Weather Week- clouds

I decided we would learn about the weather this week. I found this great website HERE all about weather for kids. I thought clouds would be a good place to start. It even has some lesson plans and activity ideas.

I had them start out by coloring a picture of the sky for me. They both decided that they wanted stormy skies. This is kind of silly, but I was so surprised by how awesome Ashley's clouds were! Since she is older than Kaydence you can usually have an easier time telling what Ashley has drawn. Sometimes Kaydence has to tell you what hers are ;) Ashley made fluffy storm clouds with lightning and rain.

Kaydence is getting the hang of clouds too, hers are kind of spiky, but I was really proud of her. I am pretty sure that's the first time she tried to make a cloud. 

Afterwards I pulled up the lesson plan for clouds (See the link at the beginning of this post) We talked mostly about what clouds are made of. The lesson goes into types of clouds, but they weren't interested in that. It has you put some shaving cream down and you ask them if clouds are made of shaving cream. They thought this was very funny. They played with the shaving cream for a while and then wiped up their spaces. After that I got out some spoons. They felt that the spoon was cool. I had them breath into their hands to feel it was warm. Then they breathed onto the spoons and I told them they made a tiny cloud. That was all in the lesson plan, but they thought it was awesome. 

Next we made rain clouds in cups. I've seen it all over pinterest, but the links I tried didn't work. So I just guessed. Take a cup and fill it 1/2 way with water, top with a fluffy shaving cream cloud and with a dropper have them drop in water mixed with food coloring. They watched it rain in their cups.

About this time Nolan started getting really sick. He spiked a fever so I put him on the couch to rest. Unfortunately for our cloud day he got worse through the afternoon. After nap time I sat holding him while the girls played. I told them I couldn't do their reading lessons today because Nolan cried every time I put him down. Sam was home though and Kaydence said, "DADDY CAN DO MY READING LESSON! I love to to reading with Daddy!" And he said he would love to help them both with their reading lessons. Then he helped the girls make feel better cards for Nolan. They were both being very sweet to Nolan bringing him things to cuddle and kissing his forehead.

This doesn't have anything to do with clouds, I just wanted to share how amazing dinner was last night. 

I made spaghetti sauce with zucchini noodles. I have to admit I was a bit skeptical, I loves me some spaghetti. I tried making a spaghetti squash but it was crunchy and weird (any one want to teach me?) but I love zucchini noodles in stir frys. It was AMAZING. I seriously couldn't taste a difference between this and regular spaghetti. It looks different obviously, but oh goodness it was good. I want to buy one of those things that makes spiral noodles out of veggies, it will make the whole process a lot faster. I used a veggie peeler and then sliced them with a knife to make them thinner. YUMMY. I'm going to make it again for lunch today. We had leftover sauce but no extra noodles. 

Curriculum

For a while I've been stressing myself out thinking I needed to choose a curriculum right away. I've been thinking that what I'm doing isn't enough and negative thoughts along that line. I had a curriculum picked out and I've been looking around for a while to find a good used set. (I love to save a little money!) Then the other day I was exploring a website with a kindergarten readiness check list. I realized that while Kaydence doesn't have every thing on that list, she's got the majority of it already learned. We have been working through a learn to read program. (Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons) I started getting really frustrated because she is a hard time putting the sounds together. I wasn't frustrated with her, I was frustrated because I didn't know how to explain it to her. She can easily identify the sounds and tells me each one, it's just hard for her to put them together. So after asking for some advice I decided that since she is only 4 there is no need to rush it. I decided to take a break for a while and pick it up again when she is ready. The very day I decided not to do it anymore she started asking me for reading lessons. Every day she asks all day if it's time for her reading lesson yet. This weekend I wasn't going to do them, (hey, it's the weekend!) but she was begging for it. So we sat down and worked on it, and then she asked for ANOTHER reading lesson. This time Daddy did it. I've been making an effort not to get frustrated with myself and to give her serious praise when she sounds out a word right. I mean like over the top cheering and high fives and gut squeezing hugs. I think that's what made the difference, she loves the praise. 

Anyways, I started to see that I don't need to push a full curriculum on her right now. She is learning at such a fast pace and what we do is very easy and fun for her. I wish someone had told me to take a breath and calm down. But since I didn't actually tell anyone how much I was stressing that would have been pretty hard to do. 

So I just wanted to write this in case someone else out there is stressing over all the curriculum options. It's easy to do. Being responsible for your child's education is a big deal. I for one am constantly worried that I'm messing it up. Take a breath and remember that it will be okay! Especially at this young age. 

Real fruit snacks

Our Paleo diet is still going strong. Sam has been left to his own devices. He has absolutely no desire to stick to it, and I don't want to force it. I pack him breakfast and lunch. He eats dinner at home, but otherwise he is on his own. The kids have been doing really well. I let them have hot dogs with buns on the 4th of July and they had a couple of cookies. I'm not making them do it 100% like I am. My main goal is to cut out as much junk as possible, with the occasional treat. We've been running through fruit and veg at a huge rate! I'm going to have to re-think my grocery system. I used to buy groceries for a two week span, but I think I'll have to start going once a week. Anyways one of the things my kids are crazy for is fruit snacks. I decided that I don't want them to have fruit snacks, even as a special treat. The other day I came home with some dried mango and kiwis and they were gone in a matter of hours.

I've tried several versions of home made fruit snacks, and they were good, but the kids didn't really like them. So then I decided just to get a bunch of dried fruit and cut it up into little pieces. That way it would last longer. I filled 6 little baggies with a mix of kiwi, mango, pineapple, and papaya. All of which are delicious. I got some of it from the bulk bins for a much better price. The mango I got today was on sale, but H-E-B brand is way way better. Lesson learned there.  Since they are in the little snack baggies I've been calling them fruit snacks. They are plenty sweet and the kids absolutely gobble them up.

Yay real food!! I only put a few bags down within their reach. Otherwise they would be gone in the blink of an eye. I also didn't pre-chop up all of the fruit. I decided it would be better to do it as needed. 

I'm pretty happy with how our healthy changes are going. It does surprise me how many people are trying to pressure me into eating breads though. I'm amused, not upset by it. I really didn't think people would have a such an issue with it, but hey, that's what happens when you go against the norm.