Enjoying the Great Weather

Despite it being winter still, we have had quite a few nice days where you can head to the park with summer clothes on. It is so nice to be able to get out of the house and let the kids run around and burn some energy...makes for early bedtimes!

Here's a pic of Ella and Madelyn on enjoying the afternoon!

Our Little Soccer Star

We decided to try Ella at soccer and have started her in Soccer Tots. The program is designed to develop their skills and introduce them to soccer. They just meet once a week for 50 minutes and there are no games...definitely something that I wanted right now because I can't commit to more than that! It is also in a gym at an elementary school, so they are able to have it rain or shine.

Ella has really had fun with it and is actually pretty good. She doesn't quite grasp the concept of "no hands" but we're working on that. The pics are of her practicing standing with the ball under her foot and then the other is the kids running wild down the gym.

Chef Ella

Ella got to go to cooking school today at the Young Chefs Academy. It is a wonderful little place that focuses on hands-on cooking with the kids. Ella loves to cook at home with John and I, so we figured this would be her little cup of tea. Today, they taught them how to make Sweet and Savory Breadsticks. The kids got to measure out the different ingredients for their dough, roll it out and make their sticks and coat them (and I mean COAT) with cinnamon/sugar mixture and/or an herb mixture. As their creations baked in the oven, the kids got to play around with the extra dough (as seen in the picture with her best friend Madelyn). Thirty minutes later, yummy breadsticks were ready and everyone got to enjoy them! Lots of fun and something we'll definitely do again!

This is the Flu

Well, for the past week and a half, the Wedemeyer house has been battling the flu. It has been horrible, and that is putting it nicely. I came down with it last Wednesday. For all the times I've said "I must have the flu" when I've felt run-down, achy, irritable....that was nothing compared to this. I was completely unable to do anything and John had to stay home from work for two days to help me with the girls. By the weekend I was starting to feel back to normal, just as Ella started running a temperature on Saturday afternoon. Three sleepless nights and three irritable days after that, Audrey woke up Tuesday running a fever herself. She has struggled the most at night and has been the one who has run the highest fevers without getting much relief from Tylenol/ Motrin.
I believe we are on the tail end of this nasty bug. And yes, we all had flu shots, but have been told that the strain of the flu we have "Influenza A" was not covered by the flu shot this year and can not be treated with the typical medication of Tamiflu. It has been a very rough two weeks, especially with John being out of town this week, but we have survived. Despite the misery, the girls have been in a great mood today and I had to show off my patients!

Letter D

D was another fun week. Ella is really getting in to "school" and ask every day if we are going to do a craft. We go through at least a glue stick a week as Ella LOVES to go wild with them, getting the majority of it on the kitchen table for me to scrape off later.

This week was a little challenging with all the sickness that hit our house, but we still had plenty to learn. We made a dalmation dog puppet, a duck, painted with dots, learned about diamonds, played dominoes, our weekly collage with "D" things, and lots of coloring sheets. We had planned on making homemade playdough, but the flu curbed that trick.

Ella's Bible verse for the week was "Do all things without complaining and disputing." As we worked on memorizing it, I couldn't help but think that I am learning just as much as she is, maybe just in a different way.

Daddy's Other Valentine

Audrey didn't get to have donuts with daddy, but she got a hug which she loved just the same.

Donuts with Daddy

Every year at Kid Care, they have "Donuts with Dad" around Valentines Day. The kids get daddy to take them to school that morning and they sit around and have donuts and show them some fun crafts they made for them. This year, Ella made a big tie that had a picture of her holding a sign that said "I love you", a valentine, and a placemat for John. The placemat had answers given by Ella from questions her teachers had asked her. According to Ella, John is 6 years old, when he is at work, he "works", his favorite food is pizza and she loves him because "he likes to play." I'd say she knows him pretty well.

Last year, Ella was sick and wasn't able to go to school that day with John. This year, she's been talking about Donuts with Dad since they came back from Christmas break! It is a special time for Daddy and Ella...I know they both had lots of fun.

Before heading off to school...

Going for A Walk

Ella has found her new favorite activity...taking Audrey for a walk! One day I sat Audrey up in Ella's baby stroller (I'm sure Audrey exceeds the recommended weight limit) and Ella started pushing. Audrey had so much fun and threw a fit when I took her out. John says she looks like a little sausage squeezed into it, but I think she's just so precious! Ella loves the fact that she can take care of Audrey and do all the pushing herself!

Letter C

Another week, another letter. We had lots of fun with "C" this week. We made a caterpillar, made a paper chain, made a collage, baked cookies with M&M's, colored lots of coloring sheets and learned a very important Bible verse...Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is pleasing to the Lord. Ella can recite it by memory, too bad the application part is where we have trouble!! She is really enjoying all the fun stuff...she loves doing crafts. I think she is most proud to show Daddy each day what she has done!

C is for Cookie!

Since this week we are learning about C's, we decided to make cookies shaped like C's and let Ella and Madelyn decorate them with mini M&M's. Though the majority of the M&M's ended up in their bellies before the cookies were even put in the oven, the girls had fun...which is really all that matters.

Our Little Prima Ballerina

Ella started taking ballet and tap class at the beginning of January. This is the first time she has done any type of class where mommy has not had to be in the room participating too (Hallelujah!!). Ella and her best friend Madelyn are both in the class and all the girls look so precious in their little outfits. They spend the first 30 minutes doing ballet and the last half doing tap. They are already working on their recital piece which is from The Sound of Music (Doe, a deer, a female deer). It is going to take until the end of May for them all to get it!! I snuck a picture today of her in class...couldn't get a good one because if she saw me for too long, she'd probably try to run out!

Our Heart Tree

Though I am definitely not Martha Stewart, I have felt the crafty bug hit in over the past several months. For February, I decided to make a Love Tree. Ella helped me make the bead heart ornaments and I sewed a few felt hearts and decorated them with some buttons. I caught Ella taking the candy hearts out of the vase and licking them, so I guess we can also count this as her treat jar!