Finlay Family Fun

Skirball Museum-Noah's Ark

2012-02-11T10:00:00.000-08:00

In January we met some friends at the Skirball Museum. I've heard of it, but hadn't tried it yet. It took 1 hour to get there, so it is a little bit farther than we usually go, and they don't open until noon (which means no nap time for the kids), but we had such a great time, I would love to go again.

There are other exhibits to see, but the main kid-friendly one is all based on Noah's Ark. You have to have timed tickets to get in, and are limited to 2 hours. The kids could have stayed longer.

Animals to play with...

boats to build....

ropes to climb...

animals to ride...

and rain storms to create.

The whole exhibit is created with recycled material. You can see the zebra mane is made with a keyboard here. It is amazing to see everything up close.

Some Random Pictures

2012-02-09T10:00:00.000-08:00

For those that might wonder, we don't do everything based on our weekly themes. We have a lot of play time, and also other learning time that is not part of the theme. Basically, we are always having fun. A few pictures from this last month of other non-theme related fun:

The kids were sorting the blocks into colors, and loving the time to build and crash. Blocks are always fun to play with!

Brielle is very interested in science. At the Huntington Gardens last month she wanted to do all the hands-on activities in the conservatory. I was impressed she was doing well figuring them out on her own (as I was busy chasing Ethan, who doesn't stay in one place for a very long time.)

Brielle got these stringing beads for Christmas, which we have used for making patterns, spelling words, or just working on find motor skills.

I can usually keep Ethan busy when I need to focus on making dinner by doing some kind of puzzle or activity. In this case we had a container that James brought home from work that had lots of little holes. I kept a close eye on Ethan (afraid he might try to eat, or stick q-tips in his ears) as he did this activity, filling the holes with the q-tips-more great fine motor skills.

Other things the kids love...painting. They made these Home-Depot projects a few months ago. But we just got around to painting them this month.

We just used washable paint, which is a good thing. I happen to know how messy it gets.

But, they loved the final results!

And, the kids love playing games.

Groundhog's Day

2012-02-07T14:26:00.000-08:00

Since living in California, I have found that Groundhog's day is not nearly as anticipated. We don't really have a need to look forward to spring in SoCal, since 1. Winter time is GORGEOUS, and 2. it is already spring with blossoms on trees and flowers blooming long before Groundhog's day.

However, we still had fun with a Shadow and Groundhog theme week. We had some repeat activities from last year.

A couple of new ideas we loved:

From Sharing Kindergarten we used this printout.

We thought of word that started with the letter G, and also words that rhymed with 'hog'. I used her idea of hiding them around the room for the kids to find. They loved it enough we then did it 4 or 5 more times. We took turns hiding, finding, and practiced counting each time to make sure we had them all back. big hit.

The kids are loving having their food decorated. Every time I give them lunch they ask what it is shaped as (even when I didn't actually do anything, we can always pretend.) We made groundhog muffins, bread and toast. Brielle said in this case that the banana was the burrow door. And when we were talking about rhyming words we had hotdogs for lunch.

We traced our shadows, and while the kids played I then traced random other shadows (shovels, rakes, etc.) and the kids guessed what item I had traced.

Chinese New Year

2012-01-30T16:29:00.000-08:00

The kids were pointing out red everywhere, excitedly thinking that it was all decorations for Chinese New Year. The ropes at the park were red, the car driving past was red, they saw a red flag...it was all in celebration. I let them go ahead and think that.

We learned about the sound C and H make when put together. Now whenever Ethan is an 'H' he yells out "for China!"

I did this activity more for the older kids to practice their number writing. We were talking about Chinese New Year and what a Year was. I had a calendar we weren't using, so I used a highlighter to write the numbers in each of the boxes and had the kids trace them. I was surprised by how this captured Ethan's attention. He loved tracing the numbers. Gavin also stayed at the table to finish every number, even though everyone else was done.

We made this Dragon Snack (in honor of it being the year of the dragon). The kids were so excited about eating their dragons they could barely sit down and wait for them to come to the table!

We worked on some fine motor skills using chopsticks. I had the kids pick up beads and sort them by kind.

We used this idea and used stamps to make fingerprints, and turn them into chinese lanterns.

Our friend Shing (aka Shirley) came to teach the kids more about China. She taught them about the importance of the colors Red (for Luck and Happiness) and Gold (for Power and Fortune). She also explained that fish is always served for Chinese New Year because the Chinese word for 'fish' is pronounced the same as their word for 'left over'. So, if you have fish, you will have more than enough for your needs for the coming year. She gave the kids each a bag of goldfish and some chinese treats.

We had a big Chinese Dinner to celebrate with family. Brielle helped me make the fortune cookies. She wanted to write the 'jokes' that go inside them. It was taking her a long time to do individual fortunes (she was trying to come up with something different for each of the 20 people that would be at the party), and we ran out of time. I scanned one of her fortunes and copied it for everyone.

Our friend made these cute dragons out of rice krispy treats and fruit roll ups. They were a big hit at the party.

Brielle ended the week by going to see the Shanghai Acrobatics performance at the community college. She loved seeing the amazing tricks that were done and told us all about it.

Ethan took this picture. You can't tell by Brielle's face, but she was actually having fun. She got out the atlas and asked about China. She then kept me there asking questions about every single page. She wouldn't let me skip pages either, we had to go one at a time.

We also found a documentary called Wild China that was quite fascinating. We only watched the 1st episode, so we'll have to catch up on the others (make next year for Chinese New Year again!)

We made paper fans after watching a clip of Chinese Umbrella Dancers.

We took a tour of the Great Wall of China on google earth, and decided we'd all like to visit China someday.

Manners

2012-01-18T10:00:00.000-08:00

Last week we focused on Manners. The kids were all just getting over being sick, so were a bit more ornery and less behaved than usual for the first day. I was thinking it was a mistake for me to think about manners, as it just made me realize how much the kids needed to work on! But then, they started feeling better and we had a good week.

I have a few file folder games about manners that I pulled out. I don't know where they came from, as I've had them for a long time.

One is about the land of the bad-mannered dinosaurs. "Where the Dinosaurs Roam"
We kept the dinosaurs up on the window and Brielle keeps pointing out which dinosaur you are if you are not using your manners.

it includes this matching game with the dinosaur bones. Each bone has a nice thing you can say to someone.

We also focused on the proper way to set the table.

We played a manners game at lunch. I put 3 m&m's for each child on the table and told them that if I saw any bad manners during lunch I would take one candy away. I don't know if it was that they were using glass dishes, or that they had the incentive of candy, but that was the best behavior I've ever seen out of these kids!

Practice writing letter 'M' (and then B, which then went to playing tic, tac, toe)

We are focusing on writing this year (for the older kids), and letter recognition (for the younger kids). Since we did 'A for Airplane' last week, I had thought about going through in alphabetical order, but since I already had my themes set for the year I was having a hard time rearranging them to still fit with holidays, etc. So, we are just focusing on the first letter of the word we are learning each week.

Airplanes

2012-01-17T13:49:00.000-08:00

Gavin requested another week to learn about airplanes. All during December as we were learning about Christmas-related things, he kept asking for airplane week again. So, here is some of what we did.

You can see Brielle and Elise in their dress up clothes here. They dressed up and packed their bags to go on the pretend airplane.

Don't you wish real airplanes had enough room that you could camp out on the ground below your seat? :)

We learned about airports and who works there.

We made LOTS of different kinds of paper airplanes.

And measured how far they could fly.

New Year's Eve

2012-01-10T10:00:00.000-08:00

Our friend Larry has an amazing outdoor pizza oven. When you pair that with another good friend Lisa, who is an amazing cook, you get a fantastic combination for a yummy dinner. We had 2 pizza parties last week at Larry's house, one of them was on New Year's Eve.

Here is a sampling of the pizzas made. I loved the red potato pizza with rosemary. That is something I would never have thought of trying before.

The kids love hanging out with Larry as much as we do. He is so great for all of us.

After the pizza party we had a movie night at Grandma's house. We then pulled up a countdown video (last year's) so the kids could watch the ball drop, celebrate and say Happy New Year. None of them noticed that it wasn't actually midnight.

My family has a tradition of smashing our gingerbread houses on New Years Eve. The kids were more than happy to grab a hammer and smash their houses. They did of course sneak a couple pieces of candy off the houses before we tossed them.

Happy New Year!

Christmas Week-A Trip to the Zoo

2012-01-09T10:00:00.000-08:00

We have a season pass to the LA Zoo, but James rarely gets to go with us. It was nice that during the week after Christmas he was able to take a couple days off of work and have time to play with the whole family. All of James' siblings were in town, and we were celebrating the 'family honeymoon' with the newlyweds.

The petting area is always a hit.

Some new animals arrived to the Zoo! I'm not sure what kind they are, but they sure are cute. :)

The giraffes at this zoo always seem more active than any other zoo I've been to. They don't have a very big space, but we almost always get to see them running around and playing.

And, one of the favorites of the day...the new tiger cubs. There is something about baby animals that is irresistible.

Christmas Week-Rose Parade

2012-01-08T10:00:00.000-08:00

Most of the family scheduled to donate blood at the Rose Bowl. After donating blood we were able to get in to see the floats being worked on. It is always amazing to see the transformation that happens in just a few days as the structure of the float gets covered with flowers last minute.

And it is incredible to get up close and see the detail work of beans or rice being placed with tweezers piece by piece.

Every part of the float that shows has to be covered in some kind of living material. There are so many different kinds of plants and flowers that I didn't know existed!

Hanging out on the parade route, eating breakfast as we wait for the parade to start.

The kids got very excited about the traditional silly string spraying this year.

It was a hot day, but we all enjoyed it. Brielle especially liked the purple marching band (her favorite color). Ethan liked all the music and dancing, and specifically asked if he could play the drums when he gets bigger. I loved seeing the floats.

Christmas Week-Santa Anita Race Track

2012-01-07T10:00:00.000-08:00

Ethan told me his favorite animals are horses and dogs. He was very excited to see the horses running 'very fast!'

We had breakfast a clockers corner

Went and played at the playground that is in the center of the race track. This was the first time we had done this. It is a really fun playground!

