Warming up for Christmas!

Around here we're fortunate enough to get time off school before Christmas.  This year was different than previous years in that the kids were BORED and didn't want to go do anything.  Carson especially seemed like he just wanted to go back to school.  To try to help them we did a handful of crafts. 

They LOVED making their snowflakes but we ended up needing hot glue instead of standard glue so they couldn't do it as independently as we'd have liked.  Kayda's is the top right, Carson's is left and Dillon's is the bottom.  

We decided to try making cinnamon ornaments again and it worked out really well! The kids had a great time using the cookie cutter to cut them out and an even better time decorating them!

Carson's favorite was making the no-sew penguins.  He thought they were a blast to play with and I had to keep tracking them down around the house.

Dillon and Kayda took it upon themselves to make a nativity out of legos.  I thought it turned out pretty well!  The sheep are my favorite part!

They also colored nativities, I tried really hard to make sure we talked about Christ more this year and the kids loved talk about him.  Kayda was especially interested and wanted to read about it straight from the Bible. She was the only kiddo who didn't actually finish her nativity.  Her hand got too sore and then we forgot about it.

Of course we HAD to make sugar cookies.  I was very relieved when I brought them to Christmas Eve dinner and they disappeared!  I seemed to be the only one eating them at home!  The kids LOVED cutting and decorating.  Dillon cracked me up because he wanted to be sure there were the same number of gingerbread men as there were gingerbread women so they could all be married.

One night we went to a live nativity story that was put on by a local church.  It wasn't all lined up exactly as I would've thought but it was close enough for the kids.  They got a kick out of it, even if it was REALLY cold out.  They had a market place, King Herod, the angels singing for the shepherds, live animals at the manger and the story was told as you went from one scene to the next.

Last but not least we HAD to do gingerbread houses!  I cheated and used graham crackers and hot glued them together!  Kayda was very meticulous about her house.  Everything needed to make sense and she wanted it to have a very specific look.  Dillon made his into a fun house with a pool and everything.  Then there was Carson.  His favorite candy to use was the gummy bears, he had them sliding off the roof and falling into piles and he gave his house a mohawk.  Pretty soon Dillon and Carson were talking about the traps around their houses and creating elaborate stories about what would happen if people came to visit.  Kayda made it quite clear that she would never go to their houses and  that she didn't think they should have traps.  

Catching up on school art!

I don't like to keep school art around, it clutters really fast and I accumulate enough of that on my own!  So here are the pictures so the kids can still see what they made!  I got a little behind so some are from last school year!

 Kayda's preschool art from last year

 Kayda's kindergarten art from this year

 Dillon's preschool art from last year

Dillon's preschool art from this year

Preschool Art

It's time to clear out the collection again.  The kids seem to really enjoy their new preschool and I am very impressed with it as well.  They actually don't come home with nearly as much art as Kayda had last year, instead they have an abundance of practice worksheets and stuff from them working on their writing, shapes, numbers etc.  I don't take pictures of those because well, they're worksheets.  Here are some of their art projects, most of them actually. 

Here is Dillon's art.

Here is Kayda's art

I got to go in to their preschool on October 27th for what they call a "center" day.  Basically three parents volunteer and we get to go in and run a station.  I got to run a station where they painted paper bags to look like pumpkins, which they later added faces to.  I'm keeping the pumpkins to add to our halloween decorations.  The kids did a great job.  I'm hoping I can go in to "center" day just to watch and take pictures this month.  I only got to be with my kiddos for a few minutes before they were moving on to another station.  It was a lot of fun to be there with them.

They are actually starting to get ready for their Christmas program!  Kayda has been coming home singing about Mary having a baby named Jesus.  It is SUPER cute.  I can't wait to see it!

This is REALLY delayed but... more preschool art!

I finally got around to photographing Kayda's last round of preschool art!  Woohoo, goodbye pile of papers!  Just in time to start with TWO piles of paper in September!

