Dan's birthday and playing with baking soda

The boys were so excited about Dan's birthday. The loved the iced brownie (although very uncreative!).
The other day, I put some baking soda in a cookie sheet. The idea was that the boys would practice writing letters, etc. Isaiah wrote a letter or two, but they seemed happier just to play in it. Sam was hiding pennies and then finding them again. Isaiah was using the basting brush and making designs. It didn't quite serve the purpose I thought it would, but kids are very tactile, so it seemed to give them an outlet to experiment with a powder.

Liquids

Another fun idea from Family Fun magazine to experiment with liquids:

The boys mixed several drops of green food coloring with corn syrup in the bottom of a clear glass.
Then they mixed blue food coloring with water in a separate glass and dumped the water slowly on top of the corn syrup.

Last we poured vegetable oil on top.

They dropped various objects to see which layer they stayed in. We used a plastic bottle cap, paper clip, penny, and a marble.

They were interested and amazed at how the objects acted in each liquid. I held off on teaching the word viscosity. Maybe in a few years. =)

Popcorn words and Counting game

Several months ago, I wrote some sight words on little popcorn shaped pieces of construction paper. We've been gradually adding words and now use those words to make sentences. Isaiah has to memorize verses for Awana, so we've been adding those words too. I'll put all the words of the verse in front of him, then take words away until he has the verse memorized. Sam is usually content to color while Isaiah does his school work. He also has Sesame Street flash cards that he likes to use.

I think I got this idea from Family Fun magazine. First Isaiah numbered paper plates from 1-10. Sam helped with #7, as you can see.

Then he had to place the correct number of items on each plate. He could use anything he wanted. He had a lot of fun!

Rain gutter bookshelves

Problem: So many books to read, and limited space in the living room. We end up with books (ours and the library's) stacked on the end of the couch. During our afternoon book time, the boys have to spread the books all over the living room floor to see the covers. We usually read for 45 minutes to an hour, so the boys need a lot of books to choose from.

Solution: I saw this practical and space-saving book display idea on one of my favorite blogs, raisingolives.com. Made from vinyl rain gutters, they are easily built in about an hour. If you're interested in making your own, you can find the tutorial here. Here's how ours turned out:

Kid adventures

The boys have had so much fun playing with these two sweet darlings... Bundling up on a cool day to go outside and play

Enjoying lunch outside

And working on a fall collageIn August we visited some close friends from college. We have seven kids between us, and they had a great time playing together. So many things wrong with the above picture!!

The boys wrestling aroundThe girls and our kids... minus the two babies who were napping

Spiky-haired Sam after his bath