January 11-14

What to do on our second weekend of 2014? Well, with the cousins in the house and the weather actually cooperating we booted as many out the door to play in the snow as possible!

Goofs

Of course there was a large portion of the day dedicated to Minecraft.

Sunday morning our 4 big ones headed off to Sunday School with the assurance that when they returned their cousins would still be there. I have to admit to loving having the kids dressed so nice once a week. And they really do enjoy their time with the teachers and kids.

In their Christmas sweaters. My step mom has some great taste!

In the afternoon Nana and Baba left to take the cousins home and we took the whole family out into the snow to create small snow forts and snowballs.

Trinity in her Christmas scarf

When Nana and Baba returned Baba came out to join the fun. Echo enjoyed herself but quickly tired of trucking through what was almost knee deep for her.

That time outside was definitely just what we needed. And of course, once they returned indoors we had some time with the games. Skylanders for Miss Trinity (who dances as she plays) and Emanuel (who hops like a bunny).

Monday was back to school and back to an in depth study of all things Chinese New Year related. We had books to read and print outs from Activity Village to do.

Book list will be in the Chinese Resources entry

We also brought out the brushes and Chinese ink Xinny gave us years ago and got to work creating Chinese Characters. We returned to our inks on Tuesday as well. It is just too much fun and so pretty.

Our ice rink and critters were ready for play! I am so impressed by how much fun the kids had with this VERY simple activity.

Miss Echo had to hug test one of my newest crochet pieces. I am currently working to get enough up to get my Etsy store back up and running. Though I have them up on Facebook under my It’s a Hoot page!!! Prices and all that are listed there so do check it out HERE.

Monday was our long awaited first swimming lessons for the twins as well!!! They ended up with private lessons as the third child was moved up to a more difficult class leaving our boys with two teachers!!

On Tuesday we were gifted with something pretty amazing. A homeschool family was downsizing some books… science, math game, some storybooks. And they were giving them away for free. I just lucked out being the first one to say we wanted them and that we would come collect them and wow were they amazing! Any time we can add to our library it is amazing! The woman who was giving them away was so pleased that we would be using them for our larger family. These books are going to be well loved! Now I just need to figure out WHERE to put them!

January has definitely been a blessed month!

January 6-10

The weather has gone cold cold cold… so cold in fact, that it has been declared ARCTIC! SO of course we had to try the boiling water thrown into the freezing air. Yes, instant steam and an impressive sound to boot. Ken was the adventurous one who ventured outside to do so. We also did up New Year’s Resolutions and pictures of some of our favourite Christmas moments in our journals. We did ATTEMPT a balloon left out in the cold but we did not see a dramatic change in its shape sadly. It was worth a try. The kids and I did an afternoon movie in bed – BRAVE! It was fun to snuggle and hang out together in our own little world. The twins also did another Christmas related drawing from Art for Kids. Seriously, click on their link on the right and enjoy the free art lessons! The next day we started storytime up again. I am determined to keep us reading. We lucked out over Christmas and ended up growing our book collection and of course there are always random stops at the library to find some seasonal gems. And lately, our day is never complete without a fairy! With all this cold weather we decided it was time to take on our next Little Passports country – Mexico! I did order some extra books from the library:

• Mexico in Pictures by Janice Hamilton
• Mexico by R. Conrad Stein
• Christmas Traditions Around the World by Ann Ingalls
• Countries of the World: Mexico by Beth Gruber

And of course we used Activity Village (search under Mexico) for some print outs.  We found this great Animal Planet show – Treehouse Masters. After watching a few episodes the boys decided to create some joint masterpieces of their own using their imaginations and Gavin’s art book.  On Wednesday Trinity figured she would come up with some dreams for 2014 and did an amazing job colouring the page up afterwards. In fact, everyone did some winter or New Year’s themed papers. All printed out from Activity Village (link on right). Emanuel and I took on reading about dinosaurs from a Christmas present. I have sorted through all the books I could in the house and have put everything dinosaur into a box. I am hoping we can vary up our dinosaur learning. Of course I still have backlog to share once I get off my bum and link everything up and all that fun stuff. Emanuel’s love of dinosaurs has not faltered. We are just reaching the end of our easily researched dinosaurs. Time to get more creative!  We had more storytime and more treehouses. Both Wednesday and Thursday. As well as a closer look at the amazing microscope bought with Christmas money. I cannot wait until summer when it is easier to get specimens for slides! Ken and the kids took on one of their new science kits and cracked open the magnet box.  We also got a good start on Chinese New Year. This year we are making a poster with our findings again. Lots of books and online hunting. This is one of the kids’ favourite celebrations. And this year it is the year of the horse.  With cousins coming Friday afternoon we rounded off our school week with the creating of our own ice rink. A really simple craft you can find HERE. We also made our own little critters out of magic clay and spent some time discussing how they would skate together and play.  Treehouses of our imagination… magnets… Chinese New Year… add in some interesting government stuff to accomplish – American passports, Social Security numbers and various medical appointments for Ken and we are keeping our 2014 active and exciting!!! 

And we keep on reading!