Update

I haven’t posted in a while but we are still here! RJ will be turning two on Friday and I’ve been busy with all the preparations for his upcoming birthday party. We are blessed with a large family and many great friends so our kids’ birthday parties turn into large celebrations with a full house. For the last week, my evenings have been full with party planning details. CC and RJ are excited about the birthday party and have enjoyed shopping for goodies and candy to fill the piñata. Tonight, we enjoyed trying on party hats!Our daily routine has continued… The kids are all doing well in the classroom. CC seems to be ready for more challenging work so I am looking forward to introducing her to a few materials that I have recently ordered. RJ still eagerly begins work in the classroom but needs encouragement when he is easily distracted. A positive note is that RJ is starting to recognize some letters/sounds. I haven’t formally presented him with any letters but he must be absorbing while quietly watching CC work on sounds. He is starting to recognize the letters “m”, “r” and “f”.

This is Enzo’s fourth week with us, and as expected he is fitting right in. He looks forward to our class time and aside from easily being distracted (must be a boy thing) he has adjusted well to our classroom and home environment.

Mother’s Day Crafts

In preparation for Mother’s Day, we worked on mother’s day crafts today. With help, the kids made Pop-Up Flower Garden Cards. Detailed instructions can be found HERE. I prepared the cards and cut out the flowers and the kids glued everything together. CC worked on a card for Grandma and Nana, and Enzo worked on a card for his mom. RJ started working on a card for Abuela but I had to finish it because he lost interest about half way through.
We also made some simple tissue paper flowers, I found the idea on this website. CC and Enzo each worked on three flowers. They initially had a difficult time twisting the stems but eventually got the hang of it. RJ tried making one flower but quickly lost interest and decided he would watch instead.

The kids were very proud of the final product=)

Hope you all have a Happy Mother's Day!

El Día de Los Niños/El Día de los Libros

El Día de Los Niños (Children’s Day)/El Día de los Libros (Book Day), a day that celebrates literacy in children, was on Thursday, April 30th. Since I didn’t write it down on my calendar, I completely forgot about this day until this post reminded me about this great children’s holiday. I didn’t want to lose an opportunity to celebrate a special day with the kids (and since they wouldn’t know the difference), I decided to celebrate a day late.

When CC and RJ woke up I told them that Friday was a special day and that it was going to be a day full of fun and celebration of children and books. And when Enzo joined us, we informed him about our fun day planed. Just knowing that Friday was a special day put the kids in an extra good mood.

Generally, we don’t have class time on Fridays, we take the morning off from “school work” and spend time at the library instead… Our usual Friday activity was a perfect way to kick off Children’s/Book day. The kids enjoyed the “Fire Engines” themed story time and craft that was planed for that day.

I also took advantage of the kids’ joyful mood to suggest that we borrow Spanish books from the library that day. The kids happily followed me away from this brightly decorated, children’s section of the libraryto this very isolated corner of the library where the Spanish children’s books are found.

The two partially filled shelves of books with the red labels makes up the entire Spanish books collection found at our local library. A little sad for a mom that is trying to encourage her children to borrow more Spanish books during our weekly library visits. Anyhow, the kids each managed to find a book to take home. CC chose El Libro Magico de Lupe, a fun pull the tab book, RJ chose a favorite Tomás y Sus Amigos, and Enzo found the one misplaced English book on the shelves, an Elmo book about Firefighters. Not in Spanish, but at least it followed the theme of story time.

After the library, I took the kids to a different playground than the one we usually visit. The kids had a great time exploring the different, larger playground, and I enjoyed taking many pictures. Those interested can view more pictures HERE.

After the playground, our children’s/book day celebration continued with baking tasty cookies, reading the library books, riding battery operated vehicles outside, and barbecuing for dinner. I would have more pictures but all the picture taking at the playground drained the battery on my camera and I wasn’t able to take pictures of the rest of our busy day.