Cecilia's Third Birthday!

Cecilia is three! I can't believe it!

She has been saying for months that she wanted "a candle cake" for her birthday. When I asked further clarifying questions, I discovered that this meant she wanted a cake shaped like a candle. I convinced her to want one shaped like a "candle shaped like a three," since otherwise we'd just have one long, skinny cake incapable of fitting on any serving platters I own! So no, this is not a cake shaped like three, but a cake shaped like a birthday candle three. ;)

We had BBQ pork sandwiches and some sides for lunch.

Cecilia opening gifts

magnetic shapes board from Gran and Grandad

dress-up clothes from Gramma and Grampa

enough to share with Caroline!

a slide whistle from Uncle Mike, Aunt Crystal, and Julianne... I love how CC is looking at Uncle Mike in this photo!

unwrapping some play felt food (cookies and cake!) from Mommy and Daddy

and unwrapping her very own (washable!) markers, so she will stop wearing out Caroline's school markers!

Cecilia's gift from Caroline: she traced and colored a picture for her from her Fairy Tracing and Design kit that she got for Christmas! I put it in a frame and we plan to hang it by Cecilia's bed.

Cousin Julianne became the earliest walker in the family a couple weeks ago... at a couple weeks before ten months, she began walking alone! The only pictures I got of her were by this table... when I tried to get a shot of her walking out in the open, she was around the corner before I could snap the picture! She beats my brother Tim as the first walker by a few weeks, and Caroline (who walked right at 11 months) by about a month and a half!

Cecilia with her cake

My mom got this awesome picture on her camera!

It was a basic butter cake with strawberry icing... Cecilia said she wanted a "white vanilla cake" with strawberry frosting. It was good... as Mike commented, the cake part tasted like a sugar cookie.

To end the party, the girls did lots of playing outside with their grandparents. Cecilia got this new "big girl" swing as a gift from Mommy and Daddy so she and Caroline could swing together! My dad captured this last photo.

Happy Birthday, Cecilia!! You are growing up so quickly!

M is for St. Martin, Mallow Fairy, Mass, and Mary!

Here are our themes for the week, all of which went into the Word Box, as usual.

Our M poems for the week from An Alphabet of Catholic Saints and God's Alphabet

~Work Activities~

lots of magnets this week

~Circle Time~

Caroline brought a cow for "moo" for Show and Tell, and Cecilia brought a cat (for "meow," we decided). There was a magnifying glass in the Mystery Sound Pouch this week.

Songs and Rhymes

Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary

Five Little Monkeys

Little Miss Muffet

Mary had a Little Lamb

The Muffin Man

To Market, To Market

~Foods for M Week~

Mexican chicken casserole

muffaletta sandwich

Mexican enchilada casserole

macaroni and cheese

manicotti cordon bleu (looking at it still makes me want to hurl, even though it tasted good... it's a food aversion thing for me right now ;)

spaghetti and meatballs (thanks to the greatest husband ever for prepping/cooking the turkey meatballs for me due to that aversion! Smelled awful while cooking, but I was able to eat them and they were great!)

mozzarella sticks (which are not aesthetically pleasing - nothing from the Deceptively Delicious cookbook looks like it should... they should call it "deceptive photos of recipes" instead!)

~Tea Time~

St. Martins' Mice Muffins, marshmallows, and mint (Candy Cane Lane) tea!

~Letter Formation~

forming letter Mm using playdough

writing M's in cornmeal

Cut and Paste M Collage

Punch Out the Letter - Capital and Lowercase Mm

~Flower Fairy for Letter M: Mallow~

Caroline's Mallow flower fairy page from the Flower Fairies coloring book

The Mallow fairy has buds which look like little round cheeses surrounded by leaves... the flower fairy song makes reference to this, so i had the idea to use some of those little Babybel Laughing Cow cheeses and fresh basil out of our fridge to make our own "fairy cheeses!"

~Saint for Letter M: St. Martin~

painted St. Martin: the broom side

and the rosary side!

Doing copywork from An Alphabet of Catholic Saints

Illustrating St. Martin

finished copywork and illustration

~In the Book Baskets~

~Picture Study: M is for Monster~

Caroline illustrated a drawing from Walter Crane's Beauty and the Beast

~ABC Virtue of the Week: Mercy~

These are virtue coloring sheets found here. Using the great idea of another Catholic homeschooling mom, I am reading Caroline a relevant story from this sweet little book full of stories with morals to them.

~God's Alphabet Poem: M is for Mary~

Caroline's copywork from the M poem in God's Alphabet

~Activities for M Week~

M is for Manners and Mass

Caroline made a little book of Manners at Mass that is part of the Things I See at Church lapbook. We also read The Weight of a Mass and discussed it.

M is for Museum and Mellow Mushroom!

We went to the Creative Discovery Museum in Chattanooga... the kids love this place! The girls wore their matching mushroom clothes - Caroline has a shirt and Cecilia a dress. I happened to find them both at the same consignment sale in the right sizes!

Cecilia strikes a pose next to her finished puzzle

At Mellow Mushroom for lunch, with Cecilia striking the same pose

The water tables are the best part of the museum, I think...

M is for Marshmallows

making marshmallows in the mixer - I much prefer this recipe, I have decided!

Changed out of the dress-up clothes now and tasting the marshmallow fluff

marshmallows!!!

So, we just had to make s'mores!

Daddy is the fire guy

Sticky fingers! Homemade marshmallows are even meltier than store-bought! Yes, I made that word up.

~Cooking Project: M is for Muffins~

measuring...

lining the muffin tin...

licking the frosting... the muffins were whole wheat chocolate chip, and we whipped up a little cream cheese frosting to turn them into St. Martin's Mice!

decorating

Does it sort of look like a mouse? Ginger snap ears, M & M eyes, Hershey Kiss nose...

~Chores/Practical Life: M is for Mopping~

I love this new Shark mop... it is awesome. My mom got it for me for Christmas! Chris used to do all the mopping because I didn't. I just didn't like to mop, to deal with the bucket and the cleaners and the wet... and this thing takes mopping and makes it an enjoyable task! It is a really hot steam mop, so it just kills germs with steam! Then you throw the mop head pad in the washing machine when finished. I am all for no bucket, no chemicals, and fast-drying, kid-friendly mopping!