Saturday, January 30, 2010

Snow!

If you are going to be stuck inside with sickness, it's nice to look out the window and see a blanket of snow. Anna and Erik went out early to make snow angels.

Erik & Anna headed for the snow

IMG_2011

Friday, January 29, 2010

Indoor Activities

We spent another week confined in the house with coughs and colds (I take back all of my complaints about being too busy lately and not being home enough!). So with the help of my new "gadget", the Scotch Thermal Laminator, I made the girls some new fun "school" games.

Our New Games

The templates came from File Folder Fun and are sooo cute. I chose not to put them in file folders.

For Cupcake Counting, Anna counts the cherries on each cupcake and then finds the corresponding number. She has gotten really good at 1-10 so I hope to find a similar game for 11-20.

Cupcake Counting

To continue working on the alphabet we made this alphabet heart game where Anna matches the big and little letters.

Alphabet Hearts

I hope Anna is having as much fun as I am :).

Thursday, January 28, 2010

A Verse at a Time

A goal of mine this year is to work on scripture memorization as a family. The focus is on verses that Anna is learning at Sunday school and Community Bible Study, simple verses that the girls can understand. Last year I was really challenged by Deuteronomy 6:6 which says,

These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

I've been pondering what this should look like in our household considering the girls ages.

This week I made a few bible memory verse cards to hang on the cabinet by the dinner table. The thought is that each night we would review the verses as a family during mealtime. Maddie is catching on as well which makes me smile. It is nice to be able to go to the cabinet during the day and be reminded that God’s Word says that “Nothing is impossible with God” (Luke 1:37) and when we fight with our sister that God wants us to “Love one another for love comes from God” (1 John 4:7). I plan on slowly introducing new bible verses throughout the year.

Bible verse wall

Saturday, January 23, 2010

What we've been up to...

I think I've had too many thoughts about what I should blog about lately and so, obviously, I just haven't blogged at all.

We started the year, New Year's Day to be exact, with a case of the stomach bug which I'm guessing Anna picked up on one the rides at Sea World?????? Anna spent the next 5 days laying around the house and carrying her bucket with her wherever she went "just in case". It was so sad for all Anna wanted was to drink and eat and yet even a sip of water would cause her to vomit. We ended up at the doctor's office where she was given a shot of Zofran to help with nausea and a warning that if we were not strict about her liquid consumption, we would be in the hospital with an IV. Thankfully, the shot did the trick and Anna made a quick recovery. That night, Maddie started vomiting... 4 days later my husband was nauseas for a day. I impatiently waited for 5 more days to see if I would fall as well. Thankfully I did not. We are well for now and I'm praying against the sickness that is everywhere. The stomach virus is still going around, little ones are being hospitalized for RSV, then there's the common cold and flu. I can't wait for spring!

Our "school" time has also changed a lot with the new year. Before I was relying on a lot of coloring sheets to teach Anna things such as the alphabet and numbers which Anna is no longer interested in. Anna LOVES to play games! From the time she gets up in the morning until she goes to bed at night she is constantly asking to play a game. And I have found that she is learning more than ever. I love the constant conversation that takes place during the games and how she remembers the rules. Last week Anna had a little friend over and they went up to Anna's room by themselves and played Candyland, so cute!

Here are a few of our current favorite games:

CandyLand - colors
Colorama - colors and shapes
Leapfrog Alphabet Go Fish
Curious George Super Helper
Memory
Hi Ho Cheerio

We also make up a lot of games using flashcards and other things around the house. I actually just ordered a laminator to make some homemade games such as file folder and bag games. We'll see how that goes.

Maddie is also growing up so fast and is saying so many words. Her favorite activities right now are to play with Mega Bloks and Little People. Most of the time Maddie is happy sitting by herself and playing with one of these things.

Life is so fun and happening so fast, I'm just trying to soak it all in. Happy January!

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Vacation Animals

While the girls are still scared of anyone dressed in an animal costume, the girls were quite fond of the real things. We saw dolphins, sea lions, otters, stingrays, penguins, killer whales, manatees, turtles and several other animals. I wasn't sure if Maddie would sit through the shows but we made it through six of them and both girls seemed to have a great time.

Of course we had to visit Shamu (did you know the original Shamu passed away in 1971). The first show we went to didn't go as planned since the whales decided to swim in circles around the pool rather than perform, so we went to an alternate show the next day. I cannot imagine being the first one into the pool with them when they are not "cooperating":

Shamu

The girls enjoyed throwing fish to the sea lions while the birds tried to intercept. I thought it was rather gross when Maddie squeezed the fish so hard their eyeballs popped:

Feeding Sea Lions at Sea World Orlando

Underwater dolphin viewing:

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Anna got a souvenir walrus in honor of this guy at the sea lion show:

Clyde and Seamore's at Sea World Orlando