Christmas Style #2...and a traditional Christmas Craft

We always start December with this tried and true craft- but it's not too late for you to join in the fun!!  Have your child make a card that says Bridgette's (your child's name, of course!) Christmas Countdown - they can decorate it however they wish.  In the past, I have always given my kids red and green paper, but this year I let them pick their own colors. The only (school) requirement was that their chain had to be in a pattern.  Last year, Jake still needed a bit of help - this year, they all did it on their own, in just a few minutes.  They are getting so big!!
Here are our Christmas countdown chains - I didn't get very good shots because I forgot to take photos until after they were  hung up.  For smaller children (like under age five), it's a good idea to hang them where they cannot reach them.  Each day, you can lift them up to help them reach their ring to tear off - if they are easy to reach, they might tear them all down in one day - not that it's happened to us before...   :)

Last night, we had a dress rehearsal for the Christmas show, so I decided to do Bee's hair in an updo style. This one was so simple, and came out really cute!!  I didn't do a step by step, and I kinda made it up as I went along, but it was really easy.  First, I pulled up part of her hair in front in an elastic (see photos). Then I had her lay on her tummy with her head hanging over the end of my bed.  I french braided her hair from the bottom up, and added the end of the braid to the top pony that I had made earlier.

Once the pony was dry, I added curlers, and left them in for about an hour.  I think it is important to add a light spritz of hairspray to each strand before you roll it - this helps the curls stay in "difficult to curl" hair.

I took the curlers out one at a time and bobby pinned them around her head - added a bow, and tada!  Adorable updo!!

This one might just be the winner - or we might do a different style each night. We'll see what she's up for!  The exciting part of doing this was that a few other moms asked if I'd do their girlie's hair for the show.  I'm going to be in hair-doing heaven!!   :)

Both my kiddos before the show last night - little Mister was sooo not into having his photo taken...despite the smile here - don't let him fool you!!  :)

Here are the kids during rehearsal last night:

Today we're doing minimal school, and getting ready for shows this weekend, and our homeschooling co-op Christmas party tomorrow morning. 'Tis the season for crazy, busy, fun, awesome family time!

Remember to have fun ths time of year - Jesus wouldn't want us to be stressed about His birthday!!   Hug your babies, your man, and your friends - and have a blast with all that you do!

Stacy

Still here, still crafting....just busy!

So - our last week has led up to this:

Opening night of Oliver!!  It was a smashing success, and we had fun all weekend long performing for near full audiences!
We've also continued our crafting.  We made this last week, but I ran out of time to blog about it:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/74543/five_easy_thanksgiving_crafts_to_do.html?cat=24
Now, before you decide not to do this because it says it is for the preschool crowd - think again!  My kids loved this craft, and there are things you can do it make it more age appropriate.  First, have them write the words to the poem as their handwriting for the day.   Second, have them paint their own hands!  They'll love it!  Third, have them cut and glue the papers together. Adding these few extra steps really does make it a "big kid" project. Here is how ours' turned out:

Here is an "up close" shot of the poem we used:

Cute, huh?  And a keeper.  :)
We're finishing another craft today that has taken us all week long!  Happy Crafting Everyone!!
Stacy

Weigh-in Wenesday and a Milestone moment!

Last night's weigh in wasn't anything spectacular.  I lost 1.6 lbs - but I hadn't gone to TOPS the week before, so really that one point six was over two weeks.  I guess I should be thankful that I lost anything, considering it was Bee's birthday weekend, and we ate ourselves silly on pizza and then Olive Garden.  :)   Back to it today, though - with vigor!

Here's a photo from the party of me - since I've lost a little over half the weight I'm aiming to lose. As of last night, I've lost 67 pounds.  :)   I know some of you who know me in real life are dying to see a shot, and I'm finally at the stage where I'm not embarassed to show one.  So, here's me and the birthday girl at her party this past weekend:

And our milestone...my baby turned 10!  Eek!  Double digits!  I can hardly believe it. I don't know how the time as flown so quickly.  Here are a few fun shots from her special day:

I hope you all have a wonderful Thurdsay!  The sun looks like it is finally considering to come out today.  Looks like we'll spend some time outdoors soaking it up!
Stacy

Just so they aren't ignored...

My boys got hair cuts this week.  :)  The place we go (kidoozies) is awesome.  After the boys get their cuts, they get to pick whichever color spray they want to "finish" the look.  Both boys want their hair colored like this for real - maybe next summer I'll let them.  We'll see.  Here are their new 'dos with and without color. You can see how thrilled Lex was to have his photo taken the second time.  I believe I was interrupting his precious computer time...

