Apples

Our theme for this unit.

We read this book today.

A truly rare moment --no one is screaming, fighting, or whining--it lasted for a few minutes.

We tried 4 different types of apples today --Gala, Fuji, Granny Smith, and Washington. Kaylor's favorite were Gala and Washington. Caden's favorite was Granny Smith and Maddie Grace ate whatever was nearby.

We cut one apple crosswise and had fun looking at the star-shape and all the seeds.

Super Party!

Today was the big party day and the boys dressed in their Batman and Robin costumes for the Super Friends party. It was so fun!

Fruit

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control." Gal 5:22-23

"Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." John 15: 4-5

We are now studying fruit and today we made applesauce and ate apples. We read Galatians 5:22-23 and John 15:4-5.

Kaylor enjoying an apple

Apples in the beginning phases of turning to mush

Kaylor's handwriting page

In my effort to share our days, I find myself wanting to boast in my own efforts as a Mom and conveniently neglect showing the "messiness" of our day. I am constantly reminded of how needy I am. I did not display any "fruit" when doing school today. And anyone who knows us well, knows that our home is not one of perpetual bliss. So here goes some real life...my sweet middle child was attached to my hip all morning and this picture pretty much sums up how our morning went...


My youngest child was on the deck conspiring with our dog to uproot every effort I have of growing fresh basil....

Guilty party #1

Guilty party #2

Super Friends!

A day before the big party, Kaylor opened another present...surprise it's a Super Friends DVD!

Save Now

So much for every OTHER day gift openings...

Batman opened another gift today (yes my child has worn his costume 2 days in a row now--even in public!). We let him open his Batman movies today...so, he'll skip the next two days and resume opening gifts on Friday...boy, this is getting confusing!

Batman and little brother...

Today Kaylor wanted to open his birthday present from Nana and Pappy and here it is....

As Nana suspected, Caden was upset that he didn't have a Batman costume too, such is life. Caden said he wants a Robin costume for his birthday.

Here they are riding in the Batmobile...

Birthday Week Has Started...

This morning Kaylor decided he'd like to open one present a day leading up to his birthday (like someone else we know). And, he wanted to start today. Well, there was one problem...he doesn't have 11 presents! So, we decided he could open one present every other day leading up to April 1st. Today he opened a Superman watch and clock and has been attempting to tell us the time all day. Kevin said the Superman watch will probably be mysteriously lost later this week underneath the force of a hammer. Nonetheless, it really is good practice telling time and recognizing his numbers! Another wardrobe side note: doesn't his red Power Ranger shirt look cool? His personal shopper picked it up for him this week...he's worn it for two days staight!

We mailed Kaylor's book today to get it in to Alabama Public Television's contest before the March 21st deadline. If you've ever seen any Kaylor's creations, they are very fitting to the wandering mind of a 5-year old...they are so funny and innocent. One of his stories is called "Cheese K" and it is very strange...one minute Kaylor is eating cheese in the story and the next minute he's cooking a cat in the oven--I promise we don't cook domesticated animals for real in our home! One of his favorite stories is "There's A Dinosaur Under My Bed"--he wrote it last year and he thought he'd like to enter it in the contest. He had to redraw all the pictures to get it contest worthy since all his books are on construction paper and stapled together. As much as he loves to color and think of stories, it was like pulling teeth to get him to finish the project! These days he'd much rather be running outside with Caden playing Power Rangers or Jackie Chan (can you believe there's a Jackie Chan cartoon now!?--so funny!) I'm sure this is just the beginning of life's lessons on completing what you start. If I could only figure out how to finish what I start around here--laundry, dishes, etc....feel like I'm always running like a chicken. Anyway, here's a picture of his book.

A Day Outdoors and Food for Thought

Today was absolutely gorgeous! I think the high was in the low 70s and we started the day with a walk through our neighborhood with Missy and Wes. The first 15 minutes were full of refreshment and good conversation; however, hair pulling, screaming, and a toddler who refused to ride in the stroller, quickly put a damper on the good company, chirping birds, and fresh morning air. Needless to say, I don't think I'll be taking the kids along for a morning stroll anytime soon (sorry Missy...although I'm pretty sure you don't want us along next time!!!)

After we got home, Kaylor and I decided to continue our theme of studying leaves and plants by planting seeds in our miniature greenhouse. We planted sunflowers and sweet basil. We'll keep them indoors until the weather warms up enough to transplant them outside. I'm hoping we'll keep the yard man from cutting down our sunflowers this year --hopefully we'll also figure out a way to keep Ellie (our dog) from digging up everything too! Here's a picture of Kaylor happily planting the sunflower seeds. As a side note, doesn't his complexion look great in his new consignment store shirt? So cute...thanks to our personal shopper.

And here's a picture of Maddie Grace brushing her hair...how beautiful....oh wait, is that a grill brush!!!??? It must not feel too good judging from the expression on her face.


This afternoon I bought the kids a special treat from a local bakery--moist vanilla cupcakes covered with white icing and multi-colored sprinkles....mmmmm. I intentionally bought three of these spongy delights, one for each child, just so I'd have no choice but abstain from gaining another pound! I seriously doubted this decision, not only because of their excitement over the sight and smell of their desserts, but also because I was strangely hovering over my children like a starving dog--waiting for a tiny morsel to miss their lips. Pretty sad! I sadly only got one small bite from Caden's cupcake --he ate every single bit except for a tiny piece left on his placemat. I began to question my mental stability not just because I was a serious threat to Ellie's after dinner clean-up routine, but because I found myself practically licking Maddie Grace's high chair tray clean of her cupcake crumbs. Do other mothers do this sort of thing? I was so struck by my obsession with desserts, that I had to take a picture of my little one's highchair tray...how disgusting is this and what person would want to clean any crumbs, cupcake or otherwise, off this nasty tray!? Notice the few bits of cupcake left in the top of the photo...along with meanderings of spaghetti...looks appetizing, huh!?

Superman and Easter Eggs

Today our day started off as any normal day with my oldest child waking up ready to take on the world as the superhero of his choosing. Today he came upstairs asking me to pin on his Superman cape. As we ate breakfast, we listened to a new CD that a dear friend burned for us. And low and behold, not only was one of my favorite songs Hallelujah included, but so was a a song that mentions Superman...well, we listened to it 5 times...

We also were invited by some sweet friends to go on an Easter egg hunt at a park near our home. The kids had a blast and enjoyed hunting eggs, playing at the park, eating TONS of candy, and having a pizza party.
Maddie Grace wasn't sure what all the fuss was about, but she enjoyed eating tons of candy and wrappers off the ground.

Caden had fun and did a great job chasing down eggs and didn't waste any time sitting down to gobble up all his candy!

Taking cue from his friend Anderson, Kaylor decided to make good use of his basket...it helped block the sun and kept the boys busy while waiting on the little kids to finish their hunt.

La Hoja

We are slowly going through K5 in My Father's World Curriculum. We are on the 3rd unit and so far we are really enjoying it. It is a very gentle approach and since Kaylor is not yet 5, we are only doing school 2-3 days a week...I figure we have 18 months to enjoy Kindergarten before we have to officially start 1st grade. Our unit this week is L for Leaf and the theme is "I will live and grow in Jesus." We learn the Spanish word for each unit and since the letter is L for Leaf, we are learning "hoja" which is leaf in Spanish. Today Kaylor did his handwriting page and we also did a diagram of a tree.


The little ones enjoyed having their snacks in a big tupperware container and Caden enjoyed coloring on his hands and smearing chocolate chips all over his face in between having some meltdowns.