Homeschool Corner - Learning, Fun, and lots of Ice

This past week was full of fun.  Yes, we did a little learning.

The boys got these build-a-letter for Christmas but this is the first time they have really gotten into them.  They loved building the letters together and I loved hearing them say words that start with the letter.  They also got out the Straws and Connectors they got also and build a huge "building" which required some serious problem solving on their part.  We've also been working on counting to 100 - we do it at night when we count how long it takes for their clocks to turn from 7:59 to 8:00.  It's been fun listening to them count with greater confidence even though there is silence every time we hit a "9" number (29, 39, ect) as they wait for me to say what comes next HA!

Friday, of course, was Valentine's Day.  Our homeschool group had a Valentine's party which we had to prep for the day before.

 I found this cute idea on line over at Fabulessly Frugal.  I love that it came with a printable and that the straws were so in expensive (Wal-mart Party Section - 6 for $1.00!)  Yes, I put them all together but while I made 35 of these, the boys made their own hearts and wrote names on them for fun. 

Our Valentine Box - yes, I cheated and bought it at the store.  After school on Friday, we stayed long enough to pass our Valentines, then headed home to get lunch at McDonald's. 

Finally, one thing that Josh has asked to do all winter was to see the beach in the winter.  Well, this was the winter to do it because it has been so cold that Lake Michigan is about 90% frozen which, well, never happens.  Josh loves the beach in the summer so this was important to him.  We finally had a weekend where we did not have a blizzard forecasted so, after church we headed out.

Our first stop was a Chinese Buffet.  Now, that is not my favorite style of food BUT we have one little boy who thinks that a Chinese Buffet is the best thing since sliced bread.  Darryl took him to get his food and asked if he wanted french fries (which, of course, they have at a Chinese Buffet) to which he replied, "No, lets start with the fruit" - gotta love that kid.  He picked out everything from Fruit to Jell-O to Fish and Chicken on a stick.  Talk about being proud of his plate!  He told me he got the meat on a stick because he loves sticks - sticks are fun to play with, fun to eat with, and straws are like sticks so we drink with them!  Not to mention, Chinese Buffets always have Ice Cream :-)

From there we headed out to the lakeshore. 

 This mountain?  Ice!  We are walking quite a ways out onto the very frozen Ice Michigan.  As the lake freezes, the waves push huge chunks of ice toward the shore and they froze into gigantic ice mountains.

After spending about two hours out on the ice, we headed back to the truck.  We stopped on the way home for "Chicken and Fries" to end our perfect day ;-)

And yes, the boys were tired!!!  They never made a sound after they went to bed!