Continent Puzzle Map Work

The continent puzzle map was one of E(2)'s most frequently chosen activities in February...she LOVES it! We sing the continent song as we work, and we do the puzzle together. 

 We also listen to Geography Songs, and E and O both LOVE the British Isles song...it's very catchy and it sticks in your head after you listen to it a few times. We all randomly break out into singing "The British Isles! The British Isles! In the Atlantic across the channel from France..."

                                                                     

South African Flag Puzzle

Our cultural exchange country for the month of February was South Africa. Our South African studies were disrupted by Elliott's diagnosis, but we've still managed to do some fun South African projects. O(5) loved completing this South African flag puzzle. I printed the flag from Activity Village and laminated it before cutting it. Simple, cheap, fun, and educational!

Capes and Masks

I've been thinking about making capes and masks for my girls for years, and I thought I'd finally make them this year for Easter.  Then I found out that WM sells cape and masks sets for only 5 dollars!

I immediately lost all motivation to make the capes and hurried to WM to get this great deal. E(2) was excited to receive a cape and mask for herself and her sister for her half birthday :) Since they don't know anything about super heroes, they pretended to be the Phantom from Phantom of the Opera...Love it! By the way, WM stands for Walmart! I thought everyone used that abbreviation, but I've gotten many, many emails asking...sorry about that!

Mardi Gras Fun Box

We gave the girls a box full of fun Mardi Gras stuff...masks, beads, fancy glasses, coins, etc...on Fat Tuesday (all from the Dollar Tree).  Fun times!

Famous Landmarks Work

I recently bought this Safari Around the World Toob (from Michael's) and set up a matching activity for the girls.  Both girls (ages 2 and 5) LOVE playing with the landmark figures, and they also enjoy matching the figures to the pictures.

I was excited when I remembered that I had famous landmark cards (from the Target dollar section), so we had matching cards for all but 2 of the landmarks.  To do this work, E(2) and I laid out the cards and then took out the landmarks one by one to match them.





E(2) picked up the Statue of Liberty and said "I want to go see her one day!"  When we drove by our local courthouse, she said "there's the empire state building!"  One day when we were playing in our yard, she kept saying "Machu Picchu" over and over again.












Both girls (and their mama and daddy) want to go see the real Eiffel Tower one day!





This fun work is a great addition to our cultural studies!  Obviously, due to our family's current medical situation (Elliott's brain tumor), the organization of the next cultural exchange is on hold.  However, once he is well, I plan on getting it set up again.  For the next exchange, I plan to create groups of 4 (each person sends out 3 packages), so you may want to start collecting trinkets and fun things.  Please do not email asking to be a part of the exchange because I am not starting the organization now...just giving you a heads up!






Let me know if anyone else sets up this work for your kiddos!  It's so much fun to hear such little ones talking about famous landmarks (that I'd probably never heard of until high school!), and it really inspires them to learn more about each place.  What fun!

The 1000s Chain

O(5) had the thousands chain lesson at school last week, and she is SO proud!  Elliott spent the morning with her at school and got to see her do this work and a digital math work.  Then E(2) and I went to observe her doing the 1000s work this week.  Our girl LOVES math!

Elliott and the Girls

Since Elliott will be having brain surgery soon, he'll have to cut his hair.  In the 15 years that I've known him, I have never seen him with short hair, so I can't even imagine it.  However, he's wanted to cut his hair for a while, and he thinks that brain surgery is the perfect motivation to go ahead and do it!

So, I wanted to take some pics of the long haired daddy with his baby girls before his big haircut.  E(2) was not very happy (which was a good distraction for me...I was so busy trying to make her smile that I forgot to be sad...not sad that Elliott is cutting his hair just sad that a brain tumor is the cause of it), so I'm hoping we'll have time to do another photo shoot this weekend.







