Monthly Check-In: March

So I slipped a bit on the raw foods this month, but we did have color every day. Leilani had raw fruits and vegetables in every school lunch, so I was pretty good on that front. I made an outline for my book, I decided that would be a better way for me to write - keep me on track and all that. I started working out more seriously towards the middle/end of the month, trying to work out a bit more often. It helps that the weather is finally getting nice again. Hopefully I'll notice a difference in the way I look and feel soon *smiles*

Writing:15

Workouts:20

Raw Foods:25

Color in Foods:31



Both girls had doctors appointments, and we got a referral to get Leilani tested for SPD, ADHD etc, I can't wait to get help so I can help Leilani. I got mastitis around the middle of the month - hot flashes followed by chills, achiness like I had the flu, (thank goodness it wasn't the flu!) - I had a nice bacterial infection, which meant antibiotics. The first day was brutal - I was so sick from the meds, it was terrible. Natalia got diarrhea thanks to the meds. Basically, there were pros and cons - it got me all better, but it left both Natalia and me a bit nauseous.

We went to the Museum of Aviation for the Women Fly! event, celebrating women in flight. They were taking girls up for flights, so Leilani got to go up (I went with her). Leilani had a blast. As we were taking off, Leilani declared that she "wasn't afraid of heights" and as soon as we leveled off, she changed her mind. I think it was more the straight, level flying that bored her, because as soon as we did some banking and a teeny "dive" she was loving it!

The next weekend was the Daddy-Daughter Candyland Ball, Leilani had a Cinderella-type dress and Jeremy wore his dress blues. Leilani had a blast and wanted to "go back there everyday!"

I got Natalia a little walker so she could start walking forward instead of sideways using the couch. She's been pretty unstoppable since.

Leilani's gotten in to Star Wars (this is one happy momma!). We've started reading the young Boba Fett series out loud and we're watching the Saga in order (minus episode one, since mine's all scratched up and won't work). Leilani's super excited about that.

Next month is Leilani's sixth birthday, and she has decided she wants her own birthday party, so on her birhtday we're going to use some Strawberry Shortcake plates and all that I found at Goodwill for $2.50 (fantastic price, right?) Then the Saturday following (which is the weekend between the girls' birthdays) I'm planning on us going to the mall and Build-a-Bear, going out to eat and just having fun.

I started my spring cleaning Easter weekend. Pulled out all the spring/summer clothes and put away (most) of the winter clothes. I had the girls try on their swimsuits - I had gotten Leilani a green, white and pink tankini last year, but she was too small for it so I wanted to see if it *finally* fit. It did! She wore it most of Easter afternoon. Natalia has a teal and pink-purple Dora one we were given. The girls LOVED being in their suits, so I filled up my big tub and let them "swim" for a bit.

We had a good Easter. Started off the day with an egg hunt (pictures to come later after I get them downloaded on to the computer) and cinnamon rolls. Then we watched Veggie Tales: An Easter Carol. For dinner I made baked sweet potatoes, green beans, a Field Roast (which is vegan) and crescent rolls. Now I have to figure out what to do with the leftovers tomorrow :). Something April Fools-y, of course :).

Happy Easter, everyone!

Yoga, Veganized Comfort Food, and Short Walks

These new yoga books are fantastic. Leilani has done two pages (a is for airplane and b is for butterfly). She does not want to do one pose a week, she wants to do a new one every day! And Natalia's been having a blast with Itsy Bitsy Yoga - yoga for newborn-24 months. She's loving the fun playtime it brings and the stretches make her feel good. I can tell, because she keeps doing them and has the happiest, most content little look on her face *smiles*. Those books were some of the best things I could have bought.

Now, on to comfort foods. I've been wanting chocolate (twix, thin mints, reese's, mac 'n cheese, cheesy potato soup, etc). So, I've been veganizing them. I found a homemade twix recipe that I'm going to work on veganizing either later this week or next week. I discovered how to make the most amazing baked mac 'n cheese, I made thin mints today (and they're amazing) and I'm going to be making the potato soup for dinner today. The bread is in the oven and the pot is in the dishwasher. I'm beyond excited. Tomorrow I'll let you know how it turned out :)

Natalia and I have been taking short (20 minute) walks around the neighborhood. Natalia LOVES sitting in the stroller (we're to the point that the Moby isn't really working anymore, she's kind of outgrown it, so I'm going to have to get the Onya carrier). Meanwhile, she's enjoying the stroller, being outdoors, seeing the trees and birds, feeling the sunlight. I'm enjoying walking around and getting some exercise, even if it's just a few minutes here and there.

