More Craftiness!

I've had a particular leaf suncatcher craft pinned on my "to-do with Abby" board for weeks now, but I hadn't been able to get her interested in doing it with me.

 

After the hurricane came through, I'd kind of written it off, cuz the leaves had lost their color and were lying all over the yard in wet heaps... but Abby seemed interested in them for the first time. So when she picked up a couple of pretty leaves and asked to do a leaf craft, I jumped at the chance!

 

 

Cut two circles out of wax paper, and spread mod-podge (or any kind of glue that dries clear) across one of them.

 

 

 

Arrange leaves and cover with mod-podge or glue.

 

 

Top with the other piece of wax paper and smooth out the air bubbles.

 

 

When dry, punch a hole in the top and hang in the window! :)

Pumpkin Farm Field Trip Fall 2012

It's Fall, and that means another trip to the pumpkin farm with Abby's class!

 

 

She loved the "biiiiiig pumpkins!"

 

 

 

 

We were fascinated by the goat's pen and their bridge system... all the goats seemed to like being up on top. :)

 

 

Hiding in the "corn"

 

 

 

The hay jumping area was a little flat due to rain, lol, so the kids had fun running around on top of the bales instead!

 

 

Smelling the pretty mums!

 

 

Abby loves her horses!

 

 

 

 

You can't see, but they have cows in these pens, which thrilled Abby to no end.

 

 

Abby and Lilly really wanted to play volleyball, but they couldn't quite get the ball high enough to get it over the net, so it was a short-lived game. :)

 

 

Tractors!

 

 

The corn shed was Abby's favorite part last year!

 

 

 

 

 

Hayride!

 

 

 

 

Then we got to pick out our pumpkins!

 

 

 

Class picture... YOU try arranging twenty 4 year olds! :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We got to eat lunch on the grounds... which was good, because we were hungry! :)

 

 

Lilly! :)

 

After lunch, I took the girls around to get some fall pictures taken.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fun day! :)

Fall Crafting

Abby and I took advantage of our first "day off" since she's been back to do some fun craft projects.

 

 

Pinecone bird feeders! Just in case you grew up under a rock and never did this as a kid :), here's how you do it: cover a pinecone with peanut butter, roll in bird seed until completely covered, tie a string around the top, and hang from a tree or bush so the birdies (and squirrels!) can enjoy.

 

 

We didn't have any string, so we just tucked them in the branches of the front bushes. :)

 

 

Handprint pumpkins! I'm a sucker for any handprint craft...I think it's such a cute way to record a child's growth. First paint a big orange circle on a sheet of paper...

 

 

 ... then paint the child's hands green and have them "stamp" the "vines" on top. I drew a little "stem," too.

 

I still have a few crafts pinned still - an adorable fall leaf suncatcher, for instance - so I can't wait for our next "free" day! :)

 

 

Learning To Read

Ever since Abby asked me to teach her how to read this summer, I've been afraid she'd lose hope or get frustrated because, let's face it, learning to read can be a slow job (even for a very smart little girl!). First you have to learn to recognize all the letters... then all the sounds the letters make... then how to put the sounds together. She's really soldiered on, learning all the names of the letters, how to write upper/lower case letters, learning to write her name, etc. But for some reason, she really struggled with learning the sounds each letter makes. I don't know why - she didn't seem to be able to "hear" the difference, if you will. We'd work on her phonics workbook where she had to circle the things that started with "s", for instance, and this is how it went:

Me: "SSSSnake. Does that start with S?"
Abigail: "Ye-es?"
Me: "Very good! How about nnnnnut?"
Abigail: "Ye-es?"
Me: "Let's listen carefully. NNNNNNNNNut."
Abigail: "Ye-es?"
Me: "No, NNNNNNNNut starts with N. Hear it? N-nut. Ssss. Can you hear it?"
Abigail: "Yes!"
Me: "What about CCCCCCat? Does that start with S?"
Abigail: "Ye-es?"

Eventually I just decided that she obviously wasn't ready yet, and since I didn't want to turn the workbook into a "guessing game," I stuck it back on the shelf, waiting for another time.

We always play educational games while we're driving - even before she would talk to me I'd chatter on while we were driving, counting cars, talking about where trucks might be going, what colors the cars/signs/etc were, and so on. This is how she learned to count to 100 - every time we got in the car we'd count until we reached our destination. Last week I decided to introduce the idea of letter sounds in this way, and we started talking about things that start with the "ahh" sound.

To my surprise, she really seemed to understand the concept, and even came up with some "ahh" words herself! From then on, every time we got in the car we'd play the "letter sounds" game, naming as many words as we could think of for each letter, and so far it's been working.

So far we're up to K/L pretty dependably. I was thinking yesterday that if we finish off the letter sounds in the next couple of weeks, she could be "reading" small words by Christmas! :) I can't wait! Guess I'll have to start looking for some Bob Books for Christmas!

The County Fair!

This weekend was the county fair.

Which was good, cuz Abby's only been talking about going again since the day after it ended last year. Lol. That girl loves her animals.

This year, though, "Curious George Goes To the Fair" aired the week before, so she suddenly realized that the ferris wheel was not for decorative purposes only. You could actually ride on it!

Ever since then, she's reminded me several times that she and mommy were gonna ride the ferris wheel. I gave Natalie a heads-up.

 

I personall am terrified of the ferris wheel, so I wondered if she'd actually end up liking it... but she seemed pretty excited!

It didn't take long for her to spot it! :)

 

 

Waiting in line with Mama.

 

 

She didn't bat an eye watching it go round and round.

 

She was excited to get on...

 

 

...and even seemed good when they got buckled in.

 

 

Once it got going, however, it was another story!

 

 

Although she didn't cry, Abby hid her face in Mama's lap for most of the ride.

 

 

Maggie and I stood at the bottom waving at them when they went by and trying to get Abby to smile, lol.

 

When she got off, Maggie and I jokingly asked her, "Did you have fun?"

And she instantly replied, "Of course I did!" :)

 

After the ferris wheel, Natalie had a few tickets left, so Abby got to ride the carousel, too!

 

 

She loved the horsies - I saw her sweetly "petting" it when she went by! :)

 

She also rode the horse-cart ride (are we seeing a theme here?).

 

 

All in all, it was a fun time at the fair! We also got to see the animals with her - her favorite was the "cute tiny baby cow." :)