Dinosaurs- Mommy School

Our "Mommy School" theme for the past 2 weeks was Dinosaurs! Here is what we were up to...

Theme: Dinosaurs

Shape: Triangle

Rock Sensory tub with Dinosaurs! So much fun!

Decorating a Stegosaurus with triangles and crayons. 

Hatching Dinosaur Egg:

Books that we enjoyed:

Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs by Byron Barton

Stomp, Dinosaur, Stomp! by Margaret Mayo

My First Jumbo Book of Dinosaurs (Little Scholastic)

Bones, Bones, Dinosaur Bones by Byron Barton

Dino Bites! by Algy Craig Hall

As you can tell, we really did not go all out with this theme. Life has been busy, busy!!

Some other cute ideas I wanted to do, but we did not get to:

Dino Fossils
(picture and recipe from icanteachmychild.com)

Dino Feet
(abirdandabean.blogspot.com)

Weekly Instagram pics:

 /1/ Weston fishing. LOVE this adorable activity my sister made for him! Colored/numbered felt fish.
/2/ Hanging with Gaga. Thanks Gaga for letting us spend our days with you!
/3/ Little Miss Chatterbox. She is cooing and smiling so much!
/4 &5/ Bath time with a 6 week old and 2 year old can be challenging but I think we've got the hang of it!
/6/ She likes being propped up so she can watch her big brother play :)
/7/ He is obsessed with rain boots.
/8/ Playing with Easter eggs can him busy for hours!
/9/ Reading with Daddy
/10/ Shaving cream fun while Mommy organizes the craft cabinet. NOTE: if you decide to do this, make sure you put a mat down over your table. The shaving cream took the finish off my table. :(
/11/ She's 6 weeks old. Slow down gal!
/12/ Blanket fort
/13/ It took lots of willpower not to buy all of the candy at the creamery! Loose the baby weight, Meg! I think I can, I think I can!
/14/ Helen is ready for Saint Patty's Day!
/15/ Exhausted.

Life is good...

Life is so good. 

Even though I complain about the days that we have nothing planned, I end up really enjoying those special moments with my two little loves. 

Weston is getting excited for the Easter Bunny to visit our house. On Monday I got out the Easter decorations. I'm not really into decorating for the holidays. Maybe it's because we have such a tiny house and we really do not need any more things sitting around. So I put out two glass bunnies on the shelves, hung paper rabbit garland that I made last year, and poured out a bunch of plastic Easter eggs for Weston to play with. Oh and hung an egg wreath on the door. Good enough. The eggs have been keeping little man busy these past few days.
This weekend, Chad and I plan to take the kids to sit on the Easter Bunny's lap. Weston, Helen, and I went to the mall on Wednesday to buy him new shoes and we saw the Easter Bunny. Weston loved seeing him and saying "hi", but did not want to get close to him. So hopefully we can talk him into sitting on his lap! So happy today is Friday! Happy Weekend :)

/1/ All bundled up and headed to Gaga’s house. She made the beautiful grey sweater for her too!

/2/ Me and my Helly. I am rarely in any pics with them so I have to take a few myself!

/3/ Sensory table fun during our Dinosaur theme.

/4/ My little girl is 5 weeks old.

/5 & 6/ Chocolate Buttercream frosting. YUM!

/7/ Sleepy little girl in the morning. Thanks for staying up all night kiddo.

/8/ Chunky faced smile. :)

/9/ Dizzy bucket head kid. We laughed so hard.

/10/ Guess I should have put the goldfish in a bowl instead of giving him the carton.

/11/ Jay picked a hole in all of the styrofoam Easter eggs. He thought he could get the babies out of them!

/12/ She’s actually not crying in her car seat.

/13/ Weston’s Stegosaurus

/14/ “Where is Helen?” I heard Weston say. I walked in to him making a big pile of finger puppets on top of her face.

/15/ Jayden holds Helen. What a nice big cousin. 

Freezer Meals

Before Helen arrived, I stocked my freezer with lots of homemade soup, casseroles, and cooked meats. Well the day has come and all of my freezer meals are gone! :( 

We had an icky, rainy day this week so I decided to get my bum in gear and try to make some more meals for the freezer. I love, love, LOVE pulling out a meal from the freezer in the morning and know that dinner is already completed for the day. With two kiddos now things can be very hectic. 

