LILY-ISMS: April 2022 edition

Mommy, I'm so glad you brought a new movie into our lives so we could have new imagining buddies!

Referring to Lion King

My heart can't be un-grieved today.

Our neighbor's beloved dog passed away, and Lily was exceptionally sad.

She wanted to write a song about Cody, and Brad, very patiently, worked on it with her.

I just feel so much life in this song!

Listening to "Circle of Life" in Lion King

I'm making the lizards show the snakes what is love and caring.

Playing with little animal toys

Fox knee socks + sandals

They are drawn to him.

I can't remember what she was talking about, but I think it was in reference to characters in a book.

I'm DEVOURING this hamburger.

What's that strange noise like an elephant but able to use its trunk?

Maybe we should wear zebra attire.

Compy-clated : complicated

These shoes broke, and when I told her that we needed to throw them away, she wanted a picture to remember them by.

Around here lately: April 2022 edition

April was a fail for me, as far as recording Claire quotables went. Part of this is simply due to the sad fact that she's growing up, and part of this is due to the fact that my brain is overloaded most days and I forget things. So, please enjoy pictures, sans quotes this month.

Friends of ours got baby chicks

DJ-ing during family Encanto sing-along

Visiting Duke Gardens

Her favorite way to spend her time <3

March 2022: a recap

While Disney was a really fun and exciting part of March, the week following was decidedly NOT, as we had a family-wide stomach virus that dragged on for eternity.

When it was Hallie's turn to be sick all night, I grabbed all of our silicone bibs with the catch-all pockets and just held them under her face all night (emptying and rotating in between sicks, of course). This actually worked remarkably well and kept my bed (and Hallie and me) totally clean. I, as you can imagine, did not sleep that night. Once she *finally* got to where she could make it 20 minutes without being sick, I then used a baby medicine dropper to get tiny bits of water back into her system. Every 20 minutes from 2:30 until 5:30. Needless to say, the next night was my turn to be sick.

Brynn had kicked off the sick machine within 12 hours of getting home from Disney, and another family member succumbed about every 36 hours until it made its way through the whole clan. Super fun.

We laid around rehydrating and watching movies for days on end.

Well, I also did lots of laundry, cleaning and sanitizing, and delivering rehydration supplies and fresh linens to everyone. Moms can't get sick, you guys. There just isn't time.

Hallie's balloon hanging with us during the stomach bug

Finally on the upswing. Look! Claire's even wearing real pants!

After our Disney trip (a high!) was immediately followed by the stomach virus (a deep, deep low), we spent the rest of the month seeking a middle-of-the-road existence. Some equilibrium, if you will.

Matching for March Madness! I'm pretty sure this was in honor of Coach K's last game.

This guy was still standing tall two weeks later.

The Disney mug that the downpour forced us to buy. Filled with coffee that my lack of sleep forced me to drink.

Raided the recycle bin for some Fine Motor Skills Sensory Activities (i.e. practicing matching and putting lids on jars. I put a bunch of lids in the empty tissue box, they took turns pulling one out, matching it to the correct container, and properly twisting it on. I got the premise for this idea from either Busy Toddler or Days with Grey, and it's a really good one.)

Brad worked on the back deck, and it was enthralling.

Our buddy Miss Julie met us at the park for a play date on a Monday morning, which set our week off to a good start!

Evening devotions

The HOA had some baby trees put in the neighborhood. Much like Brad's refinishing of the deck, this was also very enthralling.

Three weeks out and still going strong. $16 well spent.

Even in the bathroom...never alone.

(almost) Four weeks out

Watching an ABC Mouse geography lesson

A surprisingly cold impromptu playground stop

Watching the soil settle in our Resurrection Gardens (for Lent/Easter)

Facetiming with grandparents

Some shots of a couple of Claire's Late Nights:

Learning chess with Brad

Color-by-number and listening to A Little Princess audiobook

Seriously...coloring with Claire and listening to/discussing some of my favorite books is just the best. Highly recommend. Also recommend: listening to anything read by Karen Savage on Librivox. Her readings are fantastic. And Librivox is free.

March: a month of high highs and low lows. And normal days in between. The days of our lives, y'all.

March school things

Following our Black History Month studies in February, we move into Women's History Month for March! It's always a big favorite around here, and we have found so many really fun books for our read alouds. I'll try to make a list here of our favorites some time; we're getting a really well-curated list going at this point.

Gran and Grandpa gave the girls subscriptions to Kiwi Crates for Christmas, so we have fun doing Kiwi Crates on days when we need a mood-booster.

We had a pirate-y themed one that was a BIG hit.

Keeping Brynn and Hallie occupied and engaged during our school days can be a challenge. Conversely, when I land on activities that are really exciting for Brynn, it can be very distracting to Lily, who then wants to stop doing whatever school activity she and I are doing in order to join Brynn. It's a tricky minefield at times. 

Often, I set up activities for the two of them to do together. As Lily is still learning to write, we do a lot of hand-strengthening and fine motor activities, and Brynnie can totally participate. Play Doh is a favorite.

For Christmas, we gave Brynnie some fine motor toy/tools (large tweezers, scoops, tongs, etc.) and a big bag of craft pom poms. She will often play with these for quite a while! One of her favorite games is sorting by color.

Hallie likes to play neatly and quietly, as you can see.

We also use the pom poms and tongs for sight word practice. I call out a word, and Lily uses the tongs to put a pom pom on the right word. This has been a favorite of hers.

Gran and Grandpa gave Brynnie this mosaic board for Christmas, and it's been a very popular school day activity for her.

Sometimes, Claire plays with Brynnie while I work on things with Lily.

Just a few shots of our days. Some days look cute and calm like these pictures...but sometimes they involve a lot of whining and interrupting and complaining that "there's nothing to do!" It's always a balance.

St. Patrick's Day

Ever since Claire was in preschool and they created them as a class project, she's super into setting up Leprechaun traps for St. Patrick's Day. We read Tomie dePaola's St. Patrick book for historical context...and then I let them create their traps with fairly free reign (as long as I don't have to be involved). Here's this year's setup:

Front door instructions

Leprechaun restaurant

Snacks, sugar, and glitter to draw the leprechauns in

We have really cohesive St. Patrick's clothing for some sizes, and we're a little more, ahem, thrown together for others.

My mom sends fun cards and decorations (and often socks) that the girls love and delight in, and I usually have some gold-wrapped candy (mini Snickers, anyone?) for everyone. I have no idea how long Claire will be interested in Leprechaun traps, but I'll let her make them as long as she wants to.