"b" week

For the last two weeks, we've been plugging away at learning lowercase b.  We've had a more relaxed schedule due to some vacations and birthdays.  Another perk of homeschooling...it's totally adaptable!  The boys don't ever "miss out" on instruction.  

For our craft, we made "b" boats...

...the boys love glueing and love cutting even though we've still got some work to do in that department.  They're still not huge fans of coloring though...

...apparently it not out of the norm for boys to be more interested in other activities.  Here's their finished products...

We also did some BAKING with BANANAS...

We used the easiest recipe ever.  Combine 2 mashed bananas with 1 cup oats, add in some craisins (chocolate chips would be yummy too!), then bake.  Boys devoured them!  Might be a new breakfast around here.

The sweets lovers talked me into BAKING a second time...

...and the second time the recipe included BUTTER.  We went crazy with the sprinkles of course!  :-) 

We've been reading tons of BOOKS and doing lots of BUILDING with BLOCKS.   Some of our favorite books this week had nothing to do with the letter b and we're totally ok with that...

...we featured them at story time last week too :-).  This week we had a construction theme with our story time friends, also unrelated to the letter b but still a lot of fun.  They included the following favorites...

Of course, we took our weekly field trips to the library.  Once again, the boys ended up at the human BODY game...

...I continue to be amazed with how many of the facts they're able to retain.  They definitely know more about the human body than I did when I was 3.

We also made it to music class again this week...

...I have a picture of them doing this exact thing when they first started music classes....

Crazy to see how much they've grown!

Tomorrow we've got plans for some play dough and a nature hike.  We're going to see how many things we can find with the letter b.  I'll be keeping the list for the boys :-)

"B" Week

It's a holiday week, thanks to labor Day, so we got off to a late start with school this week.  Our theme of the week is Capital B.  

B is for BEARS...

B is for BLOCKS...

...we used tongs to work on fine motor skills and sorted according to color and shape to work on math skills...

...Colton is continuing to love sorting :-)  This activity was an even bigger hit than I anticipated.  

B is for BALLOONS which are great for hand-eye coordination... 

...we also played a game where I wrote the numbers 1-10 on them and had them search for them in numerical order.  That one was a big hit!

B is for BAKING and who doesn't like to do that?  :-)...

B is for BOATS which we got to play with at "recess"...

...another perk of homeschooling is being able to take swimming breaks when the mood strikes.  It's like a giant water table, great for all of those measuring and pouring activities too.  :-)

 B is for BUILDING with BLOCKS...

...notice how once again Colton sorted the dinos next to the blocks.  I'm currently fascinated with this tendency in him.  Miss Rabe has the best blocks by the way, according to the boys.  I'm pretty sure other people's stuff is usually more exciting than our stuff.  Lately the boys have been building lots of animal houses with their blocks.  It's cute!

B is for BOOKS, which we had fun reading at the library and at home...

B is also for BUGS....

...we had fun making Grandparent's Day cards with our thumbprints.  

B is also for BEADS.... 

...which we used to make butterflies....

...stringing them onto pipe cleaners is great for fine motor skill development.  This is Mason's finished product.  Colton is only halfway done since he's taking his time with sorting colors as he goes...

...we liked how the butterfly had a B in it as well.  Fun stuff!

My proud mommy moment of the week had nothing to do with the letter B but is part of our morning routine around here these days.  Every day we do the calendar, check the weather, say the pledge and do a devotion.  Mason's got the pledge down and is quite proud of himself as am I.  Check him out...

God BLESS America!  

In case you're wondering, we get lots of our ideas from a book we purchased called the Preschool Journey by Angela Thayer.  It is a great springboard for ideas, very simple and practical, as well as very easy to follow.  Obviously, its very easy to supplement and personalize.  So far, I highly recommend it.   

Fun in the Kitchen, Etc.

It is incredibly awesome to have the opportunity to be stroller-free on some runs these days.  My boys sleep in and I get out there early while my awesome husband holds down the fort at home.  It's fantastic!!  It's also incredibly awesome that I have a running buddy in the neighborhood who I chat away with while we run.  It helps make the miles fly by.  We kicked off our morning bright an early with another 6 mile run.  It's going to be even better when daylight savings rolls around as the weather continues to cool off.  Yay fall!!!

After breakfast and a shower, I rolled up my sleeves to get to work in the kitchen.  A friend had a baby and I always love an excuse to cook for new moms.  On the menu.......mashed potato-topped meatloaf...

...compliments of the recipe from this magazine...

...which is FULL of fantastic ideas for halloween, by the way.  Good stuff!

I also whipped up some honey-glazed carrots...

...using this tried and true recipe.  YUM!  And for dessert, I frosted up the sugar cookies I made last night...

I used this new recipe and may or may not have licked the bowl clean when I was done.  YUM!

I hope having dinner ready to go makes their day a little easier.  It warms my heart to be able to do it.

Once I got the kitchen all cleaned up, we loaded up and headed off to run some errands.  Check out these fun hats we stumbled upon at Old Navy while browsing their stuff and sale event...

The bills even open to make them even cooler...

Between these hats and their new pirate hats, the boys may never be without a hat on any time soon.

The little hams couldn't get enough of the camera...

Fun times!

Time to catch up on some chores around the house...one can only avoid it for so long, right??  The boys helped me get a head start before nap time...

After a non-stop couple of days, we're looking forward to some down time for our family tonight.  Woohoo!

  

Keeping Myself Busy

I think this is going to be the LONGEST week of my life.  Here's to keeping myself busy, hoping the time flies by...and hoping I can find a way to relax.  

Here's how I tried to keep myself busy this morning...

...seriously, who bakes cookies at 7:44 if the morning?!  This crazy girl! I used this recipe for flour-less peanut butter cookies and they were GOOD!!!  It was actually my sneaky way of getting rid of the peanut butter that I keep finding myself snacking on.  Keep an eye on the mail, Miriam...you've got some yummy cookies headed your way.

We also took a little trip to Big Lots this morning.  We were on a mission to find some goggles but all we ended up finding were some banana chips (one of the boys' favorite treats)...

...and this spray aloe...

...seems pretty cool if I do say so myself.  I picked up some of the sunscreen by this brand last week, since it was super cheap and didn't contain oxybenzone and was impressed.  I hope the aloe spray follows suit.

Since the weather looked like this before the boys were even awake...

...I decided to take my run to the dreaded treadmill...

...I'm learning to tolerate it a little better, especially now that I keep my headphones in my purse so I can't forget them.  Along with watching a little Kathie Lee and Hoda as well as a bit of Rachel Ray on TV, I threw in some hills and a few sprints to keep things interesting.  I finished up my workout with some upper body weights.   I was hoping that would take care of some of my anxious energy but I'm still a basket case today.  Oh well...

We spent the rest of our pre-nap time the best way we know how when its 90 degrees outside...

With sweltering temps like we've been having, these special treats for my favorite man are starting to look pretty darn tasty to me too...

...all in good time. I'm sticking to water for now :-)  

Time to try to get some reading in before the boys are back up.  I'm really enjoying this month's book club choice so far...