N is for...

We spent last week talking about the #4 and letter N.  Our Bible stories were Naaman and Noah.  Our activities included:

...Exploring the Neighborhood

Yes, even in the rain

...N made out of Noodles (Sometimes you just have to stick with the classics)

 ...Necklaces!  

So proud of my girl, picking out each letter of her name from a pile of letters to make a necklace.

 ...doing something Nice.

We made a yummy treat and delivered it to a friend in our congregation who needed some encouragement.  I got this idea from a post on Cindy Colley's blog: http://thecolleyhouse.org

I made a few adjustments to fit a specific need in our congregation, encouraging our sisters in Christ.  You make some type of yummy treat and pass it on to a member who might need encouragement along with a card.  You also explain that you would like for them to pass a treat along to someone else who might need encouragement in the future.  The general idea is that they will be encouraged twice, once by receiving a gift out of the blue and once by giving a gift to someone else. 

She also made necklaces for friends.

...Nail day.  

We painted each others' toenails and fingernails :) FUN! FUN!

Other happenings last week included:

Aylin wrote an A all by herself during Sunday's worship service :)

Hilton made it through the entire Bible class awake and happy :)

 We went to Hilton's NICU reunion.  Aylin had a blast playing all the games and Hilton was a trooper just hanging out.  He weighed in at 15.6 and they guessed his height at 2ft, the volunteer couldn't make him stretch out and stay that way to measure.  He was too long for the baby scale and not big enough to stand up on the big kid scale.

 He started holding his own bottle; Aylin NEVER did this!  I had to include the other picture because little man just smiles and laughs and talks ALL the time :) 

I LOVE MY LITTLE BLESSINGS!

I is for Interruptions :)

Our letter of the week was I, number was 3, Bible stories were Isaiah, Isaac and Rebecca, and the 3 Friends in the Fire.

We did not do a whole lot of school this week because we had 3 unplanned interruptions: Fair Day :) , Zoo Day :) , and Strep Throat :(  

We did do a lot of reading :) YAY! I LOVE BOOKS!

 Our theme turned into all things Ice Cream.  We played with her Play-Dough Ice Cream Shoppe:

Made homemade ICE POPS:

 Buttercup got to have one too:

 Hilton wanted some too:

 We made homemade ICE CREAM in a BAG:

Aylin wouldn't eat it out of the bag "cuz that's weird," and she dumped 1/2 a bottle of sprinkles into hers.  It was pretty good, I heard that is can come out salty, but ours was not and I used more vanilla extract then it suggested.

 Interruption #1 was FAIR DAY!  We met some friends at the fair and ended up staying until the daddy's all got off work and some big kids got out of school.  Just to keep with our Ice Cream theme we had a funnel cake ice cream sundae for dessert and it was Incredible!  Here are a couple of pics from the fair:

Interruption #2 was Aylin waking us up at 5am throwing up, that evening she ran fever and complained about her throat hurting.  The next day we went to the doctor.  The ICE POPS we made came in handy, b/c that was all she would eat.

Interruption #3 was ZOO DAY!  We saw some friends were going to the zoo, so we decided to tag along.  It was great until we were leaving and Aylin decided to jump off one of the little bridges up front, and face planted onto the concrete :(

Here are a few pics from the rest of the zoo trip:

 It was Hilton's 1st trip to the zoo, and he did great!

 The polar bear was very entertaining and kept doing this little dance, swaying back and forth, back and forth, etc.  We also caught the sea lion show and played on the playground, which Aylin has never done because we are usually with a big group.

 The kids played in the geyser FOREVER!

Funny story:  I freaked some woman out at the fair with these 2 and their younger siblings.  She made some comment about me having twins, and then the 2 babies back to back (A-almost a year and Hilton).  I laughed and said no, R and Aylin are about 2 weeks apart, her eyes got huge and mouth dropped open.  I quickly corrected, R and A are brother and sister, Aylin and Hilton are brother and sister, the four of them are just friends.  Shannon, R and A's mother, was riding a ride with her older son during this whole conversation.

I leave you with some pics of my little man, he is doing great and is a trooper :)

Coming up this week: Letter N and #4.

L is for a Not so Lazy Week...

This last week featured the letter L and number 2.  We discussed the Bible stories of Lazarus, Lydia, and reviewed the first 2 people: Adam and Eve.  We started the week off with a Monday Special: a giant Lollipop :)

 On Wednesday after Story Time, we had a picnic at a park that was interrupted by a a school's field trip, so we left and met some friends at another park.  One of the reasons we were going to the park was to collect Leaves for an art project, but we got a little distracted playing with our friends: Lydia, Reed, Griffin, and Annalise.