I'm hoping to get back into the habit of writing posts to this blog again soon.  While my thoughts are full of Elliott, brain tumors, surgery, etc, we are still doing fun things that I want to share and don't want to forget.  This blog is the best way to do both.  While I have no intention to getting back into the routine of  writing daily posts, I am hoping to write at least 2 or 3 posts a week (that are not related to surgery, brain tumors, etc.).  Thank you again for all of the wonderfully supportive comments and emails!

Happy Half Birthday, Sweet E(2)!

In the midst of all of the drama of Elliott's brain tumor and my fall down the stairs, we are still doing all of the normal and fun things we've always done.  E(2) recently celebrated her half birthday!  She was so excited and proud, and she loved it when we sang "Happy Half Birthday" to her.

Elliott bought a tiny cake for her and put candles in it, and we hung our birthday banner and wore birthday hats.    She kept pointing to the cake and saying "that's my happy half birthday!"  We had a lot of fun.  Sweet O(5) wrapped up one of her miniature American Girl dolls (Josephina) and a quarter for E for her half birthday.  She was SO proud and excited to give E this special gift, and I was touched by her kindness and generosity.



In addition to the cake, we ate half ice-cream sandwiches and started talking in half sentences.  O thought the half sentences were hilarious and then frustrating...it was all pretty funny to Elliott and I.  We have found that we are laughing and enjoying lots of crazy little things (like being silly and talking in half sentences).  This keeps us laughing instead of crying and is good for the kids...we don't want this to be a traumatic or stressful time for them.

So, We're Basically On Hold...

We are again playing the waiting game.  The next appt with another neurologist isn't until March 20.  After that appt, we'll make the final decision as to where Elliott will have the tumor removed.  Hopefully, we'll schedule it during the first or second week of April.

We are already so changed by this...I hope the changes will only be for the better.  Little annoying things no longer matter...for example, my tumble down the stairs and badly sprained ankle made us laugh a lot whereas 2 weeks ago, it probably would have been a big deal and a stressor.  Today we came really close to running out of gas, but we weren't at all bothered.  We just pictured ourselves out pushing the car in the pouring rain while 5 year old O steered us into a ditch and thought it was really funny.

The girls and I are making videos for Elliott to have to watch while he is in the hospital, and O chose to sing "Oh, What a Beautiful Morning" and E sang "Rain, Rain, Go Away."  We're also planning to buy him a fun gift. O and I both (independently) came up with the idea to buy a remote control boat to use on the lake.  O is really excited about all of these plans, and we've also worked on getting her excited about seeing Daddy bald!

Elliott has long hair and always has, so it's going to be strange to see him with little to no hair.  We're going to get it cut a couple of weeks before the surgery, so that the girls have time to get used to it before the surgery.  Also, I told him yesterday that I want to do one last photo shoot of him with hair and the girls :)

Thank you for all of the support via this blog.  It really has been amazing.  I have read each and every comment and email, and everyone of them helps me get through the long minutes, hours, and days.  Thank you.

Preparing the Girls...

I would really like to prepare our girls (ages 2 and 5) for their daddy's surgery through the reading of children's books on the subject.  Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find any children's books dealing with a parent having brain surgery.  Do any of you know of a book like this?  It doesn't necessarily have to be brain surgery.

So far, I've been telling them bedtime stories about children who find out that their daddy has to go to the hospital for surgery.  In the stories I discuss what he'll look like when they see him after surgery and focus on what they can do for him to make him feel better.  O(5) is VERY excited about making and doing LOTS of things to make him happy following surgery.  Tonight she said she wished she didn't have school tomorrow, so she could stay home and make plans for daddy.

E(2) is usually asleep by this time, so I need to tell her some stories during the day.  E has really enjoyed seeing the images of her daddy's brain scans, and one day she patted her head and said "my intestines in here!"  Such a funny girl.  Thanks for any input.

Thank You

Thank you to everyone for your thoughts, prayers, and support.  All of the comments and emails have been wonderfully supportive to our family.

