"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.   

Family Fun Continues

The summer fun never slows here in Plankerville.  We kicked off our first weekend in a loooong time together at home with a bike ride to happy hour on the water Friday night.  I think we found a new favorite restaurant --the Pelican Cafe.  Sand, trucks, shovels, buckets, and such for the kids...beer and wine, a gorgeous view, and yummy food for the grown-ups.  I'd say that's pretty much perfection these days :-)

Our Satuday kicked off with one of our favorite activities, a trip to Lowes for some building fun...

...this project was especially fun since it had a dragon theme--their favorite!! 

Something else very exciting happened for me that morning.  I got a new kitchen gadget... 

...our life is about to get spiralized thanks to a very good friend who knows me so well.  Soooo excited.  I know what I'm doing with the zucchini I got in my produce share today. :-)

Our fun with family didn't stop when we left Chicago.  Saturday, we were joined by my mother-in-law... 

...and Sunday, my sister-in-law and her family came to join the fun as well.  We had quite the weekend hanging out with them... 

I love seeing the boys all play together... 

...and get to know each other.  Cousins are the best!!!

When they weren't swimming, the boys were working on the basketball skills...

...he doesn't wear his baller shirt for nothing. ;-)

I wish we all lived closer and scenes like these were more of a regular occurrence... 

...but we'll take what we can get.  Love it!

You know what else I love... 

...watching these guys spend quality time together.  It seriously is my favorite!

Monday, we hit up the beach in the morning with everyone.  We had fun watching the big kids body surf while we hung out under the umbrella with our sand toys.  After lunch and naps, we met back up again for dinner and more swimming.  

Tuesday found us on our own for the day, doing our usual Tuesday thing.  Story time was fun with these featured stories...

...and we followed it up with some errands before hunkering down for a rainy rest of the day.  We did manage to sneak out for a little bike ride to the pond to feed the turtles....

Check out who's been taking notes from the big kids in the neighborhood...  

...poor Mason got a flat so we were walking back.  We go through tires fast in these parts.  

This morning, we got in a quick run to the park thinking we were going to have another rainy rest of the day.  The boys found their sandy shoes on the slides to be quite entertaining...

...they said it was a treadmill and they were exercising.  Silly boys!  The park was fun but there's still none of the predicted 70 percent chance of rain they said was coming.  Oh well!  

We've spent the rest of our day doing our produce thing and playing around the house.  The boys  new thing is to create subways under their train table...

...I guess they were taking notes while we rode the train in Chicago.  Love them!

Now the produce is all accounted for and it's time to gear up for the Wednesday evening routine...story time, followed by some wine in the courtyard, followed by something yummy for dinner, this time with some extra family along for the ride.  Should be fun.  Happy Wednesday!!!

Some of My Favorite Things - Toddler Christmas Edition

With twin two and a half year old boys, this Christmas season has been especially magical so far.  The excitement of the season is very real for the boys and I'm having a blast experiencing the excitement and wonder of this wonderful time of year with them.  I won't bore you with everything we've done, but here are some of our favorite things we've found to make our holiday season extra special...

You know us and our love our books.  Here are some of our favorite Christmas books...

  

Some of our favorite movies included...

We definitely got crafty these season.  These crafts were kid-friendly and fun for all of us...

This fantastic kit...

  

...resulted in this lovely house...

a first for both the boys and me.  Fun stuff!!

We also had fun making Rudolphs with our hand and foot prints...

These cute little guys are easy enough for a 2 1/2 year to assemble independently once everything is cut out....

This one took quite a bit of help from me, but I'm very happy with the results and the keepsake we now have...

....thanks Pinterest for the inspiration.  

We enjoyed lots of yummy treats too.  The biggest hits was the following...

Cut-out cookies for santa...

hand decorated by my talented toddlers...

...using a tried out a recipe from Rachael Ray's Everyday magazine...

...it got 8 thumbs up from our family.  Delish!  Check out the finished product...

We've also eaten more than our share of white chocolate and peppermint covered pretzel thins.  I have to hide them from the boys, they're that good.  

I see some potential traditions getting started in our house and it makes my heart happy.  What are some of your favorite Christmas activities??