Advent Countdown

Here is how our Advent Countdowns are coming along!

Cloud Pictures

Continuing in our study of clouds we read a book by Eric Carle called "Little Cloud". In it the cloud changes into different shapes and makes cloud pictures.

After we read the book we did a fun craft so we can make a book of our own. We folded papers in half.

Then added some white paint.

Folded in back in half and pressed it slightly.

We all got a lot of laughs opening them up and then saying what we saw!

These were our 3 favorites:

Shrek by Micah

Vampire by Jacob

Skull on a pirate flag by Naomi

Sinterklaas

We have just started getting together once a week with another homeschooling family, the Wellers, to do a lesson. One week I will do it and the next week Stacey will do it. For December we decided to do Christmas around the world. This week I did the lesson and I picked the Netherlands.

They do not have Santa but instead they have St. Nicholas or as they like to call him Sinterklaas. His helpers are called Black Peters and he comes from Spain by boat. The kids had fun comparing and contrasting Santa and Sinterklaas.

Then, thanks to our awesome Dutch Bakery, we sampled some awesome dutch treats: Stroop Waffles and an Almond Stick.

Following their traditions each child got a chocolate letter (the first letter in their name). We also made mini Sinterklaas.

Boys Day Out

Pastor Jim asked me a few weeks ago if he and a young guy from church named Simeon could take Micah and Jacob for a Boys Day Out-well today was the day!

They headed to Seattle and their first stop was to see the Troll under the Bridge.

Then they went to the Ballard Locks.

After lunch at Dick's it was on to Gas Works Park.

They had a great day!

Random pictures

Here are some pictures from the last month or so.

Jacob and Arthur

Making Cards for Daddy. A lady from church gave us a bunch of stuff so the kids could make cards for Darrick. She even gave them each their own little box labeled with their name, scissors, markers and stickers!

The kids got some new hats.

The boys think they are too cool for words...

We had our first snow!

On Halloween night when kids came trick or treating at our door I had the boys take a survey of what they were dressed as so we could graph the results-always homeschooling!!!

Two of my bruises from when I tripped over the kids mini trampoline!

Studying Clouds

This week in Science we are studying Clouds. After learning about them we did a cool experiment and art project. I gave them each their own cloud (cotton ball). We talked about how it felt and if it was heavy or light.

Then we dipped the tip of the cloud into a small bowl of water. We talked about how it felt now as it absorbed water.

Then we lifted it up to show what happens when a cloud gets heavy with water: it rains! They loved this and keep doing it over and over. It really helped them grasp what happens to a cloud when it rains.

So then Micah decided that we should try to add some food coloring to the water so we could see it being absorbed.

Then we used more cotton balls to make different types of clouds.

They crack me up because they are really into drawing arrows so there is no mistaking which word goes with which cloud.

Then I had them take an index card and draw the clouds with the cloud's names so we can take those with us in the car and identify the clouds we see. Yesterday we were able to do this and it was so cool to see the clouds we studied about, right in front of us!

Christmas Happenings

We have a tradition at our house on the day after Thanksgiving. No, we do not shop the crazy sales on Black Friday-we actually have never been to one!

We decorate for Christmas. I love how our house looks at Christmas. The kids love to help decorate the tree. They each have a box of their own ornaments. This was something that I had as a child. Every year my Grandpa and Grandma Vanderbilt would buy each grandchild a new ornament to add to their collection. Now my parents do the same thing for my kids. They love getting out their ornaments and re-discovering them each year! Naomi has a special ornament from Swaziland that she is showing in the picture.

We decided to make gifts for our friends this year but the gift we decided to make needed to be delivered on December 1st because it is a countdown to Christmas. Every night you eat one candy out of the jar and when they are all gone it will be Christmas!

Last year we also started a tradition of making an Advent Calendar. Go to Activity Village
to find the advent calendar. You click on the number for the day and then a page will pop up with something to print. This year the theme is ornaments.

It is fun to watch the string fill up. Each ornament is 2 sided so you can choose to do all numbers, all pictures or a combination of the two! Let us know if you try it out!