A special visitor

Last summer about this same time of year, we had a visitor come and stay for a week. This year she came back and stayed 10 days! Who is this special guest? My niece Bella! Her school gets outs really early and the pool and things aren't open so to fill some time and have some fun, she comes to Des Moines to hang with us. I try to make it as fun and full as possible. It can be challenging because fun to an almost 12 year old is different than fun for a 1 and 3 year old. Nonetheless, we found much to do and I think everyone had a good time.

Her time here happened to over lap with our churches big outreach event called, "Mission to the City."  It's basically a mission trip to Des Moines. The church does free car washes and oil changes, people go out and talk to people about Jesus, work on the church building and other churches. It's a great outreach. This year the stay at home moms got in on the action! We packed gift bags for the NICU and PICU families, sang at the nursing home and invited people to church at the lake. There were a few other projects that we opted out of. Bella really had fun being involved in the outreach. I think my kids were mostly oblivious to the fact they were doing anything for anyone else.

Sunday was a really great day. We packed up after church and headed to meet my in-laws at lake Panorama. Ollie had spent the night on Saturday and we were going to hang out and then come home later. The kids swam and went boating. Bella got to tube for the first time in her life. So fun! She made a new friend Ella and actually got to stay over on Sunday night. Jim and Mel brought her back on Monday.

With all the craziness, we did absolutely nothing on Monday. Bob was gone with Mission to the City a lot and I was tired and the boys were cranky. I believe Bella and I did have a pedicure/movie party after the kids went to Bed. We might have had company for dinner too. Hmmm. I can't remember. Maybe it wasn't really nothing. Just less than usual.

Nursing home was Tuesday and on Wednesday, I took the kids to our pool. It is an easy walk up there. The plan was to let me kids swim an hour and then head home and let Bella stay. I have to say I was quite nervous. But there is one turn on the walk and I went over it and it over with her. At the pool, the kids had a blast. Ollie had on his life jacket and loved to swim around and jump in. Dawson jumped and splashed repeatedly. By the time we left, Bella had found some friends to hand out with. I have to admit the locker room was a bit frustrating with my two wild men but we survived. And Bella found her way home! yay!

We had church that evening. Bella loved it. I have to admit the music was really awesome. There were probably 400 people or so there and every one was singing out. It was pretty moving. She decided they need a church like that in Lakefield.

Thursday was our last full day before Bella headed home. I called a friend and asked if I could borrow her girls and we headed to the science center. Bella and Rebekah had a great time together and REbekah's younger sister, Naomi, hung out with me and the boys. I think Bella and Rebekah spent the whole time building towers out of legos. The Science Center was the one thing Bella really wanted to do and I'm glad we got it in.


 We had water wars, movie parties, shopping outings, starbucks and loads of fun. I hope that this becomes a tradition. We would love to have Bella every summer!

Caterpillars and Butterflies

We had our last preschool co-op for a while just a few weeks ago. Yes I know I am way behind. Anyway, we did caterpillars and butterflies. We did some activities together and I had the boys do a couple later on our own. Some activities were very specific to the butterfly like it's life cycle while others just used the caterpillar to teach patterns.

 I had the kids do three homemade worksheets. For one, they were given a cut out of a leaf with an egg, a caterpillar, a chrysalis and a butterfly. They had to complete the life cycle by gluing the pieces in order. On the second sheet, I used our dotters (like bingo dotters) to create caterpillars. I started a pattern and the kids used the dotters to finish them. Ollie needs some work on patterns! The last sheet had half of a butterfly with a capital letter on them. They had to match the lower case letter by gluing the other half of the butterfly on.

Our next activity was a snack. I cut colored peppers, cheese sticks and carrots up. The kids used them to create a butterfly. It was a fun and delicious snack!

Our final project came from this month's family fun magazine. We traced the kids hands onto thick white paper and had them cut them out. Then, the kids used watercolors to paint them. The result was a really cool butterfly! I can't get it to leave my picture landscape. durn program!

I had the boys do two projects at home. For the first, I had the boys put pom poms, glitter and tissue paper into a ziploc baggie. Inside we also put 2 Corinthians 5:17: If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. We twisted a pipe cleaner around it to make antennas. They turned out so cute!

For our final project, I wanted ollie to work on patterns. I cut out different shaped circles and we made caterpillars with different patterns. Meanwhile, Dawson glued circles to the paper and we talked about their colors.

Mini Impromptu Vacation

Bob had his one business trip a year last week. I was less than thrilled. It worked out that Ollie had been asking to go see his friend Rylie who lives in Leavenworth with some great friends of ours that we met in NC. Unfortunately, Rylie got hand, foot and mouth a day or two before we were to arrive. I was bummed and dreading the days. My parents both work full time and with Lilah having leukemia we couldn't go there either. So, at the last minute on Wednesday before Bob was to leave for Minneapolis, the boys and I decided to go. Bob was a bit apprehensive since he thought I'd be annoyed when we didn't get to see him. Luckily, I had realistic expectations going into the trip and so it was an amazing time!