And stayed to watch our friend, Beth sing...

while behind her there were parachuters dropping from the sky to land on the race track.

A great start to opening day at the race track.

A bit more Pre-Christmas Fun

2012-01-06T10:00:00.000-08:00

Playing outside the Temple at Aunt Alana's Wedding

Gingerbread House Decorating

Driving to see the Christmas Lights

Decorating Christmas Cookies (aka eating as much frosting and sprinkles as you can before your mom stops you.)

Setting up the Christmas Train with Uncle Evan

Kids Christmas Presents

2012-01-05T10:00:00.000-08:00

The kids are fun ages this Christmas. Excited about everything, easy to please, so full of happiness. Thank you to all our family and friends that gave the kids presents. They are having so much fun with new toys, projects, dress ups, etc. to play with.

Ethan asked for a Wallet and Money from Santa. This has been by far his favorite present. He carries his wallet around, stuffing it in his pocket, pulling money in and out. When asked what he wants to do with his money he responds "pay tithing, or "give it to the Bishop." He set aside his tithing, put money in his piggy bank, and kept the rest to play with (or lose around the house and then excitedly find again.)

I'll be honest. James and I had some other things to give to Ethan, but because he got so many nice things from other people that he was so excited about, I put the other things in the closet to give to him for his birthday. Birthday shopping complete 3 months early. Sweet.

Brielle asked for a bike from Santa for Christmas. Since it didn't fit in the stocking. Santa left a note with a scavenger hunt throughout the house to find the bike hidden in the closet under the stairs.

She has been riding it everyday since.

Christmas Day

2012-01-04T10:00:00.000-08:00

Church, Family, Caroling, Present Giving, Game Playing, Good Eating...a pretty perfect Christmas

We started out at our house in the morning. Ethan woke up early (as usual) but didn't think about it being Christmas until we told him. At about 6:30 we let him wake up Brielle, who (un-characteristically) jumped out of bed. She definitely remembered it was Christmas and was excited to see if Santa had come.

We had Sacrament Meeting only at Church at 9am, then rushed to Brad and Margaret's church that had started at 10am to go with the family and watch quite a few family members participate singing in the Christmas program. After church we went to Finlay's for gift exchange.

Before dinner we took time to sing some Christmas carols around the piano.

And then enjoyed a full 'Thanksgiving' dinner for Christmas.

Christmas Eve

2012-01-03T18:54:00.000-08:00

I'm pretty sure Christmas Eve revolved around food. Well, maybe not completely, but here is a glimpse of the food related portion of the day.

The morning started with a girls-only breakfast at Mimi's Cafe. A chance to relax, get away, and enjoy each other's company before getting back to the last minute details of Christmas.

I thought the boys might use the girl get-away as a chance to hurry and do their Christmas shopping, but they were all done. They met at the donut shop for the guys-only breakfast.

We had a fancy china-plate dinner that evening that was amazing. Prime Rib, twice-baked potatoes, asparagus and caesar salad. And, don't forget one of my favorite desserts: Black and white cheesecake with raspberry sauce. Yummy!

The cookies we had decorated the night before were left for Santa. Reindeer food was sprinkled outside. Everyone was well fed all day.

More Book Advent Activities

2011-12-19T16:28:00.000-08:00

This past week was busy with wedding fun (more on that in a later post), so it has been nice to have the book advent to remind us to take time to have some fun.

This book as letters you can pull out and read. (Although, since it was from the library a couple of them were missing, we had to re-create)

We practiced letter writing to write letters to each other

And got out the mailboxes to practice reading (or recognizing the names) and delivering the mail

Our version from the library had a cd included and about 10 pages of activities to do. We had lots of fun with that.

One activity we did was making our own glitter ornaments. I had the kids practice tracing the cookie cutters (I had to help with this).

We then covered them in glitter.

We also had a snowball fight (using crumpled paper balls)

We used some activity pages made by Homeschool Creations for this book

http://homeschoolcreations.blogspot.com/2011/12/mr-willowbys-christmas-tree-printable.html

The kids really enjoyed doing some actual 'school' stuff. Apparently we're doing too much play and the keep asking what we are going to learn about.

And, my kids always like their muffins decorated.

Advent Book Activities

2011-12-11T22:44:00.000-08:00

By the way. I have the books wrapped and in the closet, but don't actually put the number on until the day of. Since our plans often change, I wrote on the outside of the package what the book is, so I can pick one out depending on what we are doing that day.

The kids all love the original Tacky book, so I picked out Tacky's Christmas. It was a fun story. In the book Tacky gives all the other penguins shaving cream, so that is what we used for our project time that day.

It has been a while since we have done shaving cream finger painting around here. The kids didn't remember it, and it was fun all over again!

Next, it was time to write our letters for Santa. So we read this fun appropriately named book. I made up a scripted fill-in-the-blank letter to get the kids started.

Ethan was very specific about which colors he wanted to use. He helped me hold the pencils to write. He has seen Santa 4 times now this season and has asked for money every time. I hope Santa is rich.

Brielle wrote hers on her own. (I helped with the spelling of cleaned, helped, bike and cookies.) She was SO excited to find out that bike has a 'magic e'. She loves reading words that have a silent e on the end. Usually when we are reading chapter books together, she tells me to read all the other words and let her read any word that ends in and 'e'.

The kids wanted to make cookies for Santa.

Our activity Saturday night was going to the Ward Christmas Party, and Southern California Mormon Choir Christmas Concert.

Brielle and Gavin played Mary and Joseph for the acting of the nativity.

Advent Book Days 3, 4, 5 & 6

2011-12-06T23:14:00.001-08:00

I accidentally deleted all my pictures of our activities from Days 4-6. Ugg. I thought I had transfered them to the computer, so cleared the camera. I noticed a second too late. At least it wasn't a big event, and it was only a few pictures. I should still be able to get some picture of the kids projects, just not the in process of making them. Oh well.

Day 3-How Santa Gets His Job

Activity-Breakfast with Santa! Our ward had a primary activity. They read the Christmas Orange book, so Santa gave the kids each an orange.

The kids were very excited to eat them.

Day 4-The Night Before Christmas

I know, it should be saved for Christmas Eve, but it's a classic story/poem that I wanted shared this month. I can't save all the books until Christmas Eve...so they just have to come out earlier.

Day 5-Snowmen At Christmas

This book has hidden objects to find in each picture. My kids LOVE doing those things. It is an activity all in itself.
We also made snowman out of the packing bubbles. We cut out circles and painted them white. (Well, except Gavin, he really wanted a red and black snowman). After letting them dry we then used markers to color arms/eyes/hat, etc.

(I went back to take pictures of these, since I deleted my first pictures)

For a treat we made snowmen out of marshmallows. I used food-safe markers to make a decorate, and we put them on a kabab stick.

Day 6-The Hawaiian Snowman

We continued our Snowman theme. Too bad (or is it good?) we don't have snow here in California to build our own snowman. It is still fun to enjoy them. We still have some more snowman activities for later this month.
We made different snowmen with felt. I have circles cut out of white, and then various colors and shapes for designing clothes and body parts.

Advent Day 2

2011-12-02T20:26:00.000-08:00

The Polar Express is a favorite, so I wanted to open it so we could have it out for the rest of the month. We simply had a train-themed day, playing with trains,

we used ranch dressing to draw train track under the carrots. We also had hotdogs for lunch that became trains with ketchup as steam. The kids did spend time playing with their food, but ended up eating it, eventually.

I pulled out all of our train activities that we've done before. It has been a while, so the kids were excited about doing them again. It was a fun way to review.

Adventures in Utah

2011-12-02T06:00:00.000-08:00

My sister Ashlie and her family came out for a visit. Ashlie and I then made the road trip to Utah together with all our kids. We started our trip to Utah by wearing out the kids at Disneyland for the day. We didn't mean for it to be that way exactly, but we were trying to get to Utah before the a snow storm, so left a day earlier than we had planned. We spent the day at Disneyland, and then left straight from there and drove to Mesquite for the night and got to South Jordan safely before the snow hit.

Ethan was just barely tall enough for the 40 inch rides this time. Here is is on Thunder Mountain Railroad. To say that he Loved it is an understatement. He also enjoyed Splash Mountain. He thought it was funny that he got wet. Brielle was doing 'they potty dance,' so after going on Splash Mountain once I told her we needed to run to get to the bathroom. She told me. "I'm just want to skip going potty and go on the ride again!" Thanks to my brother-in-law who works for Disney. We had a great time.

The Aquarium is growing and the kids loved it. We ended up going twice while we were there. I was surprised by how active the penguins were. Brielle was the most excited about touching the sting rays, and also loved the glow-in-the-dark scorpions. Ethan talked about the crabs and the sharks. I'm excited they are getting a new exhibit in January with Otters. We'll have to make a trip back to Utah.

We decorated gingerbread houses. Or, ate a lot of candy while getting some on the house. Either way, it was fun.

The snow was a BIG hit! We were glad that we made it to Utah before the storm so we could be safely inside the house. We went out Friday night and the kids were standing on the benches at the restaurant trying to see out the window to watch it snow. And when we left the restaurant they went running outside and were surprised by how slippery it was. Saturday morning they made good use of Grandma's sleds and the hill.

We were able to see my brother, Jared, play Gaston in his High School Musical. We weren't allowed to take pictures, so this is after he had changed. It was a very impressive show.

The swimming pool had a small waterslide that kept the kids occupied for a good hour before they even thought to venture to any other part of the pool. They could have stayed much longer if we didn't have family and more fun waiting back at Grandma's house.

Fishing at the Church History Museum. The exhibit has so many fun hands-on activities for the kids. We had to drag them out at closing time. We also on a different day went to the Gale Center in South Jordan, another free museum with fun hands-on play for the kids. They Gale Center had a gingerbread contest with all the houses on display. My sister's house won 2nd place, and it was amazing to see.

We went to temple square to enjoy the 700,000 lights that decorate the trees.

We had such a great time with all of our Utah family. We will cherish the memories made.

