Christmas cuties

I thought this was a particularly cute picture of our cuties.  Merry Christmas, everyone!

Picture-book-a-day, Advent 2011 (week 4)

Mortimer's Christmas Manger by Karma Wilson - I bought this book on a whim because of the good reviews and the fact that I was several people back in line on the "hold" list at the library.  I'm glad I got it, it is a very sweet story.  I like it more each time I read it (which has been a lot, Gemma is quite taken with it).

Song of the Stars by Sally Lloyd-Jones - "It's time! It's time!"  This book looks at Christ's coming from the perspective of all creation - the plants, animals, seas and rivers.  It's neat.  And the illustrations are in a "painted" style which adds to the uniqueness of this book.  I was on the request list for this brand new book at the library, and quite pleased that we got it before Christmas. 

The First Day of Winter by Denise Fleming - A cute story "read" to the tune of The 12 Days of Christmas.  We'll read this on the first day of winter!

Usborne's The Story of the Nativity by Anna Milbourne - A nice, traditional story of the Nativity, starting with the Annunciation and ending with the visit of the magi (to the stable, but oh well).  The illustrations are sweet, the cover is gorgeous.  I've always been impressed with Usborne's Bible-related books.  

Asleep in the Stable by Will Hillenbrand - A baby owl meets the baby Jesus for the first time.  This is a sweet story that my sister gave Gemma last year for Christmas when she was very fascinated with owls. 

Four Friends at Christmas by Tomie dePaola - Have I mentioned it is hard (if not downright impossible) to go wrong with dear Tomie dePaola?  We checked out his Four Friends in Autumn this Fall and Gemma really liked it, and without a doubt this was a hit as well.  This story is about Mister Frog, who normally hibernates through winter, but is convinced by his best friends to stay up for Christmas.  Will he make it?!

The Christmas Story by Jane Werner - This is a Little Golden Book that I owned as a child.  A sweet traditional story of the Nativity, and the illustrations are by Eloise Wilkin.  Hard to beat. 

On This Special Night by Claire Freedman - A mother cat and her kittens (which will make this book an automatic hit with both Gemma and Kolbe) living in a barn notice a special star shining in the sky one night.  They end up following the other animals who stop in on their way to the stable and meet a very special baby on a very special night.  The illustrations in this book are beautiful.  We will read it on Christmas eve.

This is the Star by Joyce Dunbar - A nice rhyming, repetitive story with very neat illustrations.  They almost look like photographs, but not quite.

Lots of stories about the Nativity this week to prepare for Christ's coming on Christmas!  Hard to believe He's coming so soon. Check out our previous weeks' selections here... Week 1 - Week 2 - Week 3.

Our Lady of Guadalupe

As I mentioned, we've taken some time off from our "letter of the week" activities to really focus on the Advent and Christmas. seasons  We have had plenty of other activities to occupy our time for sure and I am grateful I decided on a break.  For the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Gemma did this coloring/painting.  She used crayons to color the picture, and then watercolors over it.  I realized after the fact that to achieve the desired effect I should have had her use non-washable crayons.  Oh well, it still turned out pretty neat I thought.  She and I also made the little craft (to the right of the her painting) with brightly colored yarn like we read about in The Legend of the Poinsettia (which takes place in Mexico).  We also enjoyed Tomie dePaola's The Lady of Guadalupe immensely.

Ohhh Gemma...

I think I've used that title for at least one previous post.  My alternate title was "It's a boy"... but I didn't want to give anyone the wrong impression about the topic of this post. But you'll see why that was definitely a close second.  

Gemma loves to draw.  Her latest thing is making small pictures on these little card-stock cards I found at Tuesday Morning, folding them up, putting them in an envelope, writing someone's name (usually hers or Kolbe's or some relative or friend) on front and then putting them in the "mailbox" (a drawer in the living room or the top of the cedar chest in our room) and then gleefully "getting the mail" or delivering them to their intended recipient.  Usually I don't look at the pictures she draws, I just let her have at it.  I think I may start having to look over her pictures though, especially the ones she gives away.

The other night she brought me this one and very proudly said, "look mommy, it's a boy!"

Yep. It's definitely a boy.  Ooooohhhhhhhhh Gemma...  I asked her who it was for and she looked at me as if I were from Planet Idiot and said very matter-of-factly, "it's for a boy."  Of course.

Gloria in excelsis deo

We were driving in the car the other day and listening to "Angels We Have Heard on High" on a CD.  After the refrain part Gemma said, "mommy, we haven't seen our friend Chelsea for a very long time.  Why doesn't she come over to our house to visit us?"  I thought it was very random of her to think of that, and then it dawned on me that she must have heard "Gloria in ekCHELSEAs deo."  Pretty cute I thought!!  Come see us, Chelsea!!!

