Getting ready to start fresh...again

Today we'll be cleaning, mopping, and getting a little organized since we are still basking in the after Christmas glow. Daddy has been off work and we've been spending quality family time together. We went on a lovely zoo trip yesterday and saw a baby giraffe and koala.

We have doing just a little homeschool these past few weeks. We have enjoyed crafting, advent activities, reading, and building. Olive really enjoyed putting this Lego camper together with her Dad...it's really cute.

Today the girls are playing store. Olive made these really pretty construction paper fruits. Each fruit is worth five cents and Jem has to count out five pennies. They are really playing nicely together, it makes my heart happy.

It's been a year with big highs and a few big dips, but we are so blessed. I know 2011 will have more surprises in store for all of us. I am keeping my eyes wide open so I don't miss a thing! May you have a peaceful and healthy New Year and thank-you for coming along on my journey.

Puzzle Swap

We go through puzzles like crazy around here. I was wondering if any of you would be interested in a puzzle swap?

You would mail your puzzle by January 20th. Just dump the puzzle pieces into a large ziploc bag along with the front of the puzzle box. Then head to the post office and mail the puzzle in a manila envelope. I will E-mail your swapper info by January 12th.

If you are interested, please E-mail me at sippycupcentral@gmail.com by January 10th.
Include:
-child's name
-age
-address

Thanks and have a fantastic day!

Olivia Goes To Venice- SINKS!

We are big fans of the five previous Olivia books by Ian Falconer. We read them over and over again, but Falconer's new book, Olivia Goes to Venice, is one that sinks into the Grand Canal.

The part in question reads,"As they went through the airport, Olivia was searched for weapons. She was very pleased." The illustration is of two security pigs wanding Olivia with her parents looking from behind.

My girls are well-traveled children. We use to live on the West coast, while the rest of the family lived back East. When we would go through security check points I would remind them that we didn't always have to take our shoes off and it's not OK to have your rights taken away (but that's another topic all together).

I really wanted to like this book. The illustrations were lovely, we laughed when they ate a ton of gelato, and we enjoyed the trip through Venice. There is just something about the wording and illustrations on the third page that bothers me enough not to keep it in our library. The child pig, Olivia, being wanded for weapons is not cute or funny in my world!

Being Thankful

I am really excited to share a post with you that I wrote for The Homeschool Classroom.

My goal for 2011 is to help my family be "thankful the whole year through".
I would also like to thank all of Sippy Cup Central's faithful followers. Thank-you for taking this homeschool journey with me and for being my support system. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Ginger Bread Houses- Hot Glued!

Tomorrow we are decorating these little houses with left over Halloween candy.  I think I hit the easy button this year when I got the idea to hot glue the houses ahead of time, it will make decorating a lot easier for the girls.

 The girls were so excited to see Santa and they are counting down the days with their Santa Beard Advent Calendar.

Christmas Cards

Creating An Advent Wreath

I have wanted to make an advent wreath with my girls for quite some time. We had some left over spruce from our Christmas tree and an extra foam ring from our coffee filter wreath project. The only thing left to buy were the purple and pink candles.

The candle lighting is progressive from week to week preparing for the birth of Baby Jesus. The Bible passages were recommended by a friend.

First Sunday of advent :  Hope
(just passed) Light one purple candle (Hope).
Read Isaiah 60:2-3

Second Sunday : Peace
Light two purple candles. (Hope and Peace).
Read Mark 1:4


Third Sunday : Joy
Light two purple candles (Hope and Peace),
and one pink (Joy).
Read Isaiah 35:10


Fourth Sunday: Love
Light all four candles  (Hope, Peace, Joy and Love).
Read Isaiah 9:6-7

Christmas Eve
After Sunset...
Light all four candles and add a fifth white candle
(the light of Christ).
Read Luke 1:68-79 and Luke 2:1-20


You can find a similar example here as well.

Fun Christmas Games

We spent an hour this morning playing these counting and matching Christmas games. Our favorite game was "Fill the stable" found over at Musing of Me. You need two dice to play or if you can't find the dice, like me,  just write the numbers on slips of paper. Jem was so excited when she got to add baby Jesus to the stable.

We found this cute Christmas tree matching game over at Kidssoup. Jem really enjoyed this game!

We also built and drew a Christmas tree by playing this dice game from Homeschool Creations. The girls want me to create a gingerbread house game next time.

Santa Beard Advent Calendar

 My girls adore this Santa beard advent calendar that we found here.  They loved adding a cotton ball each day as we count down the days until Christmas.

 We have also been busy elves making wreaths to send to our family out of town. The girls added the decorations and I hot glued them on.

It's been a busy weekend around here. We just started cookie baking, the girls were in the local Christmas parade, we added the finishing touches to our decorations, and put up the tree. How are your preparations going?

Linked to:
My Delicious Ambiguity
Homeschool Creations Pre-5

Pot Holders For A Cause

Olive has become a pot holder making machine. Some of you may remember when she received her loom for her 5th birthday in January. A few month ago she learned how to finished the edges of the pot holders all by herself and she now makes about three a day.

