Whatever floats your boat

We start most days with a short preschool time.  Mostly for Tyler, Brooklyn usually participates, Alan loves it, and Dale takes care of Daniel if he's awake.  If Daniel's awake, not Dale. Dale's always awake. :)

I like to do a weekly theme for preschool, and some gel better than others.

This week is 'Boats' inspired by, and semi related to, Alan's Five-In-a-Row book, The Little Red Lighthouse.

Today we read Bear Island

sang Row, Row, Row, Your Boat,

and read a picturebook of Noah and the Ark.

We talked about the fact that 40 days (how long it rained) is more than a month, after which we sang our months of the year song (to the tune and motions of The Macarena ,thank you Dr. Jean).

Then, tomorrow being the first day of February, we threw in a little ground hog rhyme, just for fun.

I cut out a construction paper square, circle, and triangle for each kid for a boat craft, but first we did a shapes song. Alan and Tyler loved it and asked to do it over and over.

The shapes song, to the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle,Little Star":

Put your circle in the air,
Hold it high and keep it there,
Put your square behind your back,
Now please hold it in your lap.
Put your triangle on your toes,
Now please hold it on your nose.

Hold your circle in your hand,
Now it's time for you to stand,
Wave your triangle at the door,
Now please put it on the floor,
Hold your square and jump, jump, jump,
Now throw your square up, up, up!

When we finally finished singing the song, I cut the circles in half and the other shapes down to size and we glued them together to make boats.

When a little girl has big brothers...

100 Days of Daniel

3 months on the 14th and 100 days today!

Not the best sleeping baby we've ever had.  At least a couple of the others were doing some 5-6-7 hour stretches by this point.  Not this boy. He's more of a "I'll see you in 3 or 4 hours" type. 

He makes up for it by being more content during the day than certain others of ours have been.  Oh he still likes to be held a lot, but he is pretty easy going in general.

He's got plenty of smiles for everyone, and is incredibly tolerant of all Brooklyn's lovin'.  And that's a good thing, because Brooklyn is In. Luv.  I've said it before, but I'll say it again: I can't wait to watch their relationship develop in the coming months and years.

Daniel celebrated his 100th day by rolling over (tummy to back) today. Alan watched me lay him down on his tummy in the play pen and we were both surprised to come back a moment later to find him on his back!  So we rolled him back over and he repeated his little trick twice more.

Bring on the next 100 days little buddy... we're ready! 

All Ty'd up

Daddy went for a run this weekend and, as occasionally happens, the 2 bike riding boys went with him.

And, as occasionally happens, the non-bike riding boy was sad.  But only for a minute.

Then he came running in with Candy Land and an open invitation.

Who was I to turn down such an offer?

But I'll let you in on a little secret.

I'm a Candy Land cheater.

How does one cheat at Candy Land?

I stack the deck so the picture cards come up in the same order they are on the board.

Have you ever played Candy Land without stacking the deck?

A game can go on forevvvverrrrrr.  Not good for me or 3-year-old attention spans.

Stack the deck, nobody gets sent back to the gingerbread guy when they were theeees close to winning, and you might even have time to play another game before everybody gets bored.

It's a win-win!

Snow Day!

Weekly Wrap Up - Week 17

I can't believe this was only the first week back after Christmas.  It has been the longest. week. ever!

Once again we have added on more school since Daniel was born.  As in more than just the basics, and both boys doing all/most subjects every day.  In another week or two we should be back up to our full load, plus some.

I am also putting us back on more of a schedule again.  It's hard.  But I know it's the best thing for all of us, so.... here we go!

Tyler stayed busy this week with workbook pages, puzzles, learning activities, and good ol' play time.

Dale only missed two words on his Wednesday spelling test, so 'argue' and 'continue' were the only words he had to work on the rest of the week.

He's been reviewing and practicing multiplication this week in math.  He reviewed cursive capitals (per his request) early in the week and did copy work the second half.  For Bible we continued in his Old Testament book, and for science he read aloud to Alan about worms from their science reader.  We've gotten back to piano practice for him; I was pleased with how good he did after several weeks off.  He also worked on social studies and computer science, and attended his second Library Book Club meeting.

