Learning Poster

I don't really make "resolutions" because if I call them that they don't get done. =) But I did think about some things I want to improve and very near the top of the list was being a better mom. I decided that was a little too broad and that list a little too long so I narrowed it down to being better at teaching my kids. My sister told me about this poster that her sister-in-law, Linda, did a long time ago and I finally got off my rear and put one together for Weston. I decided to share it to help save other mom's the work, because it was a lot of work! All the credit for this goes to letteroftheweek.com. That's where all of this material was found. Here is the final product. I originally was going to laminate everything so that I could could reuse it but it was just too expensive. So everything sat in my closet for a week or two until I came up with the rather brilliant idea-if I do say so myself-to use my millions of sheet protectors and make little pockets to put everything in. I'm really happy with how it turned out.

Then I made myself a binder that has everything in one sheet protector for each week and a list of the weeks in the front, just in case things get mixed around.

I changed things around to have "snow" be the theme for week 1

since there was lots of it and I plan on starting this at the beginning of next year for Saydi too since she'll

be 1 1/2. So to start the week off

Weston and I bundled up and head out to play in the snow. Which he had mixed feelings about since he couldn't really walk in it, but once we got his stroller down for him to push in the driveway just like he did all summer, I couldn't get him to go back inside. We also headed to the library to get a bunch of books about snow. Since Weston can be hard to tame at the library I've just been reserving them before we go and then our trip is much shorter and I don't have to look everywhere for books on whatever the theme is. For the pictures on the poster I just did a google image search of the word and found tons of pictures to choose from.

Day two Weston added the word "snow" to his vocabulary as I told him it was poster time. I could not have been more thrilled

that it was already catching on with him! We worked on the number one so I made rice krispie treats and had him put the marshmallows in the bowl one at a time. This was difficult for him since he wanted to just grab them all but when I told him to just put in one he would let go of the other ones he had grabbed and just put one in. I cut them out to look like the number 1 when we were finished. Weston had these flash cards that have the numbers up to 26 and the whole alphabet. I loathe picking them all up after he scatters them around everywhere so I figured this was a good way to retire them and still get good use from them. Linda found some cards at the dollar store though so that's another option.

Each week we will alternate either a shape or color. This week was "square" and Weston added that word to his vocabulary also as we found coloring pages and traced around the squares in each page (another idea from Linda).

For the letter A I just made some block letters that he could trace the inside of (which he didn't) but he did enjoy coloring all over them as I repeatedly pointed out the letter A and listed things that start with "A".

Letter of the week has nursery rhymes but I decided I wanted to incorporate a church activity so we will alternate doing primary songs and learning the articles of faith. I chose songs that Weston is singing in nursery to help him enjoy his time there more and this week we of course did "Once There Was a Snowman".

We did this little snowman craft and I sang the song to Weston using my little snowman as a prop. He usually just grins and watches me make a fool of myself rather then joining in when we sing songs but hopefully he'll learn it even though he doesn't participate. =) He got a little bored of the craft because I wasn't letting him use his glue stick as chapstick. Go figure. Anyway, each week I've decided we'll do a craft of some kind (yet another idea from Linda) to help him learn something from the week.

For the vocabulary word I found coloring pages that had snow flakes and pointed out the flakes to him. Some of the vocabulary words are way beyond him, and some of the other things on the poster too, but I didn't change them because I thought that would keep him interested so that next year when we do it again with Saydi she can learn the simpler things and Weston can work on the harder things.

So far Weston is really loving it. We just spend a short amount of time doing these things each day (sometimes as little as five minutes if his attention span is not so great) but he always gets excited when he gets up from his nap and I tell him it's poster time. I have all the stuff for the poster (except for the numbers and letters) saved in Word documents so if any of you other mommies are interested in doing this you can leave a comment with your email or if you'd rather not leave your email on here you can send me an email at jenn.carlson@gmail.com. I'm going to make a link on the side of my blog so that if your kids are younger and you want to wait or if you change your mind later you can easily find this post and send me an email. And now I have a lot less guilt when Weston wants to watch a show because I know we have a scheduled time each day to learn something!

Musings of a Mother

My house is trashed - TRASHED - like you wouldn't believe but rather then cleaning it while my two little ones sleep I decided my time would be better spent blogging about how special they are to me and how much I love them.

