Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss: Day 3

We read One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss and did a few activities. Of course, our snack had to be goldfish crackers and the kids loved that!

We played a magnetic fishing game that we already had. My little guy loves this game. The pole has a magnet at the end and each of the fish have magnets on them. It's easy for his little hands to manipulate successfully.

This isn't one of my favorite Dr. Seuss books but I like the use of numbers and colors through out the book. We counted fish as we caught them on our pole and identified their color. Then, we spread out our play parachute and matched the fish to the colors. My daughter thought this was too easy but she had fun helping her brother place the fish in the correct place.

He called every color pink or white. This would make his big sister laugh and he was proud of how funny he was. Then, we ditched the fish and I would call a color and the kids would have to run and stand on that color. Both kids loved this!

Finally, we took our stuffed fish from The Cat in the Hat and used the parachute to launch him up into the air. We counted how many times we could toss him up and catch him without letting him drop onto the floor.

As I said before, this isn't one of my favorite Dr. Seuss books. It seems like he took a bunch of ideas for different books and combined them into one. The story doesn't' flow from the start of the book to the end. Despite my dislike for the books, we had fun learning our numbers and colors.

Men...What To Do With Them?

I have a ceiling that is open to the clouds.

The rest of my bathroom looks like a bomb exploded.

This mess was created by two men... my husband being one of them.

So, what do you do with those men? Here's what my mail said when I went to the mailbox today.

I laughed out loud when I read this. I know it has another meaning but how funny is that?!?!? Should I take a torch and just light the whole repair project on fire? Hmmmm.

Nope, I do appreciate the work my husband is doing but boy, do I hate it when our home is in the middle of a project. I'll certainly be glad when all the banging, expense, and mess are over.

Plus, I'll have a bathroom that won't leak. Thanks, honey. I promise I won't ignite you on fire despite what the mail encouraged me to do.

Those Sneaky Little Leprechans

Ok. OK. I know St. Patrick's Day was over a week ago. I know I'm slow to post but I wanted to record what the Leprechauns did at our house on St. Patrick's Day.

First off, this note greeted my children as they came to the table for breakfast...

Then, they were off to search for the "Leprechaun gold" that was hidden throughout the house. The other side of the Leprechaun's note had a circle that corresponded with each coin that was hidden. When all the circles were filled, they had found all of the gold...

Then we sat down for breakfast and as my daughter brought the milk from the refrigerator, I curiously looked at the milk jug in her hand and asked her what was up with the milk. She glanced down at the milk jug in her hand and ran to the table, quickly set it down and then anxiously backed away as if it were poison...

The Leprechauns had turned our milk GREEN! After her initial shock, she was willing to test the milk and happily declared, "It tastes NORMAL!"

When we were finished with breakfast, she ran to the refrigerator and pantry and looked through everything to see if they had turned anything else green. They had not but it did give mom an idea.

Later, when she returned to the fridge to help me retrieve yogurt and blueberries for our snack, she discovered that the Leprechauns had returned...

And, they returned again for dinner...

Her four year old mind is just reeling as she is trying to figure this all out.

How did they get in here?

Why didn't we hear them?

How many are there?

How did they know what we were going to eat?

Oi! I had so much fun with this!

Who would have thought that this silly little activity would have much of an impact but the little guy has been pointing to things all week and saying, "GREEN."

I have no idea why I chose a goblet to dye the eggs in but it sure did look pretty.

Leprechan's Gold Addition Game

Here's another quick game we've been playing this week in honor of St. Patrick's Day.

Take two small containers. Place shamrock cards in one and gold coins in the other. (The shamrock cards have green stickers on the back.)

Take out two shamrocks and flip them over. Count the dots and take out the corresponding number of coins for each dot. Add the two numbers together.

2+3=5

This game is quick to set up is a good independent activity.

Irish Memory

A quick game that we have been playing this week... Irish Memory.

