Thank you letters

Today, was the day for writing thank you letters to those who gave Jed and Joshua Christmas presents. They each had 4 letters to write. Neither of them are very fond of writing and so this was really a chore for them. But after much encouragement, they were done.

After all that writing, they needed some rest and relaxation. That was done by eating an apple while reading. What else ?

Piano Ninja

Today was spent doing some quiet things. It was very cold today -40 C with wind chill and so we were mainly inside today. The boys, however, went to church in shorts today and were barefoot and so Pastor Angie said that whenever she looks at Jed and Joshua, she thinks of summer.

The boys practiced piano today and Jed said that he was the Piano Ninja. He wore his ninja hat and introduced himself before each piece, by waving his sword around. He really is an entertainer.

The boys still are enjoying Ninjago and so this is how I found them in the basement playing Ninjago.

Google was lucky to go out for a walk despite the -40C temperature. She was glad to see her best friend Sally and her most favourite person, Zora.

Quiet Saturday

It was a quiet day today. The boys played, Darryl took hockey photos and I made rusks and tea biscuits. The boys have been reading Garfield comic books and they have some favourite scenes. Today they acted out a few of the scenes.

Garfield skit from Heather Hansen on Vimeo.

In the afternoon, we went to the Bold Centre to play and workout. We all had a good time. Jed and Josh love to play a bouncing ball game. They try and see how many times they can go under the ball before it touches them.

Darryl lay with Joshua before he went to sleep. As Darryl moved out of the bed, Joshua said; "Thanks for warming a spot for me, dad." After that he fell asleep almost immediately.

Snowy Owl & Peregrine falcon sighting !!

Still in Edmonton, for our 3 day mini adventure. Today is the day to visit the zoo. After a quick breakfast at Mc Donalds we head out to the zoo. The day is cold and it is forecast to get colder. We are not quite sure how this visit to the zoo will turn out. Still not sure, when we arrive and there are only a few cars in the parking lot. Despite our reservations of this visit, we were delighted with how things turned out. Jed was especially delighted because he finally got to see a Snowy Owl and Joshua saw his favourite bird, a Peregrine Falcon.

We spent lots of time visitng the Birds of Prey but also were able to see some reptiles - a favourite was the Poison Arrow Frog. Some nocturnal animals: a sloth, armadillo, kinkajou, prehensile tail porcupine and a bat. We saw Lucy the elephant going for a walk.

We also visited the polar extremes exhibition. There we were entertained by some seals who would come up the viewing window and "growl" at us. Then they would look at us with one eye right up beside the glass. They really were quite cute !! The boys were certain that they thought that the candy sticks that they were eating were fish !!

Fun in the city

We stayed overnight in Edmonton last night. We woke up early and Darryl took his truck to Cap-It to have a tonneau cover and a spray-in box-liner installed. We went to Smitty's for breakfast. The boys ordered French Toast for breakfast. Jed quoted Snoopy when he said "Rats, I hate it when it snows on my french toast." Unfortunately, their French toast did not get powdered sugar on it and so they asked the waitress to bring them some !! While waiting for the vehicle, we walked to Walmart and did some shopping. Also went to Bulk Barn where we bought false teeth candy and old fashioned candy sticks. At an Optometrist, both Jed and Josh, had their photos taken with Willie of Duck Dynasty !!

In the afternoon, we swam some more at the hotel's waterpark. The boys loved the slide and the hot-tub !! After picking up the truck we went to Chapters to browse. Jed and Joshua, found the Lego Ninjago items and studied the boxes instead of picking up any books to read.

Undecided about where to eat. Eventually, we picked the Olive Garden for their soup and salad combo. Both Jed and Joshua enjoyed the meal so much that they stated that they thought that their meal was "the best ever". Now we have a new favourite restaurant !!

More swimming in the evening to round off a lovely day !!

