Summer Tradition

The boys and I spent the Memorial Holiday weekend with my parents, sister, friends, and grandparents at our cabin on the lake. My grandparents have owned their cabin since the 1970's, so we've been spending major summer holidays and weekends since I was born. It's neat being able to do this now with my own children. W was only a week old the first time he visited the cabin, and P-man was 4 months old.

It was quite chilly the first day we were there with low hanging clouds and rain. We even splashed the jetski and I rode it to our cabin with the cold wind and rain pelting my face. However, I tried not to think about it, and just enjoy my time on the open water. The boys played with toys inside the cabin that had once belonged to my mom and her brothers, and watched P-man go from room to room. One of my best friend's from college drove out, so having her out there made for a fun afternoon, despite the nasty weather.

Right around mid-afternoon, the sun decided to make it's first appearance, so we got the boys into their swim trunks to enjoy the weather...it warmed up too... about 10 degrees when the sun came out. It was so enjoyable watching my little fish splash around in the water...W even got it all the way. P-man had a blast too... he would only put his toes in, and then waves would come in and scare him (he's my delicate child).

We ended the day with a delicious Ham with Happy Potatoes, my mom's famous pasta salad, and baked beans. Even my picky eater ate up all the ham, which really surprised a majority of us. I'm glad I finally found a second source of protein he enjoys, with Nutella being the first. We ended the evening playing Skip Bo.

Monday was gorgeous temperature and sunny wise, however the wind was horrid at 20-30 mph with gusts reaching 40mph. Needless to say we didn't get much jet skiing in that morning, because the wind was so awful it was throwing dust, sand, and bugs into our eyes. Poor W was waiting all weekend to get his first jet ski ride of the year, but it just wasn't safe. P-man wasn't a fan of the wind either, and spent a majority of his Memorial Day inside.

The wind still didn't stop W, nor the rest of us. While P-man napped (which turned into a 3.5 hour one), my mom, sister, friend Jill, and William soaked up some sun and swam in the lake. Of course, I didn't wear any sunscreen. I tell myself this every year, "I don't need sunscreen, I never burn"...and every time...I burn...oh well!

We finished the weekend with burgers on the grill and some "see ya later's" to my grandparents. We will be seeing them again a in a few weeks for a family reunion. All and all in was a great weekend...it would have been perfect if Jess was here with us. I sure miss him... less than two weeks until he gets here.

During all the fun we had, we did take a moment and reflect on the true meaning of Memorial Day...to remember those who paid the ultimate sacrafice fighting for this great country of ours and to thank our men and women in uniform... especially to my husband who has been active duty serving in the United States Air Force for almost 11 years now... my Uncle Richard, retired Chief Master Sergeant with the Air National Guard... and my Grandfather, retired Lt. Col with the United States Army. God Bless the good 'ole U.S. of A!

Flashback Friday (4 years to be exact)

This was me, four years ago exactly (well officially at 8 p.m. CDT). We were getting ready to welcome our first born, W into the world. I had an appointment on Friday, May 18th, and had elevated blood pressure and was swollen to a +3 Edema. My OBGYN thought it would be best to induce (I did have the option to object, but was quite the naive first time mother who never did her research). I was just so excited about meeting our first born, so we made the arrangements to check into the hospital the following Sunday (May 20, 2007).

I was given an iv hep lock (in case pitocin and saline would be needed), my first dose of Cytotec to induce labor, and then placed on the monitors for an hour. During all the blood draws, needle pricks, etc. Jess thought it would be a good opportunity to eat a snack... I didn't want him to starve while I was in labor...silly husband!

I didn't really start feeling contractions until around 10pm, and decided it would be a good opportunity to start walking the halls. The walk definitely helped, because I ended up only taking two doses of the Cytotec (my OB thought it would take me at least 3, because I was only dilated to a 1 when I checked in) before my contractions started coming closer together. Jesse filled the tub for me to soak, so I could relax before bedtime. It definitely helped my comfort level, but that nor the sleeping pill they gave me helped me sleep that night.

