Swimming Lessons

I can't believe it, but swim lessons are already over! Alli and Nick both learned so much. Alli loves the water and can even swim a little on her own. Nick's favorite part of swim lessons was jumping into the pool and going down the crab slide at the end of every lesson. He has no fear!

On the last day of classes they got to go down the big slide and play in the kiddie area. So much fun!

We will be doing more lessons this summer. Can't wait!

Easter

We had a fun Easter. We went to the twin's club Easter egg hunt this year. It started snowing when we got there, so we didn't hang out for too long (just long enough to do the egg hunt) and we didn't get any pictures. Makenna participated this year and even picked up one egg (Alli was happy to help with the other 11!)

This was also the first year that we dyed eggs with the kids. We did 10. Again, no pictures. Having cups of dye out with two 3-year olds was a little stressful for me...but here's the end result. Some turned out kind of brown because Alli insisted on adding more dye to the cups after the first round.
And yes, the Easter Bunny did visit our house! He hid eggs all over inside and left a baseball bat and mitt set for Nick, a Barbie and Snow White shoes for Alli, and an animal book for Makenna. Don't you just love these morning pictures?

And finally, we went to dinner at my parent's house. Alli saw a picture of a bunny cake a week before and wanted me to make one. Because I am such an amazing mom (right?) I made her one to bring for dessert. My mom used to make these for Easter and it was fun for me to do it.

Of course the kids loved it!

Tot School - Easter

My last Tot School for the year! So, so much fun, but it is nice to be done for a little while. The twins still have another month left. I'm not sure how we will keep so active and busy this summer. I'm sure the calendar will fill in with park days, swimming lessons, field trips, vacations, and play dates. But I think we will ALL miss this scheduled playtime with friends. They LOVE going and playing and I love the time I have to run errands and get things done around the house. Every morning when we get dressed Alli asks me, "Where are we going today?" We almost always have something to do, but on some days (like today) when I don't really have a planned activity she kind of freaks out if I tell her we are mostly going to be hanging out around the house. So, I am a little worried about having too much free time this summer. I will probably look back at this post at the end of the summer and laugh because we will be so busy...

But on to Easter Tot School. On the first day our activity was painting suncatchers that I found at Michael's. I was super busy and actually forgot that I was doing Tot School until a few days before. I didn't really have time to think of a project, so this was easy. The kids liked squeezing the paint in and trying to match the pictures. The suncatchers were surprisingly forgiving and by the time they dried, they all looked great.

On the second day our activity was putting stickers on buckets and having an Easter egg hunt. This is the best picture I could get. Everyone was so excited that the Easter bunny stopped by our house to drop off some eggs, they couldn't look or smile at the camera :)

Our snacks were bunny cheese crackers one day and rice crispy treat "nests" the other day. Both snacks were a hit!

Nesting

Nope, not me! For clarification I am NOT pregnant, and definitely not close to delivery when the nesting instinct is so strong.

But Nick sure seems to be in a "spring mood". I'm not sure exactly why he keeps making these blanket/toy nests everywhere, all over the house, but I've heard him talking about camping when he's doing it, so it must be something along these lines.

On average I clean up about 3 of these nests a day. Thanks Nick! You make me laugh!

Gymnastics

Alli and Nick just finished up a gymnastics class at the Rec Center. It was their first time being in a real class. Nick had a hard time waiting his turn and following all of the instructions, so I ended up moving him to a parent/tot class. I'm so glad I did. He loved going with me and Brian and he got to be more active.

I kept Alli in the same class because she loved her teacher and was able to participate and have fun. I think it's easier for girls at 3 to listen and follow instructions than for boys, but that's just my opinion. I'm sure it's not true in all cases!

I didn't get any pictures of Nick (imagine gym shorts and a t-shirt), but I got a few of Alli in her leotard, which she was always so excited to wear (can you tell?)

They just started swim lessons and so far so good! Nick is doing much better with listening and following instructions and Alli is like a little fish. We took her swimming on Friday night and she has already learned how to float on her back by herself.

Mountains

My turn for Tot School again! This time the theme was mountains. I set up a little play tent and made a pretend fire (paper towel rolls, newspaper, and paper "flames") so that the kids could pretend to go camping. They had fun cooking their play food in the fire.

On the first day our project was to make a trail tote. It is an egg carton with each of the holes inside painted a different color. The idea is to take it along on a hike and try to find something to match each of the colors. We have yet to try out our totes, but I'm sure we will soon. Here is T painting his tote.

The inside all painted...

And the label on the outside.

On the second day our project was to make a picture to go along with the song "The Bear Went Over the Mountain". I had the kids color the bear and glue it to a popsicle stick. The mountains were a torn piece of blue paper. We also added trees and a sun. The kids liked singing this song and got it pretty quick because it is mostly the same line over and over again...haha. Here is T putting glue on his mountain. He is really focusing :)

And here's Alli with her mountain and bear almost all finished, just putting on another tree for a finishing touch!

One of the other activities we did was with play-doh to help the kids understand how mountains are made. I gave each of the kids a ball and told them to squish it to make a continent (which conveniently looks like a pancake). Then they crashed their continents together to make mountains.

We also had some yummy snacks. On one day we had trail mix and on another day we had my version of indoor s'mores which is graham crackers spread with Nutella and topped with mini marshmallows. Delicious! Sorry to write about Tot School every time I do it. I just want to remember what I planned for future reference because it takes me a little while to come up with the ideas. Plus, the kids are so cute and fun I can't help but snap pictures!