My 4 Loves: January 2011

Monday, January 31, 2011

Tuesday Fiona Whitt

Tuesday died 2 years ago, I don't think she was even 2 years old. Her story touched my life forever and was the catalyst for starting this blog. My second post was about Miss Tuesday. She made me think differently about my role as a Mommy and how I mother our children. There are daily struggles, but I grasp the knowledge that life is but a fleeting moment in time. I try to cherish each and every moment, I often fall short. But I try, I really try.

My children are my heart and I know they are Trent's as well. We love them and enjoy the time we spend with them. We don't wish them away or feel that they are a burden. Quite the contrary. Not only will they be little for such a short time, but this life, this beautiful, glorious life, will be over in a blink of an eye.

There will never be enough cuddles, or too many "one more kiss". I will never look back and regret reading an extra goodnight book, or being silly at the dinner table.

I believe that even when death comes to us on this earth, that there is the promise of eternal life in Heaven with our sweet Jesus. Certainly that gives me comfort in knowing that Trent and I will live forever with our babies.

I will continue to pray for Jess, Tuesdays' mother. A mommy who now mothers 3, not 4 babies. One of those babies being Tuesdays twin sister. And for as long as this blog is up and running, I will always keep the "Remembering Tuesday" button on the right column. A daily reminder to me that life is so short and to hold my babies a little closer.

Kindergarten: Mummy week 3


Tommy the Mummy

We finished our study of Mummies this week. We read both Mummies in the Morning and Mummies and Pyramids from The Magic Tree House series. We all enjoyed reading these books during lunch or as a family before bed.

Charlie participated in almost all of the Winter/Penguin themed activities that we did for Tommy's school.

Making his snowman and penguin out of model magic

He worked way at his math lessons, mastering the concepts of addition and subtraction. He has been able to do simple addition and subtraction problems in his head for over a year now. However, for most of the equations K12 has him using number line or simple models/pictures to determine the answer. He continues to enjoy math.

He also completed 5 phonic lessons, spelled words, started a dictation notebook, reviewed letter sounds and finger stretching.

Brother's doing school together

Having fun with shaving cream and ice chunks.

The boys also started their Co-op this week. We all had a great time. Charlie is enrolled in a LEGO class and a Fun With Numbers class. Tommy had fun playing in the nursery and I enjoyed myself at the Bible study for one class and then volunteering in the nursery. There are about 100 other kids at the Co-op ranging from newborn to high school.

We are really getting into a groove with our schooling and it feels good. Life is settling down a bit and we are getting to experience our new "normal". I love each and every day that I get to spend with our boys, teaching them and watching them grow. I truly feel blessed!

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Preschool: Penguin theme

Tommy's Penguin

I have done some tweaking on a curriculum for Tommy and have decided to focus on one theme for a few weeks. We will be doing different activities based on the theme we are learning about.

This week we started our Winter theme of Penguins. When Penny was hospitalized for RSV, my dear cousin Amy from Montana sent us a copy of Don't Be Afraid, Little Pip by Karma Wilson & Jane Chapman. Ms. Wilson is a personal friend of my cousins and therefore signed the copy for our little Penny. It was so thoughtful of both of them!

We started off by reading the book which is about a sweet little penguin named Pip who desperately wants to learn to fly but is told repeatedly that she must swim instead. After reading our book we made penguins out of model magic. I told the boys what characteristics they needed to make or how to roll the clay etc, but they
did everything else. Their creations could not be any cuter!!

I had hoped to use the penguins to make snow-globes with, but we all agreed that they were just too cute. See, I am learning to go with the flow! :)

While I was getting our supplies out I set the boys up with a cute video from National Geographic about penguins. They learned how scientist tracked and counted penguins by placing bar code chips in their feet and then having them walk over long pieces of metal that they disguised in the sand. The penguins were so cute!

Another fun activity was making snow cream. I got the idea from Susana, who is my wealth of knowledge blog friend! Trent gathered some snow from the front yard (we had plenty to spare!), I added some milk, vanilla and a little sugar. The boys added sprinkles and ate away. Charlie said it was ok but too cold, Tommy accidentally dumped about half a tube of sprinkles on his and thought it was "gwoss" (gross) and Trent said it tasted like watered down ice cream. I think we will try it again next year when I can taste it and make it better (no dairy for me because of little Miss Penny). It was fun though and something we did as a family, can't beat that!

