Halloween Fun

This weekend, we had a great time celebrating Halloween! The kids always get excited when I bring out our "wheel of candy" and let them have a spin.

We went to a fun Halloween party and the kids had all sorts of yummy treats there! They also got to play some fun games and they participated in the trick or treat parade. Our little girl's favorite contest at the party was the pumpkin pie eating contest.

Although she didn't win, she still had a blast eating that delicious pie!

A tradition our family has for Halloween is spending the evening over at grandma and grandpa's house. I am so blessed to have my parents live so very close to us, and so the kids get to see them several times a week. Every Halloween, we go over there and order pizza. When it gets dark, the kids put on their costumes and we take them trick or treating around the neighborhood. Our little girl was a native american and our little boy was a cowboy.

Our oldest, for the first time, decided she did not want to dress up and go trick or treating. I felt a bit sad because I will miss seeing her choose a costume and get excited waiting to go to all the houses. She is growing up so fast. This year, she stayed back and handed out candy with grandpa. I love how close they are and she really enjoyed her job!

As you can see, it was a successful evening of candy collecting. We had lots of fun and can't wait to do it again next year!



Memorial Day

This morning, we did something we have never done before. We decided to take the kids to our state cemetery, located about 1 1/2 hours away from where we live.

While we have always talked with our children about our country and all the freedoms we have here, we have never really explained WHY we celebrate Memorial Day and we have never fully discussed the importance of this day. I think it is safe to say that after today's experiences, they now understand what it means to be an American and what those brave soldiers have done and still do today for us.

It was absolutely amazing to see row after row after row of names, flowing through the fields. I honestly had no idea there were that many veterans there.

The horse above posing with our children was used in the ceremony today. He represented all the fallen soldiers.

Our son was particularly interested in the military vehicles there. He has several toy ones and was so excited to see the real deal today.

The ceremony ended with several patriotic songs as well as the firing of these large guns. I am so glad we took our children to this event. More than anything though, I am proud to be an American...

Mardi Gras Park Day

Today was our monthly H.E.A.R.T. Homeschool Group Park Day and the theme was Mardi Gras! Each family was given a special assignment: to create a Mardi Gras float using a wagon! Well, I was quite impressed with all the different designs and decorations.

The kids had a blast parading around with their floats and throwing beads and coins to all of us!

We had a delicious lunch of rice with chicken, "Mardi Gras sandwiches", fruit punch, and King Cake.

The kids always enjoy these park days and had a great time just playing with each other.

My tired little "king" after the parade.

Happy Dr. Seuss Day!!!

Happy Dr. Seuss Day! I just love all of Dr. Seuss' books and we have quite a collection of them. Many are books I received when I was a child, and so they are quite old. Our children have grown up hearing these stories over and over again, and I enjoy not only the style of Dr. Seuss' writing but also the messages he teaches us about how we should treat others.

We started our celebration by watching The Cat in the Hat Knows A lot About That on PBS Kids this morning. They were having a "Cat in the Hat Marathon" today.

Next, we all put on our socks and listened to Fox in Socks. After the story, my kids competed in a sock sorting relay race.

Each of them was timed to see how quickly they could sort the pile of socks. They enjoyed this activity and it was harder than it looked!

For the next activity, our little "nut" read One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish to us all while we ate some yummy colored goldfish snacks.

Then it was time for a writing lesson. We discussed all the different books we have and the fact that they had many unusual characters and fabricated words. We talked about the rhyming of the stories as well. Each of the kids chose a book to pattern their own story after. Our oldest wrote a story called "A Mouse In Our House". She is still working on the illustrations.

Soon, it was time for lunch and so I read about the Sneetches as the kids colored and cut out stars to attach to their shirts, just like the star-bellied Sneetches. I really enjoy that book because it teaches such a great lesson about differences and how it doesn't matter what we look like or what "cool" clothes someone has on. We are all the same!

