The Wilson Quiver

Cake-Day for Karis

2012-01-21T18:14:00.000-06:00

Karis turned five this week and we had her "cake-day" this afternoon. Pre-party, we had a plain white cake with purple and pink fondant:

Birthday girl and guests hard at work:

Adding the final touch:

Viola!

Making a wish:

Yummy, Yummy!

Who am I?

2011-12-07T13:09:00.000-06:00

No, I'm not a Cardinals baseball player.

No, I'm not Batman.

No, I'm not a pirate or a knight.

I'm Darth Vader!

End of Unit 1 Catch-Up

2011-10-21T20:17:00.000-05:00

Well, despite the lack of posts, school has been in session. We just finished our first unit of study! Here are some pictures from the past 2 months that will give you some idea of what we have been up to.

Egyptian painters of tomb walls:

Constructing a pint-sized Ziggurat:

The Fertile Crescent:

The Epic of Gilgamesh:

Trying our hand at Cuneiform:

Working together to weave the rope into our "traveling table"- similar to one Abraham may have used:

When the meal is finished, just pull the drawstring up around all the dinnerware:

Those crazy Israelites and their golden calf:

God taught those crazies how to live and worship him:

I admit, this looks an awful lot like we started a culinary school here at the Wilson home; but use your imagination to see that this is a very jubilant Aaron, the High Priest of Israel.

Too bad this playdoh-dude has no bones because now we know how important they are and what they do for us!

This puzzle was quite a challenge for us, but we did it! Though Mr. Bones can't take any credit for it, Malachi just had to have him in the picture- scary skeletons are right up his alley.

In learning about some of the holidays and festivals God told the Hebrew people to celebrate so as to never forget what He has done, we tried our hand at Challah bread:

We made more than one mistake, including leaving it in the oven too long.

Flitting like birds to Vivaldi's concerto "Spring":

Mini-Giotto's at work making their own paint out of chalk and egg yolk:

One of Malachi's many different reading positions (whatever works, right?)

Karis and Asher find all sorts of creative things to do (a.k.a messes to make) while mommy is busy working with Malachi:

Today, as an end of the unit celebration, we had some buddies over to play and ate lunch on our table. It was also a perfect excuse to pull the toilet paper out and make ourselves into mummies once again.

Looking forward to learning about Ancient China, the Ancient Indus Valley, and Ancient Americas!

School Has Started!

2011-09-05T13:34:00.000-05:00

We have been studying Ancient Egypt:

We have also been learning the names of different landforms. Here, Malachi is painting the salt dough map he made which is of an imaginary land that includes many of the landforms we have been studying.

Getting Into A Routine

2011-08-05T22:34:00.000-05:00

Although we have not OFFICIALLY started school yet, we are practicing. We have been getting into a new morning routine that will help us when school actually begins. When I went to start our prayer and devotion time, I looked up at Asher and this is what he was doing:

He could teach his brother and sister a thing or two. : ) I think he must have learned this in his little Honeybees class at church. Don't ask me why he decided he needed to wear a toboggan and a life jacket to school, I have no idea.... but he sure looks cute!

Sunflowers

2011-06-29T13:42:00.000-05:00

The first sunflower to pop out in our garden:

and, our little sunflowers...

Karis Kicked It Out

2011-06-29T13:25:00.001-05:00

Now, if we can just get her to kick the other loose one out too!

Playing Puppies

2011-04-25T07:52:00.002-05:00

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T22:34:00.001-05:00

What do you think?

2011-03-05T20:04:00.000-06:00

I think it is safe to say that Malachi is extremely excited about soccer starting!

Fish Tank

2011-03-05T19:51:00.000-06:00

We studied fish in Science this week. Along with our Science book, we read these fun books:

We found a great use for a fish tank, whose inhabitants have long been gone, at The Crafty Crow.

Always looking for an excuse to use permanent markers and swish our hands around in water, this craft was perfect for us. One cut up milk jug and a few permanent markers later, we were busy!

Mr. Clean sponges and two-year-old's are a great combination.

Ta-Da!

On another day we made these fish with scales:

I guess Malachi was using his shark snacks to demonstrate the food chain:

More Math Fact Woes

2011-03-02T20:54:00.002-06:00

Malachi closed himself up in the bathroom, free from noise and distractions, in order to do this math fact sheet. However, there was nothing to help him get away from the distractions in his mind. He spent 25 minutes in the bathroom and then came out with this paper. I wonder how much of that time was spent writing this sentence or thinking about how he "ken not" do it? I just had to laugh... and, as you can see, his declaration is false. He really can do it and he does it very well when he is not trying to convince himself that he can't! Oh, and this is the very first sentence he has written by himself. Should I be proud or worried?

Twisty Straw, Target, and Trampoline

2011-03-01T20:37:00.001-06:00

That's one way to do it!

We spent several days last week in math at our Target store:

The kids love to jump on the trampoline with mommy.

Asher's A:

Math Facts Motivation

2011-02-16T14:26:00.003-06:00

Malachi is very unmotivated when it comes to his math fact cards.

Daddy came up with this idea: Five fact cards, then one corn nut. Worked pretty well!

Then, Malachi came up with this idea on his own:

The floor puzzle held up the cards, and then when he said the answer, he jumped to the other side to see if it was correct (the answers are on the back of the cards).

One day last week, we took a field trip to an art gallery at ECU. Uncle Jared had a photograph showing there. We went and found it.

Here is a close-up:

Of course, the nastiest photograph there was Malachi's favorite:

And here are some pictures from various school days:

To the rescue!

and, our "Reading Bench":

This made me laugh:

Until next time!

Miles and Miles of Reptiles

2011-01-26T21:28:00.001-06:00

We have spent some time these past two days learning about reptiles and the differences between a crocodile and an alligator.

after reading several books on the subject (including a very fun one called Miles and Miles of Reptiles by Tish Rabe), we studied different pictures of the reptiles in question to determine which one was which.

Malachi divided his plastic animals into three categories.

"Reptiles":

"Mammals":

and "The Ones We Don't Know Yet" (which include birds, bugs, and fish):

We wrapped up our croc and gator discussion today by drawing a crocodile

(notice the narrow mouth):

and Malachi just had to have an alligator (notice the wide mouth) mask so he could go attack Daddy in his office:

See you later alligators!

"I'm Not Three Anymore, I'm Four."