Christmas Book Advent

2011-12-01T11:05:00.001-08:00

I've seen lots of other people do the same idea, so it is nothing new, but a fun tradition to start. I wanted to do the book advent last year, but we were moving and traveling during Christmas.
Anyway, today we started our Christmas Book Advent. Each day the kids have a book to open, and then we will do an activity to go along with the book. They are not new books; some are ones we already have, others will be library books. We are doing it in the morning after our calendar time. So we know what day it is and which number to open.

We started today with Henry Bear's Christmas by David Mcphail. The book starts with it being the 1st day of December, which made it a good fit for today.

In the book Henry Bear makes a chain to decorate his tree.

The kids were very excited about making a pattern with green and red.

And they chose to decorate the dining room rather than the tree.

I got the numbers for the presents from here. They are supposed to be red and green, but apparently my ink is running low.

Monsters

2011-11-30T22:26:00.000-08:00

The week before Halloween we had a pumpkin theme, so with Halloween being on a Monday, we spent the week of Halloween learning about monsters. A lot of activities were some that we've done in the past, but they were exciting again. Here are a few things we got pictures of that week.

Monster Projects

Pipe cleaners and googly eyes added to playdoh make for some very creative monsters. Some kids wanted one-eyed monsters, others wanted eyes all over....such fun. We also made paper-bag monsters as we have done before and drew pictures of monsters.

Monster Games

We have a variety of 'monster' toys like the one Ethan is holding. The are some kind of stretchy stress toy that the kids love to play with. Brielle liked playing a game where I would call a letter as I tossed it to her and she would think of a word to start with that letter.

Monster Food

We turned our lunch and snacks into various monsters. In this one I used celery for horns, hard boiled eggs for the eyes, a grilled cheese cut with a cookie cutter for the face and a slice of pepperoni for a tongue. I have a food safe marker to decorate. I discovered that my kids love hard-boiled eggs. We hadn't had them for a while, so they were new again. I made extras to have for breakfast, but we ended up going through them.

Monster Books

The all time favorite was Scary Fright Are You All Right? I don't know what it was about this book but the kids loved it. I don't remember even putting it on hold. Ethan came home with it after a trip to the library with Dad. It is a short chapter book that we re-read over and over.

The Halloween Goblin

And, not exactly for the monster week, but leading up to Halloween... We used this idea from oopsey daisy. The 13 nights of Halloween. Each day during the kids nap 'The Goblin' came to our house. There was a note left in our little mailbox that gave a clue as to where a picture was hiding. Brielle wanted to hang them up in her room and I often found her counting them to make sure we had them all up.

preschool packs

http://mamasmonkeys.blogspot.com/2011/10/not-so-scary-monsters-tot-pack.html

http://overthebigmoon.blogspot.com/2011/10/autumn-gnome-pre-k-pack.html

Our Thankful Tree

2011-11-29T14:49:00.001-08:00

We started our tree on November 1st (well, actually I think I was a day behind in getting it up, so it was probably the 2nd, but don't tell anyone.) I've seen lots of really decorative and beautiful trees. We used butcher paper and created a huge tree on our kitchen wall. It isn't fancy, but at least the kids could tell it was a tree.

Each morning at breakfast we wrote down something we were thankful for on a leaf and added it to the tree.

I'm kind of sad that November is over and it is time to take it down. It has been a good reminder this month of all the things we are thankful for, and will be fun to do again next year.

This is Halloween, This is Halloween...

2011-11-01T20:44:00.000-07:00

Halloween FINALLY came! For me Halloween season started back in the middle of September when Disneyland put out the pumpkins and changed the Haunted Mansion over to the Nightmare Before Christmas. Since then we've been singing a lot of 'This is Halloween' at our house.

Halloween continued as we went to our first pumpkin patch up in Morro Bay, and then our second at Cal Poly Pomona. It is tough work trying to choose the perfect pumpkin.

But we finally narrowed down our selection.

The fun continued as we painted our pumpkins

And then, after a month and a half of anticipation we made it to the Halloween Weekend!

Saturday we made pumpkin pancakes with cinnamon syrup

Which make for great spider webs

or jack-o-lanterns

Saturday night we went to our ward's Trunk or Treat. Ethan enjoyed the bobbing for apples so much he had me re-create it at home.

On Sunday night continued family traditions as we made Dinner in a pumpkin and donuts, and carved the pumpkins. Brielle and Gavin both wanted skeletons, which they had a lot of help from Aunt Megan and Papa Finlay to make. Ethan wanted a scary Monster, and Lissy chose the semi-colon face, which she says is a princess.

And Monday the kids got to experience trick-or-treating. They even performed by singing 'Doe, a Deer' to earn themselves some extra candy.

Prizes

2011-10-28T10:00:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-27T21:42:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-21T14:59:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-14T14:13:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-12T10:00:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-11T10:00:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-10T10:00:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-09T14:42:00.000-07:00

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

Get Your Kicks on Route 66

2011-09-30T10:00:00.000-07:00

Saturday was Duarte's 17th annual Route 66 parade.

Before the parade we were able to talk to the current Mayor of Duarte, Tzeitel Paras-Caracci

And then participate in the parade! The kids thought being able to ride in a car without car seats was a pretty funny thing. (I was also in the parade, carrying a flag with the Missionaries and members of the Duarte ward)

After the parade we went to the Vintage Car show and festival at Royal Oaks Park. Brielle and James are hard at work building a bird house.

And the kids enjoyed the giant inflatable slide over and over and over again.

The Happiest Place on Earth

2011-09-28T10:00:00.000-07:00

I didn't keep track of how many times we went to Disneyland this past year. At the beginning we would go about twice a month. For this past month though we went 2-3 times each week. I was trying hard to get tired of it. I remember as a teenager we went as a family and had a 5-day pass. After 4 full days of Disneyland (before California Adventure existed) we all begged off the last day and went to the beach instead. I was sick of Disneyland for a good long while after that. That method didn't work this time. We had a great time and some great memories and hope that Disneyland has another promotion so we can afford season passes again sometime while we live so close.

I Simply Remember My Favorite Things

2011-09-26T20:41:00.000-07:00

The Hollywood Bowl hosted The Sound of Music Sing-a-Long this past week. Everyone is invited to dress in costumes for the show. Margaret made these beautiful dresses for the girls. I made the lederhosen for the boys, and Megan Warnick searched all over to find the perfect hats and socks to complete the boys costumes. With such teamwork, the kids looked pretty darn cute.

Kissing Cousins :)

The kids were able to go on stage for the costume parade. The lady in the back wearing pink is the actress that played Liesl in the movie. All 5 of the actresses that played the girls of the Von Trapp family were there.

The sold-out crowd. The audience participation for this show made it oh, so much fun. Booing and hissing, cheering, cowbells, flashlights, poppers to celebrate the first kiss, and of course so many people all singing together.

The kids were a little confused about what in the world they were doing on stage in front 18,000 people.

Fire Safety Week

2011-09-18T10:00:00.000-07:00

Stop, Drop, and Roll

I hope we never have a fire to deal with, but just in case, we did a lot of practicing. We checked all the fire alarms (and replaced batteries!), so we would know what sound to listen for in an emergency. We drew maps of the house and all the exits, we practiced calling 911-only PRETENDING!-to be able to state our name and address if needed.

Scavenger Hunt

We went on a scavenger hunt throughout the house to find all the things that get hot. And where fires might start. And yes, I did tell the kids my personal experience of curling irons causing fires. They know we always turn off or unplug all these things that get hot.

Fire Science

We learned about how fires burn and ways to stop them.

I had to relight the candles over and over again. The kids loved being able to stop the fire.

But of course we learned we never play with fire.

Field Trip to the Fire Station

Firefighter Luna was so nice to give us a tour and tell us about life as a fireman. Brielle told me she wants to be a firefighter. I think she might need to grow a few inches first so she can at least reach the pedals.

I know Ethan was just looking for a way to play in the water. This is the smallest hose, used for small brush or dumpster fires. It still pumps out 40 gallons of water per minute, which would definitely knock the kids right over.

Books

We've had Alphabet Rescue before, which Brielle immediately recognized and loved. But I think the books were actually equally loved and red this week.

Looks like Ellie is already learning how to copy. :)

Preschool Packets
http://homeschoolcreations.com/firemanlapbook.html
http://momto2boys24.blogspot.com/2010/10/unit-study-fire.html
http://mamasmonkeys.blogspot.com/2011/09/firefighter-tot-pack.html

Happy Anniversary

2011-09-16T10:00:00.000-07:00

James was gone at a conference during our anniversary this year. Actually, for most of the years we've been married our anniversary has fallen during finals week, or some other busy time for James. We've learned to celebrate whenever we can, and to not worry much about the actual date. So, 4 months late...here is our anniversary celebration this year!

We started by heading to California Adventure together. We had a great time actually getting to ride together on the rides. Brielle is tall enough for most of them, but Ethan is not, so we usually have to trade off kid duty.

We were amazed by how many rides we could fit in when we didn't have kids and strollers to deal with. We only stayed for a couple of hours, but still went on all the big rides, and even some smaller ones.

We then enjoyed a yummy fondue dinner at The Melting Pot. We have been wanting to try out this restaurant since we first heard about it back in Utah, at least 7 years ago. A travelzoo deal came along; so we finally did it. The food was pretty amazing, the dessert was even more so. We were carefully watching for our waiter to make sure he didn't see us licking the bowl. We didn't want to waste a single drop.

We headed to the St. Regis, where we have stayed before. We earned a free night stay while we were out in Virginia Beach for James' conference in June.

Saturday morning James went for a bike ride while I ran along the beach. We then met back at the room to enjoy our freshly made hot chocolate delivered by our personal french butler.

The kids were so excited about being able to have a sleepover with their cousins. We appreciate Aunt Megan and Uncle Danny for watching them while we celebrated 8(+) years of marriage and many more to come!

Dinosaurs

2011-09-14T15:12:00.000-07:00

Good news folks! We got a camera. It was at the end of the week, so I don't have pictures of most of our activities still this week, but I'm excited to finally be able to document our life again.

We started out Dinosaur week at the Museum of Natural History in LA. They have a new Dino exhibit, which was very cool. There were large touch screen computers with interactive information and games, touch tables with bones and eggs, and lots of dino skeletons on display.