It is always so funny to see the differences in the way the kids do their art work.

For lunch, we had star shaped "Sneetch Snacks" (peanut butter & jelly sandwiches) as well as hotdogs, just like in the story!

After lunch, it was more great stories. Our oldest read The Foot Book and then we played a lively game of Twister.

After our crazy game, we sat down and listened to an excerpt from My Many Colored Days. I gave the kids all sorts of items such as felt, pom poms, construction paper, etc... and had them create colorful collages that described their own colored day.

 They worked for quite some time on their projects. Here is a sample of what they did:

Last but not least, we listened to a bit of Oh The Thinks You Can Think and then ate Schlopp for dessert! If you've read the story, then you know that Schlopp is an ice cream sundae.

This was a busy, fun day and we had a blast celebrating one of my favorite authors. And remember, "a person's a person, no matter how small..."

 

Happy Valentine's Day!

Whew!!! What a wonderful, busy Valentine's Day we had. We started out our day with a nice breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast made by Daddy. He is such an awesome cook. I then started my little guy on his Valentine's activities. First, he sorted some cute little erasers I found last year at Target.

Next, he did all sorts of great activities I found at http://thoughtsofesme.blogspot.com  There were so many great Valentine's printables, we didn't get to do all of them! Here are some below:

The postman arrived with some Valentine's addition cards for him to complete.

He also used some of the Valentine's word cards and magnet letters to spell the words with.

He especially enjoyed this activity. I placed a number card in the empty space at the top of the page, and he had to count out Hershey Kisses and give them to the bear. Several of them were missing from the bear's paw, lol.

All three of our children made these cute mailboxes for park day last week with our homeschool group, but they used them again today to exchange cards with each other.

We enjoyed several Valentine's stories today. These were my little girl's favorites, but my little man liked Froggy's First Kiss the best!

Another great activity from http://thoughtsofesme.blogspot.com  was this sight word sorting game. I gave my little guy a word from the pile and he had to see if the letters in the word were found in the word "Valentine". If they were, they went on the left side of the sheet, and if not, they went to the right side of the sheet. So much fun!

I forgot to mention I made some cute workbox number cards for Valentine's Day and placed them on my children's boxes this morning, before they awoke. My older daughter particularly likes changing out her workbox number cards, and so I have created quite a supply!

Later, we all participated in a fun game of "Fill My Heart". I rolled the dice and whatever number came up, the player had to place that many conversation hearts on their board. The one who filled their hearts first was the winner. Everyone was a winner in my book though, since the game pieces are edible!

Last but not least, my 2 girls enjoyed some Valentine's wordsearches, sudoku puzzles, and a great scavenger hunt I found at http://sarahssweeties.wordpress.com before heading over to their grandparent's house for some Valentine treats.  I hope you had a wonderful Valentine's Day with the ones you love. I know I sure did and it makes me always think of one of my favorite Bible verses: "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trust, always hopes, always perseveres." 1 Corinthians 13:4 This verse really says it all...

Valentine's Park Day!

Today we had our monthly park day with one of the homeschool groups we belong to. The theme was Valentine's Day. The weather was absolutely beautiful, though a bit chilly. That didn't keep the little ones from ripping off their jackets and having fun on the playground!

We had a nice picnic lunch and then all the children presented their show and tell items for the month. I am always amazed by the uniqueness and variety! Some of the projects included:



a favorite book to share



A poster project about an American Girl book

A handmade yarn doll

A picture from a "Father/Daughter Dance"

The kids enjoyed a game of arrow shooting, just like Cupid. I think they were all surprised at how difficult it was to actually hit the target!We even had a tiny arrow collector help them out.

I think the highlight of the day though was when all the children were able to pass out their handmade Valentine's cards and treats. Each child created a special "mail box" for their cards.

We ended our gathering with some delicious Valentine's Day cupcakes and cake. So delicious!

I LOVE our little homeschool group and it was so nice spending the day with friends.