2011-01-19T16:50:00.000-06:00

That is Karis' matter-of-fact phrase of the day.

She wanted to celebrate her birthday with a Yogi Bear cake (after seeing the film over christmas with Uncle Yancey and Aunt Mel).

The long awaited "purple unicorn pillow pet" was finally received by a very happy little girl:

She wanted tacos and chips and salsa for her birthday meal.

Asher enjoyed the cake:

Even big brother, who usually despises anything girlie, enjoyed playing with the Little People camping set (even though it was pink, purple, and had two girl figures) that Karis got as a gift.

Then, to top the day off, we had a surprise visit from a little friend who came bearing a gift and got to stay and play for the afternoon!

A great day of celebrating one of God's many blessings!

Our Knights

2011-01-10T20:14:00.000-06:00

During "recess" (while Mommy was helping Karis with reading), Malachi built this castle:

Later, I found this knight riding around the castle grounds:

Back to Blogging

2011-01-09T21:03:00.000-06:00

Although we did have an extended Christmas vacation, it was not a month and a half long! A combination of computer issues, camera issues, and way too much to do, kept me from blogging about our school days.

Here is a little bit about the past week:

We studied snakes in Science and painted snakes (a.k.a sticks) thanks to an idea found at Speece School.

Some students decided that painting hands was a whole lot more fun:

The Roman Empire was our subject in History so we made mosaics using buttons. Asher is admiring his letter A- he was quite proud of it.

Karis made a letter K... You have to look closely and use your imagination.

Malachi chose to make a skateboard, but it is still a work in progress. If we ever get it done, I will try to post a picture.

Also this week: New haircut!

and fort-building with Daddy.

Great use for an undecorated Christmas tree!

We are expecting lots of snow tomorrow, so we are looking forward to see what happens to the fort- we're hoping for something reminiscent of an igloo.

Teamwork!

2010-11-17T06:53:00.000-06:00

Getting from one room to another like this:

Daddy and Mommy were pretty impressed.

World Travelers

2010-11-10T15:40:00.001-06:00

Here's a new, fun, geography activity we have discovered:

We travel the continents and oceans by plane, train, or automobile (depending on which continents we are hopping to). Here's how it works: "So, Malachi/Karis, how would you get to from North America to Asia? Be sure to tell me what oceans and continents you are crossing as you go."

All I had to do was lay the map down o the floor with some vehicles, and before I could instruct them in what to do, they started doing it themselves!

While Brother and Sister Slept...

2010-11-09T20:11:00.001-06:00

Malachi enjoyed airplane-flying today...

...and observing a very busy spider.

We decided to try to throw a bug into the web and see if the spider would eat it. As I walked down the porch steps to get the bug, the spider's web actually caught me and I ended up tearing the whole web down in the process. That spider was working so hard too!

Wild Dogs

2010-11-03T20:41:00.000-05:00

Continuing our study of mammals, we focused on wild dogs today.

The favorite animal of the day was wolves. Here is one in his den with a wolf pup:

Here is our howling wolf pack:

Malachi was a little upset to learn that there aren't very many wolves in North America, and maybe none at all. However, he was delighted to make these wolf puppets as a substitute for the real thing:

We ended the day by calling Pap-Paw in Mississippi and asking him to tell us the story about when a coyote almost got one of his calves (we can never hear that story too many times!).

First Farmers: 2000 BC

2010-11-02T20:28:00.000-05:00

In History today we learned about people who lived around 2000 BC. We compared how they lived with how Stonge Age hunters lived (we learned about them last week). Life progressed in several different ways between the two time periods. One way was that the people we studied today had learned how to make clay pots. So, we made our own "clay" pots:

Asher preferred to make balls and Karis preferred to make pancakes.

Our pots, pancakes, and balls ready to be put in the kiln:

Then we painted our creations:

Mommy ended up making the pots for Karis and Asher, but everyone did their own paint job.

Karis' pot:

Asher's pot:

and Malachi's original piece:

Just for your information: farming, herding animals, and bronze tool making were other marks of progression during this time period which lead to permanent housing and a less nomadic lifestyle.

It's Still Dry!

2010-10-28T21:58:00.000-05:00

We did a water trick today for our Science lesson:

Yep, it's still dry!:

When we let the air escape out of the glass, the water was able to fill it and soak the paper towel.

All this water-play inspired the desire to paint with watercolors.

Malachi was so proud of his painting:

Thinking about a past activity we did on the color wheel, he mixed colors together trying to create the secondary and tertiary colors around the rainbow.

We Got a Package From Mam-Maw!

2010-10-27T22:34:00.000-05:00

Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!

Stone Age Hunters

2010-10-27T22:30:00.000-05:00

Today we studied the stone age hunters of 10,000 b.c. Here are a couple of our hunters in their "animal skin" tent:

We tried to make tools like they did, so Malachi is working on cutting the piece of animal skin (a.k.a string) for his bow using a sharp rock that we found.

Here, our hunter is in action with his bow and arrow... Later he threw a harpoon too.

Karis is gathering berries using the tool she made.

Our history book, A Street Through Time, provided a lot of food for our imaginations today as we tried to make and use tools like stone age hunters. Malachi went outside on his own while the other two kids were napping and worked on his tools and Karis asked me tonight when I was tucking her in, "Mommy tomorrow after we do school and do our reading and math and coloring, can we go outside and do stuff like those...uh... what were they called again?" I never know what will get their wheels turning.

I Never Forget a Face

2010-10-26T20:49:00.000-05:00

For Geography today, we pulled out this fun eeBoo game:

And we kept our globe nearby:

As we made matches, we found the continents that each face was from:

About halfway through, I wondered if playing this right before bedtime was a good idea:

The game ended happily, however. Especially since they both won!

Friday Funny Faces

2010-10-22T14:40:00.000-05:00

Wild Cats

2010-10-22T14:38:00.000-05:00

In Science we continued our study of mammals. Our focus this week was the cat family. We learned a few interesting facts about some wild cats. Did you know that:

1) Cougar, Puma, and Panther are all names of the same animal... a Mountain Lion

2) Mountain Lions/Pumas/Cougars/Panthers can jump as far as 40 feet... and

3) What we often call a Black Panther is actually a Black Leopard, just called by the name panther???

Here we are measuring out 40 feet so we can see how far a Mountain Lion can jump.

