Homework

This school year, Taylee has had a book report and project due each month.

This month, she had decided she wanted to make a diorama.... but not just an ordinary shoebox type diorama....we had decided to make a terrarium!

Taylee is our granola, hippy, flower-child. She loves nature, creation and recycling. She's always trying to grow something, but feels she has bad luck in it. Usually a sibling or neighborhood child are the demise to her young seedlings. Undaunted, she was willing to try again.

We created little figurines and props out of "Sculpey", then gathered the supplies to make the terrarium diorama.

Take a look at this scene and tell me if you can guess the title of her book?

Hints:

It's a children's classic.

A robin helps find a key.

This character's name is Mary.

There's something secretive behind the door.

If you guessed, "The Secret Garden" you are absolutely correct!

Isn't it adorable?

Peach Cobbler

It was Monday....

and we all know what that means....

Family Home Evening!

Abree was in charge of TREAT.

She pulled up the step stool and went to work making peach cobbler. I restrained myself (mostly) and let her do the baking.

Good job Chef Abree..... the cobbler was delicious!

I meant to take a picture of the final product, but it was half eaten by the time I remembered. :)

Pinewood Derby

Thursday, Treyson participated in his first Cub Scout Pinewood Derby. It was the same night as Daisylyn's party, so we had to divide our efforts. The guys went to the derby and the girls went to the party.

Looks like there were some really cool cars there. Treyson was quite impressed with one that looked like the Batmobile and one that had Spiderman decals.
On your mark.... Get set..... GO!

Treyson's award was the "Hold on for your Life" award. His car was a luge guy.

Along with the certificate, each boy received a cool plaque. It says, "Pinewood Derby 2010" , has a place for the car to sit and can be hung on the wall.

While walking out to the car to go home, Jason thought how well Treyson had done, that night, about not dropping his car. And then just as he finished his thought, he heard *SPLAT* "Dad..HELP!" and then saw a derby wheel roll across the parking lot. With the drop, a piece had chipped off and broken the wheel axel area. The wheel will no longer stay on the car. Oh well..... it almost made it home in one piece.

Daisylyn Turns 1

Daisylyn is one of my cute nieces that turned one this year.

She put on her party outfit and was ready for presents.
The presents were ok, but she liked eating the paper more! :)

We ate daisy cupcakes....

.....and ladybug cake.

We sang her Happy Birthday and then she got her own cake.

It didn't take her long to figure out what do to with it.

"WHAT?!"

She didn't understand what all the fuss was about.

She quickly figured out that cake was YUMMY!!!

As Sydney came by (another one of my cute nieces who turned one this year) she offered her an OREO cookie and some pink frosting. Sydney gladly accepted and kept coming back for more.

"ALL GONE!"

She ate the WHOLE thing!

Daisylyn you are so sweet and we love you very much.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Grandma McKinley!

April 12th was my mom's birthday (a.k.a. Grandma McKinley).

We invited her over for an evening of birthday celebration. We ate dinner, opened presents, had FHE, ate cake and ice cream and even watched a movie together.

One of the gifts we gave her was this cool princess book. It had so many details; an envelope with an invitation to the ball, a castle with windows to open and see inside, explanations of different types of ball gowns/crowns/hair-dos, inset jewels, types of fabrics for gowns, and much more. It may become a favorite to read at Grandma's house.
My kids love to make and give gifts. Rylee gave grandma a book and a bookmark she made, Abree gave her a paper sack puppet, Treyson drew her a picture and Taylee made this puppet. If you know grandma, you know she LOVES puppets!

We decided together that this puppet was named Sherbet. She's the pondering type. She wonders about many things.... "I wonder if the kids at school are nice?" "I wonder if anyone will play with me?" "I wonder if I'll like it there?".

Originally, Taylee was thinking it would be a hand puppet, but as she sewed it together and turned it right-side-out, the opening became too narrow to put your hand in. We improvised and used a wooden spoon to get Sherbet to talk to us.

She's sooooo cute!

We sang Happy Birthday, as Grandma thought of a good wish, and then blew out the candle. Chocolate cake, chocolate frosting and Tin Roof Sundae ice cream. YUM!

HaPpY biRtHdAy GrAnDma McKiNleY!

We LOVE you!!!

Kindergarten Practice at Pre-school

Karen had to go out-of-town quickly to be with her family, so I volunteered to take pre-school. Being last minute, I didn't know what I was going to do and then I got an idea.....

KINDERGARTEN PRACTICE!

The school had sent home a packet, which included a list of things children should be able to do BEFORE entering Kindergarten and what to expect from the Kindergarten year. I thought it would be fun to pretend we were in Kindergarten and work on some of those things.

Of course students need desks, so I turned our coffee table into a make-shift desk, including a name tag for each girl.

In Kindergarten, they have "centers" or different areas in the room where learning and play happen. The school packet mentioned these 4 centers; Puzzle, Art, Blocks and Dramatic Play. So of course this meant our Kindergarten Practice needed these too.

In circle time, we read these books that talk about going to school. We also practiced and practiced and practiced sitting "criss-cross-applesauce", so everyone could see and not be bothered by their neighbor. We also practiced raising our hands to speak, listening to the teacher and had a line leader as we moved from center to center.

The girls LOVED sitting at their "desk".

After they finished their "assignment" (writing their name/writing the alphabet), they turned in their papers to be "graded". They were thrilled to see a sticker and "Great Job!" on their papers as they got their assignments back.

The first day, we made puppets in the Art Center. The next day, the girls could make what ever they wanted using the supplies on hand. Fun, fun.

I was surprised how much the girls liked the Puzzle Center.

At our Dramatic Play Center, we had a variety of flannel board pictures and magnets. I'm guessing the Dramatic Play Center at school might be dress-up or a miniature kitchen, but this worked for us.

I HATE the mess dress-up makes! :)

At the end of the first day, the girls were given HOMEWORK. They were SOOO excited! Their homework was to practice their address, phone number and tying their own shoes.

All of these were listed as things children should know when entering Kindergarten.

I "tested" them the next day. They each had learned some, but had room for improvement. They received a fruit snack for good work.

It was fun to see the difference in behavior these 2 days.... more mature. If they ever got too loud or forgot how to play nicely I'd ask, "What do you think a Kindergartner would do?" or "If you were a Kindergartner, how would you act?"

Abree and I have continued practicing our address and phone number. I think she's got our address mostly learned.

Abree- "Mom, I just keep thinking 3695, 3695, 3695."

Me- "Our address is 3695 Legacy Common."

Abree-"Oh ya, that's what I thought."