A Different Kind of Kindergarten Prep

Most of the late spring, Tim and I discussed whether Lillie and Dani should be together or separated for kindergarten. I did a lot of reading, as I do, and discovered two things: separation has benefits and hindrances depending on the children, and schools should not have a blanket policy either way. Thankfully, our school does not have a blanket policy, and Tim and I made an appointment with the principal to discuss Lillie and Dani being placed in the same classroom.

Of course, the principal wanted them to be separated. She even brought in another principal who happened to also have twin girls to help her case. The meeting was great; we learned a lot about the school and the staff and came out of it deciding that we still wanted the girls to be in the same class.

But we're not the ones going to school, right? So we asked Lillie and Dani.

Dani immediately said she wanted to be in a different class "so I can keep my friends secret." Ha. That's a discussion for another day.

Lillie was reluctant. She wanted to be with Dani. We talked to her about meeting new friends and seeing Dani before and after school. She said she was OK with it, but I still think she's a bit sad that her sister wants to be separated.

When they first began daycare, they talked about missing me all day. I started drawing hearts on their arms so they could look at the heart and remember me.  I wanted to do something similar so they could think about each other during the school day in kindergarten.

They both love jewelry, so I decided on charm bracelets. Off to the craft store!

Lillie picked purple beads (of course), and Dani picked these yellow-ish ones. They both agreed on the silver beads. The plan was to get L, D, and ampersand charms so they could each wear initials, but I couldn't find any Ls. (This is constantly a problem. Why are Ls so popular?) We settled on just using the ampersand charms.

Side note: I had at one point considered getting an ampersand tattoo in honor of them, so the charms seemed extra fitting in my eyes.

I considered making the bracelets for them and presenting them on the first day of school, but I quickly realized that presented two problems. One, what if they didn't like the design I chose? Two, a brand new piece of jewelry on the first day of kindergarten seems like an unnecessary annoyance. Letting them choose the beads and the design AND making them ahead of time seemed like the better way to go.

I was hoping they'd make each other's bracelet, but they preferred making their own. They definitely worked hard and concentrated on making them just right.

Here's the finished product. I think they really like them! (And if bracelets end up being too much of a hassle, my next project will be a necklace.)

Is there anything you do for your kids to remember each other or you while they're at school?

Make Believe Milk, Step 1

So Tampico (and I'm sure some other items) comes in normal gallon-size jugs but also these cute little mini-jugs.

Tampico as a drink scares me, but when I saw the cute little jugs at Dollar Tree, I thought, "Hmm...those would be perfect for the girls kitchen!" I bought two. We usually have two jugs of milk in the fridge, and I know that my girls aren't always on top of the sharing.

Step one has been achieved--emptying and cleaning the bottles. Step two will be to make it look like there's milk in there. Step three will be making cool labels.

I feel a Pinterest pin coming on...

Halloween Costume Sneak Peek

Come back in a few days to see how this...

And this...

will turn into cute costumes for my girlies!

Let's Make Art!!

In an effort to come up with more activities for the girls AND to do some DIY decor around the house, I came up with the (brilliant) idea of having the girls paint an abstract for the family room. I'm not going to lie, in my head I envisioned bright colors flung about on the large canvas. There was definitely flinging, but mostly it was smearing and giggling as they splashed paint with the sponges and painted everything including the concrete, the grass, and the retaining wall.

The final result was not exactly amazing. OK, it was amazing for toddler art but not for my wall. I decided to start over by painting the entire canvas white. This was the result: 

I actually thought that looked pretty cool, but it was too boring. Plus I had Mommy Guilt for covering up my daughters' art. So I let this new paint dry, added masking tape and gave them another go with some brighter paint. And voila!

Now we have an L&D original hanging on our wall in the family room. When they're a bit older, I'll have them sign it.