Preschool & Friend School in Full Force!

After getting back from our holiday escapades, we've settled back into our weekly routine. We started a new session of Mommy & Me preschool and this time we have several playgroup friends in class with us, which Keira enjoys. And we are also continuing with Friend School, which Keira also really loves.

At Ethan's house, we learned all about ice and things that are cold, such as this igloo!

Ice skating

We also got to celebrate Ethan's 3rd birthday, which was very special!

He didn't want to blow out the candles, so Katie helped him

Snack & story time

Coloring the penguin

Building an igloo for the penguin

Painting with colored ice cubes--so fun!

Messy fun!

Snowball parachute game!

At Ella's house we learned all about mittens!

She colored this mitten and laced through the holes

Fun with marble painting!

Brrr...this ice cube is cold without mittens on!

It feels cold on my mouth!

Now my hands stay warm with the mittens!

Sorting the mittens by size

Tissue paper craft

Painting with a mitten

Hard at work

At preschool, Keira loves to play on the playground!

So strong!

Ewwww, what is this stuff?! Glarch--combo of glue and starch!

Playing in the water is always fun, especially with her friend Cameron!

Matching the cubes to the picture

This week at Friend School, we got to learn all about Chinese New Year!

Here is the special lion seen in parades!

Wow, look at that dragon!

Counting money for the red envelopes.

Red is an important color & a symbol of good luck.

Squeezing orange juice

Stamping station

Rice bin with chopsticks!

Busy at work

Making Gao, a special Chinese pastry

Learning to peel an orange by herself

Making red dragon puppets

And special noisemakers

Closing song

She's really starting to get into the hand-motions now!

School is fun!!

A Few Stragglers

After posting the update about our Christmas season, I realized I forgot to check my camera for pictures (Noah always captures the great moments on his camera!). However, after going back to look, I found a few stragglers that are worth mentioning.

First, we had a great Christmas celebration at my mom's house and she went all out with decorating her house, so that was fun for all of us. Here is Keira in front of her Grammy's tree.

I posted before about how much Keira enjoyed playing the piano with her Aunt Laura.
Here they are in their lovely duet.

The last part of this post is dedicated to 2 sets of friends: The Shorts for introducing us to the world of Settlers many years ago and also to the Sterlings (mostly Matt!) for enduring a round of the game with us!

Whenever we get together with Noah's family, we always have to make time for a game of Settlers of Catan! Our Christmas trip was no exception and this time, Keira was in on the action!

For those of you who have played Settlers before, you know it can go on for a while (at least a couple hours), so with Keira's later bedtime, we didn't want to wait to start it after she went to bed, so instead we started it early and she got to participate! We were all so shocked and impressed because she actually sat with us, watching attentively, and "played" along for a good 45 min or so! Soon enough, she will be playing right along with us for real!

Nana is making her move!

Wow, Mom, this game is intense!

If you don't believe me, just ask my Aunt Laura!

Taking it all in

Collecting her resources

In addition to Settlers, Keira was recently introduced to two other games, which she got for Christmas. One is called Diggity Dog & the other is The Ladybug Game. She has fun playing both of these, and we enjoy it too! Yay for board games!

Big Girl Bed: Part I

Technically, Keira has been in a "big girl bed" (aka mattress on the floor) since she was 12 months old. After she was getting too big for the bassinet in our room (around 3-4 months), we tried transitioning to the crib in her room, but she had none of that. So, she shared our bed for the next 8 or so months (shh, don't tell our Pediatrician!) until she got too big and three was definitely a crowd (not to mention the fact that she fell off our bed!)!

So, Keira has been sleeping on a mattress on the floor for a while, but we kept it low to the ground because she rolled everywhere during the night. There were many occasions when we found her half-way across the room in the morning!

After Keira's friends recently began transitioning to big beds, we realized it was time for her to have an "official" big girl bed! To begin the process, we went shopping for a mattress set and found one we liked really quickly!

Hey guys, how about this one?!

Wow, this place has toys AND big beds?!

Whoa, look at all these beds!

How will we choose one?

Daddy, this one has some bounce to it!

We like this one too!

I could settle for this one!

The next day, the delivery guys brought Keira's new mattress set and she was so excited as we put it in her room!

Reading books with all her bedtime babies

Snug as a bug!

Stay tuned for Part II, which will showcase the new head-board and foot-board and a new comforter (still to be determined!).