Blanket Reading

Sometimes we cozy up to the light of the window with a blanket and a pile of books.  We read and look at pictures.  Today was Grimm's Fairy Tales and Beatrix Potter.  Abishai enjoys leafing through the pages, looking at the pictures.

St. Paddy's Day!

We celebrated St. Patrick's Day all morning long today.  We started off with some rainbow finger painting, which became rainbow body painting, followed by a rainbow bath.

Is this what St. Patrick looked like?

Then we had a treasure hunt; Irish gold!

Micaiah found 1 coin and was pretty proud of himself.

Dried and finished paintings.

"The Story of St. Patrick: More Than Just Shamrocks and Leprechauns." 

My husband ordered this book a week ago and we didn't think it would arrive on time.  When the delivery guy rang my doorbell with the package in hand, I was so excited!  I was actually going to read the real story on the holiday after all!  So, during lunch I read to the boys of how St. Patrick brought Christianity to Ireland long ago.  It was the highlight of my day.

HOSANNA!

During afternoon snack, Abishai began asking me questions about our Palm Sunday display.  He wanted to know what the people were doing.  So I told him the story of Jesus entering Jerusalem, of how they laid their coats and palm branches on the road in front of Him, calling "Hosanna!" as he rode in on a colt.  Well, Abishai liked that and started singing, "Hosanna, Hosanna!"  Since he was so interested, I pulled out the bible and read him the actual passage, pointing to the picture on our bulletin board as I read.  Then I wrote Mark 11:9 on our chalk board so we could remember the words spoken so long ago.  To celebrate, we walked around the house waving our branches while listening to 'Hosanna in the Highest' pumped up on our iPod speaker.

 Mark 11:8-10  "And many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields.  And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, "Hosanna! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!  Hosanna in the highest!" Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"

Bean Box!

Bean box fun! This is a favorite in our house. It's a box I pull out for the winter months when we can no longer play in our outdoor sandbox.  Micaiah loves to sink his hands in to feel the texture of the beans.  He would play with it every day, but at his age it takes close supervision on my part to keep the beans inside of the box.  My favorite beans are the big ones; black beans and chick peas. They are easy to pick off the carpet.  Kidney beans would be great too!  I wish that I had left out the lentils; too small to find.  One tip is that if you have light carpet, go with dark beans and vice versa.

Our Weekend: Pirates, Puddles and Books

6am, Bible reading and story books.

aargh...Pirate Play

Shape Recognition on the car console while Dad quickly runs in to get a few items at the store.  Triangles and circles are Abishai's most recognized shapes.

Mall playground

This is my favorite used book store in the city.  It's called Sam's Place, and is a great place to have coffee and a light lunch.  Daren, lover of all things Hebrew and Greek has made a few great finds.  I love the children section.  I always seem to find classics and for the right price....cheap!  I also like that the money I spend there goes toward MCC and the work that they do.

Puddle Time!

Daren cutting off a branch for our first annual Easter Jesus Tree!  More on that in a future post.

At the Forks

Lent: Jesus' death is fast approaching.

Letter Match and Word Recognition

Like most little boys, Abishai loves vehicles.  His favorite is the dump truck.  Letter matching is an idea that originally came from The Activity Mom, but I added in the word recognition.  This activity went very well and very quickly.  Abishai gracefully matched the letters and said "all done Mommy" and got up off the floor to leave the room.  I ended up extending the activity by placing it on the fridge where it became magnet letter and word recognition fun.  He played with it a little longer.

Billy Goats Gruff

The Three Billy Goats Gruff is a book that is regularly read/requested in our house. This morning while I was in the kitchen cleaning up from breakfast, Abishai was calling out to me from the living room "Mommy, I'm crossing the bridge."  When I went to look in on the boys, this is what I found.  Abishai said he was the biggest billy goat.  I thought Micaiah made a great troll.

7:00 am in the morning.