I was pretty much in labor from about midnight on, and thought there was a chance I wouldn't need pitocin to help augment my labor. However, that all changed when my first nurse of the day came in to check my cervix. I was only 3 cm dilated, and was just a tad bit disappointed. I thought I would have been more dilated than that, especially with the intensity and timing of my contractions. My OBGYN arrived shortly there after to break my bag of water, and we were hoping and praying this would really help labor to kick in and help me to dilate without the help from pit... we were wrong.

I finally asked for vitamin E (epidural) after having hard pitocin induced contractions and I was also progessing pretty good, 1 cm an hour. W handled all my contractions extremely well throughout the day. However, we were all wondering when our little man would come. I finally dilated to 7 cm(at 6:00 p.m), his head was only at -2 station. I dilated to 8 the next hour, but his head was still floating up there. My epidural was starting to wear off, but declined to get more, because I wanted to make it easier to push. Around 8:30 p.m., I stopped progressing, and then the fire alarm went off. Now, labor was already stressful enough, and now we have a FIRE?!?! My O.B. comes into my room wearing surgical scrubs, and I knew my hopes for a vaginal delivery were shattered. Thank god the fire turned out to be a "false alarm". Jesse and I just broke into tears when we heard "c-section" come out of my doctor's mouth. I've never had surgery before in my life, and I was so scared. However, I was so anxious to see my little boy, knowing I've been in labor for 24 hours.

I was wheeled into surgery alone, and was given a spinal. That was the worst experience in my life. The spinal went up too far into my chest, and I felt as if I couldn't breathe. I started screaming, so of course I could breathe, but it didn't feel like it. So, they gave me some "oxygen" to calm down, and they progressed with the surgery. Jess kept stroking my forehead, and I could feel some tugging, but it never hurt at all. Finally, my doctor said he'll be here in just a few seconds. Then, on Monday, May 21, 2007 at 9:47 p.m... we heard the loudest cry, and of course DH and I were bawling our eyes out. Jess went over to see him, and I was given a dose of "happy medicine" to help me calm down a bit. I was starting to get a little worried when I didn't see W right away. His first APGAR score was at 7, and he was having difficulty breathing. He weighed 8 lbs 5 oz, and was 21 inches long. Jesse followed W into the nursery. They finished up my surgery, and wheeled me into recovery.

As I was "recovering", W's pedi came in to tell us how he was doing. He had a double Pneumothorax in both lungs, and a fever (I gave him one, since I spiked a fever at the end of delivery). A Pneumothorax is a sudden collection of air or gas in the chest that causes the lung to collapse in the absence of a traumatic injury to the chest or lung. So, they were giving him chest xrays. His pediatrician told us if it was severe enough on the xrays, they would have to give him a chest tube. Thank god it wasn't that bad and W didn't even have to stay in the NICU. However, he did stay the night in the Continuing Care Nursery, and I wasn't able to hold or or see him until 12 hours later.

W overcame all of his problems the night before, and was able to stay in our room until we left on Thursday, May 24th.

Our First Family Photo (we look so tired)

I can't believe W will be a 4 year-old tomorrow. He has many exciting and fun things coming his way over the next year. He will attending his first summer day camp in June and then he will start preschool in mid-August.

Jesse and I thank our good Lord everyday for blessing us with one of His children. W definitely keeps us on our toes day in and day out, but without that, we would be living pretty boring lives. Happy 4th Birthday to my first born! May all his birthday hopes and dreams come true.

Here is W's first birthday video montage:

W's 4th Birthday BBQ Celebration

Yesterday we had a few of our closest friends over for a BBQ to celebrate W's 4th birthday. He doesn't turn 4 until the 21st, but we'll be on the road to the cornhusker state to visit family. Anyway, I really didn't want to throw a huge "party", especially since we just had a pretty big one for P-man's 1st birthday. Plus, I'm trying really hard not to go "all out", but every other year, so we will have a big party with favors, balloons, and other party decorations for their 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, etc. birthday's.

