Sarine Family Christmas

Luminaries and Lights

Our neighborhood put out luminaries last weekend and they were beautiful. Olivia loved walking around the block and seeing them all.

Does it count as a "White Christmas" if it snows on Christmas Day?

Thanksgiving 2010--a little late

Dad with Olivia and Gabe. Any time my dad is around, the kids just run to him. They absolutely adore him!

Dad with Gabe, Mom taking a picture :)

My grandfather with Ezra and Gabe. Playing with trucks of course!



Greeting Grandpa as he came in the door.

Playing Kerplunk with Grandma and Grandpa. Grandpa and Gabe were on a team together. Being that Gabe didn't get strategy at all much less waiting for his turn very well, Grandpa and Gabe lost every time. :)



Grandpa and Gabe again. They love each other for sure!

Fall Fun

***Forgot to add this funny story when we posted these pictures***

Gabe was diving in the pile of leaves and then came up with one in his hand and said, "look mommy, a leaf!". He said this with pure innocent excitement! Of course he had no idea how ironic it sounded as he was in a huge pile of leaves. :)

 

 

 

 

Kiddos

Pumpkin Nature Study

We did a nature study on pumpkins this last week. We were invited to join a group of homeschoolers that follow Charlotte Mason's approach to their schooling. We had a great time. The point of the nature study was to investigate the pumpkin by looking at it, feeling it, thumping on it, then cutting it open to check out the insides. We put our hands in it, smelled it and pulled it apart. It was great fun. Olivia has a nature journal that she drew in to show her findings. The interesting thing was that when we cut open that pumpkin you see in the pictures below, it was practically empty with hardly any stringy stuff or seeds. We are not sure why! Olivia had a great time investigating. While I guided her, I left most of it up to her creativity. (My reference for the nature study was The Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock)

She drew the pumpkin on a vine. We looked at pictures and read descriptions of the vine and leaves from a book as I was unable to find a farm to visit with pumpkins still on the vine.

Her journal shows the inside of the pumpkin and also the seeds after we peeled them to take a closer look.

After the nature study, we took a trip to the farmer's market to look at all the fruits and vegetables and talk about classifying them. Pumpkins are actually a fruit. They are also in the same family as cucumbers and then of course squashs and gourds. Then we did some painting and some crafts.

Open our pumpkin to see what's inside...

Olivia's favorite part was the stringy stuff.

We talked aobut mixing colors to paint this pumpkin. We found out that pumpkins come in many other colors besides orange. We also talked about how there are many different oranges. We put our lifecycle cards in order on the pumpkin's vine.

We cooked up the pumpkin, pureed it, and plan to use it to make pumpkin pie. Olivia has really enjoyed helping me in the kitchen these days. She says, "I am learning how to cook" with a big smile. :)

Easter Lapbook

Here is Olivia's Easter Lapbook. We had a great couple of weeks leading up to easter reading the events of that time out of the bible and then learning about it more with our other books. We also did some special activities at home, like daily activities to get us excited about Easter and nightly devotions, a Palm Sunday parade, Passover meal/celebration, and then a family picnic/worship service on Easter morning. We did paint easter eggs this year and the kids got to go to an Easter egg hunt where Olivia passed up tons of eggs around her looking for a pink egg. :) We also got to enjoy seeing some extended family over the Easter weekend, including her cousin. I will post some of those pictures next time. We had a very blessed Easter!

Olivia's Big Show 2010

Olivia finished up her semester of dance/gymnastics at the Little Gym and did a wonderful job on her routines at the Big Show.



Tap Routine
I love the kid in the background that looks like she's doing it with them.


Ballet


Uneven Bars
(If you turn your speakers up, you can hear her start to say, "No, i don't want to..." right before the instructor flips her around the bar. :)


Balance Beam


Medal Ceremony