What. a. Week.!! Whew! I had a few goals this week and I can say that we/I actually accomplished them all!!
My plan on Monday was to wrap up Lesson C but things took a slight change due to an interest in numbers.
Josh wanted to start at the back of the lesson so he colored more Easter Pages in our Just Color! book from 1+1+1=1. He's been really working at coloring inside the lines . .. .and he even colored with more than one color this week.
Nate loves to sit on the table and tries to get me to do his work for him HA!
This is when the lesson plan changed. I was actually working on April's plan when Josh saw the calendar. He then started asking me numbers (he can now recognize 1-30 and does pretty well with counting all the way through).
He proceeded to write number and number . . . something he has never done but was able to follow what I had written on the page. I was very impressed with what he could do on his. The number "2" really gave him trouble but he did well with all of the rest.
So, on Tuesday, I knew we HAD to finish our last Rising Rock Stars Preschool lesson for letter C because we had sat on it WAY too long.
Our lessons included pages from workbooks I picked up a few weeks ago.
I'm working on a new schedule for our day and want to have kind of a "PE" time in the afternoon. The boys created their own imaginative play with their cars in the kitchen on the rug.
I found a great idea on Pinterest from Words of His Heart to create letters on the floor using masking tape. Then, the kids walk heel-to-toe on each letter.
The boys creativity took this further. They jumped in all of the empty spaces, jumped from letter to letter, and used the letters as roads for their vehicles. The best part? At one point, after jumping around, both boys were breathing hard and had to rest - that is what I want to happen. Lots of exercise.
Finally, we made these little puppets. Another new thing in our schedule is a planned activity in the afternoon so this fit the bill. I thought this would take us about 20 minutes but it took over an hour :-/ My mom actually picked up these kits a year ago and I put them away to use this spring :-)
Here's a photo of what we did on Wednesday and you can read the entire post HERE
Finally, on Thursday, we headed to my Mother-in-Laws for the day. We don't go there often and really need to try and get there more. She is very much a "leaves, sticks, bug, butterfly" kinda grandma so it is good "science" for the kids!
Nate - before we left. My little fireman :-)
Wow? School anyone? Yikes! Josh looks all grown up :-)
The kids by the lake with Grandma pulling out some seaweed to feed a snail they found. (Snails eat? HA!)
We went on one of my MIL's "little" walks - 2 hours later we were back home ;-) We had fun though and the kids loved being in the woods.
Here she is feeding that snail - Josh told her not to touch it, it might bite her. (Maybe he needs to spend more time with her? LOL)
Nate and Josh both drew maps for us as we walked along to make sure we didn't get lost.
Josh had a blast throwing sticks in the water. (Don't worry - I'm not that far from him - just up the hill)
Friday we didn't do school. We are working on something else so I'll just share one little photo. I'll be sharing more later :-)
I had planned to share my new lesson plan pages, lesson plans for the month, and new storage system for our weekly lessons but, I didn't get the pictures I wanted so I will share those next week. :-)
This is only a week late, that isn't too bad, is it? LOL It's been a very busy week to say the least.
We had a great Easter! Easter is the one holiday that we tend to stay home and just celebrate with our little family. Not every year, mind you, but most years. This year I had to sing at our church so that made our decision for us.
The fun started on Saturday with Egg Decorating. I came across a great idea on pinterest using this:
Yep, Kool-aid. The idea comes from Hey! Jen Renee and was too easy to pass up. I also figured that my kids are so little if it was a fail, they wouldn't notice :-) It mixed up much easier than the dies and it smelled SOOOO good. The blog author gives a great color tutorial so you can see what each color of Kool-Aid looks like.
It was a sunny, beautiful day, thus the hands over the eyes in these photos.
The weather made it fabulous for egg decorating - we could do it outside. I boiled a total of 12 eggs and gave each of the boys six.
See, the Kool-aid really does work! The longer the egg stayed in the mix, the better the color.
Once the eggs were done, then the hands went in. By the time the boys were done, their hands were black and I totally figured it wouldn't come off but we put them in the bathtub and their hands were 100% clean after bath time. I am SOLD on the Kool-Aid!!
Sunday morning dawned dreary and rainy but doesn't that symbolize Easter? (On a side note - during Pastor's message he talked about how fitting it was to wake up to a morning like that; then as he was talking about later in the day when Jesus arose - the sun starting shining through the church windows -it was so awesome!) We had thought about going to the Easter Breakfast at church but 3 1/2 hours is a little long for the kids at this point so instead we hung at home until time for church. (Breakfast, Sunday School, Church . .. )
Our Family at Easter. My hair looks really weird here . . not sure what is up with all the flatness.
Trying to get pictures of the boys is a chore right now - they prefer to make faces - which is fine because they are cute anyway :-) Don't you love those sweaters? I had bought them shorts; I have no idea what I was thinking! :-)
At church on Sunday, I had the privilege to sing twice. First, I sang an Old Quartet song by Brian Free and the Assurance called I'm doing this for You.
Then, I also was able to sing in a ladies quartet and we sang another old song called The Easter Song
Both great songs!!
I had to share this photo too - the boys made these awesome crafts in Kids Korner during church.
We asked the boys about the crafts and they told us that Jesus got hurt on that cross for us. I love that they are learning about Jesus and the Bible.
When we got home, we gave the boys their Easter Baskets. It's important to us to save the "eggs and candy" for after church because the real reason for the day IS Jesus Christ. Not that we won't do things differently when they are older but right now, it is the way we like to do things :-)
I must admit, I had so much fun shopping for these baskets. Most of the stuff was $1.00 items from Walmart with the exception of new flashlights and those race cars.
