March Update (Lily 6, Clara 4)

March.....(to quote Ron Burgundy from Anchorman) "Well that escalated quickly I mean that really got out of hand fast." Along with everyone else we are social distancing and trying to stay home as much as possible. It does come with its pros and cons. For example: as someone who is an introvert, who likes to plan and has stuff stored all around the house for the kids to do.....this is fantastic!! On the other hand I do feel weird yelling "Lily! Clara! STAY AWAY FROM THOSE KIDS!!" when we go on a neighborhood walk. 

March started out like a normal month. We went to the park a few times, I took the girls to see a high school version of The Little Mermaid, went to a neighborhood birthday party and Lily started soccer. Then at her first soccer practice we got a message from the school board that school was canceled for the next day and soccer was canceled for several weeks. 

Lily is absolutely thrilled to be out of school. She loves being home ( hmm...I wonder who she takes after) and I'm worried that if/when school starts back up for this year we will be going back to square 1 after all the progress she made. Other than that she is really working hard on learning to read and doing math. I asked the girls what they wanted to learn about while they were home and they said: Disney World, hamsters, guinea pigs, turtles, SCUBA diving and underwater (thank's for FaceTiming with us Eliza), Volcanoes (today they were pretending to go hiking up Mt. St. Helens), dinosaurs, and the arctic. If anyone wants to FaceTime and talk about their cool job let me know. 

This month Lily loves:

-ABC mouse

-staying home

-warm weather

-checking out the bees with Pop

What Lily hates:

-not being able to go out an buy toys

Clara had a big week because she learned to ride a bike without training wheels. She's always done things a little bit before Lily so no surprise there. It did take her a little longer to figure out that if she keeps peddling she won't fall over and that she can peddle and turn at the same time. Clara has been doing pretty well with all the changes that are going on right now. Like Lily she also has "school work". She's been working on numbers and letters....mainly because Lily didn't think it was fair that she had to do all the work and Clara got to play.

Junior Bee Keeper Clara

Jr. Beekeeper Lily

what a brave girl

park time with Daddy...before Clara realized that Daddy was stealing her goldfish

Waiting for The Little Mermaid to start

Clara wanted to have a "Fancy lemonade party" 

after I told her that I didn't think she would like tea

neighborhood birthday party

Out to dinner (before social distancing).

 The girls were pretending to be waiters

Lily's one and only soccer practice so far

we learned about pets and the girls designed hamster cages

thanks for being part of our science experiment CJ

magic spoon science experiment

Other pics from this month:

a super hero came with me to the grocery store

her methods are a little unorthodox 

cleaning out mommy's car

how Clara watches TV sometimes

February Update (Lily 6, Clara 4)

February has been a fun month. We've spent a lot of time at different parks, gone to a few birthday parties and the girls have a new found love of soccer. When I signed the girls up for soccer I knew that Lily liked it from last year but I had no idea how excited Clara would be. We have played soccer in our yard every possible day (even when it was freezing outside). Another fun first for our family was the girls 1st trip to Chuck E. Cheese. We went there last Friday for a birthday party and I'm happy to say it has improved since I was a kid. No more keeping track of tokens or losing a child in the germ filled ball pit. Now if they could just get rid of that huge wall of neon colored junk that my kids don't need.

Lily has just been trucking along. She reached a big milestone when Clara and I surprised her on Friday to eat lunch with her and there were no meltdowns, tears or tantrums. She was really nervous about how she would react to seeing me at school but she did fantastic and proved to herself that she would be fine. Lily is also very excited to play soccer which starts in March. This is first year to have
practices during the week and be on an all girl team. While I liked the 30 minute practice/ 30 minute game schedule that AYSO has for their younger kids I know that Lily will enjoy getting to really know the girls.

What Lily loves:
-playing soccer
-Nutella sandwiches, Nutella crackers.....and just Nutella in general
-the app "Teach Your Monster How to Read"
-Odd Squad tv show

This month Clara is a perpetual motion and noise machine. Which is fine unless you are trying to get her to do anything that involves standing still and listening. Clara FINALLY got her cast off this month. Her cast has been on for 9 weeks and 2 days (the Dr counted....I did not). The doctor said it was the longest he had ever kept a forearm cast on a 4 year old. Clara's only restrictions are no trampolones/bounce houses until we go back for her follow up appointment at the end of March. Clara celebrated getting her cast off the next day at the park by hanging upside down on bars and by doing flips repeatedly. Mommy celebrated by having repeated heart attacks.

What Clara Loves:
-playing soccer
-putting on a shows
-flipping on the couch
-climbing
-jumping
-hashbrown casserole

Lily learns how to finger knit

the result: a beautiful headband

park time

 

spider monkey #1

spider monkey #2

Cast number 1 (got wet) comes off

Arm bone still cracked so....Cast # 2 goes on

Finally Cast #2 comes off

Lily is confused by animatronic mice

Other pictures from this month:

fighting over who gets to do the dishes....

I'll remind them of this when they're teenagers

Lily testing Clara's hearing

Clara testing Lily's hearing

Daddy started a new job and travels a bit more....

the girls want to join him.

driveway soccer

Family Literacy Night at the elementary school...

we met a local author

CJ helps fold laundry

Lunch with Lily 

"Daddy do you want some snuggle time?"