More Christmas Snapshots

We got to do lots of the usual cookie baking.  And of course, the gingerbread house.  I accidentally bought the “pre-made” house that just needed decorating.  Then, I thought, well, that might be nice.  Then we opened the box and some of the pieces were broken into lots of little pieces.  Hmmmm. . . maybe not a good thing.  But, to the rescue came. . . Daddy. . . who managed to get it put back together for the girls to decorate.  He is so talented.  :-)

See the girls’ faces – amazed.  Hee hee!

Days at Home

Here are some random catch up pictures of some of our days in the last month or more!

Ever seen a Cotter Tens Fractal?? This was one of our activities in Jaylyn’s math book to help reinforce the 10 in one concept in our math system (10 ones in 10, 10 tens in 100, 10 hundreds in 1,000). Jaylyn Loved doing this!

My little helper!

A special breakfast for Adley. Sometimes Jaylyn wakes up and wants to make a special breakfast menu with games and color pictures and everything. (I think this started from fun Cousin Makenna!) This was one of those days. Adley is still looking a little sleepy. :-)

One thing on the menu was bagels, but the girls have a new fun bagel topping. In one of Jaylyn’s magazines, there was a “recipe” for rainbow sprinkles to put on yogurt or bagels, etc. So, the girls insisted on making it. Thankfully, it was easy! It is just crushed fruit loops! You sort the fruit loops by colors and crush them. Then layer them in a clear cup and sprinkle on your favorite foods! Don’t you need to add colored sugar cereal on top of your cream cheese??? :-)

Yum!

Fruit Loops!

I like them too!

I also love to take care of babies! (or baby bears)

Awwwww

Baby!

Hugs!

Leighton is super stylish!

Baking and Learning

We have been learning a bit about some of the Jewish Holidays in history lessons.  I knew the girls would love trying out some Jewish Challah bread.  It was hard for them to let it sit and rise a couple times.  :-)  Who wants to wait???

Usually Jaylyn gives up quickly because the dough gets too hard and her arms get tired.  But, this time, she was motivated to go all the way!

They each braided their own loaf.

It turned out delicious!

First Day of School Success

Aside from the fact that Jaylyn, Adley and I all have a nasty stomach bug, we had a wonderful first day of school!  I’m grateful that Jaylyn did not have to miss her whole first week of school because of a virus and could conveniently begin at home!  :-)  She was all hyper before bed, ready to start school.  She woke up cheering!  She was ready to go!  I was hoping that I could live up to her first day hopes.  Adley was also ready to participate, so I have been preparing for some “preschool” activities for her to complete when she is home. 

First up – the requested “muffin tin” breakfast and their assigned “morning duties”.  They each have a set of cards to remind them of what needs to be done before we begin our other activities for the day.  This is the first time that Adley has her own set of cards for her morning duties.  She is old enough now and is very eager to complete them. 

Secondly – I am trying a tweaked version of the “workbox” system (for those of you that even know what that is).  Basically they each have a binder with pages of activities and school subjects for the day.  I have marked the activities in their binder that is planned for that day.  They can see what will happen and can keep track of what activities are completed by moving designated “cards”.  The activities that can fit in their binder are there ready for them to pull out.  This will hopefully lead to some independent learning and teaching them how to organize their own time and assignments.  We will see if this system is beneficial, or if it is just more work for me.  :-)  So, they began flipping through their binders to see what activities awaited them.  They did a great job completing their tasks and they were both very excited when they were able to mark that all tasks were completed.  Woohoo!  So far, it is a success, but I can already see the need for a little more tweaking.  Just a few of the activities for the first day included: shaving cream squishing, scavenger hunt phonics fun, trip to the library, decorating pages for their binder covers, gymnastics activities at home on their mat, and even chores. 

Thirdly – A sigh of relief as Jaylyn goes to bed cheering and excited for the next day of school.  I am happy to say it was definitely a success.  And, I will also add since I am typing this after completing our second day, that it was also a success.  The favorite activity of today was finger painting with pudding.  Yum!  And now, I am even typing again on the third day.  A lot of time today outside enjoying the nice weather – finally!  We even read about Arabian horses out there as Jaylyn pretended that our fence gate was her pet horse gate.  :-) 

This is from the night before school.  We were playing with foam letters and numbers.  TJ put a 6 on Leighton’s arm and she loved it.  She FOUND the 9 and brought it to him.  :-)  She knew just which numbers to pick up and fit on her arm and she did not want to give them away.   Have you ever had this kind of fun with numbers??? Muffin Tin Breakfast – Who would have thought that normal breakfast food in a muffin tin could be THAT exciting?  You can see that one of them was a little farther along in her morning duties than the other.  :-)

Excited for first grade!

Still excited!

Labeling oceans and continents 

What should I do next??? 

Pudding paint ready! 

It is fun to lick!    

You can lick it?????  Let me try that!  

You can drink it!

Then there is the dip!

And then there is the art of smearing it all over your face!

Ta da!

Can you tell whose art page is who’s? :-) 

Here and There

Since New Orleans, we have been "here and there" a few places.

We were able to make it to cousin Hailee’s birthday party. 

Elijah, Mylee, Adley, everyone’s favorite Amber holding Leighton, birthday girl Hailee and Jaylyn.

Then we were able to make it to the Lake of the Ozarks with some other cousins.  We were definitely thankful to have that opportunity to visit with Shane before he heads off to China for quite a while (or forever).  Although, we did miss out on a visit with Dawn and Terry who were in town while we were out!  Missed you all!

Silly Girls

Leighton enjoying her lunch at the pool 

A little swimming inside

 And some swimming outside.   

Can you tell Adley was having a good time? 

Mavery and Adley 

There is always a fashion show with clothes bought by grandma’s at the outlet mall! 

Leighton enjoyed the condo. Mavery, Makenna, Sage, Sawyer, Malaine, Adley, Jaylyn, Leighton on Memorial Day.

We also made a couple trips to my parent’s house.  Once just for fun and to pay a visit to my grandma who just had a birthday.  Happy birthday!!!

Here is my mom and Leighton enjoying the front porch and Adley’s bubbles.

 Jaylyn loves to play in their trees.  Swing!  

They also love to swing in this swing hung from one of the tree branches. 

Well, Jaylyn is a little big to swing this way now.  Although, she did try.  

More tree climbing.

Adley riding the tricycle.

Jaylyn likes to make cookies there.  She came up with a great idea for these cookies. 

Sugar cookies with frosting, sprinkles and a strawberry on top!  It sounded great to us.

Then there was a little Uncle Scott Jungle Gym Time 

 Trying to get a picture of all three.  A little tougher now with wiggly monkey.

We also made it down there for my cousin, Elizabeth’s wedding.  She was beautiful and it was another nice visit.

Leighton at the reception 

Jaylyn and Daddy

Adley and Grandma