If the Zyrieks were homeschooled.....

Today the girls were out of school for a "snow day"....please see the snow pictures (and lack of snow on the streets as of 9am!!). I had some work that I could do from home so it worked out fine for the girls to stay with me. We had a morning full of activities and I figured this is somewhat how it would be for our girls if they were homeschooled : )


1. First we watched Dora/Diego for our spanish and science lessons
2. Snack time
3. Anna worked games on her Barbie learning computer including spelling, reading and music.
4. Caroline worked some puzzles and asked why a piece was missing (utilizing those cognitive thinking skills). Soon discovered Ally has used that piece for her morning snack.
5. Caroline has packed her purses up and is cooking from her Dora Kitchen. I guess this could be our home economics class.
6. Anna observed that while the backyard still has snow, the skies are cloudy and the snow has melted on the roads. This is our weather/science lesson continued.
7. Caroline is preparing her princess couch for nap time!


Not so bad for the morning hours....how I could manage this every day and actually do lessons with the girls I have no idea, but thought we were pretty creative this morning.

view out the front door....clear sidewalks and roads

snowy backyard....not enough for snowman

caroline in home economics class

anna on her barbie computer

Sad, Sad Sunday

Sunday was just one of those bad days that you wish never happened. We headed out to church and kept the 3 year old nursey like we do once a month. After church we went to Huey's with our friends the Desouza's. Anna was a train-wreck at Huey's and decided not to share her crayons with McKayla. She ended up throwing the crayons and hitting "Miss Laurie" with a few of them. Gary promptly removed Anna from the situation......only to have her return to tell Gary and me that we were mean....Anna had officially lost it. She never really regained her composure. We headed to cheerleading at church after lunch which went ok minus Anna's nose bleed. Anna inherited these from her daddy!! On the way home from church I stopped to get gas and noticed NO WALLET in my purse. How in the world did I lose my wallet when I only went to church and Huey's??? I retraced my steps and came up with nothing. So upset. Could not even get in my sacred Sunday afternoon nap....the kids thankfully slept for a few hours and i calmed down about the wallet. Ended up cancelling all the cards and will be steadily refilling a new wallet. We created a "conduct chart" for Anna where she earns pluses and minuses for her daily behavior.....so far she has done great!!! She had a fantastic Monday at Mom's house for the MLK holiday and Tuesday went well at school also. I'm convinced she was tired and temporarily went insane, so hopefully we are back on track!!

Joining the big girls

Caroline took her own pom poms to Sunday's cheerleading with Anna. She started playing with the girls before the basketball game and then decided to join in. She was hysterical and actually did the first cheer exactly right! It was so cute!!

So cute!

Caroline joining the girls for H-O-P-E, let's go HOPE.

Super Star Caroline

Caroline enjoyed being superstar in her class this week. She got to take pictures to school of her family and friends for the super star poster that is on the door all week. On Tuesday she took her favorite toy to school (Ra-Ra, her favorite baby doll that she takes EVERY day) and a special snack for the class. On Wednesday, Mimi read 3 books to the class before lunch. And best of all on Friday, Gary and I joined her for lunch with her class. We dined on spaghetti, green beans, peaches and bread. It was yummy. We enjoyed seeing all of the kids in action especially Ryan who almost fell asleep in his plate and put himself to sleep on his nap mat and Mya, our friend, who LOVES to eat and feeds herself with both hands!! Caroline was proud and showed us quite a good time.

The happy super star with Mommy and Daddy

Eating lunch with Caroline at the kids table. Caroline was smartly dressed in her smock since it was spaghetti day!

What did she say?

My girls have created words or sayings over the years that have really made us laugh. They also have had trouble saying certain sounds which then creates funny sayings as well. So we won't forget them, I have noted a few below....

Anna: always had trouble with L's and S's:

Mary had a yittle yam, yittle yam
Ho Ho = santa
Sigh = Shy
Ayee= our dog Ally
Peas= Please
Yove= Love

Caroline: makes us words for common things

Dadum = milk (which is the main staple in her diet, so we hear it often)
Rah Rah = all baby dolls, but especially her favorite
Toyos = Cheerios
Miss Tarol = her teacher Miss Carol
Tank chew = Thank you

Of course we can interpret but when they throw in a new one we often have to use our context clues.

New Year Stats

Thought it would be fun to start recording the kids vital stats each new year as well as a few of their favorites. Thanks to Rachel Baker for the idea.

Anna:
height: 48 inches
weight: 50 pounds
shoe size: 12 1/2
clothing size: 5/6
favorite food: macaroni and cheese
favorite tv/movie: madagascar
best friend: everyone i know & mckayla
favorite place to visit: the beach
favorite thing about school: learning to read
favorite toy/thing to play with: bobo

Caroline:

height: 34 inches
weight: 27 pounds
shoe size: 6
clothing size: 2T
favorite food: dadum (milk....who knows why that is the word for milk?)
favorite tv/movie: anything Dora
best friend: Dora
favorite place to visit: Mimi and Papa's
favorite thing about school: being a Rainbow
favorite toy/thing to play with: Ra-Ra (baby doll)


Happy New Year!!