Friday, March 25, 2011

It Snowed

  • I came back from KC last night. It started snowing. 
  • Pretty, but come on where is spring? 
  • Now we have a slushy mess!
  • Oh...and I had a small classroom today after our trip yesterday and snow today. Boo! I gave a new assignment!

A Trip to the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art

  • Another teacher and I took my students for a 3 hour road trip to Kansas City yesterday. We went to an advertising agency and The Nelson Atkins Museum of Art
  • It was fun, but a long day.  I taught Tuesday, Wednesday, went to KC Thursday and taught again on Friday! Busy week!
Here's my class:


This is one of my favorites in the museum! A security guard sculpture by Duane Hanson. There's always one student who thinks he's real!


I liked liked this early painting by Vincent van Gogh! I liked it because it reminded me of Grandpa Spiehs {Dad}. It looks like him and it looks like a few of his art pieces.

Check out more Vincent van Gough pieces at artsy! They have a wide selection of artwork to look at!



Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Wordless Wednesday - A Drawing of Me By Mica

Portrait of Mommy - By: Mica, 5 years old

Mica made this drawing of me. He said that the drawing was for Daddy to take to work. That way Daddy could look at it whenever he misses me.

Mica made a portrait of Grandma Spiehs to give to Grandpa Spiehs as well. It's purpose is the same as my portrait.

Monday, March 21, 2011

How Do We Keep Our Toddler From Keeping His Hands Out of the Toilet?

  • Isaak has a new hobby; he tries to plug the little hole in the bowl where water comes out to fill up the toilet. 
  • He wants to be a plumber when he grows up. What can I say?
  • Last night I discovered this new hobby. I got after him.
  • Tonight Daddy caught him in the act of doing the same thing tonight. 
  • Daddy startled Isaak big time! He cried. 
  • I'm hoping this hobby has ran it's course.

Mica's Checked Off

  • We had conferences for Mica's preschool tonight. They love him. He has everything checked off that they want him to know/learn in preschool. Last year he wasn't quite ready for kindergarten. Now he is. Mica has an August birthday, so we decided to wait a year to send him to school. 
  • He's really grown with drawing, writing and cutting. Last year his hand almost seemed too weak to cut. He doesn't have a problem at all now.
  • Often times Mica is the leader in the classroom. 

  • I brought up a concern, and that was that Mica has blurted out a couple rude comments about other people. 
  • Example: There was a little girl standing up to sing during his school talent show. Mica laughed and said, "She has a monkey nose." I grabbed his arm to pull him towards me. Then I said in his ear, "You never say mean things like that about people! Do you hear me?" He understood. 
  • After the event I talked to him about how making fun of people can hurt their feelings. He seemed to understand. I think a lot of kids say something like that once in awhile. We as parent do need to call them on it though. We've read books on the subject of accepting other people. I'm just glad that Mica's only made a few comments like that. It's not a constant thing that we're trying to correct.

More Ice Cream Cones For Work

  • I made these for our work's, preschool and Aunt Terra's house {since she's watching the boys}.
  • I think these are the best I've done with the ice cream cone cookies! 
  • The Valentine M&M's I found on clearance really look like cherries on top!
  • They really are vanilla, chocolate, lemon and strawberry flavored.
  • This time I added some chocolate baking powder to the sugar cookie dough to darken up the cones, just slightly. I painted them with egg before they went into the oven and sprinkled them with sugar.


Which flavor would you choose?
I like the pink ones, which is odd because I'm not really a "pink" girl, but I love strawberries!

Burn

  • It's my mom's fault {Grandma Spiehs} that I am burn prone. I really have nothing to complain about. I have never burned myself that bad. It's usually just an oven burn on the hand. 
  • This time I was talking on the phone, resting against the counter, leaned my arm back and burned it on the Crock Pot. 
  • It's not too bad. Now it's healing, and it itches. It's on the back of my arm, so I can't see it. Out of sight, out of mind. I started itching it this weekend, forgetting it was there. Then it started bleeding. 
  • The reason I called Grandma Spiehs "Burn Prone" was because she one time was talking on the phone, and ironing at the same time. She had to go potty, did and came back to talk on the phone. Well, since she was in such a hurry, she answered the iron instead of the phone. Singe to the face. Ouch! She also spilled coffee all over her arm and hand at work, and has a scar from that too. 
  • There is much worse stories out there to tell.

