Project 365 Continues: Bob the Snowman

January 11

Snow Day!

Week Wrap-Up

January 1, 2011

Ryan took the kids to see Yogi Bear at our brand-new, fancy theater. When they got home, 10 year old Tornado printed off a Yogi Bear page to color. If you want to get them talking, ask them about the movie. They will give you an earful, broken up in hysterics.

January 2

I think the winner of "Most Used Christmas Gift So Far" goes to the basketball goal from Googie and Papaw. It is played several times a day.

January 3

The kids played with their homemade nativity scenes. I saw this idea on Superheroes and Princesses and thought it was so cute because I wanted them to have a nativity to play with. The printable templates can be found at Catholic Icing.

January 4

Papaw had been to the dentist, and his mouth and face weren't feeling well. We were going to drive to his house so I could use their treadmill and juicer. My 5 year old came up to me with a dollar bill in his hand, "I know what will make Papaw feel better!" With a proud smile on his face, he presented Papaw with his gift. Sissy also brought him a quarter.

January 5

A Workbox Day!

What were in the boxes today?

3 year old Sissy

1) She had to follow this pattern with her drill set.

2) Decorate a picture with a page of stickers.

3) Put together her Dora puzzle.

4) Complete a few lessons on Starfall and practice writing the letters she learned.

5) Cut some strips of paper for a later art project.

6) Do a worksheet from her ABC Twiggles preschool curriculum.

7) a ballet tracing words/coloring sheet

5 year old Dash

1) Put together his new puzzle.

2) Create a design with his Connectagons.

3) Work on a few Time4Learning online lessons.

4) Complete a few hidden picture pages.

5) Basketball Graph

(I made graphs for him to keep track of how many shots he makes and misses. A definite hit!)

6) Complete several pages from his homeschool co-op Abeka phonics and math curriculum.

7) Cut some strips of paper for a later art project.

January 6

I blogged about our trip to The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge (based upon the book) and the art project that followed.

January 7

Dash had to complete a journal entry based on his Connectagons creation from Wednesday. He named it "Funny Tree" and wrote: It slides on his hose, and he eats dirt. He slides on his bottom. And he honks his nose."

January 8

Daddy got Sissy dressed after she got out of the shower. She spent the morning, dragging her feet around, declaring, "I don't look pretty!" (She thinks this only because she is wearing jeans.) This was one of the moments when I look at my child and think, "WHO are you?"

January 9

First snow of the year! We were having a family naptime this afternoon. Dash was the first to wake up and realize it was snowing. I could hear him whispering to his brother (the only one who didn't have to nap) who was in his cubby, "Hey! (Brother's name), it's snowing!" Then I could hear them opening the shades and marveling. "We have to tell Mom!" Pretty soon, 6 little eager eyes are peering over me. They were dressed to get outside in, seemingly, record time.

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That's some of our week (leaving out the best part: a fun visit from cousin O and uncle M, which I'll write about another day), which I'm linking up to Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers. I'm going to try my hand at a version of this Project 365 thing, which I see so many of you doing. (For those of you who don't know, it's basicallly taking a picture every day for a year.) My first 9 days are here, and from now on I think I'll just post one picture a day (since some of my family checks my blog daily).

Field Trip Friday: NYC Fire Museum and World Trade Center Visitor Center

We really enjoyed our visit to the New York City Fire Museum! On my many trips to NYC, I'd never went there, nor would I have ever necessarily thought about going there. I don't know if I even knew it existed.

It was actually my 10 year old's idea.

This is one of the many books about NYC we enjoyed before our trip (and during because we took them with us).

I think this is what gave him the idea. After that, anytime I asked him what he wanted to do the most in NYC, he'd say, "The Fire Museum!" And when we were on our way cross country, it was, "When are we going to the fire museum?" This makes sense, as it goes along with his interest in storms and natural disasters. Therefore, we went to the Fire Museum our first morning in the city.

It was a nice museum, located in a renovated 2-story 1904 firehouse in the Soho district. I personally really enjoyed reading about all of the big fires in NYC's history. My 10 year old did, as well. The two little ones were interested in looking around the top floor at all of the old-fashioned fire fighting equipment, but I don't think they were as interested in listening to me read the stories.

From the website: The New York City Fire Museum houses one of the nation's most important collections of fire related art and artifacts from the late 18th century to the present. Among its holdings are painted leather buckets, helmets, parade hats and belts, lanterns and tools, pre Civil War hand pumped fire engines, horse drawn vehicles and early motorized apparatus.

We've come a long way from the days of men prowling the streets at night, just looking for fires. If they spotted a fire, they would alert the residents, who were required to own two buckets per household. They would throw the buckets out for the people who were fighting the fire. Later, everyone would pick up their buckets in the town square.