So, basically, we've been having a pretty good week, and I'm looking forward to the rest of it - more walks, yoga and yummy foods.

The First of February

So today, to help me along in my no-yell challenge, I made this:

I went to Wal-Mart and found a frame on clearance, got some orange paint, glitter and ribbon. I painted the frame, glittered it up, made a bow and glued it on. Then I put some pink colored scrapbook paper and used the glass as a dry erase board and wrote "Raise your words, not voice. - It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder."

After Natalia woke up, I put her in the stroller and we went for a little walk around the neighborhood. Only about twenty minutes, but it felt great and Natalia LOVED it. My new mantra is "even a small workout is better than no workout." Sometimes I feel kind of like "why should I work out, I can only do it for a few minutes" so now, I'm just gonna do those few minutes. I also bought a baby yoga book for Natalia and a Yoga ABC coloring book for Leilani - we'll do a new move each week and she'll get to color it in, too. I'm really excited. I've been wanting to teach Leilani yoga for a while and now I think I've found a good way to do it.

I had to go get a few things for Super Bowl Sunday...we'll be going over to some friends' house and obviously we'll need some vegan options. I got some vegan burger crumbles, daiya cheddar, salsa and tofu (to make my own vegan sour cream), and I'm going to try to make a dip my brother used to make all the time. It was fantastic and I can't wait to vegan-ize it. I'm also going to try veganizing one of my favorite soups sometime next week - cheesy bacon potato soup. I made a soft cashew cheese I'm going to use in place of the cream cheese, I have smoky tempeh crumbles (in place of the bacon), and soy milk powder to make the heavy cream. Anyway, back to Super Bowl Sunday - I'm also going to make chocolate chip cookie doozers. I'm pretty excited. Tomorrow, Leilani and I will be baking up a storm :).

Tonight we made one of Leilani's favorites - tacos! I use TVP (instead of buying veggie crumbles, it's so much cheaper!) and we used crunchy shells since Leilani specifically requested them. Also, Leilani's school is doing a Read-A-Thon and Leilani needs sponsors! We're going to read 20 minutes a day for the whole month of February (since, ya know, we don't ALREADY do that - averaged out, anyway) for a total of 560 minutes for the month. She's going to read at least five of those minutes, then I'll read the remaining 15 or less. Hopefully, by the end of the month, she'll be reading most of it. That's my personal goal, anyway.

Tomorrow, it's on to baking!

Monthly Check-In: January

Number of days I did each resolution:

Workouts: 15

Writing: 21

Color in Food: 31

Raw Foods: 31

I know I missed quite a few days of writing, but we had some major computer problems and I couldn't get the computer to do anything but turn on. The mouse pad didn't work, it took a good half hour for everything on the desktop to pull up, then after you clicked on whatever you wanted, it took another half hour for that to pull up, too. Then it didn't even work. So I printed off the pages I had and now I'm writing long hand in a notebook. We've been having lots of color in all our foods, and usually a smoothie every day (hence the raw foods *grin*).

I know I haven't blogged much, well, at all, this month, so a quick re-cap is in order - Natalia can now climb up all the stairs, she's standing for a good 10+ seconds, loves to eat, has two teeth, crawls like it's going out of style and keeps us on our toes. Leilani is reading amazingly well, is spelling lots of things phonetically (I like mome [mommy]), drawing amazing pictures (my personal favorite is of Rapunzel locked in the tower with the bad guy who locked her there, and Leilani's there with a ladder to do the rescuing instead of waiting around for a prince to come do it for her - I LOVE that!), and constantly beggin for hot lunch at school. Obviously, hot lunch isn't an option, not only does it cost about two and a half dollars a day (!), but it uses animal products. Fortunately, the school sends home the months menu at the beginning of the month, so I've started trying to make her lunch be something similar to what is being served. So far, she's loving it.

