Monday's Discovery

We recently took several high school students from my DH's class on a work project outside the city. It was a great time to work on serving others. It was an adventure in itself but for today's discovery- Kaleb discovers grass.

I sat him on the ground....he is checking it out...

looking this way and that way....but wait for it.....here it comes.....

the finger! He explores everything with first with his finger, it is rather funny-him poking everything with his finger. It was definitely cold there since it is in the mountains so I didn't leave him long on the ground. He also wasn't too sure about the new dog they got - who persisted in licking him in the face. But he found a new friend in one of the high school boys and he enjoyed all of the extra attention he received from the girls!

Book-n-Craft Advent Activities December 24th

One last Christmas story- The Night Before Christmas. This is an older version with a mouse family but there are many versions you can choose from. We statrted with a reindeer craft that I found at Mrs. Pancake.

J had to makehim Rudolph the red nosed reindeer. She painted the reindeer and cut him out. I helped with the curvy parts. Then we put him together using brads.

Here J is giving her reindeer bunny ears, not sure why though. She asked if we could make a whole pack of them, not sure I am up to it, especially since Christmas is all most here. Maybe next year.  Our last book for the season and we have family here so I didn't do alot. But I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. Love ya guys!

See you in the New Year! Love ME

Our Nativity (finally finished!!!!)

About two years ago, I found a pattern on Etsy for a felt nativity. I loved the simplicity of it as well as the ability for it to be loved by small hands without worry. So I ordered it and began the journey. It took two years and I finally finished it. It is not that the pattern was too difficult because it isn't. It was just that other things needed to be done or made and I just never could get it finished. Here is my homemade nativity:

a close up of baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph

the three Wisemen that I finished this year....

a final view with our nativity by our phone in the living room so little hands can play with it. I would like to add some freestanding sheep but not sure how I would do that since it wasn't in the pattern.





Book-n-Craft Advent Activities December 22st

All most there -yay! Sadie and the Snowman by Allen Morgan- am I wishing for snow? Not really. I mentioned before that I am using every book possible for our Advent activities. I think when I am back in the states I will look for more Christmas books (sometimes hard to do since I am usually there during the summer). We started our book early by having a Christmas breakfast. I made J a pancake that looked like Rudolph with alittle imagination.

Needless to say,my little girl was thrilled! What does Rudolph have to do with the book? Absolutely nothing but it was fun anyway! After our Christmas pancake breakfast, we had some major baking to do. So, instead of a craft and a game, we made large quantities of snowman cookies to sell at our church bazaar. The bazaar's profits are to go to the victims of the earthquake in Van. Many people are still displaced, living in makeshift tents and winter has already arrived. The ground is covered in snow and these tents are not equipped to keep out the cold. Many are traveling there to build better shelters and this bazaar will help fund the building.

They turned out cute, now I just hope they sell. We are all most there. Hope everyone is enjoying the season.

Book-n-Craft Advent Activities December 21st

Our 21st book is The Jacket I wear in the Snow by Shirely Neitzel. This book might not be about Christmas but I felt like it could be used. It is a fun book that helps pre-readers join in the reading with pictures. We started with making simple snowman cookies using a circle cookie cutter. We added chocolate chips for the eyes and mouth and T M&M's for the nose.

J just loves her tutus!

After they were baked, they looked like this:

Kinda cute, huh? Very simple and no frosting needed. We will definitely be making these again. Our craft was to make a snowman from a popsicle stick. I used a jumbo craft stick so it would be easier to decorate for J. First, she painted it white.

After ir dried, J added snowman details like a scarf, hat, and a carrot nose.

J with her snowman ornament -

Instead of a game, I thought I would leave you with a video that Keke and J made for the school Holiday Talent Show. It is them singing and it turned out very cute! They are singing the song, "Anything you can do, I can do better!" (the song was my idea!) Hope you enjoy it.

Book-n-Craft Advent Activities December 20th

Another Jan Brett favorite, The Hat is our 20th book. I could have probably used many of her books for this Advent but I had to limit myself. In The Hat, Hedgie gets his head stuck in a sock and the other animals laugh at him. But later, the animals think Hedgie had a good idea and they themselves try on winter clothes! J started by making a hedgehog ornament for the tree. We used foam and she chose the colors - blue, pink, and purple.

J cut yarn "spikes" for her blue hedgehog.

Can you tell she is pleased? I then brought out Holiday Bingo to play. We had one of my English students here, so J played with her. We took turns being the bingo caller and the players.

We are all most there - it is all most Christmas. J had a special treat from Santa this week. She recieved an email/video from Santa. This was truly unique and it had J's pictures in it. J loved it (thanks Grandma, it was great). We have watched it several times and it reminds her to be nice to her brother. She was really excited about receiving a special e-mail from Santa! Wow. Only four more to go......