We are so blessed! On Wednesday evening, we had dinner with a couple of old friends--Jamie (best friend from high school) and Holly (we lived together in England). Unfortunately, I didn't take a single picture! IT was so nice to catch up. It's been almost a year since I last saw them at Holly's wedding.

Thursday was my designated "let's just hang out and see what happens" day. For those of you who know me, you know I often say, "Let's just throw it up in the air and see where it lands." It's like my motto. Schedules make me feel constricted. (I do, however, keep the boys on a good eating and sleeping schedule.) The only thing I needed to accomplish was to go to a store and get some supplies. To cut down on costs, we walked to a nearby Target and bought lunch stuff, snacks and a few necessities we forget. I also brought cereal and milk.

After Target we went to the pool. I brought Ollie's life jacket which was awesome! There is no way I could of had them both by myself in the pool. Their favorite activity was jumping in. Dawson would say, "Jump. Splasssshhh." When we got out, the boys walked back to the room and experienced the shower. This became the next best thing to the pool. I had to drag them out or coerce them with snacks and tv.

I'm not a big tv person. We don't watch much but while on vacation, I decided that I was going to let it go. If we were in the room and the boys asked, I turned it on. They pretty much got whatever they wanted the whole time. I am paying for that now but it was worth it!

Lunch was had, naps were taken and then we ventured out to find a park. We actually found 3 playground within about 10 minutes. The boys played and played before heading back to get supper at the hotel.


On Friday, we hit the Como Zoo. It is free! I love that. Ollie wanted to see two things: polar bears and wolves. Unfortunately, the wolves were hiding in the woods and those we couldn't see. He correctly identified the pygmy marmosets. Who knew? Dawson was thrilled to watch the "Moonkees and the mingos (monkeys and flamingos). On the way out, I told them each they could pick a toy. Ollie wanted an Andrewsarchus. Really kid? Where am I supposed to find that?! For those of you who don't know, an Andrewsarchus is a prehistoric carnivore with huge jaws. We didn't find one but he was satisfied with his crocodile and Dawson with his penguin. Luckily, they are young enough to steer towards a particular area so we kept the total under $10. After the zoo, we walked back to the car and ate lunch in the beautiful park. Then the boys played on the playground along with about a million other kids from some local schools. I was thankful for the bright shirts I had put o the boys!

Saturday was my favorite day. We were supposed to be meeting my parents with my niece Bella but unfortunately Bella got sick and they couldn't make it. Although the boys were thoroughly disappointed, we powered through. We had to check out of our hotel by 12 noon. We hit the pool one last time and then I packed us up and we headed to the Minnesota Children's Museum. It is fabulous! I absolutely love it. I was nervous because we couldn't pick Bob up until 5. I wasn't sure what to do about Dawson's nap. As luck would have it, he feel asleep on the way there and slept in the stroller for about an hour. They had so much fun. Ollie and Dawson starred in a music video, shopped at the grocery store and pet a rat. The rat really grossed me out but Dawson laugh and squealed and danced around he was so excited.

 Ollie made a friend while we were in Earth World. He and Johnny ran around and pretended to be every animal possible while Dawson splashed in river and played with a pretend salamander. They also both World Works. They pretended to work at a factory and sent blocks up the conveyor belt and stacked them on the truck. They also loved the water area. The worst part about the museum was leaving! It was too much fun.

It was such a great week. I love spending time with my boys and I hate the thought of them growing up. I don't want to miss a single moment.

Ollie's First Performance

Last Wednesday Ollie had his awards for Bible Buddies. Then sang a few songs and each got a certificate. In true Anderson (Mom's maiden name) fashion, I did not get him getting his award on video. My video camera ran out of space right as the teacher said Ol. That's right. Epic FAIL! Anyway, I do have him singing and of course he is the cutest one up there! Ha!

Randomness

So, I've really neglected the blog lately. My apologies. It's a busy life & I am dog tired. Because I've been neglectful, I have a plethora of activities to share. I'll share a few today and a few sometime soon, I promise!


Ollie and I did a Pterosaur measuring activity. We compared his wingspan to the wingspan of a Quetzalcoatlus &  Pteranodon. The Quetzalcoatlus has the largest wingspan of any Pterosaur
(or flying creature ever) measuring at 52 feet! The Pteranodon measures at 20 feet. To measure it we laid out a measuring tape and ollie ran yarn back and forth until we had the measurements. Then we measured his. We talked about wingspan and what that meant. Then we went outside and laid the yarn on the sidewalk. Holy Cats! Those guys were huge!