Weston is changing every day. I thought that mostly happened in the first year but I'm finding that it doesn't slow down. At any given moment throughtout the day you can find him with a bouncy ball. (See above picture for proof.) He is obsessed. He has about a half dozen because whenever I take him with me to my doctor's office I get him one to keep him occupied while he waits for me. He will collect all of them and play with them. And believe me, he knows when one is missing! He's started to say "uummm" when you ask him if he wants something. I love it. He screws his little face up into the deepest concentration as he contemplates whether or not he wants cheese or if he wants to color. Some of life's deeepest questions. He is continuing to say new words daily and even though is vocabulary is still pretty limited I'm impressed with how much progress he's making. He uses a little blue Care Bear as his very own baby. Yesterday he took it to the potty and then I found it sitting in his booster seat as he offered it the remnants of his afternoon snack. Adorable. As soon as I get him out of his car seat he reaches up and says "hand" and he wraps his little fingers around mine. It doesn't get much better then that. He's such a good boy and I love everything about him.

This is the face Saydi makes right before taking a deep breath, raising both her arms, and then flinging them down as she squeals in delight. She is certainly fitting her nickname, "Precious", these days. She now sits completely on her own and will often just sit on the floor and play with toys as she watches her brother play too. Sometimes for as long as 30 minutes. She is completely obsessed with food. When she sees me getting it ready she pounds on her high chair and her eyes look like they're going to pop out of her head. And don't even think about getting up once you've sat down to start feeding her. Oh my. Let's just say, she has her mommy's lungs and it's pretty much the end of the world if a feeding session gets interrupted by a ringing phone or brother needing to go potty. She now is sleeping for about 11 hours. I feed her at about 7:30 and she doesn't wake up to nurse again until about 6 or 6:30. Mark and I sure do love having both our kids to sleep by 7:30!! Saydi's starting to babble and "sing" more and there's no greater sound in the world. She is such a blessing to us and even though it was so hard to have two kids so close together at first it is getting easier every day and we have never once regretted it!

As much as I love each of my kids for who they are, seeing them together is what really makes them even more special to me. Yesterday I found Weston jabbering away at Saydi, then he pointed to Mark and informed her that that was "Dada" and continued his monologue without missing a beat. I would love to know what he thought he was telling her about "Dada"! As soon as Saydi sees Weston she is all smiles and if he even LOOKS like he's coming near her she kicks and flails and gets so excited. She already has an idol, I'm sure. It's hard to believe that Weston is 2 and Saydi is 7 months already. Time is flying by and we are definitely enjoying every last minute of it.

Now about the house... =|

Weston + Saydi = CUTE

Amidst all the sickness and crazy work schedules we have been having some very fun, camera-worthy moments around here. I thought I'd share a few.

Sometimes I'm not the best mom. I see things I think might be fun for one of my kids and I do it disregarding the risks. For instance: letting Weston push Saydi in his shopping cart. Don't get me wrong, I was right there by him the whole time. But wow, it could have gotten ugly. =) You can see how much Saydi enjoyed herself though.

Saydi loves to sit up and since she still topples frequently I often put her in her high chair to play while I make dinner. She's becoming quite the smiley girl.

Weston got to play in the snow with daddy and cousins the other week and he sure loved it! Mark used our swimming pool (which I had mixed feelings about) and put holes in it to add rope and use it as a sled. Wes loved it. Here is a picture of him right after his first sledding incident. He toppled right out and didn't even care!

Our tiny little baby girl is in the THIRD percentile for her weight! So I'm supposed to feed her solids three times a day and try to get her weight up. I think it's working but whether it is or not, Saydi sure loves to eat!! She cries every time when I give her the spoon because she knows there's no more food for her to eat. Even when she's eaten a TON of food! The whole small baby thing is new for me since Weston was already in a forward facing car seat by 7 months. I guess that's how girls should be though, right?

Daddy was "watching" the kids the other night while I ran an errand and when things became quiet he went on a search for Weston and found this:

And after Weston got caught he did what he always does when he knows he is in trouble or has done something naughty:

So, other then cute kids and fun times not much is new around here. Mark is almost done with his 8-day work streak and we are so glad! Weston had to go four whole days without seeing his Dada and it was rough for him! We're so grateful for our kids and how fun they are and the love they have for each other and us.