Making Dino Eggs

We used some peanut butter play dough (still in the fridge from butterfly week) to make dinosaur eggs and nests. I let the kids use skewers make indentions in the eggs. It is amazing at how play dough can be fun all over again with just a new tool to use.

Digging for Dino Bones

We had ribs for dinner at Vov and Yogi's house last week. I saved the bones and dried them out, and then buried them in a box of sand. The kids used small paint brushes to dig them out. They looked so cool when dry because they turn white and looked old. You could use any kind of bones you have on hand though.
Brielle was convinced they were actual dinosaur bones. She kept asking me which dinosaur certain bones came from. The bigger ones she was sure must be a tyrannosaurus. The smaller ones, maybe a velociraptor.
The kids then used these bones and made their own museum. Gavin organized them into dino-looking exhibits. Brielle took charge of cleaning the museum to get it ready for the grand opening.

Dinosaur Snack

I used the idea from the amazing mess to make no-bake cookies using 'dinosaur' ingredients. I love that the kids are so trusting that they believe you are actually using dirt and crushed dinosaur bones to make a treat. They loved it.

File Folder Games

A story about Dinosaurs with Manners

Dinosaur Bone matching game (with polite things to say to each other)

My sister-in-law was a first grade teacher. She gave me a lot of these file folder games. Brielle especially loves doing these kind of activities.

Books

I had no idea there were dinosaur names that start with every letter of the alphabet. We learned a lot by reading ABC Dinosaurs. The kids enjoyed looking at the book and deciding which kind of dinosaur they were as we were playing. Gavin always wanted to be a meat eater, Ellie a plant eater.

At one point while I was busy cooking dinner or something Ethan was quiet for a while, which usually means trouble. I went looking for him and found him 'reading' the dino books. He loved them.

In the future, I saw this idea years ago and it still hangs out in my mind. I'm waiting for the kids to get a little older with a longer attention span. Then we will build a whole dinosaur using chicken bones.

Reading

2011-09-09T10:00:00.000-07:00

Brielle has known the alphabet and letter sounds for a long time, but hasn't been interested in learning to read. I've tried from time to time to have her read, but she would just guess at the words and get distracted. James and I believe in the studies that show that it doesn't matter how early you learn to read, (what young kids read usually isn't life changing!) but the love of reading is what matters in the future.

I heard about Bob books, and finally got them from the library. Brielle got very excited when she learned that she could read the whole book by herself. Right now she is loving her new found ability to read. I am again wondering who came up with this awful English language. It is hard to explain why 'the' just says the and to sight read it and don't try to sound it out. And why does 'a' say 'uh' when it is by itself, but 'aaa' or 'ay' when combined with other letters? That is just how our language works. And, we're just at the beginning of all those crazy rules!
Ethan is so excited by Brielle's achievement, that he also takes a turn 'reading' to me every morning. He pretends to sound out the words and loves it! He doesn't know any letters of the alphabet yet, but is finally starting to sing them when singing the ABC song. He used to sing the entire song using only the letters A and B. Now THAT is impressive.

The Triathlon

2011-09-07T13:46:00.000-07:00

I had NO pictures proving that I did a triathlon. It is a little bit hard to take pictures of yourself when you need to swim, jump on a bike and then run...luckily I had family there cheering for me. My sister Shelly sent me a couple pictures. And now, I'm finally getting around to posting my race report. So, here it is...The Triathlon!

The first question you might ask. Why in the world would I want to do a triathlon? I had never thought about it until a friend in Michigan did one. She had 2 little kids at the time, the youngest was barely 1. We were at a BBQ with friends and she looked fabulously in shape. I think at that point Ethan would have been maybe 2 months old and I was wanting to get rid of the after-pregnancy body. The fact that she was also a mom of 2 young kids made a triathlon seem possible to me. I talked to her about it, and put it on the back burner in my mind.

That was at the time James was graduating, we sold our house, moved from Michigan to California and worked on getting settled here. I started running regularly and competed in some events. After finishing this past ragnar I was looking for the next thing to sign up for. James came across this triathlon in Utah that would take place while I was there for the family reunion. I signed up, encouraged my family to sign up, and started training!

The running I had been doing and knew I could finish, the biking I felt I could work up to. But as for the swimming...well, I grew up in Utah. There were not a lot of opportunities to swim. I think I took swimming lessons one summer as a kid. We went as a family to the swimming pool at times, but it has never been something I've done for exercise and I've had a couple of experiences being stuck in rapids underwater that have made me a little water-weary. As such, swimming is not my strength, at all! At the beginning of training I knew how to keep myself above water to survive, but I didn't know how to stroke, breathe or kick correctly. I had James watch me and give me some tips, and then I just tried to figure it out.

Fast forward to race day...

It had been about 95 degrees all week, so I was concerned that it would be too hot by the time the run happened (I hate running in hot weather), but it was perfect temperatures with a rain storm looming. It was a bit cold getting into the water, and windy for the bike, but overall it was beautiful.

The swim was in a very small man-made lake. The 500 yard swim went around almost the entire perimeter of the lake. By the day of the race I still wasn't sure I really knew how to swim! We have a small pool in our complex at my house. It is about 13 yards, so I would lose track of laps going back and forth. I knew how to not drown, but I still have a long way to improve. I was just glad to get the swim done first and move on.

Our first transition was on the beach of the lake. We had to run in the sand to get to our bike, try to get some/most of the sand off and then continue on to the bike portion.

The bike route was 14 miles/22.5 km. I was riding a borrowed mountain bike. There was a long uphill stretch and my front gears were not shifting. It was a bit demoralizing to be passed by all the nice/fast road bikes, but I plowed through and felt good about it. I loved the 2 mile downhill stretch, but even on that I was passed by the lighter road bikers. (note to self, save money and get a road bike!).

I still had sand in my shoes when I started running, but didn't want to stop to get it out. I was running on the adrenaline and had to just keep moving. I tried to keep a steady pace for the run. There was supposed to be a water station half way through, but I found out later that it was earlier than that (which explained why the last half of the run felt SO long.)

There was a total of 197 males and 133 females (330 people total), so it wasn't a huge race, but it was well organized and had a fun atmosphere. The youngest person doing the race was only 8-years-old. I was impressed!

Anyway, as for the times, I was shooting for under 2 hours. I didn't know what to expect since I hadn't done all 3 sports back to back before.

There were 24 in my age group-I finished 14th.

Swim 12:36 (20/24)

T1 4:08 (9/24)

Bike 1:03:55 (18/24)

T2 0:45 (2/24)

Run 29:53 (6/24)

Total Time: 1:51:14.8

I'm excited about doing more triathlons, and have PLENTY of room for improvement. I was happy with my effort though and felt good about it at the end.

Cars

2011-09-06T15:52:00.000-07:00

No pictures of the kids this week. I know, so sad. I hope to get a camera soon. I still want to document what we did though, so...some of our activities for this week as we learned about different kinds of cars and trucks.:

Painting with Cars

Gavin was concerned about getting his cars dirty with paint, but once I assured him that it would wash off, he loved driving his car through the paint and all over the paper.

Designing a Car

One of the favorite books of the week was If I built a Car by Chris Van Dusen. After reading the story the kids imagined what kind of car they would have. We drew the plans and then sculpted them out of playdoh. Ethan wants a 'blue/green' car. Brielle liked the idea of having a swimming pool and snack station inside the car.

I introduced Brielle Chitty Chitty Bang Bang this week. We watched it in 10 minute clips from you tube throughout the week, and actually haven't finished it yet. I remember watching it as a kid and showed the kids how the car was invented to be able to turn into a boat and an airplane. Brielle thought the pirate/bandits were scary, but likes the song.

Playing/Defining Cars

Gavin and Lissy brought over their stash of toy cars, combined with our small collection we were able to go through and find all different kinds of cars, garbage trucks, police cars, an ambulance, mail truck, street sweeper etc.

Car Color Bingo

We'e used these road trip bingo games before (created by oopsey daisey). We played a game of bingo using the colored cars chart. For the younger kids it was simply a color review, for the older kids it was some good math practice. (you have 3 in that row, how many more do you need to get bingo).

Preschool Packs

http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.com/PreschoolPackCars.html

http://www.2teachingmommies.com/2011/02/ways-we-get-around.html

Forests

2011-08-29T14:23:00.000-07:00

My camera and wallet were stolen when we were at the beach on Wednesday. Luckily I upload my pictures quite frequently, so I had a couple from Monday. Until we get a new camera, I guess this blog is going to be a little bit boring.

Anyway, a few things we did while learning about forests this week.

We did some activities in the preschool pack created by 2 Teaching Mommies

I was planning to have the kids color in their graphing chart, but when Brielle saw it she got excited and asked if we were doing a 'snack project'. (we've done those before, and apparently she is a fan)

The kids enjoyed this puzzle of matching the animals footprints to the correct animal. I then traced the kids hands and feet so they could compare their prints with the animals.

Books

Favorites

Brielle: Rain Forestsby Nancy Smiler Levinson

Ethan: Over in the Jungle Marianne Berkes

We talked about both 'mountain forests' and rain forests

We've done a rainstick before, but here is another example of how to do one.

Something I found interesting...

2011-08-25T09:55:00.000-07:00

We have been blogging for over 6 years. That is a long time!
Our First Post was back in July of 2005 on the Kibaki's Korner blog that James started for his extended family. We then started a Christensen family blog for my family before we finally branched out to our own family blog in January of 2008 and have blogged an average of at least once a week since then. I guess our family is pretty well documented.

That is all.

Japan

2011-08-24T10:00:00.000-07:00

I want the kids to learn a little bit about the world and geography. I have always been fascinated by Asian cultures and architecture. When I was young (about 8) I picked up a chinese magazine (The Friend, from the distribution center), and decided I would learn Chinese. Turns out that isn't an easy thing to do. :) I was still interested in languages when I got to college and since Chinese didn't work in my schedule, decided on a whim to take Japanese. I only took a semester and don't remember much, except the first word that our professor taught us 'ano' which was the equivalent of um, so we could stall. I had an outside influence that caused me to take portuguese instead.

We were given these Japanese strawberry danishes. They looked quite beautiful, but only Ethan actually liked to eat them. I showed the kids the packaging and what the written language looked like.