Picture-book-a-day, Advent 2011 (week 3)

The Lady of Guadalupe by Tomie dePaola - We read this for the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.  I shortened it just a little for Gemma, but wow, what a wonderful, detailed yet age-appropriate story of Juan Diego and Our Lady of Guadalupe for children.  Yet again, dear Tomie dePaola did not disappoint.  I would love to own this book, but it is out of print and the cheapest copy I can find is $47, yikes!

The Night Before Christmas poem by Clement C. Moore - I have several versions of this checked out from the library, none of the illustrations do a whole lot for me though.  I would like to purchase a hardcover, beautifully illustrated version of this poem for our family.  Any recommendations?

Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett - Cute and fun.

Great Joy by Kate DiCamillo - This is a beautiful story that my mother-in-law introduced me to a number of years back.  The illustrations are just superb.  Breathtaking and beautiful.  Gemma enjoyed it so much she wanted to read it twice in a row.  We read it on the day that our Advent meditation was about helping the poor and lonely, so I thought that was very fitting indeed.

Christmas in the Big Woods based on the Laura Ingalls Wilder series - These books are cute enough.  I haven't liked all of them (due to some issues I've had with their accuracy to the original stories), but they are - for the most part - a nice introduction to the Little House series.

Cock-a-Doodle Christmas by Will Hillenbrand - I forget how I stumbled upon this, but it really is a cute story about a small farm in Bethlehem and the rooster whose once tiny voice helps announce the birth of the Christ-child.

The Little Drummer Boy by Ezra Jack Keats - Not much to say about this one.  It's a classic for sure.

Check out our previous selections here, week one and week two.

What are your favorite Christmas picture-books?  Please share in the comments.

Feast of St. Nicholas 2011

It is really neat - as the children get older - to watch various traditions develop in our family.  St. Nicholas is one of those really fun traditions.  Gemma made sure all our shoes were set out on the fireplace well before bedtime (actually, it was even before dinner I think) on the eve of the Feast of St. Nicholas.  

And as expected, St. Nicholas left some fun treats.  Candy canes and M&M's, some fancy buttons in Gemma's shoes (she loves playing with buttons), a book for each child, and a board for building with their duplo-blocks.

 

And if that wasn't enough, after examining the treats at the fireplace, they headed over to the deck door to realize there was a very light dusting of new-fallen snow!

Gemma begged and begged and begged and begged and begged to make a snowman.  Since daddy is off on Tuesday mornings, and is pretty much the best daddy in the world, he took her out to play for a bit.  No snowmen were built (imagine), but he said she had fun playing abominable snow monster with the buckets of snow he scooped up for her.  It's the little things!

"M" week

Ahhhhh, "M" week was one of those projects that totally and completely fell flat on its face.  Wow.  I was so excited about making homemade finger paints for the kids.  I knew they'd love it.  Actually, in the back of my head was a little inkling that they might hate it, but I ignored that.  Next time I need to not ignore my inklings.  I do know my children quite well, after all.  They hated it.  They wouldn't touch it.  Gemma flipped out the minute she put her fingers in it and begged for a rag to wipe her hands and then wouldn't touch it.  Kolbe just got mad.  I gave them paintbrushes, but brushes didn't work very well with the consistency of the paint and I ended up doing most of the painting while the kids whined and complained.  And cried.  And were generally obnoxious.  It was good times folks, let me tell you what.  We had read Mouse Paint before starting the project, and it was supposed to be a super-great hands-on learning experience about mixing colors.  Well, it wasn't.  It was pretty much terrible, did I mention that?  I may have even cried.  But we won't talk about that.  Luckily I was able to semi-resurrect the afternoon by printing out this mouse coloring sheet and just getting out our regular paints (with brushes of course) and we mixed colors that way.  They turned out really cute, and it was a nice learning activity, but prefaced by the nightmare of the finger paint it just kind of cast a shadow on the rest of the afternoon.  Ah, such is life.  Here are the fruits of our, um, labors.

The "finger" painting fiasco.  Notice the angry look on Gemma's face and the rag clutched in her left hand.

Mouse painting did go a bit better.

 And the end result.

Some of our favorite stories for "M" week were:

Millie in the Snow

William Wegman's Mother Goose  (we own a weimaraner, so this was particularly entertaining)

The Weight of a Mass  (Gemma's gift from St. Nicholas)

Follow the Monsters!

Tomie dePaola's Mother Goose

If You Give a Moose a Muffin

Wait Till the Moon is Full

I had several other "M" activities planned, but with Advent activities and the Holy Day and a funeral we attended last week they just weren't happening.  The way the next few weeks are looking, I think we are going to take a hiatus from "letter of the week" until after the holidays.  That will give us time to work on some Advent and Christmas activities and review our letters A thru M.  Plus the break will help us stretch things a bit further through the year, as we have hit the halfway point in the alphabet.  CHEERS, everyone!

Picture-book-a-day, Advent 2011 (week 2)

Who's Hiding? by Vickie Howie - Gemma got this last year from St. Nicholas.  It is a very cute lift-the-flap book about the Nativity.  The repetitive text makes it fun for very young children.

