We LOVE Ice Skating

When Aubrey learned to Ice Skate on our Mommy Daughter date, she was disappointed I didn't bring my camera to document it. The next day Aubrey had been so helpful that I thought I'd take the girls one more time so I could get Aubrey's new skills on video. I even convinced Esther to come with Isla. We got there early figuring we could get 2 walkers, one for Esther and Isla (Esther doesn't skate) and one for Brooke. I figured Aubrey might like one time around with the walker to get the feel of it and then she'd be off and Brooke could use it the rest of the time. Well, when we got there all the walkers were already taken. Esther opted to not skate since it would be impossible for her to do so with a baby and no walker. I went out with the girls who were both timid without the walker.

Playing peek-a-boo with Isla!

Little Miss Piggy!

Me and my cutie skaters!

It wasn't going so well at first, that I wondered if we would end up staying long. Finally after about 45 min., someone gave their walker to Brooke - Hallelujah!

And at about that same time Aubrey got her confidence back and was off skating away. The next hour was lots of fun and I was glad we went one more time before our passes expired!

Even Brooke braved skating on her own a little!

Here's Aubrey skating away. Lots of adults were pointing her out to their kids who were trying to learn and telling her she was such a good skater for a 5 year old. That made her feel really excited!

Here's my Brookie taking off!

The two cuties skating together.

Aubrey doing her little trick around the cone. (She wanted to set up several to weave around, but the whistle had just blown to get off the ice.)

More little clips of my cute little skaters!

I'm so glad I braved the ice. We had such a fun time with our free month of skating. It's become one of Aubrey and my favorite past times!

Entry Way Display

 When Aubrey was 6 months old I had some really cute pics taken of her and used them to make an entry way display. They have remained there for the last 4 and a half years. When I got our pics back from Celtic Dreams Photography and was deciding which pics to print, I realized this would be the perfect opportunity to update the display. The only problem was that it wouldn't be right for Daddy not to be in it. So that Sunday I dressed the girls in the blue outfits and had Jeff run home between meetings for a couple of minutes to hopefully get at least one cute enough picture for the display. I was thrilled when I got a couple of pictures that I loved of Jeff and the girls!

 Now I was ready to update the Entryway Display. Here's the finished product. I love having the new pictures in it and smile almost every time I pass it!

Brooke's Soccer Clinic

A couple Saturday's ago they city was having a free soccer clinic. The 3 - 5 year old session happened to be at the exact same time and at the same park as Aubrey's tball game. I was disappointed because I knew Aubrey would love it too. I was hoping that the tball and soccer would be on the same field at the park so it would be easy to watch Brooke and Aubrey simultaneously. However they ended up being on different fields quite a distance from each other. Bummer. So I didn't catch much of Aubrey's tball game. I did see her at bat once and could see a little of her playing first from a distance. 

Anyway, Brooke was so excited to get her chance at the field. And she looked sooooooo Darling in Aubrey's soccer uniform!

Here she is running out to join the boys not feeling timid at all!

They were learning how to dribble to ball with small kicks . . .

and then stop it with their foot. (while playing green light, red light.)

Doesn't she just look delicious!

Oops Brookie, no hands.

Then they played a little crab game. They were opening and closing their legs and walking like little crabs to stop the ball from getting past their line.

Brookie loved it!

After the games we played at the park for a bit. Aubrey even finally braved the monkey bars. But you can see on her face how scared she was!

Brookie tried it too!

Fun times on the field! My brothers and I played lots of sports and so it feels so normal to spend Saturdays out on the field! 

Preschool - Bugs

Aubrey requested that this months Preschool lesson  at our house would be about bugs. Since it was the last preschool class I would do for her, I decided to go ahead and do it for her.

 Since we weren't focusing on a particular letter, for writing practice I had them practice writing the names of the bugs we were going to learn that day. We also practiced spelling the word "bug" out loud.

For show and tell I had them all tell us something interesting about their favorite bug and/or show us a picture.

 Then we read, "Born to be a Butterfly"

 Then they made a Lift the Flap Butterfly Life Cycle

 It was pretty simple to prepare and they all seemed to enjoy it.

