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Thursday, September 30, 2010

Play School: Oceans

This week in Play School we learned about oceans!
Concepts: What kinds of creatures live in the oceans? What kinds of plants grow in the oceans?
Books: Going on a Journey to the Sea by Jane Barclay; How I Became a Pirate by Melinda Long; Atlantic Ocean by Jen Green; Vacation: We're Going to the Ocean by David L. Harrison; and Secret Seahorse by Stella Blackstone
Activities: We used Tempe's magnifying glass to examine the conch shell that Jason and I got in the Bahamas a few years ago; the girls were also excited to "listen to the ocean" in the shell. Helena got a puzzle for her birthday last year that has sea creatures with magnets on them, so I made a little fishing pole and the girls fished for the different sea creatures. Finally, we made sea urchins from playdough and toothpicks and talked about why the sea urchin wanted to be so poky.


Sensory bin: This week's sensory bin was probably our favorite so far! I filled the bin with water and a few drops of blue food coloring, a bag of decorative shells that I got at DI for $1, and a little rubber shark bath toy that squirts water. We usually keep our sensory bin in the kitchen, but since this one was a little messier, it stayed on the back deck. The girls loved it. They played with it every day this week and spent a lot of time sorting the shells by size and shape and looking at them with the magnifying glass.

Can I just say that if you don't have a magnifying glass, you should get one? Tempe got one for her birthday and it's her favorite toy. We use it all the time in Play School, but she also spends so much time by herself in the backyard, looking at rocks and sticks and bugs and grass with it. It's a great toy!
Letter of the Day: D is for Dragon! D is also for darn, I forgot to take a picture of it. We also used our fishing pole to fish for magnetic letters from our alphabet set. When we learn about letters, I've tried to get Tempe interested in learning to write them--she's not. I really do not want to pressure her or push her (she's only 4, after all) so we concentrate on recognizing the letters and the sounds they make. She's actually gotten really good at guessing what letter words start with by sounding them out.

Next week our unit on "Our Body" starts with a lesson on My Five Senses!

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Baby Prep: Freezer Meals

If you've never been pregnant before, you might think that the nesting instinct is imagined or exaggerated.
It's not.
For me, it's always one of the strongest urges. I'm already a very organized person, and it just kicks into overdrive when I'm pregnant.
I've been excited to fill my freezer with easy meals ever since I got it, and when September began, I got started. By the time baby arrives, I should have close to three weeks worth of meals frozen for my family.
It's easier than it sounds. I'm not spending marathon sessions cooking every week--I'm simply doubling and tripling the things I make for dinner and freezing the extras. I do make a batch of rolls once a week or so, just to freeze, but since I have a bread machine (from DI!) it's not much work.
So what is on my freezer meals list?
Sweet and tangy shredded chicken and sweet rice
Baked chicken-bacon alfredo and rolls
Pepperoni calzones
BBQ pork sandwiches and garlic mashed potatoes
Creamy chicken taquitos and lime cilantro rice
Creamy spinach artichoke chicken bundles and rice
Asian BBQ grilled chicken and lime cilantro rice
Egg rolls
Taco soup
Oatmeal-banana waffles
Cheesy ham, broccoli, and rice and rolls
Do you have any good freezer meals?

Monday, September 27, 2010

One of the best ideas come to life

Almost two years ago I wrote on my old blog about some of my brilliant ideas, including my best idea of all time: The ReGifting Shop.
It's a brilliant concept. The idea came to me after we got married and received multiple George Foreman grills and blenders, but no toasters. Some of the duplicate gifts we could return; but most of them we didn't have gift receipts for and so we were stuck with them. I ended up giving quite a few small kitchen appliances to my brother and my old roommate.
That's where The ReGifting Shop comes in. They will buy the unusable, unreturnable gifts from you for a percentage of the retail value, and then resell them for less than the retail value. So you get money for something that otherwise would just take up space and collect dust, and you can also buy needed small appliances and other homegoods for less than the retail cost!
My brilliant brother Tyler, who is in the business school at BYU, has decided to dive into the world of business and try his hand at The ReGifting Shop! Check it out here or help him out by taking a really short (I promise) survey here.

Sunday, September 26, 2010

General Conference + kids = ????