W had a fabulous time and the food was so yummy. Of course, we had to have a cake! Here are a few pictures from the fun celebration...

It was a very fun day, and I'm glad we were able to celebrate the birth of an amazing little boy. I can't believe my first born will be 4 soon and then be a preschooler in August. I wish I could slow down the clock or even turn back time.

Flashback Friday

W is 23 months old here, and this happens to be one of my most favorite photos of him. We met a friend and her little boy at a local museum, and afterwords W and I decided to roam around and look at all the airplanes. I decided to snap a few photos, and was pleasantly surprised with how wonderful this photo turned out. Of course, I did some editing to make it look like it's from the 1940's/1950's (that is if you can ignore the present day fashion on W). :)

In Hindsight

"Perception of the significance and nature of events after they have occurred"...

As a parent, you always want to make the best decisions possible for your children. However, when a decision you make as a parent affects someone else's chid, you think, "maybe that decision wasn't the best or right decision after all".

Many of you know my household has been dealing with the chickenpox over the past three weeks (read about it here: "Cluck, Cluck, Cluck", Goes The Chicken), and P-man is currently on his sixth day of this miserable illness. He came down with it exactly 14 days after we first notice a blister on his brother. He has been handling it like any 13-month-old would...fussy, crying in pain, crying in discomfort, not sleeping, etc. At first, I thought he was getting a milder case compared to his brothers, he only had about 20 or so blisters for the first three days in, but it all changed on day 4 (the worst, and the peak of the illness). He currently has close to 500 give or so, with 70-100 located around his diaper area alone. The pox are starting to finally cloud and crust, so we are definitely on the up and up. While dealing with a baby miserable with the chickenpox, Jess and I are extremely grateful both our children didn't suffer any complications.

As I stated earlier, when a decision you make as a parent affects someone else's child, you wish you could rewind the clock and change that particular decision. After being misdiagnosed (I'm still undecided if I want to go there), W ended up exposing a few of our friend's children. I knew there was a 90% chance of one if not all of them coming down with chickepox, and of course made phone calls to all the parents of children we came into contact with over those few days. This past Wednesday, I got a phone call from one of my closest friends here, her 7 month-old had come down with the chickenpox. Of course, I felt horrible, blaming myself, blaming the doctors who misdiagnosed W, and was praying nothing bad would happen. See, not only was this baby under 12 months of age, but also suffers from eczema. A child or baby who has both chickenpox and eczema can mean not only more spots (sometimes over 1,000), but added complications.

Over the weekend, the baby was admitted to a local children's hospital with a high fever, dehydration, and possible pneumonia. I had know clue what to do, what to say, what to think, but I did know who to blame, myself. I never stopped praying. I prayed for healing, prayed for guidance, prayed for forgiveness, prayed for my continuing friendship with the baby's mother, etc. I constantly checked in, and was happy to hear the baby was doing better. He was responding better to the medicine, and was finally able to intake liquids. He is now home from the hospital, and doing better.

My decision to not vaccinate my children against varicella put a lot of strain on not only myself and children, but my friend, her family, and most importantly her baby. I've never been one to bring up debatable topics, especially on a public blog, but feel it's only necessary.

Back when W was 12 months-old, the MMR was still in a hot debate, did or did it not cause autism? With what we knew then, we knew the best decision was to hold off on that particular vaccine until W was 18 months of age. Another decision, the varicella vaccine, was it truly necessary? Isn't the Chickenpox a pretty harmless (yet miserable) illness? With the advice from our pediatrician at the time, we choose not to vaccinate W, knowing 100% he would receive natural immunity by getting the chickenpox the old fashioned way. This pediatrician didn't have a lot of faith in this vaccine, and said there really wasn't any proof on how long this vaccine would protect against varicella, or if it would at all (there is only an 85%-95% of 100% protection).