I took three different pieces of St. Patrick's Day scrapbooking paper and cut out two squares of each. I laminated them on my Xyron. That's it. Done. Easy peasy.

Place them face down on the tray.

Flip over two at a time until you have a match.

My daughter has loved this game! I thought that the patterns might be too similar for her to tell the differences in matching them. But, she had no problem. She also learned what the leprechauns put at the end of a rainbow, what Ireland's flag looks like, and what the Claddagh stands for. I wish that I could find more paper but these were the only three patterns that I could find.

My Personal Chef

I'm a little jealous of the rich and famous who have a personal chef that cooks whatever their heart desires. Wouldn't that be nice?!?!?

Well, I don't have a personal chef but I do have a hubby who's darn good in the kitchen! His birthday was last month and I gave him a 4 in 1 grill. We had his parents over to celebrate his Dad's birthday this weekend. My fabulous husband cooked everything.

He made Paninis loaded with chicken Breast, Mozzarella cheese, tomatoes and pesto (frozen from last summer's garden).

On the side was a pasta dish that could have been a meal all by itself. It was delicious with a creamy white cheese sauce over chicken, tomatoes, and broccoli.

Thanks, honey! It's like I have my own personal chef... only with benefits!

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss: Day 2

The view from out the window today, was this...

...a gas truck and an excavator digging a hole in two of our neighbors' front yards. This led to lots of questions about the what and why of what was going on outside our window. So, rather than answering the questions, we pulled out Oh, the Thinks You Can Think by Dr. Seuss.

This is a book about the silly things that you can think up. Here's our favorite picture from the book...

We decided that we want a floating balloon swimming pool like Kitty O'Sullivan Krause in our backyard too.

After reading the book, I encouraged my daughter to use her imagination to come up with silly things that the men outside our window might be doing. I thought that this would be a fun activity for her. She generally loves using her imagination. Not today. She had to know what they were really doing before she could be silly. After I explained what I really thought they were doing, (Honestly, I wasn't sure.) she was able to imagine silly ideas about them. She thought that they were digging a swimming pool and that the excavator was a giant hungry animal who was eating the dirt. Ah, her imagination is working... I was a bit worried.

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss: Day 1

In honor of Dr. Seuss' birthday, we're celebrating him and his books every day this week. Today, we read The Sneeches and Other Stories.

This book contains four stories...

• The Sneeches
• The Zax
• Too Many Daves
• What Was I Scared Of?

We read all of them except for Too Many Daves. It's not one that I particularly like and I thought my 4 year old would get lost in the story of why a mom would name all 23 of her sons Dave. I can imagine the questions!!!

The Sneeches is a story that address issues like trying to fit in and appreciating differences in others. We had fantastic conversations about similarities and differences in people. The story has two sets of characters those with stars on their bellies and those without.

We went to the craft store with Grandma and bought supplies to make a craft inspired by the story. My daughter picked buttons, ribbon, and a wooden star. She made the star above with her grandma since the little guy fell asleep and needed Mommy with him. Now whenever we look at it, we're reminded that everyone is different and that's what makes us special.

She really enjoyed The Zax. This is a story about two stubborn individuals who wouldn't budge. Here is the picture we liked most from the story...

The two Zax were so stubborn that a whole roadway was built around them and they still wouldn't budge. This story illustrates stubbornness very well. It's a silly story with a lesson behind it. When asked what the Zax should have done instead, she thought they should have stepped aside and then drawn a picture to make each other feel better. Here's the picture that she drew to give the Zax...

Butterflies, sunshine and a rainbow... yep, those would brighten my day if I were a stubborn Zax!

The final story we read was What Was I Scared Of? This book is a silly story about a character who is afraid of a pair of pants and in the end, he learns that the pants are afraid of him too. We talked about fear and what she's afraid of. We talked about silly fears. We talked about ways to overcome her fears.

It's amazing how a silly book about Sneeches and Zax and scaredy pants can lead to such important conversations.