Calendars and Weather

Thanks to a friend who writes about her preschool activities on her blog, I made this calendar for us. We’re going to put birthdays and holidays on it eventually, but right now we have a little heart (it will be a shamrock for March, an Easter egg for April, a flower for May, etc) that moves along the days, we have a little church (igreja) on Sunday (because Little E knows that we go to Church on Sunday), and I made a bunch of “weather words” – faz sol (sunny), está ventendo (windy), nublado (cloudy), nevoso (snowy), chevoso (rainy), tempestuoso (stormy). Each morning we move the “Dia” heart (dia = day, and I meant to write “hoje” = today) to the next day, and then we stick on the “weather word(s)” for the day. As you can see, the day I took this picture it was windy. Today we put on “faz sol” and “nublado”- because it’s partly cloudy and I didn’t make a sticker for that. Maybe I’ll have to add that. Eventually I’ll also add the temperature (but we’ll probably start a new chart just for weather).

I’ll try to post a picture of our calendar each month. Eventually I’ll start putting up our monthly themes on the calendar... once I figure out what they are!

Little Photographers

Do you ever download your pictures from your camera to the computer and find several snapshots taken by amateur photographers on your camera? I’m constantly finding pictures of toes, the carpet, couches, toys (mostly on the floor), children’s fingers, my children, ME(!) ... you get the idea.

Half the time I wasn’t even aware that the kids were playing with the camera, which makes it that much more enjoyable to look through the pictures.

I think these pictures were taken while I was clipping fingernails. Obviously the ones of Little E were taken by Baby E (hey, she’s pretty good!) and the one of me and Baby were taken by Little E. Silly boy.

 

 

Heart Attack

Thankfully not that kind.

This month we replaced the snowflakes on our window with hearts! I know it still looks kind of dreary (that day was pretty cloudy) but really it been pretty sunny. Cold, still, but sunny. And besides, Valentine’s Day is coming up, and we needed an appropriately themed activity.

Little E is mastering his cutting skills and cut a few of those hearts by himself (with a little help in the form of a line to cut along). Both the babies loved coloring the hearts. Even Baby E got some safety scissors and some paper to cut up. I think they enjoyed the cutting part the most. What kid doesn’t like scissors?

 

Proud Little E with his hearts. (the second heart from the bottom on the far right he colored with a black crayon and said “This is Darth Vadar’s heart.” Nice.

Era Uma Vez

We’ve been getting quite a bit of snow lately, and a while ago, while Baby E napped, Mr E took Little E out to build a snowman. When I went out, this is what I found! A Mr E sized snowman!

Little E loves building snowmen, and playing in the snow in general. Later I found out that he was disappointed in the big snowman, though. We were at the grocery store and Little E saw the bulk carrots in the produce aisle and wanted to buy one so we could make “a E-sized snowman.” Because he couldn’t reach the face of the big snowman he had made with Mr E. He wanted to make a snowman that he could reach so he could put the carrot in on his own. Cute kid.

A few weeks ago, Little E wanted to build a snowman, but there was no snow outside. Then he asked for a big carrot, which we also didn’t have. Then I told him I could make him a carrot. So I pulled out the construction paper and made carrot noses for the babies. It took a little convincing for them to let me tape them on, but after they figured out that it wouldn’t hurt and they would look like snowmen, they consented.

Then we sang this song:

http://judahhimango.com/FlashAudioPlayer/player.swf

Era uma vez um homem de neve (Once upon a time there was a snowman)
Um homem de neve alto assim (A snowman tall like this)
O sol derreteu o homem de neve (The sun melted the snowman)
Até ficar bem baixinho assim. (Until he was small like this)

 

You do the actions and stand up really tall, and then crouch down on the ground as the snowman melts.

Here are the words in English:
Once there was a snowman, snowman, snowman,
Once there was a snowman, tall, tall, tall!
In the sun he melted, melted, melted,
In the sun he melted, small, small, small.

There is something magical about snowmen and playing in the snow. Maybe because it only lasts such a short time (unless you have below freezing temperatures for a week or more... then it sticks around for a little longer). Maybe because it brings out the kid in us. Either way, we love the snow, and Little E can’t get enough of his snowmen!

 

Borax Snowflakes

Well, we actually did this project back in December as part of our “winter” theme (I say theme very very loosely... we haven’t really had a distinct theme for a while. We’re still kind of in survival mode. But I think things are getting better.