In hindsight, I would have changed our decision, the decision to vaccinate against the chickenpox. I know there are a lot of people out there against vaccinations due to toxicity, autism, etc. My question to all of you is, are you prepared to handle not only your child's illness, but the other's who become sick with something that could have been prevented with a vaccine? In this case, all the children who were age appropriate to receive the varicella vaccine were vaccinated, but the babies (under 12 months of age) were not. W exposed (again not purposely, was misdiagnosed) three babies under 12-months of age, and one of those babies who came down with chickenpox ended up in the hospital.

The purpose of this blog wasn't to point fingers, or to say those who vaccinate/don't vaccinate are bad people, but to spread awareness as to why vaccines are important. They were developed for a reason, to potentially save people from not only suffering through/developing major complications from certain diseases, but to save their lives. Not only could I have saved my babies from being extremely miserable for 7+ days, but could have spared those 7 miserable and nerve wracking days from my friend and her child.

**Please respect my opinion regarding this topic, I do respect yours.**

Wordless Wednesday

Baby Mullet

W chillaxing at the dentist

"Cluck, Cluck, Cluck", Goes the Chicken

W came down with chickenpox on Friday and was actually misdiagnosed by two different doctors in the pediatric clinic on base...well they were "residents" with no supervisors (another story for a different day). They HAD diagnosed him with Molluscum, and told us he was definitely NOT contagious. He had three spots around his ear, and about six on his torso and back. The reason we went to the Dr.'s in the first place was to rule out chickenpox, or anything else contagious, because we had a weekend filled with being around other kids. Of course, W attended a birthday party and a BBQ where there were three babies ranging from 6 months to 11 months. He woke up Sunday morning covered all over his face and more were popping up on his torso and back. I knew right away the Doctor's were wrong, so Jess headed to Children's hospital to get the correct diagnoses, especially proof for his medical records. See, we never vaccinated W for the chickenpox (no debate, please), because of the research involved. I'm a prime example of why the vaccine isn't 100% proof. I was given the chickenpox titer when I was pregnant with P-MAN and found out on Friday that my titer came back at .67 and you need at least a 1.0 to be positive (or immune to chickenpox). So, with my vaccination, exposure to my sister, and at daycare, I'm still not 100% immune, according to this titer. Anyway, getting back to why we didn't vaccinate W. The fact that the vaccine is only 85-95% effective against the pox, I knew with him catching the actual virus was the only way he could gain 100% natural immunity (if adult males get the chicken pox past 15 years of age, there is a very good chance they will become sterile).

We finally received the correct diagnoses on Sunday via ER doctor, and of course I started feeling extremely guilty. I could not believe I exposed all those people. It broke my heart to make all those phone calls to my friends to let them know they were exposed to W's chickenpox. It's definitely been a miserable ride for both him and myself. Part of me wishes he was vaccinated, and part of me wonders if he would have caught the pox anyway. I hate seeing my children miserable, and knowing P-man is next is heartbreaking. W has a pretty good case, but I wouldn't call it severe. He's been running a low grade fever, and only blistered on his face, back, stomach, and only few were located on his arms and legs. He has definitely been good about it. It really only has been rough at night (when he itches the most). I've been keeping calamine lotion on him and giving him tons of oatmeal baths. The ER doc also prescribed him with a pretty strong antihistamine. Today, he started showing signs of clouding, scabbing, etc, so he should be good to go by Saturday at the latest. We have a follow-up appointment on Friday with his nurse practitioner to get the okay to attend soccer practice on Saturday. I just want to make sure he is 100% scabbed over, because I guess I can't trust my motherly instincts, especially after this past weekend.

