Monday, February 14, 2011

Happy Birthday JT

My little man is 7!!!!!

He had a Puppy Beach Party =) I love that he still loves puppies. I love that he wanted to have his birthday at home, ( i gave him several choices) and that he loved having just his family. We decided a few years ago to stop doing large parties, and opted for family and a best friend or two as they got older to spend the day with them.
 I always felt like I was so busy that I wasnt able to fully see my children enjoy their special day. plus it did cost $$$$,  and stress... and... =)  I still go all out and decorate as if 30 people were coming. =) And birthdays are a BIG deal around here, but to us at this time in our life, there is something special to having our birthday babies all to ourselves. =) Daddy wasn't here this time, but he graciously woke up in the middle of the night his time to sing with us over the web cam. =) Thanks Daddy!!



Jt and his BEST friend =) They love each other.... She was so excited for his birthday, I think more excited for him, than he was! And he was excited! I overheard her in the morning downstairs as they were looking at all the surprise decorations I hung... she said " oh, Happy birthday brodder!!!" it was so genuine and sweet!

Jt cooked the entire birthday dinner!!! his specialty... Scrambled eggs, biscuits and bacon! He did awesome!

Papa and Gramma and Nino For the festivities!



Nino

Jt's surprise cake! =) I wanted to get a good laugh, and I did!






And Sir Henry- the cousin in the family!!! He had fun too!





The rest of my pictures were on my iphone, and i dont know how to take them off yet, But he had a wonderful birthday and recieved wonderful gifts!! So much thought in each, they were ALL his favorite! =)




Stopping by woods on a snowy evening FIAR Study

Our latest study last week takes us to a famous Robert Frost poem. This was a very short study, But we found some things to dwell on that made this alot of fun!


We focused on animals, their tracks, life in the winter, simple poetry introduction, and caring for those around us.




Well the first thing we did was head out on a walk! Lucky for us we live in the woods, so our adventure was just a short walk away! The kids had the best time! It was a good thing we went the day we did, as the snow was completely gone by the next day and finding tracks would have been so much harder for them.

And we didn't forget or Field Guide to animal tracks books from the library! Phew!





counting tree stump lines along the way....How old was this one? As old as Mommy!

The adventure begins...

We couldn't believe how many differant tracks we found.... rabbits, squirrels, wild pig, deer.....

I took pictures of all the tracks, so when we got home we could look them up...



coooool....

Um, what is as big as mommy's hand??? a GIANT doggie? woof?

Squirrel Track!

After our outing I made each of them their own Animal track book, printed it out and used brown pipe cleaners to attach the pages.

This was very exciting for them, JT wrote teh names down as we figured them out.



Here are some great go-alongs from the Library.


In the story the man is taking food to the animals in the woods.... So we talked about how we can also show kindness to God's creatures, and bless them during the cold winter season when food is hard to come by.....

We made several bird feeders!
Supplies:
1. empty toilet paper tubes
2. peanut butter
3. butter knife to spread
4. bird seed
5. yarn or string to hang

Easy peasy!
My son hates peanut butter...this was fun for me to watch. =)

This one loves peanut butter and I had to keep telling her to stop eating it !

We made some for the front yard, some for the back too!

And we also made one out of a milk carton... I spray painted it , and then added the seeds, and  we hung it up once dry.

We have had a great time watching all the birdies come and eat!!!


For their labpbook we worked on animals in the story,

Whose footprints are they?  (KT's)

and JT wrote his own winter story...=)

He used pencil to draw just like the story.


KT and I counted all the animals in the book, there were quite a few hidden in there!


While looking at the picture of all the animals in the forest, we decided to make our own forest!
Supplies:
1. empty shoe box
2. tissue paper for the trees
3. some branches from outside
4. pine cones, acorns etc...
5. craft moss for the flooring
6. stick glue
7. green and blue construction paper for the backround
8. woodland creatures to come and play!


They loooooooved this project! we did it one night before bed. It was so fun to see them design their own Biome. you can't see it well, but i printed out a copy of the man in the story with his sleigh bringing the food the animals...it's on the back wall there....

very creative KT!

don't you like all the little things she incorporated... =)

JT ....always proud of his work..and with him, everything has to be just Perfect....

He went and found wooden beads in our craft room for his bird eggs...good idea!


All in all we had a great time! I wasn't to sure how I was going to take a few days to do this book, but 2 days was perfect and they LOVED their Biomes, and the Hunt for tracks! =)


While on our walk the other day we met the most adorable dog, and it was just after we finished our read aloud of Ginger Pye by Eleanor Estes....a new family favorite!



Just had to post his picture!  Made our day!!!


More to come!





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