A Week Off!!

We took last week off from regular schoolwork. Maddie enjoyed her time of being a bit lazy but also started to get a bit antsy every day in the afternoon. I was somewhat prepared for that though! Thanks to the blog Small Things I learned about an e-magazine called Alphabet Glue. Even better, they were having a sale so I was able to get 2 issues for the price of 1 and have some activities at the ready for Maddie when she got fidgety!

The first one we tried was mixing up some colored ice cubes!

Maddie's favorite little day care assistant was helping in this part.

 

Aren't they pretty?

Maddie watched them melt. We kept track of which ones were melting first and what colors were created when they blended together. We ended up with a lot of black water when we were done!

 

 

We also made some books from cereal boxes. Those were pretty neat but my assistance was needed quite a bit so I didn't get any pictures.

 

 

Then we made some hot cross buns with the day care kids on Thursday. This was a lot of fun for everyone. They came out pretty good for a first try especially when I had so many helping hands.

 

 

 

On Good Friday we had the day off from both school and day care. Maddie took full advantage of a free backyard for dancing and gymnastics.

 

Belly showing!!! We will have to do something about that pretty soon. She is getting a bit old for that.

 

Here is proof that if you persist at something as a parent eventually you get payoff. I started making Maddie go upstairs after lunch to read her book. She used to be really annoyed by this but I wanted her to have the quiet time away from the day care kiddos and I wanted her to read on her own uninterrupted. Now its so ingrained that she picks up her apple/yogurt/cookie and heads upstairs with her book even on a Saturday or a day off. No arguments, no pouting and no bargaining.

 



 

 

During one of our walks Maddie found several good sticks to make a bow out of and on Saturday she got Brian to help her out.

 





 

Then on Saturday afternoon it was Momma's turn for a fun project. I got the white wool yarn out I bought a long, long time ago and a egg dying kit. I was thrilled with the rainbow yarn that was the end result. I am practicing because my 4H kids are going to make needles and dye yarn too.

 

 

Maddie wanted to make a rainbow colored one too until she saw how long it took. Then she decided the 3 color option would be best.

 

Bright and early on Easter morning Maddie was checking out her Easter basket. She also had a visit from the Tooth Fairy! Things were busy in our house that night--lots of visitors.

 

Yup, Raggey is still important!

 

We arrived at church to help greet everyone coming in. Here are Maddie and Emily in their not quite matching but almost outfits!

 

Now we are back to school. We have only about 6 weeks left and then its on to 5th grade, middle school, the logic stage!