Prizes

Lissy has been staying with us for about 1 1/2 weeks.  Her smart mom left her with a bag of prizes to choose one each day (and was nice enough to include Brielle and Ethan).  Each morning after kids were dressed and ready for the day, Coco would get to go to the prize box and choose one for the day. A great way to start the day.

The first day was the putty.  The kids loved it enough that it has been played with almost every day since.  It is not as messy as playdoh (although you still need to watch to make sure it is not being overly stretched, or stuck into hair.) and it makes the 'farting' noises that the kids find hilarious.  Simple life pleasures.

These bubbles were magical.  They had superpowers that allowed them to not pop.  Honestly, we went inside and when we went back out to play after naps (maybe 6 hours later?) I spotted a couple on the ground.

The bath capsules are always fun.  This time however we watched them grow in cups rather than in the bathtub (due to Ethan's broken arm making bath time a bit of a challenge). That was a fun change.

slinkies, which have become bracelets, or swords...whatever.

I remember these from childhood.  So many great memories.  The 2-year-olds needed a lot of help, but were very excited about the final project.  Brielle really enjoyed it.

I've always loved the magical black paper.  I remember making our own in school sometime, when you had to color with black crayon forever.  Ethan is pondering what to draw next.

And, in case you need other ideas for great prizes, we also had:

light up rings

glow in the dark bracelets

temporary tattoos

snap hands

bendable wax sticks

Such a great idea and so much fun for everyone.  Lissy also had a count-down chain that she made with her Mom before coming.  She was able to take off one loop each night to keep track of how many days she had left.  Fun things to keep her happy while staying for (in her words) 'a LONG minute'.  

Castles

We made it all the way to the Candy Land Castle with the four kids playing and no cheating.  That is a first for us!  (usually when we play a game Ethan messes up the board, or I 'tweak' the game to get it to end faster.)

We made crowns.  Lissy keeps saying she is the nice evil queen.

Gavin's favorite part of the week was when we made the sword and shields.  

We had an awful lot of storming the castle going on.

We used sugar cubes to make castles.  I didn't tell the kids what they were made out of, but Ethan of course tried one out.  He was surprised to find they tasted good, which then made it hard for them to finish building.

I hadn't planned this, but Brielle wanted to measure her castle (I think I should just put her in charge of all our school planning.  She is the one that comes up with the great ideas!).  We ended up measuring, counting cubes, seeing how tall we could make them, adding, taking away..etc.

We also had all the blocks and legos out for plenty of castle building (and destroying).

preschool packs

http://totallytots.blogspot.com/2011/05/mommy-made-printables-princesses.html
http://homeschoolcreations.blogspot.com/2011/05/knights-and-castle-preschool-unit.html

Tough Kid

Saturday night we went to my Brother's house to have dinner with my family that was in town.  The kids were enjoying playing on the trampoline, which was a new thing for them.  Ethan LOVED the trampoline, but was unsteady and all over the place (which he thought was hilarious).  The tramp did have netting all around to protect people from falling off, but we had too many kids jumping at the same time.

Anyway the kids were all jumping together with all of the adults standing right there and watching.  Brielle bounced on top of Ethan and he came up with the long-SILENT-scream and then caught his breath and started crying.  His arm went limp for a minute.  I calmed him down and checked his arm.  It wasn't swollen or bent, and then he started using it as he was playing.  He put pressure on it climbing up the stairs, was holding things and everything.  

Sunday it was still tender.  He was using it fine, but if I held that hand he would tell me he had a boo boo.  

I thought since he was playing with it and didn't seem to be in pain unless it was touched, that it was just bruised or sprained. James was concerned and insisted I take him to the doctor.

Monday morning we had cousin pictures scheduled.  So we raced from pictures to the Doctor.  It was a crazy busy Monday at the doctors office for some reason so everything went slowly.  We saw the doctor, he looked at and touched his arm, said it was probably just bruised, but since I told him Brielle had walked on her leg when it was broken, he said he'd send us for x-rays.  We went over and waited to get x-rays (for which Ethan sat amazingly still for!).  We went back to the doctor's office and the doctor came out and said "That is one tough kid!"  He confirmed it was actually broken.  He said it was a buckle fracture, so the bone is bent and if more pressure is put on it, it can snap and make it worse.

