Tot School - Letter N

Wow, we had a crazy busy week this week! But we managed to squeeze in a few letter N activities - however, I did NOT manage to take many pictures during our school time!!! So I'll share what I have, but just know that these aren't the only school activities we did this week! :)

Here is our circle time board:
Z actually had a pretty easy time with this week's verse, so I was glad about that. And our Bible story was about Lazarus and the rich man - when the rich man dies, he goes to Hell, and Lazarus goes to Heaven - we talked about how you have to make a choice - to either choose Jesus or not - and the only time to make that choice is before you die! Z brought up the story even a couple of days after we read it, so I think it had a real impact on him. We have been having a LOT of awesome conversations about the gospel lately, and many of them stem from what we've been reading from the book A is for Adam: The Gospel from Genesis by Ken Ham.

This book deals with some really tough stuff - which I think you have to understand in order to really 'get' the gospel - for example, you have to know about death before you can understand WHY you need a Savior. So some parts of the book aren't easy to read, but they're super important for our kids to learn about. Z is SO close to understanding - he asked me yesterday, "Will I go to Heaven or to Hell?" and I said, "Well, honey, you need to make that choice. It's up to you." I don't know if he's ready to choose yet, but he is really starting to grasp a lot of the concepts associated with the gospel, and that is so amazing for me to see!

Anyhow, I could spend my whole post on how I just love watching my son learn about God, but I suppose for now I'd better get back to tot school! :)

We used this cool Pooh chalk-drawing book, which is like a wipe-off book, but with chalk! My husband picked it up on clearance at a bookstore a couple of months ago, and I LOVE it!! Z does, too. :)

We used our shape viewer this week, the diamond. Um, diamonds are REALLY hard to find, at least in our house... Z got a little tired of looking for diamonds.... :)

Well, here's a picture of our diamond shape viewer anyway... :)

And we did find a few diamonds after all!

I was super excited to do noodle painting this week, for the letter N, and then it didn't really end up being a hit. :( But here is Zachary, all ready to paint with noodles!!!

dipping the first noodle in the paint...

painting with a noodle...

...degenerated to painting with his hands. Whatever!

The finished noodle painting. :)
We also played out on the porch this week! Natalie walked around in the snow!

And Zachary loves to play on the porch! He especially loves drinking hot cocoa when he comes inside. :) Sometimes he asks to go outside for two minutes just so he can drink hot chocolate when he comes in... :)
As far as our culinary adventures this week, I would like to share the way that I have found to get Zachary to be EXCITED about eating oatmeal - I mean, seriously, he would not touch oatmeal a few weeks ago, but now he asks for it every day. And the clue is: Food Coloring!!! Just a couple drops of any food coloring makes oatmeal exciting!!! He asks for red or yellow oatmeal ALL the time - it's amazing! :) Here he is eating some red oatmeal!

And here is Natalie enjoying some taco casserole - she has not only eaten it, but also used it as a styling product for her gorgeous hair. :)


This Saturday, we had the opportunity to go to a PBS event called KidFest, put on by our local (Buffalo) PBS station, WNED. It was a fun time - we got to meet lots of characters, including Elmo (who was a surprise, not listed in the publicity stuff I saw ahead of time!)

and the Cat in the Hat (Oh, wow, did we have an experience meeting this guy - we waited in line for over 20 minutes to meet the Cat in the Hat, and we were NEXT in line..... and the Cat had to leave!!! Oh. My. Word. It was already past naptime, and Zachary turned to me with TEARS in his eyes, lip trembling...I nearly started crying myself, because Z was Sooooooo disappointed!!! But the Cat came back later, and we did get to meet him after all, so it all turned out okay. Z said later, "we did get to meet Cat in the Hat, just later, not the first time." so I guess it was a good lesson in...something...patience? life's disappointments?)

And SID the Science Kid!!! Meeting Sid was the whole reason we went to Buffalo - and Z loved it, so that made it worth it! :)
Bottom line: We had a good time. There was a fun play area for younger kids, but the rest of the activities seemed to be geared for older kids - but I suppose that's to be expected, since Z is only 3. Would I go again? Maybe...probably not next year, but maybe in 4 or 5 years (when all 3 of our kids can really enjoy it), we would go again. The best parts were seeing the look on Z's face when he met the characters (he just loved it, wasn't intimidated at all)...and my favorite part? Well, I caught it on camera!

Awwwwwwwwww..... :) One of my favorite pictures of my two kids ever! :) An un-prompted hug from big 'bubba'! :) Love it! :)

And, to close, here is Natalie sweeping the floor, and loving it! :) Too cute! :)

To see what everyone else did for Tot School this week, head on over to 1+1+1=1!