Mother Goose

After a preschool lesson based on Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes I was feeling nostalgic for the Mother Goose movie I grew up watching.  I called my mom to see if by some miracle after all these years and 3/4 moves she might still have it.  She said she'd look and then the next day she said the dvd was on it's way.  I can't tell you how excited I am to have this!  I can still hear the way they say the rhymes and I think it's because of this particular movie I still have many of them memorized.

A told my girls that Grandma Donna was sending us a new movie and at least once a day until it arrived they asked to check the mail.  The day arrived that it was in the mailbox and with excitement we sat down to watch it.  It was exactly as I remembered.  As the movie is from 1987 I didn't remember seeing the cord that lifts Jack over the candlestick and other things that make you remember your childhood like the puppets.

I found other websites that have more clips but I didn't know how to put it on here. Like this one that includes one of my favorites "Old Woman Tossed Up in a Basket" and you can meet the gander.  As I was looking for one to put on here both of my girls stopped to watch.  I'm happy that my girls can learn to love the classic nursery rhymes too. Their favorite is Little Miss Muffet. 

My 2 Girls

A couple Sundays ago the difference in personalities between my two girls was so apparent.  Ashley was practicing kicking a ball around the house while Rachel was coloring.  Mike took the girls outside and we set up a "goal" for her to try and kick it in. Rachel wanted to go out too.  In my mind she was going to go play.  Nope!

Ashley and Daddy played

Rachel drew and kept score

Eventually Rachel did go kick the ball a couple times and played goalie. Only because she loves her dad and wanted to play with him not because she was excited to play soccer.



Ashley is our active one who runs all day.  She'll stop to color but for a few minutes at a time.  Rachel already wants to be an artist and loves to paint, draw, color, and do crafts.  As different as their interest are they are friends and somehow manage to play for hours together without needing mom or dad.

Farm Theme

We had a fun morning learning about farms. We talked about the work that needs to be done and the equipment they needed to use.

We helped the farmer sort the animals. Farm animals we put in the barn for safety and the others were left out.

We die a roll-a-die graph to see how many animals the farmer had

We helped the farmer put the sheep back in their pens using tweezers.

Ashley still has trouble using tweezers, but she always tries.

She opted for her fingers.

But a farm doesn't only have animals so we sorted opened eggs (just because the girls love them) to see what was in it.

And sorted plants vs animals

We then talked about how somethings the farm produces stays at the farm and others go to a market. We did 2 worksheets to help a farmer get ready for the market by coloring a certain number of each fruit or vegetable and the other one had them put the same fruits and vegetables put into a basket by beginning letter sound. When we were finished Ashley excitedly said, "I did it, I helped the farmer!"

We used a puzzle to learn what animals on a farm produce.

Now that we learned about being farmers it was their turn to try being a farmer by going through an obstacle course.

1st we had to feed the pigs by moving a ball to another bucket.

Then they got on their horse (which actually belonged to Mike as a kid)

and rounded up the sheep (the balls)

Next it was time to lasso a cow (the bottle)

and lastly go in the hen house and collect eggs.

Our final activity for the morning was making homemade butter.

They got tired of shaking so I put on music so they could dance and shake

Here's our butter.

Here's the girls saying, "mmm" as they enjoy their butter on blueberry muffins. Ashley even has it on her chin.

They must have enjoyed learning about the farm because after they finished eating Rachel wanted to continue playing but Ashley wanted to be a princess. So Rachel decided that the princess was going to learn to be a farmer. Rachel told Princess Ashley Rebecca that she had to change her shoes and put on boots, gave her gloves to milk a cow, showed her how to collect eggs, etc. At nap time Rachel traded out Ashley's crown for a cowgirl hat and officially named her a Farmer Princess Ashley Rebecca and told her she had fun teaching her about the farm. Ashley said, "I did too. Can you please take off my boots and gloves?" She sat down and Rachel pulled the pretend boots and gloves off of her.

County Fair 2012

I decided to brave the fair alone on Friday morning. After I purchased the tickets I saw that the weather wasn't going to be as nice as we'd hoped. It was going to be windy and rainy. I figured oh well it's a morning out even if we only last an hour. I didn't bring the stroller because they are big enough to walk and I didn't want to be stuck with it. Of course we park next to another family getting out with a stroller and immediately the girls start complaining how their legs are tired and they want to ride in a stroller. I said to bad and if there legs are tired we'll go home. I never heard another complaint about tired legs.

Once we get in the gate Rachel sees the foot massage chairs and is so excited that she has to sit in everyone she sees the entire time we're there. This made me laugh because 2 years ago when we were here she was obsessed with the same thing. So I had to take a picture!

We went to the small animal pavillion where the girls got to identify insects, use a corn grinder to husk the dry corn and then take the corn and grind it to corn meal. They tried out a saddle, watched a sow and her piglets, viewed some chicks, and milked a pretend cow. They had no interest in the roosters or peacocks or other small animals that were in there.

So we moved on to the pig racing. The pigs race for oreos. I'd race for oreo's too. They had their youngest pig, Swifty, swim and then afterwards you could have your picture taken holding the pig. Of course the girls wanted to so I relented and paid $5 to have a polaroid picture of the girls and Swifty. I'm going to try an scan the picture, if it works I'll put it up here.

After the pig races we got corndogs for lunch and then funnel cake while we waited for the K-9 Frisbee Dog show to begin. The wind at this point had started and so they had to do the show a little different. They did some frisbee throwing but had 2 labs out at the same time to increase the odds of someone actually catching it. They did a great job. The girl lab after every catch would run to the large water tub and jump in it. The girls thought this was hilarious. The announcers finally had to dump the water. They brought out the 6 month old frisbee pups in training and let them have a go too.

Then it was time to head over to the Jr. Rodeo areana for the Mutton Bustin. This rodeo event is for kids 3-7 to see how can ride a sheep the longest. They are official about this event. There was a kid rodeo clown, real chutes, and had the kids in helmets, vests and chaps.

The final thing we did before getting Italian Water Ice was have the girls go for their first pony ride. Rachel loved it. Ashley was brave and didn't need me until after the first lap, then she was done. So they let me come in and walk with her. However they wouldn't let me take pictures from the inside but I found a nice lady who took a couple for me. Once I was inside and could distract Ashley for a minute then she was fine. She told me about the belt that she had on so she wouldn't fall and how she was holding on real tight to the horn of the saddle. She even leaned over to pet the pony's mane.

We had a very memorable and enjoyable day at the fair. I'm glad I braved it, that the weather held out for us (we didn't get any rain, some wind but that's all), and well behaved little girls. It made me want to do more things like this with them.

Easter Dresses

Egg Hunts

The girls went to 3 egg hunts this year; church, family, and MOMS Club.

Easter Surprises

Easter morning Rachel woke up first and stepped out of her room to find this.

The first thing we heard was, "oh, just one egg?" The disappointed little girl made her way to our room and saw our basket full of candy and walked in with tears. We asked what was wrong and she said, "The Easter Bunny only left me and Ashley (showing us both baskets) one egg and you guys got lots of candy!" Trying not to laugh and playing along we asked well what's in the egg. By now Ashley has woken up and joined us. So opened the eggs and found a note with a piece of candy. They read: The fun is about to begin. Go put on your clothes and shoes. Fin

d the eggs and follow the clues. The second note read: Think, think, think find a baby doll in pink. The girls followed their clues around the house each getting a piece of candy in each egg until they landed in the backyard to find their real Easter treat- Tonka Trucks filled with candy and sand toys.

Here's a collage of the hunt and them playing with their new toys.