2014's First Snow

Gabriella has been asking about snow since Christmas. It's hard to explain to a four year old why it hasn't snowed yet or why we may not even get snow this year. In a four year old's mind that's naturally what winter is all about...cold and snow.  Quite honestly, in mine too!  

The snow arrived a day late based on the weather man's forecast so after an entire day of waiting and waiting and waiting we were sure it wasn't going to happen for us this year. But it did and we were so glad. 

Their first glimpse of snowfall...

(I was so excited to capture that moment. Their profiles are exquisite!) 

Michael even stayed home from work.  We were all sooooo happy about that, especially mommy.  It's a rarity to have him home. We value every second of time we get with our busy, hard working daddy. 

After the laborious task of getting three little ones and ourselves layered up from head to toe, we headed out. I honestly think we may have spent more time getting everyone dressed than we actually spent playing outside.

I was very interested in observing Mikey's interaction with the snow. 

The Oreo was suppose to be for our snowman but well, you see... :) 

He was really intrigued by the snow but seemed to be pretty upset about how cold it was. As soon as the smallest bit of snow got on the edge of his mittens and touched his warm little wrists he insisted that they come off. Even if that meant his hands were freezing without them. And nope, not even mommy's coaxing couldn't convince him differently. 

Mittens off...

Josiah wasn't thrilled about the snow either and I most definitely didn't expect him to be. I knew taking him out in this unbearably cold, white stuff would be pure torture for him.  I just had to get a few pictures of him in it. Isn't he just the cutest?!?!

I love this one...

Did I mention how nice it was to have daddy home?!? {sigh} We loved it! 

Gabriella, unlike her brothers, was thrilled about the snow! 

She loved making snow angels. We must have made at least five, her and I. 

We attempted but failed at making a snowman.
Our snow this year was just too soft and fluffy.  As they grow maybe the length of our time outside will increase and we can come up with some techniques for building a really spectacular one.  Maybe, just maybe. 

Last picture for the day...daddy captured this one. 

It may be one of my favorite pictures to date. It captures everyone of their personalities so perfectly. I LOVE it, thank you Daddy! 

Our first snow day as a family of five was perfect, I wouldn't change a thing.

Surprise Visit From Grandma Ella

We were so excited about our surprise visit from Grandma Ella and our (great) cousin Emily.  

There is no better time spent than with family. 

Gabriella telling Grandma Ella a secret...

Showing Grandma her fancy blow-dryer..

Josiah at 11 months sitting on Grandma's lap...

We adore our Grandma Ella and treasure every moment with her. 

Love Soup <3

Our Love Soup was such a hit! Well, really any thing that makes a mess turns out to be a hit around here!! 

I saw Fun at Home with Kids' Valentine Soup and couldn't wait to throw some hearts in some water and let the kiddos at it! I love her ideas, they are always so practical and so easy to put together.

One of my bribes for nap time today (yep, I know, I'm not too proud of it but it works :)) was that I'd have Love Soup ready for play after they woke up.  I'm not sure they knew exactly what I was talking about but they sure were excited about it and more importantly, it worked! They non-reluctantly napped away, yay! So I took advantage of all three lil ones sleeping at the same time (rrrrrarely every happens that way!) and prepped...

I also came across the idea of using a hot glue to create invisible letters and took this opportunity to give it a try...

I just peeled them right off the parchment paper and added 'em to our Love Soup! Can you feel the love??? :) 

Ok, ok I can't keep these precious pictures from you any longer! They had so much fun! 

Of course Mikey, my letter loving boy, was drawn to the letters! When he found one, he'd get so excited and show me right away!

Here he's showing me "V" and saying "V.../v/, /v/, /v/, VACATION!"

I thought they'd be WAY more interested in the really cool invisible letters :/ but they weren't.  Haha and that's ok! 

Mikey was excited to have "caught" some hearts...

Josiah, oh my goodness, was just so hard to keep my eyes off of!!! Besides the fact that I had to constantly watch him to keep him from crawling IN the bin, he was just sooooo stinkin cute! He had soooo much fun!! 

He splashed...

And reeeeeached...

And looked...

And poured...

He really acted like he knew exactly what he was doing! LOL! 