We learned about the flag of Japan

We also learned about volcanoes. Did you know that Japan has about 200 volcanoes, 60 of which are active? That night we got to go the Hollywood Bowl to see the orchestra perform pieces from Fantasia. The kids were excited to clip from the Creation scene showing all the volcanoes erupting.

We love going to the Japanese Gardens to feed the Koi. We did some fish stamping to make thank you notes for our swim teachers.

James got the kids a small piece of dry ice. They thought it was another volcano and had so much fun learning and playing with Dad.

I'm looking at our books and realizing I didn't take any pictures of our origami. We did some simple things, like gliders and boats.

Books

Brielle is pointing to her favorite book of the week, Maneki Neko. The kids also liked The Magic Fan

Front Room Makeover

2011-08-23T14:34:00.000-07:00

While I was out in Utah, James 'surprised' me by fixing up our front room. (Those that know James, know that he doesn't actually keep a surprise very often.) So, while I did know that he was working on the room while I was gone, I was surprised by how amazing it looked! Meg and Dan contributed a rug that looks like it was made to fit in this room.

I don't have an actual before picture, but here is an idea of what it looked like...

James got the mirror above the piano from work. It was a castaway and was FREE! It was a natural tone wood originally. He spray painted the mirror, the two end tables and the coffee table. He had help from his Dad and Sister to hang the mirror above the piano.

The Whirling Dervish

2011-08-15T10:00:00.000-07:00

Luckily our first kid is slightly more well-behaved than the average child (usually), because our second is AT LEAST two hand fulls, usually more. I know that he can get into trouble quickly, so I try to not leave him unattended. EVER. Part of his amazingness though is that he is able to do everything while I am standing right there, in the same room! I turn my back to him for a second and poof, out comes trouble!

So, for the record, some things that I remember just in the past month:

Locked himself in closet-that had no key (my dad had to jimmyrig the door to get it off and let him out.) He was stuck in there for at least 15 minutes, but was as happy as could be.

Swallowed a nickel, and also some necklace beads. Everything came out okay

Bit Ellie, multiple times-she will have scars to prove it to him when she needs a favor in years to come

Pulled a chunk of Ellie's hair out of her head. I saved it, also so Brielle can blackmail him later in life.

Colored with marker on his Aunt's beds...and ate all their gum (sorry guys!)

Spilled water on the floor of the airport, and then got down on the floor to lap it up like a dog. I'm glad my son can be airport entertainment. Your welcome to all those strangers.

Created multiple kitchen disasters: eggs cracked all over the floor, multiple packages of canned biscuits taken from the fridge and opened, syrup poured out, popcorn kernels dumped, water ladled from the sink to the floor...

That is all I can think of for now. He is so cute and loving that it is hard to stay upset with him for too long.

Caterpillars and Butterflies

2011-08-14T10:00:00.000-07:00

Do you know the difference between a chrysalis and a cocoon? To put it simply a butterfly has a chrysalis, some moths and other insects use a cocoon. It kind of bothers me that some of the kids books don't use the terms correctly. How are we suppose to learn if a picture book teaches us the wrong information? Good thing we don't rely on picture books our whole life. We get to use wikipedia instead. :)

There are SO many activities and ideas to do with the Butterfly theme. I have a huge list of things that we didn't have time for. (Especially with sick kids this week.) But, we did fit in quite a few things, so here are a few fun things we've been up to.

Aunt Megan got us a Butterfly Garden and Caterpillars. It has been the coolest thing to watch the caterpillars literally growing in front of our eyes. The caterpillars are currently in the chrysalis stage, so we are excited to see the butterflies emerge next week.

Paper Ring Caterpillars

Symmetry

We squirted paint on a piece of paper and folded it in half so it was the same on both sides.

After letting the paint dry I cut them into butterflies

The kids obviously wanted to do more than one. We have a very decorated butterfly kitchen now.

Snacks

Pretty much every lunch and snack can be made into a caterpillar or butterfly. Really, try it. Sandwiches and quesadillas (as shown) cut into triangles, grapes lined up like a caterpillars. Using different pasta shapes to show the life cycle. I'm just saying we ate lots of caterpillars and butterflies this week.

Patterns

Stay and Play Mama created these pattern strips to go with the book The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Brielle is OBSESSED with patterns. She looks for and finds patterns everywhere and in everything, so she was more than happy to help Ethan with this activity.

Play Dough Life Cycle

Apparently Ethan really liked making this peanut butter play dough, because the next day when I asked the kids what they wanted for lunch he said "Play Dough!"

Brielle however was sick enough she didn't even eat a single M&M. Poor kid. She still enjoyed molding the egg, caterpillar, chrysalis and butterfly though, and especially like the decorating.

Butterfly Puzzles

Puzzles are still one of the only things I can get Ethan to sit still for. I have to use them in moderation so that they will work when I really need him to calm down, but he loves doing them.

Books

Brielle's favorite was Clara Caterpillar by Pamela Duncan Edwards. I think the author listed all the words that start with a letter 'C' and then found a way to weave them in to a story.

Fly, Monarch! Fly! by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace was a good informational book as is My, Oh My-a Butterfly! by Tish Rabe

Pirates

2011-08-13T10:00:00.000-07:00

Last week was all about PIRATES! The kids have a pretend pirate ship in our backyard that they play in all the time, so I knew they would be excited about it.

Snacks

Brielle and Lissy especially loved creating these pirates. Ethan just wanted to eat the chocolate chip eye patch, but who can blame him? :)

Learning Activities

Homeschool Creations created a Pirate Lapbook with lots of fun activities. We practiced numbers and counting (and taking turns) as we played this pirate game.

Pirate Dress Up

We made eye patches (or 'Irishes as Gavin called them).

spy glasses and swords

And set up an treasure hunt following the book Pirate Treasure Hunt by Jan Peck. We had a forest, a cliff, a plank to walk, water to splash through...The kids LOVED it and did it again and again.

Books

Brielle's favorite was The Gingerbread Pirates by Kristin Kladstrup. It is Christmasy, but cute.

The Dangerous Alphabet was creepy and just weird.

The Night Pirates by Peter Harris I thought was a fun story

Ethan liked all of them. He is really big into boats, so every page was filled with him screaming "BOAT, BOAT!!" Makes it a bit hard to get through the stories, but still fun.

We are Family

2011-08-12T10:00:00.000-07:00

A few highlights from our trip to Utah:

all 11 siblings together
the Church History Museum
fun family reunion games, activities and yummy food
all 33 of my Grandmother Christensen's great-grandchildren in one house
splashing in puddles
Grandmother's treasure hunt
late night games with silly sisters and patient brother-in-laws
swimming, biking and running with sisters and cousin
finishing a triathlon!
visiting with friends
Time with Family

Turning 30

2011-08-11T13:45:00.000-07:00

I've had a good life so far. I try to take advantages of any opportunities that come my way and live life to the fullest.

In the last 10 years I

graduated from college
obtained my first full-time job
got married
became a mom (twice)
moved 9 times
traveled to 25 states and 3 countries
ran my first 5k, two ragnar relays and my first marathon
did my first triathlon

The first 30 years of my life have been pretty eventful, so I'm still trying to figure out what my goals are for the next 10 years of my life (and beyond). All I know is that with my track record, it is going to be fun and exciting and I will love (*almost) every minute of it!

*except for when my kids are both sick and screaming...I'm still looking for ways to love those moments.

An Explanation

2011-08-11T13:44:00.000-07:00

If anyone is looking for an excellent way to get behind (on blogging, dishes, laundry....everything) here is a good recipe to follow:
*go on vacation
*get your kids sick

We are running on survival mode around here. The kids both want to be held day and night, which makes it hard to get much else done. On the plus side though, Ethan was so cuddly at church on Sunday that he sat still and quiet on my lap for ALL 3 hours (this is how I knew he was sick). He NEVER holds still. EVER!

And the other plus side. We are getting a lot of books read.

It is Thursday. We hadn't been to the store at all this week. We've been scrambling to find James some decent food to take in his lunches (poor James). How can we have food storage and NOTHING to take for lunch!?
After 3 attempts this morning (all which ended with crying kids and cuddles) we finally got out the door and to the store (with no one screaming!). This was only after I told Ellie that the reason we were trying to get to the store is because we were all out of medicine and I couldn't help her feel better without some help from some medicine.

And of course while I was there I stocked up on milk, eggs and produce so that James can have a really great lunch tomorrow. Finally.

Robots

2011-07-21T01:46:00.000-07:00

A lot of times my goal for the week isn't to teach the kids anything specific, but to let them know about new ideas that are out there, and that there is always something new to learn about. Brielle often tells me different things that we need to learn about (whatever she sees out the window while I'm driving usually), squirrels, the sun, trees...isn't it great that we get to learn forever and ever!?

And this week, our theme was all about ROBOTS!!

Playdough Robots

I pulled random supplies from our craft drawer and let the kids get creative. We also looked at all of our robot books for inspiration.

Tin Can Robots

It is like a Mr. Potato Head, you can mix up the features and make it look different every time! The kids liked this so much that we did it twice in one day, and again the next day. Because we were using magnets I gave strict instructions that nothing was to be put near the face and monitored the whole time. Unless you can be right with the kids, this project is better for the older kids (4-years-old).

From the tin-can robots the kids became quite interested in magnets. We went around the house and found different items that magnets attracted and a lot of things that they don't.

Nuts and Bolts

I specifically got some giant nuts and bolts for the kids to play with this week (it is a great fine-motor skill to be able to twist a nut on a bolt), but Brielle enjoyed the smaller ones.

Preschool Pack

Introducing the concept of fractions. Ethan just worked on matching the lines up like a puzzle.

reviewing numbers

Brielle asked for more projects after everyone else was done for the day. I showed her a number sheet that goes from 0-99. She ended up counting by looking at the numbers up to 100. She loves numbers and is always asking me math problems ("What is 5 plus 4?"), and then likes to figure it out herself.

cutting and spelling. I had the kids cut out the letters for robot, and then sound out how to put them together.