We were then sent down to Orthopedics for the casting.  Ethan again was able to sit still (amazingly, since in all these waiting rooms he was a crazy man!).  He had a hard time choosing between a blue and green cast.  He wanted both.

After he got the cast on (which went over his elbow) he was trying to bend his arm and said 'why my arm not working?' I tried to explain the cast and purpose for it.  After we got home he was tired tells me 'Mom, take it off!'.  And last night as I was putting him to bed he was asking questions about it again.  

It doesn't slow him down any, just gives him a weapon to use (which he doesn't need!).  He did have a hard time eating dinner that night, and was frustrated his food was falling more than usual.

Anyway, he is scheduled to have the cast on for about 4 weeks.  We go back in 2 weeks, where hopefully he can get a short arm cast on.  They wanted a full arm because he is so active he could hurt his arm even through the cast.

Portraits

Brielle was entertaining herself while I was busy at Church.

(the middle one is supposed to say 'Mom', or maybe she was trying to write Megan.  I was surprised she knew how to spell Ethan's name)

I know a lot of little kids that draw like this all day long.  Although I try to provide plenty of opportunities,  Brielle is a bit of a perfectionist and gets frustrated when trying to draw, so often resorts to scribbling.  

If I suggest something for her to draw she says (in the whiny voice) 'I caaan't, can you do it for me?"  I give her ideas about how to do it, but if she can't get it just right she gives up.  We do a lot with dry-erase markers or pencils so she can erase or start over.  She likes painting and enjoys the projects that we do, but is not naturally artistic and usually prefers math and work sheets over drawing.

So, it made me smile to see these pictures.  Just something I want to remember.

Ice Cream

I kept seeing ideas to go with an Ice Cream theme and finally decided to do it before the weather got too cold.
We started learning about what ice cream is made from and where that comes from. We watched a clip about how it is made.
And we did a lot more than just eat ice cream (although we did plenty of that too)

We used our 'warm fuzzies' (the yarn balls) as scoops of icecream to play with this week.  Ethan is trying to transfer them to different bowls.  We also have the Melissa and Doug Ice Cream set that was used for a lot of ice cream cone making this week.

We had a taste-testing experiment.  I had the kids first taste without seeing what it looked like and guess what it was.  They then had a second taste while being able to see the color.  Brielle got them all right both times.  Ethan guessed they were all Cherry.

 

I made this ice-cream cone game a few years ago to use for primary singing time.  I laminated them so we could use dry-erase markers for a variety of learning games.   These pictures show thinking of words that start with letters, and learning to count by 2s.

We also got in some cutting and gluing practice by making ice cream cones (with real sprinkles, which of course the kids wanted to eat)  

The ball in this picture is a holder for making your own ice cream.  We put the ingredients in and the set up bowling and rolling games to shake the ice cream.  It is the same idea as 'ice-cream in a bag', only your hands don't get as cold!

 Books

The kids liked The Full Scoop which talked about how Ice Cream is made.  The Sundae Scoop was another good math-related book.  Brielle also liked The Banana Split from Outer Space (a silly, short chapter book.  She still gets very excited about chapter books.)

I asked Ethan to show me his favorite.  He couldn't decide on just one.

Preschool Pack

http://mamasmonkeys.blogspot.com/2011/05/ice-cream-tot-pack.html

Desert

We had a week learning about the habitat of the desert.  Since we happen to live in the desert, that made it pretty easy to discover things all around us.

We talked about how deserts are dry and often sandy.  We used sandpaper to make snakes.

We sorted through our stuffed animals to label which animals live in the desert

I had the kids look at the book to find a picture they wanted to re-create.  We used paint, cornmeal (for sand) and a variety of beans and pasta.  The kids spent longer on this then they have ever done on a project before.  Usually the art projects last 5-10 minutes.  This one all 4 of them were engaged for almost an hour!

