Preschool Week 15 (January 18-23)

Our theme this week was Building.

• We continued talking about honesty and its companion trait Trust which is “Being confident that God knows everything and will take care of me.”
• We also talked about how being honest helps other people learn to trust us.
• We learned Proverbs 3:5 “Trust in the Lord with all our heart and lean not on your own understanding.”

Our book list included:

• Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel, by Virginia Lee Burton – Mike Mulligan always claimed that his steam shovel, MaryAnn, could dig more in one day than 100 men could in a week, but he was never really sure. But as steam shovels are pushed aside by gas, diesel and electric versions, they have a chance to prove themselves by digging the cellar of the new town hall in Popperville. Always a favorite in this house.
• The Toolbox, by Anne Rockwell -- a simple story about a boy going through his dad or grandpa’s toolbox.  This book inspired Ronnie to get out his plane and show Travis how to use it on a piece of wood.  Travis was fascinated by the curls of wood shavings he made.  They also used Ronnie’s new hole saw to practice making holes in wood, in preparation for making holes in the bird house they’ve been working on.
• What Do People Do All Day?, by Richard Scarry – a good book by a classic author about what people in different careers do all day. A reviewer on Amazon alerted me to the fact that the more recent abridged version left out several professions – including the stay-at-home mom. So, I made sure I ordered the older version. A favorite for all of us!
• Building a House, by Byron Barton – describes how a house is built with simple words and pictures. We even used it as a model for building our own houses out of blocks and Legos.
• Up Goes the Skyscraper, by Gail Gibbons – describes how a skyscraper is built. Even I learned some new things. This book was also used as an “instruction book” for building a Lego skyscraper. Also raised (no pun intended) awareness of skyscrapers as we drove through downtown Houston the next week.

Activities this week:

On Monday we had a “play date” with the Youngs from church.  I like the way another friend defined “play date”: the kids play and the moms try to visit.  Emphasis on “try”.

Andrea and her four children came to our house and we played inside, then outside, then had a nice picnic outside too.

 

Travis and Daniel played “boat” and enjoyed trying to keep the girls out….

 

Baby Josiah entertained himself inside… (Travis brought out the box of baby toys I had put in the new baby’s crib.) 

Heather and Emma ate their lunch on the picnic blanket…

Anna watches the boys in the “boat”…

Jeffrey seems to be saying “Stop all that racket!!”

Later in the week, we ran errands (it was one way – or maybe the only way – for me to stay awake that day).  This included a trip to Hobby Lobby where I found an unfinished stool that I thought would work well for the kids’ bathroom (to replace an ugly old plastic stool we had).  I stained it to match the dresser in Jeffrey’s room and the wooden letters I have in the bathroom over each child’s towel hook.

While we were at Hobby Lobby, Travis saw a wooden “flower” hook and wanted to get it.  I wondered what I was going to do with it, but it was only $2 so I said OK.  Then I decided I could paint it to match the shelf I had already painted for the kids’ bathroom and use it to hang up the plastic trash bag holder my mom had made out of the sleeve of one of Ronnie’s favorite old shirts.

 

We also found some large calculators at Hobby Lobby.  I let each child pick out his/her own color so they would each have their own calculator – and not steal or fight over mine.  Figured it would also give them some continuing practice on numbers and counting and math that we talked about in a previous week.

On Thursday, Ronnie had an awards banquet at work – a group project that was voted “Best New Technology.” 

Mr. & Mrs. Peterson from church came over to have supper with the kids and play with them and put them to bed while Ronnie & I went out to the banquet.  We had a great time; and it sounds like they did too.  According to Pony (Mrs. Peterson), they even all went to bed without a fuss.  That’s better than they did one time when they stayed at Granny’s house. 

On the way home from the dinner, I finished the baby blanket I’ve been working on for the new baby.  The next morning, I heard Travis and Heather singing the ABC song – they were checking to make sure I got all the letters in the right order….

 

On Friday, I was really sleepy again, so we went shopping again. (I told Ronnie he better start making sure I get more sleep or I might end up spending more money.)  We found some warm, fuzzy footed pajamas for Travis and Jeffrey as well as some clothes for cousin Nathan’s first birthday.

Also, I picked up some curtains I had ordered, to finish off the curtains in my bedroom.

Another project I finished was the curtain in the sidelight by the front door (to keep people from seeing in too clearly while still allowing light in.   The window is really narrow – too narrow for any store-bought curtain rods, so Ronnie creatively made some for me.  Then  I modified a sheer curtain to fit.

On Saturday, we made a family trip to the grocery store.  I was glad Ronnie and Travis were along – they were a big help getting things off the (bottom) shelves for me and putting them in the cart.