indescribable

coming over, we've moved on from Hillsongs (Aussie). grins. this is among my fave now - esp those about nature. wow! the wonderful works of His hands...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PTvr755V8s&feature=related

Indescribable (Chris Tomlin)

From the highest of heights
to the depths of the sea
Creation's revealing Your majesty
From the colors of fall
to the fragrance of spring
Every creature unique in the song that it sings
All exclaiming

Indescribable, uncontainable,
You placed the stars in the sky
and You know them by name
You are amazing, God

All powerful, untameable,
awestruck, we fall to our knees
as we humbly proclaim
You are amazing, God

Who has told every lightning bolt
where it should go
Or seen heavenly storehouses laden with snow
Who imagined the sun
and gives source to its light
Yet conceals it to bring us the coolness of night
None can fathom

learn thru play

the childrens' museum is always one of our fave places to go. especially when the weather turns cold, like now, 5 - 10 C. brrrr. SG should have more kid friendly places like this. truely a place kids learn through play.

always their fave. always our last stop they get wet after playing here - waterworks.

new exhibit - ball-a-rama. tons of activities with balls of different sizes & types. now jr asks why we don't have such a big ball at home. hey, we're talking about destructive kind of big here.

he ain't heavy. he's my brother. lame... :) in case this has not been introduced. it's our latest addition to our stroller collection. :) hahah. it's the 6th we bought here in US. we've since sold 3 of them.

ikea colors

sorting by colors & counting
scooping with a spoon

got these pom pom balls for craft. but hey! it's a great way to practise fine motor, classifying & counting skills too. i just love the lovely colors!

beauty of spring, warmth of summer, colors of fall

spring flowers. yes, i'm in denial. spring is long over & so is summer. the boys can answer their own questions of "what happened to our yellow flowers?" with "it is summer. they withered."

jack & the beanstalk

calendar of stuff to do. playgroup, dance class, doctor's check up, visits to apple farm, church & halloween.

in teaching lingo, we call this "number sense". it's really real math in daily life. jr doesn't quite recognise numerals beyond 10 but i see it as exposure to the real world. a sense of dates, days, months & events. jr decides the theme for the month is farm animals. there are petting zoos with farm animals at the apple farms we visit each weekend.

kumon inspirations

coloring strawberries
ketchup on egg
spaghetti with meatballs

got these fine motor skill ideas from some kumon books about coloring. teaching tots to color within confined areas, scribble with purpose & draw straight lines. nice!

pumpkins, pumpkins everywhere

jl's 1st comment as we drove into the parking lot,"so many pumpkins! i cannot believe this!"

he spoke our minds. there were pumpkins as far as our eyes could see. the 1st time we've seen so many! & many decorated with cute faces. of course there were some scary ones which we gave little time & attention to. i mean, how else to explain the evil forces of monsters, ghosts & skeletons?

harvest

1st harvest

2nd harvest minus the pumpkins which we got from a farm

3rd harvest with our pride - the watermelon

notice the harvest gets more plentiful each week? hhahah. yum! the boys especially love the weekly box of cherry tomatoes.

& the experience of tugging carrots out from the soil. for once they could understand why they sing the chinese song - hei yo hei yo, pa luo bo.

& to think we had to ask my mum how to determine when carrots are ready for harvest. see the thickness from the top & just dig up & see!

mr potato head animal puzzle

inspired by A's mr potato head & Target's animal craft cards. he has to sort out animal parts by color before putting them on "mr potato head".

it's interesting how jr decides where the limbs should be. for the pig & elephant, they would be at the bottom while for the rabbit & bear/mouse, they would be at the sides, facing inwards.

jl's set would have to wait till he does not crush the pieces. :)

animal rescuers

jl's craft (2 yr)
jr's craft (3.5 yrs)

i'm always amazed by the fine motor skills they develop as they grow older.

look at the way Jr colors his fish for his penguin. in different colors & more controlled strokes.

he also helps to cut "berries" for the kinkajou monkeys with his "safety scissors", name different parts of an animal & paste parts of the animals more accurately.

incidentally this monkey seems to be Jl's 1st successful attempt at pasting animal parts accurately & not ripping the pieces off. now he just needs to practise more control in not messing his craft up with markers.


reusing paper lantern crepe papers for another craft. clever?

1st try at animal "puzzle" parts.

they love to watch "go,diego, go" - nick jr show with mexican boy, diego saving different animals. now our mornings are filled with making craft of whatever animal their "animal rescuer" saves. i learn at the same time as them about animals, habitat, characteristics & diet. & of course they must have their "scientific equipment" - computer, field journal & spotting scope. now they just need a camera & a tree house as their HQ, complete with a zip cord.

jack o lantern

no idea how to make pumpkin dishes *we tried P pie sold in the stores & didn't quite fancy them* so we bought baby pumpkins for them to decorate. now they sit on our window ledge to scare of any H monsters.

halloween is supposed to be the 2nd most "celebrated" festival here next to christmas.

if there's a "trick or treat" organised here in our community, then we would consider buying costumes for them, just for a day. experience - priceless. :)

minnesota state fair 2008

proof that we went to the state fair. haha. we were told by J's classmates that it's a yearly affair not to be missed.

jr calls this "pigs doing tricks" but it's really pig judging

zzzzz-ing cows. kids think these cows give chocolate milk

heads for souvenirs. eeks!

elephant ears? really, these are called funnel cakes. we saw them so often at county fairs & this is our 1st try. topped with strawberry sauce.

after a few hours of labor with a huge audience & tons of cameras showing mummy ewe's every progress & vet check ups at the "miracle center of birth", this little one was finally born. the boys were too restless to wait to see the whole process.

potatoes done in every way you can think of

jr explored the play area while i wait out jl's nap under a shady tree. :)