Monthly Musings: How to Survive the Winter Months

 I'm linking up with Patty and Holly again this month for February's Monthly Musings. I'll have to be honest though, we don't have a rough winter here in Louisiana compared to some people! I feel like my answers are really short and basic this month, but here they are anyway.

1. WHAT DO YOU DO IN THE WINTER THAT BRINGS YOU JOY?

I love curling up under a blanket with a good book or a good TV series on! I also love that I get to wear sweaters and jackets - most of the year it's too hot for those. I've been reading the Annie's Attic mystery book series and enjoying it. 

2. HOW DO YOU STAY WARM AND COZY?

I wear socks in the house when I normally go barefoot. I like to make soups and chili and bake warm cookies and brownies. Wearing sweaters and cardigans is also cozy!

Zeke looks adorable in his Carhartt beanie.

3. WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS WINTER?

Our winter is almost over. In fact, we've had plenty of days in the upper 70s where I live! I am looking forward to winter officially ending and spring beginning - especially when we "spring forward" and get another hour of daylight!

Typical day in February - no jacket!

4. FAVORITE WINTERTIME ACTIVITIES?

We don't get much snow, so we don't have the opportunity for sledding, skating, or skiing. My wintertime activities include watching the birds and squirrels in the yard and cleaning up flowerbeds for spring planting! Not your traditional winter activities, but when you live in Deep South then that's what it consists of. 

I also feel like I do more decluttering in the winter, probably because I'm cooped up more than in the warmer, drier months. I also tend to do more redecorating and rearranging!

- We rearranged the boys' room to give them more floor space -

5. FAVORITE MONTHS OF WINTER?

I love December for Christmas. It's such a festive and jolly month, with decorations and lights and music wherever you go! It's also a busy month, preparing for Christmas activities like the church play, wrapping presents, and planning menus. January is usually cold and muddy, and February is a mix of icy weather and sunny days for us. 

- Hanging of the Greens at church -

6. FAVORITE DISHES TO MAKE IN WINTER?

I haven't made this one yet, but last week at church we ate Stuffed Bell Pepper soup, and it was delicious. I do plan to make it for Rod soon since he missed out on it. 

I also love to make chili, and my recipe is so simple and delicious:

Brown your meat. Add in two packages of McCormick mild chili seasoning, a can of mild chili beans, a can of diced tomatoes, and a huge jar of Ragu spaghetti sauce in your favorite flavor! Simmer and serve with Fritos and cheese or crackers. 

7. GAS OR WOOD-BURNING FIREPLACE?

We have a wood-burning fireplace! It's so cozy in the winter, but it's also so messy to have a fire going! I'm constantly sweeping up debris from the firewood and cleaning the ashes. It's worth it, though, to have the extra heat source.

- The stockings were hung... - 

- Zeke loves to sit by the fire -

8. FAVORITE WINTER HOT BEVERAGE?

The only hot beverage I enjoy is hot chocolate, with big marshmallows!

9. FAVORITE WINTER MOVIES?

I love the Santa Clause trilogy as well as the Home Alone movies. I am also willing to watch any Lifetime or Hallmark Christmas movie in the winter! I watched a cute movie on Pureflix called The Spruces and The Pines.

10. HOW DO YOU STAY HEALTHY IN THE WINTER?

I take Vitamin C in the winter and try to drink more water to stay healthy. I think we eat more comfort-foods in the winter, especially baked goodies, which isn't too healthy. Getting outside even in the colder weather seems to help as well. I do wind up with bronchitis a few times each winter though.

What about you? Which question did you enjoy reading my answer to the most? 

Here is the monthly topic list for the rest of the year if you want to join in!

ABC Jesus Loves Me: Year One, Week Ten

Zoey completed week ten in ABC Jesus Loves Me this week. We are using Year One, the free curriculum. Zoey turned 17 months old this week. Here is a picture of her lesson plans and weekly objective poster from this week:

MONDAY:

Zeke spent the night at my mom's Sunday night, so Monday morning it was just Zoey and I (and the older kids since they were out of school for President's Day). We read the book Barnyard Dance, which is one of our favorite books by Sandra Boynton. I found our horse stamp from our Melissa and Doug farm animal stamp set and showed Zoey how to push it on the orange ink pad and stamp the horse worksheet. She liked this, so I'll have to use stamps more often with her! 

