When it's too hot outside...

...bring the fun, inside!!

Preschool--Flowers

We had a great week in preschool! Rhylan brought home colds for Gracin and I, but I am proud of myself for not giving in. Preschool rain or shine...or sick!! This week our theme was Flowers! We did miss one day of preschool for a play date, with Mary, Rachel and Margaret!!--After preschool today, Rhylan gave me a big hug and said I love you mom!!--Ahh, This was the right choice for us.

Art: Rhylan used her fine motor skills to make flowers. She used her fingertips and colored ink pads to create circles and lines = flowers! She really had fun with this one, and I think her flowers turned out beautiful.

Science/Sensory & Field trip/Gross motor: We went on a walk around our neighbor hood and backyard to collected flowers. We actually got a bunch of different kinds and colors. No we didn't steal them from anyone's yard! She used her magnifying glass to observe them. Then we flattened the flowers in a text book for a few days for later use.

Math/Sorting/Matching: I turned the flat flowers into cards. Rhylan helped me glue them to construction paper then I cut and laminated them. Then we explored them. We talked about different features, colors, petals, sizes shapes, etc. Rhylan sorted the cards by colors, big and small, and played memory. I made sure to pick at least 2 of each flower on our flower hunt.

(click to enlarge for detail)

Writing/Language: And then we learned about the letter Ff. Flower starts with Ff. I made flower tops with dashed lines in the form of F and f. She glued them to a paper, traced the letters with finger paint and then used a paint brush and paint to make the stems. Then we did a little free style painting. This girl loves art and science!

(click to enlarge for detail)A few other things: For our beginning alphabet song, we used a magnifying glass to "see" each letter as we sang. We used a Magic Wand to point to each letter and number as we sang. The wand even lights up so that was extra fun. And we used a dry paint brush to trace the numbers to practice writing and recognition.And for an extra activity Rhylan put magnet letters on a paper I printed and stuck to the fridge! Do you notice anything about the letters she choose first?

Yep she picked all the letters in her name first. Not my idea, all Rhylan:)

Mary and Rachel

I put a bunch more HERE. That way you can check them out if you want to:)

What's all the fuss about?

So I wanted to join facebook to see what all the fuss was about!! Really, does it tell everyone I know, every thing I post, write, or share? It seems a bit ridiculous. Why would I want my RS pres reading my comment to my sister? Or my acquaintance from High school reading comments I leave for my best friend? And do I have to invite everyone? What if I don't want to accept someone, is that really rude?

Tell me why do you like facebook and how do you use it?

(It's obvious I like blogging!! Why: I only see comments meant for me. I get to share a bunch of pictures with my family far away, and I print it up in a book after each year, so I never have to print pictures for a photo album. And it is like our journal/photo album all in one!)

6:00 pm

He was moving those arms so fast!!

It was finally cool enough at 6:00 p.m. last night for us to go out and play. The kids hadn't used the sprinkler park for a week or two and had a great time waiting for Daddy to come home. Gracin kept trying to drink the water spraying like a drinking fountain. And Rhylan would run down the hill and slide into the pool. They both had a great time making big splashes. And I as usual, enjoyed watching them and laughing at their funny ideas!

Rhylan's surprises us all the time!

Rhylan is so smart I think. She may not seem like she is paying attention. But really, she is. She can usually repeat word for word what she hears from me or teachers, when asked. Today while we were getting ready for church she said this to Riley:

"Don't close the door all the way Dad, otherwise I can't get in!"

Otherwise!!!!---We didn't know she knew that word and could use it in such a complex sentence.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Gracin is becoming a little smarty too! He can put his shoes in the basket, clean up a little mess e.g. split crayons. And can follow simple commands. He however CANNOT stay away from the computer. He discovered this trick the other day to reach the mouse even when I try to put it out of his reach:

Both the kids have loved our new jungle gym! All I have to do to get a free 45 min to cook dinner is pull the cushions off the couch. Rhylan thinks it is fun to jump from cushion to cushion. And Gracin thinks it is fun to climb up and fall down over and over.

Preschool is in session!

I wanted to start doing a preschool with some other moms. But there are few 3 year old kids who were interested. There are a lot of 4 year olds who are doing a preschool, but I just don't think Rhylan is ready for that. Then I got to thinking. I want to TEACH more than Rhylan needs to be in preschool. So really, I was doing it for me not her. Then I wondered whats stopping me? I'll do a SHORT preschool every morning with just Rhylan. I have been busy ever since, getting things together and getting ideas.

