H Week

Here are some things from this week of H interest...

Hundreds...



Counting to a hundred with the hundreds chart! Julia thinks she's got this figured out.



99...one HUNDRED!

I promised Kate we'd count something edible for snack after nap time today...like Cheerios or goldfish.  The concept still isn't quite figured out as she said, 'I can't eat that many!  I'd be so full!'  Hehe!

 

 

Hair...

Rag rolls anyone?

Here's a picture of the curly "Shirley" (as in Temple) after hair!

Our online friend Heidi mentioned that to curb some of the whining (and in our case crying and screaming) about hair combing that she bribed her daughter with promises of curls.  Kate has recently taken to asking for curly hair like Julia for the past few months anyway and I thought...what the heck!  It has worked like a charm!  She now begs to be bathed and sits still for combing and rag rolls.  It looks awful cute when done, too!  She's loving all the attention and can't wait to show Gramma.  Thanks Heidi!

Hopscotch...

One foot...

I took the girls out this morning and we attempted to play hopscotch.  Which they LOVED!  I could only manage so much hopping at this point but that didn't seem to trouble them too much. 

Two feet...hop, hop, hop!

Heidi...
The other Heidi, my cousin, is coming to visit this weekend.  This is the H thing I've been most looking forward to the past few days.  First off, good company but also, help!  Perhaps having a babysitter in house will help things move on to Hurry to the Hospital?  Those would be H words causing me to shout-  Hip Hip Hooray!

A Trip to the National Mississippi Museum and Aquarium aka An Attempt to Walk the Baby Out

Friends of ours from Gym and Art had the great idea that since there was an extra week between our next G&A get together we could meet today at the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium for the morning.  If you've never been, I must give it a big recommendation!  Come visit us and we'll go with you!  It is a must see if you're spending any time in the Dubuque Area for kids and adults alike. 

 

Anyway, I thought, I'd attempt to walk the baby out before my OB appointment this afternoon and I brought my camera!

 

Katie holding a snail in the Discovery Lab.  She was all about it!

All the kids in our group from the four families that met today waiting for me to return from the bathroom. ;-)

Katie in the piranha tank!  The current featured exhibit is one Voyage to the Amazon.  It was the first time I got to see it.  There will be a new exhibit featured beginning in March I believe.

Girls in the belly of a catfish!

H is for Hawk (it is H week here)!

IF you're still reading...my OB apt. went fine.  The baby was not walked out though I'm rather tired from the day!  I'll have to go in again next Tuesday for a stress test if baby hasn't appeared outside before then.  Now though, I'm crossing my legs til after I vote tomorrow. ;-)  I figure if I vote early I could have this child before all the results are in...the way things are sounding that might be the case if I wait a few days, too!

Art

We've been blessed for the past year now to be able to be a part of a small co-op that gathers twice monthly for Gym and Art at a local community center.  The previous video was from gym filmed on my phone.  I also took a few pictures of our art projects from two weeks ago (we met again today). 


The younger set (6 and under) was working on the element of color, particularly color identification and mixing.  We read the book Mouse Paint and did some painting of our own. Today this group worked on color matching and mixing colors using dye and paper towel.  I'll have to take a picture of them if I think of it as they turned out great!


The older set has also been working on the element of color.  They were focusing on warm and cool colors on the color wheel.  These are the first steps in a two week project to create paintings like Stuart Davis.  They finished these works today. 

Yes, if you haven't guessed, it's the "art teacher" typing this post.  I've had tons of help though-- the other moms are a wonderful group.  I have also been enjoying this art blog.  My dear friend Tina, the art teacher helped me to come up with a plan that has really worked well, thus far, working through the Elements of Art.  And the work that the kids have produced and the fun they've had has been awesome.  Hopefully I can feature a few more things here as we continue to enjoy "Gym and Art".

Gym Video

So, I want to see if this will work...a video I took at Gym and Art a few weeks back.  Julia hitting the ball off the tee and running to first.  Please try to ignore my enthusiasm...I'm just jealous of her skills.

Quick Takes 11-11-11

1- As H week wraps up we are anticipating a visit from one of our favorite H's, my cousin, Heidi!  She's always a fun house guest and the girls are tickled that she'll be spending the weekend with us.  Hopefully we can get her some needed R&R away from the college life.  And her and Kate are requesting more SNOW!