Elliott will have to have surgery to remove the brain tumor.  The surgery needs to be soon.  I have taken up the full-time job of researching to make the decision as to which hospital and surgeon are the best fit for him.  I've been on the phone, computer, or at neurologists appt almost constantly since Monday.  I'm looking forward to tumor free brain for Elliott and a nice vacation for all of us once we get on the other side of this.  I can't wait to breathe that huge sigh of relief.

Prayers for a Healthy Brain and Peaceful Hearts

We have recently received the devastating news that Elliott has a brain tumor.  We are currently in the "not knowing" phase of diagnosis which is extremely difficult.  We have very high hopes that his tumor is benign, and we also pray that it will not require surgery.  Please pray for him to be healthy, and if you don't pray, please send thoughts of peace and healing.  We need all that we can get.  Thank you.

Thank you for all of the wonderfully supportive comments and emails.  Just to be clear...Elliott is the husband and daddy of the family not the baby E(2).  Also, to add to the drama of the week, I fell down the stairs last night and have a sprained or possibly broken ankle.  However, on the bright side, it was  a distraction and a little bit of comic relief...I couldn't stop laughing at my extreme stupidity... *sigh*

A Typical Morning

I receive many, many emails asking what a typical day looks like for the girls and me.  I never really know how to respond because each day is different, and I'm always trying to find a schedule that really suits us.  However, we've fallen into a fairly typical morning routine that I'll share with you...

After E(2) and I drop O(5) off at Montessori Preschool, we come home and do housework for about 45 minutes to an hour.  Usually, E loves to help me.  She enjoys carrying the dirty clothes to the laundry room and stuffing them into the washing machine.  She likes pushing in the drawer containing the detergent and closing the door of the washing machine.  She also loves to put the wet clothing into the dryer, clean the lint filter, and close the dryer door.



Another favorite "chore" is cleaning the toilets.  When she hears me cleaning the toilets, she always runs to help.  She's gotten pretty good at scrubbing cabinet doors, and I'm planning to teach her to dust.  She does a good job with the power sweeper, and she's getting better about picking up her toys and books.

After we finish cleaning, we go upstairs (our laundry room is downstairs and the den and kitchen are upstairs) to play.  While I straighten up the kitchen, she has independent free play.  She usually chooses to build with her unit blocks, play pretend with her small animals, or look at books.

After I finish in the kitchen, I sit down with her near her Montessori shelf.  If she's interested in doing Montessori "work", we'll sit together on a rug and choose work.  She usually only chooses 2 or 3 works per day (if she chooses any at all).  If she is interested in working on her letter of the week, I'll read to her from our book and offer letter activities to her.  We usually spend no more than 45 minutes per day doing Montessori or letter of the week "work."  Often, we'll spend our time doing puzzles and playing with blocks and completely forget about the letter activities and Montessori shelf work :)

Here's the work that she chose one day a few weeks ago...

She loves cutting!




It's been months since she chose these fine motor works, and I was glad to see that she still really enjoys them.








At around 11am, we'll usually gather a bunch of books and snuggle on the couch for our morning read-a-thon.  This is our favorite part of the morning, and we usually read aloud for about an hour before going to pick O up from school.

When the weather is nice, we spend less time cleaning and doing activities and more time outside.  I love to take E for daily kayak rides in the lake.  I really miss those rides, and I can't WAIT until the weather is nice enough to get back into that routine!

So, there's a typical morning for E(2) and me.  It's pretty simple.  I feel strongly that most of her time should be spent engaging in pretend play, playing outside, and being read to from high quality children's books.

Oh, and we also spend lots of time listening to music and dancing!  She has been completely obsessed with The Nutcracker Ballet for months, so we play lots of ballet music and spend LOTS of time dancing!

Have You Seen My Sister? (handmade book)

O(5) and I started making this book for E's 1st birthday.  She's almost 2 and a half, and we just finished it about a month ago!  I'm not really sure how that happened, but I'm glad to have it finished and E(2) loves it!

To make the book, we started with a blank book from barebooks.com.  Then we just decided what we wanted to say and printed the words on photo paper and glued them into the book.  We used pics from a calendar for the animal pics.