Christmas and Such

Okay this is going to be long. But I swear I must have the cutest kids in the world because I seem to be getting some seriously cute moments caught on camera lately. I'm not biased at all. Sorry for the different sized pictures. I didn't realize I had it on large so some are huge and some are not. =)

We had a great Christmas. Now that we're back in Idaho we really do have 12 days of Christmas it seems! Since we have three families between the two of us we spend a day here, there, and everywhere. We went to Mark's dad's the weekend before Christmas and that was lots of fun. Then Christmas Eve was at my parents house. Here are all the grandkids in their jammies. My parents always let us open one present on Christmas Eve and somehow it always happened to be pajamas! (I think I was about 10 or 11 when I finally figured that one out. Ha!) Anyway, now they do the same thing with the grandkids.

I helped my mom make my dad a quilt this year. I guess I should say she helped me. =) She did a lot of the cutting and helped me tie it (or attempted to) but even better were the perks like a new blow dryer and a box of diapers to show her appreciation for me doing all the sewing! Anyway, my dad had to take medical retirement recently after too many years to count working on busses for ISU. So we used his work shirts and pants to help make this quilt. I think he liked it but he's kind of hard to read. Ha! At least now his 16 pairs of pants aren't going to waste!

We did a little nativity at Mark's mom's. Saydi was baby Jesus and we tried to get Weston to be Joseph but as you can see - he didn't like it very much!

Here's a picture of Saydi and her favorite thing about Christmas. She seriously chewed on a plastic wrapper (with very close supervision, I promise) for 20 minutes on Christmas morning.

This was our Christmas morning. I got this bike from the lady that I visit teach with. And wouldn't you know it - it was the only thing Weston played with all morning. That and some balls that Mark got for his stocking at the dollar store. So we could have seriously spent $1 on Weston and he would have been satisfied. That's what we get right?

We had a super Christmas morning. Mark got me some great gifts and we enjoyed having a lazy day at home in our pj's all day. Something we haven't been able to do for a long, long time.

I took these pictures this morning and had to put them up. I love how much my kids love each other. Weston loves to hold Saydi and always asks where she is when she's napping. She likes to sit with him too but not nearly as long as he would like! And I really did try to get Saydi's fist out of her mouth but nowadays that is where it always is. If she doesn't have something else to put in there she shoves her whole fist in. Literally.

So now the holidays are over and we have to get back to every day life. I have enjoyed the hustle and bustle this year and am sad to see the season go but am grateful for all I have and for the chance to get to clean house, take naps, or maybe even read again!

Time Flies!

Saydi turned six months old yesterday. It's hard to believe she's already half a year old! Our life was complete chaos the first few months but now we don't know what we did without her. She is so precious. In fact, that has become her new nickname. Daddy is pretty good at picking them. Although, I do feel guilty because we call Wes "Fussy" and Saydi "Precious". Both names are honestly meant with all the love in the world!

These are some of my favorite things about Saydi:

- She is the most ticklish baby I've ever seen. You can touch her anywhere and she will jump and squeal.

- Her tongue is CONSTANTLY out. It really is too big to fit in her whole mouth but she also loves to play with it. If she just sees something she wants to taste she will stick it out, even if the object is clear on the other side of the room.

- She snuggles. Every time I pick her up she squeezes her arms around my neck and buries her head in my shoulder.

- Her scrunchy face smile.

- She bounces and kicks and goes crazy whenever anyone gets close to her, in the hopes that she is going to be picked up.

- Her brother makes her laugh harder then anyone else can. She adores him and her favorite thing to do is to have me help her chase him around the house.

- She is petite and tiny, like girls should be! Wes was already in 9-12 month clothes when he was six months but Saydi is barely in 6-9 and can still fit in some that are 3-6 months if they are bigger.

We love you so much Saydi and you have been a welcome surprise to our little family!

Weston's 2nd Birthday

On Thursday (the 10th) Weston turned two! I can hardly believe it. He's such a special part of our lives and I can't believe he's only been here for two years. Before I put some cute pictures of his day up I wanted to list all my favorite things about Weston so that I'll always remember what a fun, and good boy he was when he was only 2.

-He is so very patient. If he can't figure a toy out he will work at it forever and never get frustrated.

-He is so obedient. Sometimes if he does something naughty and I'm holding Saydi or my hands are full I will tell him he has to sit in timeout and he will go there by himself and sit in his chair in the corner.

