Already practicing his signature

You know some kids like sports, and some kids like dinosaurs. Some kids like art and painting, and others prefer reading books. Not that Drew does not enjoy all the things listed in some way, but more than anything Drew has a love affair with letters. There is nothing more interesting(well cars..okay he loves cars) to Drew than letters and the sounds that they make. We play find the letter game every day in our house in some way..weather it be while we are reading, or in the bath, or on street signs.



He spelled his name and wrote these letters all by himself on a rainy day during some art time. I did not help him in anyway.


He ran out of space, and the "w" was moved to the next line, but Drew loves letters and my guess is that letters will love Drew as he gets older too.

When you can't find socks

Use the next best thing....like something that goes on your hands to keep them warm.




Lilly's problem solving skills have sky-rocketed these past few months. Nobel Peace prize here we come. Hey..if Obama got it, why not Lilly?

A...B..._____

So I am behind on posting the "letter of the days" as we call them around here, although we work on them for a week or so.


We read many books on cats, and then created some of our own.

I just have to share that Drew decided to draw poo-poo coming out of his Kitty's bottom. Awesome Drew.

We made a 5-minute Chocolate Cake.


Not really that pretty, I know. And if I was honest, it wasn't really all that great either, but if the ingredients are chocolate, sugar, coco, and chocolate chips I think my kids will eat it.



C week brought us our first family game night now that Lilly and Drew tuned three, they can play CandyLand. We had a great time playing, but Todd and I were reminded how LONG these games are. If you play it correctly and honestly, we could be playing that forever.

Just for the record...Drew has won fair and square every single time we have played. He somehow always gets the double color cards or pulls the princess frosting(or whatever her name is) and catapults close to the finish line. He is very proud.

Add another letter in the mix

So we are still doing some at home letter work and letter B week was fun. But the highlight(by far) was our field trip to the bowling alley. I was laughing pretty much the entire time. If I wasn't laughing I was making sure Drew didn't drop a 10 pound ball on his foot, or Lilly wasn't putting her hands on the moving belt where the balls come back up.


We were the ONLY people there in the entire bowling alley(besides the employees). I think this worked to our advantage with two three year olds running around.


We helped them at first, but they caught on pretty quickly.



This was pretty much Drew's permanent expression while we experienced the bowling alley. He was in heaven.


Lilly and I were on the "nemo" team and here is an example of our team work and high five skills.(we did lose in the end, much to team T-rex's pleasure)



Six pound ball, but still a little challenging to hold correctly.




This is just outright disgusting at a bowling alley.


Lilly's after a roll, bowling, happy dance


Slipping during the dance

Hey, it's something, right?

For those of you who's eyes ever wander over to check my blog list and specifically look at Elissa's blog(busy me busy with three)....let me just say that I am not Elissa. I wish I had a fraction of her craftiness and really just energy to do all the awesome things she does with her kids.

But I do like to teach my kids and I like my kids learning new things. And isn't this blog about the everyday life of the Petersen's?

Drum roll please.

So starts, a very down scaled version of an at home preschool. As of now we are starting with letters. Here are just a couple things we did involving the letter A.


We have made alligators and read alligator books. Highly recommend the book. While reading the book, the kids have their alligator's acting out parts in the book. It's like a mini-play in our living room.






We visited lots of airplanes at the Pacific Air Coast Museum. Just a little fun thing to do on the first Thursday of every month, they have a BBQ out there. It's only 5 dollars and you get a HUGE BBQ hot dog,(don't puke in your mouth because I admit I eat hot dogs people) chips, fruit or chili, and a drink. But the food was not the best part...the kids got to get up close personal with some really awesome airplanes.


As an added bonus, Todd met us for lunch and got to enjoy the Petersen twin school field trip too.

Drew the botanist

So we were all out back the other day and I asked Drew to go water the tree in the corner.

His response, "Okay mama I water the hibiscus tree."

"What did you just call that tree Drew?"

"Hibiscus tree. And these are Gerber Daisy's and these are poppy's mama"


Clear as day when he said it. All correctly identified including the tree.
I laughed so hard at this conversation and the fact that his brain cells must multiply faster then mine these days.

When food is left out at our house

She came up with this plan all by herself. I swear we feed this child.




I am happy I didn't leave the knife out next to the cheese. Yikes.

Raising the IQ

Forget books, just get a pair of reading glasses to appear smarter

ABC's take two

There is something to Sesame Street

So yesterday morning over a scrambled eggs, fruit, and cereal bar breakfast, Drew picked up his breakfast bar and says plain as day, "This breakfast bar is scrumptious." I started to giggle because his statement was completely unprompted by any one in the room(which was a monkey :-) and me)

I said, "What did you just say Drew?" As my mind wandered back to a Sesame street episode the other day when Jessica Alba was telling the audience what the word scrumptious meant.

