Friday, August 29, 2014

Graphing Dinosaurs

Our dinosaur activity today was graphing. 

I am still working on teaching quantity, so I downloaded this sheet from Shelfwork.com. Princess just had to place on dinosaur in each square:


Afterwards we looked at each set and counted them. I showed her there was 1 in the first row, 2 in the second row... And so on:


On another note, look what Boss found growing in our compost:


Too bad they turned yellow before we even knew they were there. They are huge... 13 inches.


Princess did some more beading today and when i checked on her I discovered that she had sorted the dinosaurs by color and beaded them in color sections:


Here are my angels using markers today:








Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Painters

It was nice and breezy outside the other day so we took our easel outside to paint.

I used a foam board that I purchased at Target and some washable Crayola paints. This is Son's serious painter face:


He gets into his work:


So does Princess. Paint smushing is fun:


Son what are you doing?


More smushing. I promise they actually did paint:


Showing me something she found:


The finished product after they perfected it with markers:




Saturday, August 23, 2014

More Dino Activities

I bought a bunch of dinosaur themed items on an Ebay auction a while back and these 3 part cards came with it. They  have pictures of different dinosaurs on them and then a figure to go with each.



I am going to see if Princess can match the word cards that go with these. She should just be able to look at the letters and find a match, but I am not sure if it will be too difficult: 


After we did the cards, she did some beading with dinosaur beads. She has started to really enjoy this. These beads are simple for her to do, but I also have a more difficult set for later:


When she was doing this, she kept saying "don't chuch my acativity". She hates when people touch her stuff.






Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Dinosaur Unit Day One

I thought I would be way more excited about this unit, instead I am just kind of *blah* about it. 

Partly it is because Boss has been traveling for most of the month and I am really sad. I mean, I have the 3 kids to keep me company, but I don't know, I just miss him I guess. 

Besides that, it is REALLY hard to think of ideas for Montessori activities using dinosaurs. I have a few things in mind that will be fun, so maybe we should do the fun stuff sooner than later.

So, here is one of our dinosaur activities....sorting:




Then Princess worked on pouring. The cup is part of an 8 piece depression glass set I picked up at a yardsale for $5.00. The deals at that sale were crazy. An 80 year old woman was selling all of her collections for NOTHING. 


Earlier in the day we were at Island Mama Java. Son LOVES trains. He choo choos so loud all the time at trains, trucks, even planes. 


Here is Princess chilling at the counter:


Yesterday we were at the outlets and Princess found a friend:


Son has really started to enjoy puzzles. He doesn't say many words, but he can make animal and vehicle noises like nobody's business:

Pictures from the Week

I have been trying to put together a dinosaur unit, but I have been a bit unmotivated, a bit exhausted, and a bit irritated that it is SO difficult to find good quality dinosaur figures. Maybe I will have the unit ready by Thursday.

Anyway, here are some pictures from this week.

Princess playing with some great blocks I picked up at a yardsale:



Gearing up for Dino week, she rode the T-Rex at the park:


We got stuck at Tire Kingdom for three hours, so we took our rowdy group back and forth between the tire store and Krystals. Both places have banned us for life, I'm sure:


Today we had a water play date at a friend's house:



Princess has outgrown her trike. She loves loves loves to wear her helmet:


We got the Melissa and Doug mailbox and it has caused a ton of fights. I have to let one play with it while the other is sleeping.


Monday, August 18, 2014

Another First Day Gone By

After Sis left for school today I realized that there are only 4 more to go.

Four firsts days of school left...nine already gone.

Time is scary because it can seem so slow when it's happening, but when you look back it seems like it went by so fast.
 
I feel sad today, like always on this day. 

Mostly lonely...kind of heartbroken. I don't even know why. It's just that when summer is here, we are all together all day and then when school starts, a piece of me feels empty. I want ALL of my babies with me ALL of the time.

I know it's selfish, which is how I get over it, but still, this morning it hurt.

It will get easier as each day passes, like it always does.

So here is Sister on her first day of 8th grade:

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Alphabet Dog Bones

I noticed Princess is having trouble with phonics lately, so I am not doing a theme this week. We will just be focusing on the alphabet.

I laminated some bones with a letter on each and told her to feed them to her stuffed puppy, Rocky. Rocky needs to learn his letters, so we can't give him the bone until we tell him the sound.

She seems to enjoy this activity a lot.


Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Turn Your Table into Something Fun


Who does not love a good blanket fort? 

A few days ago I was walking past my dining room and instead of a table, I saw a cool play space. How had I never noticed this before?

So....



We got the flashlight out and read books:


Son wore a costume:


Princess was bullying us because she didn't want anyone else in there:


The fun ended when:


Looks innocent, but the chairs become launching pads.

Monday, August 11, 2014

Last Day of Bird Week Celebration

We went to the beach to check out some seagulls and we scored BIG!!!
 
 
Son chased these birds and flapped his wings for an hour. A full hour!!!


Then we practiced our letter sounds after I drew the alphabet in the sand. Son was "fixing" my work:


 
Then a precious thing happened. We were walking to the car and Princess says "Oh Mom, look at that purple bike. It is GORGEOUS! Please take my picture". How could I resist?
 
..and this is a photo of a precious princess in front a a gorgeous purple bike.
 
 

How We Sleep

I must be exhausting everyone around here because this is a sleeping recap of the week.

Princess fell asleep on her couch:


Son fell asleep trying to wake up:



And Gizmo fell asleep on an oven mitt:



I am the only one around here who can't seem to get any sleep. At this point resting my head on an oven mitt in the dining room sounds pretty great.

P. S. If you are curious as to why there is an oven mitt on my dining room floor, the answer is: 

I have no clue, but I'm sure whoever did it is also the one who put a doll in my freezer.

Sunday, August 10, 2014

Puddle Jumping

I LOVE LOVE LOVE walking in the woods. There is no other activity on the planet that I love more. I wish we did this more. 

So today we took a short hiking trip IN THE RAIN... You should have seem Sister's face when I told her to get out of the car. She said, "In the rain. You're serious?" And that I was. It was only a drizzle anyway.

Son found something interesting:


He went the whole way this time without me having to carry him:


Princess ran ahead with her sister. Like always:


Reunited at last:


I was hoping to find a much bigger puddle:


But it was still fun:


Sister was happy at the end. She is the chaser. When one starts running off, she has to catch them....so she gets tired quick!