We tried to jump that far, but it was impossible! So, we counted how many of our jumps it took to make one Mountain Lion jump.

Then we pretended that our stuffed wild cats were Mountain Lions and made them jump (by throwing them) the 40 feet:

Here is the Black Leopard that Malachi drew for his Science Notebook:

Malachi Did It!

2010-10-20T19:52:00.000-05:00

We are just about finished reading this book:

Inspired by the chapter in which Laura and Mary go to town and dress in their bonnets, Karis models her bonnet:

Yesterday Malachi read his first words and even spelled "cat" by sounding it out. I wanted to take a picture of the word and he wanted to add the words "Malachi did it" (so he sounded those out too). He is not angry in this picture, he is cheering himself in the manner of a "rock star"...

AND today, he read his first book!
He just had to read it to Karis and Asher too:

It has been an exciting couple days for us... weeks of letter-sound drills have finally paid off!

Field Trip: Diesel Locomotive

2010-10-11T11:22:00.001-05:00

The week before last we studied steam locomotives in history. This past week we were able to take a field trip to see a modern, diesel-run locomotive:

When we arrived, Mr. Tim took us across the tracks:

He even let us climb aboard!

To our delight, we also got to ride a little bit, ring the bell, and blow the whistle. Here, Asher is "driving" the train:

In this picture, we are watching the bell ring:

After our driving and riding, Mr. Tim showed us how the engine of a modern-day train is different from a steam locomotive. No fire, or boiler in this train.. It has an engine, generator, and compressor:

He even showed us how the train stops....

... and the signal switch to change tracks.

We are so thankful that Mr. Tim gave us such a great tour!

Of course all this touring inspired us to get our big Christmas train out to play with.

Malachi soon figured out that our Christmas train is actually a steam locomotive, not a diesel-run train like the one on our tour, since diesel-run trains don't need this:

Thanks again Mr.Tim... We had a great time!

Pacific and "Atsicic" Oceans

2010-10-07T17:39:00.002-05:00

Today we read this book that we found at the Library:

We also looked at our Atlas and talked about how water covers most of the earth. Specifically, we looked at the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans that surround North America. Then, to help us remember the location and names of the oceans around our continent, we used our watercolors to paint the water:

The names of these oceans have twisted up our tongues, though. Atlantic Ocean tends to come out as "Atsicic Ocean"- I guess it is a cross between Pacific and Atlantic. We will keep practicing!

Here are Karis and Malachi's finished paintings:

Howler Monkeys

2010-10-06T20:55:00.001-05:00

Yesterday we made this counting stick (an idea from my friend Melinda at Speece School). Every fifth bead is blue to help with a visual representation of counting by 5's and 10's... also helps with one-to-one correspondence... we were able to use this great tool today during our counting time.

Today Asher was very intent on coloring... this has typically been of no interest to him.

Here Malachi is doing his afternoon reading review of letter sounds:

In Science today we read about Monkeys and Apes. Then we turned ourselves into Howler monkeys. Here are two now:

Asher wanted in on the screaming-at-the-top-of-our-lungs, so Karis shared her mask with him:

I am beginning to wonder why I gave them more of a reason to scream through the house!

Legos

2010-10-01T14:16:00.000-05:00

Malachi's favorite pastime:

Then: Steam Locomotives

2010-09-30T21:46:00.001-05:00

To complete our Then and Now unit in History, we learned how trains used to be.

We started our lesson by browsing through some books about steam locomotives and learning how they work. (In case you were wondering, according to Asher, he is dressed like a policeman.)

This was my favorite of the books (though it wasn't as exciting for the kids). I learned a lot from it and was able to summarize bits of information for the kids... and the sketches are beautiful.

While we were reading, we were letting some water boil on the stove. When we were done reading we were able to observe the steam leaving the pot, and even got to see the power of steam by watching it move the pot lid and the styrofoam cup (a.k.a smokestack).

After our learning and observations, we recorded our findings. Here, Karis is making steam.

We even let our "boiler" run out of water... a steam locomotive can't move without it.

Malachi was able to complete his findings: First you can see the fire, then the boiler pipes with water, then steam. Finally, the piston and wheel:

Steam locomotive playing was a necessary end to this lesson:

Malachi was excited to show Daddy how his piston actually moves his wheel.

Hopefully, we will have a field trip tomorrow to see trains of the present-day!

Wednesday

2010-09-30T07:28:00.000-05:00

Getting ready to start our day...

Finding an even better use for those rubber bands....

Afternoon math homework...

Mammal Friends

2010-09-28T22:05:00.000-05:00

Asher got straight to work today, busying himself by hopping from one activity to the next. When he came upon his bowl of rubber bands, instead of putting them on the door handle and taking them off as he is supposed to do, he thought it would be more fun to do this:

Malachi worked on rhyming words:

Karis traced a square, rectangle, and circle onto different pieces of paper:

Then everyone worked as a team to find the different shaped objects around the house:

We had an end-of-the-day Science lesson on mammals. To begin our unit on animals, we read about and discussed the characteristics of mammals:

Then we gathered up all our animal friends into a pile:

We sorted them according to whether or not they were mammals. Throwing the mammals into the far corner pile was the best part of this lesson:

My crazy mammals with their mammal friends:

Karis was delighted to find these long lost friends at the bottom of the animal pile:

Thursday's History

2010-09-24T14:50:00.000-05:00

We studied several pages of our Then and Now book before focusing on these pages about the kitchen:

After talking about all the differences, we experienced the differences.

First, we went outside to our dirt spot and made some washcloths dirty.

Since there is always plenty of dirty clothes around our house, we were first able to wash clothes the modern way... which only took about 3 minutes...

Then we went outside to wash our dirty washcloths the old-fashioned way with tubs of water and bars of soap...

This took quite a long time... even with lots of little hands helping... by the time it was over, the washcloths were still dirty and we forgot to hang them out to dry! We couldn't have made it back then.

Wednesday's Geography

2010-09-24T13:40:00.000-05:00

After a little P.E.,

We had a quick, outdoor geography review.

Then, we went inside to learn a little more about the different people of North America. Our new friends this week are from Alaska and Canada:

We made an English stop sign and one in Inutikuk, the native language of Levi an Inuit from Canada.

All this talk of the cold weather in Alaska and Canada and inspired a raid of the coat closet...

followed by igloo building....

