The Three Snow Bears

A children's author that we really enjoy is Jan Brett. She has beautiful books with great stories. She also has an awesome website at www.janbrett.com full of activities and printable coloring pages that correspond with her books. The most recent book of hers that we bought was The Three Snow Bears. It's an adaptation of the classic story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

After reading The Three Snow Bears for the upteenth time, Nicholas and I took the story to the next level. I had printed an igloo as well as the mama bear and baby bear from the website. We each colored our bear and then colored some clothing for our bear to make "paper dolls".









What a great way to bring a story to life! We've even used our paper doll bears to create new stories of our own.

Tidbits from the World of Nicholas

Nicholas loves playing with his Thomas the tank train set. He has a great table for it all but sometimes he loves to just spread it all out over the floor and make new designs with leftover track pieces.



Nicholas still loves to ride around in this little car as well as his tricycle and motorized Jeep. However, he has asked Santa Claus to bring him a "big boy bike" for Christmas. But I don't know if he will stop riding around in this little car until he can no longer fit his knees in it.



Nicholas has a little dance he does when he needs to go potty but doesn't want to stop playing long enough to go to the bathroom. He was doing his little dance today and Stuart told him to go to the bathroom. Nicholas just kept playing and Stuart had to remind him again to go to the bathroom before he had an accident. Nicholas got mad at being told what to do and looked at both of us and said, "Hmpf! I'm not your little boy anymore!" Then he looked at me and I guess realized that I hadn't done anything to him and he said, "Ok, well, I'm still Mommy's little boy but Daddy, I'm not your little boy anymore!" I realize he is trying to hurt our feelings when he says this or the alternate, "I'm not going to be your friend anymore!". However, it is really just cute and I can't help but smile a little when he does it. I know he has picked this up from some other child at school so I have talked with him about how other children might say things like this to try to get their way as well as other ways to express his frustration with us or other people that doesn't involve saying something mean to try to hurt the other person's feelings.

Nicholas still loves to help me in the kitchen. The other night we made a Southwestern Taco Pie. Nicholas had a very intense look on his face as he tried to align the bottom layer of pie dough in the pie pan.



He relaxed a little when it was time to pile the filling in. He is such a good helper in the kitchen and it's always more fun to cook with him around.



Nicholas always wakes up before Stuart and me on the weekend. He has his routine. He comes into our room with three stuffed animals - Daddy Bear, Mama Bear, and Big Dog. He wakes us up by giving us each a "friend" to snuggle with while we sleep. Of course, he gives me the Mama Bear while Stuart gets the Daddy Bear and Nicholas keeps Big Dog for himself. He then crawls up onto the foot of the bed and snuggles up between Stuart and me. He lies there for a few minutes as we enjoy the precious moments of our family all cuddled up together. But, alas, the moment is fleeting as Nicholas is quick to get down off the bed and soon fills the floor of our room or the foot of our bed with loud, noisy toys. This morning Nicholas was playing on the floor as Stuart and I tried to catch a few more minutes of snoozing. Nicholas decided that he was going to make us a pretend breakfast. He went to his bed and brought back his sweet little turtle basket which is usually filled with little trinket toys and stays next to him in bed. He emptied the basket and brought it into our bedroom. He said it was his "food feeder basket". He proceeded to give Stuart and I some pretend breakfast items from his basket. He gave us duck milk, canary soup, frog peach, pizza, ice cream, and vegetables.

Nicholas and I have enjoyed participating in Project Feeder Watch. We watch our bird feeders on two days a week and record the count of different species of birds on a tracking form online. Nicholas gets very excited about watching birds now and he is great at helping me find and count birds. When we signed up for Project Feeder Watch, they sent us some great educational materials to help us get started.



We keep these items, along with several of my bird identification books, next to the bay window in the kitchen which is a great spot to watch birds in our backyard. It has been a really fun project and we plan to participate in it again next year!