Then - because Jake was looking so adorable, and is my photogenic child - I thought we'd do a little photo shoot.  Um...yeah - these are the shots I got:

Oy vey. This child is going to do me in.  Do you have one like him?  God makes them adorable on purpose, so you don't send them back.  :)
Have a colorful afternoon!
Stacy

Big Doings At our House!!!

Hold onto your hats everyone, we have BIKE RIDERS!!!!!!





Guess it's time to buy helmets and bikes that fit them...

An Apple A Day Craft

It's still apple week around here, and today we used construction paper and contact paper to make apples to hang up.  They came out really well!
First, fold a length of contact paper in half, and draw an outline of an apple, leaf and stem.  Then open just half of the contact paper, and give your kids red, green and brown construction paper.  Let them rip the paper into tiny pieces and encourage them to try to stay in the lines on their apples. (This will make cutting them out easier later.)  This process doesn't take nearly as long as you would think.

It will start to look like this:

While we work on craft projects, we love to listen to music. The next few weeks will be filled with songs from Oliver, as Bee and I (and possibly Lex) are going to try out for this show soon!   Here is a small sampling of the kids singing today - with the added benefit of seeing the craft in action!

Then all the kiddos together singing - I think this is so cute:

After they are done, mom can fold the other half of the contact paper up to meet the first half.  Be sure to get all the bubbles out.

Last, they cut out the apples!

They should look something like this when they are completed:

Other highlights of our day included:

Observing our outdoor habitat:

And catching some frogs - who were named Big Daddy and Pipsqueak by Jakie:

Do you have a younger child whose work doesn't take as long to complete as your older children?  We love to do puzzles to keep our little hands occupied.  What do you do?

You know, I realized as I was reading through a few homeschool blogs recently that I am guilty of doing something on my own blog that I cannot stand in other people's blogs.  Have you read blogs where the reader's life seems perfect?  Where they are the perfect wife, perfect mother, perfect everything?  Ugh. So not me - and yet, I realize as I post all this stuff day after day about our schooling that I might be portraying myself that way.  Not that you care to hear about every bad thing in our lives - and not that there are that many to even tell about on a daily basis - but I want to keep this blog "real".  I don't want anyone thinking I'm superwoman.  I am a normal mom, with normal kids. I struggle with my kids being naughty, my weight, and have to work hard to get a load of laundry done each day (today it's more like four that need to be done!).

Anyhow, in an effort to be a bit more transparent with you all...homeschooling has been a blast this week, and we got off to a great start.  However, just today I dealt with the following:

A certain child fell on the floor and pretended to be asleep when asked to do his math paper.

Another child argued with me that Helen Keller never did anything brave and to ask him to write about why she was brave was unfair and mean.  (This went on for like twenty minutes and involved tears...I finally won.)

Another child stared blankly at her wall for fifteen minutes when she was supposed to be taking a math test, and when asked to move back to the classroom so that I could keep her on task (she had been in her room at her desk at the time) acted as though I was a horrible person for asking her to do so.

See?  We're real.  My kids are wonderful, but they are kids. They test me and sometimes I make them cry.  But I love them.  I was thinking today while I was talking to Alexander about not being lazy (I had given him the reason that he needed to train himself now not to be lazy so that when he grew up he would be an excellent husband, father and employee) that I am blessed to have them with me all day, everyday.  I can teach them and train them up to be the men and women God called them to be.  I know it isn't everyone's calling in life, and most of the people close to me think I'm certifiable for staying at home and homeschooling - but I love it. I hope this blog is an encouragement to other moms out there who are homeschooling, or even those who aren't.

Happy Homeschooling,

Stacy

Back to School!

We started school today - Bridgette is in fourth grade:

Alex is in third grade:

And Jacob is in first grade:

Aren't they an adorable trio?

They love eachother, too...what more could a parent want then that?

Okay, on to business.  This year, I am going to attempt (*ahem, notice the use of the word attempt here - it might not actually happen*) to have a theme for each week or month. Mostly, the themes will revolve around holidays or seasons. The first theme for us is going to be "apples".  Today we made an apple tree for our craft project, after talking about where apples come from, and how they are part of our ecosystem - which is what we're learning about this year in science.  Here are the steps:

1. Crumple up a lunch bag (or brown paper) that you have already drawn a tree shape on.

2. Flatten the paper, and then crumple it again - this will give the tree a "bark" look to it.

3. Flatten out the paper, and cut out the tree shape.

4. Glue the tree shape to another piece of paper.

5.  Cut out a big bushy green top - I had pretraced it for my kids, so they just had to cut it out.

6.  Write the words "apple tree" at the top.

7. Finger Paint red dots to be apples all over the tree.

The end results look like this:

Pretty cute!  I hope your first days back are fantastic, and that your kiddos have many stories to tell daddy when he gets home.

Happy Homeschooling!

Stacy