Just Call Him Nobody

Sweet Son has turned into quite the comedian. He even laughs at his own jokes. :)

Sweet Son: Daddy, I'm going to change your name to Nobody.
Wonderful Husband: Huh? Why?
Sweet Son: Because Nobody lives forever. hahahaha

Kid Photographer - Our Day 2

These are all photos from Sweet Daughter's camera showing her favorite parts of our day.

Maps on the wall near where we do circle time.

Sweet Son practicing piano (notice the music is all closed because that's not his music).

A Lego tower taller than both kids!

Kid Photographer - Our Day

These are photos from Sweet Son's camera showing parts of an average day at our house.

Daddy, take a picture of me doing yoga!

 We like geography puzzles.

If you want water, you have to get it yourself.

Workbook fun - this is NOT school work.

Wordless Wednesday

New Rain Coats!

Kid Photographer - each other

Here are the photos the kids have taken of each other. It is interesting to see their perspectives.

Sweet Son "sleeping" Photo by Sweet Daughter

Sweet Son grinning. Photo by Sweet Daughter

Wonderful Husband and Sweet Daughter being silly. Photo by Sweet Son

Sweet Daughter playing. Photo by Sweet Son

They aren't the highest quality photos but I love that they take pictures of each other. I love seeing the bond they have in ways that words can't describe.

A Tale of Two Beds - Part 30

That's right. There are now a full month's worth of posts about my kids sleeping, or not sleeping, or ripping apart things - wooden bed frames, mattresses, etc. They say children are the most innocent and cute when they are asleep. My kids are just confusing.

Once again, here are the links to the previous tales. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Frustration, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, Part 16, Part 17, Part 18, Part 19, Part 20, Part 21, Part22, Part 23, Part 24, Part 25, Part 26, Part 27, Part 28, Part 29.

The bed is the perfect place for your books. How would you have arranged this?

Look at that! He's sleeping NEAR his bed. That's an improvement.

Well part of her is in her bedroom. She spent a lot of time making this pallet in the doorway.

Why do they have beds again?

Bubbles!

Some days the weather is perfect and we could all use some bubble time. It's the simple things that make life great.

Making fufu

When we study cultures, we try to use as many different senses as possible. During our study of Africa, Sweet Daughter wanted to make fufu. I had never heard of fufu, so this was going to be exciting.

If you have never read this book, you should find it. It covers many different countries and is interesting in many different ways.

 

 This is where Sweet Daughter first heard of fufu and decided she wanted to make and eat some.

First time using a peeler. She did great!

Mashing is hard work!

She rolled them into 4 balls so we could each have some with dinner.

 She was so pleased with her fufu and tomato soup. I love when the kids find something new they want to try. It's that smile and confidence I wish every person could understand.

Wordless Wednesday

Art Spot in a museum

Things Kids Say

You never know what kids are going to say. Here are 3 examples of conversations around our house.


Our 5 year old son just used the word "extraneous" properly. That's one way to make sure your sister doesn't understand you are insulting her...


Kid #1 "I know I'm sick, but can I still do piano practice?"
Me "If you want, you can."
Kid #2 "Do I have to do piano practice?"
Me "You aren't sick."
Kid #2 "I know, I just don't want to do it."


My kids are debating if they should yell at the tv while watching sports. One says it's not logical because the people in the tv can't hear us. The other says, "I can't help it. We might win!"

Fossils

The kids love doing any science kit so when I said they were each going to find 2 fossils, they were thrilled.

She thought it would be easy so she started with a brush.

He started with more of a brute force approach.

Here are the results. The tray on the left had all of the sand and tools they used (except all of the sand on the floor of course). The 4 cards show what they found. In the bottom right corner of each card you see a lighter colored box. The kids placed what they found in those boxes. It's difficult to see in the photo, but they found a shark tooth and three types of shells. All in all, a dirty and fun project.

Kid Photographer - doll house family

When I bought the giant doll house, it came fully furnished, but without a family. I found multiple family sets at a local store and picked the one that most closely resembled us. (They had 4 different skin color sets.) It had 8 pieces - Grandmother, Grandfather, Dad, Mom, Boy, Girl, Toddler, and Baby. What I didn't know at the time is that the family's main occupation would be modeling. Here are some of their group shots.

Here they stand in a loose group on top of a table.  Photo by Sweet Daughter

Here they are lined up - only the toddler has been replaced with a rubber hockey duck. Such is life. Photo by Sweet Daughter

Here are the 8 of them with the duck. Photo by Sweet Son

I cut down the photos to the best 3. There were so many of these people it was a bit crazy.
(How is it the dolls are in so much better shape than we are? Shouldn't they offer a variety of body types in addition to races? Sorry, just rambling off topic.)

