Catching up...

I didn't make time to blog last week, so this will be 2 weeks in 1. Everything has been going great, and we've had a great time. Last week we had a total of 3 Valentine parties, so it was a little crazy. BUT these are the things great memories are made of, and I wouldn't trade them for the world. We were finally able to make it to the zoo with Daddy-o and had a total blast! It was a beautiful day filled with sunshine. Luckily, we decided to go super early and have lunch there...because after lunch the whole city of Tulsa and their children came...needless to say we made a quick get-away!!! Whew, that was a close one! Later this week our playgroup is going to Chuck E Cheese. I love going when everyone is in school, it's the absolute best! And, next week we're going to check out the Kaleidoscope Children's Museum for the first time. I can't wait!

So, our math, reading, phonics, writing and spelling the last 2 weeks has been right on track. We're continuing our study of money, introducing one thing at a time. We work on time daily as well, and BabyGirl has mastered telling time to the minute I'm proud to say! She's also enjoying addition with her abacus this week. We've already finished 3 of our 1st grade phonics and reading books, and BabyGirl just simply cannot get enough! Our last 2 spelling test words were: on, not, got, box, hot, top, pond, doll, get, ten, red, pet, men, yes, tent, ball. She LOVES taking spelling tests and asks for them daily, although we only do one a week. She is really a great speller, and loves her phonics!

For science we're continuing changes. We've talked about how some changes are hard to undo, and some are easy to undo. Our experiment on this topic was taking some play-doh, making a ball out of it, then making it into a log, and finally cutting the log into sections. Our second week on changes dealt with melting and freezing. For this experiment we sat out a glass with 2 ice cubes in it. We observed and documented the changes it made every 15 minutes. As usual, both experiments were a hit!

For geography this month we're continuing our study of North America. Last week we talked about the United States, and this week we're talking about Greenland and Canada. For the United States BabyGirl chose to make a tornado since we have more tornadoes than any country in the world. (not to mention that tornadoes are her fave!) We also made a statue called The Pueblo Story Teller to remind us of the Native people who lived in North America before Columbus. This went right along with our study of changes with Play-doh. Check out the pics! For Greenland her 2 favorite things we read about were animals. The Narwhal and the Killer Whale. These are both amazing animals. If you've never heard of a Narwhal, I encourage you to google it. They are fascinating. And, if you've ever seen Elf (another fave) you'll see that Mr. Narwhal is actually real! :) So, BabyGirl being the artsy one she is decided to paint the Narwhal, and draw the Killer Whale.

For history this month we're covering a different president each week. Last week we talked about Thomas Jefferson. BabyGirl created a painting about him which includes a beautiful day with green grass, a sun, and yellow clouds along with a book, a violin, and a bow. This shows how much Thomas Jefferson loved reading, so much that he would choose to stay inside on beautiful day to read. He also taught himself to play violin by reading a book! This week we've covered Abraham Lincoln. We chose to make a HUGE rendition of his hat. It is awesome, and some-what reminds me of the mad hatter. :)

BabyGirl has really been thinking about our grandma this week, and has been asking lots of questions about her. We read a story about King Midas. At the end of the story they asked what you would wish for if you could. She replied "My grandma to come back to life." It's heart-breaking all over again for me, but I try to remain strong and answer her questions the best that I can, although there are those that none of us can answer. And, I realize that is not a bad thing, it's just part of life. Life is a beautiful thing, all of it. We watched a Mr. Rogers that I had Tivo'd looooooong ago and forgotten about for just this occasion. I absolutely love Mr. Rogers and everything that he has given me throughout my life. He talked about life, death, fear, confusion, and everything that comes along with loss. The point that he kept making was....life is beautiful, and even though it hurts when we lose someone, isn't it better to have lived and experienced this wonderful thing called life? I cannot agree more. So, we'll continue with the healing process along with love and help from our friends and family. And, we'll still know that with each sunrise and sunset that Grandma is smiling at us. We miss you. xo