After getting her lizard “Wonder Colors” for her birthday I knew the next unit study for us to do would be “Goofy Gecko” which we bought from the Amanda Bennett site. Earlier in the week I did a separate post on our field trip to the zoo. Here is a break down of the days:

Day 1: What is a Gecko?

Day 2: Getting to know Geckos.

Day 3: Where are the Geckos?

Day 4: The Science of Geckos

Day 5: Cool things about Geckos

We learned so many cool facts about Geckos. The videos were really cute and both girls loved them. Each day featured a certain Gecko that we learned about in detail and then the child is supposed to draw them. Nadia was really creative and hers were really cute. My favorite of the 5 Geckos was the crested gecko. They are so cute and COOL! If you want to see a large variety, go to JB’s Cresties. A fun fact is that the Crested Gecko was thought to be extinct until they were re-discovered in 1994. Nadia’s favorite was the Web Footed Gecko.

We were able to get a lot of great books about Gecko’s and other reptiles at the library. And we found out that our Green Anole “Wonder Colors” is actually the smallest iguana in the world. Cool, huh?

Here is Nadia’s completed lapbook. What a fun study this was! Next up is a Unit Study on Valentine’s Day!

Click the photo above to see all the photos from our day. (lots of reptiles)

The Fort Worth Zoo opened an incredible exhibit in 2010 called MOLA – Museum of Living Art. We have been through it several times, but until we did this unit study I had no idea how many cool reptiles were in there. Nadia and I kept saying to each other, “That was in our study! Hey that guy looks familiar!” Nadia was watching a slide show on the video screens above our head and was calling out the names of of the specific geckos and other lizards and she totally freaked out this older woman. The lady just stood there with her mouth open looking amazed which just made me laugh.

The Komodo Dragon was on the inside and right up to the glass which was fun for the girls.

Nadia was SO EXCITED to get to touch the snake. Without so many other kids around all 3 of us had a chance to touch it and learn from the zoo keeper.

We only had a couple of hours, so when we were finished in MOLA we headed over to see the lions, tigers, bears, giraffes and elephants. On the way out Mommy had to stop to talk to the Meerkats and we headed straight home for lunch and naps for my very tired girls.

Papa and Grandma Brooke drove up last weekend for a visit. Nadia was so excited and Amelie caught on really quick that she was going to have fun. They tag teamed the girls for play time and told Mike and I we could go out to lunch alone. I had some Cheesecake Factory gift cards from my birthday so we headed over and had such a nice time. (I enjoyed eating a complete meal without feeding someone else or taking someone to the bathroom. HA!)

They brought beautiful spring outfits for the girls and fun treats like flash cards and stickers!

Nadia engaging Brooke in one of her serious play sessions.

The next morning we had WAFFLEMANIA! I made regular and chocolate Belgium waffles. The chocolate ones had chocolate chips and peanut butter chips inside and really should have been considered dessert for breakfast. We also had butter, syrup, whipped cream, nutella and strawberries for toppings. It’s such a fun tradition every time they come to visit.

After waffles there was a lightsaber duel.

And Amelie is down – she didn’t last long. It was a nice fun weekend – thanks for coming Dad and Brooke!

Introduced Amelie to color wonder markers. She thought they were awesome!

Block City by Nadia. She really worked hard on this project.

Playdough is always fun!

The weather has been glorious this month so the girls have spent a lot of time outside. Just chillin’ on Mr. Crabs.

Amelie is starting to learn her letters. She has come so far in all kinds of other areas that I think she is going to do well.

Happy Chinese New Year from our “dragons”.

Check out the link here to enter to win on their facebook page. They are going to choose 2 winners for a playset and Oasis Garden set which looks super cool. The best part is that it will keep out those pesky rabbits!

http://www.swingsetsonline.com/backyard-ideas/backyard-blog/playsets/January%202012/Double_the_Prize_Double_the_Fun_Sweepstakes

Click the photo above to see the whole album.

Christmas is always an exciting time for me, but this year I really felt over the top. This being Amelie’s first Christmas and her being a toddler changed everything. Unlike and infant who doesn’t really know what is happening, it’s been really fun to see the delight she has at all the new things we have done. Nadia was really sweet the whole month wanting to point stuff out to Amelie and saying, “This is your first Christmas. Do you want to see this or do that?” The first gifts they saw were the sleeping bags/pillows. Thanks Lynnea for posting about them so I could score them myself at Costco. Nadia wanted to open up the sleeping bags and try them out right away. Then it was on to the stockings.

Amelie was really funny because she would open a gift and then want to clean up the paper and THEN check out the gift. We kept telling her not to worry about it, but she didn’t really listen until the end of the presents. The girls each got a medical kit in their stocking and apparently Mommy needed a lot of doctoring.

Nadia with her new cookbooks and kitchen gadgets from Papa and Grandma Brooke.

Amelie with her Tag Jr from Papa and Grandma Brooke.

Nadia with Darth Maul. She was totally amazed with all the Star Wars galactic hero figures and ships she got. (These were the rest of the set that we bought at her birthday. She asked us where we got them and we told her eBay. I am now convinced she thinks eBay is a magical storehouse of Star Wars figures you can’t buy in stores)

Amelie loving the wand (and tutu) from Kim, Eddie and the kids.

Spanish Dancer pose.

My sister Tahni and her husband Joseph were going to be in our area for 2 hours on Christmas Day so we told her to let us know who to invite for some coffee, appetizers and visiting. The time went too fast, but we all had fun before everyone broke off to have their meals with the other half of their families.

4 generations here!

Grammie and some of her grandkids.

My favorite of the day – the Prom Pose of cousins and spouses/fiancées.  I love that everyone humored me!

Once everyone was gone we put the girls down for a nap and after they woke up we went to visit with Mike’s mom at her assisted living apartment. That night for dinner I made Mexican food and the girls had a blast playing with all their new gifts. I think Amelie was totally and completely overloaded by the end of the day and we could tell by her attitude so bedtime came quick.

It was a wonderful day and we are so blessed!

I love the tulips!

Grammie, Me, Amelie and Aunt Paula – thanks for coming!

The moms and babies. We missed the couple that were out due to sickness, but we still prayed for them.

Amelie’s keepsake with all of her prayer cards inside.

We spent Christmas Eve day in a relaxed way. I had a couple odds and ends to pick up and in the early evening we went to church for the Christmas Eve service. We came home and Amelie helped me bake the cookies from an earlier post. We had arranged for my mom and sister Michelle to Skype with us while my mom read the Polar Express and Michelle did sound effects. It was just as much fun as last year because they get so into the story telling.  Then we let the girls open 1 present after dinner. The girls had plenty of time to play before we sent them off to bed.

Then we put the finishing touches on everything and went to sleep ourselves.

Nadia working on the scented dough to represent the frankincense and myrrh.

Here are our crafts (we missed the crafts on some days -but still did the readings with all our other activity in December, but we almost completed the full 24):

Light, Kingdom, Zechariah

Gabriel, Mary, Mary and Elizabeth with pregnant bellies

Song, Sun, Joseph, Joseph’s pillow (for his dream)

Bethlehem, Stable, Clothes, Sheep

Shepards, Temple, Star

Wise Men, Gifts