So here’s what you need to make Borax snowflakes:

• -Borax (of course)
• -a pot of water
• -a glass jar (I didn’t have glass jars, and I guess since it’s not really canning season, they don’t sell them at the grocery stores, so I went with a glass measuring cup)
• -a stick to hold the snowflakes in the liquid (popsicle sticks, skewers, dowel, etc)
• -string
• -pipe cleaner (any color will work, really, though white probably makes the best snowflakes)

 

1. Cut the pipe cleaner into three even pieces. Cross them all at the middle and twist them together to form a six pointed snowflake. You can get fancier than ours were, but, well, I was working with and impatient toddler and a perhaps less patient preschooler, so we just did ours quick. Tie a small loop of string around one of the spokes of the snowflake.

2. Suspend your snowflakes from a stick across the jar. Most people do just one snowflake in each jar. Like I said, I was miserably unprepared and had no jars, so I just did all four in the measuring cup. I had to check on them to make sure the crystals didn’t grow together, and I had to knock them apart a few times, but it worked okay. I would definitely suggest using multiple jars.

Now it’s time to make the magic juice! (which is really just science – a fascinating subject of discussion for older kids. My 3 year old didn’t really understand the concept, and my 1 year old just wanted to drink the stuff – not a good idea, by the way...)

3. Bring the water to a boil and start dissolving the borax in the water.  You can do a google search for Borax snowflakes and find a little more precise instructions, but I just kept dissolving the borax until I was pretty sure I couldn’t dissolve any more.

4. Pour the saturated solution into the jars (or measuring cup, in my case).

5. Stand back and watch science happen. We started ours before nap time, and by the time dinner rolled around, they were already well on their way to becoming snowflakes for our tree!

I’m bummed that I didn’t get pictures of the finished project. They looked great, and were pretty sturdy! I wish I had sprayed them with shellac or mod-podged them or something, because the little hands got a hold of them and crunched a few, but they still look great, and are now a permanent part of our Christmas decor!

Sorry this was so late – I’ll post a “reminder” link when it gets closer to Christmas this year.

Wednesday Wanderings – Toombstone, AZ

Mr. E was doing some job training in Arizona last year (we came down on the tail end of the training). We went with some friends out to Toombstone. It was fun. Little E got to shoot a genuine Colt revolver. He got a kick out of that (literally!) – the bullets were filled with paintballs, and you got to shoot at targets across the room. I think it was $3 for 6 shots, or something like that. Not too bad for a tourist attraction. And Little E loved it! Baby E didn’t seem to mind the noise too much, but she’s used to her brother making lots of commotion.

 

At one of the many gift shops, we bought some little $.99 horses which Little E and Baby E held on to for the rest of our visit. They loved those horses. I think one has since been lost, but the other one is still around and gets played with, so I’d say I got my buck’s worth out of it.

We also took the kids to one of those shoot out shows. We ate some lunch and watched some cowboys shoot blanks at each other. Baby E was a distracted by her horse for the most part, but Little E loved all the guns and shooting. It was a little too much for me, and I don’t know if I would have taken them after seeing it myself. Mr. E probably would – he’s not as opposed to Little E watching violence as I am. We do try to teach E about the value of each life, and that it’s always a very serious thing to take a life (or give life, for that matter). But you’ve gotta give a little in a marriage, and I guess this is one place where I give a little – I just make sure we’re reinforcing the “every person is worth something” so Little E doesn’t just go around thinking he can shoot people (or slice their arms off with a light saber... but that’s another story...)

Ratings:

Value – Maybe it would be a better value for older kids and adults, but taking my kids there wasn’t really worth the money I ended up spending on food and entertainment. Although we did end up in a reptile exhibit that was free and we talked a lot to a really knowledgeable lady. That was cool. And free. So that part gets five stars. Vincente loved the snakes and tarantulas and other creepy crawlers. We learned a lot about some of the reptiles and insects native to Arizona.

Location – Kind of a long drive from Tucson. And boring. Through the middle of nowhere. Once you get closer to Toombstone there are some cool mountains/rock formations, but other than that, pretty lame.

Fun Factor – It was pretty fun, I have to admit. There were people dressed up in character all over, there were photo places (where you can get your photo taken all dressed up like you’re in a western) and stagecoaches and horses all over the little dirt roads. Just the feel of being in an actual Western was pretty cool. I half expected to see John Wayne walking down the streets.

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Winter Break

Sorry we went on winter break without telling anyone! I doubt anyone missed us, but we’ll be back next week with more exciting adventures!