2 years ago
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Maren's trip to the hospital
Yesterday Maren joined her Mommy and Jack in fulfilling a childhood inevitable; she had tubes placed in her ears. It's funny that almost one year ago yesterday, we were in the hospital doing the same thing with Jack. Just like her brother though, until it was time to actually head to the operating room, the trip to the hospital was actually a blast. (Thank goodness for Children's hospitals; they even know how to make a waiting room "fun.") She sailed through surgery and was back to herself by late afternoon. Here are a few pictures from her trip.
Introducing Dr. J. Stout...
It was "community helper" day at preschool this week, and Jack utilized the help of his Nanas to put together his costume. A big thank you to "Nana Marsh" for letting us borrow (and pressing) her lab coat. (He thought it was pretty cool to take his "poke stick" (a.k.a. "shot") to school too.) Likewise, it wouldn't have been a "real" doctor's costume without the medical kit Jack's Na Na Pam let us borrow. (What a treat-as this was Craig's old medical kit from when he was little.) However, just like on Halloween, as soon as it was actually time to put the costume on, the tears began to pour. I'm not sure why Jack gets so excited at the thought of wearing a costume, and then panics when it's actually time to put it on, but such is our son. Thankfully once he arrived at school and saw all his fellow classmates in their costumes, he cheered right up and didn't want to take it off when he had to. Go figure!
Sunday, February 21, 2010
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DR. SEUSS! Crafts and Activities based around one of our favorite authors!
Happy Birthday to one of our favorite authors, Dr. Seuss! It is so exciting that Jack's Birthday (March 5) and Dr. Seuss' Birthday (March 2) fall in the same week. We're doing a few things to celebrate!
CAT'S HAT PIZZA
A big thank you to our good friend Jen for finding this idea in Parenting magazine, it was so fun to make! We used a store bought pizza crust and formed it into the shape of the cat's hat. We spread sauce and cheese all over the pizza and used pepperoni and black olives to create the stripes and brim of the hat. (I was thinking it would be cool to do this sugar cookie dough too, and you could use white and red frosting for the stripes, or white frosting and strawberry jam???)
MAKING OOBLECK
We had so much fun making Oobleck the other day. I used to do this activity with my third graders to talk about the properties of solids and liquids. I found out; however, that it can be just as fun to do with preschoolers as well. After reading Bartholomew and the Oobleck, we made our own batch of Oobleck and the kids enjoyed playing with it. (It's a lot messier to do with preschoolers than nine-year-olds, but just as much, if not more, fun!)
How to Make Oobleck:
Mix together 2 C. of cornstarch with 1 C. of water. You can add a couple of drops of food coloring to make it the color you want. We chose green since it went with the story. You may need to add more water or cornstarch to reach the desired consistency. It should form a ball when you grab it and squeeze or let it sit for a bit, but turn back to liquid when you let it drip down your hand.
Jack's Favorite Dr. Seuss Books:
*And to think that I saw it on Mulberry Street
*The Cat in the Hat (this one is probably my favorite of all his books)
*Great Day for Up
*Bartholomew and the Oobleck
*Did I Ever tell You how Lucky you Are?
*Dr. Seuss' Sleep Book
*The Butter Battle Book
*Green Eggs and Ham
*If I Ran the Zoo
*Happy Birthday, Baby
*Thudwick, the Big Hearted Moose
*Scrambled Eggs Super!
*On Beyond Zebra
*Yertle the Turtle
*Horton Hears a Who
*500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins
*The Lorax
*The Sneetches
*Horton Hatches an Egg
Maren's Favorite Dr. Seuss Books:
*The Foot Book (this was the very first book I ever read to Jack as a baby)
*Hop on Pop
*Fox in Socks
*One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish
*There's a Wocket in my Pocket
*Go Dog, Go!
*There's a Zamp in my Lamp
CAT'S HAT PIZZA
A big thank you to our good friend Jen for finding this idea in Parenting magazine, it was so fun to make! We used a store bought pizza crust and formed it into the shape of the cat's hat. We spread sauce and cheese all over the pizza and used pepperoni and black olives to create the stripes and brim of the hat. (I was thinking it would be cool to do this sugar cookie dough too, and you could use white and red frosting for the stripes, or white frosting and strawberry jam???)
