Exploring Seattle Part One

Okay, I have an announcement....

I'm pregnant with baby number #3!

Aka why I haven't posted for a while.

But now that I'm {mostly} over morning sickness,

I'm ready to get back to work!

We had the chance of a lifetime to take a vacation to Vashon Island, WA.

Which is an island in between Seattle and Tacoma.

Our friends live on a six acres oasis.

One morning while the boys were working out,

we decided to go exploring.

I gave the kids their own baggie with their name on it,

and they could pick anything to put in their bag.

It was such a gorgeous day, I ran and grabbed my camera.

They had a ball picking beautiful things,

and claiming them as their own.

It was a fun activity that used many senses.

We headed back inside,

and they were all thrilled with what they found.

This picture feels like such a time piece.

I can almost imagine all of them in the same pose in 5 years.

We went inside and made some flower art.

Then they exercised, just like their daddy's did.

Just look at H.'s face, he wants one too!

A Home for Hermit Crab

On with our ocean adventures!

Time to learn about Hermit Crabs...

We read the book, A Home for Hermit Crab

by Eric Carle

It is a cute story about a hermit crab who needs a new shell,

but he wants to decorate it,

so he goes around the ocean floor,

collecting things in the ocean that will make his shell more homey.

After we read the book we decided to make our own

 fancy hermit crab shell.

I pulled some colorful pages out of magazines.

and then she cut small pieces out.

I cut a square of contact paper, and taped it sticky side up.

You can see it taped to the blue file folder above.

You can find contact paper at the grocery store next to the shelf liners.

That made it so easy for her to cut out colorful pieces,

and stick them onto the paper to make a mosaic.

Then I painted her hand red,

to make it look like a hermit crab body.

After it dried,

I cut out the hand. 

I added some more contact paper on top,

 cut her magazine mosaic,

and drew a shell shape on top.

I think they turned cute!

Seriously this would be a great classroom craft.

super easy, and easy to make look great.

I know Mother's Day is past,

but this would be an easy way to make into

flower onto a Mom's Day card.

Just sayin'

:)



Princess Week Wrap-up

We had a fun time having princess fun during princess week!

To finish up the week,

we headed over to the library for their Princesses and Pirates day.

It was so fun!

Everyone was invited to dress up,

so you better believe we did!

So here are some of my favorite princess posts from people I follow:

 Inspirations Surrounds always comes up with great ideas!

This time she had her children decorating princess dresses made out of play dough.

I can't even stand how much fun this looks.

The next rainy day we are totally doing this!

Go here to see how she did it.

I thought this idea from the Tutuzone was a fun one.

They used a sucker to create a fairy princess.

What a fun idea, we have all made ghosts out of suckers,

But a fairy princess would be so much more fun!

This idea is from Come Together Kids

She came up with this fun idea and created it before they went to see the movie Mirror Mirror.



The idea is that kids look at their reflection and see the crown upon their head.

This would also be a great way to talk about self worth.

Go here to see the great DIY.

This idea is from Casa Camacho

This is a really cute blog that I just started following.

She has lots of fun craft ideas, as well as practical home management ideas and printables.

Here she had a princess muffin tin tea party.

She had things like: Unicorn Calzones, and a Fruit Wand.

Go here to see the details.

We Three Kings

Today we learned about the "Three Kings"

or the Wise men

We started out by reading A Star So Bright: A Christmas Tale

By M. Christina Butler

This is such a sweet book!

There is a cut out star on each page,

and the animals look at the new star,

and go and find the baby Jesus.

Who is under a lit up twinkling star on the last page.

My babies LOVED it!

We talked about the wise men,

and how they searched for the baby Jesus.

We made king's crowns out of card board and tinsel,

and decorated them with dot markers.

(Or the Bingo Markers we found at the Dollar Store.)

We made up gifts of Gold (more tinsel),

Frankincense (Essential Oils)

Myrrh (Perfume)

We "wrapped" them in tin boxes, and put bows

with magnets on them.

We made stars,

with markers and glitter.

Then we hung up our star, and put our baby Jesus

right under it,

And brought our gifts to the baby.

Then they played pretend as Kings,

or mommies

Merry Christmas!

Oh Christmas Tree

...how lovely are thy branches.

