Learning About Leaves

We love leaves around here! This month in school we have been doing all kinds of leaf-related projects. We went on a nature walk and collected lots of pretty leaves, laminated them, and hung them up as a garland on the fireplace.

Laminated leaves

Sorry about the grainy phone picture!

We also made a Fall Leaf Tree out of a paper towel roll and some foam pre-cut leaves. We got our inspiration from this post. Emily loved gluing the leaves on! The tree now sits on our table as a centerpiece.

Fall leaf tree 

Ta-da!

We have done lots of worksheets and coloring pages about leaves, too. Emily is finally enjoying coloring! I think before she was just too busy to want to sit still for very long. Now she'll sometimes color for a half hour (if I'm lucky).  Next up is pumpkins! Have I told you before that I love fall?? :)

K is for... Costco?

This week we are working on the letter K with Emily. We generally do lots of crafts and worksheets, and listen to some songs and videos on YouTube (we find those by using the Easy-Peasy site. It's great!) for the letter we are working on. We also try and point out things that start with the letter of the week each week in books or on signs or wherever, really. She did very well this time finding kites, kittens, koalas, kangaroos and pointing out the letter K. She's really doing well in school so far! I'm a proud mama.

(Please excuse the jammies she's wearing in some of these pictures. Both girls have been sick all week so we are taking it easy around here. And really, we school at home so we can wear whatever we want, right?!)

Tracing letters. She's getting very good at this!

Karen the Kangaroo, from Easy-Peasy 

K is for King!

More tracing.

(This is from last week but too cute to pass up - she was using a sponge cut into the shape of the letter "J" to make stamps with paint. This is one of her favorites!)

We took a trip to Costco the other day and both girls rode in the cart together for the first time. Nattie is getting so big! And also so grabby! It was all Emmie could do to keep her crackers for herself.

Gimme those!

 As we're going through the store looking at all the shiny toys and treats, Emily says, "Mama, they spelled it wrong." I'm confused. "They spelled what wrong, sweetheart?" "Costco," she says. "They spelled it wrong!" What? They spelled Costco wrong? Um... Ok then. I have no idea what she's talking about, so we just keep going.

A minute later she says it again. "See, Mama! They spelled it wrong!" She's pointing to a big sign that says Costco on it. "Costco starts with K, Mama. K-K-Costco! But they have it with a C, and it should be a K. K is for Costco!"

This proved two things to me: First, all this hard work is paying off and she really is learning in school, and second, we spend far too much time in Costco. I don't think she actually "read" the Costco sign, but she certainly recognized it. Good job, kiddo!

Baby ponytail! 

And then there's Natalie. This kid is going to kill me, I swear. She's getting to be very mobile, very quickly! We had to drop the mattress down in her crib once already and will likely have to do it again, and soon. She pulls up on the edges of her crib and stands there yelling instead of going to sleep. Fun times.

She scoots all around on her tummy and pulls herself forward on her elbows to get where she wants to go. Time to begin the hardcore child-proofing! She also learned how to move herself around in her walker. Now instead of putting her down to play with the toys on the front of it, she follows us around and runs over our toes, giggling like crazy. Yep, we're in trouble.

"Can I play too, sissy?"

Emmie LOVES to push her in her car, and it keeps them both entertained for quite a while most times. Two birds, one stone, yes? :)

I'm not sure I'm ready for another totally mobile baby. But at the rate she's going, I really have no choice! Time flies for sure. I'm doing my best to make the most of all our days while the girls are still small.

Anyone have any duct tape...?

Preschool Time

Quite a few things have changed for us over the last few years. We moved to the Denver area, had a second beautiful daughter, Rob changed careers. It takes a lot to keep going some days, but we're doing it! I love our little family and wouldn't change it a bit!

With Emily quickly growing up and Nattie now deciding she needs to follow suit (darn babies that don't stay babies!), we've started to look more at the future for our girls and what we want that future to look like for them. In that vein, something I have become passionate about is homeschooling. Rob and I have decided that homeschooling our girls is the best option for them. I have some teacher friends (whom I love) and I know there are lots and lots of really great teachers out there, but the public school system in this country is failing. With the introduction of the Common Core State Standards, it has become even more apparent to me that homeschooling is the right choice for our family. I have always felt God leading me in that direction, and I'm going to teach both girls at home as long as that remains possible. I am so grateful to have this opportunity; watching my kids learn and discover new things is amazing! What a blessing to be able to be around for those moments.

So far, it's been great! We did a little informal learning with Emmie last year, but being pregnant (and huge) it was pretty hard to keep up a good schedule with her. I found a great curriculum that we love called My Father's World, and by supplementing with a few extra things I think she's going to learn a lot this year. We've completed one week so far and Emmie loves it! She is so eager to learn and soaks things up like crazy. I may be a bit biased, but I think she's the best preschooler ever! :)

First Day!

Counting days on the calendar

We had been doing a little school here and there over the summer so we started this year in the middle of the alphabet. This week was "I" for Inchworm.

She LOVES to do the dots!

This is part of the My Father's World set we got. It's fantastic!

Matching capital and lower case letter "I"

Painting is another big favorite!

Violet the puppy came to class today. :)

I am SO proud of my big girl. She loves to learn and works very hard, even when she gets frustrated. She's always got a smile on her face and a giggle to share and it's a joy to be her teacher, and her mama! She's our little monkey and we love her so much! I can't believe she's already three and in preschool. Sheesh.

And I can't end without sharing the love. Little sister Natalie is our other joy! 

She's 8 months old now and growing like crazy. She love her mama and daddy, but truly adores her sissy. The best thing in the world is watching them play together! Emmie is great with her and they can laugh and play for quite a while together. I am one blessed mama!