Happy (belated) Thanksgiving!

We had a splendid Thanksgiving week.  While, it was kind of a mixed holiday week, we over all had a blast.  I was informed by my boys on Monday, that Thanksgiving should be over and that we needed to start getting ready for Christmas.  With that strong statement, we did start decorating.

I found some super cheap foam trees trimmed in glitter, and some super cheap craft stickers to go with it.  Coupled with markers and some winter stampers, we had a blast listening to Christmas music and decorating our trees.

Yes, Carter needs to wear his glasses inside and out.  He is too cute!

We also had a lesson on icicles.  We happen to live in an area where the highway is lined with the shimmery icicles, and they have always intrigued Pierce; even as a baby.  Now little brother is kind of following in his footsteps, and they ask me to pull over on a daily basis to see the marvels of nature.  Obviously, I am not going to pull over on the highway.  However, there is one street in town that has a great showing of the icicles.  And it is not a busy street, so I do not mind pulling over.  They were amazed at the icicles!  And honestly, I was too.  They are an absolute beauty, and it is great for demonstrating the difference between solids vs liquids.  :)

I know I was not expecting the amount of detail that we saw.  To be honest, as much as I have always loved being outside, I have never been the one to stop and smell the roses...or look at the detail on icicles.  It was great to see how the layers of ice formed to make the icicles.  

We also created a center piece for our table.  This was an unexpected project for us.  I happened to see a few project ideas of pounding golf tees into craft blocks; and I honestly went to Michaels with that plan in mind.  Instead I walked out with a bunch of artificial ever greens and ornaments on wire.  I love how the boys created this project on their own, and I love how they can keep moving it around so that it is not the same every day.  

The other open ended project they did this week was sticking pom poms inside jars, ice cubes, bags, etc.  We also found these awesome sparkly pom poms at Michaels, and of course had to purchase them.  My boys love everything about pom poms, so why wouldn't they love these?  They have tinsel sticking out the side, which gives it this amazing texture as well.  We also happened to have empty plastic jars, and Carter has enjoyed opening and closing the jars.  

I guess it is safe to say we took a break from "school" this week.  However, next week we are going to start studying the nativity and learning the true meaning behind Christmas.  I want to do this before we get too carried away with crafts, gift making, etc.  We set up our Nativity last night when we came home from our Thanksgiving festivities, and I started to tell the story to Pierce.  However, they were so tired, I do not think it really stuck.  Buddy the Elf also showed up last night (our elf on the shelf), and the boys are crazy excited that he is here.  And that reminds me, he needs a new home.  :)  Have a great night everyone!