... and igloo dwelling. Here the Inuit boys are resting from their Canadian hunting trip in the igloo that keeps them warm:

Malachi's reflection on what he learned:

Tuesday's Science

2010-09-22T22:04:00.000-05:00

In Science this week, we made clouds. We had a lot of fog on Sunday morning and Malachi was very interested in it, so we decided to discover what made fog happen.

First, we read some books about weather:

Then we poured some hot water in a jar:

Next, we covered the jar with a glass lid and put ice cubes on the lid:

It was really hard to see clouds forming in the jar. Here, Karis is looking and looking, but no clouds could be seen.

We had to turn off the lights and lift the lid off the jar a little. We used our flashlight to see the clouds.

We learned that it was foggy on Sunday because the ground was hot from the sun during the day, but then the temperature was a lot cooler at night. So, when the cool air met the warm air/or water vapor from the ground... we got fog!

We recorded our findings for our science notebook:

Friday Fun-Work

2010-09-18T21:29:00.000-05:00

Reading wrap-up: vowels

Sorting:

Cutting progress:

Asher's Week in Pictures

2010-09-18T21:14:00.000-05:00

Happy! Happy!

2010-09-15T21:34:00.000-05:00

In Geography today we, first, reviewed the name, shape, and location of the continents.

Then, we focused on North America. Staying close to home for now, we studied some children from within the United States. In our Children Just Like Me book, we learned about a little girl from Los Angelas, a boy from New York City, and a little girl from Illinois. After reading a bit about each one and their homes, the kids made a journal page entry of whatever child they chose. First they drew a picture of their new "friend" and then Mommy asked them questions about what they learned and wrote the answers below their picture for them. Here the students are busy drawing:

Malachi and Karis' journal entries:

Asher was very excited to show daddy his "house":

Next we got ready to build a city, just like New York City where one of our new friends lives. Here the kids are coloring the front for our apartment building:

City-building in progress:

Completed city with our sky-rise apartment, many other buildings and skyscrapers, and tons of cars:

The children played with their city all throughout the day!

My favorite part of the day was this:

Everyday, while Malachi and Karis do their cutting and pasting, Asher and I work on learning to say new words. One tool I use for this is some Bob the Builder Opposites Flashcards. On each side of one card you will find an opposite. Here is an example:

So, today in the midst of our city-building, Asher was focused on the cars. All of a sudden I hear Asher saying, "Happy! Happy!" I look up to see this:

He had found the Lofty toy car in our basket and was telling us all about it!

Seasons

2010-09-14T21:26:00.000-05:00

Today we continued our lesson on the

seasons which we started last week.

We began our lesson today by

reading these three great books:

Then we looked at pictures depicting Winter or Spring and made posters for each one. While Karis worked on the Spring poster, Malachi and Asher worked together to glue the pictures for our Winter poster.

Finally, we dressed Karis' dolls up in the appropriate clothes for each season. Here is our Spring doll:

Here is a picture from last week when we learned about Summer and Fall:

And here is all four of our posters hanging on our wall:

Twinkle Feet & Rocking Star

2010-09-10T13:49:00.000-05:00

Today we had a combined Art and Music lesson. I found this great activity from a blog post that was featured on The Crafty Crow (see it here).

First we made some musical notes

using our watercolor paints:

Then we played our notes on glass jars filled with the same colors. Malachi was very focused and careful to play the correct notes:

While Karis did eventually play her song notes, she was a little more free-spirited and danced back and forth while playing whatever note pleased her:

Asher didn't worry with notes either. He just liked to bang the glasses while naming the colors he knows. This was great practice for his speech and we worked on learning the colors he doesn't know too:

When the composers were through

with their songs, they painted:

Karis likes to mix her mediums:

Here are Karis and Malachi's songs, respectively, and the titles they chose for them:

Then and Now: Streets

2010-09-09T14:37:00.000-05:00

We are beginning our history studies this year with a look at how different things were "then" when compared to "now". Using Usborne's Then and Now, we will spend several weeks looking at various aspects of life and comparing a picture from "then" to a picture of "now". This week we looked at supermarkets and streets. Following our discussion, we went outside to do some hands-on work.

First we rolled our very modern "now" strollers on a "now" street.

Then we kept on strolling onto an example

of a "then" street (a.k.a. our driveway).

Next, we drove our cars an a nicely paved road.

Then we turned our road into a

"then" road by adding dirt.

Since a little dirt wasn't enough for us, we used our train tracks as a road and placed it in our favorite dirt pile.

Dirt is always a favorite around here!

This was followed by baths for everyone... I am so glad we have a "now" bathtub!

"That's a toilet?"

2010-09-08T14:19:00.000-05:00

Here is something Asher has enjoyed many times this week already while the rest of us have been busy with reading, writing and arithmetic:

Today, we began our geography lessons with an over view of continents. Here, we are discussing which continent is which:

To help us learn the names and shapes of the continents, we colored a map.

Following that, we opened up Material World to study televisions of the world, meals of the world, and toilets of the world. Here is a snapshot of the "Toilets of the World" page which was of particular interest to us. Take note of the tree (Ethiopia's entry) which was somewhat perplexing to them. Surprisingly, there were no rude comments, giggles, or obscene noises made when we turned to this page.

We discovered that not everyone in the world lives the way we do and as our studies in geography progress, we will learn even more about that.

Celebrating!

2010-09-07T16:35:00.001-05:00

The new school year has begun at the Wilson home!

To celebrate the occasion, we started our day with Schueltueten or, as we call them, school cones. You can read about them here. They are not dunce caps as this picture seems to show. This is a tradition from my German heritage that we have adopted as our own, swaying a bit from the tradition and doing it the Wilson way. We plan to do this every year as a kick-off to our new year and fill them with any needed school supplies. It didn't take long for our children to empty the contents of their cones and invert them onto their heads as "party hats".

After a great first day of school, we had some friends over for lunch to celebrate.

Just for fun, we ate a sandwich on a stick...

followed by a pudding treat that everyone helped make.

Then we put three flavors of pudding in an ice cream cone and added sprinkles. Yummy! Yummy!

We are thankful that we can learn about God and His world in order to know Him better and worship Him with all our hearts, all our souls, and all our minds. We are especially excited that we get to begin to read this year, and will one day be able to read God's word on our own. And though we are not Harvard University, a quote from their original rule book is great to think about as we start this school year: "Everyone shall consider the main end of his life and studies to know God and Jesus Christ which is eternal life..."