1. I made a list of things Rhylan likes for our weekly themes. (ocean animals, princesses, cats, flowers, Pet Store, Dinosaur Train (TV show), etc etc etc!!)--These themes are a learning aid. Counting is fun, but counting Princesses...well you get the point.

2. I decided on 5 areas of study--once for each day of the week (Art, Language/Writing, Math/Matching/Sorting, Science/Sensory, Gross Motor/Field Trips)

3. Then I tried to come up with as many ideas as I could, I went to the library and checked out a bunch of books to gain ideas, got a bunch of ideas from this site. I really really liked this book, I was marking every page, so I decided to check out the price on Amazon...used for $0.23!!!!!!! Really twenty three cents, I ordered it:)

4. Checked out books about our theme for Rhylan.

5. Started right away. We started this Wednesday Our theme was ocean animals!!

How it works:

Once Gracin goes down for his morning nap we go to her room and sit at her table. I have created a little learning center in her room, we use that for preschool. We start by using her Alphabet chart singing the song and Rhylan pointing to each letter. Then we review the numbers the same way (she still needs to recognize the letters and numbers.) Next we sing a song. It may be a familiar song, a new one about our theme, or teaching her the Primary songs. Next comes story time. We read a book about our theme, or lesson for the day. Then lastly is the Learning activity.

This week (we had to combine a couple because we started on Wed)

Art: Make an aquarium. She used fine motor skills to color with markers, put faces on her fish, shake the glitter. Then she picked colors and 4 sea creatures to put in her aquarium. I think her favorite part was shaking the glitter!

Language/Writing and Science/Sensory: S is for Seahorse. First we looked at a nonfiction book about sea horses. We learned about their colors, size, and homes. We used a few different textures to make our sea horse. Then we made a S shaped sea horse and learned about letter S. Check out how well she wrote her name!
Math/ Field trip: We headed to the pet store for a scavenger hunt. I made this chart/check list for her to search for. She got to decided on the last ocean animal we needed to find. We really couldn't find any bubbles!!!! She also brought along her new dollar store magnifying glass and new clip board to help. This mini clip board is perfect for Rhylan, it was only $2.44 in the back to school section at Wal-Mart. Rhylan LOVES her "ma-fy-glass." Here she is exploring rocks, an idea she came up with all by herself. She started sorting them largest to smallest. Then she created a rock family, inspecting each rock carefully before it joined the group.

A little preview!!

I got to take some pictures for a friend!! Margaret wanted me to take pics of her two girls 1.5 and 3.5 years. That was tricky to get 2 sets of eyes open, 2 smiles, 4 hands to hold still, 4 legs to stay put, two little dresses to stay down. Pictures by themselves were pretty easy, they are so beautiful every pic looks great. I really liked this shot of the back of them. (I didn't have to time open eyes and smiles hehe) I also like the soft looking edit. I think it makes it look a little timeless. It will take me a long time to edit these but I always like a little teaser.

Playing in the rain

Playing in the big puddle!

Gracin may be the little brother...but I think only by age and height.

He was literally standing where all the water ran off the roof and onto his head.

This was a few weeks ago but got put on the back burner for a while.

When it rains, it pours here! {I'm from AZ ya know} Rhylan and Gracin aren't afraid of a little rain. It was really coming down one night after dinner, so we let them run free! After it started letting up, I couldn't help join in. The sudden down pour created giant puddles in our backyard, perfect for splashing. We all enjoyed the warm wet activity.

Gracin opens his presents

The day after his party, we let Gracin open his presents! They were all a big hit. Rhylan loved helping him open them, and sharing them as well. He got a few little things, some tools, a toy bus with buttons and music, and a Cars cell phone. But, his big present was a water table! HE loved it. I researched forever trying to find just the right one. Then I found out they were out of stock every where online and in local stores! But I guess they missed a few, while browsing Target we came upon one!!! And it was $20 off. I was one happy mommy. Both kids love playing in the coolest water table ever!









If anyone is looking for a good water table it is Step 2 "Sand and Water Transportation Station." It is sturdy, has great costumer reviews, 2 areas for sand and water, boats, train track and a train, and tree towers with funnels and and moving...things. It even has a hole in the middle to put our beach umbrella!