Jeremy's mom came in for a week. Leilani loved having grandma around. I have to admit, she kind of tried to use grandma - having grandma do things for her she's been doing forever. But isn't that what grandparents are for, spoiling the kids? Rachael and I did some shopping and lots of talking. Fortunately, we have the same views on diet and we both knew things the other didn't, so we expanded our knowledge :).

I'm going to finish off this post with pictures from the past month. They're all out of order, but they're there :) Enjoy!

helping Leilani do her homework while nursing Natalia

Leilani got the sharing bag again!

Leilani made dinner

in the matching aprons Rachael and Rosey made for us all.

crazy hair day at school - Leilani wanted blue hair :)

the dolls my auntie Lee got the girls for Christmas

tea party!

Leilani fell asleep on the way to the airport, so grandma kissed her while she was asleep :)

I put Natalia down for the night and went to brush my teeth and get ready for bed. When I came back, I found her like this.

eating breakfast "together" this morning

Natalia's sensory play - a ziploc bag inside another ziploc bag, filled with shaving cream and some food coloring. Natalia's been loving it.

a bit fuzzy, but you can sort of see her two bottom teeth

Winter Break

We didn't do too much over Winter Break, I bought stuff to do crafts, but we never got the time. Leilani and Jeremy did a lot of working on the bed, I did a bit of cross-stitching, and Natalia became a fantastic crawler. There's NO stopping her now. She goes anywhere and everywhere. Watching her is a full time job!

Leilani's favorite thing is going out with Jeremy and working on the bed. Jeremy's had to work a few times the past few weeks, and as soon as he gets home, she's begging to go out and "chomp wood". The other day they were working on the hearts in the shutters. Nearly all the cutting is done, then Jeremy will assemble to make sure it all goes together as it should, disassemble, paint, then reassemble.

We've discovered a few new shows, so we're *finally* off Dora, Diego and Wonder Pets. Thank goodness. I don't think I could have stomached another episode of those. Now she watches Super Why!, My Little Pony, Pound Puppies, and her newest find - Horseland.

Natalia has stood for a few seconds at a time, and taken a few steps while holding onto the couch. I can't believe she's eight months old already! She's crawling all over the place non-stop, anything she sees that she wants, she makes it over there in seconds flat. She's also not distractable anymore - if you try to switch out something she shouldn't have for a toy, she gets awfully mad and lets you know it.

New Years Eve, I was the only one who stayed up, not by my choice, I assure you. Leilani made it to 11:45, and Natalia made it to 11:59 (that's why I was awake, she was nursing). Jeremy conked out before any of us *grin*. We had homemade vegan pizza rolls, white pizza dip, whoopie pies and fudge

I made some nuggets and hot "wings"....I made cutlets, then cubed them, breaded them, then on some of them I brushed hot sauce. I made some vegan ranch dressing to dip them in, too. It was super delish, if I do say so myself.

Jeremy flew out to go to his grandmas funeral, and the girls and I stayed home. We went to the store to get groceries, then spent the weekend hanging out at home. Movies, dishes, playing together, cuddles, it was nice and relaxing. On Friday I did laundry and Natalia throrougly enjoyed watching the clothes tumble round and round. I think it was a bit over-stimulating, but it was so adorable, her amazement at the colors whirling around, unable to touch the water she saw. She stood there for a good 5 minutes, just watching, until she got tired and plopped down onto the floor.

Leilani has a new favorite hobby - vacuuming. Since I told her no vacuuming could be donw until the living room was cleaned, she now randomly picks all of Natalia's toys up so she can vacuum.

Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning, we cuddled a LOT. As we sat on the couch, all together under a blanket, Leilani leaned over and kissed Natalia on the cheek. So Natalia leaned over with an open mouth and touched Leilani on the cheek. So the girls had this adorable little "kissing game" going. Leilani would kiss Natalia on the cheek, so Natalia would "kiss" Leilani on the cheek. Then this morning we all cuddled in bed for a good twenty minutes, playing and talking, when Natalia leaned over me to Leilani and kissed her. It was so sweet. Leilani's been pretty spectacular this weekend - we've had much less yelling and toy pulling than usual. Instead of disciplining Leilani (timeout or consequence) I just started loving on her, so she started loving on Natalia. We had a bump this afternoon, when Leilani got mad at Natalia so took away a toy and I had to explain that Natalia's only 8 months and doesn't understand, now she's just sad you took away her toy. Leilani gave the toy back and we all moved back to our happy place. We're all much happier when we just be nice to each other, obviously.

