Countdown to Vacation!

I feel a little like this week is spinning out of control. It is our last week home before heading out of town on an awesome 2.5 week vacation! We get to be in Tennessee for Christmas this year, which I am over the moon excited about.  Then from there, we are headed to Hawaii for a week. I know, life is rough. It is well deserved and much needed though. Jamey has only had 1 week of vacation this whole year, so we are definitely looking forward to leaving on Sunday.

Somehow (though it always seems to end up this way) I have a ton of stuff to do and finish up this week before we leave. I HAVE to get our Christmas cards out. We finally took our picture tonight so I am ordering them and will plan on getting them out on Thursday and Friday. Our kids clubs (Pathfinders, Little Lambs, etc.) has their Christmas party tomorrow night and I have to make cookies for that. I also have to make a ton of cookies for our general Christmas giving. Our dear friends and neighbors, who was also our head pastor when we moved here, are moving to Tennessee over Christmas and we are having a going away party at church for them, which Jamey and I are in charge of, and I have to make a big pot of soup for. We are opening our presents on Friday, so we will be putting together the kids bigger presents on Thursday night. I also have to pack myself and two kiddos for our vacation. This is on top of my regular work of being a mom, cleaning house, cooking, paying bills, you get the idea! Whew, anyone else feeling tired just reading all that?

With everything going on, I did manage to squeeze in a few activities with Josh today. Callie spent her whole school time helping me make about 8 dozen peanut butter blossoms. She peeled all the Hershey kisses and rolled the dough in the sugar before placing them on the baking sheets. She really enjoyed this.

Sorting Christmas ornaments by color.

Sorting the ornaments by design.

Tracing the dotted lines.

Circling the picture that was different in each row.

Building presents with the pattern blocks.

I placed contact paper (sticky side out) on the window and Josh played with our gems.

Our Friday Christmas Activities

After we spent time in our classroom, we headed off to the library, so our structured school time was pretty short today. Josh is really loving his school time and gets excited when he knows it's his turn. Today's activities came from Over the Big Moon and Confessions of a Homeschooler.

Playing at our play dough table. I made a Christmas tree for Callie and she decorated it.

Josh: "Mommy, take a picture of this!" So I did.

Scooping rice into a container.

They were really good about picking up any rice that spilled.

Putting snowmen in order.

Cutting. After I took the pic, I had to go hold the paper for him because he can't do it by himself yet.

Matching pictures to their shadows.

Counting the pictures and placing a jewel on the correct number.

We made pipe cleaner candy canes.

Very proud of his candy cane.

Counting the candy canes.

Another set of 3 part cards.

Story time with daddy!

A few of our Christmas Activities

We haven't really done that much this week as far as school work goes. I don't really know why, it's just been one of those weeks. The activities that Callie is working on in these pictures came from Over the Big Moon and PreKinders.

Developing their fine motor skills by making their own lunch. I also allow them to cut soft things like bananas and olives with a butter knife.

Playing with playdough. The playdough ABC mat came from 1+1+1=1.

Callie working on some Christmas 3 part cards.

She was supposed to color each tree the correct color. I wasn't watching closely and I cam back to find that she had colored the first tree green (though she did color the star red). She wanted the color the trees the color they should be in real life. When I gave her the instructions again, she quickly became bored and didn't want to do it, so we moved on and never completed this one. Oh-well!

Sorting activity. She got a little glue happy!

Using our pattern blocks to make a wreath.

Christmas Sensory Bin and Playdough

I got our Christmas sensory bin and playdough all ready to go last week but am just now getting around to posting the pictures. The base of our sensory bin is the red and green rice that the kids dyed a few days before. I think they are both going to have so much fun playing with the bin and with the scented playdough!

In this box I put a couple plastic containers to scoop rice into. The peg game, presents, erasers, and green pine stems all came from the dollar store. The plush animal and basket are items I've had. The lacing beads came from the dollar spot at Target. The chipboard Santa ornaments and basket of elves came from Ikea and the wreaths and trees came from Michaels. The red and white baskets at the right were hand made in Africa and are supposed to be used to place messages in to your spouse to open on Christmas day.

Everything assembled in the bin.

The colored rice is at the bottom.

For our Christmas playdough, I dyed it green and added peppermint extract and glitter. I placed an assortment of Christmas cookie cutters in the box. I placed some random beads and jewels in a dish for the kids to use if they want to make a Christmas tree or wreath.

The Letter I Week Part 2

Here are a few more pics from yesterday and today. We also colored some rice because I am getting ready to empty out our fall sensory bin and make a Christmas one! We went to the zoo this morning and I am bummed that I forgot to take my camera!

Making the letter I on a peg board.

Creating patterns

Tracing numbers

Working on cutting. I have to hold the paper for him because he isn't coordinated enough to do it himself. I love how he is holding his left hand out stiff in concentration!

Getting ready to dye some rice.

Mixing up the rice in pretty Christmas colors.

Pouring the rice out to dry.

All ready for our new sensory bin.

Circling the correct CVC word.

Tracing her sight words to make a caterpillar.

Reading-tracing-gluing her sentences.

Callie and I made this Christmas canvas over the last few days. She painted the green all by herself and I held the stencil down while she did the white. She also helped me pick out and place all the white buttons. She is very proud of her button wreath!