Birthday Fun: Sledding Trip

      Two days before Christmas was Andrew's birthday, so we decided to go sledding and have some fun! It was a great time and we all had a blast! (It would've been more of a blast if it was warmer than 20ish degrees outside... but oh well... lol) Here are some pictures from our adventure in the snow!

Other Christmas Decorations!

      We made quite a few different decorations over the last week or so, but many of them were things like color by numbers that don't really need their own post. So, instead I decided to take pictures of the last few things we did for Christmas since it's Christmas Eve and all... better late than never right? Anyway, we made a chain decoration of christmas colors that we made and put up some time last week. We also did a sticker garland christmas tree and 5 christmas color by numbers. They all turned out great, so here are some pics of their hard work. :-)

 

  

    

Christmas Tree Ornaments

      I found this idea on Pinterest and thought the boys would have fun making them, so we decided to turn it into a really cute Christmas gifts! I got the idea here: http://www.teachwithme.com/blogs/getting-to-the-core/item/241-fingerprint-christmas-tree-another-keepsake-ornament . I cut out the trees, white paper and stars beforehand so assembly went faster. I got them all their pieces, mixed up some green and brown paint, got out some red paint and let them at it. We had to do it in a few different steps, so it took some patience, but they did great. First I glued the white paper tree on the green tree awhile before so it had time to dry. Then, the boys used their thumbs and painted all their trees. Next we had to let them dry, which took a few hours just sitting out. Next, they glued their stars on how they wanted, and we had to let those dry for a little bit, and then wrote their names on the back. Then I decided in order to preserve them so they last a bit longer, I would laminate them with my handy dandy laminator! I love my laminator. I got it on a crazy sale on Amazon they seem to have once a year or so and it was TOTALLY worth it. LOVE. Anyway... once I got them laminated, I cut them out and we moved on to the next phase. We needed some string to hang the ornaments with and a hole punched in them, so they helped me cut out the yarn pieces and punch the holes in the top. They strung them strings through the holes, I tied them and voila! Handmade gifts for the Grandma's and Grandpa's we love. :-)

Christmas Decoration: Do You Wanna Build A Snowman?

       Sorry about the Frozen reference... I needed a title and couldn't help myself... haha. Anyway, the next idea I came across for a cute Christmas decoration was to make a cotton ball snowman! I found the idea here: http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/2010/01/make-a-snowman-inside.html . Instead of using marker and drawing on the face and buttons for them, I cut out a bunch of little black circles and an orangle triangle so they could paste the pieces on themselves. Plus there's a pretty good chance if I tried to draw them on they'd look NOTHING like that... lol. So I got out the construction paper, cotton balls, and pieces I had already cut and set them out. Then I made the circles for the snowman with glue and let them start gluing. Once they were done with the cotton balls, they made the face and buttons! After they were all finished, I went around under all the cotton balls and put some extra glue to make sure they stay on since I was planning on hanging them up. Once they dried they wrote their names on the bottom and we hung them up. :-)

Holiday Decorations: Christmas Tree Star!

      After we picked out our decorations for the Christmas Tree, we got everything on and then realized we didn't have a star on top! This was something we HAD to fix (haha) so I went on Pinterest looking for a solution and I found this: http://gogingham.com/2011/12/tree-topper-tale/ . We have a few boxes laying around from christmas gift deliveries so I cut a star, and taped the paper towel tube I had already cut down to the back of it. Then the boys came and painted it for me!  They ended up having to put on 3 coats of paint! They loved it and I think it turned out pretty good! :-)

ABC Mouse Level 2: Complete!

     Late last week, the boys finished Level 2 on ABC Mouse! We normally do two lessons each time they sit down, and with 75 lessons that takes awhile! They did a great job, and earned their special reward of a movie and ice cream! Now we've moved on to Level 3 and they're still doing great! They each take turns doing the computer lesson while the other completes the printables that are available from the last lesson they did, plus a page of practice letters to practice their writing! Not to mention we also do 1 lesson from Teach Your Child to Read book that I'll talk more about soon because I LOVE it! Each ABC Mouse "lesson" lasts about an hour to an hour and a half with the computer lesson, reading lesson, letter practice and pictures to color. Love my hard workers!

Christmas Decorations: Decorating the Tree!

       Our place is kinda small and our furniture is kinda not... so there's not much room for a tree. So, we decided to get a little one to keep in the living room. We got a little tree and some pretty decorations, but we didn't have a tree stand. So, we used a metal coffee can and some rocks to hold the tree up and we were good to go! Since the coffee can looked boring, we decided to use some construction paper to make it more festive!  It turned out great! The boys keep saying how beautiful our tree is. :-)  This week we're gonna work on some more decorations too! :-)

Snow Adventure: Trip to Leadville

   We took a drive to the mountains to check out the snow and some new areas and we decided to go to Leadville, which is the city with the highest elevation! We found some awesome snow to play in of course! The scenery was beautiful and we had a great trip! Here are some pictures of our little journey. :-)

Art: Name Mosaics!

     It's somehow been a week since I posted last, though it doesn't seem like it's been that long. Oops! Anyway, today we made name mosaics! I got a posterboard and cut it in 1/4's. Then I wrote each of their names on one of the pieces and that part was ready! Next I got out our big bag of torn/cut paper (the boys LOVED cutting paper when they first got their scissors...so we have a large supply...haha), and some glue and we were good to go. I showed them each with one piece what we were doing, and off they went! They did a great job and now we have a cool new decoration for their room! Here's the link to where the idea came from: http://rainbowswithinreach.blogspot.com/2014/01/reading-begins-with-childs-name.html .