P, Q and R

So here's what we've been learning in preschool recently:

P: Penguins, pasta, pine cones, panda puppets, playdoh

Notice the puppy in Paris shirt:) We used playdoh to practice the number of the week, 14

Q week was also Valentine's week so we did some of both:

Q is for painting quails with q-tips:)

And for making Q quilts:)

We had some kind of sick kiddos, and it was Valentine's day so we watched Winnie the Pooh while holding Pooh stuffed animals.  A movie always makes everyone feel better!

R Week:

Rose dances and ring around the rosie 

Robots, rainbows and racing down the hill with our friend Tim:)

And it was high time for another field trip, this time to Red Robin with Brody (ok I'm not gonna lie, we pretty much always try to figure out where we can eat out for the letter of the week and we did eat at Qdoba for Q week, just no pictures)

Skiing is fun!

We have really enjoyed living in Colorado!  We can hike, camp or ski just minutes from our house and we love it! Recently we got to take Alina up for her first ski lessons (thank you Grandma Eva!!!!) and it turns out she's gonna love living here too.  She had a blast! Here are some pictures from her fun filled day.

We are so happy that she enjoys skiing and wants to go again.  We (especially Justin) can't wait for the whole family to be spending the day on the mountain skiing and snowboarding!

L, M, N, and O

Well, I can't find any pictures of L week. We did it right before Christmas and somehow I don't seem to have any pictures, but here's a few things we did:

• Read Llama, llama, red pajama and Daniel in the Lions Den 
• Ate lots of L candy - lollipops, laffy taffy, licorice
• Worked on a number line with playdoh
• Made (and ate) lemon bars and lasagna
• Colored a picture of lizards

And now here is an overview of the last month of preschool:

M - Monkeys, monsters and lots of macaroni (to eat and play with!)

For N week we learned about Noah's ark and wore lots of necklaces:

We'll have to pull these back out next week for Mardi Gras!!!!

And a "N" lunch of nuggets, noodles and navel oranges:)

 

"O" week: oatmeal, octopus, "Oliver and Company" and an "O" ring toss game that Bella loved!!

 

Princess Tea Party

Finally we have pictures of Alina's birthday! We had to postpone the party for a week because she had the flu and then I thought I lost my camera (it was in my purse) and couldn't get the pictures off of it.  So here we are, she's been four for almost a month, but we got pics!

Last week, Alina also went to her 4 year check-up and she is doing great!  She is healthy and growing, and we thank God each day for this wonderful blessing!

Alina really wanted a princess tea party this year.  She just loves dressing up and all things girly!  So we had a few little girls over and had a wonderful time celebrating our little princess.

The tea party was in our dining room.  The boys left the house so we could have it all to ourselves and there was an explosion of pink and flowers!

 We had cake pops, muffins and of course scones with our tea

 And flower-shaped cucumber sandwiches, because I'm pretty sure these are a requirement at tea parties.  Besides Alina loves them!

 The girls started out by making their princess hats, they all came in their princess gowns

And here's the birthday princess herself:) She chose her Snow White dress for this  occasion.  The hats were pretty cute, but they didn't stay on at all:(

Enjoying "wild berry" tea

And here is Alina with all her beautiful princess friends!

"Playmates"

Here is the rehearsal version of Alina's ballet performance.  They don't allow video during the actual thing, so that explains the man walking across the stage.  Alina is 3rd from the end on our right.  I am so impressed with how well she knows her dance.  She is such a beautiful, talented little ballerina.  And she loves it!!!!!!!!!

Click on this link: Playmates

 

Tiny Ballerina

Alina is loving her ballet class and now she has two friends from church there with her.  They are getting ready for their big performance this weekend "Coppelia." Here are some pictures from Saturday's dress rehearsal.  I get more pictures up after their performances this weekend.

Alina, Chelsea and Alaina

Getting ready

Getting out there:)

Tiny Dancer

This is what Nate loved to do while we were in Texas.  He would point to Mark's drums and say "bang, bang" until Mark played for him, then he danced like this.  Love it!

Christmas in Texas

We got to go "home" for a couple weeks at Christmas.  The kids and I flew out (directly thankfully!) the week before Christmas and then Justin joined us about 6 days later.  We had a wonderful time celebrating with family and opening lots of presents!

Nate's first plane ride (Alina is an old pro:)

We had lots of fun playing with Lily.  These cousins love each other sooooo much!

Its all fun and games until you bring down the bounce-house.  

Nate did that, but that's another story. 

The kids got to help Gigi decorate her tree.  They loved all the ornaments and Nate thought it was fun to put them on and take them off.  Everyday.

What's a trip to Texas with out playing on Uncle Mark's drums.  I will post a video of Nate dancing soon.  It is too cute!

Everyone got into cooking on Christmas Eve! (Even Uncle Mark, but that was because he wanted cookies!)

Ready to open presents!

Aren't they beautiful?

Let's just say Nate loves his dinosaurs!

Nate finally smiled for Santa!

 Time to open presents at Gigi and Papa Randy's house.  

I think these kids thought that's all we did in Texas!

And then again at Aunt Kim and Uncle Ben's house...

They love this toy!

Alina got to watch Aunt Kim with her horse, Cruz

So happy to be together!

It was nice to have time with Granny...

 ...and Aunt Sandy (who loves to get on the floor and play with them!)

Then it was time to head home.  I love this play area in DFW airport.  It was helpful as we had to wait quite a bit for our plane to take off.  The kids loved it!

Of course its always good to be home and we were so happy to find GJ covered in snow to play with.  It hasn't gotten above freezing since we've been back so we are just hanging out and staying warm.  I do love winter here, its actually winter not gray, overcast and sort of cold and wet.  You should come to Colorado in winter:)