Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
The Joy of Planting an Amaryllis Bulb
One of my favorite things about being a mother is seeing how the simple things in life bring such tremendous joy to my children. I also love how my children notice the teeniest of tiniest of details that most of us would overlook and how they always find the beauty in everything around them. Yesterday morning I thought it would be nice to plant an amaryllis bulb, hoping to have it bloom for Christmas. I sat back and watched how taken Grace, Jack and Eve were with this simple activity. They spent over an hour planting an amaryllis bulb together. They discussed everything from the texture of the soil to every detail of the amaryllis bulb and stalk. Grace, Jack and Eve decided that their favorite part of planting the amaryllis was the way the soil smelled when they added the water -- "just like spring!" What a perfectly lovely way to spend a morning.
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Using Math Skills to make Christmas Tree Cards!
Jack collected sticks and small branches a few weeks ago for our Christmas cards and here it what we did with them! This year we decided to use all natural and recycled materials for our cards, which consisted of recycled cardboard pieces, sticks, branches and beach glass.
Grace and Jack used math and measuring skills to construct each card! First, they measured their pieces of cardboard using a ruler to determine how long to cut their sticks to make the base of their Christmas trees. Next, they either subtracted 1/2 or 1/4 of an inch (depending on the length of their cardboard piece) for each subsequent branch. Grace and Jack both worked so hard to make these cards. They have always loved measuring with rulers and tape measures (I think both are such great visual tools to learn about numbers, addition and subtraction) and they put their math skills to such good use for this project!
Once all of their sticks were measured and cut, Grace and Jack glued the sticks onto pieces of cardboard that they had cut out from a box that we had received in the mail. They added a piece of beach glass on top to complete their Christmas trees!
The pictures below show Grace and Jack measuring and constructing their Christmas tree cards...
Great work, Grace & Jack!!!
Gingerbread Houses
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Happy Third Birthday to our Jack
Happy Birthday, sweet Jack-a-roo
December 15, 2011
Three Years Old!
December 2010
Almost 3 years old
November 2010
2 years, 11 months old
October 2010
2 years, 10 months old
September 2010
2 years, 10 months old
August 2010
2 years, 8 months old
July 2010
2 years, 7 months old
June 2010
2 years, 6 months old
May 2010
2 years, 5 months old
April 2010
2 years, 4 months old
March 2010
2 years, 3 months old
February 2010
2 years, 2 months old
January 2010
2 years, 1 month old
December 15, 20102 years old
June 2010
18 months old
December 15, 2009
Jack's First Birthday
June 2009
6 months old
December 2008
2 days old
The day our sweet Jack was born...
December 15, 2008
10 pounds, 2 ounces
19.5 inches long
12:54 p.m.
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
A December Tradition -- Advent Books & Activities
The beginning of December through the beginning of the New Year is an extra special time for our family. It's that time of year when our autumn celebrations come to an end and when the winter ones begin. It's that time of year when we celebrate three of the best birthdays (one of which is happening tomorrow!). It's that time of year when the holiday making begins! The weeks leading up to Christmas are very, very busy for our family but they are always filled to the tippy top with such fun, excitement and traditions.
I do believe that our favorite tradition this time of year are our advent books and activities. Every morning we gather in front of our Christmas tree to read our advent books together. Each day in December a new page is read and a new little window or door is opened to reveal something new. This year we have added two new advent calendars (thank you, Maddy!). One which we open a door to find tiny animals, trees or other forest elements which in the end will create a beautiful winter forest scene. Our other new advent activity is based on Eric Carle's Dream Snow book. Each day we open a door on this calendar to find a tiny ornament, which we place on a small tree to decorate. In the pictures above, Grace, Jack and Eve are enjoying our advent books from three different days last week. This is a tradition that my Mom started with me and oh how I love passing it down to my own children now.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Painting Snow
Since we do not have a flake of snow on the ground right now, Eve painted some for us today! Eve loved finger painting with white paint on blue paper. We have several of Eves' pictures hanging inside and hopefully they will bring us some snow soon -- we are hoping to build a snowman outside!
After making many, many snow pictures for us (Grace and Jack have named all of Eves' paintings "Blizzards!") I put the paint directly onto Eve's tray so she could experience a slipperier method of painting.
...and who doesn't love a little taste of some "snow"?!!! :)
Collecting sticks
One morning last week Jack went outside to gather sticks for our handmade Christmas cards. As you can see, Jack was quite proud of the sticks and branches that he gathered! Pictures of our Christmas cards to come...
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