Hell 4am... We look good together!

Hello, 4am. I haven't missed you but I do think we look quite good together. Going to bed at 9pm and getting up at 4am may be on my new list of things to do, however wee man if you are reading this and want to sleep til 7 totally uninterrupted that is TOTALLY fine by this mama. But if you don't its no surprise here your daddy has sleep issues too. I needed a few minutes to plop some thoughts down anyway. 

My family is stressed. My aunt who has been battling cancer basically her entire life is on the verge of entering heaven. We all thought it would have been days ago but as a typical Hagen she is still here! Her kidney's shut down last week but she is such a fighter, my mom who I consider the death angel in a good way is there. She told me at 4:15am it wouldn't be long. For my aunt's sake I hope it isn't long, I can't imagine her world right now. I like to think she is arguing with God saying "Look God, I am NOT ready. Send me back down" but I think God is telling her "You're body is ready, come home" at least I hope that is how the conversation goes. I imagine she is cussing a storm and stomping her feet, her personality true to the core. I can feel tears welling up as I write this. Cancer runs thick in my family, its taken A LOT of them to heaven a little too soon. Esophageal Cancer, is what runs the thickest through the bloodlines, it hits both male and females and has now hit my dad. I love my dad. I mean like I have a new and different appreciation for my dad. Growing up was tough we battled A LOT. I was rebellious and stubborn and obnoxious, my dad was tough, determined and a believer in who I was not going to be. I never made his fears come true, I am thankful for that. I probably could have but for reason they didn't. Instead after I turned about 25, was engaged, soon to be married we hit a smooth patch. One that has made me love every single minute I spend with my dad. I so love watching him interact with my son and my husband and myself. I love seeing him and my brothers have conversations over politics although I am learning we hardly see anything the same politically. I always thought I was a DIE HARD conservative. I come from a DIE HARD CONSERVATIVE family. If we could have Rush Limbaugh to Christmas dinner my dad would be in heaven. Forget the rest of us, he and Rush have things to discuss! :-), I could do with out Rush. I see so much of myself in my dad and so much of my husband in my dad - they do say that you marry someone like your father. I did. But, in so many of the ways that they both make me crazy, I could just squeeze and hold on to them forever. I see my dad in my son, everyday. My son and my dad, they look to antagonize others, sometimes I do the same. I work on it. It's not the best way to be. My dad is standing in the door way as his second sister, second to youngest sister is taken away from us by cancer. He is in his last two weeks of Chemo, he has been so sick, and yet he still brought me a little Valentine's Day present. Whether he meant for it to be a Valentine's Day present or not it was. Cookbooks, "real home cooking for real people not this creme brulee crap that no one eats but real food for real people" and I decided if I ever do a cookbook that is what I am going to call it! "Real Food for Real People". Oh, that makes me smile. My dad is the cook in the family, I need to spend a day making his recipes, learning his way. I never had an interest in cooking before, now I am addicted. I love the smells it creates, the smiles it brings to my friends faces as they take a bite of something delicious and the way it makes me feel. I love it when someone asks "is this from scratch?" why yes it is or  "Did you make this?!?" Why yes I did! I had a friend growing up and she was always the chef, she is still is. That girl can cook. But she makes weird shit (Sorry Lil Moore) but its true in my book. The weird shit is always AMAZING but its weird. I am just trying to cook what's good for my family. What will make them happy and keep their bellies full. I hear kids sleep longer if they have full bellies, I so hope that is true! 

Damn 5:17 doesn't look or feel as good as 4am. Guess I better bust out and get some stuff done while my house is quiet and I can! 

Slacking it up!

I have been slacking it up! I'm sorry. I just haven't had ten seconds! But I am BACKKKKKK! Tot School this week has been AMAZING! We have been having so much fun! I think my favorite time of the day is circle time, watch the kiddo's all sit together, watching each other watching us singing songs and clapping just makes it all worth while! The big kids are doing an AWESOME job helping out and reminding the little ones to stay close! I can tell my little guy is really exploding from this opportunity as his language is making leaps and bounds! We've been doing some fun stuff, we popped out to the Museum of Transportation which was  HUGE HIT! I mean two crying, stomping their feet little boys when it was time to go. Just like I like em'! 

I don't have a ton to write because I am getting a date night... Yes mama's did you hear that a night out with my husband ALONE! Oh dear Lord, whatever shall we do! Well let me tell you it will include a LONG hot shower (BY MYSELF with out my little on banging on the door, swinging open the shower curtain or knocking over every bottle in the shower), Dinner at my FAVORITE restaurant in town Chimichangas (I know I am easy to please!) and bed by roughly 10pm to SLEEP solid til I wake up tomorrow! I haven't slept through the night solid in 3 weeks WOOT WOOT!!! Tot School has been busy and changing. I have taken on a co teacher and will be doing an LLC and getting state certified! I never do anything half way I don't know why I ever think for a second I would! Anyway, last week we made Valentine's for our friends, painted with cars (which when the tell you to use a Ziploc bag, listen!), did a sensory box with dried hashbrowns, and snuck out to a local park! We have completed our C is for Cars work and will be moving on to E is for Earth Day! 