MAKING OOBLECK
We had so much fun making Oobleck the other day. I used to do this activity with my third graders to talk about the properties of solids and liquids. I found out; however, that it can be just as fun to do with preschoolers as well. After reading Bartholomew and the Oobleck, we made our own batch of Oobleck and the kids enjoyed playing with it. (It's a lot messier to do with preschoolers than nine-year-olds, but just as much, if not more, fun!)
How to Make Oobleck:
Mix together 2 C. of cornstarch with 1 C. of water. You can add a couple of drops of food coloring to make it the color you want. We chose green since it went with the story. You may need to add more water or cornstarch to reach the desired consistency. It should form a ball when you grab it and squeeze or let it sit for a bit, but turn back to liquid when you let it drip down your hand.
Jack's Favorite Dr. Seuss Books:
*And to think that I saw it on Mulberry Street
*The Cat in the Hat (this one is probably my favorite of all his books)
*Great Day for Up
*Bartholomew and the Oobleck
*Did I Ever tell You how Lucky you Are?
*Dr. Seuss' Sleep Book
*The Butter Battle Book
*Green Eggs and Ham
*If I Ran the Zoo
*Happy Birthday, Baby
*Thudwick, the Big Hearted Moose
*Scrambled Eggs Super!
*On Beyond Zebra
*Yertle the Turtle
*Horton Hears a Who
*500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins
*The Lorax
*The Sneetches
*Horton Hatches an Egg
Maren's Favorite Dr. Seuss Books:
*The Foot Book (this was the very first book I ever read to Jack as a baby)
*Hop on Pop
*Fox in Socks
*One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish
*There's a Wocket in my Pocket
*Go Dog, Go!
*There's a Zamp in my Lamp
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Valetine's Fun!
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It was a lot of fun to be home together this Valentine's Day. Craig has been gone a lot lately, so I think our little ones were very happy to stay in for the day and have some family time. Take a look at our fun day!
Friday, February 12, 2010
OUR APOLOGIES...JACK'S PARTY!
I want to send our apologies for disappearing the last month. I know a few of you have been discouraged not to have the Valentine's activities earlier. We've had a lot going on. Craig has been out of town a lot, I had surgery earlier this month (just on my mouth) and Maren will be having surgery later this month. We've had what seems to be about a million doctor's appointments, and I ended up flying out to Las Vegas for a couple of days to see Craig at his last show. With that said, I've spent a lot of time posting today, so I hope this catches us up a bit.
Jack had another wonderful class party the other day as his class celebrated Valentine's Day. I can't say enough wonderful things about his teachers and the precious little friends he has made at his school. They are all just adorable! I think the dynamics of the classroom always make their party so fun. (Maren had a blast playing around the classroom and pretending to be a big girl too!)
BATHTIME FUN!
I wonder when my kids will get too old to sit in the bathtub together? I figure our days are numbered and try to enjoy not only fact that I'm "killing two birds with one stone"; but more importantly, the fun memories created. Jack loves to watch me "style" Maren's hair when she's in the tub with him, and I think this look is our favorite on her. What do you think...could this work for prom someday?
February Crafts, Snacks, and Books
VALENTINE WIGGLY PEOPLE:
I actually saw these walking through the halls at Jack's school and remembered making something similar when I was in Elementary school. The nice thing is you only need some construction paper to make them, and you can use whatever you have around the house for decorations.
HEART CRAYONS:
What better way to use up all the bits and pieces of old crayons than by making them into new crayons? We do this pretty often,(Maren likes to break and eat crayons...so does Milo!) but this time we used a heart shaped cupcake pan instead of our usual cupcake pan. We thought this was lots of fun for Valentine's Day.
VALENTINE'S WREATH:
Even Maren loved this activity! We cut the circle out of the middle of a paper plate. I took a kitchen spounge and drew hearts on it with a permanent marker, then cut them out. The kids dipped the spounges into paint and stamped hearts around their wreaths. Finally we punched a hole in the top and used some curling ribbon to make a pretty bow.
RICE KRISPIE HEARTS:
We found this idea on the rice krispie website. We made the normal rice krispies treats recipe, and added a little red food coloring to our marshmallow mixture. After spreading the mixture in our pan, we used a heart cookie cutter to create the heart shaped treats. The wee ones then used pink frosting and lots of sprinkles to decorate their cookie.