Merry Christmas!

Leilani woke us all bright 'n early. Well, not too incredibly early, really, but she was unwrapping presents at 7 o'clock. Natalia slept through Leilani's unwrapping. Leilani loved her gifts, but her favorite was the snowglobe. She's been asking for one for a few months now, so when I saw a plastic, unbreakable snowglobe, I knew I had to get it for her. Of course, she thinks Santa brought it :). Leilani also got a LeapPad, it has a camera and everything, just like an iPad, so she's pretty excited about that!

Both girls got train sets: Leilani's is a battery operated My Little Pony one, and Natalia's is the Disney Baby train. The trains have gotten more play time than all the other toys combines. Natalia got a toy laptop instead of a LeapPad. They each got puzzles and books, lots of little things in their stockings and got each other some fantastic gifts - Leilani got Natalia a talking lunch basket and Natalia got Leilani a Backpack kit with Map, a bracelet and fake phone. Natalia got a shape sorter and Leialni got a Minnie Mouse dress-up doll. I got Jeremy a book on General Custer (his current obsession) and he got me the Harry Potter Complete 8-film Collection.

After gifts, I popped breakfast in the oven. I was so excited - sticky pecan rolls. But not everything that I make can be a homerun - it wasn't very sweet. I made the recipe exactly as it was written, but I think if I make it again, I'm going to tweak it. Dinner was a much better success - vegan roast with veggies, and garlic mashed potatoes. After dinner, Natalia took a nap and Leilani watched some movies. I steamed the Christmas Pudding. Once it was done steaming, we poured some brandy over it and lit it on fire. Leilani was so excited and Natalia was mesmerized by the flames. I pulled out the reindeer rootbeer I made last week. Just IBC rootbeer decorated to look like reindeer. Brown pipe cleaners twisted around the top for antlers, googly eyes and a poofy red ball for eyes and nose. Leilani was super excited, both to have soda and at the decoration :).

Last night, between movies and bed, we tracked Santa's progress and Leilani got a phone call from the big man himself. She was so excited! We also did every single action rhyme I know. Leilani and Natalia had a blast with it and we had to do most of them twice.

Hope you all had a fantastic Christmas!

Christmas Eve

Happy Christmas Eve!

Today we've had lots of fun - Leilani and Jeremy did some more cutting on the bed project, I did some cooking (yummy dinner, but more on that later)and we -hopefully - started some new Christmas Eve traditions.

Our dinner was one of our pre-vegan favorites, remade to be vegan, obviously. Scrambled tofu, biscuits and vegan sausage gravy and hashbrowns. I made the potatoes in the oven since I don't have enough frying pans and I needed my one for the tofu. I found the MOST amazing scrambled tofu recipe ever - everyone ate it up! Finally, a tofu recipe the whole family loves! Even Natalia chowed down on her plate full of food. I made the sausage this morning, then used the drippings for the base of the gravy. For the biscuits I used the "bisquick" I made a month or so ago. Leilani ate her entire plate, plus more potatoes. When I find a meal that the whole family will eat, I know I've found a winner.

After dinner, we watched some Super Why!, well, Leilani watched, I played on the computer and started dreaming about a vegetable garden. Then we went upstairs and I gave the girls a "Christmas Eve bath"....I put green food coloring in the water and some Johnson and Johnsons cold bath stuff in there so it gave it a sort of woodsy smell. Then I tossed all the characters from the Veggie Tales nativity play set and let the girls play in there for a while. Natalia screamed at first, but after I got in and held her, she calmed down and played for a good 15 minutes before I figured it was time for her to get out. Leilani stayed in for a bit longer.

