Click the links to check out our photo shoot yesterday.
We were hoping for outdoor shots but the cold wind made us work indoors instead.
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Friday, April 29, 2011
Happy Birthday
7 years ago today our little boy was received into this world.
Just looking at this picture makes me cry.
How sweet and little and wonderful is this little baby boy.
Oh what I would give to be able hold this little baby.
Later we finally were able to meet this wonderful 'bundle' who was at that time 4 1/2 years old.
And today this beautiful boy, my son, is
7!
I'm so honored to have you as my son!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Rocket Balloon Experiment
Watch these pictures as they progress...
The balloon is rocketing up the string.
Here's how you can do this yourself.
Get a long string/yarn and attach it somewhere up higher. I used my bookshelf. The on the other end of the string, put on a straw. Next blow up a balloon but don't tie it. Hold on to it. Then tape the balloon to the straw. Let go and watch the balloon rocket up the string. This is an example of a spaceship and the rocket power boosting it up to space.
Now you can do it too!
The balloon is rocketing up the string.
Here's how you can do this yourself.
Get a long string/yarn and attach it somewhere up higher. I used my bookshelf. The on the other end of the string, put on a straw. Next blow up a balloon but don't tie it. Hold on to it. Then tape the balloon to the straw. Let go and watch the balloon rocket up the string. This is an example of a spaceship and the rocket power boosting it up to space.
Now you can do it too!
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Randomness v30
Why do kids not realize that making a (for lack of better word) STUPID face while taking pictures....may feel funny at the time, but you may not think it's funny as you look at it for the r.e.s.t.o.f.y.o.u.r.l.i.f.e!
Here's one where Bear thought it would be funny, but then when I showed him, he said, "Oh". I said should I post that picture on facebook for everyone to see? He said, "uh....no." Too bad tiger!
Here's one where Bear thought it would be funny, but then when I showed him, he said, "Oh". I said should I post that picture on facebook for everyone to see? He said, "uh....no." Too bad tiger!
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Water Experiments 2
We did a fun water experiment today. Talking about how water will 'conform' to the shape of what it's in. Check it out.
I put water in these 4 different size containers and shapes. I put a little jello mix in it to make it show up a little better.
Then you talk about how it looks in these containers and which one you think has more water in it, or which one has less....
Then you pour the water into all same size and shape bowls to prove that it is the same amount of water in all the containers.
Simple, yet you are learning and the kids loved it!
I put water in these 4 different size containers and shapes. I put a little jello mix in it to make it show up a little better.
Then you talk about how it looks in these containers and which one you think has more water in it, or which one has less....
Then you pour the water into all same size and shape bowls to prove that it is the same amount of water in all the containers.
Simple, yet you are learning and the kids loved it!
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Oreo Salad
This is one of those extremely simple things. But hey, maybe there's one of you out there who's never done this before.
Everyone loves this salad/dessert/whatever you want to call it. :)
Oreo Salad
1 pkg oreos, chopped
1 8oz container coolwhip
Mix together! Simple as that, and delicious to boot. :)
Everyone loves this salad/dessert/whatever you want to call it. :)
Oreo Salad
1 pkg oreos, chopped
1 8oz container coolwhip
Mix together! Simple as that, and delicious to boot. :)
Monday, April 25, 2011
Letter M
Letter M!
Letter M Memory Verse
"My sheep listen to my voice; I
know them, and they follow me." John 10-27
(I put this inside the file folder) Download
them all here.
We used the M that we already had printed from our A-Z
Collage Sheets.
I got these wooden blocks from
hobby lobby, and had him place them on the letter shape.
Just another
way to have fun while learning how to shape the letter M!
After doing this all week, I had him do it the last day with out the
paper underneath.
M&M Magnetic Page.
Find the instant download link here.
We used our homemade pompom magnets for these.
Find the instant download link here.
We used our homemade pompom magnets for these.
Alphabet
Sorting. Download the printable file here.
M&M letter match
Only print the letters once and use the same letters for each time you
do this activity.
Laminate to ensure durability.
(NoPicture)
I did both the capital and lowercase file.
Plus printed the whole
alphabet 2 up on a page to conserve.
You can glue marshmallows or macaroni on the letter M!
Print and laminate and cut.
Print and laminate. :)
Since there were alot more M&M size sorts than the other letters I acutally used the largest orange M&M as the one to lace.
Letter M Puzzle.
(I used the A-Z
large floor mats as puzzles)
This way it doesn't have the lines already in the file and you can cut
it however you want. I wanted to do at least 8 pieces. I might change
it up to more or different shapes or something for a later puzzle...we
will see!
