down, so I thought a half month update would be just as good. :)

Signs: apple, daddy, mommy, baby, sleep, blanket, cheese, please, cracker, more, bath, drink, noodle, all done, play, ball

You started walking just before your birthday!  However, before you started walking you were climbing on everything.

You have a very good understanding of what's being said to you.  For instance, if some asks if you're hungry, you will smack your lips or head to the kitchen.  You know when daddy's leaving for work and start for the door and blow a kiss goodbye.

Two of your favorite things are going to play at the park to swing and listening to music so you can dance (aka shake your head).

Jinger Bells

Atlie loves the Christmas season and one of her favorite songs to sing is Jingle Bells.  However, Atlie thinks it is Jinger Bells and as you can see, doesn't really know the rest of the song either. :)
I thought it was cute and wanted to capture the moment, before she figures out the real song.

Fruit Soup, the Lapps, and 50 days of School

Throughout the year, our school curriculum has us focus on different countries of the world. We started with North America, moved to South America and we are currently focusing on European countries.

Our first stop in Europe was to Norway. Branna enjoyed learning unique characteristics of the culture and we even made a traditional Norwegian dish: fruit soup.  The girls love to cook and I am always looking for recipes that will be easy for them to get involved in and that won't make a huge mess.  Fortunately, the recipe that I found was just that and the resulting dish tasted pretty good. (I think Atlie enjoyed it more than anyone!)

We also made Lapland felt squares in conjunction with our study. (The Lapps are a group of people who live in Northern Norway, Sweden, and Finland. Apparently, they were bright colors of blue, red, and yellow.) Since it's Christmas time, we turned them into ornaments for the girls to look back on in future years.

And lastly, we celebrate 50 days of school. Last year we had a big celebration, but lately I feel like I'm trying to walk up an escalator that is going down and can barely get the required work done.  So instead of making a big day, I awarded the girls with 50 day medals and we had root beer floats. (The floats were all that Branna really wanted anyways!) Even without the bid celebration, I think the day was memorable. :)

Aisley Walking (November 23)

Atlie's 3rd Birthday

Looking through my digital pictures, I realize how much I've neglected the blog... and I really want to catch up.  The girls and myself like to look back from time to time of milestones and various happenings over the years.  So, while these next few posts be more pictures and less words, I at least wanted to get something posted for memories. :)

As I've mentioned before, Atlie is a girl's girl and for her 3rd birthday party she told me she wanted a pink party.  Sounds easy enough, but I really wanted to narrow it down, so we decided to have a Pink Fairy Party.  Although the weather was a little bit chilly and windy, Atlie had a great time sharing her special day with her friends and family.

Choosing wings, wands, and tiaras

Face Painting

Happy birthday time!

We were even brave enough to have a pinata...

Opening gifts (she really wanted to go finish playing, hence the look)

We had a small to celebrate Atlie's birthday on the actual day.

She has told everyone that she had "lots of birthdays".

Happy birthday, Aisley!!! (and some much needed catch up)

I can't believe that you are already a year old!  How this year has passed so quickly and I feel so bad that  3 has slipped by without a monthly update.  All I can say, is it's busy around here!

I had to go back to the 9 month post to see what your latest accomplishments were and it truly is amazing how much you've developed and grown over these last months.  You can sign several things (some of them are: play, baby, more, no, light, daddy) and your understanding of words and signs is incredible.
You can identify several body parts like your head, eyes, and toes.

You love animals and can make several animals noises.  A cow's moo is your favorite.  You figured out how to make the moo during our Netherland's trip where you saw lots of cows!

Just after 9 months, you started full-fledged crawling and you can move fast!  I've been surprised that you haven't started walking yet since your sisters did so early (Branna: 10 months, Atlie: 9), but I think it's just because you're so cautious.  I've seen you stand on your own for brief periods, so it's just a matter of time.  However, even though you're not walking, you have figured out how to climb.  If you can get your leg up on it, you take the opportunity to climb up.  But, what's really awesome is, that for the most part, you have figured out how to get off by backing off with your legs first.

You have also started shaking your head no.  This originated because you started biting my legs and I would tell you know and shake my head.  After a few times of this, you would start to bite me, but then shake your head. :)

You've always loved music and it's been fun to see you start dancing when you hear a tune you like.  Sometimes you shake your head so hard, you almost fall over.  It's pretty funny.
For your birthday, we had a small family party and you had your first "cupcake".  You loved it!

Paint a Picture

Atlie is... a unique little girl.  She truly is a "girly" girl in that she loves to dress up in princess and fairy costumes.  Her favorite color is pink.  If Atlie had a saying, it would probably be, "The sparklier, the better".

I do not have boys, so I can't say from experience that something is "your typical boy".  But based on what I've heard, Atlie has many "typical boy" characteristics.  One of them being she is very mischievous and if there is trouble to be found, she will find it.

Atlie is not allowed to use things that can make marks (i.e. crayons, markers, paint, etc) without close supervision and even then she has a very limited usage of these things.  There have been countless incidents where Atlie's drawing pallet has ended up on the wall, on her body, or on one of her sisters.  (Branna was and is so good about following directions when it comes to things like this, so I've never had to worry about it.)

With our start of school, I have been allowing Atlie to use her markers and do-a-dots while I sit right next to Atlie, all the while continuing to remind her that we do not draw on anything but paper.  And to my surprise, she has actually been very good about it!

Since she proved to me that she could handle markers, I allowed her to graduate to paints (again supervised) and, oh boy, does she love to paint!  Every morning, when Branna and I start school, painting is what Atlie wants to do.

And again, she has surprised me!  The times that she accidentally gets paint on her, she tells me and wipes it off with a napkin (not her shirt).  She loves to create masterpieces and I love to see her imagination at work.

As she was painting one morning recently while Branna was laid up in bed sick, I thought to get a picture.  She looked so cute in her Cinderella dress and headband.

As I mentioned earlier, this happened to be a day that Branna was not feeling good.  She had an ear infection that was causing terrible nausea and during Atlie's painting session, Branna got sick I had to clean up a mess.

So let me paint this picture (no pun intended...) better: At this point, I have put Aisely in her crib to keep her away from the mess, and she is going berserk.  She's also very tired and needs to be put to bed.  Branna is sick in the bathroom and I am doing my best to not get sick myself while cleaning things up.  Atlie is by herself in the kitchen painting.

After finally getting everything cleaned up and getting Branna settled down, I run down the hall, past Atlie still painting, to turn the TV on for her while I get Aisley to sleep.  As I catch a glimpse of Atlie, I think to myself, "I don't remember her having a colorful bow in her hair..." And then it dawns on me: she's painted her hair!  Her reason for doing it was because it makes her look beautiful.

Here are the pictures of me telling Atlie she is grounded from painting and of her beautiful hair...

In the moment, it was not funny, but looking back it's hard not to laugh a little.  This girl is definitely her own, unique person!