Be Joyful Parents: March 2015

Here is an update on their learning journey in pictures. Enjoy!

J is for jewelry box!

She loves to paint!

The project was finished with decorating her box with sea shells she collected in California.

Magdalene painted a tractor for Tobias.

They placed so nicely together....and then five minutes later....

We had a fun time celebrating a feast day.

This is how our family eats meals together. We do the best we can in our humble abode. :)

This little boy loves wiki wax! He makes the letter of the week with them. He is definitely a hands-on learner.

Here is my Montessori approach to learning the letters....using puffy paint! I was going to make sandpaper letters for them to trace the formation with their fingers. I don't know about you, but feeling sandpaper doesn't sound like fun to me! There are green letters for Tobias, and pink letters for Magdalene. I think tracing the letters with puffy paint has helped Magdalene tremendously.

Philomena joined us in a letter game that morning.

He is always proud to show his letters.

St. Valentine's Day bags

The children received essential things for their gifts. Magdalene was thrilled about her new water bottle. Tobias was excited about his new construction and fire engine plates. Philomena was happy about her new Minnie Mouse sippy cup.

We practiced good manners at the table.

Magdalene was pretending to be St. Kateri for Tea Time with the Saints. We have been trying a weekly activity in which we drink lemonade or hot cocoa with a special treat. The boy touch is the John Deere platter we serve the treats on, because poor Tobias has been exposed far too much to our girly activities. He loved seeing the John Deere plate! I try to read about a saint that week who correlates to the letter we are studying. There are times we can learn about more than one saint, but Along the Alphabet Path and Catholic Icing have provided some great saints for us to focus on this year.

I had big plans that morning of St. Patrick's day....and then there's reality. I wanted to make homemade pancakes shaped like shamrocks. They didn't seem to care about the freezer waffles decorated with green. They are easy to please!

The children were excited about their St. Patrick treat bags. We decorated cups with tissue paper to make a light decoration for L week. We placed a battery operated tea light in our cups, and it was a nice touch to our feast day celebrations.

Magdalene's picture
I remember singing as a child that prayer included in this coloring page. Our family is always in the mood for singing.

Tobias is coming a long way in his coloring. I am just happy he is content to sit down, put forth effort, and then put the cap back on the marker. It took months of constant asking him, "Did you cap your marker?" Now that one is almost fully trained in the cap method, I have another little one who loves to color....."Mena, where is your cap?"

Magdalene's light

Cute headband alert! You can find it in the dollar section of Target

The moment we have been waiting for......M for Magdalene!

Rapunzel is working on a dog house.

Here is her dog.

Tobias was not in the mood for cartoon time on the feast of St. Joseph. We have the cutest cartoon called Small One, and St. Joseph is in it. Well, he had fun painting.

He loves building cars and airplanes out of his little kit he received for Christmas this past year. It can be frustrating for him. Sometimes I wonder why I put myself through the torture of seeing him get upset when he can't figure it out, but we are learning a great deal more about his personality/temperament. He gets easily frustrated, and we really try to encourage him. It can be brutal some days, but he is so excited when he feels he is accomplishing something and becoming more independent. He is going to the potty without us having to go with him most days. However, he wants to wipe himself now. No.....not yet little man. I'm not ready for that!