Heart Full of Music

Lincoln has always been our dancer. Ever since he was a wee little thing he began customizing his very own signature moves. Sometimes there's music...other times there's not. Either way, this boy loves to move. This morning made me laugh cause it was the first time he (like us) liked watching himself move. :)

Wide Open

I took some pictures of Noah the other day and when I went to upload them on my laptop, I noticed his mouth was wide open in every picture but one! If you look through the Carmack family photo albums, you'll see my little sister Amy was the same way. Interesting.

"Pre" Pre-School

Lincoln's at such a fun age where he seems to be literally soaking up gobs of information at an alarming rate...it's amazing how these little brains can hold so much and not go insane! It would have been nice if that gift would have continued on through high school and such...arg.
Lately I've been working on his numbers (1-5), letters (ABC), and colors (green, purple, red, blue), but it's been very unstructured and random. Being that this is my first "school year" as a stay-at-home-mom, I'm getting over zealous and excited for ways to foster this ever-exploding brain of his. So far, he LOVES working on the stuff we do - thinks of it as "playtime" (again, why does this feature GO AWAY??). So today I did some surfing online for more structured "programs" and curriculum tailored to his age and found this website.
It looks fun and fairly simple and the links to everything makes it super convenient! I also love the weekly Bible verses and stories. Now - self confession here: I used to think it was strange when I heard of toddlers having "curriculum" at home. So guilty as charged, because I GET IT now. They love it...love learning...and it just provides more structure and ideas for the not-so-creative parent (um, me.).
I know that we will not follow this exactly and it might be amazing to fit in 3 lessons in one week even, but I'm excited about some new ideas to do with Lincoln for the days where our plans a few (or those blizzard days if it's anything like last year!).
So I'm curious...what kinds of structured learning do you do with your kids while staying at home? Has it worked for you? Have a good week!

6 Month Check-Up

Yesterday was Noah's 6 month well-check. He is actually 6.5 months now, though. His aunt Amy came along to help with Mr. Lincoln and that was (and always is since she does it almost every time!) a HUGE help.

Noah measured just fine, though he's still a tiny fella! He's in the 20-25th on height and weight, but moving up on his scale just fine. I chart his measurements every visit on Lincoln's old charts to see how they compare, and Noah was 15lbs this visit when Lincoln was 18lbs at his 6 months! They're both about the same for height at 6 months. Lincoln didn't start growing taller until later.

As for Noah, he can now feed himself his own bottles, though his brother LOVES to help him. :)

And as of a few days ago, Noah has started to scoot all around the living room! He's not crawling yet, but sure is mobile - love it. Yesterday, he kept getting into a push-up position and would, sometimes, propel himself forward.

It's such a fun stage when they can sit unsupported and "Get somewhere" on their own. He's so much more content and happy with his new exploration skills!

Friends

Last night we watched my neighbor's (and good friends!) kids for a few hours. Their son is a few years older than Lincoln, but Lincoln adores him! It's really cute to watch...and likewise, Lincoln has been introduced to some things he's never tried before.

Like, tennis!

And what's better than a cold popsicle after a hard game of tennis? Not much (according to Lincoln, at least).

It's really funny because Lincoln and his friend love to yell, dance, play chase, throw balls, throw water on each other, wrestle (this can be a little scary sometimes)...full blown BOYS.

And then there's these two...

Not a single care in the world, soft spoken, and just oozing with sweetness. They have no idea what they're in for with their big brothers. :)

ABC's/1-2-3's (or just "FOUR!")

Yesterday I turned into a slight mad woman in regards to cleaning. It started with just cleaning the kitchen when the boys went down for their nap, but turned into sweeping, vacuuming, washing/folding all laundry, reorganizing three drawers in the kitchen, cleaning our bedroom, making the bed, reorganizing the laundry room, and (this is where I got crazy) VACUUMING out the garage. Yes. with the vacuum hose. The whole thing. Who does that? Ours was disgusting and I'll spare you all the things I sucked up (you might think differently about me), but - oh my goodness - after dis-infecting the vacuum hose, it's CLEAN!

