G week, family pictures and such

Here is our "G" board. It was a fun, but low-key week as we had many crazy things going on. But here is Jesse. He was confused about "Giraffe" because it doesn't start with the normal "G" sound. He is a little too young to get the differences so...we'll get there next year. He is signing "G" in this pictures too. CHEESE!

We learned about Germs. He doesn't like having dirty hands so it was very appropriate for him. He went and shook dad's hand and they both had germs they had to go and then wash off. I thought he got it until his friends showed up the next day and he said: "Here let me shake your hand. Now you have germs." like it was fun? Oh well, we'll get there :)

Miss booger eating blueberry scones (read on)

Previously mentioned blueberry scones. SOOOO yummy! Go here for recipe (from my Aunt Candy's blog). They were so easy and I made them in no time for breakfast one morning!

I have been feeling particularly crafty this week and made this eye-mask for myself. The morning light always wakes me up and keeps me awake so this was perfect. Jesse was kinda freaked out in the morning when he found me with it on.....

Coloring page from school.

For my dad's 64th birthday I made him a special treat. Candied ginger. Personally, can't stand the stuff. Even soaked in syrup and coated in sugar. EVEN dipped in chocolate (see next picture). BUT if you (or a loved one) is a ginger lover then this is a must-try. It was a big hit- not only with dad but with my little brother Paul and sister Kristin. Go here for recipe. Another easy and fun to make recipe.

Ginger dipped in dark chocolate (after it has been candied). Again- a big hit!

While at my mom and dad's we did a photo-shoot of sorts. My mom is a great photographer and has taken classes to perfect her skill. She is buying newer and newer gadgits and why not take advantage of those and let her practice? :) following is what we ended up with:

(love this one)

yep. they liked it

Which one is your fav?

"F" week!!

So far so good on my weekly posts :) It at least makes me feel good about myself. Here is my little man looking so grown up! He wore his first zip-up tie today and it was just too cute. I can't believe he will be 4 in January! Love this kid!

Here is my other little squirt growing up quickly too! This week she has decided to perfect walking because she is taking more and more steps! She is in love with Jesse's Piano that he got for Christmas when he was one. It's fun that she loves it too.

For one of our topics during our "F" week of preschool, we learned about feelings. We tried to decided what Calvin was feeling here and even made some of the faces. Following is the photo shoot of silly faces :) (see if you can match Jesse's face with Calvin's face)

We also learned how to fold, and make fans. :) fun!

And lastly, our "F" board. Full of lots of goodies that helped up remember what starts with f. Jesse has really taken off lately with the beginning sounds of words. He tries to figure out what everything starts with. My favorites so far (not that they are all this way): "chip. chhh, chhh, chhh.....T for chips! Right mama?" or "Drink, dr, dr, drrr...J is for drink!" Now if you say those two words you will realize why those sounds are so hard for a three year old to understand!

Oh and he has learned how to spell and write "Jacob" (his best friend), "mama" and "dada" on his own. So fuN! Until next week!

Happenings this week

I am trying to get better at posting because who wants to read a blog that never updates? So here I am trying to do bi-weekly posts. Charlotte has been taking lots of steps this week and even completed a journey from the couch to the chair walking. CRAZY! And I'm so not ready. She gets into things as it is. I am fearing for the book on the lower part of my bookshelf. So here she is figuring out how to climb things. It was inevitable I would eventually have a climber since Jesse was so timid.

I do school with Jesse each day (m-f) and we are going over the alphabet, learning new subjects along the way and having fun with art projects. My main focus was to help him to learn the sounds better and start to be able to recognize letters when hearing sounds. He has made huge leaps this week and is starting to point out beginning sounds with letters. I love the "aha" moment even though he doesn't realize what he did! Here he is practicing numbers and circling (fine motor skills).

Fun way to practice the letter "E":

Another fun way to play with the letter "E":

ANNND Jesse being his own photographer. He has started to take more pictures of other things: like my backside as I am bending over. But I wasn't about to post THOSE pictures...hehe

And my sister Anne got her first teaching job!!! HOORAY!! Kudos to her and especially since it is high school chemistry, a subject and audience I would rather die than teach. But I did tell her I would sub for her since it is in the district that I sub for. Here is her classroom pre-decoration. You can kind of see her in the right side of the picture in the prep room cleaning. So I decided to post this for those who know her and may not get to see a post out of HER for....well a year maybe :)

And that's all.

New tip!

Okay so this new tip comes with a little bit of background:

I am tutoring a few kids in a family and I have come up with my own lesson plans. The first grader I am tutoring is working on word recognition and memorizing sight words and such. So I make this activity for him called a word slider:

Well my word sliders have looked really ridiculous until I discovered a new tool I could use to cut the lines in it: a seam ripper!! Have you ever tried to poke a small hole/cut a straight line in something that you wanted to look nice and clean and ended up bending/ripping/generally ruining your project? I have. Thus the seam ripper. Hope this helps in some way!