Snowman Soup and Christmas candy

This year the boys made some cute little packages of Snowman Soup for some of their friends and neighbors.  As part of our Christmas preparations we tried to focus more on giving and doing for others like Jesus did,  then the presents that they would receive on Christmas.

After washing our hands :), we let the boys stuff their little bags full of marshmallows, a candy cane, a packet of hot chocolate and a few Hersey Kisses.  Tommy was MORE then generous with his bags!!   We wrapped them up, tied on a recipe for Snowman Soup, and delivered them through out the neighborhood or gave them to friends when we saw them.

It was a fun project that the kids could have a lot of control in and a great family project of giving to others!  Something we will certainly do next year!

Trent also made some of our famous candy cane bark for his boss and co-workers.  He really went all out this year and experimented with different chocolates and what combination went well together etc.  I believe that he settled on a dark chocolate base, then white chocolate and crushed candy canes on top.  I have to say that I LOVE working in the kitchen with my husband and we seem to do a lot more of it during the holidays!!

Stained Glass Nativity Ornament

This was by far our favorite Christmas craft to make and one I will cherish always. It was so simple and yet, I think it captures exactly what we need to focus on at Christmas time.

I had bought some vinyl Nativity scenes last year. I had no idea what I would do with them but I loved them the minute I saw them.

I had the boys take small pieces of tissue paper and lay them down on contact paper to give a stained glass effect. We covered that piece with another piece of contact paper and then laid the vinyl Nativity on top of that. Then I attached some simple ribbon we had in our craft drawers to hang the ornament from the tree or in the window.

I just love them! and the kids really enjoy making the stained glass.

Merry Christmas!

Homeschool: Kindergarten Getting Ready for Christmas part 2

(Penny watching Charlie do school)

The last 2 weeks we have all been kind of "off". It all started with a migraine for me, followed by nasty head colds for all the kids and I, ear infection for Charlie and tummy bug for Trent :( There was a lot more fighting and whining going on and far less patience on my part. LOTS of prayers were said :)

So, some days we simply have been in survival mode and others have been better and more productive. We did manage get a lot of school done and do some fun projects along the way. I did scale back our Christmas curriculum that I had planned and I am thankful that I have not tried to push things and get it "all" done. Instead we have been able to spend a lot of quality family time together focused on the true meaning of Christmas!

Charlie is starting to work on graphing in his math and he LOVES it! We did a bunch of graphing last year so he has a good idea of the process and is doing more complicated problems.

He also continues to plow through his phonics and is doing really well. He is spelling words and reading up a storm! I do need to set aside time each day for him to do more independent reading. I also need to find more beginner readers for him to work through.

(Charlie making words)

We are also working on following instructions and listening carefully. He sometimes has a hard time focusing on things if it isn't something he 100% wants to do or isn't something that he choose to do. If it was his idea to do it then he has NO problem giving all of his attention to it. I am sure that this is something that we will continue to work on for a.long.time. with all the children! :) (Thanks Aunt Susie for the advice and encouragement! It helped us a lot and he is doing SOOO much better!!) It is obvious that he is really trying.

(Learning about muscles, the brain and your heart)

We did a really cool science project (despite my migraine) and managed to have fun doing it too! We reviewed about bones and joints and learned about muscles in our body. We made a neat model of an arm with a paper towel role, deflated balloons and tape. The balloons represented our muscles and how they work to make our arms move. Charlie enjoyed this project and even added veins and drew bones on the paper towel roll.

Charlie showing me how his "arm" bends with the "muscles"

We also learned about our teeth and the boys watched a video about Molly Molar on the computer.


The boys made some homemade peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. They were super yummy and no one even noticed that I used whole wheat flour :) Charlie made his cookies "mystery" cookies and hide chocolate chips in the middle.



Then we started working on our Christmas crafts. The boys made pine cone glitter ornaments and Christmas trees out of pine cones that Grandma Candace brought from Whidbey Island.

We also assembled our Gingerbread Train. Trent hot glued the cookie pieces together and the boys and I decorated with royal icing and lots of candy. It was really nice to work together and a fun activity for all of us.

Tommy worked on counting and number recognition using one of our Leap Frog games.

And despite all the sickness, we still managed to have some fun.

Honestly, I am really looking forward to next week. I pray that we will all be healthy and getting back into our new groove!

Homeschool: Kindergarten & Preschool Getting Ready for Christmas

The germs were still lingering but we managed to get A LOT of school done. Charlie is flying through his phonics and is doing great! He is reading new words everyday, spelling words and eager to read books. We still need to get caught up on our Science lessons, but I am not concerned. I know that once the holidays are over we will be able to start our new schedule and will quickly get caught up.

Tommy under the dining room table playing with beans and cars and asking me for "sum pivacy pease, Mama."

Tom tracing letters.


Tom doing the magnetic ABC puzzle.

I spent more time this past week working with Tommy on his ABC's and number recognition. We had fun working on his ABC puzzle, recognizing letters and placing them in their correct spot, talking about different words that start with letters etc. He is READY to start a full on school curriculum. I had backed away from a curriculum that I had planned because I thought it was too advanced and not that engaging. Come January though I will have a new curriculum for him so that he can "really" do school right along with us.

We started our Christmas study activities last week. We brought out our Nativity and let each boy take turns unwrapping each figure and placing them in the stable. They LOVED doing this and it is something we will make a yearly tradition. Then we read our new Christmas book, I like to buy a new one each year. This year I found a great little book at Michaels that is simple enough to keep both boys interested in the story, and yet nicely tells the story of Jesus' birth.

We have also been doing a lot of fun activities.

The boys decorated ice cream cones with green frosting and different candies to make Christmas trees.


We had a fun Christmas themed tea party.

I made the boys Candy Cane play dough with silver and red glitter in it. They had great fun playing with it. This is the second time we made homemade scented play dough (the first being our pumpkin spice for Thanksgiving). We all really enjoy the fun scents and glitter in it!


The boys had fun painting a Christmas picture with water paints and q-tips. I remember doing this type of thing at my Granny's and loved it. They did too until the paper started tearing from the water.

The boys also made wreath ornaments to give as presents.


I am praying that we are at the end of our sickness and that we can all be healthy before Christmas. Trent is on vacation for 2 weeks and I hope to do some fun projects with him around and really focus on the true meaning of Christmas :)