Showing posts with label Family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Family. Show all posts

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Pumpkin Pie Playdough

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 You can always count on playdough if  you're looking for a fun, cheap, and easy way for kids to have some creative time. After our most recent experience, I've discovered my kids are finally old enough keep everything on the table. I have many, many memories of playdough ending up in socks, smashed into the floor, beaten into the table, and tossed across the room :). Ahh, good times with toddlers.

PUMPKIN PIE PLAYDOUGH

4 cups of water

5 1/2 cups of flour

8 teaspoons cream of tartar (Don't have cream of tartar? Substitute with white vinegar...just use 3x the amount...thanks Natural Parenting Tips! )

3/4 cups of oil

4-5 ounces of canned pumpkin pie spice

2 cups of salt (I ran out after 1 1/2 cups, and the playdough still turned out fine...can you tell I was not 100% prepared to have a homemade playdough night? ;)

orange food coloring


  • Mix ingredients together in a pan over medium heat until you have a dough consistency. It will be gooey and runny until it becomes dough. My arm began to feel like it was going to fall off while I was mixing, so once it became dough, I let it cool and mushed it with my hands to get out the leftover flour globs. You, however, are probably much better in the kitchen than I am and won't have this issue!
  • Play, play, play!







Our pumpkin family


Sarah made a mask.


Pumpkin Man: Laser eyes, and razor sharp claws...Watch out Frosty!

This recipe made enough to fill up a gallon sized ziplock bag. Moms, join in the fun! Playdough is entertaining for all ages!

Enjoy!

Friday, October 26, 2012

Just an Update {Sonlight Core A Weeks 5-8, Family, Apple Activities}

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 Family Update


The stomach flu invaded our home for a few weeks…that’s right…weeks. Each time someone would get sick, I’d go into a cleaning frenzy to stop the germs from attacking, only to have someone else come down with the bug days later.  Somehow we are still on schedule with school, but 4 field trips, 3 weeks of AWANA, and co-op days had to be cancelled. Let me tell you, doing apple themed activities and then having to cancel the big finale apple orchard trip was a huge disappointment for the girls. Once everyone showed signs of good health, I called around to reschedule, but u-pick apples and tours just so happened to be finished the day I called! Bummer!!  We went to to the park, and played with the caterpillars in our yard instead.

For the time being, we aren’t going to attend our co-op regularly until CJ recovers from his back surgery, which is scheduled to happen at the beginning of November. He is currently extremely miserable and in terrible pain, so keep him in your prayers. 

In other health related news, Samuel was diagnosed with a blood disorder last month.  At a routine well-check with our new pediatrician, Dr. S, I brought up the horrible nosebleeds he has on a fairly regular basis. I had mentioned this several times to our former pediatrician, and he was never concerned.  However, Dr. S thought that he should see a hematologist.  After two appointments, blood work, and months of waiting, we finally got a diagnosis. His condition is not life threatening, but he was pretty bummed when he found out he won’t be allowed to play soccer or football. I am relieved that this is a treatable, minor disorder.

Now onto happy news…

Samuel is doing excellent at the private school he is attending this year. He is maintaining all A’s, making new friends, and enjoys his teacher and classmates. There are pros and cons to having him in that setting, but my anxiety has pretty much subsided.  It helps that I’m involved in the school’s parent group and volunteer on Friday afternoons. Samuel still joins our monthly evening homeschool group activities. And no, we haven’t ruled out homeschooling him in the future.  

Sarah and Madelyn finished up soccer. Madelyn was the kid doing ballet twirls, somersaults, and singing while she was supposed to be playing the game. Sarah was eager to participate and learn. They both were fun to watch… for different reasons. They‘ve decided to join an American Heritage Girls troop (Samuel will be doing Cub Scouts at the same time). Somehow, maybe due to the name, they are under the impression that this is some sort of American Girl club, so AHG is now the coolest thing ever. I’ve tried to explain that the two aren’t related, but I’m pretty sure they are tuning me out. Either way, they are having fun, making new friends, and learning.

