Today was Mis-Match day at Jonas’ preschool. He picked out a combination of camouflage, stripes, and tie dye with two different pairs of socks and shoes. You can’t really see his creative outfit in this picture, as it was freezing outside in the morning and he wore his coat, but I love this sweet moment of him holding hands with one of his best friends, Henry on the way in to preschool. Aw…so precious!!!
In his forty-eighth week, Roman is: saying “uh oh” (as well as “bye bye” and “DaDa”); joining in with our Jonas-led prayer at the table (it’s the sweetest little prayer that Jonas prays at preschool meal times with his teachers and friends…”Open and shut them, open and shut them, give a little clap, give a little clap, open and shut them, open and shut them, lay them in your lap…God our Father, God our Father, once again, once again, we bow our heads and thank you, bow our heads and thank you, amen…”)…Roman opens and shuts his little hands and claps and even sings and gets a serious look on his face…so adorable!
The boys and I had a super fun play date with the Los (Nicole, Henry…one of Jonas’ best friends from preschool, and Oliver) this morning…
We are a little late in joining but decided to take part in the Toddler Approved Acts of Kindness Project this month. The first week’s challenge was to show some love to the environment, so we made bird feeders.
(It was a lot less messy in the making than I thought it would be, so that was good. The bird feeders turned out really sweet, but I think I had something off in the mix, as the ones we made didn’t stay together that well. Daddy figured out how to rig a few up to hang in the tree in our front yard, and the boys laid the rest on our front porch. Every day there’s a little less, so I think our feathered friends are appreciating the work of our little boys’ hands.)
In his forty-seventh week, Roman is: really starting to make a connection with the non-verbal communication thing…he’s having a bit of a signing explosion…doing the signs for “eat”, “milk”, “bath”, “brush teeth”, and “sleep”.
So, I saw the CUTEST idea on Pinterest and asked Tom if he would be willing to make one for the boys and put it up on our fence in the backyard…a backyard chalkboard!!! How fun is that?!? Being the handyman that he is, Tom had it all set to go in just a few days. Here’s a picture of Xander helping him put the primer on and a few of all of the boys checking it out a few days later, after Jonas got home from school (he was still wanting to wear his coat backwards) and Xander and Roman woke up from their afternoon naps. It’s a hit all the way around. The boys have an absolute blast with it, and I love seeing their chalk art outside the kitchen window.
They are having Wacky Winter Days at Jonas’ preschool this month and next month…Backwards Day, Mis-Match Day, Sports Day, and Pajama Day…it’s so much fun for the little friends. Today was Backwards Day, and Jonas got a SUPER big kick out of putting everything on backwards. (He was so into it…he was even trying to walk backwards!)
At forty-six weeks, Roman is: trying oranges and egg yolks and clapping his hands together at meal times, bed times, and diaper changing times to show his signs for “more” and “book” and “change”.
In his forty-fifth week, Roman is: trying corn, blackberries, and kiwi (overall, he’s ramping up on the finger foods and loving it); starting to bear crawl for some reason; standing for a few seconds on his own; and taking his first few steps (he by no means is walking yet…he’s still super into cruising and crawling…but I have a feeling that he will be soon).
While Roman was taking his morning nap and before we headed out to the library for storytime this morning, the boys and I tried out a round of Indoor Masking Tape Games (balance beam, long jump, bullseye bowling, and hopscotch).
I was SO honored and excited today to get to sing with my mom on The Marty Stuart Show!!! I mean…how cool is that all the way around?!?
(Ricky Skaggs and I sang harmony with her on “A Far Cry from You” on an earlier taping this season…I love me some Ricky and can remember rocking out to “Country Boy” when I was in middle school..I’m kicking myself for not documenting that moment of getting to sing with him AND my mom with photographs.) So, this time I remembered to snap a few…it’s hard to do when you’re caught up in the moment.
I was super pumped to get to meet Iris Dement…one of my total favorites who I listened to so much back in college that her music is definitely on the soundtrack of my life and whose songs I love trying to pick out on the guitar and sing.
And, of course, it was a huge honor to get to sing harmony on “The End of the World” with my mom. We had to pretty much not look at each other because we knew we would either start laughing or crying. It was a moment I’ll never forget…looking around and seeing Marty coaching me along on guitar…resting on the music of Pig Robbins and The Fabulous Superlatives…feeling the swell of The Nashville Chamber Orchestra playing behind us…and looking over at my precious mommy doing what she was born to do…HUGE!!!
Here’s a picture of Iris Dement and me and mommy and me.
Tom and I took the boys to the school playground this afternoon for some good old family fun…
The boys and I have been taking it SUPER easy since the holidays, resting up from an event heavy season. So, I thought I would bust out a fun activity idea this morning (yes, I saw it on Pinterest)… Indoor Counting Croquet…perfect for a rainy day. Jonas was all about writing the numbers himself (he used the Little Writer tracing app when he got stuck on the how-to), Xander had just as much fun stomping on the construction paper hoops as he did hitting the ball through them, and Roman mostly enjoyed just trying to eat the masking tape. Ha!
Aside from being into potty talk in the worst of ways these days, Jonas comes out swinging with every little thing he says. Here are a few of his most recent creations:
“I’m being careful not to lose a tooth until I’m 6.”
“Do you know Cuties are oranges, Mom?”
“It’s silly that the sun and moon are out together, Mom…it’s day time over here and it’s night time over there.”
“Mommy, can we watch beautiful Alison Krauss sing her songs?”
“Whoever I miss…I love.”
“Do not run in a circle…run in an oval.”
I saw a great idea this afternoon that a mommy friend had pinned on Pinterest…a Shape Hunt and Sort. I thought the boys would dig it, so I asked Tom to pick up some masking tape while he was out and we tried it before dinner. The boys LOVED it!!! Yay for the collective inspiring creative mind of Pinterest.
At fourty-four weeks, Roman is: cracking us up with the little dance he does when he hears music (he was ALL about Uncle Darren’s hand drumming…I’m thinking he might be our most musical little guy yet) and loving his first snow.
In his thirtieth month, Xander is: enjoying the journey of learning his letters, numbers, colors, and shapes; discovering the joy and empowerment of doing things for himself (we really have had to work with him on this one on some things because he’s so quick to say he can’t do it and act like he can’t even though he’s fully capable…so we’re trying to build his confidence in his abilities); and liking being able to sleep in every now and then (as his big brother Jonas, who shares a room with him, is getting better every day at coming out his room quietly instead of waking him up when he gets up in the morning).
Uncle Darren, Cousin Marina, Aunt Julie, and Cousin Dylan stopped by for a quick visit this afternoon while the big boys were napping..I kind of fell down on the picture taking front while they were here but I did snap a few of Darren and Marina with Roman after he woke up from his nap.
The boys made tissue paper collages this morning. I saw one on Pinterest that was really cool that got my wheels turning. (The ones the boys made ended up being WAY different but they still turned out really neat I thought). It was a great way to develop those fine motor skills (even though they ended up wadding up a lot of the tissue paper instead of tearing it) and to recycle all of that holiday tissue paper.
The boys and I put out the cranberry popcorn garland we made for our Christmas tree for the birds this morning…
