While many of my friends were sending their bitty babes off to 2 or 3 year old preschool and MDO, Millie Janalee and I began our school year at home again.  I began researching something simple back in May.  Eventually my search kept coming right back to the same thing. Easy. Not complicated. And can be used year after year.  It's even great to use after school or during the summer if your children go to preschool.

Before Five in a Row.  This particular "curriculum" (I'm using that term lightly.) is for ages 2-4.  And basically you could just rotate the same books every year adding different activities. It is literature based.  We read the chosen book five days in a row completing different activities related to the book.  It is to be fun.  Just enjoing quality productive time with my sweet girl.  We don't have a strict schedule.  We may skip a week or two depending on travel and other obligations.  But we are enjoying moving through at our own pace.

Our first book was I Am an Artist.  I have never read many of the books on the reading list...including this one.  So I'm enjoying discovering these stories as much as Millie Janalee is.  The books don't go in any particular order.  We are working on letters (even though I think she recognizes them all already), so I chose this one to go with the letter "A."  Millie Janalee was an artist for the week.

In the book it talks about all the ways to be an artist.  One of those ways is to find shapes and objects in the clouds.  We talked about clouds, went outside to find clouds, learned that God makes the clouds, and then we painted our own clouds using cotton balls and clothes pins.  First I just handed her the cotton balls because they look like clouds and we talked about how soft they were.  She could've walked away happy at playing with cotton balls. Ha!

Then I clipped the cotton balls to clothes pins and let her paint her own clouds.  I didn't get a picture of the final product.  Oops.  She enjoyed it and now points clouds out everywhere we go.  She was quite upset yesterday afternoon when there was literally not a cloud in the sky.  Ha!  #toddlerproblems 

The following day, after rereading the book, we talked about rainbows.  Don't make fun of my "teacher-y station"!  I dug through my old teaching boxes to find these jewels.  Plus I filed these sentence strips away in my story file to use in the future when we go through our reading list again.

We talked about the colors of the rainbow, and we made our own rainbows.  [Side note: By the way, I do most of these art activities with her on my own paper so she can see what to do.  I wanted her artwork to be completely her own, so I had to do my own.  Ha! It's the OCD in me I guess.]  She loves combs, so I found this little project that was perfect for rainbows!

Total concentration

Having fun!

Taking a break to wipe paint off her hands.  LOL!  The drama.

Finished product

We don't do a major activity every day.  I'm seriously keeping it low key.  Some days we just read the book and talk about the pictures.  Some days we count things in the pictures or find shapes.  You get the idea.  Some days we walk outside and find things that we read about in the book.

"You are an artist when you find a star inside an apple."  We took a trip to the grocery store, and Millie Janalee helped me find red apples for our activity on this day.  We came home, and I cut one of the apples to eat.  It was yummy!  Then, I cut another one in half while she watched.  She loves to find stars, so finding the star inside the apple was easy.  Then, I showed her how to paint with our apples.

Painting with her apple

Great job!

To this day, she walks up to the table and says "apple paint!?"  And this was probably 3 weeks ago.  We actually went to the apple orchard yesterday to pick apples, so maybe we can apple paint this week.

Finished product

This day she recognized the letter "A" and we added it to our "alphabet tree."  Yes, I have a huge palm tree on our kitchen wall.  It's one of Millie Janalee's favorite things in our home.  She placed the lizards herself and became fast friends with the monkey.  Letting her add the letters to the tree herself has been a great highlight of her day.  Ha!

We have continued to our next book at our own pace.  We skipped a week or two when we were traveling.  But Millie Janalee is loving the fun hands-on activities, and she has LOVED the books so far!  I look forward to the weeks ahead and the mommy and me memories made.

St. Louis Fun with the Mansels Part 2

About a week or so after the first group of Mansels came to visit us, the rest of their crew came for a few days.  Will and Elle are getting married this summer, and they wanted Russ to take some engagement photos.  Jeff joined them as a "chaperone" perhaps.  But I'm pretty sure he came for the fun.  Ha!

The afternoon they arrived, we got on it.  No time wasted.  Will and Elle primped for a few pictures at Forest Park.  Millie Janalee enjoyed watching the little waterfalls and running across the bridge.  She and Uncle Jeff spent some quality time together so Russ and I could concentrate on the pictures.

When we decided we were hungry enough...and tired enough (remember they traveled over 5 hours that morning and very little or no sleep the night before since they both worked the night shift)...we drove over to Central West End.  We parked at the hospital Russ works at and strolled over to a yummy Mexican restaurant.  After dinner, we strolled some more to grab some frozen yogurt.  You would think we had a full day!  But that wasn't the end.  We decided to drive over to the Arch at night.  I had never been at night, and we were excited to see the city lights from above.  Sadly the tickets were sold out.  So we explored the museum and headed back home for the night.

