School with Makenna and Max

So Makenna hasn’t had preschool for two weeks due to the holidays. But the company we order the preschool stuff from sends stuff for the entire month, despite the holidays.  So I decided to use the supplies they sent and have school with just Makenna and Max!

Our unit was called “Cozy Quilts” and we talked a lot about different types of quilts.

Our biggest project this week was making our quilt books.  The kids used squares to make different quilt designs.  They also had to cut the squares to make triangles for the quilt.  Makenna LOVED doing this and finished each and every page of the quilt book by herself (I’m thinking she is going to LOVE scrapbooking one day!). Max wanted me to help him, and still only completed a few pages.

  

Other things we did:

Glued q-tips on our Q:

 

Can you see the error here? I didn’t even notice that Max was gluing on a lowercase “p” rather than a lowercase “q”—it was turned the wrong way! Oops!

 

Made our own quilt pattern (Max wouldn’t do this one):

Decorated name tags and practiced writing our name:

Practiced making a “5” by putting 5 stickers on it and then tracing it 5 times:

    

Used “markers” to decorate a “m”:

We did quite a few other pages, but that’s all I took pictures of! Luckily, “real” school starts back next week! : )

Christmas from Grandmom, Granddad, and Family

On Thursday, we received our Christmas package from Grandmom, Granddad, Hollee, Gordon, and Logan (my parents and siblings-still-at-home). The kids were excited to get to open presents again!

Makenna’s present from Gordon and Logan (dishes for her kitchen and magnetic dolls with clothes):

   

Max’s presents from Gordon and Logan (I don’t know what any of these things are called! But let’s see if I can describe them: little cars that are both flashlights and rings, a little gun that shoots off little flying disks, and cars that you put against a little button and they zoom across the floor… Can you tell I don’t know much about little boy toys, ha ha?):

Makenna’s gift from Aunt Hollee (a Princess/Fairy Barbie doll):

Max’s present from Aunt Hollee (Superman dress-up outfit):

Makenna’s present from Grandom and Granddad (a doctor Ken, doctor Barbie, and baby Barbie—they also made the doll house and furniture for her so she got a BIG Christmas from them this year!):

  

“Look Mom! She has a baby!”

 

“Ken is a doctor like Daddy! He has on a white coat like Daddy’s!”

     

Max’s gift from Grandmom and Granddad (a car that transforms into a man—haha, I think that would be called a “transformer”):

Can I tell you something about these transformers? They come with a HUGE instruction page for transforming them! I couldn’t figure out how to do it so Austin had to do it when he got home—and it still took him thirty minutes to do it even with the instructions! How do they expect kids to transform these when it’s so hard?!?

Anyway, the kids also got a bag of stocking stuffers and we all got scarves and hats my mom made for us (Max has his hat on in all of the pictures).  Then I got a steam mop and thermals, and Austin got a new dress shirt and tie and thermals. 

Thanks so much to my family for the Christmas presents! The kids have been having dance parties at night with the little flashlight cars (they turn off the light, turn on their play CD player, and turn on the flashlights and dance around with them.  Kind of hilarious!) and playing with their toys like crazy.  And my floors have never been cleaner! ; )

Okay, I have to add one more side note.  So my parents also bought my sister a steam mop for Christmas.  But then, for the same price, they found a keyboard for her.  Kim is a great piano player and has always wanted a keyboard.  So my parents bought both and let her choose which one she wanted—keyboard or mop.  She chose the keyboard and said, “Who in the world would choose a MOP over a KEYBOARD?!?” So my mom, who had already given me my mop, called me and asked me and I said OF COURSE I wanted the mop! Ha ha, so my sister and I are obviously VERY different when it comes to buying gifts for! It makes me sound like a nerd, but I LOVE my steam mop! It is so much easier to clean my floors and they look great—and we all know how important a clean house is for me, ha ha! : )

Christmas Odds and Ends

I have posted MANY Christmas blog posts today and I only have one left to go! I will post pictures of gifts from Grandmom and Granddad… when their package actually gets here! ; ) But, as a little round-up of Christmas, I thought I would post some remaining pictures of a few of our Christmas activities from this year!

One night, after the kids were dressed in their pjs, we drove around to see some Christmas lights.  This is always so much fun for the kids!

  

Another fun thing was our “Countdown to Christmas” that we got from preschool.  The kids loved putting stickers on their Christmas tree each day until Christmas Eve!

We also did a fun Advent Calendar from Grandma Becky.  All month long, the kids would ask to get to “pick the number” and see which story or treat they would have that day!

Our last day had cute jingle bell ornaments in it.  The kids really loved singing and playing with their jingle bells before they put them on the tree!

On Christmas Eve this year, we had an awesome “family dinner” with different families in our ward.  It ended up being pretty nuts because the flu is going around here like crazy right now (we all had it last week).  The family that was going to host the get-together (along with a couple of other families that were planning on attending) ended up getting the flu that day.  So big thanks to the John’s for jumping in last minute to host the dinner!

   

The dinner was a big potluck with five or six families.  We had yummy food and spent a couple of hours chatting (the adults) and playing (all the kids).  It was really a fun time.  I’m so thankful that we already have such great friends here in Michigan!

And there you go! Just a few Christmas odds and ends!

Christmas from Grandma Becky

On Christmas morning, the kids open all of their presents from Santa.  To keep the presents from being overwhelming, and to allow the kids to recognize who their presents are actually from, on Christmas Eve we usually open presents from “everybody else.” This year the kids were excited to open up all of their awesome gifts from Grandma Becky.

Grandma Becky, because you didn’t see the kids opening the gifts, here are ALL of the pictures of them opening things from you. There are a LOT of pictures here! : )

Max opened the first gift, which was a set of games:

 

Makenna opened the next gift, puzzle books:

Then we had to stop and play a game. : ) This game matched letters to pictures. Max would find the picture, and then Makenna would find it’s matching letter. It worked out perfectly!

Now back to opening presents! : )

Max’s first present just-for-him was two cute outfits.  Unfortunately, he opened the box, looked at the clothes for a second and then threw them to the side.  Ha ha, he is all boy and just not too into clothes!

Makenna’s first gift-just-for-her was an ADORABLE Hello Kitty purse filled with chapstick, lotion, and a notebook.

Oh, I almost forgot! The purse also had a box of earrings in it.  Makenna was THRILLED with her new earrings!

Max’s next gift held three books.  The books were neat because they had moveable-googly eyes!

Then both kids opened their ornaments—a gingerbread girl for Makenna and a gingerbread boy for Max:

Next Makenna opened a present with a Dora the Explorer doll in it.

Max’s next gift was a set with a car loaded on a big truck.  The present also included his own chapstick and lotion:

Makenna then opened some new books:

And Max opened up a fishtank lamp.

Makenna had a MUCH different reaction when she opened up her box of clothes! She was so excited about them! : )

Their last gift was a bag with pjs, a matching blanket, and some new gloves and a hat.

 

I take that back—they actually opened up one last present.  It was another present to both of them—a memory match game.

The kids were thrilled with their gifts and played with them all day Christmas Eve.

Austin and I opened up our presents from Becky today, on Christmas Day but we didn’t take any pictures of ourselves. : )

I am LOVING our new family blocks:

 

And the Nativity Willow Tree is going to be left up year-round, not just for Christmas!

My fireplace mantel looks awfully snazzy with our new gifts on it!

Thank you for all of the Christmas presents, Grandma Becky! They are absolutely perfect and we love them all!!! We were definitely spoiled this year!