January Preschool Review

Garytt worked on a lot of winter themed activities in January. They made two different kinds of snowflakes.


P is for Penguin. (These penguins were made with some sort of shaving cream mixture that dried puffy. As you can tell, Garytt really enjoyed making those!)


They talked about mittens and measured each of their friends by how many mittens long they are.


They also played some sort of mitten game with actual mittens and gloves.


The kids didn't get to play outside too much in January but they were pretty happy when they did!


Westyn also worked on some winter projects. I don't get many pictures from his teacher but I did get one when they were making "snow"men with shredded paper. Looks like it was a mess but the end project was cute.


He also made penguins, but his were shape penguins.


It was another fun month at LODO!

January Randomness

Well, January started off with a bit of surprise when Westyn came to us with marker all over his hands. I couldn't figure out where he had gotten it. When we asked him, he lead us to Garytt's bed where he had stashed the permanent marker. I dreaded asking him to show us where he had colored with the marker, as I could imagine walls and carpet all colored black. As it turned out, he crawled back under Garytt's bed and pointed at his Michelangelo style creation. We did have a discussion about not drawing on furniture but, honestly, I was relieved that was the extent of the damage!


The boys still enjoy playing with basic blocks to make tower and pyramids.


They also very much enjoy playing in the snow.


Westyn liked playing in the snow so much that we found him a few times putting on his own hat and gloves by the door.


Even when the weather warmed up enough to melt most of the snow, the boys were outside playing in the last little bit of snow.


They love reading and practicing in their workbooks.


They are always getting into our dress-up clothes. I especially like Captain America-Tweedle Dum.


Recently, Westyn has been crawling into bed with Garytt after prayers. I think he is ready to transition to a big boy bed...too bad mom and dad aren't ready for him to have that much freedom.


Garytt was invited to his first school friend birthday party. It was a Doc McStuffins party. So, all the kids were told to bring their favorite toy to get a check-up. Garytt brought Woody and he did a great job examining Woody!


Westyn and Garytt both enjoy the new art easel that Westyn received for his birthday.


Garytt has been practicing singing his ABC's.


Bath time is also more colorful since Westyn's party since he received tablets that change the color of the bath water and bath crayons!


The boys recently re-discovered this little traffic cone that Justin got for free a while back. They use it as a megaphone to yell at each other but they think it is hilarious.


This is one of my favorite photos from this month. While were were waiting for our food at dinner one evening, we were distracting the boys by working on their counting. Westyn was using Justin's hand and he clearly says, "One, two, three, Aggies!" That's right, he knows what the Aggie Ring is! WHOOP!

Westyn Turns Two

Westyn's actual birthday was Monday, January 27. We save a few of the cupcakes from his party and had a small birthday celebration after dinner. He was pretty excited about cupcakes!


After we all had a cupcake, we gave Westyn a birthday gift. Justin found this awesome Zurg mask on his trip to Minneapolis...and it was on clearance!


After Westyn tried on the Zurg mask, Dad and Garytt had to try it as well.


Westyn went in for his well check the following week.

Height: 34 inches
Weight: 27.3 pounds

He is staying steady on the growth curve. He is hitting all his milestones and then some.


Happy Birthday Westyn! We look forward to another year of adventures!

Westyn's 2nd Birthday Party

We celebrated Westyn's art themed 2nd birthday on Sunday, January 26 in Topeka. Justin did a great job designing the invitation.


A few days before the party, I made the centerpieces, the party favor bags, and art palette cookies.


I follow a cake blog that inspired my cake design for Westyn's party. I got to work decorating the cake once we arrived in Topeka.


Once the cake was done, I made some "paint brush" rice crispy treats.


My parents and I went over to the party site a little early to set up.
 

Pretty soon the birthday boy arrived!


Once all the guests arrived, it was time to enjoy some pizza.


Of course, the boys couldn't wait to have cake! It was time to sing "Happy Birthday!" to Westyn. Sadly, I did not do a good job of getting a picture of Westyn with his cake. I really should have brough the cake to his table rather than bring him to the cake table...oops.


Time for cake! (Usually the cupcakes go faster but once I cut into this rainbow cake, everyone wanted a piece!)


Next it was time to open presents. Wow, this was a bit of chaos. I didn't do a very good job of wrangling Garytt who was very eager to "help" his brother. They have fun!


Then, it was time to head next door to the art lab. The kids all put on their art aprons and we walked next door.


It was a tight elevator ride down.


We got started on the main project right away. The instructor described the process. First the kids were to draw on black construction paper with white crayon. Then they were to rip up the pieces. They set that aside while they painted with red, blue, and yellow on white paper. They were told to glob it on (not too hard for 2-5 year olds). They were also asked not to mix the colors...haha...yeah! I was definitely glad we decided to give everyone an art apron because this was a bit of a messy project but they all did great and really enjoyed it.


We took all the projects to the drying table and washed our hands. Then the kids were free to explore the other areas of the art lab.


As the party wound down, I tried to gather all the kids for a picture. We only ended up with Garytt, Westyn, and Hannah.


We had a truly fun day! We are thankful for all of our friends and family that came out to celebrate with us. (And we missed a few friends due to some winter illnesses going around.)

I still can't believe my little baby boy is two! Happy Birthday Westyn!