They are growing up….

Here are the pictures I took of our girlies for their birthdays… hard to believe that they are 7 and ALMOST 5!  They are so similar yet so very different and they love each other SO MUCH!  I am so glad they have each other… they just that look that makes each other giggle and little sayings that make them BURST OUT!  They can read each other’s mind and love playing the same things.  They love to help each other and hate to see the other sad or hurt!  I have preached to them “Sisters are Forever” and they are really living that out!

Hannah – Almost 5 years

Grace – 7 years

And now the girls together…

And for the REAL sisters…

I LOVE the Olympics!

I just love the Olympics!  I love the games, the back stories, the skills, the dedication, the hard work, the last minute victories (except for when Canada’s hockey women beat ours!)… I love it all!  During the Summer Olympics in 2012, Grace fell in love with gymnastics and started classes after that… a sport that she is so good at and it certainly dedicated to.  The Olympics are just special around here!  These Winter Olympics have been a little different – not as many events and athletes – but certainly enough heart to go around.

In order to really engage the girls in the whole excitement of the Olympics, I went online looking for an activity to do with them.  Little did I know that this would be a highlight for them everyday of the Olympics!

Here is the lapbook that Grace made…

 

The inside left side has two parts:

 

The top part has a description about what the Olympic Rings are and why they are significant. (I didn’t make Grace have good handwriting.. this was just for fun.  I hope you can read it all.)

The bottom section has pages for several of the sports from the Olympics with the name of the sport on it.  The girls really learned so much about the sports – their names, what the object of each is, the equipment used for each, etc.  They would turn on the TV to watch the games from 8-8:30 and were able to tell us what was on – luge, skeleton, biathlon, bobsled, ice skating, speed skating, etc! 

 

The middle section of this lapbook has a picture of the medals at the top, and it opens up so the girls could keep track of the number of medals the US received using tally marks.

The bottom has the flags of the US and of Russia as well as a description of the Olympic Flame, its significance, and where it came from.  Here is what Grace wrote:

On the right side of the lapbook, there are two sections. 

The top has a pocket which has the Olympic Motto and its meaning.

The bottom has a section that asks where, when and who concerning the Olympics.  We weren’t sure what the “who” was supposed to be, but the girls put who they wanted to!

   

The back of the book contains nine flags from nine of the countries who competed in the Olympics – we put US flag and the Russian flag on the inside.  It was fun to hear the girls say, “Look at that flag… that’s Germany!”   It was a great reference tool for them… and will be for years to come!

Overall, this was a fabulous activity that only made the girls love the Olympic competition even more.   We have encouraged positive cheering… U-S-A…U-S-A … but at times I heard the girls begging for a skier to fall or an ice skater to trip just so a US athlete would medal.  (That should remind the Chase kids of the time dad was cheering for bankruptcy on Wheel of Fortune!) We had to curb their patriotism to only include positive cheering from that point on!  HA!  It was pretty fun! GO, USA!

In the Lightner house there is now a countdown to the next Olympics… 2016 in Rio de Janeiro!

Ahhh…. fresh air!

Our house really shrinks in the winter… we are all stuck inside, but we long to have fresh air and space away from each other.  With the weather pattern changing with warmer temperatures we have had several days of playing outside recently.. Ahhh…. the fresh air has REALLY helped us all!

Typical Hannah… catching flakes!

Ok.. this is a little prettier, thanks, Hannah!

Now on a walk to the Lake…but stopping to throw snowballs, climb hills, and make tracks.

My kiddos at Easter Lake… within walking distance from our house!

Jumping, creating, singing, and having a BLAST!

Update for Lightner Christian Academy

School is just so much fun around here with lots to do... more ideas than we could ever get into one day.  My kids are at the perfect ages to really appreciate projects so I have been taking time in the morning to do some with all four children… it helps to keep Caleb busy since he doesn’t have a morning nap.  Here are two activities that we have done recently.

With a true fascination for plants, seeds and growing things lately, we got out cups, dirt, grass seeds and markers.  The  kids and I decorated our cups like faces and then added dirt and seeds.  We were hoping that the grass would grow to look like hair… AND IT DID!!

And then a week and a half later… Hannah is giving her first haircut!  :)

And then another interesting activity we did… we made a Sweet Potato Pie when we were learning about George Washington Carver.  I didn’t realize he was born in Missouri, went to college in Iowa, and then went to Alabama (what he is most known for).  It was there that he discovered hundreds of uses for peanuts and sweet potatoes.  We made this yumminess in honor of him!  It was A HUGE hit in our house!