{Twice a year, the leadership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints gathers together to speak to the worldwide membership. General Conference is held in four two-hour sessions (two on Saturday, two on Sunday) and is broadcast worldwide on satellite tv, radio, and the internet. It's an inspired process, in that the speakers are not assigned topics, nor are topics reviewed prior to Conference--it's always interesting to see what is addressed!}
General Conference is coming.
Now that I have kids, preparing for General Conference is like preparing to entertain two preschoolers for the equivalent of an eight-hour car ride! I don't expect them to listen or pay attention to the speakers at their age, but I do expect them to be relatively quiet so Jason and I can listen and I do like for them to be in the same room as the tv, at least for part of each session. That means I have to get creative.
  • One of our favorite things to do is set up a tent or blanket fort facing the tv, ala King Benjamin's address (the original General Conference). We read the account in the scriptures, and then the girls enjoy sitting in their tent and doing their other activities.
  • Snacks and treats always help keep kids quiet. We combine emergency preparedness and Conference by going through our 72-hour kits the Monday night before Conference (for FHE) and taking out any items that have expired or will soon expire and need to be replaced--then I add these to our stash of Conference treats! Our 72-hour kits are filled with goodies I don't normally buy, like Cheez-Its, granola bars, and fruit snacks, so the girls are excited to eat them.
  • We rarely eat meals in front of the tv, but on Conference weekend I make something special for breakfast (usually cinnamon rolls and Orange Julius) and we all eat while watching the morning session together.
  • New toys or art supplies are always fun, so I usually pick up a few little things from the dollar store to surprise the girls.
  • There are a multitude of Conference packets available online--start here or just Google "General Conference packets for kids".
  • For kids just interested in coloring, here are coloring pages from the Friend.

What do you do to prepare your kids for General Conference?

Friday, September 24, 2010

Play School: Rocks

To continue our Earth Science unit, we learned about rocks this week.
Concepts: Where do rocks come from? How are rocks made? What kinds of rocks are on our Earth?
Books: Rocks! Rocks! Rocks! by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace; Diary of a Worm by Doreen Cronin; A Gift from the Sea by Kate Banks; I am a Rock by Jean Marzollo; and Cool Rocks: Creating Fun and Fascinating Collections! by Tracy Kompelien
Activities: We started out the week by making (or attempting to make) rock candy using this recipe. It's been sitting on top of the fridge for 5 days and there are a few crystals starting to grow--or maybe it's just the syrup hardening on the stick. I can't really tell. I might have to just buy the girls some rock candy.
We also went for a rock walk with Tempe's magnifying glass and a canvas bag to collect small rocks and pebbles along the way. Helena was really into this. She spent a long time looking at the large rock in our friend's front yard (the one in the picture) with the magnifying glass, and when I finally pried her away, she ran down the sidewalk saying "Let's examine another one!" The girls were interested to see little rocks embedded in the sidewalk, rocks used to make houses (brick), and rocks used to make walls. Rocks are all around us!
Sensory bin: I meant to fill the sensory bin with rocks from the yard and the magnifying glass, but the girls loved the Gak from last week so much that I left it in.
Letter of the Day: C is for Caterpiller. She's a little tearful in this picture because she and Helena got in a fight over who got to hold the letter.
Next week we conclude our Earth Science unit with a lesson about the Ocean!

Sunday, September 19, 2010

"Jesus's example teaches me how to live"

Today was our ward Primary program.
Best Sunday of the year, am I right?
This year it was especially great for our family--it was Tempe's first year participating!
She got her part about 2 weeks ago and we have been practicing ever since. She got so good at it that she started goofing off a bit--changing the words and giggling because she thought she was soooo silly. So we practiced, and reminded her to be reverant, and practiced some more, and pointed out that when she said her part, SHE would be the teacher for all the grown-ups! (She really liked that idea)
Today when the Sunbeams class got up, Tempe climbed right up on the stepstool and practically shouted into the microphone "Jesus' example teaches me how to live!!" and then jumped down before the teacher could even lean in to prompt her with the first few words. Then she scampered back to her seat where she wiggled for a few minutes until she told her teacher she wanted to sit with her daddy, and they sent her down to sit with us (they had the Sunbeams towards the end of the program, so Tempe had already been sitting up there for about 45 minutes)
The whole time we were waiting for Tempe's part, Helena was whispering "That not my Tempe... it not my Tempe's turn... no... not yet..." Then when it was Tempe's turn, she got very excited and repeated the line after her (Helena got pretty good at it, too!)
I was very, very proud of my little girl!

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Play School: Volcanoes

Tempe has had a fascination with volcanoes since last summer when Grandma Lisa bought the girls a set of stacking blocks with pictures of the desert on every side. There's a volcano on one block and Tempe has wanted to know more about them ever since!
Concepts: What is a volcano? How are volcanoes formed? Why do volcanoes erupt?
Books: All of last weeks books + Volcanoes and Earthquakes by Ken Rubin
Activities: You can't learn about volcanoes and not do a baking soda/vinegar eruption! We also made Gak and dyed it orange so it would look like hot lava.
Sensory Bin: The sensory bin was filled with dry black and white beans, cardboard tubes, and scoops until Thursday, when we made the Gak and put it in the bin instead.
Letter of the Day: B is for Bananas

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Why nicknames are important to think about

Jason and I tend to be more "Name them what you'll call them" kind of people.
The exception is when we're considering names that are 3 or more syllables. Those names are the ones that are shortened most often, so we spend a lot of time thinking of what we would prefer to use as a nickname.
Example: Persephone.
We're probably never going to use this name, but if we did, we would actually call her Persephone. But I know that I could not count on everyone else to call her by that long name all the time. The most natural nickname for this is probably either Percy or Sephie, neither of which we like--so when we were considering Persephone, we spent a lot of time thinking of nicknames that we liked: Sunny, Polly, Poppy, Penny (there really are a lot once you get started brainstorming). Even if we planned on calling her Persephone 99% of the time, we planned on being prepared with a nickname to use 1% of the time so that other people could take their cues from us.
That's our strategy with any 3 syllable or more name.
Very interesting, right?

