Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Day is always bitter-sweet. It's the anniversary of the hardest and saddest day of my life, losing my beloved mother, but happy since it's a wonderful day to celebrate love and loving those who mean so much to you. It's been 22 years and I still miss my mom every.single.day!

This year, Caden made Valentine's Day cards for his friends at school. They are doing a fundraiser so I thought it would be fun to incorporate the organic, fair trade chocolates into the cards. They turned out so cute! 

Jackson ended up catching RSV and tested positive for it last Thursday. Grace has a cold, which means there's a 99% chance that her cold is RSV, so the doctor advised us to mostly stay home and away from crowds through Sunday. We hated to miss church, but most likely that's where the kids caught RSV since it's going around there and we didn't want to risk spreading it even more! It was a 3 day weekend for Collin and the weather was beautiful, so we had some fun family time, mostly at home.

Collin was so sweet this year, he treated me to a one hour hot stone massage, which was heavenly, carrying two babies around is hard on your back! He bought some some chocolate covered strawberries, surprised me with cards the kids made and one he got me, and took us all out to eat at the Cheesecake Factory. We timed it where it was around Jackson's nap so we kept him isolated from everyone. Thankfully Grace's nose is no longer running and she's not sneezing which is how it's mostly spread. 

I hope you had a wonderful Valentine's Day as well. It's a great day to tell those you love that you love them!

Caden's Oral Surgery

Before surgery

Last week Caden had to go to the children's hospital and have some oral surgery done. This was upsetting to all of us. Last year we had a costly dental experience with him and he had to have two teeth pulled because of two abscesses. We had all of his permanent teeth and baby teeth sealed. We've been extra diligent about him brushing and flossing his teeth. So at his last dental appointment, we were very sad to learn that he had three more cavities and two of those needed to be pulled because of abscesses. It also looked like his teeth had never been sealed. We know they were because last year we watched everything happen. Considering the amount of work that needed to be, including adding spaces, the dentist recommended we take him to the children's hospital to have this done. He has anxiety when it comes to the dentist already so we decided to go this route this time.  

The dentist ended up pulling two baby teeth and went ahead and pulled out his very loose tooth that could have easily fallen out while the dentist did his work. They put three crowns on three baby teeth with spaces to keep his teeth spaced properly. They resealed all of his permanent teeth as well. The dentist thinks he's probably getting cavities because of two main reasons. 1) He breathes out of his mouth; and 2) He has some reflux. He said he can tell that we brush his teeth and the cavities are not from neglect. Some people are just more prone to them. Also he tends to sneak candy and go overboard when he gets it. That will then sit on his teeth and start rotting them. We've been encouraging him since this happened last year, to drink water after eating or drinking something. Apparently this isn't enough. We have switched to using an adult's toothpaste and will probably take him to the dentist four times a year instead of twice a year. We feel bad that he had to get all of this work done and really hope we don't have anymore expensive dental bills. For Caden's sake and our own, we don't have dental insurance. But like anything else, our children's health is most important. 

They don't allow other kids back but were kind to let Grace come say "hi."

My awesome and brave son!

Before he woke up. I could take a nursing baby back.

Popsicles, where the problems began!

I'm so glad my dad came to help with Grace and Jackson

MFW All Aboard the Animal Train Unit 1: Love

Grace is loving her preschool program. We are having so much fun and are even including Jackson in on some of it! We are finishing up Unit 1: Love. Each unit has a memory verse, animal, color, stories, music, and lots of fun activities to do. We don't do "school" everyday, but when ever I ask her if she wants to she squeals with excitement and will run get her school box. She's memorized her first Bible verse and her first poem, "I am a bunny." I love teaching and watching her learn and grow.

My Father's World All Aboard the Animal Train 

Unit 1: Love


Color: red
Animal: Bunny - which is really one of her favorite animals!
Memory Verse: 1John 4:21 - "Love God and love each other!"

Here are some of the fun things we've done as part of our preschool.

Coloring her first picture for the unit

Looking at the bunny and learning her memory verse

She got into the markers one day and gave herself a make-over

 

Let's remember, she is only 2!

Wedgits are fun!

We went to the stock show and she got to sit on a tractor

She saw some bunnies

We went to a friend's house who is raising rabbits

We even visited a dairy farm!

She loved petting the pig!

Her first time to paint

She LOVED it!

Some of the paintings she painted

Playing with the Discovery Blocks

We spend a lot of time outside! The trampoline is a favorite among my kids.

She likes her little bike

Loves going down her smaller slide.

Sometimes we give wagon rides around our yard.

Red sensory bin

Both kids loved this. It peaked Caden's interest when he saw it.

Sidewalk painting with big brother

 

They both got Play-Doh for Valentine's Day

Fountains downtown

Coloring the bunny red

She's a good artist

Musical shapes! She LOVED this game! We played it for probably 20 minutes!

More fun outside!

Grace has started Preschool!

Since I homeschool Caden, three days a week, it seems like a good portion of Monday, Wednesday, and Friday is made up of doing and getting school work done. Grace has wanted to participate. She's enjoyed coloring and reading books. However, I wanted something more to do with her. I discovered that My Father's World had a new preschool for 2s and 3s program. It's call All Aboard the Animal Train. While they suggest it more for older 2 and 3 year olds, it is perfect for my newly turned 2 year old. She LOVES books, retains the information well, can sit and pay attention for a good amount of time, and has a willingness to learn. I wanted to wait until after her birthday to start it and have found it to be perfect! Also I loved going through My Father's World Kindergarten with Caden when he was 4. He still has memories of some of the fun activities we did.

A few weeks ago when I told Grace that I bought her some school work she literally jumped around the living room in delight and told Caden, "I have schoolwork, Caden!" I put it together in a special filing folder and we have enjoyed going through the first unit and still have another week or two to go.

There are 12 units that are part of the All Aboard the Animal Train. Each unit takes 3 weeks to complete if you are going straight through it. We do not do school everyday, so it will probably take us a month to complete each unit. There are four different activities to do each day: 1. Clean Up and Together Time; 2. Story Time; 3. Surprise Time (she gets to pick one surprise activity/game each day); and 4. Outside Time.

The goals for the 2s and 3s program are: Spiritual Growth which includes twelve character traits, three Bible stories and a memory verse for each character trait. Cognitive Development - songs and fingerplays, creative thinking, problem solving, and imaginative play.  Reading and Math: lots of fun stories, poems, print and phonemic awareness kills, informal alphabet readiness, and numbers, colors, and shapes. Science: we're learning about twelve different animals! Music: each unit includes a preschool learning song and Bible song. Physical Development: gross and fine motor skills.

This is how I organized My Father's World.

I keep all of the books we are not using in the box in my closet

Such a precious and happy girl!

She was so excited to start reading her books

 

Here is the teacher's manual and student sheets

I separated all of the student sheets by unit -- there are 12 units

Train, Daily activities, and numbers for surprise boxes

This file folder has month tabs and I put each unit behind a month

I'm storing the teacher's manual in the front

Nice and organized!