It wasn't until I took the next picture that I realized the addition to his attire! I was so tickled, I laughed and laughed and laughed! 

With all the splashing he was doing I truly thought he had done it himself  but Gabriella's giggle gave it away! I just had to add my own touch...

He never even realized it was there :)! 

It's 100% true...such a bundle of love! 

Gabriella really enjoyed using the basters to fill containers...

Her and Mikey worked together quite a bit, I loved it!

Their excitement heightened when they started using the bottle dispensers...

Gabriella even gave it a shot standing :) Oh my!

Oh my heart was full! The pink water wasn't what mattered, what was in the water didn't matter, the mess they made didn't even matter...but rather, the smiles on their faces, the memories they made and the love they filled my heart with is what really mattered. 

I love these three! 

Random Fact

This is a pretty silly fact but I still find it interesting. Every person in our family turns an odd number in age on even numbered years. Even mommy and daddy. 

This year, 2014,

Daddy turns 31

Mommy turns 31

Gabriella turns 5

Michael turns 3

Josiah turns 1 

A Family Dinner

Dinner together on a weekday rarely happens and though it did take time, we're (...I'm) ok with that. I'd love for dinner to be a family event every single night but we realize sacrifice is necessary to allow the opportunity for me to be home with our most valuables during this season of life. I'm so grateful for a hard working husband who is willing to make that possible. 

So, this is special. We treasure occasional, weekday family dinners and do not take it for granted. 

Many may look and think, where's the "normal" kitchen table? We do have one. It's in the living room. (Trust me you wouldn't have even known it was a kitchen table if I wouldn't have just told you.) We don't worry what others will they'll say when they come over and find such a small table in our kitchen. Thankfully we don't live to please others. We live for today, in the now, for this moment and today our little ones are four, two and ten months old. So for now, this is perfect. It's practical and we don't mind one bit. 

Actually, I love it and I love the family time we spend at it.   

Our DIY Dressing Frame: Bow Tying

I'm so proud of my Gabby for mastering her first set of tying bows!

Bow tying is a skill we've tried and abandoned quite a few times in the past year. We'd attempt it but if frustration arose we'd simply commit to trying again later. And really, there is no reason for her needing to know how to do this right now. She only has one pair of shoes that lace and they're purple so are not even worn often! ;) Mastering this skill is really just for fun and for the thrill of learning something new!

I recently stumbled across a video that introduced me to Montessori Dressing Frames and I immediately fell in love! I want them ALL! (aannnd the cute lil stand to put 'em all in :)) Since that's just not feasible my brain went to work thinking about how I could make something similar and functional. Woodwork and sewing isn't really an option for me but a makeshift from cardboard boxes?!?! Oh yes! I knew saving all those random Christmas boxes would come in handy somehow!

Materials we used for our DIY Bow Tying Frame:

• Empty box
• Box cutter
• Hole puncher
• Lacing string

We borrowed the string from the lacing activity below.

And that's it! It literally took me maybe 10 minutes to gather the materials and create it! Then, after modeling and working together for another 10 minutes, she had it! Her first bow! I'm not sure who was more excited, her or I.


It is truly an added bonus that our DIY frame is a box. Gabriella has titled it her "Extra Special Secret Tying Box" in which she stores "special girly things"! Oh, I love my girly-girl!

Gabriella is just in awe at the moment with how special our Willow Tree Figures are, just because they're mine. She is fascinated with anything she thinks is from my childhood, especially anything fragile that needs to be handled with extra care.

Gabby really is just as delightful as she sounds! Well, at least to this momma she is! :)

Here's a little snippet of her working away. I LOVE her self talk! Her focus impressed me considering the flying distractions. Haha!

From Ooos and Aahhs to Wowws and Eeews

We started with Ooos and Aahhs over bubbling and fizzing, and ended with Wows and Eeews over oozing and goozing today! What a messy, messy, fun, and exhausting day!

I’ve been wanting to revisit the vinegar and baking soda experiment for a few weeks now, and today’s chilly, rainy weather was the perfect backdrop for it. I finally picked up some bottle dispensers from Walmart that I’ve had my eye on for quite some time. They were less than a dollar each, and I just knew they’d be the perfect vehicle for our vinegar!

