It is so hard to believe that Olivia is now 6 years old!  She is growing like a weed.  We took a day off of school today and just had fun.  She wanted to go ice skating but the local rink had rehersal practice for a show that they are putting on this weekend.  Plus, we had to get ready for the Nutcracker and their "Angels We have Heard on High" production on Sunday. 

We had her favorite dinner and cake.  She got a leapster 2 with a Princess game from me and Madison.

We are still working on our 12 days of Christmas lapbook.  We should finish it Monday or Tuesday.  We've been working on it since December 8.  We are doing only 2 or 3 "days" of the song at a time...making sure that we read all the Bible verses and discuss the song too.

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Here are some of the really fun crafts we are doing this Christmas!

Our Nativity Scene...  I found the cutest Nativity set that you can color and cut out.  Olivia and I worked on it one morning.  We had a blast.  We had Mommy time, school time and just fun time.  It turned out cute!

We also put together a Gingerbread house.  It was alot of fun and wasn't as difficult as the Halloween house we did (that icing was goopy!)

We also did a Nativity lapbook that Madison was able to color, cut and paste.  She loved it. 

We are now working on a 12 Days of Christmas and the meanings of the words. 

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This past Saturday, the girls and I went to a fun day at the local museum.  The Charleston Museum is really cool and one of their education directors has an awesome sense of "fun & learning".  We had never been introduced to the American Girl doll series.  However, I had heard about it from another blog and had been googling a little.  However, my blondeness and my common sense did not come fully together about the American Doll series until I met Kaya. 

The girls learned about Kaya and how she lived as a Native American in 1764.  We were able to make headdresses using the symbols of her people and colored feathers.  We also made teepees, again using the symbols.  The girls had a blast.  They especially loved the fact that they were able to make corn husk dolls.  Madison has a girl doll.  Olivia has a boy doll.  We also made shaker toys and pouches.  We have read some of her story now.

I was a little rubbed when a few of the girls adopted a "holier than thou" attitude because my girls were some of the youngest there.  They started ordering them around and putting them more towards the corner, not letting them use the items (glue, beads, leather straps).  But, even though Olivia started to get her feelings hurt, I wouldn't let her miss the opportunity to learn just now NOT to treat someone.  I think the young lady in charge also saw that they were being just plain mean towards my girls (and a couple others to a point).  She came and sat with us and helped us.  I was the only mom there with two kids doing crafts.  I had to help each of them, so it did take us longer. 

I will post some pictures when I get a moment.  I am coming down with something, plus we are getting ready for our trip down to Florida.

God Bless,

Mardi

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Well, I had such a nice blog going on here.  Then I tried to archive it.  I deleted about 5 months worth of blog entries.  I should claim the "Mommy Brain" on it or maybe even the "blonde brain" on it but I think it was just plain ole not reading the instruction manual.  I thought that men only did that !!!! LOL

We had to take my mom to the hospital because she thought she had pneumonia but it turns out it was only bronchitis.  So they were really good there, reading books and looking at the newspaper.  At one point, Madison pointed to a gentleman reading the newspaper and said "There's Obama!"  Everyone in the waiting room giggled.  Today was very interesting in the fact that the girls played "voting" all day.  Tonight, I heard them in their room discussing how they voted.  Olivia is proud of the fact that a woman was running for Vice President.  She asked me if she could ever be president and I told her yes.  I always have believed that anyone could be president.  Yesterday proves it.  One day, we will also have a woman president.....it could be our daughters!

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Our election day passed this week with lots of "learning".  We started our day in prayer so that we would choose the leader that God wanted us to choose.  Then we went to the polling place.  We stood in line for about 2 hours to cast our vote.  We got to meet a few of the candidates here locally.  I had taken their Presidental Lapbook to work on, just the coloring pages for the "decoration".  I was worried about taking their actual lesson plans with the words Democrat and Republican and pictures of past presidents.  I thought that since they were being so strict about clothing and pins, I would not give anyone any opportunity to say we were "for" this person or "against" that person. 

The girls were so good during the long wait.  They colored for a while, confirming that they knew the different pictures of the elephants and donkeys were the parties and also pictures of Uncle Sam and the American Flag.  They also met a new friend.  He's a little boy who actually lives about one street from our house!  They invited him to church!  We tried a new church this past Sunday, so they are excited about it.

We did little games in line where they did addition and subtraction (gotta work on that subtraction) and phonics and "helper" words.  Olivia surprised me by naming about 5 different people on the ballot....Presidential (Obama/Biden and McCain/Palin).  and some of the closer elections....Brown vs. Kettner and also Mr. Bostic (whom they met during the primaries).

God Bless the USA!

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We finished our Lapbook on Halloween!  They  learned the customs and symbols associated with that day.  We studied safety and reading and counting.   Olivia amazed me with what she remembered about Butterflies.  She had picked out her costume when we were doing a butterfly lapbook.  She proudly told everyone that she was a Monarch Butterfly.  Madison was a ladybug.  They were so cute.  We went to my Mother's church for their Fall Festival.  It was great.  All the cars were decorated for the "Trunk or Treat". 

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We did our part of our lessons today with a guest....but did math!  We baked cookies.  Olivia helped me measure and put the mixture in.  But, honestly, once the cookie dough was ready, all bets were off.  Their friend from ballet was here and all they wanted to do was to roll the dough out and decorate it....and eat the sprinkles!

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Time for the Pumpkin Patch!!!  The girls love the Patch.  It is out at BooneHall Farm, which is one of the oldest plantations around here....really cool.  It had rained the Friday before and it was windy and cold, which is unusual for Charleston.  But we had a great time. 

Olivia and her Pumpkin

Madison and her "Baby Pumpkins"

So many Pumpkins, so little time.

Only 3 more days to Halloween!

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Because Halloween is so close, we started today working on a Halloween Lapbook.  Being a Christian, I want to make sure that they don't loose sight that this was a pagan holiday at one time and the reasons it was.  So we are reading on the history of Halloween, its origins and customs from the early times.  I am being careful not to scare them with the stories from then when they thought spirits walked the Earth.  I am trying to show them how repectful Halloween can be, using customs from other countries (i.e., Mexico) where they celebrate the Festival of the Dead and honor their ancestors.  We have looked up our Indian heritage and they have read a little on that too.  So far, things are going well.

As for the Presidental Lapbook, the one that I found seems to be a little over the head of Madison, so I am looking for more elementary information but we are still reading our paper and discussing as best as possible the candidates and their views.  We are also talking about some of the local elections.

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I have found the ticket!  Madison literally prays each night for tomorrow to come so that she can play Bingo and learn her phonics.  She is really enjoying this.  Right now, I can't remember where I found the game but I will try to find out and post where it was.  If you are looking for a fun game to help the kids with phonics, this is it. 

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