Thursday, December 16, 2010

A Journey Home


Having an adopted child means that we talk about adoption in our house a lot. And I really thought that each of my kids had a good, age appropriate understanding of what it means. But apparently I was a little wrong on that count. Because a few weeks ago Ezra came up to me asking:

“Mom, was I adopted from Queens?”

Now he knew that he was born in Queens but somehow that information got turned around in his little head. Until he started to believe that we adopted him from Queens. After trying my hardest not to laugh at his question we talked about it until he understood that he was just born at a hospital in Queens. But ever since that conversation he has been obsessed with going to back Queens to see where he is from.

Since we were in the city the other day we decided to drive through Queens so he could satisfy his need for finding his roots. He was really entranced watching Flushing from the car window. We even stopped outside of the hospital he was born in so he could take a picture.





In the end I don't think it was quite the experience he was expecting. He did mention that he wished Queens looked more like Manhattan. But it settled some questions for him. Sometime I marvel at how complex these little people really are.

Until next time.....
~Kayte

Snow Day

It's been a long few days cooped up in the house with the kids doing school and working on Christmas projects. By today we were all starting to go a little stir crazy. It's been extremely cold here and without having any real snow yet; outdoor play has been impossible. So this morning I declared that today would be a:

 "Snow-Less Snow Day."

The kids were super excited when I told them that school was canceled for the day and that we would have to come up with some fun things to do.

We started with some snowman pancakes for breakfast. 


Which were devoured with haste.


For a craft we made some original snow globes. 
I had been planning this craft for a while so I already had everything on hand. 

Clean Mason Jars 
Plastic Figurines
Confetti & Glitter
Glue
Dish Soap


First I had the kids each pick a figurine they wanted to use for their snow globe. Then I glued those onto the underside of the lid. So that the figure would be right side up when the jar was upside down. I used a hot glue gun for this part, but if I did this project again I would probably use super glue. I'm just not sure if the hot glue will hold up in the water over time.

 
After that the kids filled their jars with some confetti and glitter. I also had them add a small drop of dish soap to help the confetti float. 


Then I filled the jars with water all the way to the top before adding the cap with the figurine. Some water will spill out when you do this, which is exactly what you want. Make sure the cap is screwed on really tight; dry it off, and your done.


After we were done with the craft our snow day called for some fancy hot chocolate loaded with marshmallows

.


And for the piece de resistance of our day;

The Epic Snow Ball Fight

I first came across the idea for an indoor snowball fight from A Touch of Home Learning. They had a post on making "snow balls" out of white plastic grocery bags. I didn't have any of those so I used large sheets of white tissue paper.  Rolled those up into a ball and set them out for the kids. All the furniture was pushed back against the walls so they could just go at it, which they really did.


 And then to end the day we snuggled up on the couch to watch elf.


I think today was just what we needed to get out of our "stuck in the house" funk.

Until next time.....
~Kayte

I'm linking to:
We Play @ Childhood 101 


Tuesday, December 14, 2010

A visit to "The Tree"

Since we still live relatively close to the city we decided to take a trip in over the weekend to visit the Rockefeller Center Tree. My parents and sisters came in along with my nephew. Isn't he just so freaking cute?


But for some reason we seemed to have forgotten that Rockefeller plaza is crazy packed this time of year. You would think that after living in NY for 10 years we would remember things like this. So these are the only pictures we got of the tree. It was literally like being in a mosh pit full of tourists.



Thankfully the kids didn't seem to mind not getting a close look at the tree. Although, Jael did see someone proposing which she found really interesting. After getting out of the crowds we all headed to a well-loved French restaurant.



The weather was also blessedly mild so we engaged in an impromptu photo shoot.


Of course we couldn't all manage to stand still at the same time. Oh well :)

Until next time.....
~Kayte

Friday, December 10, 2010

stART

This week for stART we read: 



This was a new book for us and the kids really enjoyed it. It's a cute little story about gingerbread baby going out into the world to look for friends. Only to be chased back home to find that the little boy who keeps him had built him a gingerbread village with lots of friends.

For our art project we made a gingerbread village too. Our gingerbread village was a no bake, super easy project. Which works for us since making gluten free gingerbread can be tricky.

First I gathered up some small milk cartons and small cardboard boxes. I glued them onto a flat sheet of cardboard.


Then, once I made sure there was so stray glue or loose pieces of cardboard, we iced the whole thing in white icing. Being really generous with it since the icing is what the candy would stick too.


Once that was done the kids just went to town decorating.




The only difficulty was keeping them from eating all the candy they had just put on.


Until next time.....
~Kayte

I'm linking this post to:

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.  A la SouleMama, Head on over and join in the comments, there are so many great moments.

 Until next time.....

~Kayte

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Pictures from the tree hunt













Until next time.....
~Kayte

Christmas Cards

Yesterday we all sat down to work on our Christmas cards for this year. I had the Mr. bring home some card stock and envelopes for us to use from work. And the kids and I went to work. 

Jael decided she wanted to do embroidered cards. She had seen some in the store she really liked so we decided to try it. First I had her make a simple drawing that I taped over the cards.


Then I went around it with an embroidery needle making holes for her to sew through.


After I made all the holes I removed the drawing from the card. This is what it looked like.


Then I set her up with a needle and some embroidery floss.


She really enjoyed making these. And they turned out quite nicely.


Ezra wasn't in much of a mood for pictures yesterday. But I managed to get one out of him. For his card he just wanted to draw gingerbread men, or what he called his "crazy" gingerbread men.



Does this gingerbread man look crazy?

Mateos made hand print Christmas tree cards. I was really impressed with him because these took a good bit of time to make and had a few steps. No small feat for a three year old.

First we painted his hand green. And made a print on the card.



Then he painted the trunks.


 After that had dried Mateos drew some lines across the tree for lights.


Then he glued on some tissue paper balls for ornaments.


Then a glitter star for the top of the tree was necessary.


He was really proud of his work.


 Now I've just got to start addressing them so we can put them in the mail.

Until next time......
~Kayte

I'm linking this post to: