Preschool Catch Up

I've gotten out of the habit posting what we do for our learning time.  Mostly it feels like we repeat what I did with the older kids a couple of years, since I have everything filed and ready.  But, just for my record I decided to pull a couple pictures of each week and do a quick glympse to catch up...

M for Music

making instruments

the painted maraca waiting to dry

N for Numbers

These numbers are ones from my Mom that i grew up with.  The kids chose a number and counted out beads to string on.

and n for noodles

O for Ocean

our mural (loved seeing the kids look at pictures of ocean animals and try to re-create them)

number and counting practice

P for Pirates and Princess
(can't find any pictures from that week)

Q for Quarters

quarter rubbings turned into the letter Q

(and quesidillas)

R for Rainbows

I've done this color mixing with the kids each year since Brielle was a toddler, it is still a favorite.

mixing colors in shaving cream (Elise was very dainty with a straw, Ethan went full in with both hands of course)

S for Space

making the S out of star stickers

lots of time playing with moon sand

T for Trains

we used our train pack for a lot of activities

 

Great Park

A few weeks ago, James had a business trip to attend in Chicago.  He was flying out on a Saturday morning from the airport in Santa Ana, so we decided to look for something fun (and free!!) to do as a family while we were over that direction (just under an hour from our house).

We decided to try out the balloon ride at Great Park in Irvine.  It is a very large helium balloon that takes you up 400 feet in the air.

It was a gorgeous morning and we had great views from the top.

Next to the balloon ride is the carousel.  The kids wanted to go over and over and over again.

Grandma and Papa Finlay were also able to join us for the fun that morning.

Before leaving we stopped at the learning gardens.

the kids were put in charge of feeding the chickens some cabbage leaves 

and had a chance to see and touch one up close.

4-year-old Ethan Stats

My name is: Ethan (aka Fums, Little Buddy)

Height: 3' 7" (94%)
Weight: 34 lbs 3.2 oz (94%)
Sleeping: Night-about 11 hours (6:45pm-6:00am), had to cut out naps when Brielle started school due to timing.  He still gets tired in the afternoon and will nap when given a chance, but will not sleep in past 6:30 in the morning ever, no matter what time he went to bed.  
Words: In the last couple of months he finally has taken an interest in his speech and will work with me instead of getting frustrated.  He was SO, SO excited to learn to say the 'TH' sound so he could say his name.  He is getting the 'f' sound and is just starting to work on the 's' and 'z' sounds.  He drops a lot of ending sounds and still has to think about speaking correctly for it to come our right.  
Movement: Jumps, climbs, swims, and is very fast on his scooter. 

Ethan's responses to 4-year-old Interview Questions

(we repeated the interview, to get better sound on the video camera.  Some of the questions he answered differently the second time...yes, we did the same thing last year.  We just need to remember which camera to use.)

What is your name? Ethan

When is your birthday? March 9th

How old are you? 4

What is your favorite color? Green
What is your favorite song? 'The Reindeer Song' or 'Santa Claus is Coming' (or from first try at video 'Hinges')

What is your favorite food? Green Eggs and Ham

What is your favorite animal? Crocodile (also from first video a lion, bear, jaguar and tiger)

What is your favorite movie? Dora (first video it was all of them...all the kid ones)

What is your favorite ice cream flavor? Chocolate Mint

Who is your best friend? Ellie

What is your favorite book? Cat in the Hat

What is your favorite thing to do? Go to the Park

When do you go to bed? I don't remember, can you tell me a secret.  7 o'clock.

What does your Daddy do? Work with a mouse.  The mouse is helping people.

What does your Mommy do? Watch Ellie and Ethan

A Frog Birthday for Ethan

Ethan had a hard time deciding what theme he wanted for his cake (changing his mind every day/minute for a month).  He finally stuck with frogs, since we have a pond in our backyard and he loves going out to catch the frogs almost every day.

Ethan wanted to decorate his own cake.  He wanted chocolate, so I made a double chocolate mousse, and then just put some seran wrap over the top to decorate and then pull off rather than making an actual cake with frosting. (I'm not a huge cake fan)

Here is a closer picture of the finished 'pond'.  The kids had fun making 'cat tails' out of tootsie rolls and toothipicks, we made pond water with died piping gel, and dirt with graham cracker crumbs.  Ethan assembled it all and insisted he needed an entire family of frogs in the pond.

For those that do like cakes, we made some frog cupcakes, and Cousin Allison made him a giant heart-cookie which he was very excited about.

Birthday dinner request was hamburgers and french fries.  James came up with the idea to include frog-eye salad as well and took charge of tracking down the ingredients, which wasn't an easy job.  Our groceries stores don't sell acini di pepe, but he found couscous to substitute. 

For his birthday breakfast he wanted green eggs and ham. We did Dr. Seuss week last week and his new favorite book has been Green Eggs and Ham.  He loves the color green, so is happy with any kind of green food.

Thanks to the family that lives close and could come.  He felt so special and loved.  And was very excited about his birthday presents.

Fly On The Wall-A Tuesday

Okay, so blog took a back burner for a while, but I'm back to it again.  Once again, these entries are for my personal interest to track our life as it changes, but I put it out there incase anyone likes to know what goes on in our house.

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

6AM-Sleeping In
Still in bed.  Ethan came in a couple times last night because he was having a bad dream about a boat turning into a dragon.  Enjoying the last few minutes in bed before it's really time to get up and moving.

7AM-Finishing Breakfast
Switched yesterday and today's breakfast menu, so today we had our 'Monday Muffins'-Brown Sugar Muffins and Hard boiled eggs.  I am driving to school now instead of biking, so have to get out the door by 7:20, James leaves about the same time.  Usually 5 minutes before we do.

8AM-Driving Home
Brielle is at school.  Ethan is in the back seat of the car looking at a Highlights magazine and telling me about all the projects he wants to do today.

9AM-Working with Ethan on project
This is what Ethan saw in the magazine that he really wanted to make.  He was excited about going out to hunt for twigs and rocks.  He put together the colors of tissue paper he wanted, then had me help him with the twist-tie part.

10AM-Dropping Ethan at Speech Class
He scooters, I speed walk.  It's about 1.3 miles each way.  He is getting quick, where I'd have to jog to stay with him, but he stops every light post or fire hydrant for me to catch up.  Then he sees an interesting rock or bug on the ground and has to take a minute to look.

11AM-Picking Ethan up
During the hour Ethan is in class I have time to run home and get a couple things done before heading back.  The walk home takes significantly longer.  Ethan is tired and it is slightly up hill.  I promised Ethan a jar to collect the roly-polies he found on the way to school, so he is stopping to collect them as we walk home.

12PM-Lunch/Working on Dinner
Ethan wanted a muffin from this morning, and a banana and a pear.  He ended up eating half the muffin, 3 pears and a full banana. (extra hungry because we forgot to eat snack before class today) I'm eating leftover chicken curry from last night with cauliflower.  Dinner tonight is Baked Ziti.  Frying up sausage to make sauce while I'm eating lunch.

1PM-Cleaning Bathrooms
Ethan is going between playing with trains and helping me clean.  He likes cleaning the toilets because I use baking soda and vinegar, and he likes to make 'volcanoes' with me.

2PM-Picking Up Brielle
Brielle gets out at 1:50.  The kids are playing on the playground, as we are staying after school for a meeting, we have a few minute before it starts.

3PM-PTA Meeting
Normal stuff, talking about upcoming events and volunteers needed.  I'm trying to decide how I'll feel at the end of May pregnancy-wise and what I want to commit to helping with.

4PM-Library
Running errands after the PTA meeting.  Brielle goes through books too quickly and it's hard to keep new ones in the house for her reading time every afternoon.  Had a stack of books on hold to pick up.

5PM-Homework
Behind schedule this afternoon with meeting and errands, trying to help kids get through their afternoon routine quickly.  Brielle needs to work on homework, read, practice the piano and set table.  Ethan's main job is to help me with whatever I ask him to do.

6PM-Eating Dinner
James tries to get home right at 6 so we can all eat together before getting kids to bed.  We like to be ready to start bedtime routine at 6:30.

7PM-Catching up with James
Just put kids to bed.  James is getting ready to head out home teaching, I am getting ready for our YW meeting.  We have a few minutes to touch base before going separate ways again.

8PM-YW Meeting
Meeting started at 7:30, I like to have them at my house after kids are asleep so we can focus.

9PM-Finishing YW Meeting
We've wrapped things up and are mostly hanging out, talking and eating a treat.  I made extra lemon truffle pie on Sunday for this meeting so I wouldn't have to think about it today.  Afraid the crust would get soggy, but it still tastes good.

10PM-More YW
After the meeting I like to review/type notes to send out and then follow up with anything that needed my attention before I forget about it.  Have a couple people on our roll that need their records sent, so sending e-mails to get that taken care of.
James has gone to the airport to pick-up sis-in-law, so I can quickly get everything wrapped up without missing out on time with him.

11PM-In Bed
tomorrow is a running with my neighbor day, which means day starts at 4:50, so I should have been asleep a long time ago.  James is just getting home.  Good Night!

Stomp Rocket Fun

Ethan got a stomp rocket for Christmas.  He really wanted a remote control airplane, but Santa felt this would be easier for a 3-year-old to handle.

At first he waas stomping it and it would got about 25 feet in the air or so.  

Then the kids saw how far James could get it (it goes to about 400 feet!).

And they went full force running to get speed and jump.  When you stomp it goes up so high you lose track of it for a split second until it is on its way down.  

Royal Oaks Talent Show

Brielle really wanted to be in her School's talent show.  Her first idea was that she is really good at skipping and she could skip across the stage.  Grandma Finlay suggested to the kids that they perform together.  We had their 'Sound of Music' costumes all ready from the Hollywood Bowl Sound of Music Sing-a-long and Halloween (2011), so we decided to have them sing a song from Sound of Music.  Since their ability to sing is still developing (hopefully), we were going for the cuteness factor.  It seemed to work, as they got 3rd place ribbons and were very excited about 'winning'.

Rose Parade 2013

(Had this blog post written back in January, just realized I never posted it.  Better late then never, I guess.)

We made it back from Utah late Monday Evening December 31st. Tuesday morning (New Year's Day) we were up early so we didn't miss the fun of the parade.

It was a perfect day.  The sun stayed behind the clouds most of the time so it didn't get too hot while we played and watched the parade.

 

The theme for this year was 'Oh, the Places You'll Go!'  It was fun to see what the different ideas were to fit the theme for each float.

we spent time waiting for the parade to get to us by blowing bubbles

spraying people with silly string

hanging out with family and eating yummy breakfast

One of the roses fell off a float, and Brielle ran out to get it.  She was pretty excited.

This float had a waterfall and a volcano.  The kids loved it!

Grandma Finlay was riding on the City of Hope float.  You can see her in the background.