There are a couple of rooms dedicated to the firemen's outrageous bravery and devastating loss from 9-11. It's sad.

No matter how many years ago this tragedy struck or how far away from NYC you live...how much you've already read about it...standing there, so close to Ground Zero itself, staring into the eyes of people who were so brave and in such a terrible situation, it's heart-wrenching. I truly couldn't hold my tears in. These pictures were awful and incredible.

Like this one.

Pictures of people saluting the brave or fallen always touch my heart the most.

Like this story.

"Crosses were cut from pieces of steel by iron workers at the Recovery Site and given to families who lost loved ones."

The kids enjoyed the presentation of Elmo Visits the Firehouse DVD.

There are even firefighter outfits and equipment for the kids to play pretend with.

He was quite proud of this one.

Even pretty princesses can be firefighters.

We also headed down to Ground Zero. I don't know that this would have been on my list during this trip, either, because I assumed my kids wouldn't understand quite yet. However, Tornado had learned about it this year at school. It was neat to take him somewhere that his class had talked about.

The entire area is busy with construction. This was taken outside the Tribute World Trade Center Visitor Center.

There is a replaying video to watch. You can read about the other exhibits on their website.

And here are a few other pictures from the center:

It is an important place to visit, and the time we spent there was touching.

Joining Tonya (the traveling connoisseur herself) and others at Live the Adventure.

The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge

The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge by Hildegarde H. Swift and Lynd Ward is one of my FAVORITE children's books. I think that is why THIS stop on our vacation was one of my favorite's.

For those of you not familiar with the book, it is based on the real George Washington bridge and Jeffrey's Hook Lighthouse, located on the Hudson River north of Manhattan in New York City. The lighthouse was first built in 1889 and was later reconstructed and operational until 1941.

In the book, the lighthouse (personified) is proud of his job of warning the boats about the rocks along the river and using its bell in the event of fog. Then one day, the lighthouse watches as men build the "great, gray bridge" next to him. The lighthouse now feels insignificant and small next to such a large, important-looking structure. Then one day during a storm, when he feels like he's completely useless, the bridge calls down to the lighthouse, reminding him of his importance. Finally, the man (who was only delayed because some boys had stolen his keys) comes to get the lighthouse operating to save the boats who are in danger. The lighthouse resumes his necessary responsibilities and is reminded that size has nothing to do with importance.

I'm not kidding - my eyes filled with tears BOTH TIMES I read this book to the kids. I'm apparently a mess when it comes to characters realizing their importance in life or achieving greatness in the end. When my voice cracks, I can feel the kids peering at me like, "What is wrong with Mom?"

Another reason I loved this little "field trip" is what a respite Fort Washington Park felt like from the hustle and bustle of Manhattan. This is part of the trail that leads from the street parking and pedestrian bridge at Riverside Drive down to the water's edge.

When you are in NYC, it's nice to find any spots you can to just let your kids loose and run.

In 1951, the lighthouse was going to be torn down. Because of the public's love of this book (which was published in 1942), the lighthouse was saved and remains a preserved NYC landmark.

I only wish we'd been better prepared for the cold. I'm not sure how we got out of the car without proper gloves and coats. I even had to give up my coat for my 10 year old. I think we didn't realize how much colder it was going to be next to the water.

This wasn't our first lighthouse visit during our vacation. I posted yesterday about our visit to a lighthouse in Maryland with my blog friend, Annette.

Fort Washington Park is located in the Washington Heights area of NYC. We would have used the picnic tables to eat our lunch if the weather had been warmer.

This says it is the last surviving lighthouse on Manhattan island.

You can see the skyline of Manhattan in the distance.

The kids always automatically want to throw rocks and sticks into any body of water.

We'll definitely make a stop here during our next trip to New York! They give tours of the lighthouse during warmer months. There is even a lighthouse festival, that looks fun, every September .

I only took this picture because I'd been urging Ryan to "smile" more during pictures. He thinks he's smiling in picture, but really he isn't. You'd have to click on this picture to appreciate the effort he is making here. He thought he was overdramatically smiling, but really it just looks like a normal smile.

Our Art Project:

First, I googled "lighthouse outline image."

I printed off copies of this lighthouse picture.

The kids cut out small squares of red, black, and yellow construction paper to glue onto their lighthouses in mosaic/collage style.

After the lighthouse images were decorated with the mosaic design and cut out, they were glued onto large blue construction paper. I also gave them gray cardstock to cut out strips and design their own bridges. They also drew rocks and water at the bottom with marker.

my 3 year old's and 5 year old's finished projects

Linking up: stART at A Mommy's Adventures, Kids Get Crafty at Red Ted Art, and Read, Explore, Learn at JDaniel4's Mom