Use these in 3 different ways. First you can just put them in numerical
order. Then I have larger clothes pins that I have written numbers on,
so they use those to match the number. And then I bought some smaller
clothes pins and that one he puts that many pins on the number card.
We also lined them up this way and counted by 2's!
See all these examples in picture form in the Number
Order Games Post.
I Printed this 2 up on a page to make it smaller.
Still a managable size for little hands. And saves you on ink, and
lamination! :)
Have fun aiming for the letter M!
(Yes, I'm not going to take new pictures each time so pretend the bean bag landed on the
letter M!)
(you're right, I didn't take a new picture so pretend it's the letter M!)
I made this file myself because I wanted all the letters in one file.
Download my A-Z poke it letter file here.
Take a thumb tack and poke the letter M.
Make sure to do this while on the
carpeted floor. :)
I put this in a sheet protector so he could do
this over again throughout the week.
I put them in a
sheet protector so he can use the same sheet every day of the week!
Read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom every day.
And at the end of the week put
the letter M on your coconut tree!
I used the A-Z
Collage Sheets.
I put them 4 up on a page so the letter would be small enough for
them all to fit on our little coconut tree.
I made my own circle the letter files.
Download my A-Z
Circle the letter file.
You can print them full page or 2 up.
We used pencil on this and did it as a one time use.
Letter M cutting practice. Download the file here.
Make the letter M with other items.
We had this large egg crate bottom and popsicle sticks.
A big thanks to other blogger friends for some of the printables and ideas.
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Easter Tradition
Well this is the first year we've been at our own house for a Holiday. So we had to decide what we wanted to do to start as our Easter Tradition.
Last year we started a little bit of the tradition with going through the resurrection eggs. These are great and if you don't have them I recommend them to EVERYONE! :)
Last year we were at my mom's and so we did the egg hunt at the park. There's only 300 people in town so it wasn't that big of a deal. :) This year there were a bunch of egg hunts we could have gone to, but it wasn't very nice out. So we had our own egg scavenger hunt. I wrote out clues and set them up for the boys to find them in order. They LOVED it and this worked out great because then they got the same amount. And since we don't really eat candy anyway I put coins in all the eggs instead.
Last year we started a little bit of the tradition with going through the resurrection eggs. These are great and if you don't have them I recommend them to EVERYONE! :)
Last year we were at my mom's and so we did the egg hunt at the park. There's only 300 people in town so it wasn't that big of a deal. :) This year there were a bunch of egg hunts we could have gone to, but it wasn't very nice out. So we had our own egg scavenger hunt. I wrote out clues and set them up for the boys to find them in order. They LOVED it and this worked out great because then they got the same amount. And since we don't really eat candy anyway I put coins in all the eggs instead.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Weekday routines
We have a plan of action for each day....but things work much better if we write it down. And the boys like to see the order of schedule too. Even Bear, even though he can't read. He loves to see where we are at on the schedule and have me read it to him.
If something gets done sooner than the time listed, we start the next thing early. Odds are something takes longer than the time frame but something else might not take as long so it evens out good enough. And there is a buffer room in the play time so if we run out of time before lunch we always cut that section out. Let me explain some details.
Devotions- We read 1 chapter from the Bible.... sing 3-4 songs from the Hymn book/chorus book, and work on memorizing a verse together.
Breakfast... self explanatory right?! :)
Cheerful Chores- We have set chores we do every morning. Bear empties the bathroom garbage and then dusts the living room. He doesn't do the best job dusting since he's 4....so there's always something for him to dust every day! Monkey empties the dishwasher....which has to be done almost every morning. If not he empties the garbage, or sweeps and mops the kitchen floor. And notice it's Cheerful chores because we have to be cheerful the whole time we are helping out! :)
Colossians 3:23 Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.
Bible/Science/Social Studies- From our Homeschool material. We usually have a bible lesson and then a science project or social studies project to go along with it. One or the other each day.
Monkey works on his Math...using Math-U-See.
While he's doing that Bear has an activity bin to keep him occupied. Different each day.
Letter Bin/Number Bin, Sensory bins, Puzzle Bin, Mosaic, File Folder Games
Then I set up Monkey's flash cards and handwriting assignment which is either a bible verse we are working on, and sometimes focusing on proper ways of writing letters or copying sentences from books, etc. He is close enough where I can help him if he has a question while Bear is going through some preschool materials.
Activity- Then we work together on a Craft, Coloring, Painting, Do some follow the leader activities or journaling. We learned the follow the leader from some friends, and read about it also in the Duggar's book. :) You give simple instructions like walk to the chair, turn around twice, jump 3 times and sit down. And see if they do it in the correct order. And for journaling, Monkey is writing enough that if I help him with the spelling he can write his own short journal of something he enjoyed that week. Bear, I have him draw a picture and then tell me the story about that picture and I write for him. :)
Mom read's aloud. They get to pick a couple books, and I pick a couple books that go with the subject of that week. And I read outloud to them for 20-30 minutes.
