Tiny Tunes

Keira has a new highlight to her week -- Tiny Tunes Music Class.  While, Story Time at the library remains a favorite, Tiny Tunes is a whole 45 minutes of singing, dancing and playing instruments -- Keira heaven!  During our first weeks of music class, her teacher, Ms. Jenny enthused that Keira was amazing in how quickly she learned the words, sang along and kept the beat of the songs.  She does seem to have a knack for those things.  Of course, the day that I brought my camera Ms. Jenny had a substitute, Ms. Erin.  I was worried that Keira wouldn't be as free with her trademark smiles without her beloved Ms. Jenny.  But, after a few minutes studying Ms. Erin, Keira thankfully warmed right up.  Here's Ms. Erin greeting Keira, by tickling her feet and singing her name in the "Welcome to Music Class" song.

The class is wonderful.  The music is based on musical forms from all around the world, and the class enrollment included a music CD so we can learn all the songs.  One of Keira's favorite elements of the class is that each song has an accompanying instrument or prop.  While it's hard for some of the little musicians to let go of the instruments between songs, it's never been a problem for Keira.  In fact, she loves to get and return our instruments as directed.  Here she is proudly bringing me my shakers.

Later on in the class we had a free dance section where Keira decided to use her streamers as a hat.  Silly girl!



During the free play section of the class, the teacher pours various percussion instruments all over the middle of the floor like tambourines, triangles, various shakers and rattles.  Keira always grabs a drum stick and waits for her to bring out Keira's favorite -- the drums.  My little comedian didn't miss the chance to use her drumsticks in a silly way.  She'll often do almost anything for a laugh.  :)

At the end of the class, the teacher blows bubbles as a soothing closing activity.  The idea is that the children are supposed to catch the bubbles on their fingers.  Of course, Keira has an older brother who has taught her how to pop bubbles in a much more active and loud manner.  Oh well.
Fortunately, eventually she'll resort to the quieter method, too.

Yet, another favorite part of the class is the very end, after bubbles, where the teacher stamps the musicians' hands.  They try to patiently wait their turn.  And, Keira always proudly runs to show me her new stamps.

The Rest of Christmas Break, Part V -- More Outdoor Fun

With all of the beautiful weather, we didn't limit our outdoor fun to blasting off rockets and playing on swings. The kids also played on the rest of the play structure, played in the sand box for hours, kicked balls, practiced hitting balls with a tennis racket, played catch, blew bubbles and played with the various toys on the back porch. After all that activity we needed a break and some refreshment. The kids and I enjoy eating outside. So, I set them up with a snack on their outside table, on the back porch. It was also a great excuse to take a ton of pictures. I love taking pictures of our babies whenever they are sitting next to each other. I especially love that they couldn't resist leaning over to give each other some love.

The Rest of Christmas Break, Part IV -- Rocket Man and Other Outdoor Fun

The weather was gorgeous during Christmas break. Several days it warmed up to a balmy 65, and we spent several beautiful afternoons in our backyard enjoying the weather, each other and our beautiful yard. Every time we spend time out back I'm reminded just how lucky we really are. We spent time playing on our playground, in the sandbox, hitting tennis balls, but the most time was probably spent blasting off rockets. Both kids got in on the action with Daddy while I took pictures. After they took turns putting in the Alka Seltzer or pouring the vinegar, they retreated to the safe distance of their chairs to watch their rocket blast off.

After Daddy was confident that Elijah could oversee the whole procedure, he turned them loose and let them blast off the rockets by themselves.

  

Eventually, Keira got tired of all the rocket fun and wanted to have some swing time. So, Elijah became a solo rocket man.  As she usually does, Kodi followed us outside to enjoy the beautiful weather with her family.

  

Daddy took a great series of pictures of Elijah as he meticulously launched rockets over and over again.  He took so many great photos that you can see Elijah's whole process...

First, he carefully pours the vinegar into the film canister.

Then, he puts a piece of Alka Seltzer in the film canister.

 

Then, he quickly closes the film canister.

 
Next, he retreats to watch the launch from a safe distance.

 
Finally, he retrieves the rocket and starts over again.