Now, I don’t hate the smell of vinegar, but I don’t love it either. I had read somewhere online that adding a bit of peppermint oil to vinegar could mask the smell, so we gave it a try—and whaahh…laa, no vinegar smell! It really worked! Instead of bearing the scent of vinegar during our play, we got to enjoy the relaxing smell of pure peppermint oil. Definitely a win!

We filled our dispensers with vinegar, added a few drops of food coloring, and two drops of peppermint oil, then got to work. I evenly dispersed a small box of baking soda onto clear disposable tops left over from our Thanksgiving baking.

The kids were so eager to start experimenting! I was a bit worried that they’d hastily empty their dispensers, and the fun would be over just as quickly as it began. So, I asked them to carefully let the vinegar solution come out on its own (eye droppers would have been loads of fun too!). It really made me laugh at how well they listened to my request. Not that I didn’t expect them to, but I’m not sure I would have been able to resist the temptation to just squeeze! Oh, how I love my babies. They practiced such great self-control. :)

Look how nice and neat it begun...haha!
Gabriella said it sounded just like Sprite fizzing away. :)

After I gave them the go-a-head to squeeze, their excitement heightened and new level fun began!

They squeeeeezeed until there was no squeezing left to be done. Once we were out of vinegar Gabriella noticed the layer of baking soda that remained was perfect grounds for drawing.

 And for handprints...

Mikey joined in as well...

The vinegar and baking soda experiment was lots of fun, and we’ll most definitely do it over and over, but to be quite honest, I was pretty sad that the fun was over so quickly. I love doing experiments with the kiddos, but with all the effort it takes to prepare, I’d like to spend a bit more time exploring. Sooo, feeling ambitious, I reached for the cornstarch!

If you’re ever up for experimenting with messy sensory play, give cornstarch a try! It’s my go-to when we finish any liquid sensory play, and I was curious to see what adding cornstarch to our vinegar would do. Cornstarch is amazing!

We’ve added cornstarch and water to pumpkin clay before Thanksgiving, and oh my goodness, that was messy, messy, messy! Haha! Not sure I’ll be doing that combo again anytime soon.

I wasn’t sure what would happen when I added cornstarch to our vinegar, but ohhhh, was it perfect! It turned into the most delightful Oobleck.

Getting Oobleck to the right consistency can be a bit tricky. You may have to experiment with how “loose” or “thick” you want it. If you’ve never played with Oobleck before, please, do! Yes, it’s super messy (at least it is the way my two-year-old plays), but it is SOOO much fun! It acts both as a solid and a liquid. There are some great step-by-step instructions for making Oobleck here. The term Oobleck comes from Dr. Seuss's book, Bartholomew and the Oobleck. Having literature to extend or preface experiments or playtime makes it all the more exciting! This momma is all about making connections. :)

Gabriella was fascinated (I was too!) with making large rocks, then watching them melt right before her eyes!

Mikey enjoyed watching his hands sink into the solid-liquid substance. He'd pull them out and watch it ooze from his fingertips. He did this over and over! :)

We made a huge mess! I can’t believe I actually made a photo collage of just messy pictures!

Here’s a helpful tip for cleaning... set out a bowl of warm water (I set one close to each of them) for rinsing hands and arms. That’s it! I’m not sure why I never thought of this before, but oh, was it helpful. You DO NOT want to carry Oobleck-covered kiddos from the play area to the kitchen sink or bathroom for cleanup. You won’t be able to move faster than Oobleck oozes. Believe me, I tried. Haha! You’ll end up with little droplets of Oobleck everywhere. While it’s not hard to clean up, it’s just easier if the mess is confined to one area.

Mikey enjoyed using his bowl of water to make his Oobleck as runny as possible, then covered every inch of his arm with it! Oh, my Mikey!

This messy play would have been ideal on a sheet/towels on the floor but if you end up with a mess like I did just use a fresh bowl of warm water and a rag to wipe up the rest. Clean up really is that easy, promise!

I'm going to end this post with my favorite picture from our messy play day...

Just look at those whittle feet and those toes!!!! Oh, so cute!