My reasons for doing this (other than every insect known to man-kind had built mansions in there) was because I made an "art table" out there for us to enjoy with the garage open when the weather gets cooler. We have an old white table we used to use in out kitchen collecting dust out there, so I clean/disinfected it, cleaned the chairs, rearranged some things in our garage, and made it an art table. That way, the messy colors never come into the house (our rent house, remember). The table is perfect because you can color all over it and it wipes clean (not sure why, but it does) with a wet rag.

When Lincoln woke up, I showed him his new station in the garage, and he LOVED it. We colored until Noah woke up, and then 2 more times throughout the day, he was standing at the door that leads to our garage going "color??".

I also bought some numbers/ABC/colors/pictures flashcards yesterday to work on him with while we're out there. I've noticed when I work on these things with him, he has the best concentration at meal time (when he's strapped in). Other than that, he can do it sometimes, but others is way distracted by all his other toys everywhere. But guess what? TOTAL attention at the art table in the garage!

So yesterday we worked with the ABC flashcards (he pretty much has all the pictures down). About 30% of the time he could say the right letter when I showed him the card, but he was fantastic at me showing him the card and him telling me what sound it made! Almost perfect on that skill. I was so proud! His favorite is the "C" sound. Now, we'll see if he remembers today. :)

We're not so much tackling numbers yet. He was doing great at 1-3, but then we added "4" last week, and he loves to say "Four". So everytime we count now, I start with "One..." and he goes "Two...FOUR! FOUR! FOUR!". Not sure why, but oh well...goofball.

Oh yeah - our garage used to be infested with flies. You could hardly sit in it, it was that annoying. But after vacuuming it (again - it was one of the most disgusting things I've done/seen)...we didn't have a single fly bother us. Excellent.

And our dear Noah? Well, he's been taking crazy long naps this whole week (growing??) so after lunch, well, we just don't see much of him.

But when he wakes up, he's usually in such a sweet mood - babies after naps are the best - seriously.

What's For Dinner

I'm going to start mixing things up a bit and posting some recipes here and there (when I remember and have the time). Included in our budget is me working my tail off to keep groceries under $500/mo., which has resulted in me (finally) meal planning.
I've actually enjoyed it (going on 4 weeks now!), and have also, thus, been cooking more. My weekly goals? Cook at least two meals that can also be eaten as left-overs the next night. :) Yes I'm a cheater, but I've found I enjoy it more if it's not a daily thing.
So I have my own list I made of things I cook that all of us enjoy (can be kind of tricky in our house since Jason and I are pretty much "opposite eaters"), but I also LOVE seeing what all of you cook for dinner and getting fresh ideas. So I thought I start posting things we have as well. :

This was last night (and tonight's) dinner: HOMEMADE PIZZA.
Obviously pizza doesn't take much of a brain or creativity, but I thought I'd share what makes ours so fantastic - all about the homemade dough. This has been my mom's recipe for years and Jason absolutely LOVES it. I always make two pans because this is one of those that tastes just as yummy heated up for lunch or dinner the next day.
Here's how it's done:
The main ingredient:

This box of hot rolls mix is found in the bakery isle usually.

Other ingredients:

Pizza Sauce (we just use whatever spaghetti sauce we have left over)

One egg (for the dough)

Low-fat margarine

Mozzarella cheese (we use 2%)

and whatever toppings you want! I usually cook up some extra lean hamburger meat mixed with italian spices, then bell peppers, onions, olives, and mushrooms for veggies.

1. Pre-heat oven to 400 (don't use oven times on back of dough box!)

2. Make dough according to box instructions (one box = 1 pan of pizza...we usually make two)

3. Use cookie baking sheets (square pizza makes super yummy crusts!)

4. Spread dough across cookie sheet and bake in oven for ONLY 4 MINUTES.

5. Take pan out, spread pizza sauce, cheese, and then top with fresh toppings of choice.

6. Put back in over for 15-20 minutes. Watch it carefully, though, because the dough is not nearly as good if it gets too done. We like ours a tad underdone.

This dough is seriously huge, thick, doughy and fantastic!

And as you can see below, Jason has his "no-veggie" version...

And I have mine. :)

Oh yeah - It's totally kid-approved. :)