Books

So, it is quite ironic that in planning for this week (I went shopping a couple weeks ago for the supplies) I was so careful to get big nuts and bolt and things that could not be swallowed if put in the mouth. I happen to know I have a little boy that likes to put things in his mouth. I am telling Ethan to spit things out ALL DAY LONG! So, it wasn't any of our robot supplies that got swallowed. It was a nickel. I saw Ethan playing with it at Church. I was walking toward him and heard him gag a little. I asked where the money was and he pointed in his mouth.

He could breathe and acted fine so I kept waiting to see it come out the bottom end. By Wednesday it wasn't out yet, so I took him in to the doctor (I had called and spoken to the nurses a couple times prior). They confirmed (quite obviously by the x-ray) that it is still in there, so we are just waiting for it to make it's exit.

Pioneers

2011-07-18T15:13:00.000-07:00

Our camping week moved nicely into our pioneer week. The kids still think it sounds like fun to be a pioneer and camp out everyday. (after our campout where none of us got much sleep, I don't think it sounds like a good idea at all!) Brielle and I started reading the Little House on the Prairie series, so she has been very excited to learn more about the life of a pioneer.

Pioneer Games

Ethan beat everyone at the stick pull. They all loved it and lined up to do it over and over again.

We also learned to play kick the can (well, kind of. We ended up revising a version of it). The kids are loving outdoor games now. Some favorites: Red light, Green light, Mr. Wolf, What Time Is It?, Red Rover, and Duck, Duck, Goose.

Making Milk

First, we talked about how cream comes from cows. I just filled a glove with water so we could practice milking the cow. I have some professionals cow milkers here.

We made some biscuits. And then we shook the cream to make butter so go with the biscuits. Yummy treat.

Yarn Dolls

The kids wrapped the yarn around and around the cardboard. (I did have to help them to speed up the process a bit.)

As you can tell they were very excited to have made their own doll friend to play with. (I also liked the idea of making corn husk dolls, but am going to save that for another year when they are older)

Pioneer Picnic

Gavin and Lissy's church hosted a pioneer picnic. The kids tried out a 3 legged race.

and dressed up like pioneers.

Books

Brielle loves the idea of chapter books. We started reading the Little House on the Prairie Series. Ethan doesn't hold still for them yet, so we got the picture books of the the Little House series as well.

Camping

2011-07-18T14:38:00.000-07:00

We of course planned a backyard campout to wrap up our camping week. For some reason I didn't take a single picture to prove that we did it. We're still wanting to do some real camping this summer, but the practice of backyard camping is nice to get up ready and geared up for the real thing.

Playing With Fire

First we went for a nature walk to collect the kindling we needed to make our fire. I then had the kids tear the red, yellow and orange paper. Ethan was the greatest at tearing and had to help the other 3 kids finish theirs. He loved this project so much he actually made a second. As we made our fires we talked about fire safety.

Pretend Camping

Bags packed, tent made, campfire stories told. So fun.

Food/Snacks

Of course, during camping week we had to eat our meals outside. Lots of fun picnics.

S'mores for treats

and we made granola bars and trail mix for snacks as well.

Nature Scenes

Finger painting with pudding. The kids designed their ideal camping scene. Some chose a forest, others the beach...and then it was just a random design of paint all over the paper and in their mouth. :)

Preschool Pack

Homeschool Creations made this camp theme preschool pack, this week we focused on some writing, cutting and patterns.

they love to use scissors.

Books

The kids LOVED the Camping Day book. It was silly, short, slightly weird...but Ethan requested it again and again.

Happy Independence Day!

2011-07-05T15:15:00.000-07:00

We learned about America and Independence Day last week leading up to the 4th of July. My kids are now obsessed with the American Flag and feel a need to point out each and every one they see as we drive or walk around. Especially at this time of year there are a LOT of flags around.

Brielle and Ethan LOVED doing the sparklers at our friend's BBQ. We had a great time with family and friends for the Fourth of July celebration!

A few of our activities:

Firework Painting

I've seen salad spinner art painting on the internet for a couple years and knew we would love it. I thought the spin art would make great fireworks. The kids could have made these all day long.

I strung their fireworks for a banner, over our map of the USA.

Salt Firework

It was messy, and not worth saving (once dry, the salt starts flaking off), but the kids loved the process of making these. It was pretty cool to watch the colored water spread once it hit the salt.

Cookie Cutter Painting

The kids have been learning to say nice things to each other (usually because they need apologize for saying something mean). One of their favorites is 'you twinkle like a star', which Ethan says "you twinkle, twinkle little star."

Other Activities

Gavin and Elise's Mom got the kids some American Flags, which they loved parading around the house in. We learned some songs as we were marching. (My Flag, My Flag, My Country 'tis of Thee, and Fifty Nifty United States)

We had some activities in the Jr. Ranger White House Pamphlet that we did. This is Brielle's drawing of the white house.

Snacks

Star shaped sandwiches and yogurt

American Flag graham crackers with cream cheese (taste like a cheese cake, yum!)

I don't remember if my kids have had shelled peanuts before, if so it has been a while. They loved this 'all American' snack. It was messy though, so the next day we took them outside to eat. I love the snacks that take them awhile to eat, and work their fine motor skills at the same time.

Books

Reptiles

2011-07-05T14:40:00.000-07:00

Reptile Week

learning about snakes

going to the arboretum and feeding the turtles in the pond (we saw the normal red-eared slider type turtles, but then we also discovered a pig-nosed turtle. It was huge!)

Some of our worksheets came from learning page.com's theme unit about reptiles

Making Snake Sock Puppets

Some singing time using the growing snake

And a lot of the week was spent playing with these boxes. Our neighbor was throwing them out and asked if we wanted them. The kids painted them, colored on them, made them into a reptile house, and also throughout the course of the week a pirate ship, house boat, sleeping den, fort...etc. They were well used.

We also had a special movie/popcorn time to watch BBC's Life about Reptiles and Amphibians. Even Ethan held still, which was incredible.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pf1tXPQuoHs

Airplanes

2011-07-05T14:28:00.000-07:00

I've missed posting about the past few weeks of our preschool. I'm going to try to do a quick post of each to capture some of the highlights

We learned about Airplanes the week before our trip out East.

Making Airplanes

Painting Airplanes

Making different kinds of paper airplanes. (This one with the balloons was inspired by the Berenstain Bears Book, Fly It)

Pretend Play

The kids packed their bags, we practiced going through the metal detectors and having our bags scanned. So my kids would know what to expect at the airport. We even served 'in flight' drinks and snacks.

Books

Preschool Packs

Pilot Shape Match

The Airplane Game

http://homeschoolcreations.com/transportationpreschoolpack.html

http://www.2teachingmommies.com/2011/02/ways-we-get-around.html

http://mamasmonkeys.blogspot.com/2011/06/little-pilots-tot-pack.html

The Boat Trip

2011-06-21T14:36:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we were able to go with James' family on the LA Sanitation District Boat tour. I love how educational this experience is (for all of us, not just the kids), and it is free...which is even better!

They provide breakfast. My kids found out they love donuts. The smell of donuts makes me sick. (except for homemade donuts on Halloween, which I happen to love.) Starting the boat tour with that sick feeling is a recipe for disaster. I got sick, James felt queasy, our kids must be future sailors because they did great and loved it!

We go out for a while and spotted dolphins swimming along side the boat. Once we are out the crew throws in the net which drags behind the boat for about 15 minutes. The sanitation district keeps track of animal sampling and the health of the kelp forest to make sure the water is clean. The crane pulls the net of ocean life up and they dump the net into the water tanks so we can learn about what is out there.

The kids favorite seemed to be the giant sea star

We learned about dozens of fish

James holding the sheep crab

James and I loved the octopus. It clings to your hand and is hard to get off!

Maybe Ethan can serve a mission in Japan. He seemed to have no problem with the idea of eating fresh fish. He loved how they opened their mouths.

at the end of the boat tour we were able to throw the fish back in the water (or up in the air for bird food). Brielle and Ethan loved this part!

East Coast Family Trip

2011-06-19T13:43:00.000-07:00

After James finished his conference we had a few extra days to explore the area a bit further.

We started by heading south into North Carolina. We only had one day to fit a few things in, but now know we want to plan a trip back explore more of the outer banks. It was beautiful!

We went to Kitty Hawk to learn more about airplanes and the invention of flight.

Brielle took her National Parks Passport with her and was able to add quite a few stamps to her book.

We continued down the island to see the Bodie Lighthouse.

And we stopped for some kite flying at Jockey Ridge State Park (the tallest sand dunes in the eastern U.S.)

The next day it was time to start heading back north. For this trip we were able to borrow a car from James' cousin, but she needed it to be brought from Norfolk up to Baltimore. That was a great opportunity for us to fit in some more exploring. We drove across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge (map pictured) and up the Delmarva Peninsula, which again was gorgeous and in need of yet another trip back to visit.

We stopped in Cape Charles to test the onion rings at the recommended local restaurant called the Gingernut pub (they were indeed very yummy.) We walked over to the beach with no intention of getting wet, but Ethan had other plans (see video below). The beach was shallow and perfect for playing, so our 15 minute walk turned into an hour long swim.

We continued on to Assateague Island where the kids got some great hands-on ocean life lessons at the visitors center. Here is Megan showing a horseshoe crab to the kids.

We were able to spot some more of these wild ponies that the island is famous for. These ponies were captive, but we saw some that were wild as well, just a little too far for the camera's zoom!

And we found out that the local creamery makes some excellent ice cream.

We got into Annapolis late Monday night and woke up early Tuesday morning to be on time for a tour of the White House (no cameras allowed inside there!) and a stroll along the mall.

And we were lucky enough to also get tickets to go to the top of the Washington Monument.

We spent a bit of time at the Smithsonian Museums. We were able to get to the American History Museum to see some of the naturalization ceremony. Brielle was excited to see Dorothy's ruby red slippers, and we all enjoyed the downstairs exhibits about the inventions of play (toys) and science! We went on to the Air and Space museum where Ethan was fascinated with all the different kinds of airplanes.

On Wednesday we had a few hours to tour Baltimore. We took the train from the airport to the Inner Harbor.