We put out the magic reindeer dust Leilani made at school after they were done bathing and we were all dressed in our Christmas PJs. We also put the key and poem on the door so Santa can get in. We're going to spend the rest of the afternoon and evening watching Christmas movies and later we're going to make popcorn and hot chocolate and have some cookies, too.

Everyone, have a Happy Christmas!

Advent: Day 23

We pretty much just chilled all day. Jeremy did some more work on the bunk beds, I did some stitching on one of the stockings (I haven't forgotten about Natalia's birth record, I'm just taking a break and working on another project for the time being). Leilani started her needle craft today, she had enough fake money saved up for it, and I gave her a "Christmas discount" too. It took her almost all morning, but she got a whole row and a half done. She kept saying "I'm not good at this mommy" and I kept reminding her that I wasn't fast when I stated either, that we get better the more we do something.

Natalia "helped" me do my cooking and baking today - we made chickpea tomato soup and grilled cheese for lunch and a pecan pie for Christmas. Mostly, she just tried to grab everything and eat it or knock it over. Leilani "helped" Jeremy with the bed, which really means, climbed all over the wood, used the pencil to draw on the wood and ask questions. I think the way kids help is really kinda cute. And they're little for so short a time, I really am just trying to enjoy each minute.

Our gingerbread cookies from yesterday were a huge hit - we ate quite a few of them yesterday, so I hid them so we'll have enough for Christmas Eve. Natalia LOVES them, she ate an entire leg. More like gummed it, then it came drooling out of her mouth and kinda looked gross.

Leilani drew a lovely picture - a smiley face with ginormous eyes and the words "I see" printed above it. The only problem I have with this picture is its location - the bathroom wall is NOT the place for masterpieces to be drawn. Oh, and it's directly across from the toilet, so the picture WATCHES you.

Today's activity was reading the story of Jesus' birth. Yes, I know this is no where near His birthday, and originally not even close to a Christian holiday, but it is nice to remember His birth.

Tomorrow we're going to do our Christmas Eve box - new PJs all around, little stuffed animals for the girls, then we're gonna have popcorn, cookies, eggnog or hot chocolate and watch a movie together.

Advent: Day 22

Today, for our Advent project, we made gingerbread men. Our vegan recipe is super yummy and we went all traditional and used raisins for the decorations. I think Santa's going to be getting gingerbread cookies under the tree this year. Leilani had so much fun pouring the ingredients, sifting the dry ingredients and mixing them all together.

While we were mixing and measuring, Natalia was playing with Jeremy - she was in a serious daddy-mood this morning. He had to hold her constantly or she got M-A-D. It made me giggle - evil, I know - since he got to experience a bit of what I go through every day. I love Natalia, so don't get me wrong, but she just does NOT like to be anywhere but in someones arms. As a baby, she has that prerogative, I know, but that's why the floor doesn't get swept and dinner's not made - no using a knife while holding a baby! She finally settled on the floor and did some zombie-crawling, pulled a couple ornaments off the tree and then grabbed my leg.

After Natalia released him, Jeremy went out to the garage to get everything ready for his huge DIY project - this amazing bed. Leilani is beyond excited. He's going to be the girls' hero for years to come for making this thing. It's incredible.

Last night, our Christmas light hunting lasted maybe 20 minutes. Natalia fell asleep and Leilani was just done. We had bundled them up in their PJs and went out with high hopes. But alas, this area really doesn't do much in the way of Christmas lights. It was a rather sad showing, but Leilani did enjoy seeing the lights we saw. After we got back, Leilani had some cookies and watched a snowman movie that wound up scaring her, so we switched to Super Why. She finished the snowman movie this morning and wasn't nearly as scared - I think last night had something to do with being tired. Natalia stayed asleep after we got home, and then woke up a little after seven and didn't go back to sleep until 11:30 - used to be that was no problem, staying up that late, but I'm officially a mommy - I was ready for bed hours before she was. We danced, played with some puzzles, watched Elf, had some cookies and read some stories.

Advent: Days 20 & 21

I'm not much feeling like writing, but I want to put these two days down while they're still fresh, so I don't forget.

Friday we played Christmas Bingo - Leilani was super excited, she filled her entire card. Natalia mostly just tried to eat the cards.

