Archive | December 2013

Completing to Change Focus Fully

December 5-8

Here I am writing about Thanksgiving well into Advent but this year the two were so close together! Trinity and Emanuel had their coffee filtre turkeys to finish with Daddy after all. You can make one  yourself thanks to Peapod Labs HERE.101_5424

We brought out our Little People Nativity set. Echo is enamoured with the angel. Apparently this one is ready to ride!101_5425

Of course we had our advent calendar and a craft to add to the fun! What we can do with markers, popsicle sticks, paper and glue!!! I think Trinity did a great job.101_5428

Then the boys had the exciting completion of their Minnesota lapbook plus extras. Only took FOREVER for us to get it done and together. Of course I saved the resources in a separate blog entry HERE. We did a mini lapbook and then went from there. I hope the little nuggets of facts and truths we found will stick in our minds for at least a little time. It was fun learning more about the state we now call home.101_5426

We have also started using Trinity’s daily reading as family story time. Every time we read one of her Christmas themed books (or watch a Christmas movie) we draw a group picture that will go in our Christmas binder!101_5429

101_5435We ended our school week with a paper craft that I picked up last year at an absolute steal. This was making a fancy paper gingerbread house with accessories.101_5431

It was the first Saturday of the month so of course the kids headed over to Home Depot for free craft time. Ken also signed them up for a special extra craft on the 21st.101_5434

Emanuel drew a wonderful Christmas themed dinosaur page to send up north to a special someone.

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Of  course Sunday brought Sunday School. Cold Cold Cold.101_5437

And then Baba and Ken put up the yard decoration that Nana found at Fleet Farm. Very pretty.101_5440

Later in the evening we had Facetime with Aunty Xinny, Alex, Izaac and Isabella. It was WILD!!!101_5443

We ended our evening with decorating the new 8 foot tall tree. The ornaments this year are from our stash. Not ALL of them but soe many memories and old favourites. The kids had a blast showing them to Nana and Baba.101_5449

101_5452101_5457Christmas is very apparent in the house now. And after a busy weekend it feels so much more real101_5455

This entry was posted on 21/12/2013, in Uncategorized. 1 Comment

Sunday School Christmas Program

Here I go jumping ahead again… but last year we were not settled in a church and missed out on this most fundamental Sunday School experience so we were doubly excited to be involved this year. Anyway… The program was in place of the sermon this Sunday (15th) and was a play about the stars deciding who would light the way in the front for Baby Jesus’ birth.

All these close ups are from practice before service

All these close ups are from practice before service

101_5584101_5580The twins each had a speaking part and all 4 learned the music… in the end, Emanuel had behaved so well during practice that he got to be Joseph!!! I totally wish I had known how to zoom in on the cell phone to take better pictures but Ken got a whole bunch of video and I took some pictures with the camera when he was done with it as well.20131215_11060920131215_111929

20131215_112222101_5588We had to have them dressed in the same colour top and bottom so it was black all the way. With Echo in her pretty white dress thanks to Grandma when she and Grandpa Mike came through over Easter I figured a nice group picture in front of our amazing tree was in order.

101_5577101_5578I am seriously overwhelmed by how wonderful people are to SEND our kids so many presents this year. It has made our lack of extra funds for presents a non issue for the Canadian Christmas (which is what we call our morning present opening with anything mailed to us and from Ken and myself directly as the rest is done in the afternoon once Joe and Faithe and their kids are here… so basically what we would do at our own home before heading to the grandparents’ for Christmas day).

I finally got to wear my LBD. I absolutely love it. My mother in law has some eye for pretty outfits because she was the one that spotted this one!101_5590

101_5591Baba had a friend ask him to go to the football game so we had Nana as our visitor. She brought Echo at service time so we didn’t have to chase her around while we ran through practice.20131215_105655

20131215_105821_120131215_114503There is nothing more Christmas-y to me than a church pageant and this one was cute! I was glad I was able to help out a bit… I was in charge of changing Mary and Joseph out of their star costumes and into their manger outfits and send them up the aisle at the end. Fun!20131215_102502

Of course we wore our Echo out in the end. But she majorly loved the dress! 20131215_180037

This entry was posted on 16/12/2013, in Uncategorized. 1 Comment

Thanksgiving in Brief

We did not cover the origins of the American Thanksgiving this year, rather the emotions that are connected to the holiday – being  thankful and together with friends and family. However, I do have some resources to share!

Our Crafts:

  • Thanksgiving Tree (Activity Village) HERE
  • Paper Turkey (Peapod Labs) HERE
  • I am Thankful Pumpkin (Moffatt Girls) HERE
  • Horn of Plenty – Gratitude printable (Kids Activities Blog) HERE

Our Worksheets:

  • Thanksgiving skip counting (The Homeschool Den) HERE
  • Thanksgiving Activity Pack (Itsy Bitsy Learners) HERE (I did not use some of the pages as I was not impressed by the illustrations but they had a nice Mayflower picture and some colour and shape pages that were ok)
  • Thanksgiving math and number families (The Homeschool Den) HERE

Lapbooks:

  • Thanksgiving Dinner – A Fun Study (Homeschool Bits) HERE

Helpful sites:

  • 3 Boys and a Dog reference list HERE
  • Cornucopia explanation with more links about Thanksgiving (Thanksgiving-Day.org) HERE
  • All things Thanksgiving at Activity Village HERE
  • Wild Turkey Facts at NWTF HERE (National Wild Turkey Foundation)

Books:

  • An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving by Louisa May Alcott HERE
  • The Apple Doll by Elisa Kleven HERE
  • Free emergent readers by The Measured Mom HERE
  • Nursery Crimes by Arthur Geisert HERE
  • A Thanksgiving Turkey by Julian Scheer HERE

Videos:

  • Modern Marvels: The Turkey HERE
  • The Land Before Time: The Time of the Great Giving HERE101_5422
This entry was posted on 15/12/2013, in Uncategorized. 1 Comment