{HomeSchool}: Weekly Update

In continuing with the theme "Jesus is my Shepherd" and reading Psalms 23, we made "hand" sheep, had an activity to erase our sins away, and then used the colors red and black to make a ladybug.

This week was a lot like the last, and so I didn't get a lot of pictures.  Sadly, our favorite activity was a sort of fail and I didn't snap one picture of it.  Next time, folks.

We first traced Knox's hand to make a sheep (his thumb being the head).  He thought it was hilarious, and it did kind of look funny.

Then, we put paint in a ziploc and used a popsicle stick to draw in it.  You have to use your imagination, because I forgot to take pics.  The premise is that you can draw (basically pushing the paint aside and you can see the hard surface beneath).  But then if you push the paint down again, it erases the drawing, kind of like an etch-a-sketch.  This was to point out that God erases our sins if we choose to follow him.  Cute, but the project didn't work out like we planned, and I don't think Knox liked the fact that he couldn't get dirty :)

Then, practicing the colors red and black, we made a ladybug.  He had fun coloring the spots black, and then went a little crazy with the red!

All in all it was a great week, and we can't wait to see what's in store next week!

{HomeSchool}: LATE Weekly Wrap-Up

We're behind.  The post-holiday blues hit, and it's been freezing...I have a lot of excuses.  But the good news is we did all of the work, I just forgot to blog. 

The first week back was focusing on "Jesus is my Shepherd."  The color was black, and the shape was rectangle.

Not to sound like he's advanced or anything, but he has a lot of the goals in the curriculum down.  Numbers to 20, the alphabet, all colors and shapes...so we typically just use these activities as reinforcement and focus on the bible stories, which are new to him.

We first talked about what a shepherd does...and he loved the idea of sheep walking together in huge groups.  Then I talked about Jesus being his shepherd, guiding him along in life.  Not sure how much of that (if any) he grasps, but it's my job to instill it in him now.  I love my job.

If you've read my blog (or know us well), you know Knox is OBSESSED with cars.  He has a real-life favorite, though.  Papi's truck.  It's a huge black truck, and he gets to push all of the buttons, honk the wheel and ride "un-tethered" in the back.  He loves it.  So, I printed a picture of a truck and let him color it with a black crayon.  While he colored, we discussed other black things--my car, the sky at night, black beans, etc.

Then, as part of the shepherd theme, we colored a sheep and then added his coat (cotton balls).  He did really well at this activity.  I would hand him a marker and tell him what to color.  Though not in the lines, he did it all perfectly!

To mix in the shape of the week, I printed off a rectangle and let him use the paints (his absolute favorite).  We started by letting him choose the color, and then decided to mix a bunch of colors in hopes of getting to black.  We got pretty close...

This week was a fun one, and I'm looking forward to week 2 (which I'll post on time!).

Christmas 2012

Christmas came and went, and then my birthday, the new year and family time...and I'm JUST now getting to the blog.  We had an amazing holiday season, and truly embraced all of the family time we were blessed to have.  It always goes by too quickly, but I think we did a good job of soaking it all in and enjoying the reason for the season.

Knox came down with croup the week before Christmas.  I haven't ever heard the croup cough, and hope I never have to again.  So sad.  Then he gave it to Stephen and I.  We were pretty under the weather the entire time we were in Austin, but we powered through and had an amazing trip.  

My mom catered to our travel plans, and we did Christmas the Sunday before the actual day.  All of the cousins had matching PJ's, and we opened all of our gifts while eating kolaches, donuts and breakfast casserole.  Then after I opened some moose mugs, we broke out the whiskey and egg nog.  Sheesh.

Things are always a bit hectic with 10 adults and 8 grandkids...but we manage!

Almost all of the cousins on the steps

The ladies

Knox and Aunt Hayley had a blast dancing before he had to go down for a nap.  Little did he know, he would wake up and be faced with this:

Yep.  We went to see Disney Live.  All of the cousins were in tow, and they loved it!

He had to go to the restroom halfway in, so Daddy took him.  Then he came back with a Woody toy.  He was really excited, then, when Woody actually came out!

He absolutely loved it.  His only complaint was that Pete didn't come.  Pretty cute!

On Monday morning we had breakfast and headed home.  We were excited to do Christmas morning at our house and start the traditions with him.  He gets it all this year, and it has been so fun experiencing it through his eyes. 

We started with a little cookie decorating.

His "snake" on the bottom turned out to be Santa's favorite.  He left a note letting him know!

And it was a good thing we put the mat down.  With all of the rain, Santa's boots were REALLY muddy!

Another tradition we decided to do was tie a string to his door running all the way to Santa's big gift.  "Santa" went a little overboard with the boy toys, but he specifically asked for a monster truck, so we tied it to that...

Pretty cute seeing his reaction the next morning!

He opened a few smaller gifts, and then found this box in the back.  Once he opened it and saw what it was, this was his reaction.  I think he was excited!

He's now figured out he came move it to other places in the house and jump off of things.  I thought it was an innocent trampoline, now I have a heart attack about 30 times a day.

After we had breakfast and had settled in to playing with our toys and watching the parade, it started snowing.

It started pretty light, but was steady.  By the time we went to bed, this was our backyard!

We had a great Christmas.  He loved all of his toys, loved learning about Jesus' birth, and loved getting to see all of his family!  We are so blessed, and in love with the life God has given us.

I pray each of you had a blessed holiday season as well.  We are so blessed by each of you...it was really hard to take all of these down!

But not all is sad...this is how Knox felt about his new tractor:

Have a Happy New Year!