Father/Daughter Dance

Caitlyn had been looking forward to attending the American Heritage Girls Father/Daughter Dance since first hearing about it last fall! Back then, February seemed so far off, but the night of the big event finally arrived last Saturday! I can't even begin to describe how impossibly sweet I think the whole thing was, so I'll just let these pictures speak for themselves! :)

Along the Alphabet Path: Highlights from "O" week

I feel the need to hurry and post our "O" week before we've finished "P" week, especially since my mom will be here TOMORROW (!!!) and I don't know how frequently I'll be blogging during the month she's here! So, quickly, here's the abbreviated version of what we did:

St. Odilia and Orchis Fairy coloring pages

Oceans
Tuna fish sandwiches and ocean cups, examining our sea shell collection from Nonny!

Fun with Cheerios!
The Cheerios Play Book and Cheerios bracelets!

Owls and Oil Pastels

I think these are the only things I managed to get pictures of. Other topics that week were the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, for which we made Oatmeal Pancakes from our Alpha-Bakery cookbook. Crepes might be more traditional, but I read this in The Catholic Home: "...all Christmas ornaments, decorations, and anything else not taken down on January 6 must be packed away until next year. You can easily offset any reluctance to do this with the promise of a pancake breakfast. Pancakes and crepes are traditionally eaten for Candlemas because of their sunny color and shape." I totally went with the pancakes. :)

We read The Our Father and Hail Mary, and The Owl and the Pussycat, and other assorted storybooks. We had fun with Ocean Math, Ocean word worksheets, and...I guess that's about it. Doesn't look like much now, but it was a fun week!

Pangolins and "P" week

After putting the kids to bed last night, Darren came to me and said, "Dylan wants you to read to them about pangolins from his Ranger Rick magazine this week."

"Penguins?"

"No, pangolins."

"Oh. Um. Okay. What's a pangolin?"

"Google it! They're really cool!"

So, "google it" I did, and they are, and it seems Dylan will again be teaching his old mom a thing or two this week! Should be fun and interesting, to say the least!

I'm still working on my post from "O" week (it was a great one!) and I'm really excited about "P" week. So many wonderful topics! Pirates, Princes, Princesses, Presidents, Pilgrims, Pioneers, Pyramids, Pharaohs, St. Patrick, Prayers, Plants, Pandas, and...Pangolins! Of course there's also all the fun food to consider, such as Pizza and Pepsi for a family movie night...one beginning with "P" of course! I was thinking maybe "Pirates of the Caribbean" but Dylan informed me that we're not allowed because it's PG-13. ;) So, maybe something a little more old school, like "Mary Poppins", which I've never actually seen. (I know, can you believe it?!) Anyway, I'm open to suggestions here if any of you have any great "P" movie recommendations. :)

(Best part about this week: my mom will be here Wednesday! For a month!)

Happy Monday!

Along the Alphabet Path: "N" week

Here are the highlights from last week's stop along the alphabet path! "N" was for Nasturtium fairy and St. Nicholas, and also:

'Nana pancakes!

Narnia and Neverland

Numbers and Noah's Ark

(I found the idea for this Numberbow game at Starry Sky Ranch, and my kids and I LOVED it!)

From our Alpha Bakery cookbook, "N" was for Nibble Sticks
(Perfect with mugs of tomato soup on that cold, rainy day!)

"N" was also for Noodles! Yum! Haha, can you tell I love to incorporate food as much as possible along our alphabet path? :) All credit goes to my honey for these culinary creations, though, at least as far as main courses go. Snacks and desserts I can do, but actual meals are best left to the master! I asked him if he could come up with something to go along with Strega Nona, and, since he had already made spaghetti and meatballs for us the week before, he chose this:

Linguine with a creamy chicken and herb sauce and oh my, was it delicious! I am so lucky to be married to a man who loves to cook!!!

"N" was for Nana as we read Nana Upstairs & Nana Downstairs, and also had a chance to visit my own Nana, who got to finally meet Austin for the first time!

"N" was for New Mexico, adding two more pages to our state-by- state scrapbook:

We also enjoyed reading Bill and Pete Go Down the Nile, What Makes Day and Night?, and learning about Nutrition in Health and Manners. We had also hoped to go on a nice Nature walk near our house, but another snowfall made it too cold and wet for that. Our New Mexico skies and mountains were looking particularly lovely, though! :)

Three Stooges

Just a small example of why even a simple trip across town is far from boring! :)

Big Baby, Little Baby (And Their Very Tired Mama)