Paper Weaving

One of our fun art projects in the curriculum is paper weaving. The kids started by picking their colors. and cutting one paper into strips. Then the other paper was folded in half and cut into lines, but not all the way to the end.

Here Sweet Daughter is working with her pink/purple papers. She cut her strips fairly wide and loved this project. 

Sweet Son selected yellow/orange and cut very small strips. His took much longer to complete, but it also turned out really well.

When they were finished I had both laminated and they used them for placemats. This is a great fine motor activity and the final products were impressive.

Wordless Wednesday

I have no idea where this was taken. I might be losing my mind...

A Tale of Two Beds, part 29

Once again, here are the links to the previous tales. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Frustration, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, Part 16, Part 17, Part 18, Part 19, Part 20, Part 21, Part22, Part 23, Part 24, Part 25, Part 26, Part 27, Part 28.

 This post features Sweet Daughter and the many different ways you can sleep ON a bed and keep your feet warm.

 Those pillows make a great foot warmer.

Or you could just wear your Hello Kitty slippers, but remember to keep them off the bed.

Blankets also work for keeping your feet warm, especially when it's so cold with your feet on the floor. 

(Legs crossed does crack me up.)

Snow Day!!

Snow is so much better than ice. After the ice had mostly melted, we got hit with a real snow storm. The kids were thrilled.

It's not a snowman, but it's happy!

That's better. Real snow and plenty of fun things to do in it.

Clearly the first step is to mow it... um... You might be from the South if you child doesn't know what a snow blower is.

Tegu Blocks

My kids love building things. We have Legos, Keva Planks, cardboard blocks, and magnetic plastic blocks. I had never heard of these, but now I'm wondering if you have. Have any of my readers played with these? Are they awesome? How do they compare to the other options? Clearly this post wasn't written by me, but it did get my attention and I wanted to share it. One of the oldest and most reliable toys that children have played with for centuries is the simple wooden block. It's versatile, safe and most of all fun. While standard wooden blocks are still fun, there have been major innovations and advancements in technology to bring us to where we are now. The Tegu blocks are an awesome modern twist on a classic toy. These blocks may look simple at first glance, but only when you start to play with them do you realize truly how awesome they are. Tegu blocks come with tiny magnets embedded in the blocks, which means that kids of any can create structures they only ever dreamed of. And with plenty of options, there's a perfect Tegu set for any family!

What Moms are Saying About Tegu

Christina is a mommy of three who shares fun activities for kids on her YouTube channel, The Purple Alphabet. During her video review of the Tegu blocks, she says "It really encourages your child to think creatively... you're gonna get a lot of use out of these over the years." "Bought these for my 6 year old grandson for Christmas and we now call his creations "the work of a City Planner. " The different shapes and structures take on the look of city skylines with random items like trees, bridges, etc. Geometry was never so much fun." -Deborah F. "My first reaction was "these are pricey!" but they were highly recommended to me so I gave it a go. Now I can tell they will be loved for years. My 3 year old loves stacking them and clicking them together and a part. I even have fun playing with these and I'm an adult. They are high quality and the colors are great." -Summer H.

The Social Impact

Not only are Tegu blocks fun, but they have a social impact. The business was founded in Honduras with the idea of helping out a country with an unemployment rate of above 30%. Local Hondurans are regularly hired and receive opportunities for growth and leadership within the company. If that weren't enough, with every purchase of a Tegu product, the company plants more trees or funds a whole day of school for a child without access to education. With a product this fun and a company that is so caring, it's hard not to love Tegu, and the products listed here are only the beginning! Be sure to check out the full Tegu catalog to find out which one is right for you.

Classic 40 Piece

Create amazing structures and wonderful memories with the classic Tegu block 40 piece pack. Coming in four styles (tints, natural, jungle, and Nelson), the classic Tegu pack is the perfect purchase for kids who want to experience as many combinations as possible.

What's included:

• 40 Magnetized Tegu Blocks in seven shapes
• Large storage box
• The Tegu Story booklet filled with build ideas and the Tegu story

On-The-Go Sets

This Tegu pack is perfect for families who are constantly on the go. Available in four sets, these Tegu mini packs come with their own carrying case to make sure you don't lose any of the pieces.

What's included:

• Six magnetized Tegu blocks
• High quality carrying case
• Building ideas

Classic Wood

This set is perfect for more retro-minded families. The classic wood Tegu package includes 22 slick wooden blocks that can be used to create tons of different wooden structures and shapes.

What's Included:

• 22 magnetized blocks in four shapes
• Storage box

Animal Tracks

What's a boy to do when he wakes up before everyone else? Match animals to their tracks of course.

He was at this for a long time and eventually matched them all.

Here is a close up of some of the cards so you can see his matches.

This game could be played as a memory style game, a matching game, or if you remove one card an old maid type game. The kids end up learning about animals, tracks, and classification.