For me, I'm waiting it out too. Part of me hopes and pray that I have a natural immunity, and the titer didn't pick that up, or the titer was 100% wrong! I went to my doctor yesterday morning to let them know I have been exposed, I showed him my vaccination records from where I received the vaccine twice in 1998. He said there was no reason to be re-vaccinated, and told me he will put me on five days worth of an antiviral. I have to take 4 pills, 5 times a day, for 5 days. I really am hoping and crossing my fingers this will actually prevent me from getting the chickenpox, or only give me a very mild case. I've been an anxious wreck since Sunday, because everything I have been reading about adult chickenpox said only 5% of adults come down with chickenpox, and out of that 5%, 35% of those die. I have a pretty good immune system, as I was vomited on twice by both boys, and have been exposed to their stomach bug and never came down with it. I just hope the antiviral works!!!!!!!!!

Please keep us in our prayers. I know this is something I CHOSE, because I didn't vaccinate my boys against the chickenpox. However, there is a huge part of me that regrets that. I honestly feel like I totally deserve the bad mommy award, but at least I know they will both be immune for the rest of their lives. I just can't wait until this month is over, because it's going to continue to be a bumpy one. The incubation period is 14-21 days, so we'll probably have a week break between kiddos and myself if I come down with it.

"Cluck, Cluck, Cluck", goes the chicken, and make sure the door doesn't hit you on the way out!!!!!!

Sometimes You Feel Like a Nut

...Sometimes You Don't!

W finally had his food challenge this morning. He was challenging the hazel nut, the common nut found in Nutella. I was a nervous wreck this morning, because I could not be there with W. P-man is on the tail end of his RSV, and I didn't want to a. take him out in the weather and b. keep him on his nap routine, so Jess took W. I called twice within the hour to check to see how his body was responding. The doctor did another scratch test to compare to the last one, again this one was negative.

The food challenge basically is a method of ingesting small amounts of the tested food at a time, in W's case it was Nutella. If W has a reaction, the challenge is stopped and he would be considered allergic to that specific food. If not, he will continue through the challenge. If he tolerates a full serving without any reaction, W is considered not allergic.

After a few teaspoons here and few tablespoons there and a slice of bread with a full spread serving, W is NOT allergic to Nutella or the hazel nuts found in Nutella. This is wonderful news, because now W can have another source of added protein to his diet. Oh, and an added protein he likes, I must add!

We still have more challenges to go. W still needs to test walnuts, almonds, etc. More than likely, he will never outgrow his peanut allergy. His last follow-up scratch test to peanuts was worse, making for a more severe allergic reaction.

No one really knows the right answers as to why we see more food allergies in our children today compared to many years ago. I've read conflicting opinions as to why, one being an early introduction to nuts (before the age of 2). Of course, W wasn't introduced to peanuts until after his second birthday, and he still had a reaction. Not to mention he is also the first person on both sides of the immediate family to have a food allergy.

There is a 25% chance his brother can have some sort of food allergy, which can be to pretty much anything...shell fish...peanuts...tree nuts...eggs...dairy, etc. We can already cross two off of that list, as we know his body tolerates eggs and dairy just fine. I really hope we never find out the hard way, and won't have to witness another child's allergic reaction to food. With that said, at least we know what to look for, how to react, and handle if an allergic reaction were to occur.

I will definitely keep you all posted on W's upcoming food challenges. One can hope and pray he handles the rest of the tree nut family just fine and his brother can live a normal life without the possibility of a food allergy.

Baby Signing Time

**This picture was taken off of the Signing Time Website**

I truly believe baby sign language is a great way to get passed the communication barrier with your baby and toddler. We used baby sign language with W, and it was our saving grace. W picked up on it very early (around 8 months) with his first sign being "all done". A few months after that, he was signing "more", "please", "thank you", "milk", "ball", "drink", "eat", etc. It was nice being able to communicate with him, because he didn't get as frustrated when it came to getting him what he wanted.