Today's is going Christmas light hunting. We'll be heading out to do that in the next half hour or so.

Advent: Days 18 & 19

Yesterday our Advent package was paper snowflakes! I found some templates on Pinterest and the idea to use coffee filters. Since we don't drink coffee and my dad left a bunch, we only have a ton of coffee filters. Today's package was another book. Yesterday and today's packages kind of got jumbled into today, as all we did yesterday was open the package. Leilani and I made some snowflakes before she went to school, and while she was at school, I made a bunch more and hung them up above the TV. Leilani was enchanted when she got home from school.

Leilani's been a bit worried about how Santa's going to get in since we don't have a chimney, so I found a "Santa Key Poem", attached a bow and key to the card I wrote it out on, and Christmas Eve we're going to attach it to the door. We're also going to sprinkle the reindeer dust out that Leilani made at school a couple weeks ago. She's very excited about that.

We all have colds over here, so we have the humidifier going with the VapoSteam stuff in it, meds galore, and sniffles, coughs and watery eyes. Not much fun, but thank goodness for those boogie wipes. I always thought they were a waste of money and just some goofy thing, but they're the only thing Natalia doesn't scream at having wipe her nose. And I don't blame her, they feel at least a bajillion times better than kleenex!

Advent: Day 15

Today we went up to Seattle. Leilani was super excited, Natalia not so much at the prospect of a long car ride. Fortunately, she fell asleep. We stopped at a little road side coffee shop and got coffees (Leilani got a chai tea, which she said upset her tummy. Which is weird because she usually LOVES chai tea!) Our first stop was at Whole Food - I haven't been to one is so incredibly long, it was awesome. We got some tempeh (which I can't find anywhere in our town), almond yogurt, rice cheese and lunch. Natalia ate off my plate - she had some curry paste/sauce off my "chik'n" salad, rice out of my dolmas, and yogurt. Leilani loved eating all her food (and some of mine and Jeremy's)...she had sesame marinated tofu, and some of Jeremy's chickpea salad. I love that my girlies love to eat so many different types of cuisines and flavors.

From there we went to the Children's Museum....Leilani said she didn't hate it, and didn't love it. She said she liked playing in the theater area, the market area and the rock climbing area. After that, we went up to the food court where a dance academy was doing a performance. It was acrodance, and Leilani said "that's what I want to do!" Fortunately the dance academy here in town specialized in acrodance.

While we were in the foodcourt, Leilani got some cotton candy and we found a little vegan cafe - they had puff pastry!!! I got a smoked yam tart, Jeremy got a tomato tart and we sort of split a roasted pumpkin dish. The next time we go up to Seattle, we're going to their actual restaurant.

When we got home, Leilani took a bath, then opened up the Advent package, which we'll have to do tomorrow. So tomorrow we'll be building a gingerbread house and our 16th day...should be nice and busy.

Advent: Day 14

Leilani woke up feeling so much better. She went to bed really early and all that sleep really helped (isn't sleep amazing). Anyway, I gave her some more meds and she went to school. She really didn't want to miss school.

Leilani opened the Advent package before school. She was a bit confused because it was two pine cones. I explained that when she got home from school, we'd spread peanut butter on them, roll them in bird seed and hang them up outside for our feathered friends. She was quite excited.

After dropping Leilani off, Natalia and I went shopping. It took an hour, but I got everything on my list (YES! I remembered it!) except the two things Super Wal-Mart didn't have - dates and currants to make the Christmas Pudding. I hate WalMart, I really do, but the price is right and it's mostly a one-stop shop. I had to get Natalia a highchair, the kind that you put on a dining chair, since we could never find the missing part to Leilani's old highchair. Natalia seemed to enjoy sitting in there with her food.

Leilani loved it too, because they could eat a snack side by side.

I love it because now Natalia can actually feed herself, do painting, etc and be contained.

Our Advent project got derailed. I cannot find the bird see ANYWHERE. But I bought some plaster ornaments for Leilani to paint and wrap for her teachers. She's quite excited and can't wait for Monday to take them in. So even though it wasn't our original project, she's still having fun.

