Shamrock Cookies

In preparation for St. Patrick's Day we have been busy reading stories, listening to music, decorating a bit, making art projects and shamrock cookies! Holly had a lot of fun rolling out her dough, using the cookie cutters and adding the green sprinkles with a gentle touch. It made for a really nice evening. They will be perfect for today and our St. Patrick's Day dinner tonight with company over!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

Let The Fun Begin

We have officially broke ground for our upcoming playhouse and exploration garden project. Bryan has began working on some concrete removal. With that comes dirt and lots of it. Which coupled with the rain showers that have finally started gracing our neck of the woods... well, you get mud! Lots and lots of mud. Oh, and a great mud puddles.

Holly loves a good mud puddle. Who doesn't really? Here she is working with her tools to create a 'river' and 'lakes'. She actually did a pretty darn good job of figuring out how to layer it down the slope to make each lake. Engineering 101!

Little Einsteins

I am not a huge fan of character like clothing or the such on kids... it's just not my favorite thing in the world. I feel like my child is then a walking billboard for Disney or Mattel with no royalties for college. However, I *get* that children are naturally attracted to this stuff, especially when they see it on TV.

Well, I'll admit Holly loves the Little Einsteins and yes it is one of the few shows she is allowed to watch. We own a couple of their DVDs as well. As much as I like to battle the character connection, it happens. I have fallen victim to marketing and those sweet little blue eyes calling out... "pleeease Mama" -- aka, sucker!

This morning was as good example. Holly watched her one morning show - Little Einsteins. Then played with Rocket from the Little Einsteins. Read two books from the Little Einsteins. Listened to some music we have of theirs. Then asked for a bath... to use her Little Einsteins bubble bath and play with her new Rocket & Leo bath toy.

Ugh -- I have succumbed to the character stuff something I thought I'd never really do. I do try to keep some control over it, but it can suck you in - rocket and all!

Thank goodness her one and only Little Einsteins shirt is now too small :)

Big Ideas

Holly's fourth birthday is coming up soon... yes, four! Crazy, as I have no idea where the past four years have gone and this is coming from a family who really tries to take life slow and leisurely.

For her fourth birthday present we are going to create a wonderful little zone in our yard that is just for her - a playhouse with an exploration garden surrounding it. Flowers, shrubs, trees, plants, rocks, logs, birdhouses, bird freeders and a frog bog (okay... that one might be for me too!) It will be her own little corner of the world to just kick back, play house, hang out with little friends, explore the garden and take in the world. And, well -- we too will reap the benefits of a cute garden addition of course.

The plan as of right now is to remove a portion of our enormous concrete pad and build her playhouse area there. This will also serve as a way to soften the hard gray surfaces, reduce the heat that happens with our concrete, offer a nice play zone that is easily seen from the house, garage and side patio where we often bbq and relax. Kind of a win, win for us all!

We are pretty excited to get moving on this soon; as we will also be centering her little birthday party around it - a garden/playhouse theme. Lot's to do, a bunch of work ahead of us, family recruited to help and soon we'll break ground! I'll post some progress photos as we get going - should be fun to watch!

And even more snow!

This winter has been one of the best winters for snow in our area. We get some each year, but man I am impressed with this year - it has been fun, white and powdery! I love it! Holly woke up this morning just before 7am and we immediately headed out to play in the snow. Nothing like a snowball fight to start your morning. How fun! She is now enjoying breakfast of 'snow flakes' (frosted flakes) and hot cocoa with marshmallows. I love these kind of mornings!

Swimming

Our goal this year is to get Holly swimming in some manner so that her water safety is a bit better. When she was younger Bryan and Holly did take a few sessions at the YMCA, however those classes are very full (along with many other classes being taught) and we found it was much to distracting for her. A friend turned us on to a local high school pool that offers a few nights of free swim for the community. We have ventured out a few times now and have enjoyed some really fun evenings as a family.

Since we spend so much time around water, with kayaking and camping, we feel it is very important for her to get swimming down sooner than later. So, we'll be spending many nights at the pool and hopefully making a little progress with her. If we find it is just too hard, we'll seek out a personal swim trainer for her later this Spring -- in the mean time we are having a really nice time swimming together. And, it is a real energy burner for us all... something we could all use!

Ballerina Bear

Grandma Annette has been out of town for over a month, so when she came over this past weekend to visit Holly was very happy! Grandma & Grandpa brought along a couple of Valentine treats for Holly as well. One was a bear you have to stuff, create and dress - a ballerina bear. I have taken Holly to Build A Bear a couple of times and she really enjoys it - so, this was her thing.

Here are some photos of her stuffing the bear, dressing it and having fun all the while. This little bear is now resting on her bed after a fun Sunday of dancing around the house. Good times!

Stuffing the bear!

A beard like Santa!

Dressing the ballerina bear!