Year Three: Week Four: Journey to the Past

"Absence, with all its pains, is, by this charming moment, wiped away."

~James Thomson

It has been a crazy couple of months! The craziness started in November and it only now settling back into some form of normalcy. So, here we are taking a look back at our schooling, from last year (sheesh!), and I am going to really try and catch us up before next Christmas. *crosses fingers*

Meet Mr. Dry Bones. A lovely friend we made from paper plates. Another great Pinterest find that I cut out while Sidekick was taking a bath one evening. Yes, it's that easy. Here! 

 After we put our friend together and went over the bones (total simplified version), I had him draw his own version of a skeleton. I think he did wonderfully! But I am his mom so yes, I am biased. 

Sight words! Sidekick is on his way to reading! So, this is some reinforcement practice of common words. 

 It was once October. Which means, it was Halloween and pumpkin decorating was a must. Abstract art is quickly becoming a favorite of mine. Again, I am happily biased. 

 Pumpkin structures! We had a lot of fun with this and imagining the rooms and all the friends that lived in our house. 

Sidekick wanted nothing else but to be Yoshi for Halloween. So I stretched my crafty wings and made his little dream come true. I bought the crochet hat on Etsy, turned his spiked dragon tail into a more appropriate Yoshi tail, and fashioned a shell and white belly out of felt and cloth. They slipped onto his shoulders so I didn't have to ruin a good set of thermals for one night of fun. Yes, it looked quite homemade but he was happy and that's all I care about. 

Birthday fun! Daddy was leaving shortly after our Sidekick's actual birthday so we took advantage of Halloween weekend and had a costumed birthday party! Our Mario obsession continued into the party planning and our little Yoshi was ecstatic! Another bit of craftiness went into the cake and one of the party games. The entire cake is homemade: the bottom is rainbow cake (per his request) and the mushroom is made of Rice Krispie treats. All covered in homemade icing. My mom made my birthday cakes for many years and it is something I enjoy doing for my sweet boy every year. 

The last drop of my craftiness was this Pin-the-Mustache Mario. I googled a picture, found a piece of cardboard (that I knew I would find a use for eventually!), drew him in pencil and then painted the day away. The mustaches are simply felt. The kids loved it so, all the work was worth it. 

So there we are. After this, my days got crazy full of school and fun visitors. Then the traveling came; which I'm still recovering from. But all that is for another day. One, maybe two, more posts and then I am caught up! More adventures to come, see you soon!

Year Two: Week Seven: Snip, Cut, Match

Absence, with all its pains, is, by this charming moment, wiped away.

~ James Thomson

How has it been almost a month? What have we been doing? What have we not been doing?? Sigh. Well, Daddy came home! Yay! A lot of our absence is because of that, and that's okay. We are all stateside now and getting ready for our next adventure. We've been busy with family and errands. It's time to get back into schooling and this is the first step! Get this done and get set up for some schooling days before Thanksgiving. 

Let's catch up on our past weeks, shall we? Have a look:

 Found these through Pinterest, here's the direct link to the website. These were fun, waaaaay back in October, just in time for Halloween. 

 Cutting practice. It had been a while but my sidekick picked it back up very well. Learning to cut can be frustrating both for the cutter and the teacher. We worked though it with only minor aggravation. :) I found a whole Cut it Out Pack from This Reading Mama but, it won't let me link it right now. Good stuff though!

 I found a new website for my schooling needs! TeachersPayTeachers.com. They have lots of freebies in lots of categories and age groups. I will be using this site for a long time.

The pig graph above is by Donna Glynn Kinderglynn and the letter tracing sheet is by Apple Bliss. There is a ton of stuff on that website. Check it out.

Sidekick chose to be Luigi for Halloween. Kid made bank in candy! It was our first real stateside Halloween (he was too little before we moved) and he loved it! He loved the running from house to house, he loved the getting of the candy, and he loved "winning" by racing little neighborhood friends to and from each house. The only downfall? He wanted to go INSIDE every house. And he did not understand why we couldn't go wandering in to stranger's houses and make ourselves comfortable. Overall though, it was a good night.

 Another holiday we celebrated was my sidekick turning FOUR! Every mom says it, and I must agree, how does time go by so fast?! My baby is turning into a little boy and, I'm sure, some time tomorrow, he'll be a man. We had a quiet family dinner, complete with ice cream and a few presents, on his actual birthday and then a party about a week later once Daddy was home. 

