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!

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!

Thanks For Thanksgiving

I am so excited for Thanksgiving!

To help teach Miss Sassy about being grateful,

I decided to make a thankful tree.

I kinda hated cutting out leaves, so this time I decided that the leaves would be in the shape of a hand print.

We went to our school room and got to work.

It worked the best when I painted her hand, and pushed it down for her.  If there were any gaps or mess ups on the hand print, I painted them in.

(Aka, I cheated!)

Then she had free painting time.

I always try to let her have some freedom if we are doing something really specific.

I also suited baby H up before we even started and let him paint too.

I am trying to teach him limits.

He did pretty well.

Then when they dried we read the book

Thanks for Thanksgiving

by Julie Makers

I adore this book for Thanksgiving! The illustrations are awesome, and it gives kids a great jumping off place to think of the things they are thankful for. 

We wrote on our hands things we were thankful for.

Some were cute: Thanks for our legs...

Then we taped them up on the tree I made the day before.

Now every time we leave the house, we are reminded of all of our blessings!

Biodegradable Binoculars

I've been saving up T.P. rolls for some time,

Just ask my husband.

To Make Binoculars!

I used two toilet paper rolls and hot glued them together.

Then we got out the finger paint and got messy!

Miss Sassy used a paint brush.

But Baby H had a great time finger painting.

(He's a serious artist!)

We added stickers to personalize it.

And Voila! Binoculars!

We went on a nature walk to try them out.

We saw lots of birds, a squirrel and our friends!

Two seconds after starting our walk,

Baby H's binoculars were destroyed.

Oh well...It was still fun!

Let's Build a Nest

This week we are studying Birds

So today we built our own Bird's Nest

With Mud, Sticks, Grass and Everything!

First, Miss Sassy dressed up like a bird.

'Cause everything is more fun in costume!

We gathered leaves, twigs, flowers, and grass.

Before hand we talked about how a bird might make a nest.

Miss S. would have only gathered flowers if I would have let her!

Miss S. loved digging in the dirt.

We layered twigs, grass leaves and mud.

We mixed it all together.

And made our own nest!

Afterwards, Miss S. said, "Mom I learned a lot during learning time!"

:)
This is for Jenny's Letter N post!

Our Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Tree

We made our own

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Tree

We started with a huge sugar cookie

(I cut it out from the scraps of the sugar cookies I made last week for book club.)

I frosted it, with a little help from Miss Sassy

Then we put chocolate chips on our tree for the trunk

Then we added on some letters made out of rolled

Laffy Taffy and Tootsie Rolls

And threw on a bunch of Fruit Loops for more color.



And one second after we finished it, Miss Sassy ate it.

Not all of it.

Thank Goodness.

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

Is one of our 5 books for our Week 2 Challenge

As well as The Hungry Caterpillar,

Just for You, The Princess and the Pea, and One Fish Two Fish



It should be fun!

What books will you read?

(Go here for details about the 5 Day Challenge)

My Plans For The Week

Tree Painting

Today we used tree branches as paint brushes!

All week we have been learning about Trees in Spring.

Miss Sassy has been noticing all of the changes with the coming of Spring.

So we decided to pick branches off the trees and paint with them.

Here is our setup:

A picture I had from my files, brown, green and yellow finger paint, and branches from a bush, apple and plum trees.

Before we even started we talked about how the
 trees change in the Spring.
We looked closely at the branches and noticed the little buds and blossoms.

We talked about the parts of a tree and what colors they are.
Then I let her go to town and paint with the tree branches.
If she doesn't have a napkin close by, she wipes the paint on her shirt.

I think her favorite part was dabbing on the yellow.

Not perfect, but a fun tree!


I was featured on Quirky Momma!!
It was my first feature, so I am EXCITED!