Theo Sleepover

Theo sleepovers are always fun!  He came for a 24 stent and we packed it with loads of love, laughs, and memories.

Theo and Zayden slept in Zayden's bed together.  We put them with their heads at opposite ends and their tootsies together.  They slept all night!

Saturday morning...

best buddies...

Grandma came to play!

naptime in GiGi's bed...

We love you, Theo.  Thanks for coming to sleepover!

A Wedding Par-tay

My cousin, Vanessa, got married and had quite a lovely celebration.  She dealt with rain and cold temps, but we traded all that for the joy inside the venue.

My Mia just loves a wedding, and a bride, and proclaimed her napkin "too beautiful to wipe her face on" and brought it home to save instead.

Everything was gorgeous, and in true "Tallman" style done up "right good."

 My little tribe.

Photo booths are so fun...

No one loves them more than Xavier.

 

Mia took her turn petting the bride's beautiful dress and posing for a picture.  She has a tendency to try to follow brides around all night and just look at their beauty.

Aunt Marcia packed awesome kiddy bags for the little ones!

But after they did some sitting, this trio of 2 year olds ran hot laps around the reception hall.  We tried to reign them in, but Ness assured us they were fine, so we eventually gave up and let them go.  The did occasionally stop by the dessert buffet.  Ha. 

My wedding date for the last 16 years. 

💓

It was a beautiful night, focused on family, friends, and fun.  We stayed too late with kids (ha) and had a lovely time.

Field Trip to the Planetarium

Our local university has a great planetarium, so I arranged for our homeschool group to take a field trip to visit.

We watched a show, then "toured" the planets and stars.

The day ended up being cold and rainy but the field trip itself was fun - just made for a brisk walk to and from the parking lot!

After this, we grabbed fast food and headed to grandma's to help her make salsa for my cousin's wedding.

Science Night

The area public school hosted a science night for kids and I took our little scholars out to see what it was all about.  There were lots of different stations set up and we had a good time exploring them all.

We made tinfoil boats and tested them to see how many pennies they would hold.

Natalee's boat was quite flat and I was skeptical, but it did very well.

Our friends, the Sniders, joined us. We also ran into the Browns and the March's!

Electric and snap circuits was a fun station, too.  Joslynn was really excited about the snap circuits so we loaned her Xavier's kit to explore at home!  It's so fun (and helps me justify keeping!) to share our resources.

We laid down and painted, just like Michelangelo did when he worked on the Sistine Chapel.

Magnetic marble painting was a huge hit, too!

The local university brought reptile and amphibians to share.  Ameliya shocked me!  I stayed very quiet while she asserted her bravery.

I skipped the slime station initially (ha) but they had just enough time at the end to make some!

We have these same magnetic blocks but this room had curves and different pieces than we have - that makes it super fun!

Nannie was running a play-doh room, we also stopped by and did erupting pumpkins, sink or float, and a few others I didn't get pictures of.

We work hard to keep a good, healthy relationship with our local public school and appreciate that we were welcomed in for Science Night.

Tot School & Preschool

The little two have put in a ton of learning since we "kicked off" school the last week of July/first of August.

Tot School looks a lot like this:

Loads of floor puzzles...

Lots of reading stories...

Tons of dress up and imaginative play!

A wee bit of seat work...

Naps, blessed naps...

Scores of fun with the new "busy binder" that mommy made...

Measuring (and eating)...

coloring!

Matching and gluing!...

 And more puzzles!...

Overall, Zayden is pretty contented.  He joins in at calendar most of the time,

and has picked up most of the letter sounds I'm introducing to Ameliya.  He knows almost all of his capital and most of his lowercase letter names, just by way of being aware of the world around him and paying attention.  He knows shapes, most colors, and numbers.  He's learning to count and working on 1-to-1 correspondence.  More importantly, he's getting so much better at quick obedience, cleaning up after himself, and being a friend!

Together these two learning companions like to play games, re-read their Bible stories, and read books.

Preschool looks a lot like this:

Reviewing a letter and learning a letter sound every week and doing excellent!!...

Practicing cutting and gluing skills...

Fine tuning fine motor skills with stickers...

Counting, measuring, and comparing (but not eating because Dad bought whales and not fish - LOL)...

Enjoying the busy binder that mom made!...

Dot painting and identifying...

1-to-1 correspondence, number identification, and more gluing...

Sand writing...

Ameliya loves school.  She loves learning and being included and feeling valued.  She challenges me everyday to not "push her aside."  Truthfully life would be easier if she just wanted to play instead of be actively at the table doing lessons, but what fun is easy anyways!?  I love her drive and determination to not be left behind!  She'll be kindergarten ready next year!