Instead of presents at his birthday party, we asked our guests to bring donations for our local animal shelter. Everyone was great in participating and the shelter was very happy to receive our gifts. 

I've had people ask me, "Why no gifts?". My sidekick is special. He doesn't really like or care to open presents. Also, we tend to get him plenty of toys and such throughout the year. This was so much better. It went to a good cause and we didn't offend anyone when he shunned their gift so he could continue playing with his friends.

 Downtime.

 We used our recently cut apples (that he cut himself) and worked on our math skills.

 All these pumpkin, P themed, worksheets are from here. Through Pinterest, per usual. These were great to continue our fall theme that has been present for about a month. After Thanksgiving though, it's onto Winter Wonderland and Christmas! It was easy to break these worksheets up and do a couple a day or even just one in the evening during some down time. 

There you have it! You're as caught up as I am. Now to get ready for next week and set up some travel schooling projects. Wish me luck!

See you soon!

Year Two: Week Five: Weathering The Storms

Grandfather: The truth is that, while we Welsh like to believe that it was the mountains that beat the successive invaders, it was really the weather that comes with mountains. It was the rain that defeated every invader. Yes, simple rain.

~The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain

What a perfect week for our weather projects! We actually had real storms! The thunder, the lightning, it was wonderful. The high winds...not so much. No damage here though, thank goodness. My sidekick and I stayed up one night, cuddled in bed, listening to the storms. We talked about what sounds we heard, how it made us feel, and the shadows the lightning made. School can happen anywhere, any time of day, just be with your kid and let it happen. 

Breeze on through what we did this week:

 Found this on kceadventures.com via Pinterest. This was an easy after-dinner project. We didn't get into the density of things but he made some pretty good guesses by holding the foods before putting them in the water.

 Minus having the WORST water balloons ever, this was fun! I wrote out 1-20 in chalk and then we worked on simple addition. I would ask him (example) "1+2" and then we would count it and he would throw the water balloon on the correct answer. Only our water balloons wouldn't pop. Again, worst ever. So, we had a small water balloon fight in the grass (the only place they would pop!) and then I had him jump on the right answers for our game. 

 I like to have him help me as much as possible. How else is he going to learn this stuff? So, here we are cutting meat for our supper. This kind of stuff isn't the most exciting but it's good practice as he grows.

 Back to weather! We made rain! Simple! Water in a glass, shaving cream on top, and food coloring. We used too much shaving cream at first, so it took forever (we both lost interest) while the food coloring made its way through the shaving cream. I swiped some of it off and we tried again. Ta-da! 

 One of my projects for him this week was a Froot Loop lacing project for his fine motor practice. Instead, we made this jewel at his cousin's art birthday party! He was very proud of it and I had the privilege of wearing it for the afternoon. 

Any time you can decorate and eat your own cupcake...do it. Every single time!

More fun coming this way soon! Check back for our next adventure!

Week Nine: Staying In and Still Having Fun

A boy’s will is the wind’s will,
And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts.

My Lost Youth (1858)

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

 

 

     This past week we got to decorate pumpkins and cakes! The weather stayed rainy for most of the week so we were stuck inside. But we made the best of it and tried some new games. Also, we cuddled and watched lots of movies. :)

 

     Have a look:

 

 

 He got to paint and paint his very own pumpkin! After some drying time, we worked on where the eyes, nose, and mouth go.

 

 Rain, rain, would not go away! So, I covered some shapes in contact paper and threw them on the floor! Fun, right? Well, I actually cut out smaller matching shapes of the ones on the floor and let him pick them out of a bag and then go find the match. He loved it!

 

 Painting with corks. Which we have an abundance of, living in Italy and all. :) We painted a fall tree in hopes that the trees around here would take a hint and change colors already!

It was birthday week! He painted and decorated his own little cake here and we talked about how old he is while we put on the candles. He helped me make (and eat) the rice krispie treats and his "real" cake for his party. Such a great little baker, I have. :)

Things we learned this week:
Rainy days can be cuddle days but sidekicks need to do something with all that energy. We spent lots of time running around our basement and jumping on his trampoline. With the rainy season still upon us, we will be looking for lots of new inside things to entertain us.
I am discovering new things he likes to do. Like helping me bake, helping me clean, new ways his imagination is growing while playing with his toys. It's so fun to see new things he enjoys and letting him take over.