CHOCOLATE PLAYDOUGH
*1 1/4 cups flour
*1/2 cup cocoa powder
*1/2 cup salt
*1/2 tablespoon cream of tartar
*1 1/2 tablespoons cooking oil
*1 cup boiling water
Mix the dry ingredients. Add the oil and boiling water. Stir quickly, mixing well. When cool, mix with your hands. Store in an airtight container.
HANDMADE VALENTINE CARDS:
I loved the cards on the website www.makinglearningfun.com. Jack used two of the card templates from this website to create really cute cards for his teachers. He was especially excited about the "pop up" bear card.
JACK'S FAVORITE VALENTINE BOOKS:
*The Legend of Lyla the Lovesick Ladybug by Joe Trioano (this is my new favorite too)
*A Scent-Sational Valentine by Mary ManKong
*Countdown to Valentine's Day by Jodi Huelin
*The Little Engine that Could:Valentines Day Surprise by Monique Stephens
*Little Bear's Valentine by Else Minarile
*Happy Valentine's Day by Robert Schull
*My Valentine's Story: Giving my Heart to God by Crystal Bowman
*Roses Are Pink, Your Feet Really Stink by Diane de Groat
MAREN'S FAVORITE VALENTINE BOOKS:
*Lilly and the Chocolate Heart by Kevin Henkes
*The Kissing Monster by Marion Bauer
*Dora Loves Boots by Alison Inches
*My Fuzzy Valentine by Naomi Kleinberg
*Valentine's for Everyone by Chris Gifford
*Dora's Valentine Adventure by Christine Ricci
I actually saw these walking through the halls at Jack's school and remembered making something similar when I was in Elementary school. The nice thing is you only need some construction paper to make them, and you can use whatever you have around the house for decorations.
HEART CRAYONS:
What better way to use up all the bits and pieces of old crayons than by making them into new crayons? We do this pretty often,(Maren likes to break and eat crayons...so does Milo!) but this time we used a heart shaped cupcake pan instead of our usual cupcake pan. We thought this was lots of fun for Valentine's Day.
VALENTINE'S WREATH:
Even Maren loved this activity! We cut the circle out of the middle of a paper plate. I took a kitchen spounge and drew hearts on it with a permanent marker, then cut them out. The kids dipped the spounges into paint and stamped hearts around their wreaths. Finally we punched a hole in the top and used some curling ribbon to make a pretty bow.
RICE KRISPIE HEARTS:
We found this idea on the rice krispie website. We made the normal rice krispies treats recipe, and added a little red food coloring to our marshmallow mixture. After spreading the mixture in our pan, we used a heart cookie cutter to create the heart shaped treats. The wee ones then used pink frosting and lots of sprinkles to decorate their cookie.
CHOCOLATE PLAYDOUGH
*1 1/4 cups flour
*1/2 cup cocoa powder
*1/2 cup salt
*1/2 tablespoon cream of tartar
*1 1/2 tablespoons cooking oil
*1 cup boiling water
Mix the dry ingredients. Add the oil and boiling water. Stir quickly, mixing well. When cool, mix with your hands. Store in an airtight container.
HANDMADE VALENTINE CARDS:
I loved the cards on the website www.makinglearningfun.com. Jack used two of the card templates from this website to create really cute cards for his teachers. He was especially excited about the "pop up" bear card.
JACK'S FAVORITE VALENTINE BOOKS:
*The Legend of Lyla the Lovesick Ladybug by Joe Trioano (this is my new favorite too)
*A Scent-Sational Valentine by Mary ManKong
*Countdown to Valentine's Day by Jodi Huelin
*The Little Engine that Could:Valentines Day Surprise by Monique Stephens
*Little Bear's Valentine by Else Minarile
*Happy Valentine's Day by Robert Schull
*My Valentine's Story: Giving my Heart to God by Crystal Bowman
*Roses Are Pink, Your Feet Really Stink by Diane de Groat
MAREN'S FAVORITE VALENTINE BOOKS:
*Lilly and the Chocolate Heart by Kevin Henkes
*The Kissing Monster by Marion Bauer
*Dora Loves Boots by Alison Inches
*My Fuzzy Valentine by Naomi Kleinberg
*Valentine's for Everyone by Chris Gifford
*Dora's Valentine Adventure by Christine Ricci
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