Dawson also gets activities although I am not as good about it as I was with Ollie when he was Dawson's age. It's tough with two though. Dawson does go to story time and do lots of art and a million unplanned activities so he isn't getting the shaft entirely. Here Dawson is sorting balls. I gave him several balls and containers. He experimented by putting them into the different containers. Eventually, it turned into throwing them at the containers but I say MOTOR SKILLS!

Quite often I modify one activity so both of the boys can do it. For Ollie I drew some big shapes on a piece of construction paper. He had to cut them out. His fine motor skills are really improving. It's exciting to watch! After he cut them, he decided to make a house from them. I had no intention of him doing anything other than cutting but I'm glad his little mind saw something in those shapes. He even took a scrape and made a flag!  For Dawson, I precut shapes. We talked about the shape and it's color as he glued them onto the paper. He loves to glue. Mostly he loves to shove his finger in them and pull out a wad of the stuff. 

I have a few more but I am ready to be off this computer! There is dinner to make and I believe I hear Dawson already!

You must read to the end to get a surprise!

Six weeks and one day ago, I went to an ultrasound appointment where they planned to check my cervix. Little did I know that this appointment would result in a crazy roller coaster. Nothing is wrong with my cervix but instead they said that the nuchal folds (neck) of my baby looked thickened. But unfortunately, they really can't evaluate that for another 6 weeks. Now for those who don't know, nuchal thickening is a sign of a plethora of chromosomal disorders such as Downs Syndrome, Trisomy 17, 18, 21 as well as heart issues. Now I really wasn't worried about Downs Syndrome. I know oodles of wonderful kids with Downs Syndrome. I was concerned about the fatal disorders.   At first, I really just decided they were being overly cautious and I didn't stress but the closer the follow up came, the more worried and stressed I got. I feel like I've been a wreck. We didn't tell many people because we didn't want to sound the alarms until we knew more. I think that made it even harder.

Now, I can say that my quiet times (time with God) have been amazing and got more so each day that the ultrasound came closer. I honestly walked in to my ultrasound appointment and told the Lord that no matter what happened, I trusted him. It was a long ultrasound because they had to do an echo cardiogram on the baby. It was a long hour. The tech couldn't tell us the results we had to wait for the dr. Painstakingly, we waited and waited. Finally, we were told our baby was perfectly healthy! What an amazing answer to prayer!

So,  I was so relieved that I went shopping today and bought a hot pink tutu and a couple headbands. Practical stuff huh? I thought it would liven up my cleaning routine. Just kidding. I bought these things because we caved and found out that we are having a girl! We weren't going to but with all the uncertainty, I thought more about knowing. It was a nice distraction. I feel so blessed. Not only did God answer my prayer with a healthy baby but he gave me the desire of my heart by giving me a daughter. A daughter. Sounds surreal and unbelievable. I can't wait to meet her!

Easter Activities

We started our week by talking about Jesus and his entrance into Jerusalem while people rejoiced. The boys painted white tissue paper palm leaves with water color paint. They turned out pretty neat. I was glad to find that idea online!

We talked about how Judas betrayed Jesus by telling the leaders where Jesus was in exchange for 30 coins. I cut 30 coins for each. We counted them aloud. Ollie punched holes in his and strung them onto a piece of yarn to work on hand eye coordination and fine motor skills. Dawson simply glued them to paper. Neither boy used all thirty.

On Wednesday, we hosted an Easter party. I will so a blog on that separately. To prepare for the paper, Ollie and Dawson helped me to make egg shaped cookies. There is a lot of symbolism behind the egg. We talked mostly about how when the eggs are empty they represent the empty tomb because Jesus is alive!

On Thursday, we did two things. First, the boys, nana and I dyed eggs. What a disaster! I have to say that it was not my proudest mommy moment. I was a lunatic. First, Ollie tried to eat one of the dye tablets because he thought it was candy. Then, Dawson dumped the vinegar out onto the table. Ollie continually picked up the dye cups and sloshed them around. Dawson took a bite out of an egg--shell and all! OH MY WORD! At one point I think I said, "This is supposed to be fun!" haha. Lesson learned. Tell them what will happen before you set dye on the table dumby!

While Dawson napped, Ollie and I created a tomb scene. I found this idea on Confessions of a Homeschooler. For complete instructions, go to the link above. I scaled down the size of ours. I bought a much smaller plastic tray for the bottom. I used half of a plastic egg for the tomb. Ollie was a mad man with the grass seed which he sprinkled on top.

 Today, the boys and I made a blue construction paper Jesus to put inside the tomb. The rock is now in front of the tomb. Guess who won't be inside the tomb on Sunday morning?