C is for Cars!!!!

I epically failed today, I didn't take any pictures! Damn... that's terrible. I have a sick little guy who is down and out with this HORRENDOUS stomach flu. I am so thankful that he is almost two and this is our first round however it has made up for the last two years! Trying to teach a two year old to aim in the potty is so hard whether its the attic or the basement we are aiming with! Little Jimmy Neutron reference there... did you catch it?!? Probably not. I am probably the only grown adult in the world that still will sit down and watch that show and laugh my butt off! There has not been a lot of sleeping around here, I am realizing the less sleep I get the more stuff I get done. This week is C for Cars or S for Sick however you want to look at it! 

I can't focus on blogging right now. I am too caught up on my new project for the week... I want to make HUGE rugs for my basement playroom so I am really concentrating over HERE! I will write more tomorrow after I do more for letter C! 

In the mean time, hug your kids, kiss your husband, and always say I love you!

Recap of letter B

So my plans went to hell in a handbasket when KJ  started feeling sick on Wednesday (throwing up, fever, etc) So we spent the day vegging out and sleeping (and throwing up).  Thursday I worked all day, but Daddy took off to take care of the sick kiddos. Friday- still sick.  Saturday KJ had the slightest bit of energy and asked to do some crafts. So we made a - Ball and Bat  and Bumblebee.  KJ actually picked out the book Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see? when I asked if he wanted to read some books (watching TV was getting old!)  KJ pointed out the letter B in the books.  We did a Letter B matching game (This Site has great coloring sheets and activity pages)  We rounded out the weekend by playing  w/ "sensory box" of white beans w/ a spoon, and some Tupperware.)  We had chicken and dumplings (biscuits) for dinner.
I'm not sure if KJ is understanding the letter "B" or if he just knew the answer to all my "What letter does this word start with?" question "B!"

First week = success.  

Clockwis from top left:  KJ with his bumblebee and baseball and bat (his eyes were so swollen that that is him opening his eyes!).  Playing w/ the beans. Matching the letter "B" with pictures of things that start with B.  Bubby holding up his baseball bat!

(Can you tell he's sick?)
 (More pics later?!?!  If I can find them!)

Bubby, Bugs, Balls, BBB

So, I wrote the below post on Tuesday - and I didn't post it!!! 

Here is Wacky land we have taken a slightly different approach to our letter of the week.  We are doing a lot of different "B" activities.


We talk a lot about what we are doing - it was gorgeous outside yesterday so we went out to play with out balls (soccer ball, baseball, tennis ball) and bat.  We also played on our bicycle. Bubby and I talk a lot about what we are doing. I say to him "We are dribbling a soccer bbb ball. What does Ball start with?  Ba ba ba" "What else starts with B?"


Monday - we didn't really do a whole lot but talk about B words (S had to go to the doctor - she has RSV and I had to work).  Bubby did eat 2 1/2 banana's!


Tuesday - Playing with Balls, Buzz Light year, bats.  We made brownies and colored the Printable Letters  B (with a Bee and a Bear)  I walked to B about trying to color just the letters that were on the page.  We talked about Big B and little b - we then looked for letters around the house.  WE didn't find a whole lot but we did find some on my shirt.  B then started to ask about all the letters - What letter is that?  and  What does Dadeo start with?  
We also sang "I'm bringing home a baby bumblebee" and at naptime - "Be with me Lord, when I am in trouble, Be with me lord, I pray"

Wednesday - Crafts!
Ball and Bat  craft which emphasizes lacing which is great fine motor and hand eye coordination practice.  Singing take me out to the ball game and baseball food - hot dogs, nachos (chips and cheese) and popcorn!
(pics to come soon!)

Think good  thoughts.   Kiss your Kids.  Smile louder. Love the Lord.
 

Arctic Animals Day 2!

Day 2... We survived! Or should I say we made it! Magnus and I woke up LATE... I mean we slept til 7:55 and my first kiddo arrives around 8! Goodness, I barely had my brain turned on today! Thankfully I did because we had a fantastic morning! Today, since I had 14 month old, a 2 year old and my 22 month old I wanted to adapt my activities for everyone! Its so easy to adapt activities to include all the children. The first activity we did and we did it while Baby M was sleeping because it involved ice but we did an Arctic Sensory Box! I had popped over to Hobby Lobby on Saturday and using a 40% off coupon I picked up a container of Arctic animals, Eskimos and an igloo for only $5.50! Woot woot go me! Anyway, I had a bag of ice left over from a recent party and I poured that into the sensory box and dumped the animals in! THEY LOVED IT! I would say easily this activity lasted 45-60 mins off and on of course! I showed them how to tell a story with the characters by sort of acting one out, how the Eskimos would live in the igloo and we talked about how COLD the ice was. I think if I had used cotton balls which I will probably do tomorrow it would have lasted longer but alas they still had a blast! Ps the photo of Magnus holding up the cariboo he goes "Ho Ho's dog!" BAHAHAHAHAHAH so funny to me. He calls Santa Ho-Ho's and I will be sad when he stops doing that! 

