Pajama Day

Today the schools celebrated "Read Across America", which coincides with Dr. Seuss's birthday.  

The elementary school had some guest readers come into the classrooms.  The preschool had pajama day and did Dr. Seuss related activities.  

Here's Serafina in her pajamas at school.  She said she really liked pajama day.  

This afternoon, I made a minion (from Despicable Me) on the Rainbow Loom.  It may just look like a minion shaped lump of rubber bands, but it was actually a complicated pattern with multiple steps.  i'm pretty impressed with myself, though I know the little thing will probably be lost or fall apart before the weekend is over.  

Drawing George Washington

 Yesterday I worked in the preschool classroom and the kids were having a special art lesson from a guest teacher.

They were drawing George Washington.  

 Serafina wanted to give him Princess Leia buns.

 Leo was also drawing Washington in class.

Summer weather in February

Don't worry.  I put plenty of sunscreen on the pale, bare belly.

Serafina's weekend

Here's Serafina working the Rainbow Loom.  She's gotten pretty good at the fishtail bracelet.  

 She attended a friend's birthday party today at a party place with a climbing wall.

 She did it over and over.

Leo lost his first tooth!

The big news around here is that Leo finally lost his first tooth.  It's been wiggly for a while and the last few days it was barely hanging in there.  Here's a picture from Tuesday when it was already getting into wacky positions.  

 He was resistant to having it pulled or pulling it himself.  I think he was worried about what it would feel like and how much blood there would be since he hasn't experienced it before.  But Tom somehow convinced him to let Tom pull it tonight.  I think it had become pretty annoying to have that tooth moving around in there.

He was happy to have it out and it's under his pillow.  His sister was very interested in seeing the space in his mouth.  I'm noticing how dirty his glasses are in this picture.

Rainbow Loom

If you're not familiar with Rainbow Loom then you probably haven't been hanging with too many elementary school kids.  The rubber band bracelets made with the Loom are all the rage.  Leo's teacher has asked kids not to bring them to class since they have become a distraction.  When we were in the mountains this past weekend, our 11-year-old housemate had his Loom with him and Leo got very interested.  I've been interested too since I haven't been crocheting because of wrist pain, but the Loom looks like a fun alternative.  

Working the Loom.  

 First creation was a simple loop bracelet.

A huge part of the Rainbow Loom phenomenon is the countless YouTube videos of preteen hands giving tutorials of different types of bracelets.  

Leo was ready to advance to the fish tail bracelet next.  He managed it with very little help.  

Next up was the inverted fish tail, which required a little more help, but he was focused and determined.  

 Happy guy.

He may loose interest in the Rainbow Loom at some point, but right now I like that he's improving his hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills and practicing patience and stick-to-itiveness.

Extra long Tahoe visit

Last week was a bad week.  I found out early in the week that Leo had been bullied by a couple of neighbors that he had been playing with regularly.  It was very tough for me and I felt extremely guilty, like I failed him somehow.  Leo has been extremely resilient and as time has passed, he seems unfazed by what happened.  Needless to say, he won't be playing with those kids any time soon and if he does, it will be under very close supervision.  I also had a staff meeting at the preschool go very badly and a teacher has decided to leave at the end of the year.  Not good.  And though Friday was fun with all the Valentine's Day excitement, it was also exhausting.  So when we hit the road to Tahoe on Friday night, I was looking forward to escaping our lives for a little while and being snow dwellers for a number of days.  

Tom and the kids skied Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.  

Here's the crew heading out on Saturday.  Unfortunately, it was pretty windy that day and Serafina only made it through one run.

The next day the weather was nicer and the crew started on an easy run to warm up and then headed to some more challenging runs.  I caught the Skiing Mirriones on their way between lifts.  

Waiting to load the lift on Sunday, which was the most crowded day.  

On Monday, Serafina was a happy skier ready to conquer the mountain. 

Tuesday Leo started his day with a lesson.  Serafina gave him a good luck kiss before he headed out.  

Ready to head out with the "blues".  The instructor said he did great and his group even went on the terrain park to do some jumps.  Leo loved it.  

 Tom took Serafina out in the afternoon and she was working it.

But it wasn't all skiing all the time.  Though I did have some periods of time when both kids were on the slopes and I was able to read my book, there was plenty of time for hanging out with mom too.

Serafina and I took some nice walks.

Sliding fun. 

Being silly in the lodge.  

Leo created some nice artwork while he was inside with me.
"The Green Ninja"

And "Pythor", which is a python bad guy.

 After four days of skiing, everyone was ready for a break today.  We took it slow in the morning, enjoyed some pancakes and packed up and cleaned the house.  Before we drove home, we headed to a little ice rink in the Truckee city park.  Leo hasn't been on skates in two years.

There was a lot of wall clinging to start.

Both kids became more confident and more skilled as we spent some time on the ice.  

Even mommy got on skates.  I haven't skated since Leo's field trip two years ago and it was only my third time skating, but I did okay.  I did have a pretty spectacular fall at the very end of our skating time, but it provided a good laugh for all of us.  

Leo was doing really well towards the end, but he was also being a little reckless so there was lots of falling.  

Happy Valentine's Day

It was a double party day once again.  I showed up at Serafina's class just in time for snack.

Here's her decorated cookie.   Um, that looks disgusting.

The kids were excited to pass out their valentines.

The kids were excited about Serafina's crazy straws.

I wasn't the only mom feeling creative with the valentines this year.

Here's a Frozen-inspired melted snowman with marshmellows, candy corn, M&Ms and pretzel sticks.

Play-doh heart.

The kids sang a cute song.  

Heading home with her heart balloon.  

Once we were home, I gave her some lunch and quickly baked the cookie dough I made yesterday.  Chocolate cookies with M&M in valentine colors.

The kids made mailboxes out of milk cartons.  

Group picture.

Serafina joined in the party fun.  A mom had brought red and green goldfish crackers left over from Christmas to serve at the party.  The teacher had some 4th grade helpers in the classroom and she had them separate the red and green fish, so she could serve only the red ones.  She plans to save the green ones for St. Patrick's Day.  I was pretty amazed by it.

I mentioned the teacher is a big fan of hats.  Here's another adorable one.

When we got home the kids sorted through all their valentines and treats.  Serafina decided to give Leo the sticker heart she made.