Drew again said, "This breakfast bar is scrumptious mama." He also told me at lunch that his wheat thins were scrumptious.

I am liking my sons expanding vocabulary, and Todd likes Drew's taste in women because we all know Jessica Alba is pretty easy on the eyes.

Now I (kind of )know my ABC's

The Negotiator

So I have been meaning to write about this conversation for a while. It seems to keep changing as Drew's negotiating skills improve. Drew occasionally wakes up in the middle night and there are times when it is for 2-3 days in a row, usually around 2 am.

Setting: Drew's room at 2:30 am

This is how the conversation goes.(by the way...me in this conversation could also be Todd very easily)

Me: Drew it is night-night time.

Drew: I need...I need to watch Lightening McQueen.

Me: No Drew, we are not watching McQueen right now. It is night-night.

Drew: I need...I need...chocolate cookie.

Me: Um, no Drew. Sorry that is not happening.

Drew: I need...I need...I need chocolate milk. Please mommy.

Me: Thank you for asking nicely Drew, but it is not time to drink milk or eat anything.

Drew: I need white milk please? Please mommy?

Me. No Drew.

Drew: I need water?

Me: Okay Drew I will get you some water.

Drew: YA OKAY!

I have learned that a compromise of water is a win-win for both if us. He is happy with his water and I am happy to go back to sleep.

Another learning moment from Drew

You can't help but smile at how he says watermelon.

Just for a quick giggle

True Story

* Let me start off my saying that Todd and I have been making an effort to say prayers with the kids before they go to bed at night. Just a little night time ritual where the kids name everyone they possibly know and we pray for them.

Back to the story now. I have been really trying to work with Lilly on her colors lately. Drew, as seen in a previous post, knows his colors pretty darn well if you ask his biased mother. So the concentration has been on my "youngest" child in the color department lately.

Setting: High Chair after dinner. Lilly is asking for an otter pop and the light bulb goes on in my head as a great opportunity to work on colors. I proceed to grab a pink otter pop out of the fridge. My mom is over and we decide to "go to work"

Grandma: "What color is this Lilly?"

Lilly: "Bluuuuue?" (Drew sitting next to her in his high chair is saying the correct answer every time the color question is asked by the way)

Me: "This is a pink popsicle Lilly. Can you say pink?"

Lilly: "Pink."

Grandma: "Good Lilly. This is a pink popsicle. What color is the popsicle?"

Lilly: "Bluuuuuue?"

Me: "This is pink. Say Pink Lilly."

Lilly: "Pink." (this conversation is repeated in this order many times until my mom takes a different approach)

Grandma: "What color is it Lilly?" (my mom is very lightly whispering and mouthing the word pink to Lilly)

Lilly: In a whisper voice, "Piiinnk?"(nodding her head up and down in a yes nod)

Everyone in the room ignites in a roar of screams and clapping that Lilly got the color correctly.

Drew: Screaming as loud as all of us with his arms in the air yells, *"AMEN!"

Getting smarter everyday

Orange is a pumpkin patch according to Drew

He loves learning new things......a true "sponge" when it comes to learning. Drew's famous question, "What's that?" At least we haven't entered the "why?" zone yet!

Subtle, yet still making a point

For those of you who share in my "problem"(as some people have labeled it) You will understand why I purchased this shirt. There is a group in this society that will really read and care about what this shirt means, starting a conversation and we will be friends from that point on.



And there are others who will watch this video and think I am an awful mother who is brainwashing her children and I say to you...do you see the puzzles and books in the background?? We are learning about all sorts of things in this house, and the characters in Twilight are just part of the curriculum.

PS Seriously catch that Drew actually said Rosalie before I even had to remind him who she was...making me so proud. I am proud of Lilly who also gave it her "all" and participated well beyond my expectations. She and I will one day really discuss these books in depth. That is a long way off...like 18 years off.

"Counting Drew"

Yes, it is a work in progress. He has done it on multiple occasions, but decided he would rather play hide-and-seek in this video. You might see the challenge in playing hide-and-seek with Drew when Todd and I only get 1-2-3 GO to hide.

Chocolate Cookie Anxiety

If you're honest with yourself...I am sure everyone can relate to the "chocolate cookie" anxiety on some level.

Redemption

First things first...do you love my ridiculous socks that probably glow in the dark and really clash with my outfit for the day?

Secondly...I can answer questions like Drew too

What does a __________ say?

In case you didn't know...a goat says, "goooaaaaa"