NOTE this is being posted on the 15th and I just want to send out a prayer to all those involved in the bombings in Boston. The world we live in is such an amazing and at times scary place…

April 9-11

Some days are special days and some days we MAKE special… today after a successful (with only a few glitches) morning I put the girls to nap and let the boys Minecraft it up with minimum fuss for once!

Working together

Of course first we had to learn all about penguins… our second book for the day was National Geographic Science Readers: Penguins by Anne Schreiber. Penguins really are one of the most interesting birds. And today we found out WHY they are black on their backs (to hide them from predators from above) and white on their stomachs (to make them hard to spot when fishing!).

Our informational brochure type thing

We had a video covering the career and death of Captain Cook… apparently there is no clear answer as to WHY he was murdered… killed… whatever… Thanks to Crash Course World History. A little over their heads but enjoyable all the same.

Gavin and Emanuel assembled an ice box off of our Mr. Popper’s Penguins lapbook.

It is hard to see but Emanuel made the penguin (he is pro) and Gavin cut out the ice cubes.

We also had a phone call from Grandma on her trip down Route 66… assembly line phone call!

Pass that phone!

And since apparently winter is not willing to let go… we had snow themed pages in our brand new nature journals.

Back to snow

For some unknown reason this is the window of choice!

The middle of the week was definitely not a sunny spring day… however that did not stop us from learning even more about penguins. This time we made clay ones to go into our tiny refrigerator with the clay food.

Penguins on parade

We had a fun second story in the form of the book Little Penguin The Emperor of Antartica by Jonathon London. This time instead of reflecting on the story itself the 3 boys worked together to create their own little story.

Penguin Book

We made fingerprint pneguins…

CUTE!!

Then the boys snuck off on me to do Lincoln Logs…

A little city…

With our Mr. Popper’s Penguins the boys re-enacted a phone call in our chapter… too cute!

hilarious

The boys went and played with the neighbours. In the process of learning the proper catch and throwing techniques Gavin’s cheek got in the way! He was just fine about it though.

Ouch

Thursday marked a rather massive amount of spring snow… so of course the twins had to go out and play in it for a while.

Super sticky snow

Our second book of the day was by an author we really enjoy – Antoinette Portis (Not a Box) called A Penguin Story. This time the 3 boys (Trinity refused) drew their own adorable penguins and we stapled that together to be a mini book.

Adorable penguins

Here is how our weather ENDED on these 3 says of SPRING…

Seriously???

We did a Wild Kratts that was appropriate for our theme if only because these are animals that are MISTAKENLY showed with Penguins – Polar Bears and the Walrus are NORTH Pole critters… the Penguins SOUTH of the equator!

Such art!

So our 3 days have been filled with Penguin learning and snow… I think the kids don’t believe me that it is spring anymore!!!

We DO have some birds though!

For all of our Easter resources please refer to the blog entry titled “Easter Resources“.

March 20-21

CAN mix! It just takes a few extra adults and some strict corralling of the family kittens!! But first… Wednesday..

Easter learning continues with books books and more books… I just love doing a minimum of a book a day… The more I read the more they seem to want to read. Today was Piggy Bunnyby Rachel Vail.

Piggy Bunny

In honour of it being the first day of spring we WANTED to go on a walk looking for signs, but it was rather cold and snowy so instead I drew out a ground and a basic tree with a snow bank and said – MAKE IT SPRING…. did they ever!

Group project

Spring!!!

When finished the Spring poster Emanuel took initiative and drew me his own spring landscape! What they can do with paper and markers makes this Mommy VERY proud!

Emanuel in Spring

We also filled some time with games and cooperative play! I am told that Dora version Candy Land can get positively cut throat!!!

Zander and Emanuel

To round out the creative vibe… clay creations! Note the Triceratops!!

