February 11-12

Time to finish off Chinese New Year… Zander and Gavin each finished up their studies with writing out some of the things they learned about the celebration on pages with year of the snake themed borders. They also each drew their own special cobra… the instructions were found on Art for Kids as a special Chinese New Year offering. Added to each picture is the Chinese characters for Snake. Not a bad finishing touch.

Gavin and his snake

I lucked out and came across TWO shows for the boys to watch the night before. The movie Mulan (which they then drew something in their journals about) and a FoodNetwork special on making a full out Chinese New Year meal. We learned a few interesting things from that second show:

1. fish in Mandarin is the same words as abundance
2. dumplings symbolize wealth
3. roast chicken symbolizes togetherness and prosperity
4. long noodles symbolize longevity

Emanuel got creative with the Legos… He made his very own McDonald’s counter… giant M and all.

“M”

The counter

I attempted the heart shaped cupcakes with a less than amazing result… still yummy but NOT heart shaped. With lovely whipped icing everyone was content with them anyway.

Gavin and his snack

The weather has worked in our favour BOTH days what with the storm warning over and all the lovely snow that resulted from it. So the kids have been out enjoying, shoveling, getting wet… I had to throw all the gear into the dryer after Tuesday’s fun in the sun… so much melt off from the roof!

First

Putting them to work

It was a nice day out and they all got a little damp

I have to share a sort of dinosaur related video that Trinity and Emanuel assure me is AWESOME!

Tuesday was right into Valentines Day with all the worksheets and hearts and colouring.

Dot to Dot

We also made our monthly poster – I am having the kids make one a month for the whole year. I write out the name of  the month and then each kid draws something they see or do that month!

February

Since it was Shrove Tuesday I gave pancakes a try again on the gas stove with much better results! At least the kids were pleased.

Chowing down

Not a bad work up to Valentine’s Day… and a completing of something special from Chinese New Year.

We also pulled out the micro remote control cars from Alan and Xinny.

January 22-23

Two more days and the kids are still settling into the routine of Daddy leaving each day and this is him leaving around lunchtime. The following week is going to take further adjustment! But it is a good adjustment.

We get creative to fill the time! I think those are zombies and ghosts on there???

So in the meantime I am packing our days with learning… and while the kids are not always on board we are seeing progress in many things. Just need to get science pushed on into our weekly schedule on a more regular basis. I cannot wait until it is warm enough to order our ants. We did get our time in on a special two part Wild Kratts. Dolphins AND Blowfish. I think we all learned a bit!

Blowfish

Dolphins

There was some spontaneous paper crafting with all 4 of our big kids… they made crowns!

Zander and Gavin

Emanuel

Trinity

And then Trinity and Emanuel took the stickers Aunty Karyn brought for us from Dollarama and made special space pictures…

Space… the final frontier

Add in the boardgames and we played our way to education.

Candyland for 2

Oh and the progress on Gavin’s Lego hour creation!!!

Legoland Gavin style

I treated myself to another snack thanks to Karyn – beloved Cheezies… bliss!!!!

CHEEZIES

On Wednesday we celebrated another month of reading… Emanuel got his first pizza coupon for working each day on sounding out and writing out a new word. I am so proud of their progress! This Pizza Hut sponsored program is great!!

NOM NOM

But before that lovely dinner we had a few things to accomplish… Starting with a more simplified how to from Art for Kids – a ladybug, note Zander’s hand holding his!

Lovely scene!

Gavin spent some quality time with his baby sister playing HER version of Skylanders… some sort of weird noised back and forth with various figures that would then end up in the line again!

So sweet with her big brother

And then there is our scissors practice – Trinity is getting rather pro with her S snake from Activity Village!!

All by herself!

And to round off our creativity Zander made a rather amazing sailing pirate ship out of Legos!

VERY yellow

It feels good to see them independently create a little more! And to see some passion in our work.

Daddy and his little darling

December 31-January 1

Anyone who has been following this blog for any length of time will probably realize that 2012 has not been the easiest or the hardest year but it has been a year to remember. Everything from a move to Minnesota to heart surgery and all the ups and downs in between. I am sure I  could list good and bad but really I figure the best way to phrase it would be the way a friend on Facebook has said – I just hope that the BEST day of 2012 is my worst of 2013. And since there have been some amazing days… well it should be an amazing year.

Amazing

Our last day of 2012 was spent mostly at home. Gabriella and Zachary had slept over so they were here until after 2pm. Of course that meant the kids were excited and wild and having an absolute blast. After all, there are all those still new toys to play with.

Ken and I did run out briefly for RC cola and Paranorman from the red box. We actually had to go to 3 different red boxes to find it. It is a great movie, though not one I would let the kids watch.

But first, ice cream before bed

My final completion of 2012 – A slipper… gotta figure out how to ensure the second will match…

Slipper

New Years itself, the moment of midnight came and went and we actually were too caught up in the other movie (the new Total Recall) to notice until TWO minutes after! Good for a giggle at least.

Chinese!

Oh, and there was one more card before the year change. A beautiful one from our dear friend in Europe – Josephine!

Such a lovely card! Thank you!

Our 1st was another indoor day. BUT I did have the kids do a few worksheets that I found on Activity Village. Their New Year’s selection always grows a little each year. I had each of the boys come up with 3 goals to accomplish for the year and of course had some colouring pages as well. This also marks the start of my time to search out what we will do for Chinese New Year. This will be my first year really on our own and celebrating so it is going to be a bit more work and a little more lonely. It will be the year of the snake! Any and all suggestions would be appreciated!

Goals recorded

I am actually planning out January and the beginning of February right now… I don’t get too far ahead right now as items are still boxed up and we don’t have everything at hand. A little more work on a nightly basis for me, but I feel like we ARE progressing.

I started Ken and my jar for the year. I saw this on pintrest… you have a jar where you record everything GOOD that happens for the year. I figure if I have a jar full or good memories and happenings the bad things that inevitably happen in a year will be put in a better perspective!

I promise a better picture later once I decorate the jar

The boys have tried out their new board game. It seems to be a pretty big hit… Ingenious.

Budding gamers

Of course we ENDED our first day of 2013 with a sick baby… and I mean SICK, but all in all.. I am ready for a new year with new beginnings!

Poor little one