Christmas at MES and Fellowship Church

Nicholas brought home a Christmas present from school to give to Stuart and me. He said he made the wrapping paper himself with paint and Christmas-themed foam stamps.



Of course, I was very careful not to tear my custom-made wrapping paper which is now being displayed on the refrigerator. But I was even more proud of the wonderful gift inside the wrapping paper. It was a Christmas plate that Nicholas had decorated himself!


Nicholas told me about the picture. It is a picture of Santa Claus in his red suit. The red line on the left is a house and the green triangle is a Christmas tree. The green and brown things in the upper right are two presents that Santa brought. At the bottom of the picture, Nicholas signed his name. I'm just so proud! I don't think I can box it back up with all of the other Christmas stuff to just sit in the attic until next year. I just might have to keep this one out all year long. What a great gift.

Stuart and I attended the MES Christmas chapel this week. We went a little early so that I could help the children get dressed in their shepherds costumes while Stuart found us a good seat for video taping the performance. Nicholas was just too cute in his little costume!


Once everyone was dressed, the class lined up to walk to chapel but they got in one more rehearsal before they left. They are singing "Go Tell It On The Mountain" complete with sign language.



I got butterflies in my stomach when it was time for Nicholas' class to go on stage. I'm just such a proud mama! Here's my little boy as the cutest shepherd in his class.



Here's Nicholas and his proud Daddy after the performance.





Stuart and I both helped out at church this week for their Christmas performances. Stuart was there Wednesday night for the main rehearsal. He ended up not needing to rehearse on camera so he just sat in the audience watching the worship team practice on stage. He brought Nicholas in to watch as well. Nicholas had a blast! He got to go back stage as well as sit in the audience. The other people on the media team loved having him hang out with them. They played peek-a-boo over the seats and answered all of Nicholas' endless questions. Tracy Ball, a local photographer, was there and captured some great pictures of Nicholas with his new friends.

All I want for Christmas is.....

All I want for Christmas is...everything I see!



We try to be reserved in giving gifts to Nicholas because we want him to be grateful and appreciate the things that he has. He very rarely gets a gift when it isn't Christmas or his birthday. However, he has discovered that he likes "shopping" in toy catalogs and he wants everything he sees. Granted, he really could use some new toys that are more appropriate for his age but I think he is going a little overboard with the wish list!

This Week at MES

This week the class learned about the Jewish culture through food and artifacts. Nicholas has learned about Hanukkah terms such as latkes, dreidel, and menorah.

In math, the class has been making a graph as they count the money they have collected from doing extra chores at home. The money the class collects will be donated to help an impoverished family in the area.

In art, Nicholas made Christmas wrapping paper for our present. We don't know what the present is yet but I'm excited to hear about it!

The class has been practicing for the heartfelt Christmas Chapel. They will be dressed as shepherds as they sing "Go Tell It On The Mountain" aloud but they will also be performing the sign language for the song as they sing it. Of course, Stuart and I will both be there with the video camera!

Mrs. Wilkerson has introduced the class to yoga. What a precious sight to see the class learning body control and being so still and quiet.

The Good Shepherd lesson for the week was The Road to Bethlehem.

Chik-Fil-A, Holiday Brunch, Home Team

We had a busy day planned yesterday and I was trying to rush Nicholas along in getting dressed this morning. It's no easy task since he wakes up wanting to play. I guess I grumbled at him a little because he got little pouty with me. He walked over to me, turned around, and bumped into me with his bottom, then walked away. I looked at him so curiously because I couldn't figure out what had just happened. He rolled out his bottom lip at me and said, "I'm mad at you so I stung you!" We've talked about wasps lately so I guess I should be glad that he was at least paying attention to me!

We finally made it out the door and headed for some breakfast. A radio station that we like, KLTY, was broadcasting from a local Chick-Fil-A so we dropped in to watch.