 The second activity we did is my favorite form of paint ever! Its so easy! I used a ketchup bottle today that I picked up at the dollar store to use as our "brush". I found a snowflake template online that I will link to again when I can find it. We call this "Puffy Paint", basically its 2 parts shaving cream, one part glue, and a quarter size of paint. You can use any container you can think of I have even used bowls and spoons before to paint with it. I loved using the ketchup bottle today, one it was mess free and two EVERYONE even Baby M got to do it! I put in the shaving cream, then the glue and kept tapping the bottle on the counter then I added the paint and stirred with a an old tooth brush. I did not ask for any tot help as they were still playing with the ice box and I did not want to interrupt their fleeting moments of positive interactive play! We LOVE this paint because it dries fluffy, it feels awesome! I mean I LOVE IT and I am 28 years old. We used blue paint of course to stick with our color theme of the week and talked repeatedly that we were painting with BLUE and that the shape we were painting was a snowflake and that lots of snow makes ice! Puffy paint is diverse in my life because I can have the older kids help make the paint, everyone can squeeze it out and everyone loves the final result. Tater and I worked on following the lines of the snowflake this is great way to start working on tracing for letter writing! Ps Tater is my almost 3 year old little cousin - he and Magnus are second cousins (even though I HATE that phrase because cousins are cousins are cousins)!

I also embarked on making homemade bread but more about that later!

A is for Arctic Animals!

Hey Everybody! I wanted to really quickly jump on here and drop my post about our week! Tomorrow is Wednesday and its flying so quickly! On Monday, the boys and I did some jingle bell painting! It was so much fun! I used blue paint which is the color of the week, a cereal box that I grabbed from our recycle bin, paper I cut into circles (I used a pie tin for my template) and jingle bells I had around the house. I wanted to use marbles but I couldn't find them so I improvised! I first sent all of my little boys outside to play and brought them in one at a time to paint! Of course they ended up clustering but they really loved it! Basically, I put the paper in the box and the jingle bells and they told me where to drop the paint. A few key things to remember for next time I think I will water down the tempera paint and I will make sure to have something that rolls better than jingle bells however, they LOVED the music it made and they still ended up with very pretty pictures! We talked about the color of course, the shape of our paper and the motions we were doing while painting. Ps the bottom picture, I caught Magnus being so sweet and hugging our new friend M so I had to take a pic!

Early in the morning before our friends arrived Jay and I busted out a quick and I mean quick batch of healthy muffins! Its so easy! We call them Chocolate Pumpkin Muffins, and they are delish! They barely make it longer than 48 hours! All they are is a box of spice cake and a can of pumpkin and half a bag of chocolate chips! This week at Walgreens, I was able to get 3 cans of pumpkin on clearance for 14 cents a can! I bought the last 3 they had sorry ladies! I also like puree green vegetables and mix them in with the pumpkin and then into batter. I feel like its a sneaky way to do but whatever it gets my boys a full serving of vegetables! I pretty much puree a ton of vegetables and sneak them into every dish I make! I can get two pans of mini cupcakes out of one batch. If you are into couponing you can almost always get the boxes of spice cake for just a $1 during Dierbergs 10 for $10 and I stock up! I never know when I am not going to feel like busting out a big breakfast for the boys and these are such an awesome go to! Check out my adorable helper as well! 

I also must warn you I am big and I mean big into sensory boxes! I do one every day, I could do a whole blog on just sensory boxes. On Monday and Tuesday we did rice and cheerio's mainly because someone... dumped out the entire rice bucket from last week so we substituted with cheerios!  I dig through the cabinets and give them spoons and little cups and set it out on the patio and let them go to town! Anything they spill isn't such a big deal because the squirrels eat it and I buy the rice at the $1 store. We do work on keeping the materials inside the box though just because its important to start early with rule following. I LOVE sensory boxes because they encompass so many skills in one ten minute cycle of play! They encourage sensory of course touching different textiles, fine motor skills, gross motor skills and hand eye coordination. On Thursday we will be doing an ice sensory box, I have bought some arctic animals that I will set out for play on the little containers of ice I have made inside the sensory box. Ps Any plastic box will work AWESOME for a sensory box, you can often find something at the teacher recycle store or my favorite store The Upcycle Exchange which I so highly recommend you check out! They are a pay as you wish store on all kinds of materials they also have an awesome Facebook page! Other great items to put inside a sensory box are marshmellows, newspaper shreds, bottle caps (the plastic ones not the metal ones), pom poms... pretty much anything you can think of! 

During our in between times and things I did not get pictures of was reading books about arctic animals, coloring the letter a, doing our wooden Melissa and Doug puzzles that I totally recommend you invest in HERE is the link. I also keep all of our wooden puzzles up high in a closet not because I don't want them to be easily accessible but because I really don't want to lose any pieces and I have found when puzzles are in the play area the pieces magically get eaten by the couch!


Now that my little boys are starting to figure out my groove and I am getting caught up on all the great things I want to do with them we are going to start doing task boxes. You mama's will love them and I will explain what they are next week! 


Thanks for reading!