James and I enjoyed a tour of the Basilica of the Assumption (the oldest cathedral in the U.S.) it was beautiful. It was however, not a very exciting stop for the kids, so we didn't stay for long. We did get to go down into the crypts which was fascinating with dark tunnels and caves for the kids to explore.

And that is the short version. We dropped of Jeannie's car, got to the airport and made it safely home. What a trip!

More Virginia Beach Activities

2011-06-19T13:07:00.000-07:00

As I am looking at our pictures I'm realizing why I am still tired after getting home from vacation. We kept ourselves busy!
Here is a glimpse of our week at Virginia Beach:

I took the kids to the Virginia Zoo in Norfolk (using our LA Zoo pass). We went to story time where they read stories about animals and then bring out some animals for the kids to see up close and touch. It was a smaller zoo, so were able to see most everything in about 2 hours, which was good because it was getting HOT!

There are some VERY wild animals in Virginia, you have to watch out!

We also rented a surrey to explore the coast of Virginia Beach and to get some exercise. We found a fabulous park at the end of the board walk, so the kids were able to get out and play too.

We also took Ethan for his first experience at miniature golfing. He almost always got a hole in one. He would run with his ball up to the hole and then bat it in. The kids loved it.

The kids enjoyed running up and down the little sand hills on the beach. Ethan loved to "trip" and fall when he got to the bottom.

James was able to join us in the evenings when his conference sessions were over, the days were hot and the water was warm, so we spent plenty of time on the beach. Our hotel is right behind them in this picture.

James was teaching Brielle how to body surf.

I also took the kids to Colonial Williamsburg. I wanted them to love it, but it was very hot, which made it hard for them to want to walk around. Ethan did enjoy seeing some of the animals. I dragged the kids around to see some of the houses and buildings, but we were all glad to live in a time of air conditioned cars.

Ethan fell in love with boats while on this trip. We went to Harbor Festival in Norfolk and we were able to tour lots of boats and see some great demonstrations from the Navy about their speed boats and helicopter rescues.

Virginia Beach

2011-06-08T14:52:00.000-07:00

Last week for our preschool time we focused on airplanes. Our kids were SO excited about going on a plane trip! They have both flown before, but it has been about a year since doing so, so it was not something that they remembered.

James is in Virginia Beach for a conference all week. They were nice enough to schedule the conference RIGHT on the beach. It is beautiful! James is busy all day every day, but is able to meet us for his lunch and dinner breaks. We enjoy eating at this restaurant because we get to watch the dolphins swim by in the waves.

The kids are enjoying exploring the hotel and playing hide and seek. We have been happy with this hotel being very kid friendly. There is a movie theater, 2 lazy rivers, water slides and kids eat free. Can't beat that!

who wouldn't love swimming?

We are getting a chance to eat lots of different kinds of seafood. The kids are doing great at trying new foods, even ones that look like what we catch at the beach. Ellie took a bite of some crab meat, but Dad had to finish it off. We have been loving that many of the restaurants in the city have free meals for kids. Makes trying new food for them a little less painful for Mom and Dad.

Swimming Lessons

2011-05-31T15:04:00.000-07:00

In the parking lot at the swimming pool. I told the kids it was diving board day and got quite the reaction. Look at how excited they are!

Brielle loves swimming. She is doing a great job. It is hard to keep her out of the water, especially with her new goggles. Even when she is taking baths now she lays down to practice swimming.

Ethan loved the pool toys.

And the jumping.

He had motor legs that kicked like crazy.

This has nothing to do with swimming lessons, but I love this picture. Papa gave the kids all sunglasses and these stress reliever busses. They were really excited about it. What I also love in this picture is the fact that our family should be an advertisement for the Keen brand shoes.

Shapes

2011-05-31T14:46:00.000-07:00

I originally scheduled a week about shapes, thinking it would be more for the younger kids, but then I realized there was still a lot for the big kids to learn.

Shapes That Roll, Shapes That Stack

We read this book called Shapes That Roll, and then played along with some of the things we read.

We got out all our shape toys and tried rolling blocks and stacking spheres to figure out which worked the best.

3D Shapes

I've seen this idea before and have always wanted to try it. The kids loved building shapes out of toothpicks.

Roll A Shape

The kids loved playing with the shape dice. They designed some very creative pictures using the shapes they rolled.

Pattern Blocks

Shape Shake

Ellie helped me draw the shapes

We then put them on the string to have the kids shake their shape and see who kid get it to touch the door knob first.

Shape Matching

Brielle can't yet read, but I still had her try out this matching game. You had to match the shape to the word of the shape. I made it easier by coloring it so that it limited the choices to two (once she matched to colors.) She then sounded out the word and did a great job figuring it out.

I had this heart matching game out at Valentine's, but it was too hard for Ethan then, this time it was much easier and he loved it.

Zoo

2011-05-22T21:35:00.000-07:00

Zoo animals. Ethan was a little disappointed at first and kept asking for the train books, but by the end of the week he decided he likes animals too. Last week during train week Brielle kept wanting the zoo books, so she was excited for this week. I try to alternate our themes to focus on kids interests while also introducing new ideas.

Learning Activities

printables from 2teachingmommies

counting animals and identifying the numbers

first letter sounds (we used this idea last week with trains)

We talked about carnivores and herbivores, it was still a bit hard for the kids to grasp the concept of what ate what and that plant eaters didn't just eat leaves but the fruit and vegetables could be plants.

And also a lot of zoo worksheets. (Brielle requests them)

Games

Zebra Dominoes. A fun way to review colors. Because it was so easy to throw in an envelope and take with us, it kept us entertained while out and about this week. It was a great distraction at the Doctor's office.

We also played a lot of Hungry, Hungry Hippos and a new favorite game that Ellie got for her birthday Where is Sock Monkey. Ethan of course hides the monkey in the same place every time and LOVES to find it.

Pretend Play

a lot of time was spent playing zoo keeper and feeding all the animals. My backyard was filled with zebras, giraffes, lions, tigers and bears. Oh My!

We acted out being different animals and guessing what they were. Ethan loves pounding on his chest like a Gorilla.

Playing with Food

Animal cookies were the top snack of the week. We spread peanut butter on graham crackers and trapped the animals in their cages.

We also played a lot of 'don't feed the animals!' (played like Don't Eat Pete, for those that know that game.) You are supposed to shout out when they pick up the food item from the square that you had decided on. Brielle however asked me not to shout because it scared her, so we had to just ask politely to not eat that animal's food.

Paper Plate Masks

my idea was for the kids to make something like this elephant or monkey mask, but I let them use their own ideas to create. They didn't look quite how I envisioned, but the kids enjoyed it more than if I made them do it my way.

We looked at some of our zoo books and the kids decided which animal they were trying to make. Ethan wanted a crocodile (because it was green), Lissy a blue peacock (although sometimes her favorite color is yellow, so she wanted both), Brielle an elephant, and Gavin was still focused on the 'ghost snake' idea that he kept creating two weeks ago when we were talking about insects.

Books

Brielle loved Never EVER Shout at the Zoo by Karma Wilson. Because of the way the story ends, it has sparked an interest in Dinosaurs (which we will learn about later this summer).

A Trip to the Zoo by Alison Jay was another favorite. It is a wordless story, but has pictures of stories to follow (i.e. what happens to this hat through the book) I love that you can look at it over and over focusing on something different each time.

LA ZOO

And of course, what would a week of learning about zoo animals be without a trip to the zoo? We went on Saturday so that James could join us, which allowed Papa Finlay to come as well.

It was a fabulous day.

Preschool Packs (for printable worksheets/games)

http://www.2teachingmommies.com/2011/03/zoo.html

http://oopsey-daisy.blogspot.com/2011/03/z-is-for-zoo.html

http://confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com/2010/01/prek-letter-z.html

Brielle 4-Year-Old Stats

2011-05-20T13:37:00.000-07:00

My name is: Brielle (aka Ellie, Bo, Bo-Bellie, Biscuit)

Height: 42.5 inches

Weight: 38 pounds

Sleeping: Night-about 10 1/2 hours (8:30pm-7:00am), Nap about 2 hours (1pm-3pm)

Words: Not yet reading, but knows letters and sounds. Sight reads some words (i.e. Daddy, Mommy, Brielle, Ethan, Zoo, Go, Dog, Cat etc.) Working on memorizing primary scriptures and Articles of Faith. (has first 6 Articles of Faith memorized and 4 other scripture-of-the-month for Primary memorized)

Movement: just starting to swim on own, riding scooter, peddles tricycle easily, jumps, climbs, attempts jumping jacks.

Brielle's Response to her 4-year-old Interview Questions

(compare to 3-year-old answers)

What is your name? Brielle

When is your birthday? May 'Forf'

How old are you? 4

What is your favorite color? Purple and pink

What is your favorite song? I am a Child of God

What do you want to be when you are a grown up? Tinkerbell

What is your favorite food? Lasagna

What is your favorite animal? Horse

What is your favorite movie? Cats

What is your favorite ice cream flavor? Chocolate Chip

Who is your best friend? Gavin and Coco

What is your favorite book? Zoo

What is your favorite thing to do? Go to Aunt Megan's house

When do you go to bed? In 10 minutes

What do your Mommy and Daddy do when you go to bed? Work

What does your Daddy do? Work and pay money

What does your Mommy do? Stay home and play with me and Gavin and Coco and Ethan

Trains

2011-05-16T15:52:00.000-07:00

The boys LOVE trains, the girls also like trains (not as much as the boys, but still quite a bit) so it was definitely one of the kids favorite theme weeks we have done.

We started Saturday by taking the train to Union Station for National Train Day. It was crowded, but we picked up some kids materials that we were able to use for the week. We went home to get kids back for nap time. Gavin was very upset that he hadn't seen enough of the trains yet.

We ended the week by going to Travel Town on Friday. There were a couple of new Engines open for climbing on. Brielle and Gavin took over the controls and were pretending to drive the Steam Train all over the country!

And as for the week in between...we played with trains A LOT!

National Train Day Activities

(well, at least a few of them. I have a lot of pictures of various coloring, crafts and worksheets, but I'll try to keep it shorter)

The Junior Conductor Hats were a big hit. I love what simple prop can do to get the imaginations going.