We are celebrating the opportunity we have to know God more in this coming year!

Twinkle Toes

2010-09-04T22:15:00.000-05:00

The day of Mam-maw and Aunt Mel's visit finally arrived!

They came bearing many gifts, but these were the favorites:

Not just your ordinary sneakers...

This called for much running around in the dark and neon bracelets to match our flashing feet.

Thanks Mam-maw and Aunt Mel!

Family Trip

2010-09-04T22:10:00.001-05:00

Here are some highlights from our family trip.

Our first stop was Washington D.C for a visit with our friends at Restoration Church, a new church plant. This trip also included a Cardinals baseball game for Malachi and Daddy. BUT, the best thing about D.C. was the "underground train". Here is a drawing by Malachi of the Metro.

Next, we headed to Hampton, Virginia for some fun at the beach. We made a stop on the other side of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. The kids saw how we got from there (the spot in the background of the picture) to here and learned what the purpose is of a bridge-tunnel.

The kids loved the beach and Malachi especially loved learning to ride the waves (he is somewhere underneath the splash in this picture).

Burying each other in the sand was a highlight too.

Popsicles at the beach were a yummy, melting mess, but they never tasted better!

We ended our trip with a tour of the Naval Base in Norfolk, Virginia. The boys have been playing "Army" ever since with their new toy planes. We all had a great trip to end the summer!

Beaver Dam

2010-08-24T21:51:00.000-05:00

A beaver lives down the road from us. The green, murky stuff to the left is water. The beaver has built a dam under the road. Daddy took us down there yesterday evening and held the kids over the side of the road so they could see.

Here's what they saw:

I held my camera over the side so they could see what the rest of the dam looks like:

Then we observed how the creek on the other side of the road is at a much lower level because of the dam.

Beaver seekers:

Wise Ants

2010-08-18T15:31:00.001-05:00

We used this ant farm (created from the ant pile in our yard) in our Sunday School lesson on Proverbs 6:6, so at home we continued our study.

Whenever we get interested in something, we inevitably end up having to find a coloring page about our subject of interest. Malachi has been working on this ant picture over the past few days.

Today we picked some of our favorite snacks to feed our growing ant pile. We made guesses as to what they would like the best.

This proved very difficult with three cats continually trying to eat up our experiement.

Here we are obsrving the ants. Eventually we dumped the food directly on the ground which helped the ants get the food better.

Cheerios and potato chips seemed to be the favorites...

Even for the cats!

After our observations, we learned some more about ants from our science book:

Roy G Biv

2010-08-13T20:33:00.000-05:00

Success!

All it took was a different recipe that required more flour and water, less salt, a little cream of tarter and a little oil. I made it last night while the kids were in bed, but they were very excited to see it when they woke up:

Since we finally had our playdough, we got to try this activity that I found at The Crafty Crow.

We started out with the primary colors:

Then we mixed the yellow with the blue, the blue with the red, and the red with the orange. We ended up with the secondary colors: green, purple, and red. Well, our purple wasn't exactly purple, but it was close enough.

Then we mixed those colors with the colors on either side of them. We ended up with the tertiary colors (though I didn't use that word with the kids) and a beuatiful color wheel.

Finally, we made "Rainbow Kebabs" with our pieces of dough and were reminded about ROY G BIV:

Then we thought it would be fun to mix all the pieces of playdough together and see what color they made.

It was the perfect color for tadpoles, and the kebab sticks were perfect for spearing the little tadpoles and catching them.

To close out our colorful morning, we read this eye-pleasing book that Mam-maw sent us:

It is a picture book with each page dedicated to a color. Within each page we saw many different things from God's world that are different shades of one particular color.

What a beautiful masterpiece God has created!

Better Try It Again!

2010-08-12T18:31:00.000-05:00

The outcome: playdough that is way too sticky to work with. But it was a lot of fun for the kids and they got some good practice in measuring, following directions, and in patience. Oh wait, the lesson in patience was for me.

(See picture below.)

You try making playdough with

a very curious two-year-old!

Countdown!

2010-08-10T13:49:00.001-05:00

Though we have already been doing a little bit of school work here and there (in order to work out a schedule and to try out some different things), Septemebr 7th is our official start date. On this day we will incorporate all our subjects, and follow a definate schedule. Although school in our area starts at the end of August, we have a family trip scheduled for that time and we are very excited about Mam-Maw and Aunt Mel coming to visit us over Labor Day weekend! Due to these two exciting events and many other activities, AND the fact that mom still has some prep work to do for school, we decided that Septemebr 7th would be a good kick-off date. Malachi is excited about starting Kindergarten and Karis will be in K-3. We are planning a celebration in honor of our first day, and since the kids are sure to ask me EVERYDAY "When is it going to be here?", we will be counting down the days with our new countdown clock!

Oh! Just realized the clock is off. Apparently this clock is on London time, which is 5 hours ahead! So our countdown won't be exactly accurate, but for our purposes we are only concerned with the "days" anyway.

Yummy Watermelon!

2010-08-06T16:11:00.000-05:00

While Karis was off having fun of her own, the boys got a ~~little~~ BIG treat!

Drawing a Pteranadon

2010-08-05T19:48:00.001-05:00

Today Malachi wanted to draw a Pteranadon after watching a cartoon about dinosaurs.

He followed these directions in his 1,2,3, Draw book:

This book goes a bit beyond his ability, but he keeps wanting to try. He told me that he was getting a little frustrated, but with a little bit of instruction from Mom, he remained calm and pressed on with lots of patience. Here is how his pteranadon turned out:

We are looking forward to starting drawing lessons from our new book in the coming weeks. I think it will give him the skills and confidence to draw all the things his imagination comes up with.

de Paola's Popcorn and Piles of Dirt

2010-08-04T22:03:00.002-05:00

Today we had some playmates for the day!

For snack time we ate popcorn...

...while reading this terrific book:

We learned about the three types of corn, ways popcorn used to be cooked, and other interesting facts.

After chowing down, it was on to some serious work that required all hands, and of course safety glasses.

The dirt was being transported to a spot under the trampoline that was to be the kitten's "dirt bed".

