LOTW-Letter F with Tert and Stella

F for Fish

 Tert and Dad started out the week by scrubbing our pool and putting it in the shed.  (I guess this kind of goes with fish ;)

 We did the poke page first...

 Next came size sort ;) Tert does it by going: This is Daddy, then Mommy, then Stella...

 Uppercase and Lowercase Letter Match

 Do a Dot Page

 Next we read some 'fishy' poems...

 Then we did Fish Measuring with paper clips, because Tert ate all the goldfish (LOL!)

 Then we counted fish and he matched the number to the correct number of fish :)

 Fish Puzzle

 Awesome job Tert!

 Tert does a bit of science with his brothers, and today he colored a chimp. ;)

 Then he sorted the uppercase and lowercase F's
Then he did his Magnet page:

~My Little Student~

Christmas Cookie Baking :) By: Rus

 ~Christmas Cookies~

one time dad took us to grandma's to cook cookies and we went to get a snak first.

and we ate it and when we got to grandma's and we made are cookies

 also we cooked them 

and after we cooked them we pot frosting on them

then we watched a movie then dad came and took us home

 By: Rus

 Andes Mint and Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies ;)

 Rus's Cookies

 Tert's Cookies

Filia's Cookies

Vacation Fun From Stella :)

Hello to all of Alma Mater's Readers!
        It has been a while since I have posted here.  We have had a wonderful Thanksgiving week, and I hope you have too!  We took the whole week off of school, and Dad took a vacation week.
        On Monday, we woke up and scrubbed this house from top to bottom.  Every toy bin was dumped out, and every cobweb was swiffered.  We were done by about 1:00 P.M. (after starting at quarter of seven!) and sat down to eat lunch with Dad, who had been running errands all morning.  The house was finally clean, and Mom gave us some Christmas spending money.  It felt good to get all of the cleaning done before we decorated for Christmas (which we always do on Thanksgiving week.) We went for a walk, took lots of pictures and made the slideshow which I shared with all of you =)
        On Tuesday, we played family games and watched movies in the morning.  During the afternoon, Mom started her school prep, so as to get it out of the way before the week was over.  Dad took Me, Leo, Rus, Tert, and Filia out to Franklin Falls Dam.  We stayed there until it got too cold, and then we went back to the car to run some errands.  We picked some things up that Mom needed, then stopped at the Bittersweet Fabric Shop to see if they could fix my machine.  We were very relieved to find out that it only needed a little oil, and I got it back that day for no charge!    We finished off our little trip by going to Cumberland Farms for some cocoas.
        Wednesday was relaxing in the morning.  Dad got the oil changed and surprised us by bringing Chinese Takeout for lunch!  The rest of the afternoon however, was spent in mashing potatoes, seasoning casseroles, and baking pies.  We addressed Christmas cards and packaged up gifts, ending the evening by watching a movie.
        Thursday was Thanksgiving: a blur of turkey, ham, pies, potatoes, stuffing, and eggnog!
         On Friday we decorated for Christmas.  In about ten minutes we had our stockings up, Christmas candles out, Annalee dolls on the windowsill, and Christmas tree stand in place.  The Advent calendar was put up, along with other Christmas decor.  Christmas music was put in and we stood back to survey our work.
        Dad came in and looked surprised.  "I guess we're ready for our Christmas tree!" We all went to the car after a light lunch and headed out to Blackforest Nursery.  After some careful looking, we finally made our decision and purchased the tree.  Then we went to Cumberland Farms for some hot chocolate, which is a tradition we started a few years ago.  When we got to the counter, we put up all our hot chocolates and one granola bar for Leo.  Dad and Mom tried to tell the cashier that the hot chocolates were showing up as $0.00!
        "Oh, it's Free Coffee Friday." He said, scanning the bar and trying to smother a smile at our surprised faces.  Mom and Dad laughed as soon as we got out.  "6 free hot chocolates!" It turned out to be a very worthwhile trip!
        We brought our tree back, but didn't decorate it because the boys and Dad were going out to a Monarchs Hockey Game.  They had fun and came back late at night. :) (Thanks to Aunt Kathy for the tickets!)
        Next day, we decorated the tree, and later in the day Mom and I went out to the Nutcracker Ballet at the Palace Theater.  It was such a good performance, with amazing costumes and a live orchestra!  We came out of the performance and Mom and I saw a little Mexican restaurant that Dad had recommended. We got two delicious burritos there along with some of their chips, salsa and guacamole
        On Sunday, we had colds so we stayed home from church.  While we rested at home, we played some games, watched some movies and enjoyed the last day of vacation.  It had been a great week, and it took a couple of days to get back into our 'school-mode' but we soon were poring over books.  We are now counting down to our vacation week at Christmas, and the time we will spend with our family and friends!
Here are some quotes from Filia that we have jotted down the past couple weeks:

Filia saw me wearing a bracelet and said: "Sissy, can I have one?" I said, "Sure!" and I got her one from my jewelry box.  She ran around showing them to everyone and saying: "Look at my BRACES!" I guess she thinks I have a bracelet in my mouth ;)

Mom was talking to Filia and the conversation went something like this:
Mom: I love you Filia.
Filia: I love you too.  No wait-I love myself.
Mom: Who is myself?
Filia: Lala!

Mom: Today is Aunt Steph's birthday.  Tomorrow is my birthday.
Filia: My birfay is coming home soon. ;)

Now here are some pictures of our vacation...

 I'm not sure what this is all about...

 Leo surprised Filia with an early Christmas present...a little Rapunzel hair extension :P I'm not sure this is a good thing, because when Leo was trying to help her put it on she protested: "Honey!  Don't touch me!  My hair is tooo beautiful."

 Sweet Smiles!

 Tert loves his Leapster Explorer.  Actually, it is Rus's, but he uses it more often now :)

 The little kids loveee LeapFrog videos! Thank you Grandma Z. for giving some of them to us!

 I love her hair when it is all curly!

 Soon we got into a Thanksgiving mode, as you can see from the picture above (Rus aka Turkey)

 ~Rus got all dressed up~

We found a Thankful Turkey Craft from www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com

  First we used the turkey templates to cut out the above body, head, gobbler, nose, and feathers

 The boys wrote what they were thankful for on the feathers...

 Then they glued everything together :)

 Rus is thankful for: My Family, Food, Adam and Steph, My dog, My home, and cloth[e]s :)

 Tert is thankful for: My Family, Daddy, Sausage, Christmas Trees, Snow, Chocolate ;)

 Completed Turkeys!

 Next we printed out Erica's FREE Thanksgiving Printables :)

 Even Rus joined in :)

 Tracin' T's and counting ships, corn, pilgrims, etc.

 Then came prewriting and patterns =)

 Rus tried out the Thanksgiving Building

 Then Leo and Tert tried the puzzle and Spot the Difference sheet :)

Tert did a wonderful job with his Thanksgiving Graph. He had to graph 2 Indians, 10 pies, 1 ship, etc. and then write which one had Most, Second Most, Least, and Second Least :)

We had a great Thanksgiving, and Filia was given an adorable Turkey hat.  Lyd crocheted it for her and is selling them on her site which you can view here

 Dolling up :)

 Tert loved the angel and insisted on putting it on the tree :)

 Here are some signs of Christmas cheer around our house:

 Here is a snowman wreath that Steph gave me to make :) Thanks so much Steph!

Above are our stockings: Top L to R: Stella, Rus, Leo Bottom L to R: Dad, Tert, Filia, Mom ;)

 Here are Mom's Annalee Dolls.  We love going out to Annalee every year with Grandpa :)

 Decorating the Tree:

~Our Tree~

Posted by: Stella