American Reveloution Crafting

Time for a craft post for you.  This one has to do with schooling (obvious huh.)  It was a presentation put on by Sam.  We have always had a hard time teaching Sam history.  That is because the kid know so much about it.  He has always been an avid reader and his choice of topic, history.  We do work on Story of the World with him but more often than not he stops us to add in facts that the other did not mention.  We decided that he needed extra in his studies to satisfy him.  We thought that we would give him a time period in which to research and then present us with a presentation over the topic.  There is no rules just be creative and have fun.  First up is the American Revolution.

The first picture is of his entire board.  If you click on it, you might have an easier time to see it.  It was huge, hard for him to get closer and fit the whole thing in. 

He drew all of these little people to represent the most influential people in the war.  He actually has them going all around the whole display.  They actually have facts listed on the backs of them and carry the flags for the countries they were supporting.

He had plenty of battle diagrams.

There was also lots of lift the flap sections to give more info.  He really did do a great job on it.  He is already starting to work on his next project, the industrial revolution. 

See you guys tomorrow, have a great one.

Randomness

I had severel photos that I thought were interesting just not enough of them to make a post on their own so I decided to do this random post. 

First up Sam's Sentence cups.  I wrote different sentences on the cups that might be properly written.  He had to tell me if they were written correctly on not.  If they were not then he had to tell me a way to fix the sentences.  Once he did that he used his catapult to knock them over. 

Can you find Gabe?  This is the inside cover of one of our science books.  He thought that it was hilarious.

We have played lots of games.  One of our favorites right now is Guess who mix and mash.  This one was my person and Gabe kept telling me that he could see the resemblence.  Such a nice kid I have here. LOL

We have gone on walks around the neighborhod enjoying the wonderful nature that we even find here in the city.

Playing lots of music.  Gabe really gets into it, LOL.

Sam learned how to make a syphon on his own that worked.  He was so proud of it.

 Recently we started going back to the main branch of our library because they are opened on sundays and it is better for our schedule.  We had not been there in a long time because one of the reasons is that they were closed a year for renevations.  So when we went back we were greated with this amazing mural in the lobby.  The book of Einstein was Sam's favorite.

(taken by Gabe)

Of course we spent time capturing memories.

Sam's 11th Birthday!!!

So My Little guy is not so little anymore, He turns 11 today.  How come they can keep growing up.  I really do not like it.  Oh well, guess that I just have to give in and go with it.  This year his presents were a little more grown up.  To start with last weekend we took him to Micheal's and gave him him $50.  He was allowed to buy whatever he wanted.  Among the many things he got his first glue gun.  Also some wood so that he could start practicing wood burning designs.  O.K.  now on to his 2 gifts that we gave him this morning.  Well as much as Sam loves crafting he loves to read more, So we got him a

Kindle.  As you can see he is pretty happy about that.  We loaded two new books, Kingdom Keepers 4 and Throne of Fire.

He found out that Throne of Fire was from his little brother. 

Now on to the biggest of all the gifts.  Hmm what is this in here, a bunch of papers?

This is starting to look like some good papers.  Could it be?

Yes it is Tickets to Disney World!!!!!

Finding out that we leave on Monday morning.  Now time to fill Gabe in on what is happening.

Yup now he knows.  Needless to say they are pretty excited.  This is their first trip to Disney and they can not wait.

Normally when his Birthday Cards come in I let them have them right away, but this year I had to hold them.  That was because so many people were in on the secret.  His mimi sent him a gift card to Disney world., so the secret would have been out.

Ok we leave in a couple of days so expect a few (ok a lot more than a few) pictures when we get back.

Happy President's Day!

Hope everyone has a great President's Day!  We saw this idea over here on MADE in honor of celebrate the boy.  There dad used her template that she offers and hand painted these.  He does such a great job with painting.  I will try and share some of our other pictures of the shirt later.

A little about Sam....

Sometimes it is kind of hard to know what Sam wants in life.  He is kind of a private kid and keeps all of that to himself.  As his mom, knowing what he wants is important of course.  Well lately he really has been into Arts and Crafts, so I decided to give him a project that would help me find out.  Some people call the dream boards, some call them wish boards, you can call it what you wish.  They are really the same thing, things that you want in life.   

So here is Sam's board.  He took a large canvas and covered in so polar fabric.  Then he glued some animal ribbon around the board because he wants to save animals all over the world.  Then he took some wooden shapes and painted them up to represent things he wants most in life.  Lets take a look at them shall we.

He wants to visit Canada!

Build his own house!

Start a store of his very own!

Be a farmer and grow his own food!

The monkey represents his brother!

Be a World Traveler!

Start a Zoo to help all of the animals he rescues!

Be CEO of National Geographic!

The frog represents himself, because that is my nickname for him.

Well I hope you liked his board.  He made sure to leave extra space because he will have more dreams in the future.  I love that he is always dreaming.  I think the world has a good future with him in it dreaming the way he does.

I just gotta wear shades

We just got them some new glasses.  Look how handsome they are!



Maturity....

My last post was about my youngest and one of the many things that makes him amazing. I thought this time I would write about my oldest and one of the many great things that makes him amazing. That would be his maturity. Sam has always been a very old soul since he was born. When other kids would run and jump in puddles he would not because he was far to mature for that, LOL. Well that attitude is producing an amazing young man. At 10 he is so much help to me. I mean do not get me wrong he still does have some of those younger moments, after all he is in the early preteen phase. Most often though he will jump at things when I ask for help. Here a some pictures to help capture him more.
He got his very own sewing machine for Christmas last year because he was dying to make all of his own things. He is responsible enough that I can actually leave him unattended to do it. In some ways he is doing better on the sewing machine that I do, LOL.

Probably the biggest thing that he shows his maturity on is with his brother. He demonstrates such a patience with him. We joke around here that he actually a better parent than us to him, it is just a joke though :0). Nah he is always watching out for him, best big brother ever.

For the past two years Sam has been taking dance class. He started taking just hip hop and has added on Tap, Acro, and now Ballet in the fall. The dance classes have helped him so much in his growth. He such focus when he is in there, it is amazing to see.

He even has an amazing creative side. I love his little firemen made out of playdough. He is always thinking of new things to make out every type of material he can find.

The thing that his dad probably loves best about his maturity is that he can sit and play board games with him now. Dads pretty happy about that one. ;0)

Needless to say as long as he stays on the track that he is on, the future is bright for him with the maturity that he has. I am such a proud mama of the two amazing boys that I have.

Hard Hat Times

We are working on a Special Project right now so I can not tell you a whole lot of details. I will say this though, we have been struck with Hard Hat Mania. Hope you enjoy all the pictures.