Compliment?

Before eating the popsicles we made during family fun day, we needed to take the plastics molds off of them. The kids all knew that dad could do it because he is amazing. He's also the one who put the lids on when we poured the juice in. However, they didn't realize mom could do it to. I'm not sure if what Matthew said is a compliment or not:

"Mom, you are amazing too! You are not amazing at putting lids on but you are amazing at taking lids off." 

I should note that this was said in a state of shock--like, wow! Mom can actually do something!

U and I did get a good laugh out of it.

Family Fun Day!

Yesterday we had Family Fun Day! What is that, you ask? It's a day where we do a bunch of fun things together and celebrate that we are a family!

We had a treasure map of sorts that we added activities to one at a time as we did them. We started off with a group hug and then ate breakfast. The kids then did an Easter Egg Hunt to find the clues for the rest of our day. Pictures tell the rest of the story.

Our "map"

Making popsicles.

And making funny faces.

Playing at the spray pad.

Inside the fort we built. We ate lunch in there.

Playing hide and seek.

Spinning contest!

Dinner with popsicles!

Movie with caramel popcorn.

We definitely love being a family!

This week in preschool

This week in preschool, we learned about Joseph and his coat of many colors. Our letter of the week was c and we did lots of things with colors. We read "Mouse Paint" which the kids love. They even picked out which mouse they are (Matthew goes in the blue paint and Megan in the yellow paint).

Megan and Matthew love learning their letters and have started pointing them out wherever we go: "Look! A C!!!" "There's an x!" So much fun.

Coloring Cs.

Mixing colors to see what color we get.

Front of Megan's coat. (Matthew refused to get in the picture.)

Back of Megan's coat of many colors.

Megan is quite proud of her very colorful c. She took a lot of time coloring it.

Matthew's c doesn't have as many colors. He did color it completely!

Tired boy

What happens when you get up early, don't take a nap and have a busy day? You fall asleep at the end of it...

Daddy and Matthew date

Following Megan's date with me, Matthew wanted to do pretty much the same thing. So we ended up going to get some ice cream and putting together another LEGO monster.  It was a lot of fun to hang out with my little buddy.

Dinner with Grandma and Grandpa

Grandma and Grandpa A spent a week in Sedona and so we met up with them one evening for dinner. It was great to be able to see them. After eating, we walked around the shopping center a bit enjoying the (relatively) cooler weather (it was in the mid-90s).

Thanks for the yummy dinner and fun evening!

Apple Tree

The week we talked about apples, Megan and Matthew made apple trees. One day, they used their foot to create the trunk. The next day, they used handprints to create the leaves. The following day, they used their fingers to put apples on the tree. It was a cool project and I thought it would be a cute way to preserve their footprint and handprint. I'd labeled the trees the first day with their names to make sure they had "their" tree. When we went to show the trees to Daddy and Sarah, Megan and Matthew wanted to swap trees. Why? Apparently they had swapped them when they put the apples on the tree so that Matthew put apples on Megan's tree and vice versa. I could tell that was correct because Matthew intentionally drew apples falling down the trunk of the tree and there those falling apples were on Megan's tree. So now they have an apple tree that shows their sibling's foot and handprints.

Preschool Fun

We're now one month into school. I've really enjoyed teaching Megan and Matthew. Here's an overview of what we've done:

Week 1 we studied the letter "x" (as in "x marks the spot"), complete with treasure hunts and talking about how God's word is a treasure.  They really liked the treasure hunts.

Week 2 we studied the creation and made creation books. Our letter of the week was "g" and we talked about gardens and growing things.

Making some flowers.

Finished bouquet of flowers.

When Matthew saw the bouquet in the vase, he wanted to know who had bought the flowers--they were so pretty! We had him look at them closer to see that they were the flowers he had helped make.

Megan and Matthew were excited to see the seeds they watered growing!

Week 3 we studied the Garden of Eden and the Fall. Our letter of the week was "a" and we talked a lot about apples. We had some fun activities including using apples as stamps and making applesauce.

Megan and Matthew showing the paper plate apples they created, including seeds in the middle.

We read 10 Apples Up On Top and then saw how many apples they could balance on their heads.

Week 4 we studied Noah and the ark. Our letter of the week was "z" for zoo and zebra. Some activities included making sticker rainbows and doing addition with animal crackers.

Week 5, which is this week, we studied about Abraham. Our letter of the week was "t" for tent and we spent time playing in our little tent (a teepee) and even had a "campout" in the family room in the big tent, complete with s'mores.

Our alphabet wall and treasure map.

Megan's letters are almost all purple and Matthew's are blue. Can you guess their favorite colors?

It's been really fun teaching Megan and Matthew. They have been very excited about the "numbers" they've learned, with "x" and "t" being their favorites thus far since they are easy to make. They will cross their arms and show me an "x" or make a "t" out of green beans. They are learning a lot and like experimenting with cutting and painting.  It's fun to be a part of it.