Life with the Normans: February 2013

Thursday, February 28, 2013

A is for Apple/B is for Banana

School has officially started and Sarah Anne LOVES it and wants to do it all day long. It was definitely a highlight when we were watching tv and on a commercial there was an A and she was like LOOK MAMA AN A!!! After teaching 3 years and not always having success with every kid, it is very refreshing to have my baby get it right away! We have successfully completed A and B and she can identify them both very well. She now looks for the letters everywhere and gets so excited about learning. I am thankful that I have the activities prepared too, because with Baby Becca it keeps us from watching tv all day long! We take about 3 days full of activities everyday. So here are some of our A/B activities:

Doing arm exercises

We LOVE exercising our arms that start with A

Coloring the "Aa" book

Meet my Alligator

Then on to B for baking banana bread

Yummy Banana Bread

Then we made a butterfly with black beans

The butterfly

Capital and lowercase b's made with bears.

And our scrapbook pages where we go through the newspaper/ads to find things that start with that letter.

B stands for Baby Becca (who is now focusing on things, like her monkey in this picture)

Friday, February 22, 2013

School Time in the Norman House

So I have decided it is finally time to add my big girl to my list of students taught. We are going to start identifying letters/things that begin with those letters. I am hoping to spend 3-4 days on each letter and found a great website with lots of fun activities for every letter of the alphabet. Today we started by talking about capital letters, read an alphabet book, and worked on coloring letters that we will turn into a matching game. Sarah Anne was SO excited to try out school and we found a backpack and she was determined to call me teacher 3,000 times a minute. It was really fun and she is already asking what different things start with so I am excited! We will see how it goes as we prepare for letter A!!

Ready with her book bag!!

This is what little sisters do during school.

She needed a place to hang her back pack!

Singing her ABC's while pointing to each letter.

Coloring the letters

Playing our matching game!

I love that my big girl is so excited about learning and although I wasn't early childhood, hopefully my Teaching Degree can get put to use again!!

Nanny Photo Shoot

So I make fun of my wonderful Mother because she takes about 3,000 pictures, but she does capture some precious moments. So here are some photos of our sweet girls and their photo shoot with Nanny!

Sister Cuddle Time!!

Bundled for an adventure. (Can't you hear her saying NANNY WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME?)

Sweet Baby Girl

And more cuddling

One of my favorites!

HAPPY!!

So excited!

Could she be any bigger and prettier?

Oops you caught me Nanny!!

Sleepy Baby

Hanging out

My Big Baby!!

Peeking in

Love my sweet girl!

Tummy Time!!

WHAT AM I DOING IN THIS HAT??

So you can see my Mom did get some great pictures and I am very thankful for them!!

Beyond Blessed!

We have been overwhelmed with how blessed with are with wonderful friends and family. For the last 2 weeks our Sunday School class has blessed us with meals so that as we adjust to being a family of 4 we didn't have to worry about meals. Then my Grandparents came for a full week to help take care of us and just when we thought we were going to have to have a full week by ourselves, my Mom came and helped us for a few days. Needless to say, sweet little Becca will be almost a month old before we have to officially have a week just the 3 of us girls by ourselves. Thankfully Matt only has to work half days on Fridays so I don't really count those days either! As you can see we have had some adjustments, but God has blessed us so much as we have made this transition. So here are some pictures from our visitors...Oh and our precious big girl turned 3 while my grandparents were here so Matt and I got to take her to Chuck E. Cheese while my grandparents watched Rebecca. I cannot believe my girl is 3, but I am thankful she is so big and such a WONDERFUL helper. She adores her baby sister!!

Grandaddy singing to sweet Baby Becca!

He is SO good with those precious girls. It is amazing that my Grandparents (both in their 70's) can come 6 hours and are so active and able to take care of us!!