My focus for Alan for the new year is lightening up in some ways, while be careful to only accept his best in others.  I think school had gotten a little dry and difficult for a 6 year old.  My first remedy for this has been easing up a little bit on quantity, and adding in Five In a Row.

With that, here was Alan's week:
Cursive: review
Reading: Frog and Toad.  I am so excited about Alan's reading.  That deserves its own blog post - soon.
Math - addition facts, ordinal numbers, telling time

Phonics - continued in Explode the Code 2 ('tr' blends)
Typing
Science (with Dale)

Five in a Row: We started with the book Three Names.  Alan loved it!

Today we finished it up with the fun stuff, roasting potatoes just like Mr. Beckett sometimes did: 

And after looking at all the shadows in the book's artwork, we went outside and traced our own!

Merry Christmas All Over Again

This has to be the latest I've ever celebrated Christmas, and I have to say - it's fun!

We were finally able to get together with my sister and her family today for Christmas dinner and the works.

Turkey, dressing, sweet potatoes.... Logan likes it all! and he wants it now!

Ready...set...open!

Super hero capes!  A huge success.

Meanwhile, Logan and his Daddy enjoy a good book.

Brooklyn loved her afghan crocheted just for her by her Aunt Kristin... and she's tucked into bed with it right now. Sweet dreams, Brooky, and Merry Christmas to all (again)! :)

Around the House Tuesday

In the fridge:
Grocery day!  Lots of fresh fruits and veggies for snacking this week.  Plus 2 big bunches of broccoli to make broccoli salad for an upcoming (much-delayed) Christmas celebration. :)

In the school room:
Day 2 of 2013!  We are working hard at implementing a schedule again.  It's mostly based off what we were doing before Daniel was born, with some adjustments.  Not only am I looking forward to more routine and order, I am optimistic we will be able to get more done in a day, like some of those fun school 'extras'.

On the menu:
deep dish pizza, salad
crock pot chicken curry, rice & a green veggie
pintos with ham, cornbread, mashed potatoes
Christmas Dinner 2
Potatoes & sausage skillet dinner
chicken & dumplings with peas & carrots
breakfast for supper

In the book basket:
Read-aloud: Little House in the Big Woods
Alan: Frog & Toad
Me: Philippians
Dale: ?? Does Dale not have a current book? What?! Must remedy this asap.
Tyler: red sled

In baby news:
Just when we had hit some good times and predictability, the last few days have been hard.  Short naps, short spans between meals, and only short spells of being happy. Bleh!  Hopefully this 'short' phase will be... short!

From the camera:

Fun & Games

Today was the first day back to school for us after Christmas break. 

It was also the fullest day since before Daniel was born; we are 100% back at it.

I am pleased with how it all went and feel optimistic that by the end of the week we'll really be hitting our groove with school and routine again. Yay!

After supper tonight we gathered 'round for a game of Jenga.  Tyler helped me with my first few turns.  Greg kept pausing from bouncing a fussing Daniel for his turns, and Brooklyn kept herself entertained nearby.

If you have ever played Jenga you probably remember the quiet moments of suspense and concentration.  Near the end of the game everyone is holding their breath each turn for the tower to crash down.

I found the stark contrast of playing Jenga at our house tonight amusing.  Imagine performing intricate balancing acts among a babbling toddler, crying baby, and wallering 3 year old.

And I still managed to win a round! :)

The boys loved all playing a game together, though, so it's all good.

After game time the 3 littlest all got a bath.  I was still in the bathroom with Daniel all wrapped in a towel while Tyler swished back and forth in the tub, singing.

First was, "Frosty the big snowman..."

Followed by, "Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer (reindeer), had a very shiny nose, and if you ever saw it (saw it), you could even say it blows."

Well that's what noses do, isn't it?

Best Birthday Present Ever!

Or at least in the Top 10. :)

Gramps made Tyler the coolest gizmo for his birthday, and it was a huge hit with the whole herd!  Buttons, knobs, switches, whoozits, magnets, locks, and more!

Happy Birthday, Tyler!

Random pictures from Mimi's camera

Because they are fun pics.  
And because I'm feeling too lazy to think up an actual blog post.
But mostly because I like the pics. :)