Our Place



June 2011

This is not an old memory  - not even a full year has passed since this photo.

Lil' Monster  was playing here,

moments later all had gone quiet.

This is what Mamma Sass found.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Our Landing -

into the loft which is currently our little homeschool -

is a place of interest for us all.

It is 4 ft. by 4 ft. 

But it is the most used place in our house.

Our love for this little space has grown in this last year.

In fact,

maybe we should give it an official name;

just not sure what would be clever enough.

For Lil' Monster it is his play house

(even though he has one in the LARGE closet inside the loft room).

One evening Mr. Elskan and Mamma Sass were chatting on the couch in the living room.

When she looked up and this is what she saw.

For Mamma, the landing (as you can see in the background) is an extra storage for things she uses regularly, like the vacuum, or as a temporary pit stop for items between the homeschool and the rest of the house.

 We use it as place for our

intercom

(shouting loudly to the lower levels for instructions etc.)

observation tower

(checking out who is coming and going outside)

Podium

(for singing, speeches, or general announcements)

Hang Out

(we sit and chat out there)

Reading Roost

(a place to pile books and sit and read while watching the folks downstairs)

Our Little Landing has many purposes.

Maybe it is time we name it.

Any ideas?

He Lives

He is not here: for He is risen

Matthew 28:6 



He Lives by Simon Dewey

 

"...they saw a Man descending out of heaven; and he was clothed in a white robe; and he came down and stood in the midst of them; and the eyes of the whole multitude were turned upon him, and they durst not open their mouths, even one to another, and wist not what it meant, for they thought it was an angel that had appeared unto them."

 "And it came to pass that he stretched forth his hand and spake unto the people, saying:

 'Behold, I am Jesus Christ, whom the prophets testified shall come into the world.

 And behold, I am the light and the life of the world; and I have drunk out of that bittercup which the Father hath given me, and have glorified the Father in taking upon me the sins of the world, in the which I have suffered the will of the Father in all things from the beginning.'"

3 Nephi 11:8-10

I know that He Lives.

He has redeemed us.

He is my Savior.

May your

Easter

bring you the

peace and joy

of the season.

Nammi Numbers

An activity we did today

(idea borrowed from My Montessori Journey)

Using cheap dollar store ice cream bowls, spoons, with some fuzzies (pom-poms).

We practiced matching numbers with 'scoops' of ice cream.

Lil' Monster counts out scoops into the bowls: 0-6;

Then mixes up some flash cards;

than matches the flash cards to appropriate bowls.

Some eating pretend eating happens along in the process.

Learning new numbers, I leave the cards in order (7-13).

He uses his memory of how to count orally 1-20,

to match up with what he sees.

Then he counts the right amount of scoops into bowls.

He takes the flash card and bowl and lines them up off to the side when completed.

Then I 'check' his work and encourage him along.

It's an easy thing to do, and makes a big impression.

It is a far cry from just learning to count pictures on paper in order to learn numbers.

For a more hands on child, this really helps to cement his knowledge.

And it is soooo

DELICIOUS!

P.S. Nammi means yummy in Icelandic

Little Ray of Sunshine

Today's activity was based on the story "Stealing the Sun" a story from Africa found in our copy of Stories From Around the World.

 First, begin with a black piece of construction paper

- faded in the sun and some crayons.

Next, mix yellow and orange to make a sun. Draw some lines for the rays.

It was great to see how straight Lil' Monster's lines were for the rays.

 Then put the paper on the floor and then hand a push pin to your young 4 yr old.

He really likes this - such concentration.

Finally, put your picture in the window to see the suns rays shine through.

with flash

without flash

I didn't think it was a phenomenal project,
but Lil' Monster was ecstatic to see the sun cloudy light shine through.
It's a quick, easy, and satisfying!
Makes it a hit with Mamma and the little one.

Late. Typical.

March

April

It's been a month since I posted these pics.

See any improvement?

March

Most of the thick snow has melted into ice

April

Maybe Spring really is coming...

it's just Running Late.

...Go

Yesterday, Conference sessions were - well, unplanned.

What? you might say.

Well, I was ready, but our dear friends stayed home sick, and by noon I had been struck with a migraine.

Ugh.

Today went so much better.

Although our friends still stayed home due to illness, we continued on with our plans. 

We woke up and made these delicious biscuits.

 We added some whip cream and a glass of milk to the recipe.

Lil' Monster devoured it before I could get pictures.

Then we began watching, taking notes, coloring, activity books, and enjoying the inspirational messages. 

 

 Our Spring Conference Garden was growing fast!

Lil' Monster bored after some coloring and quietly playing,
took to leading the Tabernacle Choir. 

Of course, it's not as fun without someone to play along with you...

It was a great weekend of inspiration, togetherness, and upliftment.

Can't wait until the next one:

In October.

Ready...get set...

We are ready for everyone to gather round and listen to

 LDS General Conference.

When I was younger it was great to sit together with family and friends, catch up on some quiet projects, take notes, and become inspired to be better and do better.

 I really loved these weekends.

But, the past few years have been such duds.

We've been unable to really get focused.

We've done nothing special to hold on to the goodness these conferences offer.

In fact, it has been a pain - if I am being really honest.

For three years now, we have only caught a session here and there. We can read it later in the Ensign, but it just isn't the same as listening and being a part of it. Our life has been so chaotic. Lil' monster, has been so needy and distracting that it has been hard to attend the conference, in any way. Nevertheless, we know it is important to watch and be attentive. More importantly it lifts us up, inspires us, and encourages us.

This year I was ready for something different.

So, I decided to be prepared.

I did some serious google searches and came up with an abundance of ideas to help children

(and adults)

focus and get more involved rather than just being passive listeners.

I am excited and hopeful this will be the key to a great weekend.

This was my favorite idea:

a Spring Conference Garden

We need some spring here -

the snow is too much!

The Garden is "built/grown" during conference and then can be used during the next several months to remind us what we learned.

(There is a cute idea for the Autumn Conference I am sure we will use in October).

It can be used to inspire Family Home Evening (FHE) ideas.

Maybe even talks for Sundays.

at the very least, it will brighten our wall for a few weeks ;)

To make our Garden area,

we chose our still bare

 (but needs to be filled and painted)

 wall in our living room.

I made some grass and stems from some construction paper,

 one night while listening to a book with Mr. Elskan (he helped out some).

Then we taped it onto the wall.

I put this up a couple days early

to inspire excitement and curiosity.

It worked.

There were lots of questions and excitement. 

Then I made the flowers, for both the really young ones and older ones. During Conference, they will color them, write the topics of discussion, and then tape them to the stems. Thereby growing a garden.

I also pulled some notebooks together for adults and created some activity packets for the kids.

A great resource for some ideas can be found on Sugardoodle.

I used a few ideas here, a few there -

all catered to my boy specifically, and to the girls who were coming.

I added some extra quiet activity kits just in case they still got bored. 

I feel soooo accomplished - usually I am a day, week, or year late.

But this time:

I am READY!!!!!!

Let, the sessions begin!