Every time I sit down to write one of my monthly wrap ups on the blog, For the Love Of……. I lament about how I have soooo many images I want to include, but it takes FOREVER to resize and watermark them. I’m great at documenting our daily adventures on Instagram and Face Book, but then the questions roll into my inbox.
- Where did you get that?
- What curriculum are you using?
- Did you like that book?
My husband suggested I try weekly summary posts to help limit the overload. That way I can keep on top of my pictures and offer my readers the REST OF THE STORY 🙂
So without further ado……..here is the rest of the story from this past week!
Saturday
Ladybug turned four last week and this playground magically showed up in the background in celebration of her big day! The kids are over the moon. Daddy is pretty happy about it too 🙂
Owl is enamored of Daddy’s tools and has already asked for his own hammer. He would like a blue one, please 🙂
Baby Guppy is on the move. Nothing like a few Mega Blocks to get you moving.
Guppy also got plenty of time in his very own swing, now that the big kids have had an upgrade.
Sunday
As many of you know, we are huge fans of Mother Goose Time’s preschool curriculum and we will be using them again this year. To encourage some more cooperative play like that we see in the kids when we use Mother Goose Time’s Tray Play Games from the toddler supplement, we are adding A Year of Playing Skillfully to our repertoire. Daddy is preparing a sensory table complete with washable bins for the kids and I to use. Have I mentioned lately that my husband is awesome, because he is!
Since he had all that wood right there, he went ahead and made some Waldorf style play blocks for our kids too 🙂 Anyone use Oak Meadow? We are playing with trying that once we graduate from Mother Goose Time.
We have blooms on our pumpkin plants! I’m ecstatic and so is Ladybug. She is turning into such a little gardener despite my lack of skill in this area. We are researching some garden learning programs for her. Anyone have any suggestions?
Monday
We tried to convince Owl that potty training was a good idea with this selection of awesome books. We will try again later……sigh
We did some science with Mother Goose Time! I know some of you asked where this super cool experiment came from – And Now You Know the Rest of the Story……see what I did there?!?!?! 😉
We learned some more about our senses – also Mother Goose Time (MGT).
We’ve started working our way through All About Reading – my daughter is in love with their hand puppet – Ziggy Zebra and looks forward to his return every Monday afternoon 🙂
Seriously, she LOVES him…..LOL
We did a little more science with MGT for some snacking fun and watched the liquid of heavy cream turn into solid whipping cream. It was delicious with some strawberries!
and clementines, and a plum, and some blueberries………….we explored them all!
Tuesday
We spent a day learning about our family tree with MGT. I LOVE that Ladybug just had to include the pets!
We LOVE Michelle at What’s Cooking With Kids! We spent the afternoon using her #KidsCookwithBooks, making these awesome pickled green beans and reading this new family favorite: How Martha Saved Her Parents from Green Beans! It’s hilarious!
Check out that game face! For those of you who were wondering why she thought the green beans were mean – NOW – you know the rest of the story 🙂
I love seeing these kids work together in the kitchen.
We even did some letter review……because apparently that’s what you do with green beans when you are 4….LOL
Ladybug rocked this Highlights sticker puzzle. She’s so good at this sort of thing.
The new invitations to play with MGT are so much fun! I get to create with them.
Look at this beautiful girl! She got this new rainbow dress for her birthday and she loves it.
She has collected several of these flowers from the backyard and has placed them under the playground where she claims there are magic faeries and little gardeners to care for them.
Wednesday
He loves playing peek-a-boo with the curtains. There is an entire meal of avocado on these curtains. 😉
Ladybug LOVES science. We use this Primary Science Kit. We got ours from Timberdoodle, but it’s also available on Amazon. Ladybug can do the simple experiments in their entirety all by herself and is always happy to report her findings to Daddy when he gets home.
Another Invitation to Create with MGT – this one was owl themed 🙂
Thursday
Our moon flowers exploded!!! Look at all those gorgeous blooms. Ladybug takes such pride in them. She cares for them by doing the dead heading and watering everyday.
The kids are over the moon about these books from My Body Village. The cast of characters includes wonderful named body parts like Betty Bladder and Raymond Brain 🙂 There are weekly challenges and activities to go along with these books too. Given how many times we read the books this week, I’m going to have to investigate. Anyone else read these?
Ladybug has been participating in a photography challenge on Instagram. #3rosesgrowphotographychallenge She even won one of the weekly challenges. Her play camera was horrible, so we picked a cheap one up at the used book store/ pawn shop. She is delighted. Baby Guppy never knew someone would take more pictures of him than Mommy…..LOL
Friday
Ladybug spelled Mom – and wrote it for me on a piece of paper that I could use as my “to do” list for the day. She is sooooo my girl 🙂
Grandma fortunately chips in with the read-alouds. This is what it looks like when you are trying to hold a baby while you do them…..hehehehe
The kids loved this game from MGT. They got to spin a dice and if they told me the right number they got to have that many sticker buttons to add to their shirt.
It was sooo hot, we spent the afternoon in the pool reading books and eating popsicles. Some of you asked – the wooden board was a diving board, a pirate plank, a ramp for cars, and a bridge. And now you know the rest of the story!
We made some Cost Rican black beans and rice from Global Table Adventure as part of Latin America Week with the #giveyourchildtheworld Summer Reading Book Club!
We liked it. A Lot!
For reasons unknown, Ladybug started asking for the story of Snow White. Also, for reasons unknown we don’t own a copy. We picked up this golden book for $1 at Goodwill and are in the market for a better version. I’m researching some Grimm originals. Any suggestions?
One of our family goals is building a Family Culture of Reading
The family has been reading ALL these awesome books about Latin America from Give Your Child the World!
Dad is reading
Mom is reading
Ladybug (4 years old) is reading
Owl (2.5 years old) is reading
Guppy (9 months old) is reading
What has your family been doing and reading this week?
