Chinese Lantern Festival at Fair Park

We visited the Chinese Lantern Festival at Fair Park in Dallas on the last weekend they would be opened.

We went on a Saturday and got there early. I am so glad we did because by the time we got in the gate the line was twice as long and when we got there (and it was long when we got there). Also, by going early we got to see everything before it got dark and then got to see it all lit up!

 

We took a few pictures of the girls before it got dark. 

Everything was very colorful and pretty!

They really liked the butterflies. Some of them had moving wings! 

There was a very long dragon made from dishes - bowls, spoons, and egg cups. It was pretty neat to see.

When it started getting dark the lights came on and all of the displays.

 

There was a pond with lots of floating displays. One of the lotus flowers opened and closed. We even saw a mermaid!

By the time we had walked through the entire park it was beginning to get really crowded and we were getting hungry so we decided to head home. When we left traffic was backed up for miles with people waiting to get in. 

We had a great time seeing all the beautiful lights!

Look! SNOW!!!

What a surprise we woke up to!

We woke up and were surprised with SNOW! We had no idea it was going to snow. I even checked the weather before going to bed.

When Olivia woke up I opened the blinds so she could see outside. She started pointing and saying SNOW!

 

Grace was so excited! She had already seen the snow falling out the window. She checked out all the windows to see if it snowed all around our whole house. It did!

We had plans to go to a neighbors house and play this morning so we got all bundled up and went outside.

They got to play in the snow a little on the walk over. Grace likes to make snow balls and throw them. Olivia likes to eat snow. When Dustin came home tonight Grace told him that they woke up to snow outside. Olivia told him she ate snow!

Olivia was so bundled up in her big coat (that used to be Grace's and is a little too big) that she had a little trouble staying balanced. She leaned over to get a handful of snow and fell face first. Just look at all that snow on her hat! She wasn't too happy about that.

The snow didn't last too long. By the time we left the neighbors there wasn't enough to make snow ice cream. But this is the THIRD time it has snowed this winter! Next time Grace wants it to last long enough to build a snowman and make snow ice cream (with caramel and chocolate syrup!)

Preschool Science Lesson: Sink or Float?

Sink or Float?

One afternoon we did a fun and easy science experiment. It kept both girls entertained for quite a while. They would have kept playing but I needed to get it cleaned up so I could start dinner.

If you would like to try this you will need:

A large bowl of water (this would also be fun to do in the bath!)

Things from around that house that can get wet!

Towels to clean up the mess ;)

 

First, I sent Grace on a hunt! Her task was to find things that could get wet but they could not be bigger than her fist.

These are some of the things she found - blocks, toy food, paper clip, straw, toy people, foil ball, silicone cupcake liner, straw, balls.

Before she put them in the water she had to guess (make a hypothesis) as to whether the object would sink or float. She did pretty good but some of the things surprised us!

Some things would float and then fill with water and sink (like the cupcake liner or lego block). And then she saw that the ball floats and the plastic grapes are made similar to the ball so the grapes will probably float. Great logic! 

And our favorite was the Dora from her Dora block set. Her head floated but her feet and legs sank she she was walking on the bottom of the bowl!

More Snow!

We drove home the day after Christmas.

And when we got home there was even snow at our house! 

So we unloaded our bags and pulled out some warm clothes and got all bundled up.

 

This is what Olivia does when you tell her to smile for the camera. 

 

And the girls got to build a snowman!

Those are Hershey Kisses as buttons and eyes :)

A White Christmas

We spent Christmas with my family this year. We drove to Oklahoma on Christmas Adam after we got out of church and stopped by the house to eat and load our bags (and presents!) There was snow in the forecast so we had to dig out our cold weather clothes. 

Christmas morning we woke up and the ground was wet. It had rained that night. While we were opening presents it started to sleet. And then it started to SNOW!

It snowed BIG flakes!

 

It was very cold and windy so we waited for several hours before we bundled up and went outside.

 

Olivia was running a bit of a fever and just wanted to cuddle all day so she didn't spend much time out in the snow. Grace played for a long time. The cold didn't seem to bother her a bit!

 

We gathered a bowl full to make snow ice cream. We mixed some sweetened condensed milk and vanilla in with the snow.

But Grace thought it needed some chocolate syrup. Perfect!

Olivia perked up after she had some snow ice cream. Maybe we should have made it earlier?

Grace even wanted to go back out in the snow! When she was finally done playing outside she warmed up with a cup of hot chocolate.

I don't remember when the last time I saw a white Christmas!

