Bunk Buddies

I sidecar'd Lexi's bed up to Charlotte's bed and they love it! I love it too because when I'm reading them books I can sit right in the middle and reach Lexi to rub her back if needed and Charlotte can see the pictures. They are also close enough that they can sense each other while sleeping which puts their minds at ease, I have girls that love to be close to someone while sleeping. Overall this is a win-win!

Sleeping beauties!

Pancake Sunday 1.30

Pineapple Upside Down Pancakes

with

Pineapple Coconut Syrup

She wasn't actually helping, just banging on the bowl with measuring spoons

Caramelized pineapples

Recipe called for two 6" skillets, all I had were two 8" cake pans

All puffed up straight from the oven

The pans were too big that the batter spread the pineapples to the edges

Nom Nom Nom

One delicious slice of pancake with Pineapple Coconut Syrup!

This was a fairly decent recipe but takes more prep than it's worth. This recipe will be going into the "won't be making it again" vault.

Wow

I can't believe I've reached over 3000 page views! It's mind bottling.

You guys and gals rock!

Insect Week: 1/24-1/28

We did insects this week, you know...6 legs, exoskeleton, 3-part body and all that jazz. I think it is pretty important to introduce all things in the world and let the girls pick and choose what they like and what they don't.

I, personally, am squeamish around/about insects. They creep me out, they move fast, you never can tell where they're going to go. They bite and sting and buzz in your ear. Most are pretty ugly. They are crunchy and gooey. The language used in entomology just makes me sick to my stomach, one word...maggot. Did all of that stop me from teaching bugs?!

NEVER!

BTW, if you can't stand insects don't get this book...

Ah, but I digress...let's get back to what we did.

Counted insect legs and labeled body parts, made a list of actual insects and a list of non-insects and compared the two (now that I made that list I find myself getting very annoyed with people that refer to non-insects as insects)

I really need to clean that chalkboard!

Circled insects and crossed out non-insects on a printable I found on the web (I can't remember where at the moment)

 Used modeling dough balls to make pattern caterpillars

Lexi overseeing with her marker cigar

This pattern confused her at first

Used pom poms glued onto clothespins to make caterpillars, then we place the caterpillars in a "chrysalis" which was just a toilet paper tube (there were pretty elaborate ideas for that part online but I wanted something easy to open) and told Char that her caterpillar would soon be a butterfly. I then made wings for the caterpillars and put them back in their little homes while Charlotte slept and when she woke the next day they were butterflies! She was so excited and has no idea whatsoever that I actually did it, sneaky sneaky.

Char's on the left, mine on the right

Putting them in their new homes

Waiting to turn into a butterfly

She couldn't believe it had wings!

This little guy lost an eye

This little guy lost an eye as well

Charlotte's inner eye

I made ten ladybugs with dots 1-10 and Charlotte counted and placed them on their correct numbers. She did extremely well with this. We count a lot but I've never pushed numbers on her (taking an unschooling approach with it like I am with reading) and she got the majority of them without any help from me! I have to credit her dance teacher with her newfound enthusiasm for counting though, they do a little warm-up exercise where they count and Char has taken off with it!

Where to begin...

She did it!

We had a bug hunt outside but since it's winter we didn't find much at all, a few worms but those aren't really insects!
Of course, like always, we checked out some awesome books. Here were the favorites:

picture books

About Insects: A Guide for Children

Bugtown Boogie

Velma Gratch and the Way Cool Butterfly

Over in the Garden

Bug Safari

and some nonfiction

Insect

Bug Zoo

(especially awesome if you are willing to house insects for observation)

One Week

So much has happened in such a short amount of time! I feel like I have been cut of from my little blogosphere and am now feeling up to regular postings again.

It has been one week since I've had surgery to remove my branchial cleft cyst. Surgery went well as far as surgeries go I guess. Most of what happened that day is a blur but, here's my recollection. Checked in at 6:30 a.m., went back to prep around 8:00 a.m., worked myself up so much about getting my IV put in I threw up as soon as the nurse got it in, I am such a baby. Anesthesiologist put the anesthesia in my IV, started getting sleepy while they wheeled me back, put me on the operating table and I was out around 8:30 a.m., next thing I remember was waking up in PACU (which I found out I was in for 2 hours before waking up) extremely sleepy. All I remember from that area is that I told the nurse that I liked her glasses (even though I couldn't open my eyes and wasn't wearing my glasses), my blood pressure dropped really low (like 70 something/something) and that the guy recovering next to me pooped on himself. I was transferred to another recovery room where Travis was and spent the next 6 hours in there struggling to wake up, forgetting to breathe every once and awhile, waiting for my blood pressure to get back to normal and throwing up IV fluids. Finally I woke long enough to move to a wheelchair and go home. Originally the surgeon was going to keep me over night but he was so pleased with my surgery that he decided to send me home that day, I was one of the first patients in recovery and the very last one out.
But anyway, it's been one week and recovery is going well, I am up and moving around and taking care of business as usual.

My super awesome cut

It's been one week since I've used shampoo. My hair is doing great! A bit greasy in the bangs but overall it feels pretty good! I'm pretty excited this is working out so well (so far).

Hair looks nice and clean still!

It's been one week since Lexi has nursed. I didn't nurse her the day of my surgery because I was pretty much dead to the world. Travis said she was nuzzling him at night but once she figured out he was the wrong person she rolled over and went back to sleep. I didn't nurse her the next day because I was pumped so full of drugs (I really didn't even know which ones) so instead of risking it she just didn't nurse. Then the days just kept going and now it's been one week. This may or may not be a coincidence but she has slept through the night 4 nights out of the week, which she's never done before in her life. (I am not suggesting that weaning your baby will make him/her sleep through the night. All babies are different. Weaning did not help Charlotte sleep through the night).

What sleeping through the night looks like

In one week, I've gotten further on a project I've been working on than I have in six months. I've been taking drastically large steps in order to be ready to start a toddler/preschool art group by Spring and I'm very excited about that!

Changes happening in the Art Studio!

I filled out my application for student financial aid. Yes, school again, and if it doesn't pan out this time I'm just cutting my losses. I have gone to school multiple times for art-related degrees, I finally just thought, why am I beating around the bush, I might as well go for just plain old art...education that is. 

ART TEACHER!

I am such a cool art teacher, check out my hot legs

We made our first appearance back to storytime. Once we got there I couldn't believe we hadn't been in so long and was wondering why, the kids love it and it's not even a hassle to get my butt up to take them. Glad to be getting back into the storytime groove.

Looking at the list now it doesn't seem like so much but I suppose when you think about doing all of this while recovering from surgery it seems like almost too much. So that's what's been going on since I've last blogged, hope all of my lurkers are doing well!