New at this...

My friend, Kendi, and I made a challenge to each other: Try to do something intentional and fun with the kids each day. I know you're probably thinking, "DUH! If you're a good mom aren't you doing that anyway?" I can't speak for Kendi, but we are both new to this stay-at-home mommy thing and it has taken me a while to adjust to my new role. I have struggled with needing to feel that I am adequately contributing to our family; therefore, I over-clean (according to Jeremy) and try to always have a sufficient supply of toilet paper and all the other little things that sometimes went to the wayside while I was working outside the home.

Amongst these things, I feel I have put an immense amount of pressure on myself to make sure that my kids are not only nurtured and get plenty of attention from me, but are challenged and are learning new things, especially my toddler, Ryleigh. With this goal for myself, all I have to say is, "Thank goodness for helpful bloggers and Pinterest!"

Ryleigh made this snowman out of paper plates, old buttons and some construction paper. She was so proud to draw his eyes, cheeks and mouth. All of her art lately looks to have two mouths, but when asked, she told me they were the upper and bottom lips! I also wanted her to just hold her crafts so we could see them, but she insisted on "hugging" them. She is definitely her OWN person and has her OWN opinions about EVERYTHING.

The next day, we made this cute reindeer out of her traced footprint and handprints. She glued them together and drew the eyes and lips. Don't worry, I do make her wear a clean outfit every day. We just took the pictures on the same day. :)

I try to do crafts while this little man is napping in the morning, but if he happens to be awake, he likes to watch and "talk" to us from his bouncer. He is getting so big!

When Jack got home from school, we made some sugar cookies. Both kids pressed out cookies, but mostly ate the dough.

Ryleigh wasn't too interested in icing the cookies (with home-made buttercream icing), so she left the job to Jack. Henry was supervising.

I threw in this idea to do cookies kind of last minute, so I just had to use whatever sprinkles were on hand, hence the non-Christmas colors. Also, I forgot how much the dough would spread, so some of the gingerbread men are indistinguishable. They still tasted good though.

Jack, Ryleigh & Henry: Doing my best to be the BEST for you! Hope you can hold on to some good memories as you are growing way too fast.