Drummer Dad

Sam playing the drums: 

Uppercase-Lowercase Alphabet Matching Game

I got this idea from another blog that my friend MacKenzie linked to: Teaching Letters

I made a sturdy cardboard chart of all the capital letters and cut out the lowercase letters on heavy paper (I had enough packing tape to "laminate" about half of these). The #1 best thing about this was that it was free! And the kids already lost a little "v" but I was able to make another one super-quickly without the irritation I'd have felt if they'd lost a piece I'd paid for the very day we opened it.

Amelie was very interested in the measuring and making of the big chart & the writing and cutting out of the small letters. She zoomed through the matching game twice, though. I didn't know she knew all of the letters that well. (But, again, this was free!) She had fun doing it & she came up with some other rules to make a new game. I can see that we could use it for sounds and other things, too, and of course James may be interested in it soon.

In a stroke of genius, I taped an envelope to the back so we won't lose the small letters (quite as fast as we might otherwise). 

Inside Snow

My friend Shauna gave me the idea to bring in some snow for the kids to play with since I didn't want to go out today because James is sick. (The poor bub was awake and feverish last night & passed out on the couch before lunch.) But anyway, this is what the busy bees did for about 15-20 minutes as an activity this morning.

Here are some still pictures of the same darn thing for people who can't view the GIFs (and for our year-end photobook, if we ever do that again.)

Amelie kept trying to sneak bites. 

I just remembered that my Grandma Doris said she did this, too, when hers were small.

Finally, Snow

I think we got about 5 inches of snow total yesterday. Sam took the kids out for a bit, which was good because James is sick today & we'll be staying in. (Notice the bowl for snow cream.)

James was having a grand time until he fell and got snow on his face. (And Amelie was having a grand time until her mitten came down and she got snow on her hand.) I'd say they probably lasted 35 minutes, which is about twice what it took them to get ready.

Hot chocolate was enjoyed by all (and by James once I put an ice cube in it).

Sandbox

Since we're supposed to get a big snowfall tonight, I thought I'd better go ahead & post these pictures. It was a little warm at the beginning of the week, so the kids played some out in the sandbox.

I may have mentioned this on here before, but we're clearing out the sand in the spring and replacing it with pebbles to have a rock box instead of a sand box. There are sand play areas at several of the parks in Columbia and we struggled with bugs last summer, so I'll be glad to get rid of the sand. 

Also, you can check out the kids' keen sense of fashion. James is wearing a striped sweater with polka-dot leftover Halloween costume sweatpants & Amelie has on pink rain boots, teal sweats, and an 80s-inspired fleece shirt.

Labor of Love

I got out the cards & markers and told Amelie that we should make a card for her friend Hattie's birthday party on Sunday. She wanted to write "I love you, Hattie," so I showed her how to draw I heart U on a piece of paper and she copied it down on the card, then she copied down Hattie's name and signed her own. The people on the bottom half of the card are supposed to be me, Amelie, Hattie, Hattie's mom, and Hattie's little brother (the small one). James is the frowning one all the way at the bottom and the people up above the fold are the other guests at the party.

She was on a roll and wanted to do the front of the card next with more guests after I spelled "Happy Birthday" so she could copy it down.

Are these two just too cool for school or what?

Climbing

I should have titled this one "Appropriate Winter Outerwear" shouldn't I? Or "This is what happens when a four-year-old dresses herself." I did yell, "Put on a coat!" as she was headed out, and I suppose it is 56 degrees.

This was about a minute before the dogs next door went nuts and I had the kids move over to the other side of the yard.

Oldish Fall Photos

I took these at the very end of November at our neighborhood park.

Stripes

I wanted to get a picture of them in their accidentally-matchy outfits, but they wanted to play.

Washing Up

Amelie likes to wash up the sponges, brushes, and plate after they paint.

Watercolors Plus Classwork

Grandpa Bob got the kids some watercolors and nice, thick paper for Christmas. Here are some of their recent efforts. The first two are by James:

This one was from Amelie. She also covered an entire piece of paper in black paint, but I didn't upload it. HA!

James asked me to paint with him, so I did, then he pushed me out of the way and improved my painting (his contributions are the tree trunks? on the left and some of the additional horizontal landscape lines). 

Amelie brought this one home from preschool today: 

She drew her favorite part of the book Attack of the Shark-headed Zombie: "When Mr. Cigim took Keets and Henry home." 

UPDATED with a few more paintings. Amelie did this one. I think it has nice balance:

She also painted another all-black canvas this morning. (Still not uploading it. You can use your imagination.) James did this one with the butterfly sponge from the Kiwi crate:

Snow Day

CPS called a snow day yesterday. It's crazy to me how much we got last year and how mild this winter has been. James put on his boots and stomped around the deck.

Sponge Painting

Here are the kids re-using the sponges we got with our Kiwi Crate. After they were done, Amelie rinsed them all out and then washed the plate. James threw his on the floor.