Celebrating Birthdays

Claire and David both had birthdays in April.  4 days apart.

So instead of having two parties, we took them to Atlanta for the weekend.  But, we still had to have cake and a few friends over to celebrate.

Claire picked this ginormous Hello Kitty cookie cake.  It was really good and I'll admit to eating more than my fair share of it!

Claire had her two special friends from church over on a Wednesday afternoon for a little birthday playdate.  We played, ate cake and pizza (in that order) and then loaded everyone up and took them to church to meet their mommies. 

Claire has been friends with Avery and Kathryn since they were 2 years old!  And now they are all 6.  Sniff, sniff ...

Don't you love how David is supervising the gift opening?

The weather was perfect for playing in the backyard.  I think these girls are getting a little too big for this bounce house.  It deflated several times while they were playing on it because it kept coming unhooked from the air supply because they were bouncing so big and so much!

Then we played with the birthday gifts.  I highly recommend the Melissa & Doug fashion design and activity kit for 6-year-old girls.

A pizza picnic on my coffee table.

Here is Claire on her actual birthday.  (She picked out her own outfit.)

Chocolate chip pancakes for the birthday girl's breakfast and birthday pizza for lunch.  (She really likes the candles and "happy birthday" singing so we did it at every meal it seems like.)

Our next door neighbor, Kate, came over for some birthday celebrating too.  She brought gifts for both Claire and David.

We also got to meet up with RiRi and DiDi for dinner that night.  (We were really meeting to drop Luke off with them while we went to Atlanta.)

On David's birthday, he requested biscuits and chocolate gravy for his special breakfast.

David's cake of choice ... Cars cupcakes!

Time to blow out the candles.

Me and my boy!

The rest of the family.

Daddy & David.

Love these sweet kiddos and cannot believe another year has come and gone.

FOUR

This silly little boy just turned 4.  Sometimes David is timid and shy.  Sometimes he is goofy and crazy.  Sometimes he will talk your head off!  He is definitely my quirkiest child ... from throwing an instant fit to the repeated trips to the bathroom (anxiety much?), but I do believe he is the funniest and my deepest thinker.

Some of David's current favorites and highlights from the year:

TV Show: Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, LeapFrog videos 

Movie: Cars 2, Mater's Tall Tales, Pixar's Short Films (aka "short movies")

Song: soundtrack from Big Apple Adventure (Lifeway's 2011 VBS)

Food: chocolate chip granola bars, squeezy yogurt, macaroni & cheese, applesauce

Candy: Kit Kat, Nestle Crunch

Toy: Transformer Cars 2 cars (a birthday gift), Wii (favorite games include Cars 2 and Lego Batman)

Activity: soccer, scooter/bike riding, we are starting My Gym soon 

Friends: Ian, Kate, Will & Maclaine (church buddies)

Stats: Height-3 feet, 4 inches, Weight-35 pounds

Sizes: Clothing (size 4) and shoes (size 9 to 9-1/2)

My proudest moments this year: learning all the letter sounds and learning to count to 30 ... I love how much you love school, singing in the kids' choir Christmas program at church (you sang with such gusto and I didn't even think you would get on stage), watching you do the motions and sing the VBS songs at the end of the week program

Struggles: speech articulation, not liking Miss Ann's class at MDO because you have to nap, anxiety/nerves, tantrums (3 was much more terrible than 2), getting dressed in the morning, still wearing pull-ups at night

Preschool Corner: Q is for Quilt

Welcome to our letter Q week ... all about Quilts!

{David is 3 years, 11 months old}

Resources: Q is for Quilt LOTW printables from Confessions of a Homeschooler and Bible Verse printables (and other Letter Q stuff) from RRSP.

Quilt coloring page.

Working on our bible verse for the week: "Quench not the spirit." I Thessalonians 5:19.

Quilt color match board.

Size sequencing.

Quilt puzzle.  I cut it into many tiny pieces (as opposed to our usual 6-9) and he was not happy!  I had to make it a little more challenging for him.

Counting cards.  We just used glass beads as counter this week.

Quilt lacing card.

Playdough letter Q.  My playdough mats came from here.

Uppercase/lowercase letter sort.

Quilt magnet page.

Another bible verse activity that is more appropriately wrapped around ones head.

Quilt patterning.

Cutting practice.

Handwriting.

Our Q alphabet page.

Letter Q phonics page.

Another quilt coloring page.

He was very particular about the colors and even pulled about another sheet so we could match the quilt squares.

Quilt/quilt spelling.

Our raindrop bible verse craft/patterning activity.

And this is what happens when David reaches his picture quota.  "Stop it Mommy!"

But this sweet girls is all smiles all the time!

Q do-a-dot page.  Purple is David's favorite color!

Q-tips on Q.  This was a fun craft.

Claire helped me make a no-sew tie quilt.  I loosely followed these directions.  David was actually supposed to help with this activity, but he had trouble making the knots.  Since Claire knows how to tie her shoes, she was able to help me finish it up.  (This was a super-cheap project when the fleece is on sale at Joann's for 50% off.  I think my total cost for this quilt was about $10 and it is not laying proudly on the foot of David's bed.

David had fun playing with the quilt scraps and laid out his own little quilt on the coffee table.

Loving his new Mickey Mouse blanket!

Queen coloring page.  This was excellent coloring for David!

Our Q board.

Q books we loved:

Eight Hands Round: A Patchwork Alphabet by Ann Whitford Paul (my son loved this book although it was not what I expected.  It has a quilt block for each letter of the alphabet and explains how the pattern came about.  We read a few each day mainly because he kept asking for the book!)

The Rag Coat by Lauren Mills (very long)

The Quiltmakers Gift by Jeff Brumbeau (very long book ... my 3yo asked me to stop about half-way through ... good story though ... I finished reading it later on my own)

Quentin's Quiz and the Letter Q (Alphabet Friends) by Klingel and Noyed (great book for introduction of the letter Q sound)

Giggle, Giggle, Quack by Doreen Cronin (cute book about ducks who write)

The Name Quilt by Phyllis Root (least lengthy quilt book and sweet story ... brought a tear to my eye)

Quick, Quack, Quick by Marsha Arnold (this is an easy read book the my kindergartner probably could have read)

This post is linked up to these great blogs ... check them out for more great learning ideas!