Notice that the kitten has disappeared from the scene. I guess she wasn't as excited as the workers were about this idea, or she is off eating all the popcorn we left on the ground.

Slow and Steady

2010-08-03T22:12:00.001-05:00

Today Karis and Asher worked on some activities
found in Slow and Steady, Get Me Ready.

Karis filled in holes:

Asher sorted and placed lids on the correct container:

Making a tower was more fun, though.

Meanwhile, Malachi worked hard on his handwriting and was able to add another box car to his Alphabet Express:

Then he decided it would be a great idea to put this train above his Alphapbet Express to see which one is longer....

(This was the result of a cutting and pasting exercise from his Kumon workbook the other day)
We will have to wait until we finish the alphabet to find out the winner.

Elmer Elevator

2010-08-02T17:42:00.000-05:00

We finished reading this book today...

And immediately picked up the sequel:

We just can't get enough of Elmer and his adventures. These books have been a great hit with the kids and we HIGHLY reccommend them! We will definitely be headed to the library to get the next in the series.

Neighborhood Fun

2010-07-30T16:42:00.001-05:00

Afterschool fun with our neighbors...

Pirate Party

2010-07-20T21:32:00.000-05:00

Malachi turned 5, and we had a pirate party to celebrate.

First, the little pirates made parrots...

Then we climbed aboard our makeshift Pirate ship and

fired some cannon balls at our enemies (which was really just an empty trash can).

Next we had a relay race to see which team could pick up the most pretzels with their pirate hooks.

Here is Malachi cheering his team on.

This is a pre-party picture of Malachi's birthday cake (a.k.a Pirate Ship). Take note of Malachi's "pirate face", as he called it.

Singing Happy Birthday...

Malachi received several great presents and he was particularly excited to get this one:

To end the party, the little Pirates had to go on a treasure hunt to

find their loot. Here they are receiving instructions for the hunt and their first map.

Here they are working together to figure out where the next map, or possibly the treasure, is located.

And another map.... eventually a key was connected to a map which lead them to the treasure chest.

In the treasure chest, they each found their own box of loot.

Even the princess..

Asher was VERY excited about this lollipop.

About 45 minutes later, he had conquered it.

One of our pirates models some of his loot.

And finally, our not-so-scary Birthday Boy Pirate.

Handwriting Progress

2010-07-16T15:55:00.001-05:00

We are praising God for giving us the ability to progress with joy and enthusiasm in what has typically been very frustrating for all of us!

Asher's Training

2010-07-16T15:45:00.001-05:00

The fun has begun:

The above didn't last very long...

Needless to say, we are on pause with this until I can get to the store to buy some pull-ups!

LMNOP

2010-07-14T21:44:00.000-05:00

We ended our school day today by putting together this puzzle:

We sang the Alphabet Song over and over again so we would know what puzzle piece came next.

It was great for letter recognition, learning ABC order, and (mommy) trying to teach that LMNOP is five different letters!

On a side note, this is how Asher usually spends school-time:

I Get Wet

2010-07-14T12:31:00.000-05:00

Yesterday in Science we read this book:

Through this book and the mini experiments it lead us to do, we discovered some things about water.

First we learned that water flows and takes the shape of whatever is holding it. It is rectangular in this picture because the glass dish is a rectangle.

Then we watched how water sticks to itself and forms a drop of water...

which inevitably lead to catching the drops with our tongues.

Karis is further noting how water sticks to itself by observing how the bristles on this brush only stuck together when we got them wet.

In this picture, Malachi has just discovered that water doesn't stick to everything-- like wax paper (or even a duck's back since God made it that way so they wouldn't get cold in the winter while diving in the water)

Water does stick to some things... like paper towels. And it is really cool to watch the water move up the paper towel.

and long before we got to this part in the book, Karis was already discovering that water sticks to us...

and it is really fun to pretend like the water and paintbrush is nail polish.

Asher just had fun playing with the water and the brush.

So, we learned that we get wet because water flows, sticks to itself, and then it stick to us!

Work and Play

2010-07-11T17:08:00.001-05:00

We eased into school this week, just trying to get into a good routine so that by Fall we can really get down to business. This was the favorite "work" activity for the week...

Cutting and pasting all by themselves...

That is always a blast !

Our favorite "play" activity was Daddy's puppet show:

It was about a dog, "Hinzo", that needed their help to find the dragon named "Dragonfly". They had to help Hinzo by barking whenever they saw the dragon. Poor Hinzo wasn't the hound dog he claimed to be... this made it all the more hilarious for preschoolers.

Asher had to take a closer look...

When the show was over,

Malachi and Karis wanted to be the puppeteers.

Of course, in their story, the dragon caught the dog...

The puppet show returned later in the week,

and we have a feeling it will be a family favorite.

Tell Me A Story Again

2010-07-08T18:22:00.000-05:00

We told stories again today using our story cards.

I had both Malachi and Karis pick three cards (without looking) from the deck.

These are the cards Karis picked out of the pile:

This is the story she told:

Bear was at his house.

Chicken came in.

Flowers were dancing.

The trees were growing.

The grass smells like dew.

Here are the cards Malachi ended up with:

This is the story he told:

Two Pirates named Piggy and Bear Cub

found a Pirate ship and they tied up a princess.

Evidently, Malachi's story telling juice takes a minute to get him going because he told three more stories after this one that were much more creative and detailed... it also helped that I let him look at the cards and pick the pictures he wanted.

Here are the illustrations for just one of the stories he told today (he says this one is his favorite):

The story went like this...

One day there was a little Pirate named Little Bear and He went on his very own sea. He was sailing away! And on his way he saw a raccoon walking right by his sea and he tied him up and spanked him. And on his way he found a treasure chest. He sailed back home and when he saw a money, a big button right there, he sailed home and, "Mama I tied up a raccoon and spanked him and look what I found right by my treasure chest." "Ooh, that's a button." "Can you sew my button for me?" "Yes!"
THE END

Astronaut Malachi

2010-07-05T08:51:00.000-05:00

One day while I was gone to an appointment,

Cory read this book to the kids:

Malachi was particularly interested in this page of the book:

When he woke up from his nap, and dreaming of how

he could be an astronaut, this is what he came up with:

Note the footie pajamas (a.k.a. space suit),

space shoes, and gloves. The helmet is made from a steamer

insert for a pot and a grilling basket...

all of which was his idea...

