Archive | December 2013

The Days Leading Up to Thanksgiving

November 23-27

In preparation for Thanksgiving the next week, we spent a portion of Saturday cleaning. The twins have become rather pro at cleaning the bathroom!101_5334

We had homemade poutine for supper as well! One of the main foods I miss living down here. How can you go wrong with fries, gravy and cheese??101_5337

We had our usual Sunday School on Sunday… with the added excitement of have the twins take on SPEAKING parts in the Christmas pageant! So we have songs to learn AND some dialogue. Quite the ambitious addition to our homeschooling days.101_5338

The week of Thanksgiving started with the usual day of school. Heavy on the Thanksgiving theme. After all, Trinity REALLY loves a good themed worksheet!

Thanks to Activity Village

Thanks to Activity Village

With a cornucopia craft as well. This is included in the reference blog post I will post with our completion. Just a two page print out where we coloured the horn and then the fruits and veg. The added suggestion was to have something we are thankful for on each piece of food but with how many activities we have done with the same idea we chose to just colour and glue.101_5340

We had time for tv together time…101_5341

AND making little decorative hats with Nana. yarn and rings of toilet paper rolls! Adorable!!101_5342

The first time...

The first time…

And then another day... we actually made these over the span of a week!

And then another day… we actually made these over the span of a week!

101_5349101_5350We continued our Thanksgiving theme with storytime. A Louisa May Alcott story that has included an interesting apple based recipe we may need to try one day.101_5344

101_5345Trinity and Emanuel STARTED a craft with Daddy that uses coffee filters to make the tail of a turkey. You draw on it with markers and then wet them down to spread the ink.101_5347

Daddy also assisted in the assembly of our long awaited Grocery Unit. So much gluing and pasting and a little singing of the song we learned. You can see our resources and links on our companion blog entry HERE.101_5353

Of course we had to continue our Minnesota learning… the state bird is the common loon!!101_5354

There was another Thanksgiving book… though this one was more of a Halloween/Thanksgiving idea. It was in the Thanksgiving section at the library though and the kids really enjoyed it!101_5355

I think my days rather jumbled together here… but those were  the high points of our Thanksgiving week up to… well… the day! With a completed lapbook under our belt we ended our learning before Thanksgiving on a high note, that is for sure!101_5361

Ending the Week With a Treat

November 21-22

There are days when the girls fight like cats and dogs and then there are days like Thursday where they sit down and colour together. Princess pictures out of the giant colouring books!101_5317

We had storytime together… I love just randomly grabbing a book and enjoying it with the kids! Of course we had to reflect and record what our favourite part or character was!101_5318

We also made turkey cards with Trinity and Emanuel. Relatively simple, just paint the portions of the hand different colours and slap it onto your paper. Let it dry and draw in your turkey. Trinity got creative and totally did it her way! But I think they turned out super cute!101_5332

With Christmas in our sights it was also time to start painting some special gifts. The kids wanted some of the family and friends to get their precious Home Depot crafts! So it was some serious painting going on.

Day 1

Day 1

Day 2

Day 2

Emanuel had Cub Scouts and is VERY proud of his new book with its instructions to get BADGES! That just leaves fees and the shirt purchase and we are well on our way with the Novaks as our guide!101_5322

The next day we had a special long lunch break… with Daddy… OUTSIDE!101_5325

Our afternoon was a bit of a workshop. We have our Canadian package to go north to Aunty Holly so she can play Santa for us. So… time to make cards! 5 cards among the 4 kids… no hands on except glue and tape assistance, from Mommy!!! Creativity at its best!101_5327

After painting and card making what to do? Well, use the newest Art for Kids (link on right) instructions and make some pictures to give away as well!101_5328

Oh and read a Thanksgiving-ish themed book…

The Apple Doll

The Apple Doll

And then end our evening with Turbo the movie and cookies from Canada thanks to Aunty Sharon!!!!

Thank you Sharon!!

Thank you Sharon!!

Brace Yourselves…

Thanksgiving (American style) and then December being BANG RIGHT NOW I am way off on my timing for blog entries so… enjoy!

There are more pictures of kids to come… I admit it, I MAY have a problem… I am a photo addict!

Even Ken is not safe, though he COULD have dressed up a little... shaved...

Even Ken is not safe, though he COULD have dressed up a little… shaved…

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Combing baby's hair

Combing baby’s hair

And now the Lily Bean overflow!

And now the Lily Bean overflow!

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I love it when we are all dressed up!

I love it when we are all dressed up!

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Swinging

Swinging