Date Nights!

Our monthly date nights with the girls are going well!  They have been *very* excited to find out what their dates will entail and really look forward to their special time.  We enjoy and look forward to it just as much (granted, we can't quite muster up the same level of manic excitement, but hey - excited!)

I recently had my February and March dates with Merrill.  In February, we had a low key date to go to a bookstore and pick out a book.  The girls had spent the previous night at Shannon's parents and after they got home and had lunch, we headed out to mall to go check out the books at Barnes and Noble.  It was pretty difficult!!!  Merrill found lots of interesting books and honestly, so did I.  It was so hard to choose.  So we looked around for quite awhile and explored the book section before finally settling on Marley and the Great Easter Egg Hunt.  If you are not familiar, Marley is kind of like of Curious George - he gets into stuff and it all turns out okay in the end.  Except he is not so much curious but rather kind of crazy and he belongs to a family instead of a dude with a yellow hat. Anyway, the girls love the books and it was very seasonally appropriate since it was about an Easter Egg hunt.  We also got a Strawberry Shortcake puzzle book. After we got our book, Merrill cleverly pointed out that we could walk around the mall and as we were doing so, wondered if they might have a play area.  So we headed over there for a bit and she had a good time climbing around.  After that, it was a quick trip to get a few things at Trader Joe's and we headed home.  (I just had my phone for a camera so unfortunately, not too many pics...)

Being silly at the bookstore!

Climbing things at the mall

For March, and just a week later, our date was to make pizza for dinner.  And not just any pizza - homemade pizza!  This was a date at home and a multi-part activity so we had to be a little creative.  Shannon took Millie and Teddy out to run some errands so that Merrill and I could have some alone time to get started. We mixed and kneaded the dough and gave it time to rise.  Merrill jumped right in and was really excited about the kneading.  I had to help make sure it was kneaded enough, but she did a great job.  While the dough was rising, we determined that there was ample time to make pancakes, so we did!  Merrill also decided to play with her dress up girls for a bit while I cleaned up.  Once the dough had time to rise, Merrill laughed at how big it had gotten and we kneaded it again.  It was around noon so we just set it aside for later and went about our day.  Once it was time to get dinner ready, we kneaded the dough once again (there was alot of kneading) and got the ingredients together.  Merrill helped spread out the sauce and put the toppings on.  She was super excited about the black olives!  We baked it and declared it to be delicious!!!!  We really had a good time to making the pizza - she has really come a long way in being patient and following directions.  I guess it helps that she has been making pizza at school so much.  (Sidenote - that was the night that Millie got sick - but no else did - so I don't think it was the pizza.  Whew.)

Mixing and sifting the flour

Getting the yeast ready

Mixing in the yeast

1st kneading!

Ball of dough

Dress up girl break!

Pancakes!

2nd kneading after the dough had risen

"I want to knead it by myself!"

Split into 2 balls for 2 pizzas

Ready to knead again after a few hours

3rd kneading!

Getting help from dad and supervision from big sister

Trying to give it a twirl!

Adding the sauce

Making the kitchen smell delicious...

The finished product!

Enjoying the end result!

Tonight, Shannon took both girls to Merrill's dance class, so I even got to hang out with Teddy for a bit.  We played and he had a bath.  He had a really fun time - he discovered kicking and splashing and went to town.

I am lucky to be able to spend so much time with these little monkeys and I am looking forward to my next date with Millie - a road trip to a nearby town to be determined!  Also looking forward to my next date with my wonderful wife (time, date, place, etc to be determined - the aformentioned monkeys are keeping us pretty busy to say the least.)

Just Dance

UGH

We were so close to making it out of the winter season without anyone getting the pukies.  So.Close.  Last night Millie walked into our room around 11:30, woke us up and spoke the dreaded words, "I threw up."  Sigh.  We got up, cleaned her up in the tub, stripped her bed down and got her back to bed (along with Merrill and Teddy who also woke up with all of the commotion.)  Scott and I laid back down and hoped for the best.  We did not get it.  About half an hour later we heard the dreaded cough that so often precedes throwing up.  After that it was a solid 6 hours of her getting sick every 15-30 minutes.  Needless to say, neither one of us slept.  Fortunately she didn't get sick again after 6:15 this morning and she was able to sleep most of the morning until noon or so (and I got in a nap too).  Once the vomiting stopped she started running a fever and continued to have a stomachache.  So she spent the day in her pajamas lounging in bed or on the couch, looking at books and watching a movie.  It wasn't until bedtime that she started to perk up just enough to realize how unhappy she was that she was sick and how unfair the whole thing was.  She stomped her feet, refused to go to sleep, denied that she was sick, proclaimed that she didn't want to stay in her pajamas all day or stay in bed and no one ever let her do anything.   Poor girl.  I just held her and let her know it was okay to be mad about being sick (and told her to go to sleep so she could get better :) ).  Hopefully she's able to get a good nights sleep and wake up feeling well enough to get out of bed and do a little more tomorrow.  And hopefully that's the last we see of the pukies for a long time. 