Dillon and I stayed one day and they were making crayons.  Here are Kayda and Dillon's.  They each had to draw 5 of their favorite things on their crayons.  Kayda's were Brutis, a long neck dinosaur, the new swing set, the camping trailer and Hank.  Dillon's were the camping trailer, t. rex, Hank, cars and bikes.  Mommy had to help Dillon (held his hand to try to help him draw what he wanted) with quite a few but Kayda's are almost entirely her own.

Kayda's Preschool Art

I got kind of behind.  My thought, way back in October was that I could just take pictures of Kayda's art instead of trying to hold onto all of it (since she comes home with several pieces of art every time she goes to school).  I got a little behind, a little meaning these pictures represent the majority of her art from October to now.  So much for keeping on top of things!  Next year I'll definitely have to be better about it considering both Kayda AND Dillon will be in preschool and it will be twice as often!  Here are the pictures of the things Kayda has made at school.

Recent Events

Today I have to report that Kayda had her first ever "when I grow up I'm going to be..."  She told me today that she was going to grow up to be a teacher for her preschool.  She's never said anything like that before so I was very excited! 

Now since I'm posting I might as well add a few more things.  Here is a picture of all of Kayda's art from preschool thus far.

Here is a picture of the things we could bring home from Dillon's class. 

Last but not least, here are the kiddos playing "robots" today.  I had paper bags sitting out and decided to be creative.  They each have "jump", "walk" and "dance" buttons and the kids had a GREAT time literally pushing eachother's buttons!

It's been a while...

Well, it's been quite a while since I've updated so here's a quick summary... Our family has been hit with illness after illness after illness. The kiddos were basically sick from mid-December to mid-February. So we haven't been doing a whole lot. Here's a few things we've done that I have pictures to go with.

Kayda and Dillon love to ride their trikes, this is their newest invention. Dillon figured out how to pedal and then stopped all together, maybe this is why.

Kayda and Dillon love to color. Kayda has discovered that she LOVES glitter, I haven't been brave enough to try that one with Dillon yet. Here are some examples of her masterpieces. I drew out the shapes and then she did most of the cutting, I helped hold the paper while she did it though.

While our little family has been sick we've spent a lot more time than we like indoors. Well a couple of weekends ago it was gorgeous outside and Daddy decided that we should go for a walk. A walk turned into a trip to Lake Meridian with our little family, Hank, Grandma H. and their new dog Jake. Gotta love how nice the weather has been. It definitely doesn't feel like March, and it didn't feel like February and it didn't feel like January. Not so sure we had much of a winter... maybe 2 or 3 weeks worth.

For Christmas Kayda got moon sand and I was finally brave enough to take it out again. Kayda had a blast, Dillon liked to smooth everything I made for him but got bored quickly.

Another big step this month was a trip to the movies...again. We took the kids to see "Planet 51" at the $3 theater. They BOTH did great this time. They sat and watched the whole movie and had a great time of it. Kayda recently went with Grandma and Grandpa G to see "The lightening theif" and did very well.  She didn't get scared at all and wanted to go see it again!

As I've said before Kayda can officially write her name, but now it's without help! Way to go! She even wrote out every letter of the alphabet with me a couple of days ago and the important part...most of them looked the way they are supposed to! She wasn't learning her letters very well because she would get bored so I finally bought the letter factory and it has made a huge difference! She knows all her letters and the sounds they make. She's so excited to know them that she'll read off the letters on posters and such. It's helped some with her speech but we'll still be happy to get her into speech therapy; we're still waiting for the official results of the evaluation. Kayda loves the book "Snug House Bug House" and enjoys reading it to us (she has it memorized). Last but not least, Kayda is officially signed up for little chargers starting next fall. Now we just need to get her to potty train. I wish she was interested. Hopefully the no potty, no school rule will help.

Now for little Dillon. We have discovered that Dillon does not like it when Kayda isn't home. She has started staying the night at Grandma G's a lot and he is miserable without her. He adores his sister and is more than a little lost without her nearby. One good thing about it is that he gets to ride in the Jeep which he adores! He is starting to talk like crazy and many of the words are recognizable. He is the most charismatic little boy I know. When we go anywhere he's waving at everyone, talking to them, saying bye to them and giving them his sweet smiles. He's a charmer, watch out girls here he comes!