Toilet Paper and Food Bandit's

Toilet Paper Bandit
  • Last night Isaak was going potty. He's pretty self reliant with going number 1. 
  • The only thing, is that he sometimes needs help with is pulling down and up his pants. Mica has peanut sized hips and butt, so he rarely has to unzip/zip or unbutton/button to pull his pants up and down. Isaak on the other hand has to do both.
  • I went in to assist Isaak with getting his pants pulled up; when I noticed that the top of the toilet seat had water on it. Isaak's hands were wet! He had a guilty look on his face, but said nothing.
  • I was thinking, "Oh no! Is that water or pee?" I just had Daddy wash Isaak's hands and change his shirt. 
  • I didn't think too much of it. 
  • Later on Isaak had to go potty. I noticed inside the toilet bowl that there was toilet paper popping out of the hole where the water comes out to fill up the bowl. Isaak tried plugging it up previously! 
  • I was thinking, "Gee wiz! Do I put my hands in there to yank it out?" Nope I got kitchen tongs, they can be washed in the dishwasher! Worked like a charm. 
  • Then I got after the toilet paper bandit! 
Food Bandit
  • Later on I talked to Grandma and Grandpa Spiehs {my parents} on the phone. They said that they had an interesting evening as well. Great Grandma Kent {who has Alzheimer's disease} was brought over for dinner. 
  • They had Mashed potatoes, Meatballs and Red Gravy {a family classic}. 
  • Great Grandma Kent is in a home now, and is taken out sometimes to hang out with the fam. 
  • She started to mix all her food together. Fruit and all. I've seen her do this, so it was no surprise to me. When my mom was busy with dishes, Great Grandma Kent decided to mix Tinker Toys with her food mixture.
I told them that we should have gotten together the Toilet Paper Bandit and the Food Bandit. They probably would have had a lot of fun and an interesting time.

Tropical Traditions Organic Teeth Cleaners Giveaway!

After doing a review of Tropical Traditions Organic Teeth Cleaners, they want me to host a giveaway! This is open to US and Canada.


About:
  • Tropical Traditions Teeth Cleaners are developed with their famous Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil as a main ingredient. Long before modern toothpastes developed, people living in the topics used coconut oil to clean their teeth. 
  • The teeth cleaners are 100% all natural. 
  • They contain no foaming agents and fluoride. 
  • Teeth Cleaners come in three options: Natural, mint, and cinnamon
  • Their retail value is $7.95.
You can win what Tropical Traditions sent me! A four ounce bottle of the following Organic Teeth Cleaners: Classic Mint Cinnamon.

You can enter if you are not a blogger. Leave a separate entry for each. Make sure the first entry is filled out before all others.
  1. For your first mandatory entry, check out Tropical Traditions and tell me a recipe you would like to try! Leave your email address only with this first entry. one entry
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  8. Subscribe to Tropical Traditions Email Sales Newsletter here: http://www.tropicaltraditions.com/subscribe_for_special_sales.cfm. one entry
You do not need to enter all of the entries to be qualified, just the first mandatory entry.
Remember to leave your email address if it is not public in your profile.
This contest closes in 2 weeks, April 4 at 10 pm.
The winner will be chosen using random.org.

Disclaimer:

The opinions on this post are my personal take on the products. This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. I am not compensated to provide my opinion except for receiving the products themselves to test out. Tropical Traditions provided me with a free sample of this product to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose. Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review or sponsor a product giveaway in return for the free product.

If you have questions about this post please contact me at: alissa4illustration@hotmail.com

Shopping Run!

  • Mica was a runner in the stores. When Isaak was a baby, Mica was 2 1/2. He ran from me while Isaak was in the cart. I grabbed him in the football hold, and continued to push the cart. He screamed out, "Mommy don't spank me!" I had only spanked him once in his life; for running in the street. He got it from a little critter book. Everyone stared at me.  
  • Mica is much better about staying with me. Isaak is just starting to be the runner! He doesn't want to be in the cart. He thinks it's funny to run. Then Mica and him chase each other around the clothing racks, laughing. Oh we've had talks about stranger danger! 
  • This weekend Isaak was down one side of the isle, Mica down the other and I was in the middle. Isaak looked up, and didn't see me; instead he saw a stranger. He had a panic look on his face. I said, "Isaak I'm right here!" He ran to my side and cried. Then wanted up.
He wants to run, but he also wants me to be at his beck and call. Kids!

Disclaimer

The opinions on this blog are my personal take on products and topics relating to motherhood. This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me.

I am not compensated to provide opinions on a variety of topics. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are my own. If I claim to show knowledge of certain topic or product I will only endorse products or services that I feel, based on my expertise, are worthy of such endorsement.

If you have any questions about this blog, or want to get in contact with me please email me at: anapeladay@gmail.com