 Then they made a Butterfly collage. We used the Bow tie pasta for butterflies and construction paper to tear to make trees or branches.

First they colored their butterflies with markers. (As I was going through these pics, I thought watercolor on the pasta might make for some pretty butterflies.)

Then they tore and glued on their trees.

Last they used craft glue to add their butterflies.

Next we used empty tp rolls and washable paint to stamp out a caterpillar. Here's Aubrey gluing on her google eyes for a finishing touch.

Then I read to them about Spiders.

 And they made their own spiders out of egg crate, pipe cleaners & googly eyes. Here they are painting their spiders.

I had tons of supplies left over from projects throughout the year. I happened to have tons of play-dough that had been mixed together into a boring grey color. I figured that was a very buggy color. So I gave them the grey play-dough and all the other extra supplies and had them make their own bug. They had a blast playing with all of the supplies.

For snack time I had them make their own bugs out of fruits and veggies. I put out this plate so they would get the idea.

Then I put out sliced produce and let them create and eat their own bugs.

They had a lot of fun with this. This would be a great idea to convince a picky eater to eat fruits and veggies!

 I happened to have a Bee bean bag toss from my girls Pooh Bear Party, that they enjoyed playing as well. I completely forgot about my worm paintings I was going to have them do. I had pretend worms (cooked spaghetti noodles) for them to dip into paints and create some abstract art. Bummer I forgot. I'll have to use the idea next year for Brooke's preschool!

I am pretty sure this lesson took the least amount of prep work and ended up being a lot of fun for the kids. Win Win! We now just have the preschool graduation this week and then Aubrey is all done with Preschool. It's bitter sweet for me. At least I have Brooke's preschool to look forward to for next year!

A Very Sweet Mother's Day

 Jeff and the girls made me feel special all day on Mother's Day!

I woke up to Aubrey whispering to Jeff, "Daddy is it time to get up and make Mom's breakfast yet?" She was so excited to start the Mother's Day festivities!

I got to rest while Jeff & the girls made me a very yummy breakfast!

 Aubrey wanted to take pics of all of the events, but couldn't find her camera, so I gave her my old one and she was snapping away all day. Here's a pic. she took of Jeff and I.

As soon as I was served my breakfast Brooke said, "I want to eat my breakfast on a tray in my bed too." I told her we only had one tray. She replied, "I have a good idea!" She ran off and found the stool, jumped into bed and called out, "Daddy I'm ready for my breakfast!" Too cute. (Aubrey took this pic. too.)

How could Daddy resist. So he gave her a few bites of breakfast to eat in bed!

Aubrey wanted to join in on the fun too!

After we got ready for church, it was present time! Aubrey had made tons of stuff in preschool and some cards at home, that she was very excited for me to open!

Me and my sweet Aubrey Kaye!

Then Brooke helped me open the presents she and Aubrey picked out for me. We have this tradition that on any occasion that the girls need presents for Jeff or I we take them to the dollar store and have them pick out a few things. They love it!

Me and my cutie Brookie!

Then they led me outside to see the surprise they had been working on the night before - An Herb Garden!

I'm very excited because many of my Clean recipes call for fresh herbs, and they are not cheap!

At church the youth took over all of the Primary responsibilities so I got to go to Sunday School and RS. At RS the Bishopric gave us all Forget Me Not flowers and muffins and fruit.

After church I got to relax some more while Jeff prepared dinner. Here's Aubrey taking a picture of the dinner Jeff is preparing. Funny kid!

Here's my very yummy dinner!

 

I was very touched by how kind my family treated me on my special day. I'm sure it was the best mother's day ever. My girls were so excited all day! I'm pretty sure they were just excited about my special day as they were their birthdays just the month before. And Jeff was so sweet to go to all that work all day for me! 

As I was kissing Aubrey goodnight that night, I thanked her for making me feel special all day. She replied, "You're welcome Mom. I always feel special when you do things for me, so today I did all the things for you." That's pretty much the exact words every mother wants to hear. It was the perfect ending to the perfect Mother's day!