"B" is for Bee, a School Bus and Numbers!

Letter "B" and Numbers!

This week I divided our week into two sections.  The first part of the week we did "B" is for Bee and the second part we did "B" is for Bus. As far as learning how to write our numbers, I just used a Richard Scary Workbook that I found at our local dollar store like the picture below.  The dollar store actually carries many fun workbooks for letters and numbers.  I think recently I've seen them with mickey mouse this time around.  Their merchandise does change and you never know what you'll find.

"B" is for Bee 

Book: Bee and Me by Elle J. McGuiness

B is for Bee alphabet sheet --We did a printable sheet from the internet.

We also did a Bumblebee craft from Miss Maren's Monkeys Website.

"B is for Bus

Book List:

1. Don't let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems (LOVE his books!)

2. The Little School Bus by Carol Roth

B is for Bus--I found this printable at a site called the twisty noodle.  This site is great and lets you customize your fonts on the pages.

School Bus Craft--I found this craft on pinterest and it was fun to do
and incorporated using shapes.

We also did the Letter Maze "B" is for Bear from

1plus1plus1equals1.com  Once you're on the page, scroll down until you see a graphic that says Dot Fun Mazes.  

We didn't get to any pigeon crafts, but these look fun!

   a. Handprint Pigeon Preschool Craft

   b. Pigeon Paper Plate Craft

A is for Apple with an Alligator thrown in too!

My kids began school last week.  B is at a local public school and my J is doing preschool at home with mommy this year.  I thought it would be fun to share the fun activities that I have found online for preschool. I've included the links to the pages for the craft ideas or alphabet pages.  It's been a lot of work to pull this all together, but J and I are having so much fun!

We got a 3 ring binder to put all of J's projects in for the school year. A fun way to keep all of his papers together. His binder page came from this website.  If you scroll down most of the page you'll see a picture of the little monsters along with her link to the free printable.

A is for Apple plus an Alligator!
We were able to find all of these books at our local library. This list is from 3dinosaurs.com

Our Book list:
Apple Pie Tree--Zoe Hall
10 Apples up on Top--Dr. Seuss
The Biggest Apple Ever--Steven Kroll
How do Apples Grow?--Besty Maestro
Apples--Gail Gibbons
Apples A to Z--Margaret McNamara
Ten Red Apples: A Bartholomew Bear Counting Book--Virginia Miller

Our Alphabet Pages and Activites:

1. Apple Pack from 3Dinosaurs.com   I absolutely love this website.  There are such great ideas and free printables!! There is a tot pack and an Apple pack which has 3 parts for the older kids. We didn't use every sheet from this set. I just picked out the ones I thought J would like doing. Part 2 has the A is for Apple sheet, cutting practice worksheet (which he loved!), and coloring all the A's worksheet. The Apple Booklet was J's favorite, and he is always wondering when we'll do another little book. This booklet is found in Part 3 of the pack and is supposed to be used with reading the Apple Pie Tree book by Zoe Hall.

 2. I picked up some apple stickers from Target's dollar section and made a scene with a big tree on some paper for J. to stick the stickers to.



3. We also did an apples taste test with these printables.
I believe we tried a golden delicious, honeycrisp and a granny smith. J's favorite was the honeycrisp, yum!



4. A-Z do-a-dot mazes are from 1plus1plus1equals1.com  Once you're on the page, scroll down until you see a graphic that says Dot Fun Mazes.  J loved doing these.  I picked up do-a-dot markers from Michael's Craft store.

5. One other craft we did had nothing to do with apples. We did A is for Alligator.  The craft was too cute not to do. I found the template to print and a picture of the finished product here at Miss Maren's Monkeys. 

6. I did find these following activities but we weren't able to get to them. Maybe I'll use them with G when it's his turn for preschool. 
   10 Apples Up On Top counting activity
   10 Apples Up on Top craft

2014 Reflections

2014....what a year for our family.  As I think about this past year, life can be heartbreaking and joyous.

In February, Tom's dad had another heart attack and surgery.  At the end of March/beginning of April, Tom's dad began having hospice come to the house to help control the pain from the cancer, and we began traveling to the east side of the state every weekend to spend time with him.  We traveled for the months of April and May.  Tom's dad passed into glory on B's birthday, June 2, 2014.  We miss him.  Christmas was not the same, and it's weird saying that we're going to Amma's house instead of Amma and Papa's.  J. still on occasion will say that Papa is sleeping (this is what he said when he saw Tom's dad in the casket).  Life is hard to keep living when loved ones are gone from our presence.  The only thing that keeps us going is knowing that Tom's dad is enjoying the pleasures of heaven and being with God.

In August, we welcomed our sweet new edition to our family--little baby G!  What a joy during a heartbreaking year!  When we found out we were pregnant last December 2013, we thought well, God must want us to have a little one now instead of later.  And after enduring this past year, we know why God gave us this little bundle of joy to comfort our hearts.

While Tom's dad was beginning hospice and heading into the end stages of his cancer, my mom began declining in her health.  We knew that something had happened health wise back in June 2010.  My mom was convinced it was a stroke, but over the years things didn't get better and continued to decline.  Her right arm was becoming more rigid.  Her speech was down to yes, no and a few words strung together, and then she began having motor planning issues.  In April 2014, mom was trying to come up the stairs from the basement and fell breaking 10 ribs and spraining her ankle.  She recovered, but walking was now a real problem and began to resemble parkinson's.  She began having issues with transitions (like going from the hardwood floor to the rug) and needed to be led around the house by my dad.   In August 2014, my mom was diagnosed with a rare neurological disease called Cortical basal ganglionic degeneration (CBGD).  The picture above is the first time my mom got to hold baby G.   We took lots of pictures and it was a pretty special time.

On October 23, 2014, my Grandma Turnbow passed away at the age of 92.  She had been struggling with CHF for a while. I was so glad that we got to go over and visit her in the hospital before she died.  She was able to meet Baby G too!



We don't know what God has planned for 2015.  I would appreciate your prayers for my dad as he cares for my mom.  He is doing everything and that can get weary.  Pray for mom as we can tell she is frustrated not being able to communicate and get her body to do what she would like it to do.  She gets tired pretty easily also.

Life isn't promised to be easy.  Sin is ugly and makes us long for the day we will be free from the consequences of sin and at home with our Savior.  Thankful that though our bodies may perish, we have a home in heaven awaiting us.  One where we will be whole and free to live as God intended--glorifying Him.