Confessions

I always enjoy reading confession posts so I have some good stories for you today... Like the fact that I recently realized I had 13,000 pictures on my phone and it was time to clean house.  Basically I take a lot of pictures, upload them twice a week and never delete them off my phone.  Problem solved and I'm down to 5,000.

Our latest well check where the doctor walked in
and Olive shouted "Fletcher is going first!"
because she thought we were there for shots.
Sweet big sister moment #not

1. Kangaroo Pouches:

Kevin told me the other day:

I finally know why mama kangaroos have pouches.  I bet Fletcher wishes you had a pouch to carry him in all day long.  He'd be so happy to be so close to you all day long.

2. Messy Moment:

We were at Jimmy Johns having lunch over Christmas break.  We'd been shopping that morning and were ready to eat.  Fletcher was a little fussy when we sat down so we gave him a bottle.  He wanted out of his car seat so Kevin passed him over to me.  A few seconds later he made a funny face and then fire hose barfed all over me and behind us.  My jacket was covered, my diaper bag had to be wiped out and then my hubby and MIL did some serious mopping behind me.  I felt terrible that Fletcher got sick, terrible that we made such a mess and so we hurried home to take it easy.  Being a parent in public is embarrassing sometimes.  Luckily, the restaurant was pretty empty and we didn't make too big of a scene.

3. Large Heads Run in the Family.
We went to a faculty party for Kevin's department.  It started at our kid's bedtimes so we knew we couldn't stay long.  I was filling our plates and holding Fletcher.  Someone came up to say hello and went on to say that "He has the largest baby head I've ever seen!"  I wasn't sure what to say so I said nothing and smiled.  She followed up that comment with, "Well, You have a very large head, too, so I guess that's where he gets it from."  What do you even say to that??  So I just smiled and walked away.

4. Bible Character Sighting:

We were doing our weekly grocery shopping and we were passing an older couple in the freezer aisle.  They were both bundled up shopping in their hats, scarves and coats.  Olive saw them and said, "Look, Mom!  There's Mary and Joseph!"  I guess she's still got Christmas and the manger on her brain.

5. Attracting Strangers?
I've been putting food out for a random cat that showed up on our patio.  Olive lovingly named her Rainbow.  She shows up every morning and peeks in my kitchen window to say hello.  She's pretty sweet and is warming up.  Well apparently word has gotten out that I'm a sucker for feeding cats.  Kevin came home the other night and there were THREE cats on our patio, then there was a late night cat hissing fight over food and we had a raccoon peeking in our window a different night.  Kevin says I should knock it off, but I'm kind of enjoying the animal visitors.  Minus the opossum that came wandering through our backyard before Christmas.

6. Green Apple Skittles.
Green Skittles are now green apple flavored instead of lime and I LOVE THEM!  Normally red and purple are my favorite, but green is taking the lead.  Have you tried them yet??

7. Coffee Cups Anonymous:

I am almost 100% done unpacking boxes from our move.  I'm trying to find homes for things and reorganize our bonus room.  I ended up with three misc kitchen boxes and was shocked to see that two of them were full of coffee cups!!  My husband collects coffee cups and always picks them up when we travel to new places.  I sorted them into categories, need to find some new storage containers and will just have to rotate them out every so often.  I gently suggested we should maybe purge our collection.  Kevin said he was not interested in throwing out all those memories.  Guess we're keeping them.

8. January Christmas Ornaments:

I never got around to making salt dough ornaments at Christmas.  I really wanted to document Fletcher's little hand and foot print so we just made them last week.  Don't tell him that his special first Christmas ornaments were actually made a month late.  He'll never know - right??

Tell me a good story in the comments :)

The Highlights

 
Happy Friday!!  I hope you've had a great week!  We enjoyed getting out and about to do things with friends, working on some things at home and starting tot think about Valentine's Day.  We are keeping up with all of the festivities for the inauguration today.  I've mentioned before that I find all presidential facts and traditions fascinating.  Having moved so many times in my life, I especially love the fact that moving out the former president and moving in the new president to the White House is 100% done in a five hour SPRINT!  Pictures hung, new rugs and everything is hanging in their closets so it really feels like home.  How cool!  I think we'll have to have some red, white and blue food to celebrate the festivities of today.

The best parts of our week were:

// 1 //
 Feeling like Home
Kevin's been hanging a few things for me each week and it's really starting to feel settled at our house.  I got this pretty clock for my birthday and found this mirror at Marshalls over the holidays.  Both look just perfect in our family room.  I'll have to update my house tour once we finish hanging everything :)

// 2 //
Tassel Garland
I got this tassel garland for Christmas and finally took the time to make it this week.  I love how it turned out and it also came with some pink tassels that I'll add in for February.  It's hanging on my mantel and was really easy to assemble.   I know you can make your own from scratch, but these garland's from Ling's are beautiful!  They come in so many different colors.

We made these DIY geoboards recently and are having tons of fun with them.  They always turn out so pretty so I'm thinking of doing a heart one to hang up for Valentine's Day.



// 3 //
 Open Gym Gymnastics
We tried something new this week and went to an open gym at a local gymnastics place.  The kids had a blast!!  Olive told me she was nervous beforehand because "I don't know how to do gymnastics yet.  Do you think they're be a trapeze??"  I had to reassure her that we were just going to bounce and have fun.  No one was expecting a high flying act :)  Fletcher was dying to keep up with the big kids and was so happy I finally put in him the foam pit.
 

