Barefoot in February

The lack of winter this year has been just confusing to me.  At the end of February, the girls and I spent an afternoon enjoying the weather outside in our bare feet.  Bare feet!  In February!  Still, it was a great day, and we thoroughly enjoyed feeling our toes in the grass.

The crocuses and even the daffodils came up in the yard, a sure sign of spring.  Often the crocuses beginning peeking up while the last of the snow is still melting, but this year, no snow was in sight.

The girls rode together on Sierra's plasma car.  

There's a patch of long grass in the front yard, which Sierra deemed her "nest" and spent some time perfecting her little home.  She even let Kaia join her, but Kaia didn't have the patience to linger long.  I think she's going to be bummed when it's mowed.  But for now, we'll enjoy!

Spaghetti night photo bomb!

My {this moment} post inspired me to upload some more photos of Kaia from our spaghetti night this week. Who knew how much this gal loved her noodles and sauce?!

{this moment}

It's been awhile since I've done one of these.


{this moment} - A Friday ritual inspired by Soule Mama. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

I actually several photos during this particular dinner; all are hilarious.  I'll have to put up a "photo bomb" post for you to enjoy them as well.  

To Mary's Rock

aka: The hike wherein Sierra amazed us with her hiking prowess.  At just 3.5 years old, Sierra hiked all the way to the peak at Mary's Rock and back, completely on her own, the entire way, a total of 2.8 miles, half of that up a mountain.  Wow!!

The weather couldn't have been better for a winter hike.  We haven't had much winter here in Virginia this year, which is rather sad for winter-loving folks like ourselves, however, we have been trying to just let go of the feeling of being cheated out of winter and embrace the lovely weather we've been able to experience.  It's not oven that you can go for a hike at the end of January and be comfortable in short sleeves.

Here we are, ready to go, following the blue blazed trail with a little help from Daddy.

There is an old stone chimney along this trail, which is all that remains of a cabin that used to be here.  It's a little crazy to turn the corner on the trail and suddenly see a random chimney in the woods.  

Since Sierra did this whole hike on her own, it meant we took frequent rest stops.  Which is fine, we enjoyed the process, and Jason and I were both impressed with Sierra and her hiking.  

By the time we were almost to the top, Sierra was complaining a little bit of being tired, but we were almost to the top, and with a little encouragement, she made it to our destination on her own and then we had a nice, long rest and some trail snacks to recharge.  

The view from Mary's Rock is amazing.  

And as it has been every other time I've been there, it was windy at the top of Mary's Rock.  Check out Casey's ears!!

A little rock climbing was, of course, in order.  

Here's me with my girls.  And that's Kaia, asleep on my back.  She missed all the fun!

Happy Valentine's Day

Yes, I realize that Valentine's Day was a month ago, but guess what? You get to celebrate again with the recap of the preschool Valentine's Day party.  Party was a huge success, thanks to preschool party planning prowess (did you like that alliteration?) of the illustrious Sarah, aka "Sophia's mama."  

The first part of the day was a "normal" preschool day, and the party took place for the final hour.  I arrived a little bit early and brought Sierra's valentines for her preschool pals, which she got to "mail" in the hallway.  

One of the hallway decorations was the preschool definition of "love." 

Be still my beating heart: 

First up: some Valentine themed stories read by the aforementioned illustrious lady.  

And then!  Valentine poems!  With actions!  You just can't go wrong with action poems when your audience is 3- and 4-year-olds.  

Our kiddos then split into two groups for a variety activities.  In one preschool classroom was a craft project.  

Sierra had a very attentive helper in attendance.  

In the other room, there were games and activities, including heart ring toss.  

And pin the face on the heart.  

Xander took on the challenge of attempting to amuse Kaia.  

She does not look amused.  

With our groups back together, we ended the party with decorating Valentine cookies, made by Jason, who is the baker extraordinaire in this house.  Cookies are not my forte.  But his were delish.  

Blue Day

Blue day was not a sad day at preschool, just a wear blue day.  There is a color day every month, but blue day, it seems, had lesser importance.  Don't mind that not everyone wore blue that day!

Sierra did go all in for Blue Day: blue sweater, blue jean skirt, blue tights, even her back pack is blue!  

Here she is heading in to preschool with her buddy, Sophia!

Sometimes you just have ruuuun!

As Sierra says, "I love aaaalll my friends!"  Tommy gets some love, too.  

When we got to school, there was the usual time for some free play in the morning.  Sierra and Sophia got busy in the kitchen!  They had to make a feast!

Ms. Jeannette asked me to be photographer and take some individual pictures of the kiddos, but Sierra and Sophia just had to have one together!

A woman from the Art Center of Orange comes to preschool once a month to do a special project with the kids.  Today was that day!  The project was using "bleeding tissue paper" to make abstract water color pictures.  

The children took strips and bits of the tissue paper and placed them randomly on a piece of foam core board.  

When they were happy with the arrangement, the project was sprayed with water and then the little artists pressed down to extract the color from the tissue paper.  

Lift the paper towel and remove the wet tissue paper.  Repeat if desired.  

Ta da!

"Circle time" was delayed that day because of the Art Center project, but since I was the helper in the classroom that day, Sierra also got to be the helper and after everyone spelled their names, she got to put up the day of the month and choose the correct pictures for the weather.  

Then it was time for some song and dance!

Wheeee!