Freezer meals I made this week (click on the links to see full recipe):

Chicken Noodle Soup

Maple Dijon Glazed Chicken

Chicken Broccoli Alfredo 

Life Via Instagram

/1/ Decorating a paper bag house during our construction theme last week
/2/ Baking Banana Bread
/3/ Perudo is the perfect color sorting game! I think Weston knows most of his colors now! 
/4/ Yeah... I ate 3 mini loaves of banana bread all by MYSELF!
/5/ Helen sleeps in our bed in the morning while we are getting ready for the day. She snores like an old man. 
/6/ Helen and I put the boys to work on Saturday. Thanks Daddy for vacuuming and Weston for "fixing" the chair. Again.
/7/ She's a lil model. Love the rug in their bedroom. AND of course that sweet little face too.
/8/ Helen meeting her baby cousin Lila. They are only 13 days apart!
/9/ Tire tread painting. Weston even decided to paint his work trucks. Now its another daily activity. Every night I am scrubbing dried up paint off of his trucks. 
/10/ Playdough boulders and dump trucks!
/11/ Helen is 4 weeks old. PLEASE stop growing so fast!
/12/ Weston thought his tractor would make Helen happy. Guess not. 
/13/ Weston checking out the window for birds and Mr. Squirrel. Love the morning time with my kids. 
/14/ OMG I could eat her up. Especially those little legs of hers.
/15/ The creamery is one of Weston's favorite places. He couldn't quite see the ice cream flavors so he climbed his way up!

Mommy School- Construction theme

Theme: Construction 
Letter: D

Monday
Book- Jack's House by Karen Magnuson Beil
Art- Paper Bag House

Tuesday
Book- I Drive a Dump Truck by Sara Bridges
Art/ LA- D is for Dirt
Sensory Activity- Playdough Dump Truck Hauling

Wednesday
Book- I Drive a Bulldozer by Sara Bridges
Tap Tap Bang Bang by Emma Garcia
Art- Tire Tread Painting

Thursday
Books- I Drive a Backhoe by Sara Bridges
Building a House by Byron Barton
Sensory/Activity- Oatmeal Construction Site
Song/#s- Johnny Works with One Hammer

Other books that I wish I could have found at the library if my kid wasn't ready to run away and if the other one would have stopped crying...

The Construction Alphabet Book by Jerry Pallota
Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site by Sherri Rinker
Tough Trucks by Tony Mitton

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Monday night, Weston, Helen, and I made some scrumptious Chocolate Chip Banana Bread! 
My hubby works pretty late and usually does not get home until around 7:30 in the evening. By 5:00 I am done. DONE! I am usually drained and ready to collapse on the couch, but with a toddler and infant there is no way that can happen. So I try to make our afternoons eventful. That way it goes by faster and before we know it Daddy is home!
Monday morning I went grocery shopping for the first time with two kids! I brainstormed the night before how I would manage it all. There were two grocery carts with the car in the front of it. Thank goodness! Weston "drove" the car and Helen was in her car seat carrier in the cart. I tried to fit her carrier in the seat of the cart, but for some reason it would not fit. Maybe the car carts are made differently?? So all of my groceries had to be piled on the seat of the cart. Good thing I only had to get a few things! The trip was very successful. Helen slept the whole time and Weston stayed in the car in the front of the cart. However, I have decided I will be ordering my groceries online and picking them up (Shoprite from Home) for the weeks I have a larger grocery list. It only costs $10. So worth it!
After dinner on Monday Weston asked me if we could bake cookies. Instead of cookies, we decided to bake banana bread instead. Like I said in previous posts, Helen loves to be held all the time. So she went straight into my Ergo baby carrier and we all worked together to make this yummy bread! It was a lot of fun! It made four mini loaves of bread and we are already down two loaves. I am the ONLY one eating it. Great. So much for losing the baby weight. 

Cloud Cupcakes- Baby Shower

This past weekend we celebrated my best friend who is pregnant with her first child! She is due at the end of April. Her husband and her decided that they are not going to find out what they are having... it's killing me that I do not know what it is!! I think she is having a boy, but a girl would be great. Helen and her could be best friends! Anyway her shower theme was hot air balloons. I ordered these adorable invites from Etsy. 

Her mother made the most adorable hot air balloon centerpieces out of mini baskets and chinese lanterns. I was to make a dessert and wanted to do something related to the theme. Cloud cupcakes would be perfect! 

I took the easy way out and made the cupcakes from a box mix. The buttercream icing recipe I found online and it was pretty yummy! - Easy Vanilla Buttercream Frosting Recipe

PHONE DUMP