Advent: Day 13

We finally got our truck back, so I could drop Leilani off and I'll pick her up this afternoon. I'm really quite excited to be doing that again :). When I picked Leilani up, she looked miserable. If she's not feeling better by morning, she's probably going to have to miss tomorrow. Her nose is running like crazy. We went to Wal-Mart to get the milk for our hot cocoa (it's National Hot Cocoa Day!) and Leilani fell asleep on the ten minute car ride to the store.

After dropping Leilani off, Natalia and I came home and Natalia took a nap (I watched How I Met Your Mother and worked out our Holiday menus and a corresponding shopping list). After Natalia woke, we went to the library, came home, read and watched some Backyardigans. Natalia loves the colors and music. I think they're super cute and like the songs.

Our Advent package today had a book - A Charlie Brown Christmas. As I was reading it, Natalia crawled! She wanted the book, so did an actual crawl to get to it! I rewarded her by letting her have the book when I finished reading it. It's a board book, she she can't really destroy it *grin*.

Advent: Day 12

Leilani had to ride the bus again today. She looked so tiny climbimg on to the bus. Fortubately she seems to enjoy riding it. Natalia and I snuggled and played all day. Well, except for when Natalia napped. Pretty much, it was just a lazy day

Leilani's Advent thing today was writing a letter to Santa. I can't get the scanner to work, but hopefully later I'll be able to add it

She wrote:

Dear Santa,
I made presents. We have magic dust for your reindeer. I love you. From Leilani

And drew him a picture of a reindeer. It's really cute, and hopefully I'll be able to get it up soon :)

Advent: Day 9

Leilani is loving school again. I cannot tell you how happy that makes me. The kindergarten workbook I bought her is her new favorite thing to do, even over watching movies! She's been doing math, social studies, science and writing all day. And she's having a blast! We finished the Magic School Bus chapter book today. Leilani loved learning about the Solar System - as we taked about the Voyager space probe, I told her that her cousin A, G and L's great-grandpa worked on the Voyuager's systems and that it just left our solar system the other day. She promptly declared that she wants to build one. I told her she can do anything she wants to, if she puts her mind to it :) She also read me two stories today!

Our Advent project today was making salt dough handprint ornaments. Natalia wasn't very cooperative, but we managed to get both girls' handprints. I was going to dry them in the oven, but changed my mind and we're letting them air dry - that way we don't have to turn the oven on and can save on electricty *smile*.

I finally got a decent night's sleep last night, and my three-day headache seems to be subsiding. Finally. I'd almost forgotten what no headache feels like.

Advent: Day 8

Today, we had an indoor snowball fight. There was a picture circulating on Pinterest, and if you follow the link, it's to buy this indoor snowball fight bucket. So, instead, I scrounged up a bucket, found some old, mismatched socks that I stuffed full of stuffing, and - waalaa! - our own indoor snowball fight, for free. Leilani liked getting to actually throw stuff in the living room, but I think she had more fun disassembling the sockballs when she was done throwing them.

So far, so good - Leilani's been brushing her teeth, keeping her playroom clean, making her bed, putting her dishes in the sink, doing her homework and being kind for three days straight now. All to earn some fake dollars to buy real stuff with. She already knows what she's saving for - a needlepoint kit I got for her. Initially, I was going to put the kit in her stocking, but I thought she might appreciate it more if she had to work for it. She's bound and determined to get it, so she's cleaning her playroom as I type this. Fingers crossed that I found the secret to helping her learn to take responsibility, clean up after herself and learn about money all at the same time.

And one last thing - I LOVE her going to school! I could kiss her teachers (not literally, but I'm pretty excited here) - Leilani read me an entire little story. She sounded it all out, and read it to me. Super short, but the main thing is - SHE DID IT BY HERSELF!!!! I'm so proud, I'm going to share the whole story with you, and you can pretend she's reading it aloud to you *grin*

Dan and Jan
Dan ran.
Jan ran.
Dan ran fast.
Jan ran as fast as Dan
Dad can see Dan and Jan.

My little baby's learning! It makes me so happy, and reinforces that I made the right decision in putting her in school!

Advent: Day 7

Today was another accidental-sleep-in day. Oops. But after a rushed get-out-the-door, we made it in time. I have to stop this sleeping in on accident. I looked at the clock at 6:30, and the next thing I knew, it was 7:20. So I either need to get up earlier, or get everything ready the night before so I'm not running around like crazy.