Elijah's New Blog!!!

Yesterday, Elijah decided he wanted to make his own blog, not just help me with mine. I got a new camera from Santa, so we gave him our old one. He took his pictures, and set up his blog last night. He finished it up and posted it today. Please check it out and he would LOVE some comments. You don't have to have a Google account to leave a comment, you can just post it as anonymous, change anonymous to your first name, or make it obvious in the body of the comment who you are. I'd love commments, too, if you get the hang of it. ;)

Please check out his blog, it's in my blog list on the right side of my blog, or click on the link below.

Elijah's Blog

Thanks, he's really excited!

The Rest of Christmas Break, Part III -- Bakery Cookies, Baking, and a Bank Account

No Christmas is complete without bakery cookies from the Virginia Bakery. Thankfully, Auntie Anne was once again thoughtful and generous and sent us our own tin (thanks!) I LOVE eating those cookies every Christmas, it brings me back to my childhood. I also love sharing the yummies with my babes. And, as you can tell from their faces, the kids enjoyed them, too.




On to my next "B" topic -- baking. I restocked our freezer with a fresh batch of my whole wheat pumpkin muffins, just in time for Elijah and Daddy to head back to school. As they have done lately, Elijah and Keira didn't miss the opportunity to do some "baking" of their own. We usually just give them small portions of the different dry ingredients and let them measure, dump, pour and stir to their hearts' content. This time, I quietly let Elijah add some water to his while Keira wasn't looking. Then, we baked his concoction and even sampled it! It was extremely salty, but a fun experiment, nonetheless.






Finally, for my last "B" topic -- banking. We decided to start the new year with a an exciting development for Elijah -- his first bank account. We have a college savings account already open for him, but we wanted to open one that he could access and control. We've also started giving him an allowance. On December 30, we headed to the bank. He decided he wanted to deposit his Christmas check from Grandpa Jan and Grandma Karen to open his account. He was really excited, and still is. He loved filling out his deposit slip and his bank book. Today he told me he wants to save at least $3,000 in the bank. When we opened his bank account, I told him that's how much I saved to buy my first car! He's on his way. :)

*Note -- We did open an account for Keira as well, but of course she doesn't know, yet. I'm sure she'll appreciate it some day.

The Rest of Christmas Break, Part II -- Daddy Time

One of the best things about vacation is extra time with Daddy. Both kids definitely got their fill. Elijah tried to get Daddy to build Lego's with him during every possible free moment, but they did manage to play a few games of RISK between the Lego sessions.



Keira's favorite thing to do is play imaginary games. She plays doctor, dentist, birdies, many Dora based games and anything else that occurs to her. Here she is playing "Blast Off!" with Daddy in her and Elijah's new rocket.


When the kids are in the mood, they each pick a book and we do the bedtime reading together, usually in Elijah's bed. Often I'm the one to read to both of them, but without any pressing work to be done over the vacation, Daddy got in on the fun.

The Rest of Christmas Break, Part I -- Attackle and Cuddle

We had a wonderful remainder of our Christmas vacation, at least once we were over our various illnesses. We had some beautiful weather and we all enjoyed our time together. Keira adores her big brother and her favorite thing to do is "attackle" him. They both use the word and it seems like it's a cross between attack, tickle and tackle. Sometimes Elijah enjoys it and sometimes he's just a good sport for his sister. Either way, they're adorable. :)





No matter what, both kids like to end their "attackling" session with a good cuddle. Here they pulled the pillows and blankets off the couch so they could "nap" together.

Grammie and Babo's Family Photos

Before I move on from Christmas, I wanted to include some family photos. Back in November, Grammie hired a photographer to take some pictures of all of us for her Christmas cards. While I'm not especially fond of how they turned out of me, I know I should include them for posterity.

Here are my favorites of the four of us.






These are my favorites of the kids. The photographer commented on how easy they made her job when they posed together. They love "loving" each other. :)






Here are a few of me and Scott.





These are my favorite shots of the whole group -- which was the reason for the photography adventure in the first place.



Finally, I like this first one of my boys and the next one of Grammie and Babo with their grandchildren.