Don't you just love the Charlie Brown Christmas Tree message?

We first read Tale of the Three Trees

By Angela Elwell Hunt

Which tells about what three trees want to become,

one a treasure chest, one a boat fit for kings, and the last wants to grow tall and point to heaven.

They all three get cut down and the first becomes the baby Jesus' manger, the second the boat Christ calmed the sea in, and the last the cross of Jesus.

It's a beautiful story perfect for Christmastime.

Next we decorated our felt Christmas tree,

Check out this felt Christmas Tree,
Made with fancy ornaments!

It was funky and fun.

It would be awesome to decorate the ornaments,

and write Christmasy things on the back of each ornament

(like random acts of kindness to do at Christmas time, or scriptures telling about Christ's birth.)

We also made a tree craft.

I have wanted M. to practice her cutting skills,

So I had her cut out some tissue paper from the dollar store.

We cut out a girl ice skater,

Glued on a magnet, and put it on some aluminum foil.

(Not that it stuck super well, but it made it glide better.)

Then as my little artist always does,

She added some flair.

For our snack we made Christmas Trees out of Cheerios Rice Crispy Treats adding green food coloring with the melted marshmallows.

I found this was a little tricky.

I finally figured out what worked.

I used a funnel when it cooled slightly,

I sprayed it with Pam put the rice crispy mix inside,

put it on a plate, molded it a little more,

and let it set in the freezer.

The kids LOVED this snack,

they spent over 15 minutes putting on the candies.

It was a hit!

Santa Day

Today we celebrated Santa Day!

(Which is really a culmination of all things Santa.)

We started out with pancake Santas.

Miss Sassy does not like whipped cream (I don't get it)

So I used mashmellows instead.

And for Baby Hansome we used whipped cream,

strawberries, and chocolate chips.

It turns out he doesn't like whipped cream either.

We made a Christmas count down as well.

We did it clear back on Dec. 1st.

Man this month flew by!

You can find this printable here.

We glued 25 cotton balls on our Santa, and ripped one off every day. 

 Some people glue one on every day, but I could never commit to that...

Here are our picks from seeing Santa.

Yay! Baby H. didn't cry!

 So sweet...

She is telling Santa that she wants a Rapunzel dress, and a Rapunzel doll, and shoes, and crown.

Santa was so nice that she just kept on going and going while she had the chance.

We also made up on the house top Santas

I used a tissue box cut in half,
with a hole cut on top for the chimminey


I found a picture of Santa from google and printed it out.
Then she colored it while I hot glued the chimminey together.

We cut out the Santa and put him on a Popsicle stick.

Then we decorated the house with shape stickers.
While listening to up on the house top.


So here is my take on Santa,
We give our children imaginary creatures to give them sweetness to life. There are also tons of great literacy tools that go with Santa as well.  (Rhyming, books, poems)

But there are also great ways to tie Santa to Christ.

 

This book is my favorite.

It has very simple print and it says things like,

Santa wears red, Jesus wears red

With beautiful pictures of Christ in red.

I also love the poem "Teach them the True Meaning of Christmas."

Here is the abbreviated version:

And Santa whispered, "Teach the children the true meaning of Christmas." 

He pulls each item out of his sack...

The Star: A heavenly sign of prophecy fulfilled long, long, ages ago..The shining hope of mankind.

Red: The first color of Christ symbolizing the Savior's sacrifice for all.

Fir Tree: Evergreen--The second color of Christmas shows everlasting life. The needles point heavenward.

The Bell: Rings our to guide lost sheep back to the fold--signifying that all are precious in the eyes of the Lord.

The Candle: A mirror of starlight reflecting our thanks for the Star of Bethlehem.

Gift Bow: Tied as we should be tied together in bonds of goodwill forever.

Candy Cane: The shepherds crook used to bring lambs back into the fold.--A reminder that we are all our brothers keeper.

The Wreath: A symbol of the never ending eternal nature of love..having no beginning and no end.

I put all of the items in a Santa like sack and tell them what each symbolizes. It is very visual and perfect for kids.

But, wouldn't it be awesome if you had a family party with Santa and before he had children sit on his lap, he did a "true meaning of Christmas," monologue.  

One day...