Project 52: October 26-November 1

Sunday Snapshot:

This is a special dress! Auntie Dre passed it down to us after Adele outgrew it.  It's hand made by Auntie Dre!!

Relaxing in the lazy boy on a Sunday afternoon.  Raelynn requested this picture of her and daddy:)

Trying to get Colt to drink some water, so there has been a bottle around.  I was doing something in the kitchen and I turn around to see this! haha.  All on their own!

my silly silly kiddos. 

There is something I have always loved about babies reaching in toy boxes as if they are searching for just the right one.
And in this case, his tip toes make it just the best!

 

And we have a little monkey! Leave the gate open for a second and he is gone! The other day I was in the kitchen and didn't know where Colt went....he was all the way upstairs!

 

just going to get the mail....

This week was halloween.  The kids looked so cute and had SO much fun! It was really fun this year watching them be so excited with their costumes and of course going to get candy.

 

And when you have a bucket of candy....then the next morning you want skittles in your breakfast, right?

 

 Brent was working from home and very busy so he couldn't come down to eat lunch with us.  Raelynn prepped his entire lunch and carried it up to him acting like a waitress.  She loves getting into a "role" and takes it to the full extreme.  He even tipped her a quarter for her piggy bank! :)  This was especially fun because when I was a little girl, I had something called "Big Al's Cafe" that I always waited on my dad.  I can remember looking through the fridge for leftovers and I would make a little menu with prices next to it for him to order.  :) 

My Mommy Minute: November 5

"Believe you are receiving His grace--right now at this very moment. Believe His love for you has not changed despite the fact that you have not loved your children well today. God's love is never based on your behavior. Look to Christ when you are tempted to yell, and remember He lives in you. He will help you through the most difficult times. Go to your little ones and ask them to forgive you. Tell them that Mommy is a sinner who has a great Savior. Pray with them and believe there is nothing you can do to thwart God's plan for them. We are all bad moms. That's why we need Jesus.

-Kimm Crandall, "Christ in the Chaos"

"Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love." Ephesians 4:2

A Perfect Mom Can't Share the Gospel by Sara Wallace at The Gospel Centered Mom

Are You a Control Freak at Home? by Jenna Fleming at True Woman

3 Fads That Are Killing Your Joy by Sara Wallace at The Gospel Centered Mom

When All I Can Say Are Arrow Prayers by Sarah at The Gospel at Home

Screwtape Letter to an Exhausted Mom by Kelsey at To Love Honor and Vacuum

Project 52: October 11-20

Sunday Snapshot:

These dresses are so special.  Aunt Ashley and Uncle Kyle brought them to the girls when they visited Ethiopia.  So of course, I always put them on the girls together so they match.  And I was happy to pull out this shirt for Colt from Declan's old clothes.  Mimi had just picked the shirt Declan is wearing in a consignment shop and sent it to us in the mail.  :) Matchy matchy!

 

Elliana is growing up SO much lately! She is talking more and more all the time.  The other day I counted and she is saying seven word sentences! She has also figured out how much fun it is to turn the lights on and off....and she is smart enough to put things under so she can reach:)

 

  

Colt is usually up when I clean the bathrooms....so the other day I'm scrubbing the sink and I turn around and he has unwound the toilet paper, ripped it up in pieces, then was standing and spinning the empty roll around and around.  It was quite entertaining for him.....I may just have to put it on there for him to play with!

 

I try to clean the house when the kids are awake and involve them.  Gave Raelynn a new job the other day to wash the baseboards.  She did SO well.  Sometimes the jobs get done but leave things leaving just as messy as before the cleaning.  But this one she did so well and it was noticeably different and clean! The next day she asked if she could "wash the bases".....and of course I didn't say no!

My SUPERBOYS!

On Saturday we went to Vertuccio Farm.  It was our first time and we had a wonderful time!  Had to get a couple family pictures:

 

Vertuccio Farm

Saturday, October 25 we went to Vertuccio Farm.  We wanted to take the kids to a pumpkin patch again this year.  The one we went to last year was closed, so we had to find another.  We were so pleased! We spent over two hours there (in 88 degrees! ha) and even had a surprise visit from Elsa.  There was a lot to do there, we didn't even get to it all.

feeding the goats

On a tractor ride

This was a huge bubble to jump on

A train ride! (Colt was sleeping in ergo and rode with me and Elliana)

milking the cow

Elliana went right up to her and hugged her! She knew exactly who she was

Raelynn wanted to wait so she could hug her all by herself

autographs

A family photo

Tot School: Blue Horse

It was blue horse week in the Brown Bear, Brown Bear thematic unit we are doing.  It was a fun week.  It was a very busy week for us outside of tot school, so we didn't get to all I had hoped.  But we surely got to enough and had a great time!

Again, to keep it all in, I have to limit our activities.  The six areas I tried to cover are:

1. Color

2. Verse/Bible story

3. Hands on craft

4. Sensory activity

5. Food experience

6. Fun memory

1. Color: BLUE!

As we have the past few weeks, we started the week off with coloring a page with markers, colored pencils, and crayons to introduce the color.  We also looked through the "blue box" and did an eye spy game for blue things around the house.

 

2. Bible Story/Verse: Exodus 14:16-23 (Moses parts the Red Sea) 

"The Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen." vs 23

When I thought about horses I thought of chariots. It would have been fun to make a model of the water and take little people and walk them across then have the horses covered by the water afterward.  But I didn't feel that ambitious:) I just read the story from the Jesus Story Bible and it was great because it had a picture of a chariot on the page! 

The kids also colored a picture of a chariot and expanded their vocabulary with that new word. 

3. Hands-On Craft:

No paper plate craft this week.  I had a few crafts planned, but this was the only one we got to.  The kids always love painting their hands!

4. Sensory Activity:

I had hopes of making this cool fizzing ocean sensory bin (because water is blue!) but it just didn't happen.  I was totally ok with that because this week we were able to attend a "messy play" activity with a local resource center.  It was SO neat with digging through jello for bugs and colored spaghetti and slime.  It was quite the sensory day!

5. Food Experience:

Blue Berries, Pasta died blue, and pop corn died blue.   

Also thought blue moon ice cream would've been fun, but didn't do that.

6. Memorable Experience:

Pool Noodle Horse: So bummed my plan didn't work out! I wanted to make this pool noodle horse for them, but I couldn't find any pool noodles! I am still planning to make them one day for them because they would love it!

We did go to the zoo this week and saw horses there.  

I also had a Thomas the Train puzzle I had been hiding away for the kids, so I gave that to them.

And I came up with this very last minute idea because I remembered that I had blue yarn and wanted to do something with it.

 

Other activities this week:

I read the story and as I read the kids put the animals in order. (link to these is on my original Brown Bear post)

Rotating stations:

1. heads and tails matching

2. memory game (matching)

3. letter matching (Raelynn did lower to upper, Declan upper only, and Elliana just stuck letter magnets on)

Add caption

 

I try to have several tot trays out during the week.  One is usually always the unifix cubes and counting bears. It's nice for when kids are waiting at the table for a meal time or when I need them quiet and busy.

This week we used Q-tips to paint the circles on the dot sheets.

It's always nice when I have things around the house we can use for learning colors.  We took blue play dough, uncooked spaghetti noodles, and blue beads and the kids stacked the beads on the noodle.  They also love to eat the raw noodles so that is their prize at the end, ha!