I just tied the helmet together for him.

Apparently, the couch was the space shuttle,

and the big window in our living room made for some

great moon gazing.

Disney World: Animal Kingdom

2010-06-26T22:12:00.000-05:00

On the second day of our trip to Disney World,

we went to Animal Kingdom.

We ended up staying only half a day, but it was a fun time anyway.

Our first stop was the safari where we saw lots of animals.

Here are just some of the ones we saw.

Giraffes...

Elephants...

Rhino's...

Wildabeasts...

and the kids were so excited to see Watussi cattle,

just like Pap-paw used to have!

We took a train to go to the petting zoo in another part of Animal Kingdom. Then the rain came and we waited under this covered train stop. The kids enjoyed playing on these metal elephant sculptures.

As it turned out, the petting zoo was closed due to the weather.

We ended up stopping in at a museum type place where we

were pleasantly surprised to meet this bug.

Right outside this museum, the kids were able to watch a tortoise move around and even got to touch it's shell.

The last thing we were able to do before leaving Animal Kingdom was watch the Bug's Life 3-D show. That proved to be a little scary for Asher and Karis, but Malachi loved it.

The rain had passed by the time we got back to our hotel and we were able to spend the afternoon at the hotel pool.

The kiddy pool was shaped like a wrecked pirate ship and the kids had a blast in it!

There was a barrel at the top that filled with water and emptied

out over the pool every few minutes.

Malachi and Karis loved coming down this slide and...

...running right back around to do it over and over again.

The slide on the other side was more up to Asher's speed.

He loved he bottom of the slide where

he had his own personal little pool.

Malachi and Karis got to go in the big pool with

daddy and go down two different big slides.

We ended the day by eating at the hotel restaurant and

we just had to throw some money in the fountain.

Sweet dreams with our new friends from Animal Kingdom!

Disney World: Magic Kingdom

2010-06-26T22:09:00.000-05:00

We were so blessed to be able to spend 2 days in Disney World last week. What fun it was, and though I took lots of pictures, I didn't get pictures of everything we did and I am not posting every picture I took (though by the time you are done looking through them, it may seem that I have).

We spent the first day in Disney World at Magic Kingdom. Here we are as we approach the entrance.

We made sure we got to see Mickey and were surprised to meet Minnie too!

"It's a Small World" was one of our first stops.

Asher loved riding on Cinderella's Carousel.

We all enjoyed rides like The Pirate's of the Carribbean, Peter Pan's Flight, the Flying Dumbo ride, and Alladin's Magic Carpet Ride:

Malachi's special treat was getting to ride a kiddy roller coaster with Daddy and then he got to ride Splash Mountain and Thunder Mountain Railroad. All of which enormously thrilled him. Cory said he was never scared and smiled and aughed through them all.

And this was Karis and Mommy's special treat... lunch at Cinderella's castle.
We walked in right off the blistering hot street and were brisked to the front of the line to get our picture taken with Cinderella since our table was ready. This all was a little much for Karis to handle so she was a little shy to get her picture taken with Cinderella, which is why I am in the picture with her. Needless to say, this picture is not going to be hung on any walls. I actually can't believe I am posting it, but I knew Mam-maw and Aunt Mel would want to see it.

As we walked away from Cinderella and up some winding stairs to our table, Karis asked me why Cinderella wasn't coming to eat with us. I was worried that she would be dissipointed that cinderella wasn't actually going to be sitting with us, but all that changed when she got some food in her belly, began to cool off, and then saw an unexpected visitor enter the dining room. There were actually 4 unexpected visitors and karis had the biggest smiles and clapped her hands in excitement each time one entered. She kept saying, "Mommy! I didn't know ALL the princesses were going to be here!"

Now that our little princess has met the princessess, we need to work on her princess manners!

After our meal we met up with the boys and had an hour and a half downpour that kept us under a breezway in Cinderella's Castle. When the rain slowed down significantly, Malachi and Karis wanted to play in the rain.

At some point in the day, we just happened to run right into a cowboy, or "bull-ride" as Asher says.

Malachi and Karis helped Mommy put this mean old robot in jail at Buzz Lightyear's laser ride.

We ended the day with a few pictures by the castle.

Night may have fallen on the Magic Kingdom, and we may have left it, but our fun wasn't over yet!

We had a pirate room to sleep in!

Here is Asher trying out his souvenir. He knows nothing about Peter Pan (except that the ride was a little scary since it was dark in there), but he knows that red guy is the mean guy and growls everytime he plays with him.

More fun with Souvenir's...

Karis chose a "writing book" and pen, along with the ugliest thing in the store: the heart-shaped Arial pillow. At least it matches the blue in her bedspread here at home and really doen't look that bad.

It was a long and tiring day, but well worth it! We had so much fun!

Birthday X2

2010-06-07T18:38:00.000-05:00

We celebrated two birthdays this past week. Asher turned 2 and Cory turned 32. It made for a busy week, but we tried to have a special day for each of them. Asher got Chuck-E-Cheese games and pancakes for lunch. Cory got to sleep in and a big omelet breakfast.

Apart from their actual birth-day celebrations, they shared a cake-day.

Horse cupcakes for our horse-lover. Here he is mesmerized by the people singing happy birthday to him. Yes, that is a finger up his nose... a favorite resting place for the pointer finger when he is sucking his fingers.

Daddy got one of his favorites...

chocolate cake layered with cheesecake bites...

Yummy, Yummy!

Spotlight on Malachi

2010-05-30T23:03:00.000-05:00

Malachi had a great weekend...

Here are some snapshots that let you peek into it.

In this picture he is holding our kitten "Sleepy" after being reunited

with her- she had disappeared for 6 days.

Malachi always has work to do.

Usually it is pretend work, but here he is spraying his stains with Shout.

He rode his (well his sister's) bike without training wheels this weekend!

He actually rode by himself for about 20 feet. What a BIG boy!

Some dinner guests wanted to watch the Nascar race, but I think

Malachi was more interested in it than they were.

He spent the evening transforming himself into a race car driver.

At some point after this picture was taken,

a milk jug helmet was added to the ensemble.

Being a big brother. Asher wants to be just like him.

Thanking God for fun times and good memories made.

Slip and Slide

2010-05-27T15:14:00.002-05:00

We went outside to play, but the swings were too hot to sit in, as was the slide. It was a scorcher today and we were about to go back inside, when we remembered the surprise that Mam-Maw had sent us: a water slide! It turned out to be a great time outside.