We had our first round of snow this week and Katie loved every minute of it.  She was out in it not long after the day began!

2-Well I think that we're through the HFM and the disease never really seemed to take over as I expected.  Though 8 days of keeping the girls home was certainly enough in this mom's book!  Neither girl has a blister and there are just dwindling signs of the rash that plagued them.  I am grateful that it wasn't worse. 

3-FREE Things!  Really excited to see this printable at Catholic Icing not only for my own kiddos but for Religious Ed classes locally.  Really helpful, really handy and FREE! And just received a reminder about Advent Adventure from Holy Heroes, another FREE faith opportunity.  We really enjoyed the things they did for Lent last year and are definitely looking forward to Advent with joyful anticipation now!

4- We attended Wool Day at a local farm with the Home Education Network (HEN).  It was a big hit for Kate.  I was quite impressed with it too.  The family hosting had sheep that they showed how to sheer (though just a bit because a wool coat comes in handy this time of year), then a local artisan brought wool samples and supplies and showed the kids how they could each felt their own ball.  For the older kids she did spinning lessons and more.  Kate and I were quite happy with our felted ball.  And I was particularly pleased to meet a few other moms for potential networking

Katie took the pictures of our ball to post on the blog.

She also picked out the colors herself- blue, black and glitter sparkle (which you can't really see from her shot).

5-We did this act of thanksgiving today (and H is for Hands!).  I case you're wondering, it is a tree with hand print leaves that note things we're thankful for on the hands.  I have to once again put a plug in for Small Steps for Catholic Moms, It was the act of the "Think, Pray, Act" today.  I highly recommend this book for moms particularly ones with small children who struggle to fit prayer and apply it to daily life.   It has been a continual blessing to my days. 

Katie is thankful for- Grampa, Gramma, Mom and Heidi.  She traced her hands and wrote all the names herself!

Julia is thankful for "Boos" aka her pacifier, Cock-a-doodle-do aka roosters, and babies.  Mom is thankful for Dad, Our Church and coffee especially at today's 5 AM wake up.  I think I live with roosters!

6-And speaking of gratitude...ladies do you dare to try this?  I'm giving A Heart of Gratitude a go (started yesterday with my own adjusted version) but wow, I think Betty's right on the money in these remarks.  However, what a great lead in to Thanksgiving or just practice in gratitude and love!  I know I've seen a few folks listing things they're particularly thankful for on Facebook, too.  I dare not try that, I'd be on there way too much!

7- You'll be seeing a new look on the blog in the near future!  Be patient as I try to have patience!  Here's to a great weekend!

Head over to Conversion Diary as she hosts "Quick Takes" every Friday!

November Family Literacy- The Gingerbread Boy

For G week one of the books by our author, Paul Galdone, was The Gingerbread Boy.  It was definitely one of Katie's favorites.  As she told the story back to me a few times.  She was particularly humored by the ending (spoiler!) where the foxy fox settles in for a nap after his snack. 

 As a activity to go with the story we decided to try to make our own Gingerbread boys.  It was tricky as I had to borrow the cookie cutter from the neighbor, guess I should put that on our list. After that, we suited up for the task. Everyone was game for helping in the baking!

Aren't their aprons the cutest?!?

Katie took over the camera for a few of the pictures. She had to get a shot of my apron.

 As I didn't have a recipe in mind I ended up using this one from Allrecipes.  I liked it because it didn't call for any eggs and I new that I'd have some dough eaters in the kitchen.  I did have to adjust it a bit as the initial recipe (as mentioned in the comments) was too dry to roll out.  It may have been because I ran out of white flour and had to substitute with wheat.  Regardless,  a bit more water in the mix seemed to do the trick.  I also ended up taking the cookies out earlier than 10 minutes (it was more like 6-7 min) so that they were soft.  I didn't know with the current bout of HFM if hard cookies would be right for us. 

 I must say the recipe was delicious both cooked and uncooked.  I honestly thought about balling up the dough and serving it as is though the final product is delicious, too.  I will probably make them again at Christmastime.  I had one cookie stealer in the kitchen...at least twice I caught her with cookie in hand and on the run!  Rascal!!!

