JQ

Here are our latest two groups of letter activities. I saved some of these more random letters until the end since I wasn't sure how many great activities I'd find. Surprisingly, I still uncovered some treasures! Pinterest is a wonderful thing. :)

Letter J

Outside on our driveway, I had Jaden and Cody draw groups of shapes-- circles, triangles, squares, crosses, etc. Then, I told them which shape to begin with and asked them to jump (here's the letter J connection!) to a new shape.

They were very enthusiastic jumpers. It turned out to be great exercise!

After a few rounds of jumping, we changed up how we moved from one group to another. We tried sideways walking, backwards walking, twirling, tiptoeing, crab walking, and army crawling.

Things got really interesting when Cody and Jaden devised their own methods of moving from one group to the next! I was surprised with how long the boys were entertained with this simple activity.

It was a little difficult to determine what to glue to our letter J for our tactile alphabet book. I ended up printing off various clip art of Jesus and having the boys practice their cutting skills.

After this, we used dot painters to decorate paper plate jellyfish.

I thought their brightly colored jellyfish turned out pretty cute!

Letter Q

For our tactile letter Q page, the boys painted dot designs with Q-tips. Once the paint dried, we affixed one Q-tip to the line of their letter Q.

Both boys patiently filled in their entire letters with dots.

I wasn't sure how interested Jaden and Cody would be with this next activity, but they surprised me. We made paper quilts! I started by cutting out tons of squares with some patterned scrapbooking paper that I rarely use. We talked briefly about how patterns are often used in quilt-making. Finally, I gave them a large sheet of butcher paper, glue, the paper squares and let them create.

It was interesting to see how Jaden laid his squares down very neatly in a very obvious ABAB pattern.

Cody's quilt pattern was a little more abstract. :)

Both boys were quite proud of their completed quilts.

The final Q activity we did was from the Measured Mom. I printed off greater than, less than, and eQual (there's the Q!!) signs decorated as crocodiles and taught the boys a little about these symbols. Then, we used Duplos and coins to create number comparisons. They caught on to this concept pretty quickly.

Only 3 more letters to go... stay tuned for XYZ! :)

PreK Thanksgiving Feast

Just before Thanksgiving break, Cody and Jaden's early childhood held a Thanksgiving feast. Jaden and Cody's special visitors were Mommy, Daddy, and Grammy (Papa was attending cousin Ryan's Thanksgiving parade at his school on the same day!). The event started with a chapel service held in the gym. Parents and guests could sit with their children on the gym floor. It wasn't the most comfortable arrangement, but it was fun to be able to sit with the boys. Cody and Jaden wore their special school chapel shirts that day.

As part of the service, the boys' music teacher led the kids in a few songs. Some of the songs had actions and others involved rhythm sticks. Jaden and Cody particularly liked hitting the sticks together slowly and then very, very quickly in this song. Both boys were extremely focused about following their teacher's directions.

Jason actually led the early childhood chapel message that morning. He did a wonderful job teaching the group about God's law and gospel. Jaden and Cody's music teacher, Ms. Fisher, is the other adult pictured.

After chapel, we waited in line for our Thanksgiving feast food (turkey and dressing with all the fixings for the adults; chicken nuggets for the kiddos). Then we found our way to the table that was decorated with Cody and Jaden's hand-made turkey placemats. I thought these turned out pretty cute! The boys have wanted to use their placemats at nearly every meal since.

We loved spending time with Jaden and Cody in the middle of a school day and getting a peek into their day. It was a treat that Grammy could join us too!

ASAB Visit

Shortly before Thanksgiving, Uncle Andrew, Aunt Sarah, Abby and Ben came out to Texas for a visit. They hadn't yet seen our church, our home, or Grammy and Papa's home. We Texans were eager to see their whole family and to celebrate some early holidays with them. Their visit was fast and busy, but we loved the opportunities to spend time with them. Our first chance to see them was over the weekend at Matt and Kim's house for Nathan's 2-year-old birthday party. We especially loved seeing how much little Ben had grown since we had last seen him in June. He definitely is no longer a newborn!

This little guy seemed to want to walk, right alongside all his big cousins!

Aunt Kim planned a very cute and creative music-themed party for Nathan. The kids loved singing various songs, like Old MacDonald Had a Farm-- plugging in whichever animal Aunt Kim held up.

They really got into the freeze dance game. We had some pretty creative dance moves come out in this game!

They even had a mini-concert of songs, led by Grammy, with these musical glasses. Surprisingly, even with all of the loooong delays between most every note, we could still identify the tunes for most of the songs. :)

My personal favorite activity was watching Nathan's Marching Band parade around the cul-de-sac. Each child picked out an instrument and enthusiastically played it while marching in a line led by the birthday boy.

Daddy and Uncle Andrew identified our group with a large sign.

The parade paused a few times to allow the musicians to switch out their instruments and try something new.

It seemed like the kids' favorite activity was doing the karaoke performances. Matt and Kim had set up this cute little stage in their living room. Jaden, Ryan, and Cody had to test it out together first.

Then, each child could select a costume and a song to perform on the stage. A few of them seemed a bit tentative performing by themselves at first but they all warmed up eventually. Their costume choices were hilarious!

Uncle Matt was the only adult who seemed eager to perform. Quite likely, no one went after Matt because his stellar dance and song routine was just too hard to top. :)

We love this little birthday boy, our nephew and godson, and are so thankful that we live close enough to celebrate with him. Happy 2nd birthday, Nathan!!

The next day, our families all got together again, this time at Grammy and Papa's house. The kids played some sort of catch/football/tackle/wrestling/keep-away game in the yard.

I'm not sure if this was a huddle time to plan their next play or if they all noticed something interesting in the neighbor's yard.... :)

Since Andrew and Sarah's family will be celebrating Christmas with Sarah's family this year, we decided that we'd hold the Walquist family Christmas celebration early, during this visit. So, Grammy and Papa had their Christmas tree all ready to go, over a week before Thanksgiving. It made for a lovely backdrop for a grandchild picture.

Abby, Nathan, Ian, Cody, Ben, Ryan, Jaden

The kids, of course, were all very eager to open presents. Ian led his younger siblings and cousins in the big task of gift sorting. Once the piles were all complete, the kiddos just sat in front of their stack of presents, waiting expectantly.

All five of the older kids received a Lego set for part of their gifts. Guess they're all into the same thing this year!

Andrew and Sarah's last day in Texas was Nathan's actual birthday. To celebrate this occasion (and for another excuse to get together before the Arizona family had to take off), we met at a park for some playtime and then went to Chick-fil-A for lunch. The restaurant gives kids free ice cream cones for their birthday and even allows them behind the counter to "make" their own cone. What a treat!

The Chick-fil-A employee allowed each one of Nathan's siblings and cousins to do the same. How fun!

Delicious!

We are so thankful for our Walquist side of the family and were happy to have the whole clan together for an early Thanksgiving and Christmas celebration. Thanks, ASAB, for making the trip out to Texas! We love you guys!