A New Year - 2014

Lots of excitement in our house last night and this morning. We were all very excited for the New Year and had a lovely dinner of the boy's favourite meal: Meatballs and Spaghetti. Wineglasses were filled with Mango Juice and we toasted to the New Year. Jed likes to make sure that we all clink our glasses simultaneously and to say "Cheers !" in unison. After that we all had a turn to speak about something we learned in 2013 and something that we want to learn in 2014. Joshua made us all laugh by saying: " In 2014, I'd like to learn to use my mom's credit card !"

In the morning, we made Oatmeal pancakes as a treat. Jed was in charge of measuring the "Buttermilk". I usually just add milk and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice as a substitute.  The recipe called for 2 cups of buttermilk. Jed subsequently made the buttermilk by using 1 cup of milk and 1 cup of lemon juice. He only told me about this when we sat down to our breakfast and the pancakes had a distinctive lemon flavour !!!

In the afternoon, we drove to Edmonton as Darryl's new truck had to go in to have some accessories added. We stayed in the Travelodge in West Edmonton and the boys had so much fun going down the l-o-n-g slide at the waterpark !!

Knights

During the past 2 weeks we have been exploring the world of knights. We have loved it !! We used the following few books to base our explorations on:

  

In the Castle - Anna Milbourne

This book follows a young boy who longs to be a knight and live in a castle.

The Bravest Knight - Mercer Meyer

A young boy who wished that he lived a thousand years ago and was a squire serving the bravest knight in the kingdom. He rescues fair ladies, fights evil dragons and has a face-off with a giant troll. 

The Knight and the Dragon - Tomie de Paola

A delightful story about a bumbling knight and a clumsy  dragon who research how to fight each other. In the midst of their dual they discover an exciting opportunity in which they can partner together.

The sword in the stone

This book follows young Wart's adventures as Merlin guides him to not only be brave but to "think" too.

A Year in a Castle - Rachel Coombs

This is a story about a year in the castle. All the pictures have a cut-away view of the castle and you can see what happens in the castle throughout the months of the year. On each page there are the same characters and it is fun to spot them. The most noted in our experience were the thief, the prisoner and the cat and dog.

Some of the things that we did included the following:

• Doing mazes from Busy Bee Kids Printables. The knight had to find his way through the maze to reach the dragon and the princess locked in the tower. We printed the maze and put it in a plastic file-folder and used a dry-erase marker. This meant that the knight could go on his quest daily.

• We printed the "Knights and Castles" preschool pack from Homeschool Creations. These printables included included:
• tracing
• identifying initial sounds
• matching rhyming words,
• reading a short story
• matching words with pictures
• making popsicle stick puppets of knights, a princess in a tower and a horse
• coloring shields
• basic counting

Joshua identifying the initial sounds of words

Matching vocabulary pictures

Doing a counting activity

Jed doing a pre-writing activity

Making popsicle stick puppets

• Going on a quest to find a treat. I wrote down ten clues for the boys to follow which led them through a search of the house until they found a treat for for knights - some frozen juice popsicles. Some examples of the clues were as follows:
• Look in the bathtub and find a treasure chest.
• Take 2 of the golden coins from the treasure and give to the monkey in the shower.
• Look in the fridge for the magical ketchup for your next clue.
• Rescue the princess from the top of the fridge for your next clue.

Joshua all ready for his quest

The clues for the quest

 

Looking in the fridge for the magical ketchup

Heading upstairs for their last clue.

• Making a catapult from Busy Bee Kids Crafts. You just needed popsicle sticks, 2 pegs, an elastic and a plastic spoon. It was fun and easy to make. The kids enjoyed shooting pom-poms and dried beans.

 

• Making a castle from a cardboard box, with a drawbridge.

• Making knight helmets from Play at Powerhouse. It took a lot of cutting - first the template then the helmet, but it was worth it.

Joshua with his knight helmet

• Using knight activities from Homeschool Share. We did not make lap books from the materials but put magnets at the back of labels for armor and the time-line of knights so that the activity could be done again and again. Jed especially loved doing this.

   

• Movie night !! We watched Disney's Sword in the Stone and ate popcorn. 

Websites for more ideas include:

Owl and Mouse - Shields, Knights and Heraldry

A book in time - crafts

Busy Bee Printables - crafts, dominoes, chore charts