week 2 book

This weeks book is Froggy Goes to School by Jonathan London.  Today I wanted to focus on getting some energy out.  The Princess' and I first gathered in a circle to read the book.  In the book Froggy gets to tell about his summer.  Princess V wanted to tell me about her summer so we did that as well.  According to Princess V she went to Aunt A's who got her a snake, a toy snake.

Froggy's family leapfrogs to the bus stop, so I used this for our exercise.  The Princess' learned how to play leapfrog today.  Princess C didn't get the concept of leaping over each other, but she sure enjoyed leaping around the room.  Princess V thought it was so cool.  Unfortunately mommy is a little too big to leap over, and we ended up dog piling. Princess C did enjoy that aspect of it. 

Each week we will have a word that I want Princess V to learn to write and read.  This week is the word Frog.  We sat by our chalkboard and spelled it out together as we listened to the sounds, and found the letters. 

The Princess' seem to have forgotten some of the letters, so they are now ending their lesson today watching The Talking Words Factory.

Week 1 Book

This week we have been reading and learning with "Off to School, Baby Duck" by Amy Hest.  We've read through it a couple times.  Each time talking a little about a different aspect in the book.  Yesterday, we had a sorting activity.  Baby Duck has some important stuff in her backpack.  So we created our own backpack with the same things Baby Duck had.  Then I let Princess V and Princess C each take turns pulling an item out and sorting them. 

After we did that, Princess V wanted to color our sorting papers.  We had one that looked like a note pad and one that looked like an open book.  She started with the book.  On one page she drew a picture of Princess R.  On the other side, she made little scribble lines to tell the story.  I asked her what her story was about and this is what she said

"It's about R_ and my love.  This is my love, and this is my throat"  She then put her hands over her heart and then pointed to her throat.  So I asked her if it was a story about her love for her sister. "Yes! This is my love and this is R_".  What a wonderful big sister!

Today we will be discussing how differnt things can make us feel.

Family Night

We are home!  The girls are thoroughly enjoying our new apartment, and I feel like we're finally getting settled. 
When daddy got home from work last night, we decided we'd go swimming (one of the many cool amenities here).  So we got ready and took off.  I was a little worried with having 3 kids and only 2 adults, but Princess V and C did really good.  They listened and obeyed us the whole time.  Princess R enjoyed hanging out on a towel in the shade. 
Princess V mostly enjoyed sitting on the side kicking her feet and only occasionally getting fully wet.  Each time with a strong grip on me or daddy.
Princess C had a blast swimming all over the pool (with a hand on me or daddy as well).  She is very adventurous!  She got a mouthfull of water a couple times.
Princess R got wet too.  She didn't like the initial jolt of cold water, but once in and moving around all she had were smiles. 
I think we'll definitely be doing swimming lessons next summer.

Sail Boats and Raspberries

Last night the Princess' just wanted to go home.  We've beens staying at Nana's and Opah's for the past 2 weeks, and still have one more week to go.  So last night I promised the Princess' a fun fun day!  First thing this morning, I just let them run around doing whatever they wanted.  Then when Princess R took her nap we watched    .  We then continued watching some cartoons until Princess R woke up.  After she woke up we had craft time, making little sailboats.  They started by painting some paper plates.  Then we glued sails onto popsicle sticks and stuck them into the paper plates.  The plates were soon gone, and they had flags instead.  

After running around with the flags for awhile we headed out to the playground where we swung to our hearts content and then picked Nana's raspberries.  Which was followed by a raspberry eating fest.  Tonight we plan on watching another movie (probably ), and eating popcorn in these cool containers we found in Nana's kitchen.  

Clown College

The Princesses had a lot of fun in clown college yesterday.  We started with juggling class.  Princess C decided she'd much rather throw the beads instead though (what a clown!).  Princess V practiced hard though until she got really good with one bead.  

Later we had tightrope walking class.

Lastly we ended the day walking on a ball.  I held the girls up, and just using a regular kick ball helped the girls find balance and use their feet to move the ball around.  It was lots of fun and laughter.

Princess V also came up with her own clown name - Tutu the clown.

National Clown Week

Today we had a history lesson.  The first week in August has been set aside as National Clown Week.  Unlike many other "National" holidays, this one came with a presidential proclamation.  In 1971 Richard Nixon decided to set aside this week to celebrate Clowns.  He felt that clowns who went to visit the sick and mentally disabled needed a little more appreciation.  You can read his PROCLAMTION HERE.  

After talking about clowns I thought it would be a good idea to show the girls what clowns looked like.  So we googled images of HAPPY CLOWNS (to avoid the scary ones).  Princess V enjoyed scrolling through and finding the clowns she liked.

Here's a run down of our schedule this week, if anyone would like to celebrate with us - 

Tuesday - Clown College.  Learning juggling, gymnastics, miming, falling down without getting hurt, and possibly pie throwing.

Wednesday - pick clown names, more clown college

Thursday - clown eggs.  We'll be decorating eggs to look like clowns

Friday - Clown Makeup/face painting.