Little artist hard at work

Thanks to Pinterest I've found a few new "recipes" for creative activities to do with the boys, but Matthew especially since he is the one home all the time.  The first new recipe we tried was sawdust dough.  Since Cory has been working very slowly on finishing off the basement we actually had a container of sawdust that the boys had collected so we figured why not try the new sawdust dough recipe.  Matthew enjoyed measuring the ingredients and mixing, but beyond this had no desire to have anything to do with the sawdust dough.  Even Joshua said he wouldn't touch it.  Can't blame them a whole lot since it turned out very mushy and not very dough like at all.  So,this was the first and the last time we will attempt this concoction!  Next we did some sand painting.  I had done this previously when teaching preschool, but had since forgotten about this activity.  Matthew again liked measuring and mixing the ingredients, but surprisingly he absolutely loved painting with it too (rare for my little boy who doesn't like to get messy or artsy)!  More sand painting is in our future I believe.

Sifting the sawdust so we only get the finer sawdust in the dough..

Mixing up the sawdust dough.

Sanding painting.

Dripping glue all over paper in preparation for an art project a different day.

More sand painting for the child who generally doesn't like this sort of activity.

Priceless!

This came home from school a few weeks ago with Joshua after they celebrated their 101st day of 1st grade.  In case you can't read it.....

I would love to eat 101 spoonfuls of cookie dough.

I would not like to eat 101 peanuts.

My parents tell me 101 times to be nice to my brother.

I tell my parents 101 times to put my kitten in my bed.

When I am 101 years old I will be lazy.

Ha, so accurate it's funny!!

Celebrating Valentine's Day in 1st Grade

Joshua had his last class party of the year a few days before Valentine's Day.  This was the one and only party I had actually planned helping organize and run at the beginning of the year, but little did I know this would be the third party I helped with when I signed up way back then.  We kept it pretty low key, with a few simple games and some festive and yummy food.  The kids had a great time and that is what is was all about! 

Class picture

 Passing the tissue paper heart with straws.





Joshua works on his Valentine owl craft.

He can do it!

We are constantly reading to both boys, but Matthew in particular as Joshua can now read on his own.  Matthew enjoys books of most any kind.  We've read several board books about colors, shapes, numbers, but Matthew isn't forth-giving in letting us know is he is comprehending this info - generally when we ask him what something is he says, "you say it".  So, one morning he was just sitting in the chair in our bedroom and he is counting from 1 to 9!  I couldn't believe it so I asked him to do it several times just to be sure.  Funny thing is he also is understanding one to one correspondence up to 5 already too, which surprised me.  Little stinker!!  Check out the video of him counting that morning in late January.