Christmas - Part 1

Since we were going to be spending Christmas in Oklahoma with my family we wanted to have Christmas at our house a little early.

The Friday before Christmas was "Christmas Eve." We made sugar cookies and decorated them, went out for dinner, and drove around and looked at Christmas lights.

Before bed we set out cookies and milk for Santa. Grace made sure we bought some carrots on one of our grocery shopping trips so we could leave them out for Santa's reindeer.

 {Ready to see what Santa brought}

The next morning (Saturday = "Christmas") Grace woke up earlier than normal and told me "My tummy feels like Santa came." Her tummy has been telling her some funny stuff lately! She waited patiently for Olivia to wake up. While we were patiently waiting for Olivia to wake up I put some hot cocoa on the stove to cook. I think the noise I was making in the kitchen made Grace's wait a little shorter. 

The girls both ran down the hallway to the stairs. Grace never looked down to see what was waiting until she turned the corner. The entire upstairs hall has the wrought iron banister.

And then Olivia had to stop to look downstairs.

The first thing Grace did was look in her stocking and look what was right on top peeking out! A new Glimmer fairy! This was the thing she always said she wanted Santa to get for her. I think if that is all she got she would have been happy.

 Olivia got a Tinkerbell fairy!

 {Look, a Barbie!}

After going through their stockings they decided to check out the big stuff Santa brought.

 How cool is the little trampoline? 

And we had to see if Santa ate his cookies and drank his milk. 

After moving their bog stuff out of the living room we sorted presents and started opening them. Grace couldn't seem to open them fast enough. As soon as she opened one it was on the the next.

Olivia wanted to take her time. After she opened a present she would say "Please. Open." And then she would play with it for a while.

See? She wanted to play with the princesses before she opened the next present.

They both got a lot of fun stuff! Grace got a fairy from the new Tinkerbell movie. And Olivia got a set of little fairies.

Just look how excited Grace was about her Easy Bake oven. We made cupcakes that afternoon!

We spent part of the day running a few errands (Christmas returns/exchanges before Christmas!) and Grace even got to pet a real live reindeer at the mall.

That evening we watched the movie Elf. Now we think about Buddy every time we have waffles with syrup on top.

Christmas Crafts!

I like doing crafts with Grace and Olivia. And there are so many fun things to make around Christmas time!

They both love making things too.

We made salt dough ornaments and gave them to family members to hang on their trees.

First we made the salt dough. We mixed 1 cup salt, 2 cups flour, and 1 cup water together in a bowl. Then we rolled it out on a floured surface. Next was the fun part! We took our Christmas cookie cutters and cut out all sorts of shapes. There were Christmas trees, stockings, candy canes, gingerbread men, and even a reindeer. A straw works well for punching a hole in the top so you can put ribbon on them so they can hang on the tree. We put them all on a pan (it took several pans because we made a lot) and baked them in the oven (250* for about 25 min) until they were dry.

After they were cool Grace and Olivia got to paint them. I even got out the glitter for them to put on them after they painted (just sprinkle it on the wet paint). Grace made a LOT!

And Olivia took her time and made sure to put all the different colors on each of her ornaments.

After they dried we sprayed them with a clear spray paint to help keep the glitter from falling off. I am not sure how well that worked because by the time I was done tying ribbon on I was covered in glitter!

That wasn't all the crafts we did either! We made Christmas trees out of popsicle sticks. I cut green popsicle sticks to different lengths and then let the girls glue them to a brown popsicle stick. Then they glued on little sequins and other shiny little confetti pieces. Anything with glue is always fun for Grace!

And we can't forget about the reason for Christmas! We made a manger scene with baby Jesus. We glued two brown popsicle sticks (I painted them with brown paint since the package I bought was red, yellow, and green sticks) to construction paper. Then we glued little pieces of yellow construction paper for the hay, tan construction paper circle with the face Grace drew for the head, and purple construction paper cut out to be a blanket. And we glued a big yellow star (cut from construction paper) at the top.

One morning I ran a few errands and since Dustin was off he stayed home with the girls to finish our sugar cookies. We made icing and they got to decorate them! 

And after they were finished with the cookies they decided to make a craft. He told me they had gone to the office to color while he cleaned up the icing and cookie mess. Later I found out they had been making me a gigantic Christmas card!

This is the picture he sent me while I was gone. They had to have a bath!

Grace thought it would be fun to paint her sister with her makeup and - lip gloss, nail polish, and glitter paint. I don't think Olivia minded one bit. BUt even after a bath there was still evidence of glitter and lip gloss in her hair!