 


// 4 //
15 Super Soup Recipes
I shared a ton of great soup recipes this week and people were really excited about soup this time of year.  My Lasagna Soup is on my menu for next week and Olive is anxious to make her Pretend 15 Bean Soup again.

// 5 //
Healthy Kids
We had a doctor visit this week and they're both HEALTHY after weeks of colds, ear infections and stomach bugs.  Kind of makes me want to hibernate at home to avoid any more germs, but we're also anxious to get out and see friends again.
Now that Fletcher is getting bigger it's really fun to watch these two become best buddies.  They play together a lot and it makes me so happy.

 Polka-Dotty Place Week in Review:

Monday: I'm a Fan of Family Pictures

Tuesday: 15 Souper Soup Recipes

Wednesday: Fletcher 7-9 Months

Thursday: DIY Geoboards

What was your FAVORITE part of the week??

I hope you have a really great weekend!!

Linking up with ThoughtsforThursday, Oh Hey Friday!

HighFiveforFriday, FiveonFriday, and Momfessionals

DIY Geoboards

My students always loved geoboards and I figured it would be fun to DIY some for us to use at home.  Olive loves playing with rubber bands and learning about shapes so I thought it would be fun for her to practice them in a new way.  I saw some ideas on-line and knew I could make it happen inexpensively.  So I texted my dad to see if he could get me two wood slices.  He came through and the rest of the project was really easy.  If you don't have wood slices, you could buy those finished wood circles or squares from a craft store.

You'll need these supplies to make 2 geoboards:

two wood slices

a bag of multi-colored rubber bands

2 bags of 14 long nails

hammer

I plotted out the locations of the nails to see how many I could get around the outside edge and then moved to the inside.  I hammered them all in and then went back to make sure they were all about halfway in the wood.  She has played with these geoboards ever since November.  They're fun and easy for her to do independently.

Learning activities:
color sort rubber bands

shape practice - let's make a square, straight line, diamonds, etc.

count how many nails are inside this shape

count how many triangles we can make

counting rubber bands as we add them or take them off the board

I gave Olive several ideas of how to play with the geoboards

and then she came up with her own.  Kid's have such fun imaginations!

Her favorite game is JAIL.  I blame Sheriff Callie and the fact that her Papaw is a policeman.  She just loves to arrest all of her characters and put them in rubber band jail :)

 Can you think of any other learning activities we could do with these geoboards??

I'm all ears :)

Fletcher 7-9 Months

Time is flying with our little man!  It's hard to believe we're already starting to think about his first birthday party.  He's doing great and really changing each day.  

7 Months - October 2016

This month was a big one for you!  You said your first word and surprised no one by saying MAMA.  It made my day.  You love to go on walks, are very hot natured and you are happiest when you are sitting up surrounded by toys.  Loud noises of any kind really startle you, you're outgrowing 12 month clothing and you love music.  You're sitting in your high chair and wolfing down Cheerios and cereal puffs.

You pull hair, are super ticklish and Olive calls you Fletchy.  You got your first tooth and it's on the bottom.  It didn't take long for your second bottom tooth to poke through.  You still love your toes, hate getting shots and you spend your days babbling.  You lunge for things you want and love when people help you stand up.  You are so busy.

We went to a local nursery and you had fun seeing (trying to eat) all of the pumpkins.  You went on your first hayride and hated it.  You trick or treated and slept through most of it.  You were the cutest little shark for your first Halloween.

8 Months - November 2016

You are pulling up on everything.  You squawk to get attention and you want to be standing up all teh time.  You are taking bottles of Similac Sensitive and love to help hold on to your bottles.  You love almost all foods you try - noodles, graham crackers, yogurt, soft pretzels, etc.  You can sit up in the bath tub and it is one of your very favorite things to do.

You started crawling this month!  We thought we had a little more time, but you were determined to keep up with your big sister.  We had to get out the baby gate to keep you safe.  You give big, open mouthed kisses, you love to play with toys in your crib and you're sprouting more and more BLONDE hair every day.  You are super ticklish and love to feed yourself.  You are sleeping a little better each day.  You slept through the night for the first time and it was wonderful for everyone.

You love to smile and chat with people.  Your first Thanksgiving was great.  You discovered mashed potatoes and were in heaven.  You think Olive is the funniest person around.

9 Months - December 2016

You are a very quick crawler and can navigate your way around the house.  You'll go room to room until you find who you are looking for.  You said DADA this month and your dad was so proud.  Your head always has a bruise on it because you are constantly running into things.  You stand up in your crib when you wake up.  You hate having a wet diaper and wake up immediately crying to be changed.

You drink out of a sippy cup now, still love almost all food you try and you got super sick this month.  You had a 9 day stomach bug that was really rough.  You learned how to wave bye bye and your whole face lights up when you do.  You are not a fan of wearing socks.  You've learned how to open cabinets, are so curious and try hard to do whatever your big sister is doing.  Your personality is really shining through and you love keep an eye on everything.

We had our first snow and you loved looking at it.  You are a great road tripper and are happy to ride along.  Your first Christmas was wonderful although you weren't interested in opening the packages.  You just wanted to chew on the bows and eat wrapping paper.  Wooden puzzles and cars are your current favorite toys.

We sure are lucky to have this sweet boy in our family :)