Pruitt Playschool (Christmas Fun!)

We took a break from learning letters the past few weeks and had some fun doing Christmas crafts and activities! 

We made a candy cane out using white strips of paper!  He also discovered that the letter "J" looks like an upside down candy cane!

I printed out an activity that had numbered stockings for him to count and glue on a picture of a fireplace.  There were 10 stockings but only 8 of them would fit on our fireplace! He did pretty well with this activity after he stopped just trying to match the stockings! :)

This was another fun activity where "Merry Christmas" was spelled out on ornaments and then he I cut out ornaments with the letters printed on them and he matched them. He LOVED this and actually sat at his table and completed the entire thing without getting up for a "break"! We enjoyed bringing his table in the living room to work in front of the Christmas tree!

Grace Ann had fun playing with the reindeer while we were working!

We went to Michelle's house and let the kids paint a Christmas tree using their hands!  Michelle taught Kindergarten for several years so she was a HUGE help with this activity! My kiddos were not too excited about having their hands painted green! After the paint dried we decorated our trees with sequins!

We enjoyed reading all of our Christmas books over the past couple of weeks!

Justin and Owen bought a gingerbread house the other day at the store so they put it together one morning.  Owen was so excited about his house! He was also a huge help putting it together! :)

My little princess watching the boys make the gingerbread house! Next year, we will have two helpers!

Papa bought Owen a really cool pancake griddle with an angel, reindeer, Santa, and a snowman design!  He LOVED eating his special pancakes!

Owen really liked snowmen this year so of course we had to do a little snowman craft! He can even sing part of  the "Frosty the Snowman" song! 

I think he caught on with the Advent calendar this year!

Our board with all of the Christmas crafts and activities we did over the past few weeks!

LOVE these kids!! :)

Merry Christmas!!

Ice Skating

After Justin took his last test of his first semester of medical school we headed to Knoxville for a little fun with the kids!  Knoxville has this really neat downtown area with an outdoor ice skating rink so we decided to let Owen try it out. I wasn't sure he would even let us put the ice skates on his feet since they look and feel so different from his "sharp shoes" but he let Justin put them on him with no problem!
**On a side note, I thought that he had been calling his blue shoes his "shark shoes" but I recently discovered (thanks to my nana) that he has been calling them his "sharp shoes"! Someone told him that he looked sharp in them the first time he put them on so ever since they have been his "sharp shoes"! After he had the ice skates on he was on the ice and loving every minute of it!! He had a blast and did really well holding Justin's hand.

I just LOVE his little feet in these ice skates!! :)

 So proud of my little man!  Next adventure: skiing!!!! We hope to take a trip to Gatlinburg once it gets cold enough for them to make snow and let Owen try skiing!  It's just a short drive from our house and I think he would have a blast!

 

Girls Night Out and Breakfast with Santa!

One of my mommy friends hosted a Perfectly Post party at her house on Friday so Grace Ann and I went to check it out! It was a lot of fun getting to go somewhere with just her!!  It was also MUCH easier with just one child to keep up with! :)  She did great during the party and even sat in my lap while I got a foot massage! I'm so excited about getting to paint her toenails!!  Is 8 months too early?? JK

Here we are before we left to go to the party!

My little man wanted to get a picture with mommy before we left!

 I just had to post a picture of her hair because I want to remember what it looked like when she was this age!!  Poor thing has some wild hair!! I'm ready for her hair to grow so I can play with it and fix it really cute!! Ha! I'm sure when she gets older I'll miss this wild hair!!

The Middlesboro library hosts a breakfast with Santa every year so we took the kids this past Saturday. Owen was so excited that Santa was going to be at the library! Justin was able to take a small break from studying so he could go with us! Owen had a wonderful time and I think he would still be sitting in Santa's lap if we didn't make him get up so he could visit with other kids!! :)

This picture was taken as soon as Santa walked in the room!!

Owen and Natalie watched Santa's every step!

Don't let this picture fool you!! Owen was in HEAVEN!!! He listened to every word Santa spoke and answered every question he asked!! Grace Ann actually did much better than I had thought!! :)

Family picture at breakfast with Santa!!

Pruitt Playschool (Letter D)

"D" was such a fun letter to learn for Owen! We did a lot of playing with dinosaurs and dump trucks this week!  

Introducing the letter "D".

Coloring a picture of a duck. He is using his right hand in this picture! Hmmm....he still can't make up his mind on which hand he likes to use!

Playing with Dot Paint...the COOLEST paint EVER!!! We dotted the letter "D".  It is so easy for him to use and I love it because it makes NO mess!!  You can also buy books to use with the paint!  I have already bought a Mighty Truck book and an ABC and Letter book.  In this picture he is using his left hand!! :)

We practiced opening doors on our puzzle!  This is a really neat Melissa and Doug puzzle that I bought for Owen over a year ago and he is just now interested in it!

We also did some dime rubbings.  This didn't really turn out like I had thought so we had another idea...

...we hid the dimes in dried beans!!  Owen liked this idea much better!!  He loved digging in the beans and finding the dimes using some kitchens tongs!

Introducing the Bible verse for the week. I like this picture because you can see him trying really hard to repeat the verse!
Do to others as you would as you would have them do to you.  Luke 6:31

I LOVE this picture! :)

 More dot paint crafts! This time we decorated a Christmas tree! 

 Finding all of the letter D's on our board! He did excellent and was so proud of himself for finding the correct letters!

Our bulletin board with some of our work we did during the week.

Grace Ann has her playtime while we are having "school" with Owen! :)

DIY Projects!

I have been having fun doing some DIY projects and Thanksgiving crafts the past few weeks!  Some of them are still works in progress but I did take some pictures of the ones I have finished.  I'm also excited about some Christmas gifts I have been working on but I am not posting pictures just yet because some of you just might be getting them as gifts this year! :)

My first project was a schedule of our activities for the week.  I used a frame from Wal-Mart and used scrapbook paper in the frames.  I use whiteboard markers to write on the glass and it wipes off great!  

Owen and I made a Thanksgiving tree for our dinning room table using a branch he and Nonna found in the backyard.  I cut of different leaves from scrapbook paper and we wrote down some of the things we are thankful for.  Having a conversation of what you are thankful for with a two year old was very interesting, but we did manage to fill up all of our leaves! :)

Some of the things Owen is thankful for this year include:
-Leaves
-His shark shoes (This is what he calls his blue shoes. They in no way shape or form look like sharks but he insists they are his shark shoes.)
-Jesus
-Izzy
-Round N Rounds (Cement trucks)
-Pancakes
-Bubba
-Our Family
-The Park
(Bet you can't guess the ones I had to prompt him with!! :))

I saw this idea in a magazine we get at church and I hope to make it a tradition in our house.

Below was another Thanksgiving craft that I saw in the magazine from church!  I LOVE this!! I used old jars that I had around the kitchen and cut out the letters to spell THANKS and then added some pretty fall flowers! I think I ended up with 2 flower vases, 2 salsa containers, 1 honey jar, and 1 random jar we found under the sink. We have the perfect place for this in our Harrogate house! 

Halloween

We had a blast visiting family in Alabama during Halloween!!  Owen enjoyed carving a pumpkin at MiMi's house.  We asked him if we wanted to make a scary pumpkin or a happy one and he chose to make a happy pumpkin! :)

Owen was not in a good mood before we went trick or treating so getting a picture of him and his sister in their costumes together was impossible!  My little man looks like he is on a mission!!

Grace Ann wore a clown outfit that my great-grandmother made for a doll.  My brother also wore this same outfit for his first Halloween! :)