Lesson Nine: A Letter of Love

It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; What is essential is invisible to the eye.

Le Petit Prince (1943) (The Little Prince)

My Sweet Sidekick,

     You are officially three! I am still adjusting to how fast your little life has flown by. You're no longer fully dependent on me for your every need, you no longer need my help with some of the smaller, daily things. Instead, you help me! It's a bit sad for this mommy. BUT! My dear child, I am so proud of you. You astound me daily with your smarts and your silliness. Let me think back to some of my favorite moments.

     One of my favorites is the word you've made up for when something is just too good for one word. "Cool-mazing" has become a household word and we love that you came up with it, all on your own.
     I love your need for family hug time. This is where you crawl up into one of our laps and then call the other over, "Come hug, Momma". And then you wrap your sweet little arms around us with plenty of "aww's" and kisses. It's always a sweet moment and I'm so glad it happens often in our home.
     Some of my favorite phrases are: "how are you?", "what's wrong, baby?", "me sad" (it's just so adorable when you say it!), "come hug!", "kiss! mwah!", "love me!", "aww, so happy Momma!" (this happens every time we hug), "aww, so sweet!", "it's so cute!". This list goes on and more is added to it daily. Your witty, funny, emotional, loving, and just plain amazing, kid.
      One of my favorite things about you, is how you love to help. Anything I'm doing, you must be a part of it. Whether its putting away the dishes, fixing dinner, bathing the dogs, cleaning the house. I love how you want to be big even though I wish you'd just stay small a little longer.
     I'm sure I could think of a million more because you do things daily that I wish I freeze each moment to ensure it's safekeeping in my memory.

     Now, to brag on you a little. I can't help it! You're so smart for such a small human. You know your entire alphabet and can recognize both lower and uppercase letters. You can count to 29 in English, to 10 in Italian, and to 5 in your own language. You can count to 10 on your fingers. You have the uncanny ability to know how many of something there is without really seeming to count them. You know so many shapes, including pentagon and trapezoid. Any color of the rainbow is already known in your smart little brain. You can sign "smart" and "thank you". You know how to say "hello" (ciao) and "please" (por favore) in Italian but you understand much more than that. You love to paint, to create, to make a mess. You are also very polite. You always tell us "thank you" when we've given you something you asked for. You'll even say "you're welcome" for us! You've picked up on "I love you" which you say "love me" back to us.
   
     Before we had you, I knew I wanted to be a mom. It was a deep feeling that I knew only you could fulfill. For the first year, I think I just stared in amazement that I finally had you in my arms. For the second year, I held you close and showed you this big world and was amazed, yet again, at how you were mine. For this third year, I have stood back a little. I let you explore while I watched on trying to see the world through your eyes. I held you hand but let you lead me. Every year, every day, every single moment with you is a gift. My heart is overfilled with love for you. You have brought your daddy and I closer together than ever before. You have showed me what love truly is. You have given us the chance to relive our childhoods and to give you more than we had the first time around. It has been so FUN to have you and to watch you grow. To watch you figure out this world around you, to see you think, to see you play. To get to be a part of your life is a blessing.
     We aren't perfect parents in the least, but you have given us something to strive for. We want to show you that you can do and achieve anything in this world. In order for you to do this, we must believe in that as well. We must do everything we can to SHOW you that you can do anything. We must give you every opportunity to excel. Oh baby, we will do just that. Don't you worry. You deserve the world and more.
    
     I must end this somehow. I know I have forgotten things that I knew I wanted to say to you. But know this, I love you. Simply. More than life. More than anything. You are amazing. You are smart. You have a smile that makes my every day into something wonderful. You have a laugh that can turn around any bad day. You stole my heart before I even saw your face. You alone know what my heart sounds like from the inside and it's you that I hold most dear. I wish I could hold you close forever. To protect from the bad things that are sure to find their way into our happy little world. But I must let you fly. I'll catch you when you need me though. I'll always be here. Happy Birthday my little love. Wishing you everything this world has to offer.

I love you.

Love love,
Mommy