A Few Funnies

Just thought I would share a few funny Norah stories.

First of all, she has decided she was her name to be spelled N-O-R-A.  She leaves off the H all the time - on purpose!  

She got a little frog tatoo somewhere this week and wanted me to put it on her.  She decided she wanted it on her left ankle because "that's where Daddy's is."  She also told me that she is going to take showers from now on because then it will stay on forever!  She thinks Kevin doesn't take baths because he doesn't want his tatoo to come off.  Ha!

Toddler Theme Thursday - Hands and Feet

We had a hard time getting going this morning with all the excitement in our community.  If you read Heather's blog (I seem to always reference your blog, Heather - but you are better about posting current happenings than I am), than you already know what went on this morning.  Kevin stuck around longer than normal this morning because traffic was back up all around our house for several hours due to police check points.  Because the news kept encouraging residents to stay in our houses with our doors locked - our outside activities were not going to happen.

By 10:30 the suspect was in custody and we were able to get on with our lives (I was glued to the TV all morning while the girls played/bickered downstairs.  

On to our theme:  hands and feet

We read Here are My Hands, God Made You Nose to Toes, and From Head to Toe - 3 favorites of mine and the girls!!

The weather is beautiful here so it was a perfect day for painting outside with feet.  We are running low on our paints so the girls used pink, purple, green and yellow - which don't look so great when smeared together.   Norah tried hard not to mix the colors - Lucy, on the other hand, tried hard to mix them all over her paper! 

Inside the house we played a hand and foot twister - the girls giggled the entire time!  I had cut out hands and feet the same colors that are on my color die.  I rolled the die and the girls had to put a hand or foot on a cutout of the same color.  Then I would roll the die again and the girls would put the opposite (hand or foot) on a cutout of that color.  This game was a great way to assess Lucy's knowledge of colors - she did great!  

We also practiced some of the gymnastics moves (the ones that involve using hands and feet to move) that Norah has learned over the past couple of years - crab walk, donkey kick, caterpillar walk, bear walk and monkey jumps.

That about sums it up for us today.  Check out Teaching Tinytots at Mommy School for other participants in this weeks toddler theme challenge. 

Camping

If you read Heather's blog, then you know we went camping this weekend (okay, Kevin and Norah camped. Lucy and I joined in on the daytime fun).  Those of you who know me well, know that I don't love camping, but I will go ocassionally because Kevin loves it.  We have probably camped 3 or 4 times in our 8 year marriage.  I have actually thought that God gave me little girls so I wouldn't have to camp very often - I know, dumb.  Kevin has reminded me SEVERAL times that growing up they camped with families who had girls.  I do love hiking, eating camping food, and roasting marshmallows - but I don't really like sleeping in a tent.  

Anyway, Kevin and Norah had a great time!!  As Heather said, the sun didn't come up at 5 - so Norah slept until 7 or so both mornings.  This is a way better time to camp than in the summer because the kids were able to get a normal night sleep and it wasn't hot!  I also think have Savannah there made a HUGE difference for Norah!  They play so well together and let's face it, there are just some things that are more fun with friends.

Lucy had fun while we were there - she didn't want to leave either night.  First thing Saturday morning Lucy was begging to go camping again!  She was concerned that the other kids might eat all the marshmallows.  

If you haven't checked out Heather's post - check it out.  Her pics are way better than mine!  Here are a few though.

Doing Nothing Monday

I am REALLY lacking motivation to do anything today!!  The girls are at MDO and I have a million things I could be doing - but I'm watching Rachel Ray and blogging instead!  We have our small group Bible study at our house tonight so I cleaned the kitchen well last night.  I need to straighten up the living room and vacuum, but I also should organize the girls summer clothes that I have put away - they are just thrown in a big box.  I also need to print off pictures from, oh - the last year or so to scrapbook!  I would love to get caught up before the baby comes - is it possible?

I am totally using the excuse that I'm pregnant - I need to take it easy, right? 

A Week in Review - Penguins!

So we actually spent over a week on penguins - only because last week was a rough week (not sucking fingers and having a garage sale). Norah's favorite activity was our science experiement.
She learned about a variety of penguins and where they live. She was surprised to learn that some penguins live in Southern Chile (her Aunt Denise is from Chile). She can identify Antarctica on the map and can name atleast 2 species of penguins living there.
Norah and Lucy pretended to be emperor penguins carrying an egg (beanbag) on their feet while they waddled around. I should have taken a video because they were hysterical!!
Norah is anxious to move onto kangaroos.

Cooking With Norah

I am a little behind on my cooking with Norah posts - so this will include 2 different things we have made.

Yesterday Norah and I made a yummy coffee cake called Blitz Kuchen - it is a recipe from my grandma and is very yummy. Part of the reason we made this was because it is more than just mixing ingredients together (like all the muffins we make). I showed Norah how to separate the egg whites from the egg yolks. Then we had to beat the egg whites and fold them in. Norah was quite fascinated with the whole process. 

Blitz Kuchen

Cream together:

1 c. sugar

1/2 c. butter or margerine

Add:

4 beaten egg yolks

2 1/2 c. flour, sifted

1/2 tsp. salt

3 heaping tsp. baking powder

Add:

1 c. milk

Fold in:

4 beaten egg whites (stiff peaks)

Pour into a greased 9 X 13-inch cake pan.  Sprinkle with walnuts and a mixture of cinnamon and sugar.  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.  

After baking Norah asked if she could help with the dishes! Umm, of course! She said, "We always have to clean up our mess in the kitchen when we cook." Good girl!

Another favorite at our house is pumpkin bread!  

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Bread

1 c whole wheat flour

1 c sugar

2/3 c all purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp. ground cloves

1 cup canned pumpkin 

1/2 cup egg substitute

1/3 cup water

1/4 cup canola oil

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

In a bowl, combine the first 8 ingredients.  In another bowl, combine pumpkin, egg substitute, wather and oil; mix well.  Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.  Fold in walnuts.

Pour into a 9x5x3-in loaf pan coated with nonstick cooking spray.  Bake at 350 for 60-65 minutes or until toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.  Cool for 15 minutes before removing from pan to wire rack.

Thursday Toddler Theme - Bears

The theme for today is bears/Corduroy.  

We started our morning by playing bear hide and seek.  I hid the bears in the basement last night and then the girls sat on the step and I gave them clues using position words - under something, beside something, on something, etc.  Lucy went first - her bears were totally out in

 the open - I was just checking to see if she knows her position words.  Norah's were hidden very

 well so she really had to listen for her specific clues.  We may try this again tomorrow and I will let the girls give each other clues.

We read Corduroy and then did a button counting activity.  They both had a piece of construction paper that I had folded in half length-wise.  I drew 2 vertical lines on the paper making 3 squares.  I wrote a number in each square.  The girls had to cut (I still help Lucy a lot with her cutting - but she is doing really well!) on the black lines and then put the same number of buttons on the inside of the square as is written on top.  Lucy just had 1, 2, and 3.  Norah had 8, 11, 16.

Lucy sorted the bear counters - red, yellow, and blue.  Whenever anything is in a bowl, she likes to pretend to eat it.  So after she sorted, she stirred and "ate."

We read The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry and the Big Hungry Bear.  I have the felt pieces to this story - the girls loved retelling the story with these. (So here is where I was going to post a link to the website where I got them - but I can't find them so click here to see some of the other felt storytelling kits.  I also have Corduroy - but I'm going to get that out tomorrow)

The last thing the girls did was paint bears.  I gave them brown and white paint in the same tray and they mixed to paint to make a lighter brown.

For more toddler bear activities click here.