She plans to sell her pot holders at our holiday MOPS bazaar and will donate $1 for each pot holder sold to St. Jude Children's Hosptial. Her goal is to make and sell 40 pot holders for $2 a piece. I am very proud of her for making this decision.

These are some common uses for pot holders at our house:  a coaster, a barbie blanket, and a handle holder.

Olive says that "potholders are the perfect stocking stuffer"!

Pipe Cleaner Tree

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with friends and family. I hope you did too! Three of us are sick so we've been taking school slow this past week, but we are starting off the Christmas season with music, decorations, and a cute pipe cleaner craft.

I first saw this craft at MOPS and brought an extra one home. Olive really loved twisting the pipe cleaners around the dowel rod. She glued a red pom-pom on top of her tree to finish it off. The dowel rod is glued into a wooden base, but you could also use a strong plastic plate covered in felt.

Prepping For Turkey Day

Every time I see a full fridge I feel so blessed.  I had a hard time trying to stuff all of tomorrows bounty inside.

I am making the bread and potato stuffing this morning, prepping my veggies, and getting ready to brine the turkey. My family will be joining us and some close friends. We have so much to be thankful this year, have a wonderful turkey day.

Menu: Turkey, green beans, stuffing, yams, broccoli, creamed corn, carrot casserole, 1/2 of ham, cranberries, apple bake, and yummy pies.

Thanksgiving Book Suggestions

One Is A Feast For Mouse
By: Judy Cox This cute mouse gets greedy after everyone leaves the dinner table, but learns that a little can sometimes be a lot. 
Activities: balancing objects, counting, discuss sharing, how to set a table.

 Turkey Trouble
By: Wendi Silvano
It's Thanksgiving Day and turkey knows he's in trouble. He offers creative suggestions to a traditional Thanksgiving dinner.
Activities: Discuss other countries that celebrate Thanksgiving and their food traditions, puppets, make disguises.

P is for Pilgrim
By: Helle Urban
This is a wonderful book for an older child.  It walks you through the alphabet with interesting Thanksgiving facts from A to Z.
Activities: Map pilgrims route, geography, growing crops, Indian tribes near you.

Updates

The girls did amazing job in the Nutcracker as an English Cracker and Little Mouse. I could tell that Olive loved performing on stage and Jem was just as excited to wear make-up.

I have many holiday activities to post, but the past two weeks have been a bit hectic. I flew to California on a "friendship emergency," while Buzz looked after the girls. He even had to get the girls ready for the Nutcracker, he did great!

We are heading to a funeral as one of our favorite Uncles passed away this week. He was a good man who lived a full life. Our Uncle made everyone laugh and loved God and his family.

I'll be back in action on Monday...have a lovely weekend.

Gobble Hat

 Cut a bunch of feathers out of construction paper, and a long hat piece. I used foam to make the turkey head, waddle, nose, and glued eyes onto pom-pom. Glue the rest of the pieces onto the hat strip.

Nominated "Best New Homeschool Blog"

I am thrilled and honored to be nominated! Thank-you for all your support, it really means the world to me. If you would like to vote for Sippy Cup Central as "The Best New Homeschool Blog," please head over to The Homeschool Post to cast your vote.

Thank-You!

Indian Corn Weaving

My girls really enjoyed this weaving craft.

 I cut slits in an oval piece of paper and strips of paper to weave.

 The girls weaved the paper strips, glued them down, and cut off the extra length. The indian corn was a fun project to do. You can also find another cute indian corn idea over at Almost Unschoolers.

Turkey Magnet Clips

Look at these adorable turkey magnet clips we made!

 We glued on eyes, waddle, and nose, small note clip, and hat to a colored craft stick. All these supplies came from the craft store including the cute little hat.

 We added feathers to the back side of the craft stick with strong glue and stuck another craft stick on top. Just add a magnet and your turkey clip is ready!

I have not seen this craft on any other blog. These will be great for Thanksgiving name cards. Enjoy your weekend.

Coffee Filter Wreath

Here is an easy wreath project to decorate just about any place in your home and it's made out of coffee filters!

 -bunch up the filter.

 -secure into wreath with straight pin.

Keep adding the filters all the way around and hang-up the wreath with a ribbon. I added spiders for Halloween and I bet it would look nice for Thanksgiving if you used the brown coffee filters. I love when my MOPS group comes up with crafty ideas.

Homemade Money Bank

Jem is a little bag lady and always carries her money around with her. One day I counted $18 of coins  in her heavy sack. She has also broken two banks to get her money out. To help solve this problem we used an empty oatmeal container and cut a slit in the lid.

 We wrapped construction paper around the canister and secured it with glue and tape.  Jem went to town painting and decorating her bank.  We added a lot of tape to secure the lid, we'll see how long that keeps her out, but I am glad it won't break.  She also uses her bank as part of her band now.

What we used: oatmeal container, tape, construction paper, and glue. Decorate and enjoy the jingle!