Valentine's Treats

One of the things I love most about holidays are all of the baked goods.  I read magazines, look at Pinterest and just get ideas from other people on things to make.  This year I made 3 things.  The kids helped with 2 of them and I did the 3rd one on my own. 

We made heart shaped red velvet crinkles to give out to Katie's classmates.  The kids had fun using the cookie cutters to make the heart shape.  And almost as much fun eating the scraps from cutting them into hearts. 

For Michael and Katie's teachers, I did white chocolate covered strawberries.  I put Valentine sprinkles on some of them but left a few plain.  I used Valentine cupcake wrappers to put the bigger strawberries in and small cupcake wrappers for the smaller ones.  I forgot to take a picture of the strawberries before I gave them to the teachers so this one will have to do. 

On Valentine's Day, we baked a heart shaped cake.  It was snickerdoodle with cinnamon buttercream icing.  It was the first time we ever had it and I must say it was as delicious as I hoped it would be.  I also did cupcakes with the leftover batter and the kids enjoyed those.  I love holiday treats!

 

Happy Valentine's Day

Katie had her Valentine's Day party at school today since she doesn't go to school on Tuesday or Thursday.  She had several different outfits that she could wear but finally decided on this one (and did not want her picture taken).  She couldn't wait to get to school to celebrate!

We made goody bags with heart shaped cookies and red Tootsie pops.  Katie wrote out all of her Valentines herself and was pretty proud of it.  When she got home from school, we went through her whole bag of Valentines.  She was excited to see who she got cards from and what treats they gave out.  As far as she is concerned, this is one of her favorite holidays!

Heart shaped sunglasses were in one of the goody bags and Katie loved them.  Her teacher painted a heart on her cheek and hand.  She told me it looked so stylish.

100 Days

Today was the 100th day of school for Michael.  Last week he was assigned a small project to celebrate this day.  I don't ever remember celebrating this day when I was in school but I like things having to do with numbers. 

Michael had to gather 100 of an item and put it in a bottle with a lid.  I liked this idea because then the items were contained.  He picked jelly beans.  He also had to write a sheet with 3 clues to guess what was in his bottle.  Then he filled the bottle and put it in a white bag that was folded over at the top.  His 3 clues were: 1) they are chewy; 2) they are different colors; and 3) you get them at Easter.  He said that most of his classmates guessed what they were. 

Pinewood Derby

Saturday was Michael's first Pinewood Derby with his Cub Scout Pack.  The design that he and Todd chose was the Batmobile.  They painted it black and silver and finished it off with some silver flames on the side.  When they got to the race, they had to name the car.  They named it Knight Rider.

 

 

While the leaders were getting set up for the race, the pack leader gave out awards for various activities that the scouts had completed.  Michael received his belt loops for archery and BB Guns from the camping trip in October. 

Michael could not wait to go there and race.  I was pretty impressed with the race set up.  I had a circular track pictured in my head with kids pushing the car off for the start.  This was much more organized that that.  There was a long metal track that started higher in the air and came down to a straightaway.  The track had a finish line that gave the automatic finishing of each lane.  Each Cub Scout was able to take a turn to press the button to start the cars on the track, which I thought was neat. 

There were 32 heats, which included racers from each of the dens in the pack.  On the wall, they had a projector that listed each car racing in the heat, as well as the racers on deck.  It was really helpful to be able to see who was racing there instead of trying to look for the car, which was a bit small from where we were sitting.  At the end of each heat, the winner came up on the wall, as well as the time of the car.

At the end of the heats, the leaders tallied the winners.  The pack leader gave out certificates to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners in each den.  All of the kids in each den got a participation medal.  Michael came in 1st place in his den.  He was so excited, especially since it was his first time.  We then found out that the winners of each den were going to race in a final race.

The final race included 6 heats with 4 racers.  They were in different lanes and some were left open since there were 6 total lanes.  Michael got 3rd place in his pack!! 

  

Bowling with the Boys

Tonight Michael's school sponsored a bowling event for moms and sons.  Michael's first time bowling was only a few weeks ago but he really enjoyed it.  We got a flyer home from school and he asked me if we could go together.  As the time got closer, I asked him if he still wanted to go.  He said yes but asked if we could all go!  So sweet.

We ended up bowling with 2 of Michael's classmates, their moms and brothers.  Michael seemed to have a great time hanging out with his friends and bowling.  After the first game was over, they ate pizza and cookies.  The second game was more of a free for all with all of the kids just taking turns on both lanes as the people bowling next to us left. 

It was a fun time for both of us!

Letters Make Words

Katie has recently taken an interest in what letters are used to spell people's names and words.  When we are out at the store, for example, she will see the letter "K" on something and knows that is what her name starts with.  She also knows "M" for Michael and "T" for Tyler, the little boy I watch.  Over the past few weeks, she has also become interested in writing these letters.  Katie practices the "K" all the time and is pretty good at writing it.  If I tell her how to write a letter or show her an example, she can duplicate the letter pretty closely.

I am surprised that she can write her name so well already and that she shows such interest in it.  Katie will sit at the table with a piece of paper and write the letters that she knows over and over again.  This can keep her busy for at least 15-20 minutes.  She gets upset when she doesn't think the letter is "perfect" and will write it again until it is done to her satisfaction.  Her standards are pretty high for an almost 4 year old!

Here are a few of her writing samples:

Wordless Wednesday