Groundhog's Day

Since Groundhog's Day is a couple days away, we decided to do some groundhog related activities. We talked about what a groundhog is, and how some people think that they can predict the weather. We are hoping for a early spring.

Alex did some worksheets from 2Teaching Mommies' adorable Groundhog Mini Unit.

We did a cute groundhog face craft that is made from using mostly hearts. I cut out all the shapes and Alex glued them on and added the whiskers. I saw this craft on Pinterest, the original post and directions are from here.

Alex is fascinated with cutting so I let him practice cutting some scraps with his preschool scissors. I think we need to invest in a better pair. Anyone have some suggestions for a pair of good beginner scissor for a 3 year old?

Of course we read a couple of groundhog books that we borrowed from the library.

Show and Tell: Frozen

My goal is to keep inspired and keep taking and sharing photos. Hope you enjoy!
Show:

Tell:
Fresh snow drifting around in the wind on a beautiful winter day. A view from my backyard.

 

Check out all the "frozen" entries

Busy Time of the Year

We are still around and have just been busy with the holidays. Plus I work in retail.....enough said. I have a few minutes so I thought I share some of our recent photos. We will be back in the swing of things next week. Happy New Year everyone!

We went to see Enchanted Village a holiday tradition in the Boston area

Christmas Eve

Mixing up some reindeer feed

Sprinkling reindeer feed outside

Three cookies for Santa

Christmas Day

Wow Santa Came!

Dad got a new phone and a hat. LOL

Santa even brought Lucy a gift

We had a Nor'easter Snow Storm the day after Christmas. We had no electricity for a 24 hours, power lines laying across our driveway, cause by a downed pine tree. It caused a lot of damage to the coastal communities. First two photos taken by a friend the day after the storm.

Knocked down the sea wall at the nearby cove

Alex had fun sledding after the storm ended

See everyone in 2011 :)

Santa and Ice Decorations

Today we read  Jolly Old Santa Claus by Alice Leedy Mason and George Hinke

This is the condensed board book version but it still features some of the beautiful oil paintings by George Hinke. The story line seems a bit cut up in this version though. Alex enjoyed looking at the pictures and pointing out details that he thought were interesting. We do have a paper back version too, but Alex's attention span isn't that long to listen to the whole story.


After reading about Santa we made a hand print Santa. I helped Alex put white paint on his hand and then stamp it on a piece of blue paper. We then added a face and hat out of construction paper, some googly eyes and cotton balls. We added a couple of craft foam snowflakes to the background. It came out very cute.

A few days ago I saw this post by the Artful Parent and have been wanting to try making natural ice wreath and ornaments. The idea is very easy just add water and some colorful berries or leaves into a containers, add a string for hanging and freeze. It was about 20 degrees today so it was plenty cold enough. We bundled up and went out around our yard to find some colorful leaves and berries. It was cold!!! We quickly found some stuff to use, we put them together inside because it was so cold.

He was cold and was giving me the evil eye

leaves and berries we found

Alex making the wreath

working on the ornaments

I added strings to each one and put them outside to freeze

A preview

Its dark out now, so I will post pictures of them all frozen and hanging up tomorrow.


I'm linking up to Kids Get Crafty and the Play Academy

C is for Cold

~Alex is 33 months~

So we started working on the alphabet again. Today we did C is for Cold. Partly because Alex loves to watch Leapfrogs Letter Factory (the letter C's are cold in it) and partly because it is cold out now.  We bundled up and took walk in a nearby small downtown area. It was nice to get some fresh air, and we did a little window shopping. When we came back Alex did a letter C with his Do A Dots.

We read Winter Friends by Carl R Sams II. Its a cute little board book with great illustrations

Then we made a snowman out of cotton balls. I drew the snowman shape out on a piece of blue construction paper with a piece of chalk then I painted on the glue and let Alex apply the cotton balls. I helped him add the felt and foam details and he drew some snow on with chalk.

I also froze some little trinkets in a piece of ice for Alex to explore. I used a few glittery craft foam snow flakes, and trees, a letter C that I cut out of foam, a red jewel, a little gingerbread eraser and a piece of red string. I gave Alex a bowl of warm water and a turkey baster to use to melt the ice. I also gave him some tweezers to help get the trinkets out of the ice.