Letter Z

Last letter of the alphabet! McCall has learned and grown so much as we have done this very simple at home preschool. I have decided that I want to finish out the school year so that we are done about the same time as her sisters, so I came up with doing a letter a day. So we aren't quite done for this school year, but we made it through a letter a week!

Letter Z! Monday we started with doing a zinnia craft. I first showed her some pictures of zinnias. Then she clipped the green paper for the grass. I drew a line for her to cut to. Then she finger painted the flower.

We didn't buy zinnias but we planted some flowers together in the backyard for our activity for the day.

Tuesday was all about zig zags. First, she cut on some zig zag lines.

Then she followed zig zag lines all throughout the house.

Wednesday's craft was a zipper.

Then for our activity we made some chocolate zucchini bread. She always loves to help me bake and she was a fan of taste testing the batter until I put the zucchini in it, and then she didn't like the texture after that but loved the bread once we got it all bake. The whole family got to enjoy it for the day!

Thursday was such a fun filled day with the focus of the zoo. First, she did a zoo craft and while she was coloring, I surprised her and said we were going to the real zoo.

I packed us a lunch and then we went to the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium in Tacoma. It was such fun McCall and Mom time. We took our time and tried to avoid the school groups. :) My favorite moments were just sitting with her, watching in awe as we watched the sharks and sting rays swim right by us and above us and that she was brave enough to touch the star fish and sea anemone and was so proud of herself. She enjoyed just sitting in the stroller, looking at the map, and seeing what was next. She was very content and happy to see whatever we could.

Then since we had some time, we made a quick stop at Owen Beach. I was so close to the beach so even if it was only for about 20 minutes it was worth it. I love the sound of the water, we saw a seal pop his head up, and I enjoyed the gorgeous view of Mount Rainier while McCall kept busy throwing sticks and rocks in the water and even put her feet in for a bit.

Friday, I was gone for most of the day with Baylor as a chaperone for her field trip so I wasn't going to do preschool, but while I was cooking dinner, Baylor decided to help McCall do her preschool craft for the day. It is such a cute Z zebra!

April Moments

I can't believe it is already May! April has been wonderful, and the sun has decided to finally make more regular sightings, and we are loving it! If it is even slightly warm, Baylor immediately wants to put her swimming suit on and run through the sprinkler and McCall will always follow suit.

Paige's goal this year is to have a tan specifically to be tanner than her mom, so she has been taking every advantage to be out in the sun, soaking up all the rays.

Baylor and McCall still love to go over to Nona and Pop's house to get some Ovaltine (even though we have Ovaltine at our house. It must taste better at their house.) This has been Baylor's new found hobby to do at their house. Paige used to love to do this too.

One evening we had a fire with Nona and Pops and all the girls had fun helping Dad make the fire.

April was filled with getting order forms, baking, and we had a successful fundraiser for the youth of our ward! The final two days of orders for the bake sale were stressful with all the numbers and making sure I had all the numbers right and everyone had paid. Then the following Friday, I baked most of the day! I delegated the chocolate chip cookie and Rice Krispy orders, but I ended up making 14 dozen peanut butter cookies and 25 dozen smore's cookies! I got the 14 dozen done in the morning before Nate got home from work (I baked from 7:30 to 10:30.). Then we took a break as a family since the girls had no school and we went to the Museum of Flight. I had gotten free passes through the library. I was very grateful for this break and it was such a great outing with the girls. Then I baked the 25 dozen from 3:30 until 9:30.

We left the house around 11 and ate lunch in the car and then spent a good portion of the afternoon exploring the museum. It is very big and has so much information about airplanes, the different wars, Boeing, the great space race, and even has an old Air Force One. The girls did great, and we had fun walking around. We got home around 3, so it was some great family time.

Nate and Paige went the Goodwill Outlet and Celina knew how much baking I was doing and she offered to keep Baylor and McCall entertained. They had so much fun playing in their backyard, and Baylor loved driving them around the neighborhood in their toy car. It was very nice to have a quiet house so that I could have some music on and just focus on one batch of cookies at a time.

Then the following day was the big event! I got to the church a couple hours before the dinner with all the youth and got the tables, auction, and baked goods all set up. We had an incredible turnout and the youth had some amazing things to auction on. I stayed in my corner making sure people got their bake sale orders and then I helped sell individually wrapped desserts for $1. The young men pretty much took care of the dinner. I was overwhelmed with gratitude for having such a tiny ward, we had so many people there and pretty much all our auction items sold. We had a very successful fundraiser for the youth!

