Christmas 2008
Thank you for viewing our Christmas "card" for 2008!
Don't miss the outtakes.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Santa & A Christmas celebration
We visited with Santa at the annual Santa Breakfast.
William had lots to say to Santa. He asked for a vacuum and a lucky dog.
Zachary thought Santa was terrific. He also asked for a lucky dog.
With cousins after getting goodie bags from Santa.
We also celebrated the season with the animals at the zoo.
Reading about the Ravens
Waiting with Daddy to see the bears come out and get their Christmas gifts.
Cutie patootie
William had lots to say to Santa. He asked for a vacuum and a lucky dog.
Zachary thought Santa was terrific. He also asked for a lucky dog.
With cousins after getting goodie bags from Santa.
We also celebrated the season with the animals at the zoo.
Reading about the Ravens
Waiting with Daddy to see the bears come out and get their Christmas gifts.
Cutie patootie
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Phew.
3.5 months of neglected blogging caught up! In the coming weeks we will have breakfast with Santa, go to a few homeschool park days, play at a homeschool Christmas party, attend a Christmas party for the zoo animals, go to the Crocker art museum, celebrate Papa's birthday, go to Grandma Woohoo & Papa's for Christmas Eve, be visited by Santa, celebrate Zachary's 6th birthday and get ready to welcome 2009. Many more updates to come!
Video games and Reading?
I have to admit I am not a video game player. Nor am I am fan of video games being played in our home. BUT my husband loves video games and I love him so I tolerate it. Now our sons love video games too. We are very selective about what they are exposed to and they are only allowed to play Xbox360 or the NintendoDS on the weekends and for a limited time. I am usually involved in some other task while they play but this past weekend they asked me to play with them. Zachary and I played Beautiful Katamari.
Beautiful Katamari is a very strange game that includes a talking head with captions. I was amazed as Zachary read almost every word of the captions to me. In the span of a 10 minute game he read all of the following aloud:
ordinary
present
princedom
barely
worth
better
adding
explore
remember
yummy
should
orbit
alligator
earth
everything
delish
maybe
playful
satellite
shame
Satellite was the only word on the list that he needed help with and after seeing it a couple of times he recalled it when he saw it again. Ok, so maybe some learning or at least a demonstration of learning can happen with a video game.
Beautiful Katamari is a very strange game that includes a talking head with captions. I was amazed as Zachary read almost every word of the captions to me. In the span of a 10 minute game he read all of the following aloud:
ordinary
present
princedom
barely
worth
better
adding
explore
remember
yummy
should
orbit
alligator
earth
everything
delish
maybe
playful
satellite
shame
Satellite was the only word on the list that he needed help with and after seeing it a couple of times he recalled it when he saw it again. Ok, so maybe some learning or at least a demonstration of learning can happen with a video game.
Button snowmen
The boys created their own ideas of snowmen. I ordered a big bucket of buttons through Discount School Supply and the boys love to dig in and sort them, spill them (and then they need encouragement to clean them up) and use them for crafts. I have a very special jar of buttons that were formally the button box my mom had throughout my childhood. Lots of different beautiful buttons that I spent hours sorting and digging through. Those buttons are now just for show - not to be glued on a construction paper snowman so I love the boys having their own box of buttons to explore with.
Zachary's snowman is on the left with a carrot nose. William went button crazy!
Zachary's snowman is on the left with a carrot nose. William went button crazy!
November
We have been working on sorting, counting by twos, measurement and calendar skills.
William continues to work hard on his large motor skills. He is a champ at climbing, jumping (and freaking me out). At My Gym he kept climbing to the top of this ladder and jumping straight down!
He is also working on learning how to pump his legs on the swing.
It is amazing how different our boys are. Zachary has no interest in swings - occasionally he will swing on his belly but he doesn't want to sit on a swing at all but at almost 4 he was identifying letter sounds and William doesn't show much interest in letters at all. They are an excellent reminder to me of one of the many reasons why we homeschool. These beautiful, brilliant boys can learn at their own pace, their own style and learn about things that interest them. In a kindergarten classroom Zachary would be far beyond his peers with his reading skills but he does not do much paper/pencil math. In a preschool classroom William would be a mess if someone made him sit and do a penmanship worksheet but he can out climb kids a foot taller and a couple years older than he is. They are unique and amazing and we are so blessed to be able to encourage them to be who they are instead of fitting in to a standards based public classroom mold.
A pirate-princess-sushi birthday party!
Zachary practiced his reading skills with karaoke.
Zachary had his first dance with a girl he is not related to.
Carl took the whole week of Thanksgiving off and we had a lot of great family time.
At the park
I'm a little teapot.
Sweet boy.
Making wood chip cakes for sale.
Thanksgiving at Grandma and Papa's house.
We made turkey hand print place cards.
Great grandma gave the boys games. We love both of them. - How Tall Am I & Zingo
Grandma Woohoo continues the Thanksgiving tradition of warm fuzzy Christmas jammies after dinner. The Christmas season begins!
We spent the Saturday after Thanksgiving with Grandma Woohoo, Great Grandma McCrystal and Papa. The boys stayed and had tea parties and played Go Fish with the grandmas while Carl and I went to a movie. When we returned we all had dinner together and then spent hours visiting. We stayed until after 10pm! The boys rarely ever stay up that late but we were all enjoying each other's company so much we didn't want the night to end.
The boys reading together. Zachary has taken to shadow reading with William. He will read a sentence and then have William repeat it back. It is pretty darn cute.