The next day, we slept in while Russ worked til noon...and ate lunch at Hard Rock Cafe at Union Station downtown.  It was a wonderful location with lots to see.  Millie Janalee and Will enjoyed seeing the big trains.  Will has always like trains.  We headed out for our next location for engagement pictures - Missouri Botanical Garden!  A few wardrobe changes and amazing backgrounds made for beautiful pictures!  Millie Janalee even snuck in a couple.

Once again, Jeff and Millie Janalee had some bonding time.  I am thankful Millie Janalee and Uncle Jeff love each other so much!  It was very helpful during our photography sessions.  Millie Janalee still asks for Jeff every other day!

We left at closing, and came home for a movie and relaxing.  I think that's the night we had dinner at Cheesecake Factory.  This was also the night that the riots in Ferguson, MO began.  We heard a guy outside on the phone talking about it.

Russ had to go to work on Monday, so it was just Millie Janalee and me joining the group at the City Museum.  I was very excited, because I have heard so much about it and how fun it was!

I have decided it was the most dangerous place for children that I've ever seen, but SO MUCH FUN! And so much to explore for children and adults!  Next time, we may leave Millie Janalee with a sitter and go with adults.  Ha!  There isn't a whole lot I could do carting the stroller around.  And I had a close eye on my wandering toddler near all the high slides, obstacles, and more!

This school bus is hanging off the 11th floor of the building.  Ummm...heights!

My little bit and me on the top floor

The ferris wheel on the roof

We paid the extra $5 to take advantage of the roof.  Lots of fun!  We ended up grabbing lunch at the cafe on the roof too.  There was a huge slide in the middle of the roof.  You could walk up the stairs and slide down, or you could climb the side of the slide using a rope to pull yourself up.  It was steep.  Much steeper than it looks.

We watched Will, Elle, and Jeff slide down the slide quite easily.

Then they talked me into giving it a try.  Sure!  It looked easy enough.  It's just a slide after all.  I began my climb up the slide holding tight to the rope.  All of a sudden you realize just how steep the slide is.  My feet began to slip.  There was no grip on my shoes.  I made it to the top finally! But I was stuck.  My feet wouldn't grip on anything.  I couldn't let go to grab the rail.  There was a line of kids behind me waiting patiently for the 30 year old mother to get out of the way.  Thankfully, Will climbed with me and was quite the encourager.  He also offered many times to pull me up.  I couldn't let go.  I knew I could only pull him down.  I probably weigh twice his weight!  Ha!  After a while, a nice old lady made her way over to assess the situation and assured me that "help is on the way."  She was referring to Jeff climbing the slide, weaving in and out of the long line of children I was threatening to bowl down.  Jeff to the rescue!  He gripped his shoe enough for me to push off of it.

Then it took FOUR adults (you can see the other two bystanders who stepped in to help) to pull this big mama up.  At which point I simply laid flat to recover.  Mortified and exhausted, I had made it to the top!  Only to have to slide back down.  Ha!  Since that day I have declared that "I left my pride at the top of the slide at City Museum."  No need to worry about sweating at ballgames or going shopping with no makeup on.  I have no pride left I'm quite sure.

Another fun attraction on the roof was this cage like wall and ceiling you could climb.  It's hard to explain exactly how high this is.  You climb the cage along the walls up to the ceiling.  Then you can climb up through the top of the roof making your way to a slide back down.  Everyone did this.  But me.  Ummm...I stepped up about 10 feet before I realized "What was I thinking?!"  Ha!

We only had enough time to explore three floors.  I'm not sure how many floors are open to guests, but there are 11 total.  We will definitely have to go back to check it all out.  There were tunnels, aquariums, ramps, and slides throughout the entire building.

Millie Janalee, Elle, and I spent some time in the toddler area while Will and Jeff walked around observing all the old recycled parts of the building.

Just outside the toddler area, Millie Janalee spotted a choo choo train.  And of course, she had to ride.  Adults couldn't ride.  I decided to give it a try.  I asked the "conductor" if she could sit near the front in case she tried to climb out.  They went through a tunnel and another side of the floor where I couldn't keep my eyes on her the whole time.  She kindly agreed.  Millie Janalee had a ball!  And as always, didn't want to get off.  She rode 2-3 times.  Such a big girl!

On our way back out near closing time, we found a few other distractions to enjoy.

Will and Elle on the hamster wheel

Uncle Jeff and Millie Janalee found a huge chicken.

The final attraction calling our names was the 3-story slide.  I took the stroller down to the bottom to meet them as they slid down.  Can you see them...?

It was a fun-filled day for sure!  There were whole families coming in with knee pads.  Next time we know.  I will wear shoes that grip.  And maybe some knee pads.  Ha!

Jeff, Will, and Elle

Me and my baby

When Russ got off work, we grabbed supper after a quick trip to one of the outlet malls.  We retired for the night and prepared for their departure the next day.  Tuesday afternoon, I took Will, Elle, and Jeff to another outlet mall where we ate lunch and shopped til we dropped.  Well, I dropped.  They had a long drive ahead.

