C is for CANDY!!!

I do believe this is and will always be my very favorite week. I mean seriously, cookies, candy, chocolate, cooking, etc., etc., what is not to love?! I was somewhat apprehensive to do a candy theme with a 2 year old who receives limited sugar but then I read in a magazine that sugar doesn't actually cause a child to be hyper. It's generally the situation that increases the kid's energy level (think birthday party) so I thought, why not? (Yes, I do believe everything I read in magazines. What, it's not like it's TV and it's research based, right???)

Where was I going with this??? Ahhhh, yes... candy. So our theme was candy. Our book of the week was Chocolatina by Erik Kraft.

This is a very fun book about a little girl who loves chocolate so much that she wishes she could turn into chocolate but, when it actually happens, turns out she doesn't like it so much. You know, being stiff and melting in the sun and all isn't so great, not to mention that her classmates and health teacher want to eat her. Anyway, Lucy really likes this book and even though it makes the "ch" sound instead of the /k/ sound, it starts with a "C" so I chose to focus on that.

Our verse for the week was "Taste and see that the Lord is good." Psalm 34:8.

We started the week with some yummy chocolate chip muffins. (Thanks Martha White!)

We also had delicious candy cookies for dessert.

We went to Will's house to bake "Cookies for Kairos". Our goal is to do 1 ministry project each month. We are finding this very easy to do because our church does 1 "Be The Church" project each month and they are "coincidentally" corresponding to our themes. This project was a prison ministry where families bake cookies for prisoners, pray over them, deliver them to the church, and the church delivers them to prisoners to let them know that God loves them and through him they can find forgiveness.

To say Lucy and will had fun is a huge understatement. These 2 made a huge mess and taste-tested their way to make 4 dozen White Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies. They also put on a little concert for us while the cookies were baking...

Lucy practiced cutting,

coloring,

played Candy Land,

and cooked crayons.

Directions: Heat oven to 250 degrees. Break your crayons into small enough pieces to fit into your cupcake pan. We used crayons that were already broken because Lucy refuses to use them anyway. Line your cupcake pan with cupcake liners. (You can find many ways to do this online, including using cookie cutters or mini bread pans or silicone pans. I wasn't willing to risk loosing my cookie cutters and I didn't have the other options so I used cupcake liners.) Put like colors together in the cupcake liners then pop in the oven. I checked mine every 5 minutes until all lumps were gone. I tried stirring them but the wax just sticks to the spoon so I wouldn't recommend that. When they are sufficiently melted, put them in the fridge to harden, about 15 to 20 minutes. Then peel the paper off. (It comes off very easily.)

While our crayons were hardening, Lucy made a cereal necklace.

(She was very quick to tell me that you aren't supposed to play with your food.)

We ended the week with a bang by meeting Will at a candy store. The kids had a blast, as did the parents!

(It actually did rain that day, hence the rain boots.)

After the candy store, we enjoyed lunch at Chick-Fil-A.

"Look, we found a "C"!"

We all had another great week of preschool. I do think this will be the sweetest week ever!

B is for Bear

So it's been FOREVER since I've posted our preschool fun (so much for that weekly post, right?). We've just been so busy learning there hasn't been time for the blog. Since I'm so far behind, you may see lots of preschool posts in the next few weeks (if I can get myself together), so sorry to those who could care less about Lucy's preschool adventures.

Our book of the week was Brown Bear, Brown Bear What do You See?

Lucy loves this book and can "read" it by herself!

Our weekly verse was, "God's tests will never be more than you can Bear." 1 Corinthians 10:13.

We were still in Columbia when "B Week" Began so we met Lucy's Best friend Will at RiverBanks Zoo Bright and early Monday morning to see the

Bears,

Bats,

Bunnies, and

Birds.

Lucy and Will went home for some quick naps then we met at Teddy Mountain so they could Build their own Bears.

That thought Back-fired when Lucy decided on a unicorn and Will chose a tiger, but they had a Blast nonetheless.

I made Beary-yummy pancakes for breakfast the next morning.

(This also Back-fired as Lucy now wants all of her pancakes to look like Bears. Since her pancakes are usually made by Aunt Jemima and come from a box in the freezer, that's not possible.)

We went through our usual morning routine on Tuesday. Lucy created her B page for her alphabet book,

and practiced following directions and identifying body parts by playing the teddy Bear Boo-Boo game.

I used to play this game with my preschool speech kids and it is always a favorite. Get a Bear (or in Lucy's case, unicorn) and some Band aides. Then tell the child where Bear (unicorn) has a Boo-Boo and tell them to put a Band aide there. For example, Unicorn hurt her neck. Put a Band aide on Unicorn's neck.

Tuesday is dance day so we talked about how B is for Ballerina.

Please excuse the strange face. Lucy went through a weird smile phase. Glad that's over!

On Thursday, some friends joined Lucy for preschool so their mom could unpack and organize their new house. We enjoyed Pear Bear Muffins for Breakfast.

My pears had gone bad so mine are decorated a little differently than in the recipe, but the kids enjoyed them anyway.

The kids made Bird feeders by putting peanut butter on a pine cone and rolling it in bird seed.

Then Lucy and Caleb searched for Buried treasure in the sandbox.

Everyone had a fun week and I'm finding that our mornings go better on the days we have preschool. Lucy asks to play preschool almost daily and is always excited about the fun activities.