March 2013

March was a busy month!  The weather was still not warm, but we managed to get outside quite a bit. We got to go to Portland to visit cousins.  That was a lot of fun and we spent time in museums and around the house with them.  From Oregon we flew to DC to visit Dad.

The month started off with snow!  There wasn't enough to do much in it, but the boys took advantage of the last snowfall before getting ready for spring.  It's just fun to play in I guess.

The boys made a little "house" on the corner of the deck.  They have fun playing with random things they can find in and around the yard.

Transporting snow in the truck.

A variety of pictures the boys made one morning.  They enjoy paint.

Patterns!  If Justin does it, Ryan wants to do it too.

Once again, Ryan must do what Justin does.  :)

Justin has trouble with these words for some reason.  Maybe a bit of glitter glue will help glue them in his head.

I would explain this picture, but I don't know that I can.  Justin has made up some sort of game.  He loves using dice, spinners, game boards, and random toys to make all sorts of games to play.  Creativity can be a bit of a mess sometimes.

At Justin's school the boys participated in a balloon race.  Note: do NOT overinflate the balloons.  When they pop, it can scare everyone!

Ryan, Justin, and I went with my mom to the Mobius Science Museum in Spokane.  We had gone there with Rob in January.

St Patrick's Day is as exciting as other holidays.  The boys spent days working on their leprechaun traps.  This was our second year trying to catch a leprechaun.  We were still unsuccessful. :(

One of many leprechaun traps.

Yet another trap.

A simple trap with a note promising treasure.

Justin sorted 3-D shapes by color and shape.  He then multiplied to find out how many there were all together.  Ryan, Justin, and I looked for 2D and 3D shapes in the environment and they took pictures of some they found around the house.

Tinkertoys are always fun to build with.

Justin sequenced the "I have, who has" cards using his math skills.

We went to Oregon to visit our cousins.  They played a little ball in the backyard.

Justin found that he likes marshmallows beter straight out of the bag.  It's nice to sit by the fire though.

We made paper rockets and shot them off of a pvc pipe launcher attached to an air compressor.

February 2013

As I was looking for this month's pictures, I realized that I never pulled out my camera.  Luckily, I at least got some shots on my phone.  It doesn't help that we had an extended stomach bug that had us out of commission for awhile.  We did valentines, but the boys wanted store bought Kung Fu Panda and Angry Bird ones so no cute little Valentine Day crafts.

I have started having Ryan and Justin each make their own calendar each month.  This is Ryan's.  He traces the numbers and draws a picture to go with the month.  It gives good practice writing numerals, gaining a sense for days, weeks, and months, and gives us the chance to talk about upcoming events.  I make a monthly calendar each month as well and they can refer to it to know what happens on what day.

Justin is quite the reader.  Ryan would rather play on the wii.  We are working on some basic sight words.  He loves making simple sentences when Mario, Luigi, and some of his other favorites are involved.

The boys both did golf ball painting.  It's like marble painting, but with a golf ball.

Painting on shapes.  Some of them became targets for various games.

Balloons from the Dollar Store!  Each balloon was weighted down by a toy.  Beanbag toys were thrown at the balloons and points awarded for each one hit.

Justin's 100 Days of School necklace.  Each group of 10 Fruit Loops is divided by a tab labeling the count.

The boys cut and pasted to make Koopas.  Yay, Mario!  I found the template at chicaandjo.com. 

Obviously we had to make Marios.  I had to put both boys' on the blog too.  I found a Mario coloring picture, printed it out enlarged, and then used it to help me make a template so the boys could cut and paste.

They also made the goomba mushrooms.  The templates for them is also from chicaandjo.com.  I wish the site had more templates because I don't have an artistic bone in my body.

Justin made this dinosaur.  It is quite different from Ryan's dinosaur below.  They both had fun though.  They also enjoyed using stencils to trace various shapes.

January 2013

January meant Rob had to leave Idaho and go to Washington DC for training.  Before he left we decided to have a mini vacation.  We went to the Mobius Science Center in Spokane, ate at Carl's Jr (with a play area of course), and stayed at the Holiday Inn.  We enjoyed swimming in the pool and then we went to bed.  In the morning, Rob took the shuttle to the airport and I returned to Coeur d'Alene with the boys.  It was nice to have some time together before being separated again.

A lot more snow than we have seen in awhile.  The boys enjoy it, but I wasn't missing it.

We got the boys swimming again.  They have lessons twice a week and I take them once a week just to have fun.

Ryan and I made a "Hey Diddle Diddle" nursery rhyme book.  This is the cover.

 

We talked a little bit about wants and needs.  Probably a good thing to talk about in December before Christmas and birthdays.

The boys REALLY enjoy collage type projects that involve markers, plastic shapes, feathers, and stickers.  I don't find them particularly exciting or beautiful, but they have fun.

We made snowflakes and talked about symmetry.

Experiment! Baking soda and vinegar blew up our balloon!

Justin labeled the steps in his notebook.