Learning with Straws

So, I know a looooong time ago I said that I was going to start writing posts about activities that Marley and I do during the day. And I didn't make any more posts after that! But, with the weather so incredibly cold and Marley and I spending so much time inside, we have had to go back to our books and find some new ideas! We do crafts a lot, sing songs, color with crayons, and since Christmas she has had a whole new room of toys to play with. But she still comes to me and says she wants to play "games." That really just means that she wants me to come up with something for us to do together!

So, a few months ago I bought a book called Slow and Steady Get Me Ready by June R. Oberlander. I don't remember how much it was, but I bought it used on Amazon for very little. It has weekly activities for you to do with your kids from birth to age 5, and I love it! Some of them involve a lot of equipment and preparation, so I don't usually do a lot of those. But the easy ones are great.
Today we did some practice with sorting and patterns. All I had to do was get 18 straws, and cut 6 of them in half. We talked about tall versus short, counted all the straws, sorted them into piles, and then tried practicing patterns. She was ready to do something else by the time we got to the pattern part. so she wasn't very into it. But I asked her to get a baggy, we put all the straws in the baggy, and then we can do it again another day!

Making Cocoa with Mimi

While we were in Nacogdoches for Christmas, Marley and Mimi made some cocoa mix for a few people! Marley was a big helper, of course, and a fabulous stirrer.
She even got her own (very diluted) cup of warm cocoa to enjoy when they were done.
It's so much yummier when you take part in making it!

Gingerbread Train

Over Christmas, Marley and Daddy made a gingerbread train! For some reason I thought it was something Asa liked to do because he had made a gingerbread house with his sister before. But evidently I was wrong, and he enjoys for of the eating the candy part instead of the actual making it part. But he was still a good sport! And Marley loved "helping"!
Marley was a pro at eating the candy also. But Asa did convince her to actually put some on the train, and it turned out awesome!
After all that work, they needed a serious nap under the Christmas tree!

Marley's Fliming Debut

Marley took her first video the night before we left Nacogdoches. In the video, she shares some of her favorite Christmas presents, her "stuff", Maggie the baby doll, and a blanket. It may make you dizzy, but it makes me smile every time I watch it, so I thought I would share it! I love this girl!

Marley's Video from Jillian Shaw on Vimeo.

Yes, I am just now posting pictures from Thanksgiving!

Here are some long-overdue pictures from our Thanksgiving in Texas! It was a busy day (as most holidays are) but it was an awesome one! Complete with a moon bounce!This was literally our first family picture since Asa, Marley, and Caiti have been in the family! Crazy, huh?

Happy Thanksgiving from the Vermeulens!

We're Back

I have obviously been MIA for three weeks... but I am going to blame it on the holidays! I honestly didn't even bring my computer with us to Texas, as I knew I wouldn't have any time to be blogging anyway! So, I feel very out of the loop with the people I follow and I feel like I have about a hundred things that I would like to remember that will now never get recorded to my blog.

We had a fabulous time in Texas visiting with everyone and enjoying the holidays. We got to spend time with our families and friends, take a little trip together just the three of us, and we also got to spend my favorite holiday together! We had an awesome Christmas. It is always a little bit stressful for us because we have so many different people to see and we never want to hurt anyone's feelings. But Christmas is still such a magical time, and Marley was so into it this year which made it even more fun.

Two days after Christmas, Asa, Marley and I left Nacogdoches and spent 4 days in San Antonio. We stayed in an awesome hotel, ate fabulous food, and mainly just got to relax together. We did a few sight-seeing things, but I will post a blog later with pictures and details.

We left San Antonio and drove back to Nacogdoches for a few days to spend New Year's Eve and Day with our friends and family. We even had everyone over for lunch the day before we left so that we could say goodbye to everyone. We will get to come back on the 22nd of January for a week, and then that is probably the last time anyone in Nacogdoches will see Asa before he deploys.

We got back to Missouri on Sunday, and Marley and I have barely left the house since! We needed some time to do nothing, and we have gotten it! Asa had Monday off, so we went grocery shopping and ran a few errands. We also rearranged the living room, which I am so excited about! I love rearranging rooms, I used to do it all the time in high school. And now every time I walk in the living room I can't help but smile! It is so much bigger the way we have it and so much more welcoming.

Asa will be out in the field for two days starting tomorrow, and he has been super busy at work the past two days. They are actually packing some things up for the deployment, which is a big wake-up call. There are still so many things we want to do that I wonder if we can do it all before he leaves. The next two months before he leaves will be hectic and stressful and sad. But at the same time we will be working to make it fun and memorable and happy.

It will take me a few days to get all of our pictures up, but I promise I will! There may be more than you want to look at though!