"You can't catch me with the gingerbread man!"

Katie thought the dough was mighty tasty, too!

Much to my delight, Katie did wonder to herself as we put the first batch in the oven if one was going to jump off the pan...and if it did, we'd definitely catch it for a snack (and if I had my way, a nap like that foxy fox!)!   We all enjoyed catching the gingerbread boys- especially Daddy. 

What have you done as a family to encourage literacy lately?  Head on over to Work, Play, Read and link up to November's Family Literacy Challenge. 

Quick Takes Friday

1.  Julia has been reaching new heights literally!  She has figured out there are certain things she can manipulate to get her to where she wants to be.  Oftentimes this chair will be moved to the kitchen counter where she will assist me in cooking and mess making.  She is also experimenting with dumping her cup of milk on the floor, writing (usually not on paper), ripping books and pulling her sister's hair.

2.  Its not all 'bad' so to speak.  Julia is REALLY FUN to be around.  She's learning in leaps and bounds.  And has mastered some of her animal sounds so well I wish I could record them here for you, a-dorable!  Her favorite words/sounds include cock-a-doodle-doo!, apple, acorn, egg, thank you, please, bye-bye, book, bath, star, Nicholas (a character from one of her favorite books), night-night!  She's smart, hilarious and cute and you can't help but love her to bits- I should know.

3.  We're wrapping up G week on the Alphabet Path.  Kate really enjoyed the Glitter Glue project and you can see in the background of this first picture the Garden we planted.  I had my doubts as to whether or not this would be a fruitful endeavor (pun intended).  However....

4.  Today at lunch Katie spotted some growth from the grass seed and as we looked further a couple of our beans had sprouted, too.  She was needless to say thrilled with this news.  Evidently she has more of a green thumb than her mother. (In case you were curious, Marla and Jason, the gifted plant is still living however, perhaps a new house record...if it makes the winter then...WOW.)



 5.  Also on the agenda to wrap up G week we're doing a November family literacy project in hopes to post it at Work Play Read.  Can you smell the Gingerbread?  Can't wait for Daddy to get home to let the fun begin.  The post is coming SOON!

6. Hand Foot and Mouth Disease (HFM) has been part of our week in review and will be keeping us cooped up for the most part till late next week as it is contagious especially to other little ones.  Julia developed the sores in her mouth today but has still managed to eat a few of her favorite things.  Hopefully it won't get much worse for her.  The plus side is she's been getting better sleep (she'd been so restless with teething I think) and that's good for me, too!  Kate has the sores on hands and feet but has yet to develop them orally that we've noticed.  She is however enjoying the special treatment when it comes to eating.  A friend made some recommendations as her son recently had HFM and we swiftly took action. 

Sucking on ice cubes, Popsicles (homemade), gogurt, hummus, soups and other smooth foods have made the menu.  Though she hasn't complained much my dear Julia is really covered in rash.  This picture is just a small  peek.  Poor thing.

7. One of the things I've yet to try on our new laptop is video chatting.  Though, I did manage to take this picture of the three of us one day.  Maybe next I'll take a video.  Kind of inconvenient for catching some moments but it might work. ;-)  Anyone Skype or the like?

Have a great weekend!  

"F" Week

F is for fish!

F is for fire truck!

F is for our Favorite Fireman!

F is for fire helmet!

F is for fire fighters!

'C' is for Creek (My 200th post!)

For 'C' week we invited our friends to join us for a field trip with the intention of going to a nearby creek.  The creek we planned on really wasn't child or mud boot friendly so we continued up  the road with a plan B.  My dear husband suggested the night before that if the creek was a washout try heading to a place on the river.  And so our creek was the Mississippi!  Kinda big for creek status but the outcome was just what I was hoping when it came to exploring.    

As you can see from this last shot we were right below the Lock & Dam.  It was one of the last BEAUTIFUL Indian summer days that we had and the picnic following our exploration filled the kiddos and settled them down a bit.  We enjoyed the story Let's Explore a River a great choice with many of the things our kids got to do the children in the book did, too! This thus far was one of my favorite days on the Alphabet Path with Kate (and friends).