Friday, September 10, 2010

Happy 4th birthday, Tempe Joann!!

I can't believe four years have passed since my first darling little girl was born!
She has brought us so much joy (and frustration, too, to be honest) over the years. We are so proud of the little girl she has become. She is smart, energetic, curious about everything, imaginative, friendly, compassionate, loving, and so sweet and innocent. She tells us that she loves us about 1,000,000 times every day. She spends hours with her sister, coming up with fun games for them to play. She makes friends wherever she goes and is always willing to include others.
She can roll her tongue.
She loves anything that has to do with geology--rocks, fossils, volcanoes, earthquakes, and what's inside the Earth.
She has naturally curly hair in humidity, naturally wavy hair in dry climates. It also has a reddish tint to it, and we don't know where it came from.
She loves her name and introduces herself as "Tempe Joann".
We love her.

Play School: Inside the Earth

This week we had our first Play School lesson of the year: Inside the Earth.
Concepts: What shape is the Earth? What's inside the Earth? What is the Earth made of?
Books: Planet Earth/Inside Out by Gail Gibbons; The Magic School Bus Inside the Earth by Joanna Cole; Our Patchwork Planet by Helen Roney Sattler and Giulio Maestro; Home on the Earth: A Song About Earth's Layers by Laura Purdie Salas; and Planet Earth: How the World Works in 1000 Photographs by John Farndon, Jack Challoner, Robin Kerrod, and Rodney Walshaw.
Sensory Bin: Various balls (tennis balls, marbles, bouncy balls, etc), cardboard tubes, and funnels.
Snack: Brownie and pudding trifle (layered like the layers of the Earth)
Letter of the Day: A is for Alligator

Friday, September 3, 2010

Christmas prep

Yes, right now it's only September {love}, but it really will be December before you know it! I need to have all my Christmas prep done by Halloween this year--believe me, I do not want to be waddling around the stores when I am 9 months pregnant, nor do I want to go out days after giving birth to finish my shopping.
Hopefully these little Black Apple dolls will brighten my girls' Christmas morning!

My mother-in-law was nice enough to embroider their faces for me so I didn't have to paint them {gulp}. Making the itty-bitty arms with stiff canvas was torture, but beyond that, these were sooooo easy and I think they turned out really well!
The blond doll will be Helena's--she loves wearing her "pocket dress" and putting her hands in her pockets, so I gave her doll two little pockets on the front of her dress. The brunette will be Tempe's--she is starting "ballerina class" in a few weeks!

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Play kitchen tips and tricks

Last summer my big Christmas project was creating a wooden play kitchen for my girls.
I started with this sad old tv stand from DI....

... and turned it into this!

Lately I've gotten a couple requests for information on how I made the kitchen and where I found parts, so I thought I would do a post on it. It's only September, but I think a lot of people already have Christmas on their minds (myself included)!
This really is an easy project. I have no experience with anything like this, and I managed it, so... yeah. Pretty easy.
There are a lot of these kitchens floating around blogworld--here are two of the kitchens I've seen all over the place. The second kitchen is the one that I modeled mine after.
  • I took both doors off the lower part of the tv stand. I used one of them as the oven door by putting it on hinges on the bottom. I used a magnet on the inside of the door and another one hanging down from the lower shelf inside the oven to keep the oven door closed. I used the other door to divide the bottom area in half by screwing it in place (through the bottom of the tv stand--turn it upside down).
  • The curtain is threaded onto a dowel, which hangs on those little gold hooks you screw into pilot holes.
  • DO NOT cut the hole for the sink like I did. I don't have a jigsaw, so I drilled holes with the largest drill bit I had as close together as possible in a circle, then hammered out the area inside the circle. It worked, but it's really rough and really jagged and not a nice tight fit. Buy a jigsaw, borrow a jigsaw, but you should definitely use a jigsaw to cut the hole.
  • I didn't do a great job on the faucet, either. Because of the way the storage shelf is positioned, it was really hard to screw it in place from the bottom and when I tried to do it through the top, it splintered the faucet. I would recommend using Gorilla Glue to glue it in place instead of trying to screw it in place.
  • I searched long and hard for the right accessories. The sink is a bowl from DI with a nice, wide lip. The faucet is a wooden letter J, painted silver and turned upside down. The knobs are corks painted silver. The burners are unfinished wooden spirals painted silver from either Michael's or Robert's--look in the bins of wooden flowers, ladybugs, trains, etc.
  • I primed the tv stand after taking it apart, then spraypainted each piece before putting it back together.

My kitchen is not perfect, but it's held up well over the last year and the girls love playing with it. So start looking at yard sales and thrift stores and get started on your own play kitchen project!