It was a great way to demonstrate how radio broadcasting works and to show Nicholas that there are real people doing the talking on the radio and that there is not really a little man inside the radio that sings and talks to us all the time. The announcer even had us all do a little shout when we went live on the air. Nicholas loved that! He also loved the free hot chocolate and balloon artist that they had.



My friend Heather started a food drive through the Early Childhood PTA and encouraged each playgroup to work together to donate a full meal of food to the drive. The playgroups that did got their name put into a drawing to win a holiday brunch for their whole group...and we won! Hooray! We headed over to Mrs. Heather's house and had a great time. The food was awesome and the company was even better. Nicholas got to make tortilla snowflakes! How cool! He folded up a tortilla and made cuts in it like a snowflake. He opened it up and brushed some melted butter on it and sprinkled colored sugar. Then Mrs. Heather baked it in the oven. When it came out of the oven, Nicholas put a little powdered sugar on it. What a pretty and tasty treat!





Afterwards, everyone played and enjoyed the company of friends. We had a great time! Thank you, Mrs. Heather!




We had another Christmas party last night with our Home Team (bible study group). We each brought a dish and together we had an awesome meal of brisket, twice baked potatos, roasted vegetables, dinner rolls, and two incredible desserts. The children had each brought a wrapped book to the party and after dinner they exchanged presents. Nicholas got a book called Bedtime Blessings which has stories and neat activities to do. Once we got home, Nicholas was wiped out from such a busy day. He went straight to bed and drifted off to sleep right away.

Roller Skating and Towing the Trooper

Yesterday, Nicholas went to a birthday party at a roller skating rink. It was only his second time to go roller skating but he did well. He held my hands and skated as I walked around the rink. It was a challenge for both of us because he fell quite often but he kept a smile on his face and kept getting back up to keep trying.
The birthday party included skating lessons with an instructor so we took advantage of that!

Nicholas decided that he was all done with skating but he found this neat little ride on toy that he rode around the rink. I think he actually liked it more than skating.

After we sang to the birthday girl and enjoyed some birthday cake, Nicholas decided he wanted to play some video games. Although I wouldn't give him any money to play, he was quite content to just sit there and pretend to drive the snowmobile game.

It was a fun birthday party. We hope to go back to the rink soon for more fun.

On a sadder note, Mommy's car finally died. It's transmission went completely out so it wouldn't move and had to be towed to the repair shop. Nicholas wanted to watch the tow truck drive up to the house so we played in the front yard while we waited for it.

He got out his tools and did some work on one of the wheels.

Then we decided to build a little house with things we found in the yard. We used some existing rocks in a flower bed for the walls. We collected little twigs and I tied them together in bundles to be the ceiling joists. Then we collected pieces of bark that the sycamore trees had shed and used them for our roof.

We never decided if it was a house for gnomes, fairies, or elves. But it turned out to be a good fit for his Fisher Price Little People.


The tow truck finally arrived and Nicholas was very excited. He loved watching the man load Mommy's SUV onto the tow truck. I'm glad he had so much fun. I can't say that I had such a good time watching it though.

Santa Claus and the Joy of Giving

We went to Bass Pro Shop this weekend so Nicholas could see Santa Claus. I know it sounds like an odd place to see Santa Claus, at an outdoor fishing and hunting store. But I promise, Santa as well as his sleigh and reindeer were all there. A friend of mine told me that they went there last year to get their Santa pictures so we tried it out. The setting was really pretty and Nicholas had fun talking with Santa.





While we were there, my boys just had to look around. Nicholas loves the giant, and I mean giant, fish tank complete with waterfall. We also saw a pond with a water wheel and live fish and ducks. Nicholas found this bison to hug...then he stuck his hand in its ear to see what was in there! Silly boy!




We had fun just looking at all the cool stuff in the store. Check out this giant fishing lure!


Nicholas picked out a boat for us and showed us how to drive it.