The squirt guns have been huge hits - they play with them in the bathtub right now since it is a little chilly to play outside with water.
Right after this, we had a snack of Cheese, Crackers, Salami and fruit to hold us over until I could get dinner ready.
We were all a little hungry :-)
While I worked (and worked and WORKED) on dinner, the boys and Darryl worked on painting one of their new crafts they got in their Easter Basket. I love Hobby Lobby - they have such great kid crafts!
FINALLY it was dinner time - Ham, Cheesy Potatoes, Rolls, Green Beans, deviled eggs and Dessert. Now, lets keep it real, ok. I spent 3 hours in the kitchen on Easter. I will not do that again. Next year we are either going to just do KFC OR we'll get sides from KFC and I'll do the Ham in the Crock Pot. This was WAY too much work!
We ended our day with an Easter Egg Hunt.
What did the eggs contain? Some had money and some had jelly beans. They boys loved opening them :-) I have a few different ideas for next year including hiding only two colors of eggs and the boys have to find their own color :-)
We had an awesome Easter - it was a great time with the boys and they are still talking about the things we did.
I think there is nothing better than a fantastic surprise. Whether it be something as simple as a surprise gift (like a frozen lemonade on a hot day) or a weekend away or something BIG - it is all fun! Well, let me tell you, we managed to pull of a HUGE surprise on my parents this past week.
My oldest brother, Kel, and his family are missionaries in Brazil. They went back to the field last August and we did not expect to see them again until August 2014. (I think that is when they are coming back!). When you have family in another country, it is like a little piece of you is missing because you cannot just go see them - they are really too far away to visit. About two-three weeks ago, my brother called me with an idea. In Brazil, they have airline price wars periodically and this time both Fortelaza, when he lives, and Detroit were included. He was tossing around the idea of buying tickets and surprising my parents. I mentioned how cool it would be since our dad is turning 70 this month. That kinda sealed the deal and he bought the tickets. I won't go into prices but will just say that he was able to get three round trip tickets for less then what they normally pay for one. Yes, it was that good of a deal. My brother Ken had the job of keeping my parents in town which was no easy matter. For two people who NEVER do anything (or so it seems) they kept trying to plan trips out of town. They planned a trip with Ken's kids to Chicago but Ken told them they had to be back on Wednesday because they had family plans (they didn't - Kel was flying in that day HA!). Then they talked about go away on Thursday/Friday but again, Ken told them that they wanted to do something with them on Friday since it was the kids spring break (a lie HA). Should I mention Ken is a pastor ?? hehehehe
On Wednesday morning, Darryl, the boys and I headed to my parents house. Ken and Lynnette headed to the airport to pick up Kel, Deb and Micah. The timing was perfect because as we pulled into town, Ken was pulling into his house. We all met there to wait. Apparently both my parents had appointments that morning and wouldn't be home for another hour. Ken had made arrangements to make sure they would be home by noon. (Yep, another lie HA!)
We used the time to hang out with Kel and family - Kel was tickling Josh HA!
Micah :-) He has grown up a lot just since last summer.
Aunt Debby and Nate playing on the huge bean bag.
Waiting in my parents garage while Seth, Ken and Lynnette are spinning stories to kill time. HA!
Look closely through the door - can you see my parents - there is total shock on their faces. My mom screamed so loud - we'll be talking about that for a long time HA!
Yep, they were very happy and very overwhelmed - it was 100% perfect :-)
Ken had picked up pizza for lunch for us all (I think to make up for his lies HA!). Plus Kel had requested pizza :-)
My parents really had no idea about this surprise and I don't think we could ever beat this one. All because my dad is turning 70 :-)
It was an awesome day. We hung around and talked for hours before running errands. I went with my sisters-in-law Deb and Lynnette and did a little shopping; Ken and Kel heading to the store to pick up stuff for dinner and Darryl took the boys for a long walk in the woods.
I love this photo of the three cousins. Nate followed Kate around like a puppy dog all afternoon. Kate played with the boys all day and was so kind to them - she is such a sweet heart and I adore her!!
There is more fun coming next weekend when we are all back together again :-)
This is the dessert I made for Easter dinner and it was so good. Darryl and I love Creme Brulle but have never made it - this reminded me of that but without the crispy sugar crust. Now, I will admit, my "creme" did not turn out perfect - I didn't cook it quite enough to melt the geletin/sugar . I was afraid of over cooking it; therefore it was a little grainy but I LOVED it. It was light and cool and the raspberries made it perfect! I will be trying it again to try and perfect it - it would make a great dessert for company :-)
Yield: Makes about 4 cups of “Crème” enough for about 6 dessert-sized portions
Ingredients
1 tablespoon unflavored gelatin
½ cup sugar
2 cups heavy cream
1 ½ cups light or regular sour cream
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Assortment of fresh berries (strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries)
Directions
In
a medium saucepan, stir together the gelatin, sugar and heavy cream
until well combined. Set the saucepan on the stovetop burner and set the
heat to low, stirring until the sugar and gelatin are dissolved and the
mixture is barely warm to the touch. Be careful not to overheat the
mixture – the purpose is simply to heat slightly to dissolve the sugar
and gelatin.
Remove
the pot from the heat and fold in the sour cream and vanilla extract
until the mixture is well combined. Pour the mixture into ramekins,
dessert cups, small glass bowls or pots de crème. Chill for 2-3 hours or
up to overnight. Just before serving, spoon fresh berries on top.
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