Bear Stays Up for Christmas by Karma Wilson - We love bear.  Karma Wilson is one of my favorite contemporary children's authors.  I have yet to check out a book of hers that I didn't like.

Saint Nicholas: The Real Story of the Christmas Legend by Julie Stiegmeyer -This book is beautifully illustrated, and a nice, simple take on the legend of St. Nicholas.  It was a bit above Gemma maybe, but it will be a great story for our family to grow into, and she did listen to and enjoy the whole thing.  We read it on the eve of the Feast of St. Nicholas.  Of all the St. Nicholas books out there, this one really is very beautiful.  I bought the paperback edition last year, and now really wish I had gotten it in hardcover.  Oh well.  Any other good St. Nicholas book recommendations?  We own A Special Place for Santa (so glad I got it for $.01 on Amazon when I did, it's pretty pricey now), but I may wait until next year to pull that one out.

All for the Newborn Baby by Phyllis Root - Beautifully illustrated, simple poetic text.  I liked this one probably enough to own it (most of our selections, as you've probably guessed, have been from the library).  Gemma was very taken with the illustrations.

Christmas in the Barn by Margaret Wise Brown - This is a simple, rhyming book about the Nativity.  It is strangely similar to The Big Red Barn, which I find a little odd (I really like Big Red Barn, it's just weird hearing another story so similar), but other than that it's still a nice story.  Definitely not Margaret Wise Brown in her best form, but alas still a good selection.

The Legend of the Poinsettia by Tomie dePaola - We love Tomie dePaola around here.  This story is on deck for the feast of St. Juan Diego.

A Charlie Brown Christmas: An Interactive Book with Sound by Charles M. Schulz - Oh how the children love this book.  They got it during Advent last year from my in-laws.  It is the only "sound" book we own, and we only get it out during Advent/Christmas.  And yet we've still already replaced the batteries twice (once last year and once this already).  But it's worth it.  This book is a classic!

Check out week one's selections by clicking here.

"L" week

"L" is for ladybug!

Gemma had fun with her ladybugs this week.  These exercises were great for practicing coloring/painting in the lines.  If a picture is too intricate she just gives up and scribbles. These were both nice and basic.  (Click here and here for links to our activities.  And an index of DLTK's ladybug activities here!)

Some of our favorite books were:

What the Ladybug Heard

The Life Cycle of a Ladybug

Dewey: There's a Cat in the Library

Usborne's Daniel and the Lions

The Grouchy Ladybug

"L" is for light!

We learned the song "This Little Light of Mine" (which Gemma thought was lots of fun) and did this light craft from my Catholic Icing Preschool Curriculum book for our religion activities.  I thought this was a very appropriate activity for Advent.  Gemma loved it, and keeps her light on the dog box (yes, you read that right, the dog sleeps in her room during winter) beside her bed.  I usually turn it off after she goes to sleep, but it's always on again when we go in to get her up in the morning.  

We've been enjoying Advent immensely.  The picture book a day activity has really been a hit with everyone.  I'll try to post this week's selections within the next couple days.  Now we are looking forward to the Feast of St. Nicholas tomorrow!!

Picture-book-a-day, Advent 2011 (week 1)

At the recommendation of my friend Kansas Mom, I decided to do a picture-book-a-day with the kids during Advent leading up to Christmas.  I didn't wrap our books like she does, but each week I will set seven books out on the fireplace and we will choose a different one to read each day after our Advent Wreath/Morning Prayers.  Here is a list of the books we have been enjoying this first week.

The Friendly Beasts by Sharon McGinley - I love the "eastern" type, colorful illustrations in this version, and this has been a favorite carol with Gemma the past few years.  We also own Tomie dePaola's version. 

The Story of the Nutcracker by Deborah Hautzig - Gemma was very intrigued by this.  She even asked me to read it to her again another day.  She was very fascinated by "the guy who lost his teeth."  It is definitely an interesting story.

Room for a Little One by Martin Waddell - I really like Martin Waddell as an author. We have enjoyed many of his books (most especially the Big Bear and Little Bear stories).  This story was a sweet and simple take on the Nativity Story and it had beautiful illustrations.

Under the Star: A Christmas Counting Story by Jane Yolen - A counting story about the crowd of various people and creatures who came to visit the manger.

Who is Coming to our House? by Joseph Slate - Very cute.  Repetitive, rhyming and simple.  Kolbe really seemed to enjoy this one.

Little Owl and the Star by Mary Murphy - Nothing special about this story, but it featured an owl which made it an automatic hit with my kids, because for whatever reason they both love owls very much.

Please take a moment to share some of your favorite Christmas picture books in the comments section!!!  I am always looking for more suggestions.  And check out more Advent and Christmas ideas over at Catholic Icing's Wishing Jesus Happy Birthday post!