School Update Weeks 5-8, Apple Themed Activities Part 1


During weeks 5-8, we covered a lot of material. We’ve now studied the Vikings, Early Missionaries, Medieval Times, the Incas, and ancient China. I wanted to go more in depth with the Incas than what Sonlight includes, but the girls were eager to move on to China. Maybe I’ll find a way to sneak in more Inca time down the road! I've been using the camera less and less, not because I don't want to capture these wonderful moments, but because when we're in "school mode," pausing to go into "mom-photographer mode" feels like a distraction. The camera usually only comes out one or two days a week. The downside is, I can't look back through photos to remember details of certain moments...which makes trying to write about 4 weeks of school difficult...even with lesson plans in front of me :).

Sarah loves Draw Write Now...mostly the drawing, of course!




matching ending sounds








As I mentioned in our family update above, we did some fun math and literacy apple themed activities. There were so many activities to do in the pack I purchased that I'm saving some for when we read about Johnny Appleseed later.














 Next week I will be cramming in the rest of our fall and pumpkin crafts. Pinterest gave me more than enough ideas! E

 



Thursday, September 27, 2012

Weeks 3 and 4 Highlights {Sonlight Core A}

Pin It I didn't stop to take many pictures during weeks 3 and 4. Here are the moments I did manage to capture...




BIBLE

We memorized Colossians 3:20, Mathew 7:12, and learned about Joseph and his brothers. I will always remember Samuel telling me this story when he was in preschool, exclaiming (in the cutest 3 year-old boy voice ever), “Those mean brudders got blood on his beautiful, beautiful coat!!” The girls used bingo dot markers to make colorful coats for Joseph.




Madelyn said, "Oops! He put on his Christmas coat!" haha!

HISTORY

Weeks 3 and 4 focused on Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. Samuel decided that the rich people must be extremely lazy since they had slaves to do everything for them, but he did think lying down for meals and eating with fingers was very cool.
  
Madelyn and Sarah made Olive leaf crowns.

HEALTH

We discussed different emotions, and how to deal with people making us angry or sad. Sarah wrote about being happy and sad in her journal.

READING


The girls acted out a scene from Goldilocks and the Three Bears.




Madelyn decided Marlie needed to hear a story while she was eating...

 MATH


Madelyn worked on addition problems using her Math-U-See blocks.

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Hello Again, Ohio

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Goodbye Fort Wayne house!


Well, our family of 5 has been in Ohio for about 2 months now. CJ moved and started his new job in January, and the rest of us followed in May. Living apart for 4 months was not so pretty at times. By mid-February, I had probably the worst attitude possible about our situation and wasn't a very pleasant person to talk to (especially if you were married to me, haha)  In order to keep myself from just totally losing it, I had to let go of the "what ifs" and think positive. Our house is still for sale, but so far we are getting by fine with having to pay for two houses. Hopefully there will be buyer soon! There are times when I surprisingly do miss Fort Wayne. We met some great people there-- probably the most kind and caring friends I've ever had.

Since we were completely looking forward to our big May 1st move, the kids did really well with saying goodbye to the old house. There were no tears, only pure excitement to start a new adventure. They've all made new friends and have been having a lot of fun. Samuel is having issues with the many changes that have occurred this year. He thrives on routine and is very strong willed, so it is going to take some time to adjust to a new house, a new church, and not seeing Dad nearly as much as he used to. Keeping him on track has been exhausting to say the least.

CJ is enjoying his job, which is good considering that's where he spends most of his life.The other day he told Samuel he gets to work with robots, so if you ask the 8 year-old, his dad has the coolest job ever. His back has been giving his trouble, but the newest round of injections have at least taken away the shooting pain down his legs.


Here are some highlights from the past 6 months. They include school, trips to Ohio, and a lot of fun & play...
Samuel was supposed to create some addition problems for Madelyn using the cubes. As you can see, he decided to build a gun instead. Life with boys!

This is a Mystery of History project. They had to come up with a name for a new animal just like God had Adam do.



Valentine shadow matching

Making out Valentines



A SWEET party with friends
Leprechaun traps for St. Patrick's Day






Jellybean graphing








 
picking strawberries