22 Months

PJ at 22 months:

*Thinks she's too big to hold my hand when we're walking somewhere.

*Has a talent for messing up her hair minutes after I've done it.

*Likes to put her own lotion on after bath time. 

*Says "I want you" when she wants to be held and cuddled.

*Says thank you and please without needing prompting (at times).

*Loves her Look and Find books and is getting pretty good at them.

*Can swing in the big kid swings.

*Loves jumping on the bed!

*Tells on her brother.

*Absolutely insists that she get herself in her car seat.

*Is obsessed with our Little Critter books (Shapes, Colors, ABCs).

It's hard to believe Corbyn was this age when Peyton was born. I know many of you are probably wondering when we are going to have another baby. I have to wait until after the Ragnar to get pregnant again. Hopefully it won't be long after that because I'm seriously getting baby hungry! 

Five on Friday

1. Last year while we were at Disney World, I saw a cute ABC Princess book in one of the stores. I didn't buy it thinking Peyton was too young for it, but ever since then I have had serious non-buyer's remorse over it. I searched on Amazon, but could not find it. This week while at KMart (a store I never shop at) I happened to see it. It's called P is for Princess and I was able to find it immediately on Amazon (for less) knowing what to search for.

2. Facebook has been annoying me lately. I was spending too much time looking at it, so I deleted it off my phone and I feel so free. I'll still check it every so often on my computer, but not every 5 seconds like I did when it was on my phone. 

3. We had a beautiful, warm day on Wednesday. We decided to pack a picnic for lunch and go to a nearby park to really enjoy it. The kids loved playing and it was fun to see how much more Peyton could do now that she's a few months older.

4. I never got my 2012 blog book done last year, so it was at the top of my to do list this year. Blurb had a 30% off deal going that expired last night. I worked on it all week and got my order in at 11:57. Now to tackle 2013!

5. With my IT Band problem solved, I was hoping to not have to worry about injuries while training for the Ragnar, but that would have been too easy. Ankle pain has been nagging me for the past few weeks. After searching google this morning I've come to the conclusion that it's tendinitis (though thankfully not Achilles Tendinitis).

Jared's Birthday

Jared's birthday was last Saturday. We were glad he was here (and not in Sweden), so we could celebrate with him! Although we had quite a good time celebrating his birthday without him last year too. (Sorry Jar, it's hard to beat Disney World!)

We went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner and then after putting the kids to bed, we played Catch Phrase and enjoyed a piece of this ginormous ice cream cake.

Corbyn found the bag of candles on the counter in the morning and insisted that Jared's birthday party be that night. We had leftover cake, so we put some more candles on it and sang to him again after Sunday dinner.

Happy Birthday Jar!

The Letter S

Last week when I taught joy school we learned about the letter S, the number 18, and squares.

The first day was snow/snowman themed. I was going to bring in some snow and show them how by the end of school it had melted, but there was no snow to be found outside! 

We read Snowmen at Night and There was a Cold Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow!.

Then we did this magnet page (based on There was a Cold Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow!) to learn about the number 18.

We also did this snowman magnet page.

And covered up all the S's on this page (found here). (I didn't worry about having them cover up the big S in blue and the small s in red.)

We did some puzzles from this Winter Wonderland Pre-K Pack. (I made them back in December for Christmas, but they also worked well for our theme.)

For our snack we had melted snowman (water), snowman arms (pretzels), snowman buttons (craisins), snow balls (powdered donut holes), and snowman noses (mini carrots). (Idea and printables here.)

They ate everything except for the snowman noses.

We made snowmen out of Play-doh which they loved way more than I was anticipating.

I also attempted to have them make snowflakes out of paper, but that was a little advanced for them.

We sang snowman songs (found here) - Including Once there was a Snowman (of course) and a few others. (They liked holding the snowmen and having them melt away one by one.)

Finally we did some snowman bowling. I cut out the noses from orange foam and punched out the eyes and mouths from brown foam then hot glued the pieces onto the mini water bottles. It really didn't take that long, but I definitely will be keeping these to play again in future years!

The second day we did snakes, superheroes, strawberries and squares.

We read My Snake Blake, The Spaghetti-Slurping Sewer Serpent, and Batman!.

We did a superhero magnet page. 

For our snack we had strawberries, strawberry wafers, and strawberry Kool-aid. 

We did a hero and villain sort (found here).

And a Batman color by number (also found here).

We made a snake craft (with squares instead of spaghetti). All the boys wanted their snakes to have more than two eyes - Corbyn's snake had 4 eyes!

We played Snakes and Ladders, but they didn't make it very far. 

