Fantasy Versus Reality

I'd like to be able to tell you that I started the week with my kitchen looking like this.

Really, though, it was like this.

The huge stack of books I checked out at the library doesn't really match up with the week before me.

After a bit of picking up, we headed out for a favorite excursion. (Pictures later.)

We managed to look clean and nice for last minute pictures.

The house is still a wreck and there is much work to be done before Sunday, but I'm taking tonight to read a new book and relax. Happy Christmas break!

Fun Friday: Living Nativity

Today we went to see a living nativity at Shepherd's Cross.

There were all kinds of activities for the kids to do upstairs in the barn. They both made bird feeders.

Jack and Max spent most of the time playing checkers.

Alice wanted her picture taken with baby Jesus.

They had a short dramatic presentation about Elizabeth. Alice really thought baby John the Baptist was pretty awesome.

Cookies!

We had a great time and can't wait to go back to their sheep shearing weekend in the spring!

The Clown of God

We've spent the last week with The Clown of God. Tomie dePaola is one of our favorites! There is also a DVD of this story we were able to get from our library.

We read through a lot of go alongs this week! We're still waiting on The Little Juggler to come in from the library, so we may spend a day on this when we start back after Christmas.

We also used The Renaissance Connection.

Giovanni meets up with two Little Brothers in the story, so we learned a little about Saint Francis.

We tried out some suncatchers. After having the beads roll out multiple times, Jack sat his aside--we'll finish it up over break.

Sister discovered that it is much easier if you dump all the beads in at once.

We had stained glass cookies for tea time--sugar cookies with Jolly Ranchers melted in the middle.

We used lapbooking pieces from Homeschool Share.

We'll finish up these pages with a picture of Jack's suncatcher and pieces for The Little Juggler.

Now we're starting a few days with The Legend of the Candy Cane before Christmas break!

A New Coat for Anna

A few weeks ago we rowed A New Coat for Anna--I'm still catching up on some blogging!

We reviewed some World War II information.

We talked about goods and services and doing tasks in steps.

Barter is very important to this story--don't forget to listen to the song!

We also tried some paper weaving.

We also did some real weaving, but we are stuck with it on the loom until I can figure out how to finish them up!

A Visit With Santa

This year's visit with Santa went much better than last year's. That's not an actual smile, but she's not crying, either.

Alice has been very interested in Santa this year, though I'm not sure if it's because she likes him or if she's nervous about him. She talks about him all the time.

We talked about it beforehand and she said she wouldn't sit on Santa's lap, but she would sit on Jack's lap while he sat on Santa's lap. With Jack's help, she said she wanted a guitar.

After a bit she got nervous and just kept her face right on Jack.

Once Alice was done, Jack got down to business explaining that he would like some Legos.

Hats from Santa!

We rode the carousel again and Alice seemed pretty happy about the whole morning!

Fun Friday: Ho Ho Ho!

Today we made some Santa crafts.

The paint was a bit globby and the sticks were a bit warped, but if my kids made perfect crafts I would start a sweatshop instead of teaching them, so it's okay.

I think they turned out really cute!

We listened to The Polar Express on CD while we worked. (FYI, this edition is cheaper on Amazon than it is at Sam's.)

We are working on building speed on basic math facts--subtraction, especially--and Jack liked this game. I got it from The Teacher Wife and made my own cards.

Check out some more of our favorite Christmas books at Metro Family!
Happy Friday!

Christmas Painting

We went to the Art Play Center for some Christmas painting today!

Alice was much more interested this year. She chose a gingerbread man ornament and she worked really hard to make sure it was all covered with paint.

Jack chose a snowman ornament.

Adding a layer of pink!

Putting on some finishing touches

Jack could probably go here every week and still not paint everything he would like to. He had his eye on this donut bank and almost bought it to paint later until he was lured away by a ceramic robot.

When they were finished, the lady from the store took their picture. Alice wasn't too sure about what they were doing. This year they chose to use acrylics with a spray glaze, so we were able to take them home tonight instead of waiting for them to be fired!