I took Nicholas to pick out a toy to donate to our church toy drive. We talked about how some children in our area won't get any toys for Christmas because their family doesn't have any extra money to spend on toys. He said that was sad and seemed genuinely concerned. I asked him to pick out a really cool toy that he would like to receive and he chose a pirate set complete with boat, men, and even cannonballs. It looked like a lot of fun to play with so I told him that was a good choice (especially since it only cost $5.00!).


Later in the day, on the way to church, Nicholas was upset because he said that he wanted to keep the pirate set. I reminded him that he would get presents from Santa and family members and that he was going to give that toy to another little boy who won't get anything else for Christmas. He was fine then and gladly put the toy in the bin when we got to church. When church was over, Nicholas had to take Daddy back by the toy bin to show him that he had donated the toy.

This Week at MES

This week's theme at school was "The Real St. Nicholas".

Montessori works: Nicholas practiced matching geometric shapes. He used his fine motor skills for printing and push pin works.

Language: The class wrote a story together. The class also used a venn diagram to compare and contrast St. Nicholas and Santa Claus. Nicholas reviewed the letter S and enjoyed musical phonics.

Math: Nicholas played number identification games and used the Teen Board.

Good Shepherd lesson: Visitation.

Note from Mrs. Carrico: The Christmas t-shirts the children printed are dazzling. We'll keep them at school and the children can change into them after Christmas chapel. The should wear blue jeans to school that day as they will be shepherds in the Christmas program. Christmas chapel always brings a multitude of smiles and a few tears.

Mrs. Carrico asked me to come early that day so that I can help dress the children in their shepherd costumes for the performance. Stuart is off that day so maybe he'll come with me again to help out. What fun!

Nicholas tripped at school this week and as he fell his forehead hit a pole. Mrs. Carrico said that there was a loud thump at impact and she knew he would be hurt. She said he cried for a bit but them hopped up with a smile on his face and went on with what he was doing. She was still worried about him and checked on him throughout the day. Except for a bump on the noggin, he is just fine.

Frosty the Snowman

Stuart took a vacation day and we kept Nicholas out of school so we could all go see Frosty the Snowman at Casa Manana Children's Theater with our friends from the PTA. It is a bit of a drive to the theater so we usually try to play some games with Nicholas while on the road. Without any prompting from us, Nicholas started doing a little chant, "Frosty, Here we come! Frosty, Here we come!" and opening his fingers wide when he said it loudly then closing them up when he said it softly. This is just what he did with Grandmother Chance when we all went to this same theater to see Charlotte's Web.


Nicholas was excited that his friend Emma Rae was going to be at the play. While we were waiting in line, he wanted to be next to Emma Rae but she was playing with a girl friend of hers and didn't seem to pay much attention to Nicholas. Once we got into the theater, Nicholas worked it out so that he could sit next to Emma Rae. However, somehow they got in a spat and then Emma Rae pouted and wouldn't sit next to Nicholas. When the play was over, Nicholas again wanted to be next to Emma Rae as we were walking out but she just wanted to walk with her other friend. Nicholas got pouty and said, "Emma Rae, I'm not going to be your friend!" It seems so silly to watch the way they act together. However, it is important to realize that this is their way of dealing with some feelings that are pretty hard for a three year old to grasp such as the need to be loved, approval of others, and dealing with rejection. That can be a lot for a little one to manage.

Pinkalicious

Nicholas is always so sweet and thoughtful of others. He just amazed me this week. I picked him up from school this afternoon. Tuesdays are his day to go to the library where he gets to choose two books to check out for a week. The first thing he said when he got in the car today was that he wanted to get his library books out of his bag to show me what he picked out. He said he picked out a book just for me. He even told the librarian that he was checking out the book for his mommy. The book is Pinkalicious. He said he chose it because it looked like a good "girl book". It's a cute story and we've read it many times. I'm proud to read it because my sweet little boy picked it out just for me.