William continues to work hard on his large motor skills. He is a champ at climbing, jumping (and freaking me out). At My Gym he kept climbing to the top of this ladder and jumping straight down!
He is also working on learning how to pump his legs on the swing.
It is amazing how different our boys are. Zachary has no interest in swings - occasionally he will swing on his belly but he doesn't want to sit on a swing at all but at almost 4 he was identifying letter sounds and William doesn't show much interest in letters at all. They are an excellent reminder to me of one of the many reasons why we homeschool. These beautiful, brilliant boys can learn at their own pace, their own style and learn about things that interest them. In a kindergarten classroom Zachary would be far beyond his peers with his reading skills but he does not do much paper/pencil math. In a preschool classroom William would be a mess if someone made him sit and do a penmanship worksheet but he can out climb kids a foot taller and a couple years older than he is. They are unique and amazing and we are so blessed to be able to encourage them to be who they are instead of fitting in to a standards based public classroom mold.
A pirate-princess-sushi birthday party!
Zachary practiced his reading skills with karaoke.
Zachary had his first dance with a girl he is not related to.
Carl took the whole week of Thanksgiving off and we had a lot of great family time.
At the park
I'm a little teapot.
Sweet boy.
Making wood chip cakes for sale.
Thanksgiving at Grandma and Papa's house.
We made turkey hand print place cards.
Great grandma gave the boys games. We love both of them. - How Tall Am I & Zingo
Grandma Woohoo continues the Thanksgiving tradition of warm fuzzy Christmas jammies after dinner. The Christmas season begins!
We spent the Saturday after Thanksgiving with Grandma Woohoo, Great Grandma McCrystal and Papa. The boys stayed and had tea parties and played Go Fish with the grandmas while Carl and I went to a movie. When we returned we all had dinner together and then spent hours visiting. We stayed until after 10pm! The boys rarely ever stay up that late but we were all enjoying each other's company so much we didn't want the night to end.
The boys reading together. Zachary has taken to shadow reading with William. He will read a sentence and then have William repeat it back. It is pretty darn cute.
October was busy... it continues...
Our annual trip to Zittel's for pumpkins. Our family rule is you can pick any pumpkin you can lift in to your wagon, pull around the grounds and then get in and out of the car. If it is too heavy it is not the right pumpkin for you.
Zachary aimed big this year.
William's pumpkin was a good size... his attitude was huge though.
At the park.
Head over heals
A few hours later.
Zachary finally got his wish of a "daddy haircut". Yikes. William has been told he has to wait until he is almost 6 to even discuss it. I did trim William's hair a bit. Zachary wasn't too sure of the haircut and he wants it to grow long again.
Zip lining at our homeschool group Halloween party
My pumpkins and their pumpkins.
We took pumpkin roll ups for lunch for our Halloween party potluck and William wanted them for lunch again the next day (on Halloween).
Zachary aimed big this year.
William's pumpkin was a good size... his attitude was huge though.
At the park.
Head over heals
A few hours later.
Zachary finally got his wish of a "daddy haircut". Yikes. William has been told he has to wait until he is almost 6 to even discuss it. I did trim William's hair a bit. Zachary wasn't too sure of the haircut and he wants it to grow long again.
Zip lining at our homeschool group Halloween party
My pumpkins and their pumpkins.
We took pumpkin roll ups for lunch for our Halloween party potluck and William wanted them for lunch again the next day (on Halloween).
October continues...
We had a great field trip to Jack London Square/the Port of Oakland. We rode Amtrak to Jack London Square. The 2 hour train ride was great. Our homeschool group had the entire top floor of one train car. The kids had room to roam and play and there were plenty of sights to see as we traveled.
William was THRILLED to be on a big train.
Having friends to play with made the trip fly by.
The boat was really, really crowded. We were not quite at the end of the line in this picture. The covered dock was solid people and it wrapped around a corner until it got to us... it was actually sort of miserably over-crowded. I guess that is what you get for free!
William and his friend Ella at the waterside waiting for the boat.
We couldn't hear most/any of the tour guide information as we toured the Port of Oakland but the kids enjoyed looking out the window at the container ships and giant cranes at work.
Part of our group when we arrived back in Sacramento after a long day.
A day in Davis.
First we visited the Davis History Museum.
Then the Davis Farmers Market's harvest festival.
Petting piglets
Watching cockroach races!
Our annual trick-or-treating on Historic Sutter Street.
Our little rock star - complete with attitude.
The Magic School Bus.
We managed to spend just $7 on both costumes combined - a can of yellow spray paint and iron-on transfer papers! A great reduce-reuse-recycle Halloween!
William was THRILLED to be on a big train.
Having friends to play with made the trip fly by.
The boat was really, really crowded. We were not quite at the end of the line in this picture. The covered dock was solid people and it wrapped around a corner until it got to us... it was actually sort of miserably over-crowded. I guess that is what you get for free!
William and his friend Ella at the waterside waiting for the boat.
We couldn't hear most/any of the tour guide information as we toured the Port of Oakland but the kids enjoyed looking out the window at the container ships and giant cranes at work.
Part of our group when we arrived back in Sacramento after a long day.
A day in Davis.
First we visited the Davis History Museum.
Then the Davis Farmers Market's harvest festival.
Petting piglets
Watching cockroach races!
Our annual trick-or-treating on Historic Sutter Street.
Our little rock star - complete with attitude.
The Magic School Bus.
We managed to spend just $7 on both costumes combined - a can of yellow spray paint and iron-on transfer papers! A great reduce-reuse-recycle Halloween!
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