After we dropped Leilani off, Natalia and I went to get some milk. Leilani has started taking an individual sized thing of chocolate soy milk every day, and dirnking most of it, so who am I to stop her from drinking some milk?

When we got home, we did some cleaning, cooking, vacuuming, cuddling, reading and playing. Natalia scooted backwards across the floor and sat up - under the tree! She looked so cute, sitting there, trying to grab the ornaments.

Then Natalia took a nap and I did some cross-stitching. I'm *still* working on Natalia's birth record, but doing just a little bit a day, I'm actually seeing some progress. And I have our Christmas stockings on their way, so I'm just adding to my project pile.

Leilani was so incredibly excited when I picked her up today - she got the sharing bag! She's supposed to bring in something to show the other kids, write down some clues and keep what's in the bag a secret, then have every one guess what's inside. She's been talking about the sharing bag since her first day, so this is huge to her. She's taking Mater, so we're going to work up some clues to write down.

Once we were home, Leilani opened today's Advent package - homemade red and green playdough. Natalia wasn't too sure what to do with it, so left it on the floor between her legs, leaned over and bit it. Needless to say, her playdough playtime was over. Her face was priceless, kind of like "feels weird and tastes disgusting!" Leilani on the other hand, flattened it out and put her footprints in them. Then she was done and had her snack.

Advent: Day 6

We all accidentally slept in this morning - we had around 30 minutes to get ready to go, and Leilani can take that long just to eat! We did get out on time, and got Leilani to school in good time. Natalia and I came straight home, had some breakfast, cuddled and then Natalia took a nap.

I came up with a payment system for Leilani to do chores - everyday she does her chores, she gets a fake dollar, and I have small toys and things she can "buy" with her "money". I put all the little odds 'n ends in a drawer and now she can start to learn the how work = money = getting things. Also known as the value of a dollar. I'm quite hopeful that this will motivate her and get her excited. As soon as I explained the system to her, she put her dishes in the sink and ran off to brush her teeth again, make her bed and make sure her play room was all cleaned. Of course, she got a bit sidetracked by the legos,(yesterday she made the Great Wall of China, and today I heard her say she's making the Eiffel Tower) but I'm still hopefull. After all, it's only 4, still time for her to play *grin*

Today our Advent package contained a book: I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown. Leilani was so excited, she wanted me to read it twice! We're also reading a Magic School Bus chapter book. And, when I went to the library yesterday, I picked up a few books she can help me read.

Advent: Day 5

Today was late start Wednesday. I usually try to do a special breakfast, but this morning, instead, we made more cake batter fudge. On a whim, when I saw an empty ice cube tray, I decided to use it to harden the fudge in and then I wouldn't have to do any cutting and would have even portions - it worked great! You can just pop them out like ice cubes, and there aren't any more uneven pieces *grin* I also made some bread dough for dinner tonight.

Our Advent package today had a clear ornament, a marker, and some glitter. We put the glitter into the ornament, and used the marker to write the year and some of the highlights from the past year on to the ornament. It was kind of a hodge-podge of ideas I saw on Pinterest and growing up. Leilani had a blast helping me remember big events.

Our "short list" of things we did:

Niagara Falls
Florida
Cleveland Zoo
Columbus Zoo
USS Cod
Cleveland Aquarium
Natalia was born
Marine Week Cleveland

After Natalia and I dropped Leilani off at school, we went to pay the water bill, then to Wal-Mart to get some allergy meds and warm clothes for Natalia. She only had one pair of warm pants that fit her, and two sweaters. Now, however, she has 4 warm outfits, 2 sweatpants, 2 new sweaters, house shoes, and fuzzy snow boots. I got Leilani a new sweater, too, so she and Natalia could have matching black sweaters with unicorns and hearts on them; and they now have matching house shoes. Leilani was pretty excited to see that when she got home. Natalia and I also went to the library and put lots of Magic School Bus books and movies on order. They're Leilani's new favorite things, and I like that they're teaching her science :)

Today in class, Leilani made the December calender with the school schedule.