Harry Potter Date

From Life with the Bjorks

Dating is hard with a kid, no surprise there. I find that Brian and I need to get a little creative about how we date each other, well, I guess mostly me since I am the planner and Brian is along for the ride. About a month ago I stumbled upon datingdivas.com. This blog is full of creative dates with a range of options that include free or virtually free and can take place at home. This fit my needs. Brian and I can have a date in our jammies after he gets home from work starting either before or after we put Rachel to bed.

To start with I sent Brian several movie choices for the evening. He picked Harry Potter and back to dating divas I headed for inspiration. Check out their Harry Potter date here: www.thedatingdivas.com/just-the-two-of-us/its-a-harry-potter-marathon/. I printed the decorations from dating divas and made them the day before our date during Rachel's nap, and on the day of the date I straightened up the house and set everything up. I think Brian was surprised when he walked in the house and saw Harry Potter date night was a little more than just watching a movie. The whole point of the decorations was to make us feel like we were doing more than just vegging on the couch after a long week. I wanted the evening to feel special, and I think it was a success. We enjoyed blondie brownies while watching The Goblet of Fire. We even stayed up a little bit past bedtime to finish the movie.

Fuzzy Fur Painting

From Life with the Bjorks

Earlier in the week we painted a sheep with "snow paint" to go with our lesson about the lost sheep from Matthew 18. I found the recipe at momendeavors.com via pinterest. This paint worked great for painting fluffy sheep. It gives to picture texture and dries a little bit velvety.

Rachel enjoyed mixing the paint (equal parts white glue and shaving cream), spooning it onto her sheep, and spreading it around with her spoon. She prefers to paint with a paintbrush or a spoon over her fingers. This was an unexpected surprise. I figured a girl who loves to get her hands dirty while exploring her world would also love finger painting. "Snow paint" is a fun edition to our arsenal of craft ideas. We will be using it again and maybe even try to add some color to it.

I have to share that after two weeks of learning about how Jesus loves us like the shepherd loved his lost sheep Rachel now "baa"s like a pro. She enjoys imitating motions from all our bible stories. During play time she brings me her bible story books to reread the stories we have already read and even remember some of the motions from those stories. I love to watch her learn and am always surprised how easily she learns and recalls information. Working with special needs children I rarely see that and forget what is typical.

Snow Much Fun

This morning we headed up to Tahoe for a little fun in the snow. This was Rachel's second time in the snow, but I doubt she remembers the first time. The snow was fresh which meant for soft landings and difficult hiking with lots of sinking. We spent the first little while pulling Rachel on the sled around an almost empty snowy parking lot because she freaked out when we tried to hike to a hill. Once she got the idea of what we were doing out in the cold snow we took a snack break and then headed for a real hill. Brian and I had a great time sliding down on the sled. Rachel enjoyed climbing around in the snow and sliding down the run on her tush. She wasn't so into sliding down with us. Possibly her independent side coming out or just not into the sled? Either way we all had a great time!

From Life with the Bjorks

From Life with the Bjorks

From Life with the Bjorks

From Life with the Bjorks

From Life with the Bjorks

From Life with the Bjorks

Chores

From Life with the Bjorks

Rachel is part of the family so Rachel has chores just like Brian and myself. She is still young enough to love helping around the house. She puts her clothes in the hamper, carries groceries in from the car, and helps put groceries away. In fact she impressed me the other day when I told her to put her clothes that were in the living room in the hamper and she actually walked down the hall and did it. After completing a job Rachel turns to us with a big smile and gives herself a round of applause, and of course expects us to join in too. I am so proud of my baby, oh excuse me, toddler.