P-man received "Baby Signing Time" for Christmas from Jess and I, and we watch it almost every day. We just love all the songs and how they put all the signs together, for example: signs for eat, drink, please, more, juice, cereal, etc are all in the same section and song, the same goes with animals. It makes it easy for the both of us to learn and remember each sign. Plus, Rachel does a great job keeping the attention of not only P-man, but his older brother as well.

I have nothing bad to say about this video, and can't wait to order the rest of the volume's (we only have the 1st volume). Feel free to check out their website: Signing Time. They have more than just videos, so definitely check them out. You definitely have nothing to lose, and a lot to gain. It's such a relief being able to overcome the communication barrier with P-man.

Oh, I also wanted to point out that using sign language with your baby/toddler will not DELAY their speech. In fact, I believe it helped W talk at an earlier age. At 15 months, he was already using more than 20 words and some two word sentences.

Here is P-man signing, "all done".

**This review comes directly from my own personal experiences and my opinion is that of my own. I was not paid or compensated in any form for this review. This video was purchased by me.**

Wordless Wednesday

W and I love Photo Booth!

Wordless Wednesday

Valentine's Day 2011 Cont.`

Wow, what a day it's been. I'm exhausted! We started off our morning with Valentine's Day pancakes. W and P-man just inhaled them. Of course, trying to make heart shaped pancakes came with a lot of trial and error. However, in the end they all looked like hearts, which is what I was aiming for in an end result.

After we ate breakfast, W and I worked on his Valentines he will be handing out to his friends at a playdate on Wednesday afternoon. I wanted to do something more homemade this year. My inspiration for these cards came from this blog: Craft-O-Maniac. One side of the cardstock has the boys picture(and candy), and the other is a homemade template I made in publisher.


Lunch was another Valentine's inspired meal with heart shaped grilled cheese and tomato soap(was not heart shaped... lol). Jess came home and ate a good lunch, and both boys enjoyed eating their grilled cheeses. The soup wasn't a huge hit with W this time, he normally really enjoys his "mater soap", as he likes to call it. I had a nice mess to clean up, especially since half of the mess was still from breakfast. Thank goodness the hubby volunteered to help clean up for me.

I still had some last minute errands to run, and wanted to grab ingredients to rice krispie treats. I didn't have any marshmallows and needed more margarine. Now, I will admit, this is only the second time in the past year that I have ran to the store with both boys, pathetic, right? The trip to the store wasn't so bad, and the boys had fun riding in the cart. We came home to start making dessert, which of course was heart shaped rice krispies. Anyone who knows me, I'm not a good baker, and am quite intimidated by the process. Anywho, I ended up burning the dang butter, the dial was turned a little past warm, and I had a fussing baby at my hip which help any. Before they cooled all the way, W helped me use a heart shaped cookie cutter to cut out the rice krispies. They smelled so good, of course after the smell of burnt butter left the room.
After making another huge mess, I decided it was time to do a fun Valentine's Day craft with W. A new follower let me know about a blog she does, which is directed at early childhood education, Touch of Home Learning. I went over there, and found some neat heart shaped craft ideas. I showed W, and he told me he wanted to make a heart shaped octopus. He had a blast gluing on all the heart shaped parts of the octopus, and mommy enjoyed using fun scissors to cut out the hearts. In the end, the craft turned out really cute, and of course W had fun.


I had a fun dinner planned for the four of us. I made homemade heart shaped pepperoni pizza with mozzarella and cheddar cheese and breadsticks. I also decorated our kitchen table with fun Valentine's Day decor. I also placed the boys and the hubby's gifts right behind dessert. The hubster surprised me with beautiful white daisy's that I used as our centerpiece. Dinner was super yummy and everyone enjoyed the pizza, P-man even polished off an entire piece. At the end of dinner we at our rice krispy treat and exchanged gifts. The boys got a card, Valentine's Day book, and William got chocolate(you can't have a Vday without chocolate). I gave Jess a one hour massage, because I know he's been under a ton of stress from work and of course from the upcoming deployment.




