Tag Archive | advanced copy

Gingerbread Men

December 17-18

What can be better on a Monday than videos… and one of them a CRAFT video? My loyal fellow crafter Gavin and I were right on top of that! I like this project as it gave him a start at braiding with something that holds the shape. He got a little frustrated but did a GREAT job! And the supplies – pipe cleaners, SIMPLE! then I folded two he twisted together to make our bow and attach it and BANG tree ornament and proud crafter!

My crafting buddy

Our second video was a Trinity favourite and I think another that Activity Village (both of our videos are from the site) posted LAST year. It really is short but soooo cute!

Gavin continued his artistic trend with the newest Art for Kids instructions – BABY JESUS! Absolutely ADORABLE!

A beautiful Baby Jesus with artist (Gavin)

The close up

Trinity and Emanuel channeled some artistic talent as they worked on what we are calling our “gingerbread house” since we started our gingerbread man unit with the traditional story and some workbooks. We figured foam would be easier (though this kit not much!).

Working on the house

With gingerbread men comes many many printable pictures… Trinity was all over that!

Colour by numbers thanks to Activity Village – link on right for the site

We also read the boardbook we have for gingerbread men… coloured our Advent stuff, worked on finishing any unfinished previous week sheets and of course practiced our songs. I am hoping to do up the video by Friday and post it on youTube!

The Gingerbread Man

I had a special evening OUT of the house. We had all miss remembered Joe and Faith’s flight return (thinking it Tuesday when it was Monday) so Nana and Baba and cousins headed to the airport after I left leaving Ken solo. But yours truly was out for the evening with Shandai (a besty from my high school days in Canada) and her roommate Emily. Both of them are SUPER crafty ladies and an inspiration.

We went to Applebee’s for dinner (thanks again Shandai) and the 5.00 burger and sat and chatted forever. Then we went to JoAnn’s and shopped for ages, just trolling the aisles talking craft and seeing what there is to see. I picked up some super soft purple yarn for a special project and since I had coupons got a couple dollar Christmas items for the kids to craft with and TRACING paper for a project for later this week.

New yarn!!

Poor Ken finally succumbed to the cold that has been kicking ALL our bottoms on Tuesday. Sore throat, sore body, you name it… so our errands consisted of the two of us heading out late afternoon with Ken driving and me doing the rest. I think I am finally done sending what packages I can before Christmas. Oh and a run to Target to ALMOST finish the random items. I REALLY need to find that Christmas dress for Echo…

So much to do we are tired out!

I had that new package of pipe cleaners so Gavin and I created wreaths of many shiny colours. I love the braiding practice. Gavin even got EXTRA fancy with his bow piece!

More wreaths

The tracing paper has come in handy AGAIN… a method learned from their cousin Gabriella of tracing pictures is VERY popular around here. Gavin decided to go with a page out of our Christmas colouring book. With the Pringles I picked up at Target we can make our pin hole cameras this week as well… Probably by Thursday since we still have a tube to eat.

Tracing paper!

The gingerbread men pages continue as does our book reading. We had an advanced copy of the Christmas themed Scaredy Squirrel book – Scaredy Squirrel Prepares for Christmas… you can find our family review HERE. We absolutely adore this series and are so blessed to have a signed copy of one of the books thanks to Karyn. Our binder is filling up.

Hard at work

Scaredy Squirrel Prepares for Christmas…a Book Review

Thanks to one of our favourite librarians (Karyn) we are huge fans of Scaredy Squirrel (by Melanie Watt) in this family. We currently own two books – Scaredy Squirrel and Scaredy Squirrel Has a Birthday Party (signed edition thanks to the same lovely lady). So the opportunity to read an advanced copy of a CHRISTMAS themed book in the series was just right up our alley.

Now I will warn you, our Kindle app edition was a difficult read. Scaredy Squirrel books ooze his neurosis and are full of charts and images. The way our app broke up the pages made for some difficult reading and some doubled images. BUT all of that may be fixed in the final print edition. I would suggest purchasing the paper version anyway for ease of perusal and enjoyment of the pages over and over again. But don’t take my word for it… here are the kids’ opinions of Scaredy Squirrel Prepares for Christmas. Beware there ARE spoilers!

Trinity: It was pretty. I loved it. The squirrel was funny.

Emanuel: I wonder how the abominable snowman got into the party. I think the monsters were not real. It was a little funny.

Gavin: Scaredy Squirrel was really funny. The pictures were funny and cool. I liked the part when Scaredy Squirrel showed you how to play dead best. Scaredy Squirrel is really really weird when he figures out what he has to do for Christmas. Cuz it is really weird when he does stuff.

Zander: I think it was cool that Scaredy Squirrel is really good at making funny stuff. And I love him. He was a really good actor in this book. It was a really good book.

And as the reader/teacher/Mommy…. well I loved this book. It feels longer reading it on the Kindle app but it has the same high level of giggle factor as the previous books. Scaredy Squirrel’s neurosis have the kids looking at Christmas traditions in a completely different and much more hilarious way! So if you are interested in Christmas traditions and can totally get on board with a Squirrel with a bucket full of fears and plans… this is a must read! I would suggest the Scaredy Squirrel series for ALL ages honestly!!

Scaredy Squirrel Prepares for Christmas

This entry was posted on 18/12/2012, in Uncategorized. 1 Comment

Good News of Great Joy… a Book Review

Now that it is the Christmas season we can finally deal with our advanced copies of some theme appropriate books… Here is the kids’ review on the book Good News of Great Joy!

Trinity: I like Jesus. There was girls in it. It was cute Jesus.

Emanuel: The angels were good. Jesus was cute. I liked the story.

Gavin: The pictures were cool and I really liked the baby Jesus in the book. 

Zander: I really liked the book. My favourite part was the angels because they can fly and they are so beautiful. 

This kid friendly version of the Baby Jesus story was a hit with all 5 of our kids. Even 2 year old Echo was right there looking at the pictures and enjoying the words. I personally enjoyed reading this one, the rhyming was fun and the pictures cute and entertaining. One of my favourite lines was about Jesus being born: “And the baby in Mary was coming out soon!”… 

Kelly Pulley has taken the focus of Christmas for Christians and made it very accessible to children. It is a relatively quick read and the illustrations are sure to keep your little one interested. Good News of Great Joy is a terrific choice if you want a sweet rhyming book on the story of Jesus birth! 

Good News of Great Joy