We had a project planned yesterday that involved painting a green tree but I thought we should incorporate some shape work into it. We scrapped the paint idea and cut out some triangles.
One at a time starting at the bottom, each child layered four green triangles on top of a green rectangle.
They added a cotton ball snowy blanket underneath.
Foam snowflakes completed our wintery scene!
All of the while, we remembered that the triangles are green. ♥
I love these colors up on the art wall. :)
Meanwhile in the land of pets, look who is clearly NOT afraid of a group of children? Petra! She is very interested in being involved with the kids just like Smudge is.
Snack time on the carpet? She was "in".
The kids are great with her so far.
She's pretty bossy at times. This sweet little girl just let Petra explore. Meanwhile, Smudge is starting to understand that baby kitty is staying and has mellowed out a bit. He has been given full access to our bedroom at night and I think he enjoys that right now. He's a little jealous that baby Petra gets special kitten food, so we just let Smudge eat it, too. Every day I remind Smudgie that he is my BEST beast. He has returned to his usual morning routine with me, we get the paper together and breakfast. Smudge even left me a dead bird last night, and I choose to believe that it's a peace offering, not a death threat. LOL!
Orla Fallon sings 'Bells Of Christmas'. We are enjoying this CD this morning.♫
Aiden begged me to sit down and pose for him so he could draw me.
He took his time and concentrated.
So serious...
He was finally finished! It took him ten minutes.
Here I am! My favorite part is the ear. Hope you all had a wonderful weekend! We are introducing the kids to our new baby Petra this morning. She has been moved to safety as of right now.
Adam and I have been talking about another baby in the house. Kitten, that is. Smudge would love a friend. Last night we surprised the kids with a trip to the pet store to adopt a girl. They were so happy! We picked this little sweetheart- Adam named her Petra.♥
She is small as a button! I now have to turn the lights on in the morning so I don't step on her, and I actually have to try to find her, too. She spent her first night in the laundry room. She uses the litter box.
Of course, she's brilliant.
She loves people! She likes to climb onto shoulders. Her motor is always running. Purrrrr.♥
I was up at 5:30 this morning just to go check on the baby Petra. After a lengthy search, I located her. She was happy to join me for coffee and newspaper. She knows just what to do on a lap.
I'm thanking God for our new friend. Please pray that Smudge will come around, he is having a rough time with a baby in the house. Even though I keep telling him he is my best beast.♥
We read the story 'The Gingerbread Man.' The kids really loved it! In fact, we read TWO versions of the story, each with different endings. I love the story. I love that the smart fox outsmarts the gingerbread man and eats him up. The kids are shocked about that if they don't remember the story from last year. It's so funny. ♥
I purchased these awesome treat boxes from Oriental Trading. The came flat, assembled quickly and were just the right size for carrying some cookies home. Each child had a box.
My first thought was, "How can I keep the mess to a minimum?" So we used paint trays to hold the fixin's. The paint trays were set onto a larger tray that also contained a paper plate.
True to myself, I administered the frosting. I just did not want a frosting bomb to clean up. The kids would get the frosting applied, and then decorate their cookies.
It was kind of intense. They were happy about this activity, although most of my photos look pretty serious. The rule was that they would work hard to decorate the cookies to SHARE at home, and then they could decorate a final cookie to eat. ♥
Someone on facebook asked everyone what their favorite Christmas traditions are. I thought it would be fun to blog about ours. One of them is that each year, the children pick out a new ornament for themselves. They get to choose whatever they would like. We write their names on the bottom of the ones that they have chosen over the years. Adam and I choose one for the both of us. When the kids move out someday, they will get to take all of their chosen ornaments with them to decorate their own Christmas tree.
A new tradition that we started last year has to do with these handmade stockings that Adams grandma made for each of us. We have our own stockings that are used on Christmas, so all of these extra bear stockings really had no home. Last year we decided to hang the kids' stockings up on the outside of their bedroom doors. Occasionally, they find a small surprise inside! Sometimes a small chocolate, a note, a hot chocolate mix, anything.
The stocking on the left is Adams. It has been his stocking since he was a child. We hung ours up for the first time this year just for fun. You can only imagine the goofball surprise Adam left for me one day.. I'll save it for your imagination. :) I like this tradition. ♥ An important one that we have is that the kids open new pajamas on Christmas Eve. My great grandma started this one, I think. Traditions are so fun and we look forward to each of ours every December. I would LOVE to hear about yours!
Thursday we will decorate gingerbread cookies. In order to keep in the confines of our schedule I decided to bake the cookies ahead of time. Yesterday the kids had a free play day while I busted out cookies. I bake cookies from scratch unless they are gingerbread cookies. I love the shortcut that the box of mix in the photo above allows. SO easy and fast! I baked two boxes in no time at all. ♥
Meanwhile, the kids enjoyed this playhouse! It was donated to us by some regular clients of ours. We feel so blessed!! I have always wanted to have a playhouse in the yard for them, but the small budget has never allowed us to purchase one. Boy were the kids happy- they crammed themselves into it for an hour at least.
We have plans for renovating and weather proofing it a bit before it goes into the yard. Right now it is safe under cover on the patio.
No room at the inn.
♥♥♥Happy Wednesday!♥♥♥
Carol Of The Bells by John Williams. ♫ I think it's my favorite version.