Tommy also did some worksheets from Starfall.com on the number 3 and the letter C. Our neighbors had also given a ton of odds and ends preschool workbooks. I have given one to Tommy as his school book to do with us as Charlie finishes up his seat work. Tom loves it and it makes him feel so big.

The boys also had some fun in the tub with a full bottle of shaving cream (our fake snow) and a few chunks of colored ice. I took different plastic containers and filled each of them with water that was different colors. I then just put them outside for a few hours and later that night brought them in when it was bath time. We let the boys play in the shaving cream with the chunks of ice and they loved it. Since they were in the bath it didn't matter how messy it got. In the end the boys had fun, they were clean and I had a squeaky clean bath tub! Win, win for everyone!!

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Smiles

Grateful I get to look at this face everyday!

I love the nose wrinkle when she smiles at me.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

It is a hard job

Tonight as I was tucking the boys in for the 57th time Charlie said the funniest/saddest thing. They were misbehaving and I not only was giving them "the" look, but I was being rather stern. You know, because I had already tucked them into bed 56 other times.

I felt bad for being so mean, I hate being stern with them, and obliged when Tommy asked me to "lay down wif me?". I am a sucker for my kids! I am sure that is why I have to tuck them in 57 times every night.

From above I hear this little voice, he sounded so empathetic to my frustration. "Mom, it is a really hard job taking care of us isn't it?!"

Pride, guilt, impressed, mainly guilt, tugged at my heart.

Of course I over compensated and went on to explain that being a Mommy was the job I always wanted, prayed for, it was not difficult, not at all.

Do I smile or cry?- I haven't made up my mind yet.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Kindergarten: Mummy week 2

We had a pretty good week this week. The girls that I watch started back this week, so that meant I had 5 kiddos all under the age of 6 two days a week. We managed to get some school work done on those days as well.

Charlie continued with his core subjects, phonics and math. Both boys were able to do several science lessons based on measurement. We used a hand graph to see how long and short several household items were, we filled up cups with different amounts of water to compare different weights and we learned about how things are hot and cold. We even got to use our beloved snow for this experiment!

We then had a spontaneous art lesson when we added food coloring to the water and mixed them to make the different colors we wanted to use in our ice cube suncatcher. This was a fun project that we all enjoyed.

Our theme for Kindgergarten continues to be about ancient Egypt and mummies. We are now reading another Magic Treehouse book (Mummies and Pyramids) that dives deeper into the subject. The boys are learning about the Nile River and how ancient Egyptians use to live. We are being selective on what we read to them and teach them on this subject. At this time we feel that Charlie and certainly Tommy are too young to fully grasp and be able to process the details of mummification and the burial traditions of the Ancient Egyptians. This is a topic that we will certainly revisit in the future. I have already found some other great projects to do, like mummifying a chicken or even better yet...BARBIE!!! too funny!

One of our big projects for the week was our mummy paper mache face. We mixed up our flour/water mixture and used toilet paper to make the facial features. Charlie did a great job and had fun in the sticky goo! We let the faces dry for a few days and then painted them.

The boys also did snowflake resist water color paintings and shape snowmen to go along with Tommy's theme for the week of Snow/Winter. They turned out so cute!

Monday, January 24, 2011

Sweetness

There is nothing sweeter then this babe.

I seriously could eat her.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Preschool theme: Winter

This week we focused on all things Winter/ snow for Tommy's school time this week.

We made snowball cookies. Tommy loves to help in the kitchen. He calls me "Big Chef" and insists that I call him the "Little Chef". Oh, how I long for him to stay this sweet forever!!

For a fun craft the boys made snowmen out of shapes.

We also made an ice cube sun-catchers.

We all had fun doing resist snowflake paintings. I used a white crayon and drew snowflakes on a piece of white paper. Then the boys painted with water colors over the paper to "find" the snowflakes. Tommy loved watching the colored water pull away from the wax on the paper. It was a fun project!

Tom also did a few worksheets from Starfall.com focusing on the letter A and the number 2.

We practiced our letters in flour and then made paper mache snowman faces.

Tommy continues to amaze me. We are just starting to do formal instruction with him with regards to the alphabet and number recognition. He can write his name and can correctly identify most of the alphabet. Yesterday at lunch I was reviewing the sounds that all the letters make with Charlie. Tommy knew every single one of them and answered with lightening speed. I was shocked but very proud of our sweet boy!