F.A.M.I.L.Y.

Forget About Me, I Love You

Knit Together is hosting an auction

for this adorable, hand knit Saint Therese of Lisieux doll.
All proceeds are going to Marci and her Amazing Grace & Therapy Fund.
The Amazing Grace & Co. Therapy Fund was founded to help Marci's daughter, lovingly called Punky on her blog, to be able to attend a special treatment program for her Autism.
Please check this out, and help spread the word.

Medical update

For the record we have--from youngest: Kimberly-2 ears infections; Luke-2 ear infections and pneumonia is both lungs; Grace-sinusitis needing steroid nose spray; Mark-2 ear infections---these are the only kids at the docs today---Danny now is sick, but I have stopped counting.....

Are these signs we need to call in reenforcements?

If momma is sick and she find a child watching tv on the kitchen table,
and another poor girl is blowing her nose like this.... is it time to call for help?

We will be back.....

to our regularly scheduled programming soon.....

I hope!!

Just because .....

Fun in the Winter Sun!!

It was a beautiful sunny Saturday afternoon today, so we headed out into the backyard.

Even though the sun was shining--it was well below freezing-- but it is never too cold for soccer.

I can barely see you, Mark! You blend in so well with your surroundings.

What a face!

and another face....

Maybe Luke isn't meant for winter activities----

You can do it, Grace!! The littles are waiting!!

Waiting littles.

It is more icy under that snow than it looks.

Gracie's plan.

I am not sure if this will work.

NOPE!!

Maybe Mark will have better luck.

Whooo-hooooo!!!!!

YIPIEEEEE!!!!!!

And then, we call it a day!!

Alphabet Filefolder Game

This was our favorite preschool activity of the week.

The Alpha Match file folder game. ( Free at Homeschool Share)
This free printable game is great. The capital letters are glued into the file folder. I laminated the lowercase letters and then cut them out. This will make them long lasting.

Kimmy (3) loved matching the letters---I believe for most of the letters, she was matching the pictures.

Luke (4) knows many of the upper and lowercase matching letters, to this is perfect for him also.

I also brought out our alphabet bead kit to add to the fun.
The little square beads fit perfectly into the squares on the printable cards.

For Luke, I can take the lowercase cards seperate from the file folder and have him match the uppercase beads to them.

Kimmy hard at work.

This is a great free file folder game--perfect for preschool.

A 10 year old's birthday---a photo essay

Happy 10th Birthday, Mark!!

Right now, you are at an age between young man and little boy.

Enjoy this special time in your life.
We are very proud of you and love you very much!!
Happy Birthday!!
You are now in the double digits!!

Martin Luther King Jr Day Cookies

Today we enjoyed learning about Martin Luther King Jr.

I put a packet together for Mark and Grace to use to learn about MLK from Enchanted Learning.

I found so much information, that I feel the kids got a very good lesson on the life of this remarkable man.

We also watched the entire "I Have a Dream" speech from Washington DC on YouTube.

I don't believe I have ever listened to the entire speech and was so happy to have the opportunity to listen and discuss it with my children.

After that we made cookies.

People cookies.

People cookies of many colors.

After baking our cookies we mixed chocolate and vanilla frostings to make different shades of skin color.

It was fun to listen to the discussions that the kids had about the colors. They wanted to keep changing the colors until they got the colors of people they admire.
Here are some quotes from the kids:
"Bill Cosby--he's pretty dark brown, but President Obama isn't so dark. I want to make Derek Jeter's skin. I don't know anybody with this white skin---they must be an albino."
Of course, if it were summer, some of us get real dark, others turn red, and still others never change from their pale-Irish skin color.(But not quite as white as the plain white frosting.)
Let the frosting begin!

I love this picture. It looks like Kimmy is giving Luke lessons on how to frost cookies properly.

Even Mark enjoyed this.

A very culturally diverse group of cookies.

Everyone holding hands.

It seems so simple, but these are the things that seem to stick with the kids.

These little activities, and the discussions they cause, seem to teach the kids a lot more than textbooks and lectures can teach--and they always remember the fun!!

Hot Chocolate and Marshmallows Counting Activity

I was lucky enough to win a Winter Wonderland Learning Pack in a recent giveaway from the Me and Marie Learning Aids for Little Ones blog.

If you have preschoolers in the house, this is definitely a blog of check out-and an esty shop.

The learning pack of "packed" fun of winter wonderland fun, but by far, the favorite activity the kids are enjoying right now from the pack are the hot cocoa marshmallow counter cards.

Graphically, the cards are gorgeous. They each have a number on them and the child puts the correct number of marshmallows on the corresponding mug.
Luke was soooo proud, because he could successfully count out all the marshmallows on each card.

Luke doesn't have a lot of patience when it comes to any type of "schoolwork", but he completed all these cards twice, because if he "tried his best" he could eat his marshmallows.

(Bribery seems to work on this boy everytime--especially marshmallow bribery! :-)

Amy's First Homemade Rosary

We will forever be thankful to Ruth, for getting us started on this beautiful hobby of rosary making.
This is Amy's first rosary--(Laura learns tomorrow)
Amy did a great job and showed a lot of patience learning to create something so beautiful

While Amy made her rosary, I made one for Mark. I just love these beads and the crucifix.

Ruth picked out all the parts for us, and when I am ready to order parts on own--I think I may need to have Ruth on the phone, giving me her support.