Parent-Child Night

Thursday evening we got to head to the girls' school for their annual Parent-child night.  It's a night when the children get to pick some of the work they do on a daily basis to show their families, sing songs for the parents and serve the parents a snack that they prepared.  It is a very sweet night that the kids and parents all look forward too (I think the teachers do too, though I know it's tough having an evening event after teaching all day).  The pride and confidence seen in the children is just wonderful.  This year we got to see Merrill do food prep (pizza making) and turtle counting and Millie read us a Bob book and showed us the "bank game" with one of her friends.  Both pizza making and the "bank game" are long and involved works and it was amazing to see the girls work through each step without missing a beat -- well, Millie might have missed a few beats.  She and her friend we so happy and excited they got a little bit silly.  But that was good to see too.  We are growing young children after all, not little robots :)!  

Pizza Making by Merrill

 Problem solving in action -- the food wasn't out yet so she was deciding what to do ...

 using the bathroom and washing her hands seemed like a good idea

 Teddy was quite interested in the whole process!

 The food has been put out -- Merrill is ready to make pizza.  Watch the video below.  I think she's ready for her own t.v. show :)

 time to eat!  and share

THEN it's time to clean up.  This is a seriously involved work!

Millie reading a Bob book (or two)

The Bank Game -- another big work.  So big, it's for two people.  You can see the three rugs on the floor, those are all part of the work.  First the girls set up their number mats with numbers 1-9 in ones, tens, hundreds and thousands

 making sure everything is set up right

their teacher, Kim helped them set up the big numbers on one of the other rugs to help save time -- it also has numbers 1-9 in ones, tens, hundreds, and thousands.  Millie is setting up the mat where they will do the math

 then the girls pick a math problem from the basket -- this is the one they got

NEXT, they go to the "bank" and get the manipulatives that make up their number (each child sets up one of the numbers being added.  Millie did the top number.  However, she made a tiny mistake and reversed the manipulatives -- so she got 3 "ones" instead of 3 "thousands", etc.  This made their problem a little tougher because it required "carrying" or "exchanging" as they call it, but the teacher helped them out.  She noted that had that mistake been made during a school day, she would have had Millie go back and correct what she did.  But since we had limited time and wanted to see how the adding occurred, she let them just go with what they had. 

Millie at the bank getting her maniupulatives.  The ones are single beads, then there are strings of 10 beads for the tens, 10 x 10 blocks for the hundreds, and 10 x 10 x 10 blocks for the thousands.  She collected 3 single beads, 1 ten bead, 4 hundred blocks and 6 thousand blocks.  Her friend then went through the same process for her number and then they met on the adding rug where they laid everything out.

 They then moved the manipulatives below the addition line and then got one of the big number boards to show the result.  The they stack the big number boards so that the number reads the result -- for them it was 8065.  Whew!  After they got their answer, then they had to pick everything up and put it back where it belonged!  (that's where they started getting silly)  Amazing work to see!  This is one of Millie's favorite works right now, along with the hundred board.  It's really nice to see her enjoying math so much and to see her in a school where that is encouraged!

 While Millie was working on the bank game, Merrill showed us counting turtles

the children are taught to quietly put their hand on a shoulder when they want to interrupt someone to ask/tell something.  Merrill waited very patiently for her teacher to respond to her (and her teacher did not cut her conversation short either -- what a great lesson in being polite and having patience!)

 Teddy checking the list to make sure we did everything :)

Watching the kids -- who were getting ready to do this... (I had a horrible angle for taking video, but it was so cute and funny I'm going to post it anyway ... I do realize we may be the only ones who actually think these videos are THAT cute :) )

We ended the night with a nice healthy snack prepared and served by the children.  And then we packed them all in the car and headed home for bed 'cause it was a late night!   A late night that was well worth it though :).

DIY

The girls had a birthday party this afternoon for one of their classmates.  When I asked Millie earlier in the week what she wanted to get her friend for a gift, she decided that I should make a dress for her.  Hmmm.  On one hand I was proud that she immediately considered what we could MAKE for a gift, and not what we could buy.  I like that she values handmade gifts.  On the other hand, I wasn't so sure I could whip up a dress in the course of a week, especially now that I work two mornings a week.  My initial response was "I'm not sure I can do that."  But I thought about it while they were at school that day, did a little internet browsing and decided I could put together a pillowcase-style dress.  Cute, easy, and popular (heck, even Hanna Anderson is making them and selling them).  So, after school we headed to Hancock Fabrics, picked out 5 "singles" in coordinating patterns and some ribbon (all for under $10) and we were in business.  Of course, I still ended up finishing the dress this morning (as the girls became more and more concerned that it wasn't done yet).  I followed this tutorial for a paneled pillow case dress.  Using  an actual pillow case may have been easier, but oh well.  It was easy enough and turned out pretty cute if I do say so myself.  I was kind of sad to see it walk out of the house this afternoon!  We did buy fabric so I can make some for the girls too, though Millie has since decided she doesn't want one because it doesn't have sleeves ... go figure.