Sunday, September 29, 2013

Peek at out Week {Riddles, Wigs, and Biscuits}




Phew...what a week!


We finished up our first month of school, and I'm so relieved that it is going okay.  I really had myself worked up about the extra work and drama that I thought this school year would bring.  I know...hard to believe I would ever get worked about anything like that...


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For the kids’ journal time this week, we learned how to write our own riddles.  A perfect lesson for reviewing nouns and adjectives.  They’ve been making up riddles all week long.

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We were pretty ambitious and did two lessons from Draw Write Now, the Koala and the Kangaroo.  The Kangaroo was really challenging for the kids, but they all did great!

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We’ve moved onto Marsupials in our Apologia Zoo 3 book.  The kids learned about Pangaea and cut out their own version and tried to piece it together.

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We are up to Samson (Judges 13-16) in our Old Testament Bible Study, and finally over the halfway mark of the lessons I put together for them.  It continues to go really well and I am so proud of how much they are learning, retaining, and memorizing!

After going to the kids’ Back To School Night last week, I discovered that they are doing Early American History for the whole year they are there.  That made it easy to decide not to start our own Early American History.  No need to divide our time at home anymore than we already are for a subject they will be getting there!

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Saul and I took Olivia to Panera and to Target on Wednesday when the older kids were at HSA.  She had fun showing us all the toys she wanted for her birthday and especially loved looking at the Halloween costumes.  She begged and pleaded with me to buy her a $40 Princess wedding dress.


I think not.


But we did try on a few wigs while we were there.

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It seems like we can hardly go to Target without getting at least some popcorn, if not a pretzel and a soda.

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After running our errands, Olivia helped me with some housecleaning.  She asked to wash windows, and then did all the dusting.  I know better than to think she is just the sweetest, most hard working preschooler in the world.  All of the kids used to like doing chores…

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We had a nice reprieve from all the rain that we’d been having, which allowed the kids some great outside time.  The air is definitely much crisper though.

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One of my friends invited me to shop with her at a big consignment event that sells children’s clothes and I hopped at the opportunity.  Both girls need all kinds of clothes for this cooler weather.  I managed to find some great dresses for this non-pants-wearing girl of mine, but not a thing for Elaina.


Good Eats Mudpies and Makeup

Or should I say, not so good eats….

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Around here I’m the Biscuit Queen.  I’ve been making them without using a recipe since we’ve been married.  This week was a total bomb though and I was demoted to Biscuit Baby.

The first batch I tried to substitute Baking Powder with Baking Soda.  Now, in my defense, I’m not stupid.  I really do know better than to try fooling around with my fool-proof method.  I guess I was just desperate early in the morning when I couldn’t find any Baking Powder and on a whim I threw in some Baking Soda.  Blech….gross.  I will never do that again.  They tasted just terrible.

The second batch was a sweet biscuit with chocolate chips that I took extra time to cut into heart shapes.  I must have added too much fat to the mix, because they ended up looking like flattened cookies.  Which I guess is cool when you’re a kid and your mom serves you chocolate chip cookies alongside your scrambled eggs for breakfast.

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Elaina felt so bad, probably because I was so mad, that she made me some heart shaped chocolate chip cookies.  She told me, “Don’t worry mom.  I think your biscuit cookies were good!”

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Then I practically ruined my week of coffee when I bought this yucky creamer.  Again.  Even Saul remembered when he saw it that I didn’t like it.  I’ll probably pawn it off on my parents when they are here next week!

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Not everything was a total bomb though.  I made some yummy Danish’s for breakfast one morning. 

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Apple Cookies were sounding so perfect with the cooler fall weather that I just had to make a batch.  They always remind me of my friend Sarah, who used to make them and bring them to work to share with all of us hungry nurses.  I’m pretty sure she’s earned celebrity status for these cookies.   Thanks for the recipe Sarah!

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On a whim, I bought these instant noodle cups for lunch one day.  I can’t believe I’ve never given them to the kids….They loved them.  Of course they are probably one of the worst food substances you can feed to your growing kids, but that’s a whole other blog post.

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My biggest undertaking of the week was making Chicken Fried Steak.  I’ve never made it before, and now I know why.

It’s a lot of work.

And none too healthy either.  You know with the breading, and the frying, and the smothering with gravy…

The kids were like, “Is it chicken…or is it steak.  I don’t get it.”


Our Weekly Wrap-Up

Posh Princess Preschool {Letter C is for Caterpillar}


We are finally getting into a good rhythm with Preschool, although it has still been a challenge to get all of her planned activities done.  We actually took two weeks to complete Letter C, which is totally fine.  I’m certainly not in any kind of rush with this little girl!

Letter C


Themes: C is for Caterpillar, Cat, and Clocks

Olivia is getting used to the Preschool routine, which I set with the boys and followed with Elaina.  Since she takes after me, she doesn’t like to go out of order, now that she knows it.  Winking smile


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Magnet Page and home-made Pom Pom magnets, (COAH) Letter Hunt Page

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She spent nearly 30 minutes gluing Purple foam shapes.  She would have done more if I’d let her, but we needed the table for lunch!  Winking smile

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Play-dough Page, Dough Stampers, (COAH) Letter Hunt Page, and Cookie Cutter.

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Chicka Chicka Boom Boom ABC Tree.

My First Calendar Journal

My First Calendar Journal

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She still loves doing her “Big Girl Calendar”.  She never wants to do the correct day though…

preschool boxes


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DAY 2

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The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Magnetic Bug Puzzle
Foam Beads
Caterpillar Lacing
Days of the Week Printables
Caterpillar Size Sort (an old one - no link)
Roll & Graph

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This is one of the activities I did with Elaina too.  She strung a caterpillar with all the “food” from the story, using these fun colored foam beads.

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Then she laced a string though each of these Days of the Week Cards.

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She LOVED fishing with this magnetic bug puzzle. 

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DAY 3
We dedicated this day as a Cat in the Hat day.

We have a crazy amount of Dr. Seuss stuff, and we could have gone on and on with this theme. 

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The Cat in the Hat
I Can Do That Game
Hat Matching
Giant Hats
Dr. Seuss Matching Game

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I let her play with all the pieces from the game while I read the story to her.  She loved this way of bringing the story to life.  After that I let her watch the video.

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She hid some of the items in rice and used the rake from the game to uncover them.

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The last thing we did was play a game with these large hats. These were a great find at a garage sale from a retired teacher.  I think the whole lot of 25 hats was $0.25!

I spread them out on the floor and she ran to each one as I called out the color. 

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Puzzle Clock
Feed the Kitty Game

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This is one of her favorite games lately.  I play it with her often, but she really likes playing it with the other
kids.

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(her name)

DAY 4

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ABC Blocks

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Olivia is in this phase of lining things up.  I do think it’s pretty cute, even though we all trip over her piles all the time…



Good Reads

We had so many great books this week, but these were Olivia’s favorite:

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Nora Gaydos ABC Books Letter C, My First BOB Books Letter C
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
The Cat in the Hat
If You Give a Cat a Cupcake
What Time is it Mr. Crocodile?


For Fun


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Cariboo Game

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We made scented play-dough with Kool Aide.  She really enjoys playing with play-dough!

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We had our Fake Camping Trip this week too.  She had so much fun riding her bike and playing with bugs!



Want to see some more of our Posh Princess Preschool Themes?


LetterOfTheWeek BoxLetters A-Z




Is My Child Ready For Preschool Mudpies and Makeup

(Click here for my FREE Printable to see if your child is ready for Preschool!)