Book-n-Craft Advent Activities December 19th

 

The 19th book is Away in a Manger, a Little Hymn book. Again, I found this treasure in a book sale here. I will spend my last dollar on a book, especially one that is already in the country. J has been facinated by another book that plays music when you open it. She has asked me repeatedly to sing the song with the book. I want J to learn some of the Christmas songs she would normally hear so she can sing along. This book allows that. It puts pictures to the words of the song. J has been extremely interested in learning some Christmas songs. Her favorites are 12 Days of Christmas, Rudolph, Jingle Bells, and Away in the Manger. She likes to take this book and make up her own words to sing to us. Our craft was to make a baby Jesus ornament. We started with some popsicle sticks which J glued onto cardstock as a base.

She colored a popsicle stick for baby Jesus. She drew his face and chose some clothes to wrap Him in (pink fabric, in case you were wondering).

J broke up some spaghetti noodles for hay and glued them onto the sticks. I love the concentration here.

Our finished product - J insisted that Jesus wouldn't mind having a pink blanket! After our craft, we played a game of 12 Days of Christmas Memory.

We were singing the song as we played, she thought it was funny because I kept messing up! Well, only five more to go.....

Monday's Discovery

You would think that we would get used to putting things up so Kaleb couldn't get to them. Or is it Kaleb can extend his arms and fingers to reach just about anything? Any way it is, I found Kaleb the other morning under our dining room table being very quiet. That should have been my first clue, huh?

Keke and her pens. Actually it was my pen that she left after finishing her homework where he could reach. He drew on his face, isn't he cute?

Purple - not a bad color on him. Have a great day.

Book-n-Craft Advent Activities December 18th

Our 18th book of Advent is Badger's Christmas Day by Alan and Linda Parry. I always love books that have little things to do or mini books to read. This has a multitude of activities based on Badger's gifts that he brings his friends. The last activity listening to the true Christmas story about Jesus. Our craft was to create a wreath for our door. I had planned on J painting these but we used all of our green paint on other projects and I am having difficulty finding green paint where I shop. So J colored them with different colored green markers. The wreath template can be found at Mrs. Pancake.

I am really proud of her, she wanted to cut the leaves out herself. They weren't the easiest things to cut out either. She is getting better at using the scissors.

 

J glued some red pom poms for holly berries.

And our finished wreath....

I brought out our 12 Days of Christmas game where J has to practice writing her numbers. We sang the song when we rolled one of the numbers.

We are still waiting for our salt dough ornaments to dry. I must not have the right setting on my oven because it is taking awhile. So we will have to wait to paint them. We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of our family in a couple of days, yay!!! We are definitely getting into the Christmas Spirit.

Book-n-Craft Advent Activities December 17th

Who doesn't have fond memories of Little House on the Prairie? This is a endearing picture book of a Christmas in the Little House. I hope to be able to share the chapter books when J gets older but, right now, these are good snippets. We read the book and discussed the differences between how we celebrate today and how they celebrated back then. We started our activities working with number recognition. J sometimes has trouble recognizing the higher numbers, so we are practicing.

J would turn over an ornament card with a number programmed on it and she could keep it if she could tell me what the number was. If she couldn't tell me, she flipped it back over (after I told her the correct number). Our craft was a big one - we made a gingerbread house. I have had this on my list for several years but they intimidate me. The ones I made with Keke always fell or broke, so I was nervous about this. I didn't want J to be upset if it didn't work.

After much frosting and lots of prayer, I got the house together. Not as neat as a professional but it is together and standing on it's own! J then used the left over frosting to add some candy I found around here.

J loved putting all of the candy on it. I had to keep reminding her the icing was glue-like and not to be licked off her fingers. It is still standing, that is definitely a first for me. The gingerbread house form was found at IKEA here. Not too bad, now I just have to keep Kaleb from eating it!

Seussmas!

I have a teenage daughter who absolutely loves Dr. Seuss. This Christmas I wanted to give her something she would (hopefully) cherish. I made her a Dr. Seuss tree. Some of the ornaments were just laminated books covers or finger puppets that I found. But I did make some from felt. I am pretty happy with how it turned out, I just hope my DD will love it.

I made a Cat in the Hat hat for the top of the tree and some mini bunting as garland around the tree.

Here is my Horton Hears a Who.

My Lorax trees, I think that is what they are called.

Green Eggs and Ham

The Grinch and his heart that grew...

Ten Apples on Top...

Thing 1 and 2...

and a quote for Dr. Seuss himself.

It was difficult to put together with my younger daughter around. I didn't want her to let the cat out of the bag so I kept telling her I was making a game. I think it turned out cute. Now, if I can find some Dr. Seuss fabric while in the states next year, maybe she will get a tree skirt.

Some Dr. Seuss Links....

2 Teaching Mommies printable unit on Seuss

Making Learning Fun printable activities

Seussville this is where I found the finger puppets

Crack of Dawn Crafts this is where I got the pattern for Thing 1 and 2

Oh, My Handmade tutorial for the mini bunting

Class Room Jr idea for the Lorax trees

Craft Snob top hat tutorial

Obseussed everything Seuss