February

I’m a little late in finishing my post for February…

Nathan took himself for a “Bear Hunt” for the first time; a story he truly loves.  He pat his hands on his knees like he was taking a walk, looked at the pictures to tell what would happen next and then do the action for it.  At the end when they find the bear and run away he would frantically “run” with his hands as fast as he could and tell the story backwards all out of breath and then he’d pause between pages as he figured out the next thing to pass on the way back “home”.  Then he’d “race” frantically again all out of breath until it was time to turn the page.  I love at the end when he reads “We’re not going on a bear hunt again” and then adds “until tomorrow”, a little something extra he picked up from Kaitlyn.  He loved this book nearly to death this month and it needs some tape.

We took a trip to the museum one afternoon.

The kids had a fun time playing in about 3 areas and left wishing for more time.

We made thank you notes this month for a birthday party as well as Valentines…

We had friends over on a day off of school.  They loved playing Hulabaloo until it wore them out.  They lined up to sit and watch Sesame Street for a few minutes at least.

Kaitlyn made fruit salad for dinner with some very very very large strawberries.  She was amazed at their size.  I helped her to use a sharp knife to trim the berries for the first time but I’m not leaving her to that task alone yet.  Haley gave the strawberries an attractive design in the salad.

Tristan enjoyed building this castle… originally his older sister had been inside of it as sort of an object lesson one Monday Night.  Then he and Lindsay had fun getting creative with it without anyone being inside of it.

We went to the zoo early one morning.  The giraffes walked right up to us… till they realized we didn’t have any food for them.  We saw the elephants being very active as well.  I think they liked the mild weather for February.  We saw both crocodiles and alligators.

Kaitlyn played a game of peek-a-boo with my camera.  She gets a little camera shy sometimes.

Nathan and Kaitlyn enjoyed the fresh air and seeing the hooved animals.

This large cat was VERY playful intently playing peek-a-boo with my son ducking behind this rock… a little too playful and maybe hungry as I thought he was going to try to have my boy for his lunch when Nathan ducked under the bar and started walking toward the fencing.  I yanked Nathan back by the hood just in time before he lost some digits to this creature.

We went to see turtles, fish, reptiles and manatees.  We left when the rain began near lunch time.

Nathan began in earnest to do bigger puzzles and loved the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears no matter which version he listened to.  He enjoyed alphabet games on his apple.

Kaitlyn showed up with a compass she’d made for self guided adventures.  I checked and she had the correct orientation on all her arrows!  And she made all kinds of signs for “Kaitlyn’s Book” or her room or her candy.

We played countless games of Cariboo at Nathan’s request.  He’s very good at following clues to the treasure identifying numbers, letters, shapes and colors and did a great job sharing the key and taking turns.  Then the play dough came out one day.

The clean up after the play dough reminded me that my friend is onto a good idea when she calls this an “outdoor” activity.  Ironically I did find a piece of grass in one of the containers.  I HAVE followed her advice before.  The kids had a good time with it and it helped pass the rainy morning.

Nathan worked on building towers straight up as well as like stair steps.  There was always a kitty nearby.

Signs up spring were lurking early before the middle of the month and we enjoyed looking for clues of changing seasons.