We got our garden all planted! We now have raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, Yukon potatoes, red potatoes, carrots, roma tomatoes, romaine lettuce, green peppers, jalapeno peppers, and onions all growing. I love this time of year of planting and getting excited for what our garden will produce and the delicious things we will eat from it. I took a little video of our planting and it was so funny to watch because it fit everyone's personality. Paige was busy doing what Nate told her to do and was getting the potatoes into the holes. Baylor had her shoes off and was walking through the dirt and wanted to know what it felt like even though she was supposed to be helping Paige. McCall was busy finding worms and by the end of had a big handful of worms. She has come a long ways where in years past has been terrified of all bugs and is getting better at touching and holding things that wiggle.

McCall loves to hang out with Paige in her bed in the evenings. It is the cutest thing!

Paige also enjoys taking her sisters to the park to play. I love that I now have a daughter old enough to do that, and she often just volunteers to take them. She is pretty amazing!

I taught science in Baylor's class and we talked about different life cycles. We first briefly talked about the life cycle of a plant since we planted grass last science lesson. Then we talked about the life cycle of a frog. Nate helped me during his lunch break the day before, and we got a sack of frog eggs, some tadpoles, and even a frog for them all to see. They all loved it! McCall even held the frog while she was with us trying to catch everything. Then to finish off the science lesson we talked about the life cycle of a butterfly. First, I had them draw each stage on a paper plate. Then I gave them each a little thing of playdough and they created each stage with it. Last, I gave them snacks to represent each stage.

Nate had to work longer than a normal Friday, so McCall got to hang out with Celina and her kids while I taught science. She came home as Marshall from Paw Patrol! She loved it so much and looked so cute!

Playing outside selfies! We are loving the sun!

Since Baylor knew that Celina was so good at face painting, we went over there one evening to play and Baylor had a request, a purple dolphin. She loved it and even wore it to church the next day.

Paige loves to come up with fun activities to do with her sisters, especially McCall. One Saturday, they made "cupcakes". They used shaving cream and glitter and had fun outside with it.

Lily moved in with Nona and Pops this past week and since they are gone on vacation, we have loved having her over for dinner and just to hang with the girls. My girls love Lily and she is so much fun to have around.

Now onto more adventures in May!

Letter Y

 Letter Y! We started Monday off with McCall cutting pieces of yellow paper to glue on the letter Y.

Then we did some yogurt taste testing. I had some strawberry and peach and she loved the yogurt but was not a fan of the chunks of fruit in it so that's what I got to enjoy.

Tuesday's craft was a yo-yo. I traced her hand and cut it out and then she glued it on and drew the fingernails and other decorations on her hand. Then she glued on the cupcake liner for the yo-yo and then colored the string.

Then for our activity for the day we did some yoga. I have some kid yoga cards, and she did all the poses in the deck of cards.

Then on Wednesday our focus was YOU! I had to clarify that it is not the letter U. So I first had her look at herself in the mirror and then I asked her what she saw. What color are your eyes? What color is your hair? How many eyes do you have? And then I had her draw a self portrait. It turned out SO cute!

Then our activity was browsing through Google Photos of McCall- one of her favorite things to do. She loves seeing baby McCall and so do I! :)

Thursday she did a Yak craft. I first showed her a picture of a yak. Then I cut out the Y, and she cut out all the rest of the pieces, glued them on, and added the fun details.

Friday's focus was a yolk. We talked about the different parts of the egg and she made this yolk craft.

Then I had her try and crack an egg which she was great at cracking the egg but pulling the shells apart was a little more tricky. Then I had her play with the yolk. At first she was very unsure about it and just poked it. Then I picked it up and she saw that I was holding it so she was okay with holding it. Then she poked it and saw how it spread out and then wanted to whisk it and stir it all up.

Now onto our last letter of the alphabet!

Letter X

We are getting close to finishing up the whole alphabet! McCall has learned so much and has come a long ways in writing, cutting, etc. She still loves preschool and as soon as we get her sisters to school she asks when preschool will be. 

Letter X- Monday she started with using dot markers to mark the letter X.

Then we did a matching game with words that end with the letter x- box, six, fox, and mix.

Tuesday we started off with a treasure hunt to find the X that marks that spot. I drew a map and there were little stops along the way with pieces of candy. It led to a big letter X on the couch and she had to find the treasure under the X.

Then I had her create her own treasure map with an X to mark the spot of the treasure.

Then I put some X's on the ground and colored them different colors. I had her jump on whatever X that was the color that I said.

Wednesday she did an xylophone craft. She cut out all the rectangles and was so proud of herself once she got them all done and put them in rainbow order. Then she glued them on a giant letter X to create her xylophone.

Then we sang some songs while she played the xylophone.

Thursday our focus was on X-rays. I first showed her an x-ray of hands and we talked about what an x-ray was. We talked about how she had an x-ray and I showed her a picture of the x-ray of her collarbone when she broke it. Then she created her own x-ray. I painted her hands white and then she glued on Q-tips for the bones for her x-ray.

Then she did a mix sensory station.

We ended up not having preschool on Friday since it was a day filled with baking and the girls didn't have school so we went on an adventure to the Museum of Flight. It was a great week!