-He asks permission for things already. When I'm feeding Saydi he will come in her room with me and say "I want books" or "I want toys" and look at me and wait for me to say yes or no.

-He is a neat freak already like me! He doesn't like cake or cupcakes because the frosting is sticky and he doesn't like it when dirt or crumbs get on his feet. He loves to play with this bear on Saydi's changing table but I keep the wipes in front of it. He will set the wipes on the floor, get the bear, and then put the wipes back without even being told to do it. He likes for things to be in the right place.

-He adores his baby sister. He is always so excited to see her in the morning and after naps and he frequently wants to hold her and refuses to let her go, even if she is uncomfortable or crying.

-He loves to have both Mark and I with him. Whenever one of us puts him in the car he repeatedly says, "where's dada" or "where's mama" because he's very concerned that we both be together.

I love absolutely everything about my little guy but those are some of my favorites. He is truly special and I know now why Mark and I had to wait for two years to be worthy of adding him to our family. We love you so much Weston and are so glad you are our son!

From this

To this! (This is his new scrunchy face that he makes all the time)

Couldn't pass up the opportunity to post this picture of him. This was in the morning when we were getting ready to take Hannah and Hallee to school. He loves his boots and people comment on them everywhere we go. He refused to take the sunglasses off too.

We got him a little shopping cart. My sister gave him her girls' old one and it was his favorite toy but got broken. So we got him a new one (that's a little more boyish too) and he loves it.

I was trying to explain to him to blow out the candles - which he then did all by himself! I didn't even have to demonstrate. What a smart kid.

He doesn't really like cake so I thought we'd try cupcakes this year but he didn't really like those either. =)

Wes had a pretty fun day. Mark built a fort with Hannah and Hallee the night before (they stayed with us because Sarah had her baby on the 9th!) so he watched his new favorite movie, Toy Story, from the confines of his fort. He thought that was pretty cool. During his nap I decorated the house and wrapped his presents. He was really excited to get up and see gifts and balloons everywhere. We played until Mark got home and then we took him to McDonald's where he wolfed down a ton of chicken nuggets - his favorite. Then we drove out to Iona and watched that house that has it's lights synchronized to Christmas music. Weston LOVED it and I'm sure we'll go back again. After we got home we had cupcakes and presents and he played so hard. It was a fun day and I'm really looking forward to Christmas this year now that Wes knows there are fun things under all that paper!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

This post is going to be huge but I'll try to keep the boring words limited. Life has been so busy lately. And so fun! We've been doing lots of fun things and I've been slaving over my sewing machine which I have also loved. I'm not a great seamstress but I am really enjoying all the little projects here and there. My sister and I made stockings this year. I liked the ones Mark and I had so I just made them for Weston and Saydi. I really like how they turned out though and now I want to make some for Mark and I next year. =)

My sisters and I had our annual Christmas party. The highlight of which, for me, is always the dollar store gag gifts. You wouldn't believe what you can find for a dollar! Here are some of my faves:

Amy in the swim cap Mark and I found!

Miss in the dinosaur hat!

Sarah's "ginormous" tooth brush!

And Mark got silly string. Which led to this. It was so much fun and we are always laughing when we have this Christmas party.

The other great gifts were a giant comb, a shampoo shield, a harmonica, and an air horn that lights up. (Which we found out is much more effective as a child caller. "What's that noise? I wanna see!") We really missed Becky this year but luckily we got to have her kids there. So much fun!

Some other highlights of the night were when Mark put Weston's Mr. Potato Head glasses on Saydi. Hilarious!

And I loved the way that Saydi cuddled with Hannah all night. It was so cute.

This is a picture of Miss in the apron that I made her. Isn't she cute? =)

And I can't forget to include this lovely picture of what Weston does when he's left unattended on the toilet. Silly boy. I can hardly believe he is going to be 2 on Thursday! I'll have another big post of that day I'm sure!

So life is crazy but oh so fun. We have a lot going on this week too that will be "blog worthy" so I'm sure I'll have more posts soon. I love this time of year and am so glad to have such great family to share it with.

A Sneak Peek

We got some updated pictures this weekend from my AMAZING friend Jackie and she sent me a sneak peek that I am dying to share. She is incredible and I highly recommend her for any photography needs. Thanks Jackie!