Abigail Turns 3–Presents and Cake

After our long outing at Shenaniganz, we opened presents and had cake and ice cream back at home.

Adam picked out a sparkly Ariel doll for Abby

Holding Caleb back from getting at her card from Grandma and Grandpa Great

Our big present to Abby was a play kitchen!  I have been wanting to get the kids a kitchen for years and we finally have room for one!  Their favorite thing to play is “Buffalo Wild Wings” or “Chili’s” where they pretend to be the servers and chefs.  Funny kids!

Abby requested a “Princess” party

She wanted a chocolate cake with pink, strawberry flavored frosting and chocolate ice cream.  I decorated it with a tiara and white swirls and “pearls”.

Princess Abigail Elizabeth
3 years old is going to be fun!!

Abigail Turns 3–Bowling Party

My Dad had some business here in Dallas right over Abby’s birthday, so my Mom and sister Annie flew out for a few days as well.  It was so much fun to have them here for Abby’s special day!

We started out at place called Shenaniganz which is a huge fun center, 20 minutes away, (I’m trying to get used to having to drive a while to get places….but we like living “out in the sticks”!).  A really nice fun center!  We had a yummy lunch, followed by fun at the arcade.

“Abby” won the jackpot!

Aunt Annie and Silly Caleb

Nana and Adam shooting at giant bugs

Then, we bowled!

“I got ‘em!”

Adam liked getting a running start and then shoving the ball down the ramp as hard as he could.

Caleb is a fun baby!  Crazy busy, but fun!

See….I really was there.

They played some really fun songs that got us all up dancing.  What a blast to have a bowling/dance party!!

Playing in Our New Front Yard!

It was a gorgeous day today in Forney, Texas!  75 degrees, sunny, and just the right amount of humidity to feel a little sticky.  Don’t get too jealous, it’ll be turning cold and rainy for the next few days.  I realize “cold” is a relative term!  You’ll be sure to hear me griping about the heat this summer, but I’m thoroughly going to enjoy the winter and spring!

The kids got out their bikes.  Adam got a cool, real bike for his birthday in November, but hasn’t had a chance to learn how to ride it and I refuse to be the one to teach him.  That’s a dad’s job and Nat would kill me if he missed out on that milestone!

While the kids rode bikes, I held Caleb and gazed around my new neighborhood.  I just felt such peace!  It feels good to be “home”.  This is the first time in my married life that I’ve felt this and it’s awesome!

Abby woke up from her nap with curly/frizzy hair because of the humidity!

Mr. Caleb is a climber!  This kid is on the move all.of.the.time!!

Studying a wood chip….

 

It was so warm, Adam got all red-in-the-face!

What a fun afternoon, enjoying Texas in January!

Caleb’s 6 Month Pictures

I used to be so good at blogging.  There are just so many other things that take my attention.  Caleb is 7 months old today, so I figured I really needed to get these pictures up!

I took Caleb to FotoFly for his 6 month pictures and he was so good!  Little Miss Abigail has refused to smile for each and every photo shoot, so it was a nice change having a smiley baby!

This is my favorite!  I love his bright eyes and his mouthful of drool!

 

 

 

The last shot – “Mama, I am sooo done here.”

Homeschool–E is for Elephant

- Abigail is 2.5 years old (31 months) -

- Adam is 4.75 years old -

E is for Elephant

This week was “E is for Elephant” using Confessions of a Homeschooler’s Letter of the Week curriculum. Our AlphaTales book, was “The Enormous Elephant Show” and the ABC poem from the Scholastic Teacher Express ABC Poem of the Week e-book was “Eggplants to Eat and Enjoy”.  After our fabulous Dinosaur week, we were much more laid back and only got around to a few things for Elephant week.

Abby’s ‘E’ Activities

Elephant Color Matching Puzzles

Pom-Pom Counting

The full picture of what goes on while I’m attempting “school” with the big kids.  It’s basically semi-controlled chaos!

E/e Sorting

Elephant Size Sort
Adam helped her make them into a tower.

Abby’s Tot School Activities

The kids begged me not to return the dinosaur books to the library, so they made a frequent appearance throughout the week.  Abby would bring me her favorite book and ask me to turn to the T-Rex page for her because it’s her favorite dinosaur.

We attempted this shape matching wheel a couple of weeks ago and she was not into it.  This time, she figured out how to open the clothespins by herself, so I would hold the wheel and she’d stick them on.

 

Adam’s “E” Activities

Elephant Graphing
Any time Adam can use a dry erase marker, he’s happy!
I didn’t realize this was the only individual E activity he did this week.  Whoops!

 

Adam’s Preschool Activities

“Kumon: Let’s Cut!” book.  He asks for this just about every day!

He did a few pages from his “Handwriting Without Tears Pre-K” workbook.  Here, he is drawing parts of Mat Man.
 

“Same or Different” workbook

We finished Part II of All About Reading Level Pre-1 which was the lowercase letters!
I thought this page was particularly cute.  He colored two of the cats purple because it’s Abby’s favorite color.  And he named the kittens Wheel of Fortune, Jasper, and Lover.

Jasper is the name of my parents’ cat, we frequently watch Wheel of Fortune as a family at night, (yeah, we’re old and boring now), and lover?  No clue where he got that one!

Now that we are on Part III of his All About Reading lessons, we are doing two at a time so we can finish quickly.  Level 1 came in the mail this week and is just so excited to start really learning to read!

 

Combined “E” Activities

Elephant Cut & Paste

Ee Do-a-Dot Pages

Adam                               Abby

Pre-writing Practice – Adam

Pre-writing Practice – Abby
She’s much more interested in tracing/coloring than Adam was at her age!  I love this picture of her cute little hands.

We walked around like elephants while listening to “One Elephant Went Out to Play” on our Sharon, Lois, and Bram CD.  I need to be more purposefully silly with these two silly kiddos!

Letter E Collage – googly EYES!

I didn’t get any pictures of our art project in action, because my hand was covered in paint!  We made handprints and then glued on a foam ear, tail, and sun.  I love that we’ve preserved our hands together in this moment of time!

The highlight of the week was getting “Elephant Ears”, aka scones, at a local café for dessert one night.  Yummy!!

That was our E week!

Linking up to Tot School and Preschool Corner.