The kids had a blast!

They're saying "Thank You Mam-Maw!"

Yes, Karis changed her bathing suit.

Those of you who know her, did you expect anything less?

Reverend Malachi J. Wilson

2010-05-24T08:12:00.001-05:00

Tell Me A Story

2010-05-18T23:10:00.001-05:00

Today we told stories using these cards:

It is a great pre-reading activity, and the kids really enjoyed it.

We did it several times today.

First they picked out the cards they wanted to use and thought of a story to tell.

These are the cards Malachi chose:

His story was about a squirrel who stole Banana Pants' ring and then the policeman Owl came and squooshed him and put him in jail. Karis' stories aren't as easy to retell, and have lots of made up words.

They both recorded their stories on tape and were able to listen to their work!

Asher just wanted to push the buttons on the tape recorder.

Later in the day, Karis wanted to trace her name with the very

special (and off-limits when mom is not with you) permanent marker.

This next picture I need to explain. Today they were watching a recorded tv program. Well, it went off and turned into an infomercial having to do with exercise or something. Before I realized the show was over and turned the TV off, Malachi saw men with no shirts and big muscles. So he has been trying to show off his "muscles" all day. Prior to this picture he flexed and asked me if I could see his bones. He meant muscles, and I didn't have the heart to tell him that bones was all I really saw. In this picture he is really proud of his big "muscle" that is popping out. Again, I just couldn't burst his bubble.

Thankful today that God's grace is sufficient and His power is made perfect in all my weaknesses.

Seriously?

2010-05-17T22:18:00.000-05:00

Seriously? Did I let my kids go to the grocery store dressed like this?

Yes, I did. At least the camouflage jacket and the hats were left in the car.

And... Seriously? Did I really let my kids do this?

Yep, any watery mud hole is irresistible...

Malachi always has work to do...

nothing more fun than mud and tools...

puddle-stomping....

Malachi wanted to be sure I took a picture of his muddy hands.

He was pretty impressed that, though his gloves were a mess, his hands were nice and clean.

We are thanking God for the much needed rain and His abundant grace.

We're Back!

2010-05-17T21:42:00.000-05:00

Well, after a couple months of craziness, I finally feel settled enough to blog a little bit. We are not officially in school again until the fall, but each day will hold learning of its own. For now, I want to post a few pictures of just some of the MANY, sweet, friends we miss from Mississippi.

And, better late than never... here are some pictures from Easter Sunday.

Opening the Easter basket goodies from Mam-maw and Pap-paw...

We plan on using this blog to allow our families that are so far from us to glimpse into our day-to-day life. So, though school is not in session, we will try to post a few pictures throughout the week that will give you a peek into The Wilson Quiver...

We are praising God for His graciousness to us!

Rodeo Days

2010-03-16T07:56:00.001-05:00

The boys have been mesmerized by our trips to the Dixie National Rodeo in Jackson and the Bull Bash in Liberty. These first two pictures are from when they met the Rodeo Clown from Liberty, Rudy Burns.

For two, maybe three, weeks this has been the scene in our living room:

Bareback Bronc Riding...

and of course the wreck...

And "Bull" Riding, complete with flank strap and the cowboys own rope.

We had some video footage of our rides and wrecks, but I was unable to upload them here. Maybe you were able to glimpse into our life this past week through these pictures. Mom was packing up for our move to North Carolina, and was able to catch a break here and there watching her cowboys.

Thankful for God's grace!

Owls

2010-03-08T16:25:00.000-06:00

One evening last week while we were having our family bible time, we heard an owl hoot right outside our window. We were a very excited about that and decided to turn that excitement into some crafty fun.

Owl making and caretaking dominated our week. This post will chronicle our (mainly Malachi's) adventures.

First, we made mommy owls with pine cones from Pap-paw and Mam-maw's house and feathers and googly- eyes from Wal-mart.

Then we made babies. We had to wrap yarn around our fingers 100 times to make a pom-pom.

Then we glued the eyes, beak, and feet onto the puffs.

1 mommy, 2 babies

2 mommies, 2 babies, 2 happy kids

Malachi created this owl cage to take care of the owls.

Then he moved the cage to his room. Don't even think about moving that green tractor you see there... because it, and the other toys you see, are the walls to the cage and not really toys at all.

And, as you can see, the 2 mommies were actually 1 mommy and 1 daddy, and the baby owls multiplied.

Here Malachi is demonstrating how to use the "air-pump" so the owls can get air.

By the end of the week, Malachi and Karis' room turned into a pet shop. This meant that every container that held toys was emptied onto the floor and the empty containers were used for housing animals. Here is an example:

Malachi, especially, had a great time with the owls and is still being a great little caretaker. Now, if he will just help me clean up his room, I mean pet shop.

By God's grace, another week completed!

Coins and Continents

2010-03-01T15:17:00.000-06:00

Our favorites in Math this past week were buying groceries with our pennies, complete with a conveyer belt,

and buying toys with dimes.

We spent a couple days on continents again. We made a map of the eastern hemisphere by tracing the pieces from our world continents puzzle. Maybe this week we will do the other side of the world.

We also tried to match our continent flash cards to the correct continent on our wall map by looking at the shape of the land in orange. This was a little more difficult for them than I thought it would be, so we will be practicing this skill some more.

I introduce the -at blend to Malachi

and he practiced sounding out different words.

Handwriting has become a favorite for the two oldest Wilson kids...

And lastly, at his request, we have a chicken...

Although not shown in the picture, this was a role-play

activity complete with "corn" on the ground and the necessary pecking.

Only by God's grace, another week completed!

Goody, Goody, Gumballs

2010-02-22T19:18:00.003-06:00

Golden letter G on green paper...

G gloves...

Writing the words for the G pictures that were on our gloves...

Gumball G's... Malachi made an ABB pattern on one of his letters, and Karis was as colorful as she usually is...

Malachi is writing the price tags on the items we bought during math this week.

Malachi is working on a number book. First he did a sandpaper rubbing of the number, then he wrote it by hand, and finally he drew that number of items on the page.

In Math we also made a pictograph showing our favorite winter activities....

Karis enjoyed matching cookie cutters to the correct outline...

By God's Grace another week is completed!