I loved the idea of these edible markers. The train picture was printed onto the cookie. Of course it didn't taste great, but the idea was fun and the kids enjoyed it. Brielle kept licking her colors off so she could re-color again.

These Jr. Conductor books had a lot of information about trains and activities to do. I loved Gavin's design of a train. His had a swimming pool inside of it, and lots of wheels so it could go really fast.

Building Tracks

set it all up, take it all down a new track is exciting all over again the next day, or the next hour

we had train tracks stretching all over our front room

The trains and tracks were the only toys we had out all week long. They were very well used and the kids still didn't want to put them away at the end of the week.

Books

TrainStop by Barbara Lemman was the one that was chosen the most. It is a wordless picture book. The kids also loved Dinosaur Train by John Gurney

I love The Caboose who got Loose by Bill Peet. The story is too long for the younger kids to sit through, but the older kids enjoy it.

Preschool Pack Activities (links below)

numerical order and introduction to odds/evens by homeschool creations

measuring trains by 2 teaching mommies

First letter sound clipcards by 2 teaching mommies

Ethan just likes to put the clothespins on the cards, which is good fine motor practice. Brielle easily was able to identify the beginning letter for each word.

Word puzzles by 2 teaching mommies

Preschool Packs (will also be used later this summer for our boat and airplane themes)
http://homeschoolcreations.com/transportationpreschoolpack.html
http://www.2teachingmommies.com/2011/02/ways-we-get-around.html
http://misskindergartenlove.blogspot.com/2011/05/community-helpers-transportation.html

Brielle's Birthday(s)

2011-05-09T14:33:00.000-07:00

Brielle's 4th Birthday was on Wednesday. She has been so excited for May to arrive. We couldn't fit everything into one day, so the whole week was a party in honor of Brielle.

The celebrations started on Monday with a trip to Disneyland. Spring Break season is finally over, so the lines have died down, making the park much more enjoyable. This was are first time exploring Tarzan's treehouse (we've boycotted since it was changed from the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse). The kids enjoyed it. Every time I ask Brielle what she dreams about, the answer is Disneyland. It was on the top of her list for things she wanted to do for her Birthday.

On Tuesday James had a meeting out in Culver City, so we dropped him off for work and spent the day at the LA Temple Vistors Center, the Natural History Museum (where we met up with Grandma and Aunt Alana) and the Beach.

I'd heard great things about the Visitor's center at the LA temple since it was redone, but hadn't taken the kids there yet. I loved the setting for the Christus statue.

The kids were having so much fun at the beach, that I had random strangers ask if they could take pictures of them.

And I spied some people taking video of Ethan has he rolled around in the sand. He has the potential to be a professional beach bum.

We concluded our celebrating on Wednesday with a family dinner party.

After seeing the playable angry birds birthday cake a few months ago, Brielle decided that she wanted the same thing for her birthday. I tried to change her mind to something easier, since I didn't think I could create those characters out of fondant (I've never worked with fondant and have no artistic ability.... it could have been a disaster.)

My sister found this idea for angry birds cupcakes which looked much easier, so I convinced Ellie that she wanted cupcakes for her birthday instead. I also loved the idea to turn balloons into the angry birds, which was an easy decoration. Grandma Finlay got a slip n' slide which the kids had so much fun with.

She loves all her presents. And loves being 4!

Cousin Bonding

2011-05-01T22:00:00.000-07:00

We had a visitor this weekend, well actually three of them. My sister Shelly, her husband Zack, and their kid Morey all came out for a couple nights. While Shelly and Zack went off and played at Disneyland, Morey got to hang out with us for plenty of crazy cousin memory making.

Can you believe these boys are only 6 months apart? Ethan is at the top of the charts, Morey hangs out at the bottom. There is a little bit of a size difference, but they loved playing together...

...most of the time. 'hey, you took my train!'

but, two seconds later they were sharing and playing together again. I love how easy kids forgive.

Brielle was 'mothering' Morey all day. All day she was saying 'Mom, do you want me to watch Morey for you?" Or 'Mom, can I hold Morey's hand so he doesn't fall in the water?" She is a sweet girl, and a good helper.

We took a walk to the river to throw rocks. I loved watching the different approaches from these three kids. Ethan searched for the biggest rocks he could find to throw in. Morey went for quantity, picking up rocks and dirt with both hands and throwing as fast as he could. Brielle cleaned and polished each rock before throwing it.

As you can tell, the boys had a hard time resisting getting in the water.

So, then we went swimming to get all the splashing and water play out of their systems.

Bugs

2011-05-01T21:39:00.000-07:00

We stepped back a bit this week. I let the kids be a bit more creative with free-play art rather than focusing on too much 'learning'. They of course learn by everything they are doing, but I try to follow their lead and interest. There is so much to focus on with bugs theme that I still want to have another week where we spend more time with the science and animal studies i.e. parts of an insect, insect vs. arachnid, where different bugs live and what they eat, etc.) That is going to be later this summer when we do bugs week 2!

For this week:

Playdoh Bugs

The boys especially loved this project. I love when I find something that can make Ethan hold still. (that is hard to do!)

Here is one of Gavin's bug creations. Of course we started building bugs, and then went on to build monsters. And Gavin's favorite thing all week was making 'ghost snakes'.

Pattern Block Bugs

Gavin's caterpillar

The set of pattern blocks I have comes with pictures that you match each shape to. Because it is more challenging I have saved it for Brielle to do while Ethan is napping. Now that he is *finally* getting a little bit better about not eating everything, I let him try playing with them for the first time. He really likes puzzles, so when he tried it with a pattern to match (I didn't get a picture) he loved it!

It was another little-kid success.

Free Art

I let the kids look at the insects in our book and decide what to make.

Lissy requested to make a blue butterfly. She colored a coffee filter while I provided the clothes pin body. (we've make these kind of butterflies before).

Outside Exploration

Mostly we spent a lot of time looking for and at bugs outside. We found caterpillars (a huge fuzzy one!), spiders, pill bugs, earwigs, butterflies...and lots of others that I don't remember or can't name!

Letter Writing

Brielle really enjoys doing worksheets, so she did quite a few this week. She practiced capital letters.

and we did our first practice with lower case letter writing, which she did great with.

it is hard to see with the yellow crayon, but this was the first time I realized she could write her name on her own. (It is a mixture of capital and lowercase).

Books

The Big Bug Surprise by Julia Gran was a favorite for all the kids. It has fun facts about bugs that are told along with the story.

Bugs! Bugs! Bugs! by Bob Barmer had an audio CD that came with it. We listened to it over and over and over again in the car.

I was showing the kids a clip on you tube about insects from Life. We then found this t.v. series that the kids loved! Each episode is only about 5 minutes long. The kids thought the plots were very funny.

Easter

2011-04-27T15:18:00.000-07:00

Family Easter Party

The Family Easter party at Aunt Eileen's ranch was amazing. Kids had fun, adults had more fun. We ate too much of really good food and consumed even more candy. Great memories!

Here is the entire group

It was a challenge to walk through the tall grass. Ethan did a better job at finding the eggs that I did! Maybe because he was closer to the ground and could see them better. He was very excited!

The kids scoured the field looking for every last egg. They wanted to make sure we didn't leave any behind.

And when they discovered all the candy inside, it was like little kid heaven!

We played a few games.

destroyed a pinata and had a whole lot of fun!

Easter Egg Dying

It is amazing how messy a simple project can be. Luckily we were prepared and stripped down the kids before we even started. It was a good thing to, because there were plenty of spills.

But of course, the kids loved it.

School Time

Sorting biggest to smallest. We used these before when we learned about N for nest. (yes, Ellie is dressed like a fairy. We had the dress up clothes out for the week, so there was a lot of costumes and pretend playing going on.)

Patterns (you can tell by Ethan's face that he didn't quite get the concept yet.)

Numbers (Brielle liked this, but it would have been fun if it was more of a puzzle. All the cut outs were the same. It would be fun to re-create making it a self-correcting game that you have to match the right number to have egg fit together.)

'Eggsercise' scavenger hunt. We used these action cards. (Each egg had a paper inside with an action to do like a bunny. Hop, wiggle your nose, munch a carrot, etc. )

Egg Science-soft shelled eggs

More Egg Science (one of my favorite experiments, the egg-in-the bottle trick)

The cooked vs. not cooked spinning test

Books

Happy Easter!

Ragnar Relay

2011-04-21T15:03:00.000-07:00

200.9 miles of running. Yep, that is a bit crazy, but it is a fun kind of crazy that makes you feel good. We had a great team and had a lot of fun together.

While we were running from Huntington Beach to Coronado Island, James, his sister Megan and the 4 kids were the cheering squad along the way.

The kids love the team's mascot. We hand it off at each exchange, and they kids love being on the catching end.

They were able to visit Aunt Eileen's ranch in San Marcos.

In case you can't tell from the picture, Ethan LOVES In 'n Out. He eats an entire hamburger on his own, easily.

And, he especially enjoys the chocolate shakes!

A good portion of the running route was close to the beach, so the kids enjoyed the time to play in the waves.

And of course, there was time for picnicking at the park as well.

Now that I see how much fun the kids had while we were out running, I'm a bit jealous.

My first leg was 5.4 miles in the city of Corona. It was a nice neighborhood, but was quite hilly and it was HOT! It was almost 90 degrees. There were people that had to be taken to the emergency room because of dehydration. Not exactly the best way to start the race. I was glad to be finished with that run and get back out of the sun.

My middle of the night run was 6.5 miles in Fallbrook. It was about 2:30am and it felt so much better to not be running in the heat!. I had a 3 mile hill to start with, but was able to finish coming down. During the night we run with headlights, 'tail'lights and reflective vests so we can be very visable.

And here I am taking off for my final run. 8.3 miles through the city of San Diego. I ran right past the airport and through Seaport Village. I had another steep hill that was a gut buster for the first 3 miles, but after that I was able to enjoy the ocean view in San Diego.

This is our team at the finish line, excited to be finished after about 34 hours of nonstop running and very little sleep.

We finished just as the sun was going down on the beach in Coronado Island. It was BEAUTIFUL!! It was a team effort with all the runners and support to cheer us on.