Happy Homes

To continue with the letter H, yesterday and today we are talking about having a Happy Home.  I cut some shapes out and then let the Princess' create some homes with a little glue.  They had lots of fun making their own happy homes

We tried having story time yesterday, but Princess R was a bit too distracting to the other two with all her giggles.  So this morning during Princess R's nap time we read our H book

They had lots of fun finding the H's on the cover and watching Hermit Crab makes his home beautiful.  We're going to spend the rest of the day trying to make our home beautiful.

Oh and when asked, Princess V says to have a Happy Home we have to be kind to everyone.  It's little comments like that that tell me I'm doing a good job as a mom.

Princess R

I can't believe she is 9 months already!!! Where did the time go?  Wasn't I just pregnant?  (ok that one actually seems ages ago).  Princess R is a gem.  She is starting to cruise herself around the house, and she sure would love to just run without holding onto things.  She loves her yogurt bites, gerber puffs, and anything else she can possibly stick in her mouth (like crayons, or dropped play doh).  I love how she sticks her tongue out no matter what she is doing.  Her giggles make me so happy.  Just today as we were trying to have story time she started tackling her sisters and laughing infectiously.  Now that Princess V and Princess C are both in dance, I get 45 minutes of special time to hang with Princess R.  We sure have lots of fun.  Usually taking books back to the library, but sometimes just hanging in the car waiting for the other girls.

Helping Hands

We're working on the letter H this week.  We talked about our health again, and looked at a food pyramid.  Next time we go grocery  shopping I'm going to let the Princess' each pick an item for each part of the pyramid.

Today however, we talked about our hands and the things they can do, like help others.

We traced our hands, and then they drew pictures on the back

and then they made up a song about their hands blinking while showing me their helping hands.

To encourage them to always have helping hands, I gave them each a jar.  As I watch them helping me and each other, I give them a coin for their jar.  Tonight they will get to choose to use the coins for M&M's or to go to the store for a treat.  They are having a lot of fun with this.  Princess C even took Princess V's cup to the sink without me asking.  

The letter G

We didn't do a whole lot with the letter G.  For some reason (maybe it's this headcold), I've been a little uncreative this week.  We talked about grandparents one day, made a list of words that start with G - good, girl, game, goose, give, goat, ghosts.  None of those seemed to spark anything over here though.  

I knew yesterday I needed to do something, anything to keep the Princess' up with their learning, and for me to not fall into a rut.  This is what I came up with - 

Princess V working on cutting skills

She was supposed to be cutting out pictures of green things, but she just liked cutting everything.

Princess C identifying the color Green

She really had fun going through the magazines with me and spotting things colored green.  Then we glued them onto green paper, and of course hung it on the fridge.

Hold to the Rod

Monday night is FHE (family home evening).  With the Princess' getting older, I am becoming much more diligent in holding FHE here.  I was so very excited when a friend pointed me to a site where some ladies created a years (yes one FULL YEAR) worth of FHE's based on the primary's theme for the year. You can find the lessons HERE.  We've been having lots of fun learning about the scriptures and being able to coincide it with what the girls learn at church. Tonight though I think has been my favorite of all.

We began by singing The Iron Rod.  Then we read 1 Nephi 15:24.  We followed it up with a great object lesson. We blindfolded Princess V, had Princess C stand on the other side of the room with a picture of Christ and then told Princess V to find the picture of Christ.  She stood there, and told us she couldn't (she's so smart!).  So then Daddy and I held a rope (Iron Rod), and had her grab a hold to it and follow it to Christ.  We then switched rolls and blindfolded Princess C.  She actually tried finding the picture without holding to the rod, but we quickly helped her to grab on (just before clotheslining herself).

We ended our night singing Jesus Wants me for a Sunbeam, eating brownies, and playing a game of Dr Seuss Matching. 

Princess C the dancer

Sorry for the poor quality, but our camera is out of commission for a bit.  For Christmas, Princess C received dance lessons.  She has been so excited to start going to dance with big sister Princess V.  Here she is all dressed and ready to start dancing.  She's had two lessons so far, and I can already tell a difference in her behavior.  Her teacher has asked that I work on "not running" when she gets to dance.  I guess all the other kids follow her when she starts running around.  She is learning and having fun.

In her own words "Mom, I love dancing".

F is for Fun and Family

Monday we started our unit on the letter F.  I thought a good way to kick the Monday blahs was to just have some Fun!  So that's just what we did, had lots of F-U-N!  We even made up a little cheer to learn how to spell fun.
Tuesday we focused on Family.  Although we live near some family, a lot of our family is spread out across the country (and the world!).  We kept it fairly simple, just learning the different names of family members - brother, sister, mother, father, aunt, uncle, grandma, grandpa, cousin.  Then we looked at a picture of me and my siblings as kids to illustrate the brother sister relation.

and of course we couldn't look at this picture, and not take one of our own!

Tea Party!

Seriously, with 3 little princess' did you really think we weren't going to have a tea party?  This is just our first of many!

Being that this week we were learning about the letter E, I thought, Hey let's have an etiquette lesson.  Fun and full of learning.  We called each other Miss V, Miss C, and Miss Mommy (although Miss C dubbed me Miss Silly).  We worked on our please, thank you, and your welcomes.  Asking politely and saying excuse me.  Seeing the appropriate way to set a table, and putting our napkins in our laps.  Miss V did wonderful and really worked hard on her etiquette.  Miss C has perfected the art of napkin holding and face cleaning, but needs work in the other areas.

CTR - Choose the Right

I can't believe it!!!  Princess V is a CTR!  I mean I knew the day was coming, but somehow we didn't even think about it.  So when she came out of primary today sporting a huge smile and CTR ring ("just like yours mommy!").  It caught me by surprise.  The last week or so, she's been easily upset, crying and just kind of sad a lot.  Ever since church today though, she has been back to her happy, cooperative and nice self.  I love this girl!

Princess C is still in nursery since she turns 3 this year.  She'll be one of the oldest in her class.  In nursery we talked about being a Child of God today.  (yes the King and I are nursery teachers)