A Memorable May

Jenni is 3 years 10 months, Joshua is 1 year 4 months

Jenni's Spring Ballet Recital

After months of ballet lessons, Jenni performed in her first ballet recital. Jenni's class of 3 and 4 year old girls were sunflowers in the ballet "In the Garden." My sister and parents were able to travel to see Jenni's performance, making it a very special event!

Family Road Trip

In late May, shortly after Jenni's ballet recital, the kids and I (Eric was traveling for work) and my parents took a road trip to visit our extended family in Iowa. We went to our favorite ice cream/candy shop, celebrated birthdays, and enjoyed the outdoors. We had a lovely visit with my grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins!

Alphabet Fun - Letter Ff

Jenni is 3 years 9 months

We had a fantastic time working on fancy Ff projects! Here is some of what we did...

Bible Verse:
For with God nothing is impossible. (Luke 1:37)

Books:
Fish is Fish (by Leo Lionni)
The Story of Ferdinand (by Munro Leaf)
The Foot Book (by Dr. Seuss)

French Crepes

We were learning about France and how Madeline (who lived in an old house in Paris that was covered with vines) might have ate french crepes for breakfast :)

Fairy Cakes

Jenni and I made fairy cakes, the British version of cupcakes. We made a vanilla cupcake and buttercream frosting recipe. It's always fun making new recipes and learning interesting background stories of recipes.

F is for Chicken Fettuccine with Alfredo Sauce (and French Bread and Fruit Salad)

We made the pasta dough, put it through the pasta maker, turned the wheel multiple times and had our freshly made fettuccine pasta. While the noodles were drying (and later cooking) we made a yummy Alfredo sauce.

Alfredo Sauce:
1/4 cup butter, 1 cup heavy cream, 1 garlic clove, crushed, 1 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, 1/4 cup. chopped fresh parsley

Melt butter over medium-low heat. Add cream and simmer 5 minutes. Add garlic and cheese and whisk quickly. Stir in parsley and serve immediately.

F is for Family Fun

My hometown had a fun day planned for the youth. The kids enjoyed inflatable bounce houses, slides, and other children's activities. We had a cook-out and listened to live entertainment.

F is for Fishing (and Fun Dip!)

Eric had been traveling the weeks prior to Ff week so I was extra thankful he was able to spend the weekend enjoying family fun and taking J fishing for the first time. They were so adorable together and Jenni was even more patient waiting on fish than what I was planning on. Taking a break from fishing, Jenni enjoyed some Fun Dip :)

At dinner that night, Jenni prayed, "Please God let me go fishing another time."

I think she enjoyed it :)

Funny Putty

We made three colors of Funny Putty (red, yellow and blue). So fun! Eric, Jenni and I all got a kick out of the Funny Putty. And it stores nicely! We put each color into a separate baggie and it kept for quite some time.

Funny Putty Recipe:

Pour 2 tablespoons white glue into a styrofoam bowl. Add a couple drops of food coloring. Stir until mixed.Then slowly pour mixture into 1 tablespoon liquid starch. Let it sit 5 minutes while the glue absorbs the liquid starch. Pick the putty up and knead it. *At first the mixture looks and feels as if it's a mistake - but it's not. Keep kneading.

F is for Family Fish

I gave Jenni J squares of tissue paper. She crumpled the paper into small balls and then stuck them onto the fish, section by section. Oh my, this fish. This fish took forever. Eric and I had to finally get involved (hence Family Fish) because this was a forever project. Turned out cute though :)

Flower Painting

Jenni's painting's above, mine's below. I colored flower petals with a white crayon onto white paper. We water colored over the crayon to reveal the flowers.

Alphabet Fun - Letter Jj

Jenni is 3 years 9 months

We had a jolly good time exploring the letter Jj. Here is some of what we did...

Bible Verse:
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. (Hebrews 13:8)
Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and the life." (John 14:6)

Books:
Bread and Jam for Frances (by Russell and Lillian Hoban)
No Jumping on the Bed (by Tedd Arnold)
It's About Time, Jesse Bear (by Nancy White Carlstrom)

J is for Jellyfish

Jenni J created a jellyfish and learned that jellyfish have bell-shaped bodies, have tentacles, cannot swim fast, and other random jellyfish facts :)

Java Dough

 This is an odd "experiment". The mixture feels like a liquid in the bowl, becomes hardened when lifted outside the bowl, and then returns to a liquid. Smells like freshly brewed coffee though :)

Java Dough Recipe:

3/4 cup fresh brewed coffee, 2 cups cornstarch, 1/2 cup salt, flour to desired consistency

I found another Java Dough recipe that was more of a "sculpting dough". We tried this one too. Completely different idea than the first recipe but a fun experiment none the less.

Because we made this recipe during Jj week, we sculpted the dough into Jesus, the cross, a heart, water, five bread loaves, and two fish - and then painted - to teach about various stories in the Bible. (Jesus walking on water, Jesus loving us and dying on the cross, and Jesus feeding the crowd.)

Java Dough Sculpting Recipe:
1/4 cup instant coffee, 3/4 cup warm water, 2 cups flour, 1/2 cup salt

Mix water and instant coffee. Mix flour and salt; add coffee. Stir. Sculpt dough to less than 1/2 inch thick. Bake at 300 degrees, 30-45 minutes or until hard. Paint if desired.

Jelly Bean Sorting and Counting (and Eating)

A simple task for her age but she enjoys organizing things and I was wanting a task for her to do while I was working in the kitchen :)

Juice Pops

Jenni filled small plastic cups with strawberry chunks and apple juice. She put a Popsicle stick in each cup and put it in the freezer for a couple hours.

J is for Jaffa Cakes

Jaffa Cakes are a small English snack. Jenni first made the marmalade and set it aside. Then she baked the small cakes, topped them with the freshly made marmalade, and topped the cakes with a chocolate, orange rind, and oil mixture.

Jar Sounds

I placed five small glass jars on the table and filled them with different amounts of water. Jenni lightly tapped each jar with a spoon to notice the different sounds each jar made.