By Emanuel

The twins’ snakes

We actually started our Thursday out in the afternoon. Ken worked into the night on Wednesday to clear up time for us to spend out getting a few errands done the next day. I had coupons… so free undies at Victoria’s Secret. We had to sit and watch the Carousel of course. Which happens to be right near the  ride. It is always fun to watch the horses go around. We even got adventurous and use up AND down escalators to get to the different levels of the mall! A first for Trinity for sure.

Watching the horses (Gavin left)

We had a run into JoAnn’s to grope the yarn… Echo really loves to touch it. And I stopped in Dollar Tree to get Nature Journals (can’t beat a dollar a piece). We are going to use them for nature walks as soon as  the snow melts. Get fit, get fresh air and get to know the nature around us!!

With a stop at a Best Buy to check for a wanted (and saved for) Skylander (no luck) it was time to head to the Minneapolis Institute of the Arts. It was the third Thursday of the month so a busy day (oops) and they were opening a new exhibit (we didn’t make it there). So lots going on including a place that was cutting hair for free, a band (we all agreed TOO LOUD) and lots of people.

Yes, there was a harpist in one of the handicap stalls in a bathroom!

These pieces were from Ethiopia

We went with Shandai and Emily who are both quite well versed on the exhibits to see. Ken and I a figure we want to go on a NOT the 3rd Thursday (the only late night opening) and WITHOUT the kids to take in more of the art and less of the highlights. There was so much to see and enjoy though. I have to say, taking pictures without a flash as you should in an art museum without a tripod is trying. So not as sharp as our usual photos but you get the idea and we will go back tripod in hand! And maybe play with our camera settings a little??

Such a variety of pieces, there were even a few hands on tables with interpreters.

A moment with Aunt Shandai

I wish this picture had turned out better.. this was one of the period rooms and it was DARK!!!

…Me

ART

In the end Ken and the kids went to the family room, made friends and built things out off the toys they had there.

Building blocks

So much fun!

We have started our decorations for Easter with a pastel coloured paper chain… yes we do really love our paper chains in this family but it is such an affordable way to decorate AND work on patterns and colours and hand eye coordination.

Such pretty colours

We DID do some school work on Thursday – most notably was Gavin’s first foray into pastels thanks to Art for Kids. I love that now that his reading has improved he can navigate their archive and find the videos to watch and do on his own!

Shading

Though with our half day Friday is going to be busy with reading and drawing and all sorts of fun Easter themed stuff!!

Hard at work

The hunt for a van that is AFFORDABLE and RELIABLE is on… as is the countdown to Easter. Race against time as usual! Well I do have a few Easter worksheets to share – all from Education.com… We have an Easter bunny dot-to-dot, a fun spring colouring page, and a decorate your own Easter egg page. They have updated their site and now I am not sure how to add things to my collections right now. 

Poor Echo has some non make-up related eye shadow on one eye but the goose egg is gone. And the baby gate is a royal pain for us all but at least now there is no repeat performance in the wings. On the plus side the bruising is not extreme for the injury so that means the aspirin is not thinning her blood too much. 

Echo and her eye

I spent some time today working on math with the boys, and we talked about Spring… so of course there is a snow warning for the area – like 15-25 cm tonight! OUCH. But that IS spring in Alberta. We are sort of playing it by ear… we do what we can, work on what we can and keep in mind that once we are settled back down we can REALLY focus on our schooling. No summer vacation here! 

Tonight was a felt night. I did get my ribbon bucket out of the bedroom before Echo went to sleep BUT found a fun new felt hair thing pattern to try out and of course scraps to make more felt bows… white, blue and green tonight. I was spoiled with some lovely peppermint tea to go with my crafting. 

Tea and bows

We are working on ideas to keep the kids busy! I have really committed to reading to the kids at bedtime. We are reading a chapter book and then the next day one of the twins is drawing something from the story to make a mini book. I will share pictures of that tomorrow. In the mean time I have some tidying to do… some bows to store and some sleep to have. At least I am feeling momentum in my crafting! It is always a pick me up! 

Emanuel and one of his creative moments. That is his skyscraper