We bought a Halloween Video called Max and Rubi's Halloween, two little bunnies from the children's book series. It had several little Halloween/Fall stories. Her favorite was one called The Blue Tarantula. Max wants his big sister Rubi to read him a bedtime story about the Blue Tarantula. She thinks it is too scary for him. But he insists. She reads it to him and the he can't sleep.
So for the next two weeks at our house, everyone was trying to scare each other by sneaking up and saying"TARANTULA!"
Probably cuter in person than it sounds here.
She came up with a pretty cute witch laugh too. A wicked sounding "Wah ha ha ha."
My favorite though:
When asked to say the blessing on the food one Sunday afternoon, she said, "No, I don't like what you fixed."
Oh well, she's honest!
We went to the canyon for a cookout one night. Chad was trying to help her roast a marshmallow while trying to teach her to be safe around fire. With a little disgust, she said, "I KNOW how to do fire Dad."
Mom's latest favorite -
"Mom, I wasn't reverent in church today and the teacher said that she'd have to come get you to sit by me."
She was trying to carry lots of toys from one spot to another. Had her hands full. Said to me, "Mom, you're going to have to help me. I'm full of hands." Super Cute!
Has a favorite doll right now. She told us one day that she had named her doll - Banana Henry. We have no idea where it came from. So funny! Probably won't let her help choose a name for a baby brother or sister.
Playing a word game while driving one day. Pointing out things that are big, huge, enormous. She said, "Look mom, that building is "WAY"- normous. Love it!
Building Memories with Traditions
Fridays are ski days with Dad.
Grandma's Easter Egg Hunt!
Spring Break ski trip w/ family.
Plant a garden together.
July Fireworks party w/friends.
Family reunion at the Lake.
Pumpkin Carving Party w/ neighbors.
First snow, first snowman!
Cut down a X-mas tree.
Mondays = Library then lunch w/Dad.
Bedtime stories.
Girl talk before bed.
Make/decorate cookies on holidays.
House Rules
1)No Eating on the Couch
Had to make this one for mom's sanity, a four year old and a cracker on the couch, you get the idea.
Other than that we have just two simple rules that we think cover just about everything - Be Nice & Be Safe
So instead of having a rule about climbing on the counter, and a rule about jumping off the furniture, and a rule about staying out of the street. We cover them all with BE SAFE. Same with the NICE rule, it covers a lot. So far, so good.
Our First Pet
Named her Dorothy after Elmo's fish
Our Blueprint for a Happy Family
We are trying to help our little one learn about and develop faith in Jesus. Tools we are using to teach her are prayer, scripture study, and family home evenings.
To help us remember morning prayers we have a little rhyme. "We say our prayers before we go downstairs."
To help us read scriptures daily, we've put them right on the counter so they get read after dinner in the evening. Somehow, it still doesn't always work.
We've made Family Home Evening a priority from the time we brought our little one home and became a family. When she was just learning to talk she called it "fa nee nee." So cute.
A Day in the life.......
We're up and at 'em early at our house. Our little one gets up at about 6:30 everyday. We tried to adjust her internal clock by keeping her up later, but it didn't work. When she's a teenager and wants to sleep in, mom wants to too. Dad is off to work right about now. So us girls get to spend the day together. I love being a stay at home mom. Just being able to cook breakfast instead of rush out the door after cold cereal seems so nice. Although cold cereal is still on the menu.
After breakfast we start the "getting dressed routine." Our little one would stay in pajamas all day if she could. She doesn't like to get dressed or have her hair done. I like to hurry up, and she likes to go slow.
She loves to play school. And being a former teacher, I do too! So we do, everyday. Time to brag: she knows her colors, numbers, shapes, ABC's and how to write her name.
We also have a scheduled activity every morning too. One day we go to library/story time then have lunch with Dad. On another we have a neighborhood play group. One day she attends preschool, and another she has a dance class. Whew! Dad has Fridays off, so Fridays are for playing.
Around noon, we have lunch, read books, and then take a nap. Four and still napping? probably because she gets up so early! Afternoons are a combination of laundry, play dates with friends, housework, playing with mom, or running errands, whatever we can fit in.
Then Dad is home! She and Dad play and romp while I fix dinner. After we eat, we try to get in that scripture study. So hard with a four year old. Yep, I'm going to blame her.
We start bath/bed routines by 7:00, again because of the early mornings. After her bath we read books, have family prayer, and then it is my favorite time of the day. Dad or I lay on the bed by her and talk about our day for a few minutes. It is so great. I hope she still wants to do this when she's a teenager. It is fun to hear what her favorite part of the day was or her take on something that happened. Love it.
Mom and Dad get some alone time before we "hit the hay." Start over again tomorrow. Maybe she'll sleep till 7 or 7:30?