So Where Were We?

We spent the week skiing and had a blast. We skied several days together and then the boys went to ski camp. William went for two days and had a race at the end. Landon only made it through one day. That was such an accomplishment since he has never been in a setting without someone from our family.
I am grateful for that day because Eric and I spent the day skiing together. The first time in 8 years that we really skied. I mean not just the easy trails. It was great!

Now the week of Eric off ends and that is a bummer. If only we were independently wealthy. We really love having daddy home. Sigh

I'll post the actually skiing pictures tomorrow. Promise!

We're Back!

Can you guess what we have been up to?

A Little Rest

Hi I am taking a break for a bit to relax with the family.
See you in a few days.

Snow Theme

I don't really have a set curriculum I follow. I use things from a variety of places. Sometimes I plan ahead and other times we just go with the moment.

This past week we have been reading books about snow and Winter since it is the season.
I planned some activities to go along with one of the books we read,
Something Is Going to Happen by Charlotte Zolotow.

Day 1 - We read the book and then used shaving cream and played in the "snow".



Day 2- We read the story and then used little wooden people to retell/act the story out. Also we made muffins since the mother is making muffins throughout the story.Day 3- We read the story again, built our own snow village,and then drew our favorite part of the story.

Will's

Landon's

Over the weekend William was "reading" the story to Eric.

Wildseeds

William had his nature class today. A.K.A "Wildseeds". Landon and I got to tag along.

They learned about plants and trees. We found some hickory nuts and cracked them open to have a little taste.
We also discovered a dead tree that looked like someone had tried to burn. They were using the charcoal to decorate their faces.


It was a fun day, although a little wet and dreary but we survived.

Book Review: The Milly Molly Mandy Storybook

This is a wonderful story book about a sweet little girl named Milly Molly Mandy. It has 21 chapters that tell of the adventures she has in her town.

We read this over a course of a month. A chapter a day. The boys would wake up ready to read about Milly Molly Mandy. It was perfect for their ages. The front covers have maps of her town which the boys love to look at and see where her latest adventure had taken place.

It was a very charming little book and I would highly recommend it as a read aloud. It was first published in 1928 so much of the language is old fashioned which I love.

The boys learned how lunch used to be called dinner and dinner was called supper. William loves to use the names for our meals now.

We're now searching for More Milly Molly Mandy Storybook.

Sweet Sunday

We ate a big breakfast.

We crafted more puppets.
We made peanut butter cookies.

We worked on pine wood derby cars.

We cut and glued.
We played computer games.

We had chili and corn bread.

We watched a movie.

We lounged all day in PJ's.

painting

I tried something new this week.

We have a little table in the kitchen that we use for things here and there. This week I decided to put something out and keep it out all week. (We usually have to take a project out and then put it away because our main table we use for arts, crafts, etc. is also where we eat.)
Something that the boys could do easily do themselves whenever the urge hit them.

So we took out these cool little paints that my sister, the boys' Auntie Linda, gave them for Christmas. They are called Paintastics by Elmers glue. They are self contained paintbrush pens.

William painted every day. For a long time.

These are his results from the week.



We really liked this idea and think each week it will change and they can go back to it each day.


P.S. This was not Landon thing: he was more interested in just playing, typical 3 year old:)

some scenes

Concentration- on both parts.
Gritty treats in the making.
Some funky snow.

Lovin' Home

We have settled into a calm routine since the new year.

I am trying very hard to stay home 3 days a week and two days be our outing days. Days where we do something fun and try to fit in any errands we may have.

The days at home have been cozy and relaxed.

Some days we do lots of activities, other days we just hang and play whatever we are in the mood for.

Its good. All good I tell ya!

A Little Big

This is my latest knitting project.
William's new hat. It is a nice cozy cotton, since he will not wear any wool whatsoever :(
I have high hopes it will shrink a bit when washed; or he will just grow into it eventually.

Cotton Dough

We had an interesting modeling experience this week.
1 cup flour, 1 cup water. Dip cotton balls into dough and create.
Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees.
It wasn't quiet what I expected but loads of gooey fun.



The results.

Landon's "Flower Creature"

William's: No name

Mine: Butterfly or Angel?

My Adventurers

The past two days the boys have been on an expedition to the North Pole. They've been camping out and trying to search for polar bears and seals.


The campfire was the best part- apparently ice chips make it burn even better than daddy's!

dissapointment

It was a slow and lazy start. Lots of snuggling, reading, playmobile pirate battles. Drawing, poem writing and

Boat Making.
We had the finishing touches to do to William's Raingutter Boat. Eric and him did the most part but we just added the stickers and name today. It was named
"The Star"

Tonight was the Big Race. This was mine and Eric's first time doing this so it was a learning experience. William had a good time making the boat, but when it came to the race- he was not happy. He was so disappointed with the way the boat went. It was slow and tipped a bit. He was very sad and I felt so badly for him. I know life has its disappointments but it did break a mother's heart. Eric explained that it was about the project and spending time together making the boat, not so much the race itself.

And how we learn from the experience each time we do something new.

William wasn't quite grasping the whole concept. Hopefully after some sleep his outlook will change because the Pine Wood Derby is next. This is the one Eric has experience building and knows what to expect.

This could be great if Will will give it a chance. Only time will tell....

All Is Well

Ahhh, what a difference life is when you are feeling well. I actually woke up early which is one of my New Years goals. We snuggled , read, dressed, ate and left the house today all without any frustration or rush.

Of course William was super excited for today. He has been counting down the days on his new calendar. It was the first day of his outdoor nature class, a.k.a. "Wildseeds".

They spent the day outside playing games, hiking the woods and tracking animals. I couldn't get him to stop talking about it when we picked him up.

So what did Landon and I do?

We went to the consignment shop and browsed for some goodies. Landon bought a book for 5 cents.

I found a surprise for William.

While in Florida William tried to help Grammy with her Sudoku. He was really into it. By chance yesterday, when Peter Pan was finished I happened to notice that there are games on the bonus material. One of the games was Sudoku. It started out with a small grid and eventually became the real size. I watched as he intently figured out the answers. I was amazed.

I mentioned to Eric last night how it would be neat to find one for William.
Hence my excitement when I found this!
Can't wait until tomorrow when he tries it out.

As for the rest of our day , sigh. We spent 2 hours in the library finding tons of books and books on CD.

Then home for some play, dinner, stories and sleep.

Sick Day

Today I woke up feeling just awful!

I went right back to bed.

The boys played quietly, William made breakfast, watched Peter Pan, played a new game

Woke up for lunch.

Back to bed -which they also took a nap.

Up again for a snack and then more quiet play until daddy gets home.

They were very sweet and hope that I am all better tomorrow.

We have some big plans this week that must happen.

good things

At least one time during our day there is something good that happens. We wanted a quick way to remember those good things.

We made Good Things jars.

We recycled a jar or vase and decorated them with paint pens.

Each night after dinner we think of something good that happened during our day, write it down on a small piece of paper I punched out and date it. By the end of the year we will have a years worth of good things to look back at and remember with smiles.

William's

Landon's

Mommy's

Daddy has one too, but it still needs to be decorated. The boys happily volunteered to do it for him.