All in all, it was a great day, exhausting one, but great. I love the men in my life so much, and I really enjoyed spoiling each and every one of them. Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!!!! Here is our Vday card picture. I will be placing a Snicker's candy on top of the sweetheart W s holding. I can't wait until our cards are finished, and of course I plan on sharing our creation with all of you.

Valentine's Day 2011

Tomorrow we will celebrate as a family of four. Not only is this P-man's first Valentine's Day, but it's also the 6th "dating anniversary" for Jesse and I. He asked me to be his girlfriend over Mexican dinner at El Toro 6 years ago tomorrow. I have a fun day planned for us. My day will start right around 5:30 am. I'm going to make heart shaped pancakes and sausage, so my family can have a great breakfast to start off their day. After breakfast, the boys and I will finish making Valentine's Day cards (my inspiration for these came from this blog: Craft-O-Maniac...one side of the cardstock with have this inspired picture of the boys(and candy), and the other is a homemade template I made in publisher(pictures to come) that says, "Bee Mine"(this is the side the boys get to color). I can't wait to see how these turn out. Then, I'm going to make heart shaped grilled cheese and tomato soap for lunch. Following lunch, I have to run some last minute Vday errands and get some other stuff for a baby sprinkle I'm co-hosting. I'm hoping to add in another Vday craft, and then I will make a homemade heart shaped pizza for dinner.

I'm so excited for tomorrow. I don't know why, but I'm a huge sucker for this wonderful day of celebrating unconditional love. I'm very blessed to be able to spread the love to and be loved by the three wonderful men in my life. Happy Valentine's Day to you all!

*edited to add, I think I'm going to make heart shaped rice krispies in the afternoon. :)**

Military Monday

My good friend, gave me this wonderful idea. Every Monday, I'm going to post something "military" in my blog, it could be a photo, poem, article, etc. Today, I want to share my most favorite picture in the entire world. I captured this photo just moments after Jesse marched in the Veteran's Day parade. W was only 5 months old at the time.

B is for Bee

W had a blast making another project with the letter B. This project pretty much mimicked the A is for Apple tree we made two weeks ago, except we used flowers and bumblebees. My printer decided to run out of black ink on me, so I had to hand draw the project(instead of using an easy-to-use template). Please forgive my drawing skills, or lack of there of. Unfortunately, I didn't get the artistic gene from my dad, my sister did. W did a fantastic job with his letter B recognition and matched the B and b correctly according to each daisy(he also loves using glue). Here are some pictures from today's project:

B is for playdough?

Nah, but we sure had fun today with playdough and learning about the letter B. We had to take last week off from our "Letter of the Week" curriculum, because we just had so much going on in regards to playdates, errands, appointments, etc. This week, we're back in the swing of things. My printer is pretty much out of black ink, so I was only able to print one worksheet off, so I was researching the Internet to try and find a fun activity that would be fun and enjoyable for W. A friend had pointed me to a website called, "No Time For Flash Cards". They have a ton of activities, especially with letters, numbers, etc. Oh, did I mention that it's free?!

After we did our introductory worksheet, which can be found at, Alphabet Preschool Activities and Crafts. I decided W need to work on his fine motor skills, so I found a fun playdough activity that included letters. I was inspired to do this activity from a post over at No Time For Flash Cards. The name of the activity is called, "Playdough Snake Letters". I helped and showed W how to roll the playdough to make a "snake", and then I wrote both B and b on a white piece of paper with a black marker. Then he took the playdough and traced the shape of the letter. W had a ton of fun doing this activity, plus it was different. After he worked on his letter, I got out some fun kitchen utensils and he was able to practice cutting, etc.

I'm definitely looking forward to the rest of our week (we'll be home bound until further notice due to an ice storm that graced us with its presents last night). I just hope we can get some black ink, so we can do more worksheets and a fun bee activity I have planned. I guess if all else fails, I will just make us some homemade lacing letters. I knew learning was fun, but teaching my child is even better!