Play Time....this is just some bumper time if we get done a little early, and something for them to do while I make lunch, which usually doesn't take long. We usually run over on time and don't have much extra time before lunch anyway.
Lunch!
Monday's we go to the Library, which cuts nap time short....Friday is more game oriented. Inbetween we might choose a short 20 minute learning cartoon.
Then Nap time for Bear....and Quiet play time for Monkey, starting with reading, and the rest playing quietly by himself for a little while.
Snack Time!
Brotherly love play time. I usually pick an activity for them to do together. It helps them work together better. That way they aren't automatically mad because they didn't want to do what the other person wanted...so I either pick the legos, or box of cars, or army men, or blocks etc....sometimes they get to do 2 projects at once. :) They enjoy this scheduled time. And now it's time for me to prep supper so I can watch them while I get things prepared.
Supper!
The evenings are not as scheduled....Daddy's home, we run errands, we love to go to the store together just for a fun outing, Wednesday is Awana for us, and any other mish-mash of what we can fit into the evening hours.
7:30 we put on our jammies, brush our teeth, and by the time we sing songs, same ones from the morning(we pick 3-4 different songs each Monday to help up get to know them really good), say our memory verses and pray, it's 8 and time to climb into bed. For the kids anyway. :)
If you know me, you know I'm up til 11 or 12.
Here's our routine.
Download my excel
file here to see it better or use/edit it.
Devotions- We read 1 chapter from the Bible.... sing 3-4 songs from the Hymn book/chorus book, and work on memorizing a verse together.
Breakfast... self explanatory right?! :)
Cheerful Chores- We have set chores we do every morning. Bear empties the bathroom garbage and then dusts the living room. He doesn't do the best job dusting since he's 4....so there's always something for him to dust every day! Monkey empties the dishwasher....which has to be done almost every morning. If not he empties the garbage, or sweeps and mops the kitchen floor. And notice it's Cheerful chores because we have to be cheerful the whole time we are helping out! :)
Colossians 3:23 Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.
Bible/Science/Social Studies- From our Homeschool material. We usually have a bible lesson and then a science project or social studies project to go along with it. One or the other each day.
Monkey works on his Math...using Math-U-See.
While he's doing that Bear has an activity bin to keep him occupied. Different each day.
Letter Bin/Number Bin, Sensory bins, Puzzle Bin, Mosaic, File Folder Games
Then I set up Monkey's flash cards and handwriting assignment which is either a bible verse we are working on, and sometimes focusing on proper ways of writing letters or copying sentences from books, etc. He is close enough where I can help him if he has a question while Bear is going through some preschool materials.
Activity- Then we work together on a Craft, Coloring, Painting, Do some follow the leader activities or journaling. We learned the follow the leader from some friends, and read about it also in the Duggar's book. :) You give simple instructions like walk to the chair, turn around twice, jump 3 times and sit down. And see if they do it in the correct order. And for journaling, Monkey is writing enough that if I help him with the spelling he can write his own short journal of something he enjoyed that week. Bear, I have him draw a picture and then tell me the story about that picture and I write for him. :)
Mom read's aloud. They get to pick a couple books, and I pick a couple books that go with the subject of that week. And I read outloud to them for 20-30 minutes.
Play Time....this is just some bumper time if we get done a little early, and something for them to do while I make lunch, which usually doesn't take long. We usually run over on time and don't have much extra time before lunch anyway.
Lunch!
Monday's we go to the Library, which cuts nap time short....Friday is more game oriented. Inbetween we might choose a short 20 minute learning cartoon.
Then Nap time for Bear....and Quiet play time for Monkey, starting with reading, and the rest playing quietly by himself for a little while.
Snack Time!
Brotherly love play time. I usually pick an activity for them to do together. It helps them work together better. That way they aren't automatically mad because they didn't want to do what the other person wanted...so I either pick the legos, or box of cars, or army men, or blocks etc....sometimes they get to do 2 projects at once. :) They enjoy this scheduled time. And now it's time for me to prep supper so I can watch them while I get things prepared.
Supper!
The evenings are not as scheduled....Daddy's home, we run errands, we love to go to the store together just for a fun outing, Wednesday is Awana for us, and any other mish-mash of what we can fit into the evening hours.
7:30 we put on our jammies, brush our teeth, and by the time we sing songs, same ones from the morning(we pick 3-4 different songs each Monday to help up get to know them really good), say our memory verses and pray, it's 8 and time to climb into bed. For the kids anyway. :)
If you know me, you know I'm up til 11 or 12.