One thing I know for sure.  Millie Janalee sure did miss all the attention she got from her cousins and her uncle!  We are looking forward to another visit for sure.

St. Louis Fun with the Mansels Part 1

I can't remember exactly.  It was either the last of July or the first of August we had a wonderful visit from part of Russ's sister's family.  Jenny, Grace, Seth, and his girlfriend Anna Kate came for a few days to visit.  Russ and I love having company!  And we love that it gives us even better excuses to get out and explore the fun parts of St. Louis.  Or revisit our favorite spots.

First on Grace's list was the American Girl store near our home.  I knew Millie Janalee would be over the moon if we went back, so we got up and going in time to arrive close to opening.  Russ had to work sadly, so we missed him during all our daytime activities.  Jenny bought Grace a new American Girl doll and matching pajamas.  Seth and Anna Kate did their fair share of playing with the display dolls.  Ha!  And Aunt Jenny surprised Millie Janalee with some Bitty Baby accessories for her belated birthday gifts!  You can see how Millie Janalee felt about leaving in the picture below.

Always a scene.  Always.

After our stop for the little girls, we did some shopping at the nearby outlet mall.  I would say that was Jenny's favorite spot.  Then I drove the group over to the Arch.  Because no one should visit St. Louis without at least seeing it.  This was Anna Kate and Seth's request for the trip.  And I always love doing St. Louis things.  None of them had ever been to St. Louis, much less been to the top of the Arch.  So, I insisted Jenny join us to the top!

Millie Janalee wasn't with Russ and I when we experienced this for the first time, so I was excited to take her up.  She was simply thrilled that her cousins and aunt were with her.  She and Grace had fun in the exhibits and displays while we waited in line.

All six of us crammed in a pod that was made for five, and we rode to the top...630 feet.  It was quite crowded, but we made our way to some windows.  This is when I plopped Millie Janalee up next to a window for a photo shoot, and I learned she was also afraid of heights perhaps.  Like mother like daughter!

Once we landed on the ground, we walked through part of the museum of the Westward Expansion.  Millie Janalee's favorite part was the "Innyans".

It was a very fun day spent with our family!  And Millie Janalee was so happy to have them here with  us.  So was I.

We grilled out, watched movies, and stayed up late talking.  We did some more shopping at the mall and outlet malls before the crew started their long journey home.  Fun memories for sure.  Maybe they will be able to make it up for another trip or two.  There is so much more to show them!

St. Louis Zoo

We have had SO MUCH GOING ON since Millie Janalee's birthday...which is the last event I posted about prior to telling you about her glasses.  Wow!  I have pictures uploaded to blog.  But I have just gotten out of the habit!  Augh.  I've got to get back with it.  It is not because it takes too much time.  Blogging has never taken much time for me.  I spend more time on photos than blogging.  I just get distracted and forget.

So I'll do the best I can to document these super fun days this year in St. Louis.  One very, very HOT Saturday afternoon, Russ and I took Millie Janalee to the St. Louis zoo.  We had heard about how wonderful it was, so we were equally excited.  The zoo is actually free.  Although, you do have to pay to park on the grounds.  There are a few exhibitions and rides that you must pay to do inside the zoo.  The only one we cared about doing was the train.  They also offer family passes if you are a regular so that you can get discounts on those things.

Millie Janalee is familiar with the zoo, since we took her fairly often in Memphis.  But she is now at a fun age where she is really into the animals.  She enjoys making the animal noises and talking or waving to them all.  So fun to do these things through her eyes!

We made several rest stops.  Did I mention how HOT it was?!  Most of the rest stops were for me.  Ha!  And for snacks and juice.  We ate lunch at the cafe on the grounds.  This zoo is much larger than the Memphis zoo.  We will have to go back during the fall, and then I can figure out the comparisons better.  I think things are more spread out...which is nice because you never feel crowded.  Lots of strolling.  The displays are so nice too.  I really enjoyed the day.

During the later half of our day, Millie Janalee spotted the train at the crossing.  It was over.  That was that.  She begged, pleaded, and cried to ride the "choo choo tchwain."  I finally talked Russ into giving in.  And we bought tickets and stood in line.  Then every time a train came and went before we made it to the front of the line, her world fell apart.  I'm not sure how to teach a 2 year old about how lines work other than a real life experience.  In front of everyone.  Ha!  The lady in front of us was kind enough to help us explain that we would indeed try to catch the next one.  Unless there wasn't enough room, of course.  Ha!

We stayed on the train through all four stops until we came back to where we started.  And we had to get off.  That part is never fun.

I think my favorite part was the hippo exhibit.  We were able to watch up close as the hippos swam around the water with the fish. And the fish were equally as entertaining for Millie Janalee.

We arrived home around 3:00 that afternoon exhausted and ready for a change of dry clothes and a nap.  This is when I let Millie Janalee nap without her shorts on and I woke up to a surprise.  She learned how to take her diaper off.  Yep.  So we changed bedding too!

Just another fun day of our Missouri adventure!