Here is Brielle's desert scene.  Some Coyotes, rabbits, snakes...I don't remember what it all was, but it sure is colorful.

I let the kids design their own lizards.  We looked at this book to see the different kinds of tails, feet, heads, and body shapes and what they are used for.

and then we found different things around the house to create the textures

And of course Kibaki came out to play

Books

The kids liked Danny Diamondback. We got out our musical instruments and used maracas to be rattlesnakes and formed our own band.

Preschool Pack

http://www.2teachingmommies.com/2010/08/desert.html

And, for the record.  I would love to do some sand in a bottle art next time.  We didn't get around to that this week.

Fun in the Sun...and Rain

James had a conference to attend in San Diego last week, so we drove from Morro Bay to San Diego on Sunday.

 When Brielle found out we were going to San Diego she requested that we go to the Mormon Battalion Center every night we were there.  We have been there twice this year and she loves it.  We did not go every night as she requested, but we did make it there Sunday night.

While James was busy attending conference sessions, the kids and I toured the town.  Monday we headed over to Coronado Island.  The Hotel del Coronado was opened in 1888 and is the largest all wood building in California. 

There is a Dr. Seuss exhibit at the hotel that I wanted to check out.  They had a few statues there, and I was told they have more during the holidays. 

 

We then spent the rest of the morning on the beach.  Clearly, the kids were happy about that.

Tuesday was a bit cold and rainy, but a perfect day for the zoo.  I have never been to the San Diego Zoo before.  We went from 9am-5pm (the whole time it was open that day) and had to rush a bit to see everything. 

There was a petting area that Ethan loved. 

The trainer was having the Zebra do all sorts of tricks which Ellie found fascinating.

and the Skyfari (the arial tram) was a big hit.  It goes over the whole zoo, so you can see the animals from above.  We ended up going on that 4 times. :)

on Wednesday we headed over the Mission Trails Regional Park for some hiking.  There was a Visitor's Center with hands on activities for the kids which we enjoyed.  

We got a recommendation for a short, flat hike that the kids could handle.  This one was just over a mile, short enough for the kids to handle on their own.

We then had to find a park with a playground.  The kids didn't comprehend that you could have a 6000 acre park, but no playground. 

Thursday morning we walked around Seaport Village.  Our hotel was right across the street from this USS Midway.  Ethan loved staring out the window at the boats coming and going.  James was able to go on the Midway for a work party Tuesday night.  He loved the flight simulator.

Lake Lopez

We headed up to Morro Bay for a quick trip last weekend so James and I could participate in a relay triathlon at nearby Lake Lopez with our friend Trinka.  We did an international distance (a 1 mile swim, 26 mile bike and 6.2 mile run).  

The Splash, Screech, Stumble team before the race begins. It was a cold morning in the mountains.  Trinka said the water was warmer than the outside air.  I was glad I was not doing the swim.

transition area all set up

James over-estimated the time his bike portion would take.  His training rides had been about 2 hours.  He estimated the race would be about 1 hour 45 minutes.  We took the kids to play at the park while he was riding and headed over to transition area 10 minutes before he expected to be there only to find he was already there and had been waiting for 8 minutes!  I hurried over to transition to grab the timing chip and start my run.  Luckily I had my running shoes on!  

The run was very hilly, going around the lake and through the campground.  Although it was a pretty location, I didn't love the layout.  It was a 2 loop course that also included an out and back section, so it was a little repetitive.  There was also a very steep hill to climb right before the finish, which made it hard to want to go around for the 2nd loop!  My head kept telling me to turn around a bit early on the out and back portion, or not complete the 2nd loop...but luckily I was able to quiet down that voice and finish the whole thing.

We ended up finishing 4th place in the relay division, which would have been 2nd had it not been for our 8 minute T2 delay.  We plan to do more relays together, so we've learned for next time!

Other than the triathlon, the trip was successful with our normal Morro Bay activities:

Playing at the beach with Alexa (Trinka's daughter)

Finding starfish 

corn maze at the pumpkin patch

enjoying the beautiful sunsets