Winter is gone now for another year, but at least I will always have special memories like Boo in this picture all bundled up on one of the last winter days!

Here I was packing up all of the winter clothing and Boo decided to help me......we had so much fun dressing up in the different hats and mitts and scarfs!  Boo laughed every time I would put on a hat that was too small for me.  This activity lasted about 45 minutes before I finally got everything packed away in the totes!

Go see The homeschool creations blog  for more moments to remember.

..................Another outing at the mall!..................

We went to the play area again at the mall with Boo, Dino and the foster girls.  The girls had a blast while Dino tried to have fun but with so many little toddlers running around he had to be really careful and was limited in what he could do.  He buried himself in some of the large soft blocks and played peek-a-boo with the little ones.

It is hard to keep track of four toddlers at a time but it is well worth it seeing how much fun the girls had!  It also helps when you have an awesome husband there to help, Daniel helps me with the kids whenever he is not busy with his business.  He is great and I couldn't imagine life without him, I thank God every day for my wonderful husband and children!

It is amazing seeing how much Boo has progressed in her gross motor skills.  I remember when she couldn't even make it up one block step and now she is walking up them and practicing her balance! 

For some great Tot School ideas go to 1+1+1=1.

...............Dino destroys our telephones!!!...............

Yes, Dino totally destroyed our telephones because they didn't work anymore and we got new ones!!!  He had so much fun learning how cordless telephones are made and at the very end smashing them with a hammer just for the heck of it!

Even his Dad joined in helping to take them apart using screwdrivers and pliers and other tools.

Dino enjoyed this activity for almost two hours and I think this was a great experience for him.  I hope to find some more things around the house that he can take apart and experiment with in the future.

.....................Oops forgot about the ice!.....................

I totally forgot to post the pictures from our melting ice activity!

  

Dino, Boo and the three other girls really enjoyed this activity.  Dino had  some real tools like a screwdriver and a hammer while the girls used spoons to chip away at the ice. 

 

The girls were really excited to find the jewel rocks in the ice as it melted!  I gave them each a container to put their jewels in.

Boo wandered over to check out Dino's melting ice and offered her help.

 

The girls practised saying the word cold in French and English as well as the words water and jewel in both languages!  This was a great activity which I will be using again in the summer when it is warmer except I will choose some different things to put inside the ice for a change and we will do it outside!

For more great Tot School ideas visit 1+1+1=1

Cheese Frames and more kitchen stuff with Dino.

Dino and his dad made this cheese frame with real cheese using a cheese slicer and then took pictures, they had a lot of fun with this!

Dino asked me if he could have a snack with oreos, bananas and milk......

He cut up the bananas and oreos and put them in milk......

Then he added some chocolate syrup......

and voila banana, oreo and chocolate cereal!

It looks really gross but I know he liked it because he has asked to make it again.

Dino continues to help out a lot in the kitchen, here he is making lipton's sidekicks noodles for lunch, I am so proud of him, he read the directions and followed them all by himself and it tasted really good!

Here Dino is preparing a trifle for his family birthday party.

Here is Dino with his Dad and the finished trifle and it was really yummy!

Boo and Dino....Best Friends!

I just love it when Dino and Boo spend time together!  Boo loves playing with Dino's lid collection.

Dino showing Boo how to smile for the camera.

Another favourite activity for Dino and Boo is when they push each other around on Boo's little car.  Dino helps a little by pushing with his feet when Boo is pushing him.

Boo showing her brother how to do her new magnetic bug puzzle. 

Boo really loves this puzzle and does it every day since we bought it.  The string on the net is too long for her so we wrap it around to make it a little easier for her.  Dino likes putting the magnets back in using the magnetic net but since this is too difficult for Boo, she uses her hands to place the pieces.

Playhouse and Puppets

I have been wanting to get this playhouse from Toys R Us for a long time and it finally came on sale, at half price I couldn't resist!  Daniel decided to use the window as a puppet theatre!  The girls really liked this and Daniel loves doing puppet shows.

Dino decided to join in and help his Dad entertain the girls with the animal puppets, they had a lot of fun together!

 

Boo loves her new playhouse.

 

She even cooked us supper!

 

We also bought the fridge and stove which were on sale also, they are really cute they open and even have shelves to put stuff on.

 

I am making this part of our dramatic play and imaginative play for Tot School with the girls.  I will be taking it down after about a week because I want to set up another dramatic play centre, that way the girls will have a variety and will not get bored with it.  I do the same things with the toys and tot trays.
Boo and the foster girls really love dramatic play, I would love to hear some of your ideas for dramatic play areas.

For other great Tot School ideas go to 1+1+1=1

Dino's 8th Family Birthday Party!

I can't believe my first born is already 8 years old.  This year we decided to have two separate birthday parties for Dino, one with family and one with his friends because with our growing family we would be much too crowded!  Just with family we had 10 kids, and 9 adults, it was crowded but its these kinds of things that make the best memories!

Dino and Boo loved the birthday cake!

Dino blew up balloons for everyone and as you can see they were a lot of fun!

 

Dino chose cheese pizza for his birthday supper and then he went outside to play with his nieces!

 

I don't have a lot of photos because I can't put up photos of the foster children and they are in a lot of them, but we all had a lot of fun!  I will be posting pictures from Dino's birthday party with his friends on my next post!

Fondue!!!

Dino enjoyed our Fondue supper, he was even able to do it all himself this time!  I can't believe how independent he is becoming.

We had beef, broccolli, peppers, and a whole bunch of yummy sauces.

I can't wait to do this again, Grandmaman enjoyed it too!

Weekend Fun Time!

These are some of the things we have been up to this week, I am calling it weekend fun school because since Dino is home this week for spring break it feels like the weekend!  You will notice in some of these pictures Boo is covered in marker, she did this while coloring and didn't want me to wash it off so I decided it wouldn't harm anything to let her keep it on until bath time!

Boo really enjoyed hammering golf tees into some leftover styrofoam we found in the garage.  After awhile she put the hammer aside and started pushing the tees in with her hands, she worked really hard and when all the tees were in she took them all out and pushed them in the same holes over and over again!

She played with this for almost 40 minutes and was really upset when we had to put it away to wash up for lunch time.  I will definitely be bringing out this activity again in the next couple of days!

During Snack one day Dino decided to be a baby and wear a bib.

I even gave him a sippy cup!

Dino sorted pennies and we found a magnifying glass for him to get a good look at them.

Dino decided to make a porcupine for his snack one afternoon, he used toothpicks, an orange and blackberries.

He worked really hard at it!

Looks like the best part was eating it!

We took a bar of ivory soap and cut it in half and then put it in the microwave.  I found this idea here.

This was the result!

Boo liked to put toys in it, but was afraid to touch it.

Dino loved it!

Boo really didn't want to touch this, which is strange because usually she loves activities like this.

After the activity Dino asked what we would do with the dry soap pieces, I hadn't thought about this so we looked on the internet together and found out you can make liquid soap with dry soap.  We are planning to do this activity soon but I need to buy some glycerin first, so when we make liquid soap I will be sure to post some pics of it!