Next, I gave her an empty ice cube tray and some orange pom-poms. I showed her how to put one in each compartment, but she didn't really do it. She put about three in and out of the same one! She played with this for about five minutes before losing interest. I kept it in the dining room to pull out again this week.

TUESDAY:

I used a rubber band to attach an orange marker to an orange truck, and Zoey "drove" the truck all over the H is for House worksheet. She liked this, but she kept wanting to take the rubber band off and play with it!

I put some orange craft sticks inside an empty plastic Miracle Whip container for Zoey to dump out and put back in. She did this several times throughout the day, and I'm glad I left it out for her!

She also used a crayon to color her Color Train worksheet. One more color, and we'll be finished with this project! 

WEDNESDAY:

We're cycling back through the shapes now, and instead of water-painting a shape, we're supposed to be using a spray bottle on a coffee filter with the shape drawn on with a marker. The spray bottle I had was difficult for Zoey for squeeze, so I 'helped' her spray the coffee filter. I'm going to try another spray bottle for next week.

Then I printed out a page with four houses in four colors and laminated it. I gave her a transportation counter in each color and showed her how to sort them by color. She did this several times!

THURSDAY:

We started off playing with her pop-animals from Melissa and Doug and reading Barnyard Dance. She likes to pop these animals together, but she can't take them apart yet. It's fun to mix and match them, too!

Then we talked about Abraham, and I handed her orange stars and circle stickers to put on the worksheet. 

We danced around the living room, doing the moves as we read the book, Barnyard Dance. 

She pushed her Cozy Coupe around the porch - with Zeke in it! - which fulfilled the 'push toy' gross motor activity this week.

And that was it for this week's tot school! Click the title above to read about other weeks with ABC Jesus Loves Me, Year One.

My Father's World Kindergarten: E is for Elephant

We learned the last short vowel sound this week, and Zeke has really improved with his reading practice. I really wanted to plan a zoo trip this week, but it's looking like next week will be better. We live over an hour from the nearest zoo, so it's always a full day experience.

Tuesday:

We took off of school Monday for President's Day since the big kids were home, so we did Monday and Tuesday's school on Tuesday. Zeke colored and cut out his letter cards, and he realized that he would be able to do the entire blend ladder page this week. I was excited that he thought about that!

He did his handwriting and sound discrimination worksheet. 

I printed out the following worksheets from The Mailbox. One is on rhyming words, and the other is discriminating between the beginning short vowel sounds /o/ and /e/.

Zeke read his word list today. 

Wednesday:

I read "Elephant Families" to Zeke and Zoey while they ate breakfast. I love this series of books, and we've had this one for a long time.

I had printed out a few elephant-themed worksheets from The Mailbox, and Zeke did a few of these today. I introduced the concept of subtraction to him, and he caught on quickly, completing this entire page by himself.

I thought this map of Africa was a great way to introduce geography and mapping. He colored the map according to the key, and then we glued the animals to the correct areas of the map. There was no elephant, but we discussed that this is where African elephants live.

His math page was completing a dot-to-to with the numbers 1-30. It was an elephant! 

He cut out the words, read them, and glued them to the correct pictures.

I had him read his word list again. This is so helpful to do this each day. Zeke did several pages in two different workbooks from Rod and Staff. He loves these workbooks! 

Thursday:

We went ahead and did Thursday and Friday's schoolwork since I won't be here Friday. 

We started out reading his word list and then doing his blend ladder worksheet. He was still excited about filling in all five words this week.

Next he drew four things that begin with /e/ - egg, elevator, elephant, and elbow. 

I had a few more worksheets from The Mailbox for him to work. One was addition and one was subtraction. He did great on both! 

The hardest thing he did today was read "The Sled," his first mini-book from My Father's World. He did pretty good, and he read it three times. By the last time, I could tell he had it memorized - but that's okay, because that's part of learning to read!

We read about elephants in God's Amazing World, and then we called it a week!