And finally I let them dress up and play superheroes (which is pretty much what they always end up doing the last 15 minutes, but this time it actually fit with our theme).

Another fun week of learning!

Five on Friday

1. On Tuesday I was rushing to get ready for the day before teaching joy school. I wasn't paying attention as Corbyn climbed up on the counter and burned his foot on my straightener. I of course felt terrible. Luckily it wasn't that bad of a burn. He kept an ice pack on it for most of joy school and soaked it a few times that morning, but since then hasn't complained too much about it other than to want a band-aid on it.

2. We've enjoyed warmer weather this week and have had a lot of opportunities to get outside. I've been working with Peyton to try to get her to pedal her tricycle. So far she is more interested in just making it go any way she can!

3. I finally got my Silhouette out of its box to cut out an S for this craft we did at joy school this week. It is much bigger than I could have ever cut out with my Cricut. That's enough to excite me and I know I'm barely just skimming the surface of what it can do!

4. We've continued to enjoy watching the Olympics this week. Our favorite moments include Bob Costas returning after being out a few days with an eye infection, the USA (Davis and White) winning gold in the ice dance competition, and the entire women's figure skating final (a favorite of mine since I was a little girl watching Michelle Kwan).

5. Tonight for dinner I made my first pork tenderloin. I made Mel's Roasted Maple-Glazed Pork Tenderloin and it was amazing! Rog went so far as to say he wants that to be the last meal he ever eats. 

Be My Valentine

Because Valentine's Day was on a Friday this year I got to spend the whole day with all 3 of my Valentines!

Rog got up with the kids and let me sleep in which was the best gift he could have given me. He insisted he had to get me something though and what he got me totally cracked me up! He knows I love Little Debbie cakes, but when he went to the store they were out of the Valentine ones. So he transformed some Easter ones.

The kids got the Jungle Book (newly released from the Disney vault) from my parents and shirts from us. Corbyn's says I put the me in Romeo.

My gift to Rog was a fancy dinner. He's been wanting me to try an Indian dish for awhile now, so I made Chicken Tikka Masala with Naan.

With Sugar Cookie Bars for dessert. 

I made a few different treats (Cinnamon Cookie Crunch Popcorn, Valentine Dipped Wafer Cookies, and Chocolate Covered Cinnamon Bears) and bagged them up to take around to some friends. I slightly adapted these cards for the tags.

I let the kids pick out Valentines while we were at Walmart one day to give to some of their friends. Corbyn chose Batman and Peyton chose Disney Princesses.

On Saturday my parents took us to dinner at Pizza Pie Cafe and that night after the kids went to bed we had some friends over for games. And because we didn't have enough treats I made a cinnamon version of this delicious trifle to go with our Sunday dinner.

It was a most delicious Valentine's Day weekend!

Five on Friday

1. Like most people, we've been enjoying the Olympics this week. We put the kids to bed and then turn them on for the rest of the night. Rog has kind of a love/hate relationship with the Olympics - he loves to watch them, but hates how late he stays up when they're on. I stay up that late anyway, so I guess mine is just a love relationship.

2. I finished my first book of the year this week - The Help. One of my neighbors started a book club and this was our first book. I don't think I'll be able to be a monthly participant, but if I like the book they're reading it'll give me incentive to finish in a timely manner and it's fun to have a night out. And in case you're wondering, The Help is just as good the second time around!

3. We're officially 20 weeks away from the Ragnar, so it's time to get serious about training! I'm following this training plan, but only running 5 days a week and shortening some of the long runs a bit. 

4. Corbyn and Peyton have been obsessed with the story of the 3 Little Pigs the past few days. They'll ask us to tell it over and over and over again. And Corbyn is most definitely having a growth spurt. I haven't been able to keep him full for more than an hour at a time. He's already the tallest kid in his Sunbeam class (and definitely not the oldest). Where did we get this tall boy?

5. Jared's roommate who had a toaster oven moved out a few months ago. He's been missing having a toaster oven, so my parents decided they'd buy us a new one and give ours to him. Our old one was white and didn't match our other appliances (and was stained), so I'm loving this new sparkly stainless steel one! And as a bonus, it's digital!

Phillips Weekend

We had more Phillips visitors last weekend - Marti came down from BYU Idaho and Dixie, McKae, and Rocky came from Colorado. 

The highlights - Sports Authority, In-N-Out, BYU Bookstore (lots of stair sliding), wandering the HFAC (unsuccessfully looking for the Animation department), and dinner at our house (Chicken Enchilada Soup - YUM). 

It's always fun to have family in town! (Some more than others!)