We found an interesting insect and THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR!  He was the biggest we had ever seen :)

We eventually collected leaves and did our very own Leaf rubbing, but my 3 year old got a little carried away with coloring on top of the leaves and actually crushed most of them- LOL!  If you look closely you can see a few leaf outlines.

This week was also the 1st day of Fall, so we did an art project to hang on the fridge.  I did this last year with Aylin, but it is super cute with 2 trees :)

 Hilton turned 3 months old!

 Aylin and I had our annual Disney on Ice trip with my family.  This year it was all about the princesses, so after dinner we took a princess carriage ride to the show!  We also went to visit Bobby's parents, but I forgot my camera :(  Hopefully I will remember it next time.

We really had a great week :)

Y Is For...

This last week of playing school was a little slower paced than the first, but we still had fun.  Aylin learned about the letter Y and the number 0.  We only did one Bible story for the letter Y: The Rich YOUNG Ruler.  Our favorite activity was Yogurt Painting!  She thought this was the best thing, she even told different people about it, friends at church and strangers at Joann's.  It's very simple to do, just add food coloring to your yogurt of choice and paint away.  We taped a big Y on our paper before getting started, and when she was finished, I wrote "yogurt paint" with white paint.  It was very heavy so I laid it on another piece of construction paper and placed it on our kitchen table to dry.  After 24 hours, it was hanging on our fridge.  It hasn't started smelling, yet :)

 Yes she ate it, too :)

We also made a Y out of YARN.  She needed lots of help with this and we actually worked on it randomly for a couple of days.

 This was also the day that I had an exchange student: Rapunzel!

She made a Y picture of different things that start with Y and hung it up on the fridge.  She did the cutting for the Yard by herself and all the glueing; she LOVES to glue!

We also watch videos on Watchknowlearn.org.  I have a classroom set up and put different videos in there for her to watch.  It is FREE to join and set up, and if you make a classroom you can set it to private or public.  It is a great resource to use, but I recommend you watching videos before just showing them to your students. 

http://www.watchknowlearn.org/Default.aspx

 She also plays games on my iPhone or her daddy's iPad whenever she wants.  May I recommend buying the app LETTER SHOOL.  Aylin loves it!  

http://letterschool.com

We do flashcards with our letter of the week, some tracing, and reviewing, too.  Of course, we read as many books as she will let me.  You can also find read alouds on Watchknowlearn :)  This weeks agenda is the letter L and number 2.  

Playing School

Aylin wanted to go to school this year.  I don't know where it came from, she enjoyed the couple of times she visited my school when I was working, but all summer she talked about "going to school like a big kid."  Even after I told her I would not be returning to work, she insisted on "going to school to play with the kids."  Bobby and I decided we were not going to pay the $100+ a month for her to attend a preschool or mother's day out program, so instead we are "PLAYING SCHOOL" at home.  That is what she calls it :)  We started last week; as soon as Hilton falls asleep for his morning nap, Aylin announces "Time to play school Momma!"  She is only 3, so this is not a have to do activity.  So far, we have not Played School for longer than an hour, and one day it was only 20 mins.  But it is giving us a chance to do something together everyday without brother, and I think that is her favorite part.  Here are some pictures of our 1st week of playing school:

1st Day of 3 year old Preschool. Aylin Jewel was very excited!  We did the Letter A and Number 1.  Bible stories discussed: Abraham, Adam and Eve, Noah's Ark, Only 1 God. 

Activity 1: Tracing in Applesauce

 

 

Activity 2: An Ark Abundant with Animals

Activity 3: All About Me Poster

I asked her a version of that 20 question interview for your kids all over Pinterest.  Then we cut out pictures for some of the answers and glued them on the page.  She decided to hang this up on her door.  She loved painting her hands and feet, and her eyes are her thumb prints :)

Activity 4: ANT Restauraunt

We picked different foods and placed them on the tables.  We used watermellon, pineapple, honey, chocolate syrup, saltine cracker, sliced cheese, and a teddy graham.  Then we predicted what foods the ants would like the most.  Aylin's guess was her teddy graham.  We put it outside in the yard and waited for 4 hours. 

 

 We had ANTS! 

 They LOVED the honey!  We also examined the long line of ants that lead out of our backyard and talked about how they were taking food back to their home.  At this point Aylin flipped out! LOL!  She started screaming that they were all over her, nevermind that I was already holding her in my arms because she didn't want them to get her.  It was hilarious.  She calmed down pretty quickly, and decided to leave her restaurant in the yard for her daddy to see.  Unfortunately, I forgot about it, and Buttercup and Tessie ate what was left of it :) But awesome science project!

 

Activity 5: Thumbprint Family

She put this on our fridge.

We had a great 1st week.  This week we are talking about the letter Y and number 0.