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Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Letter G


What did this letter of the week have in store for the kids?  Any guesses?

We started out by dotting the G with some brown paint.
JT had a linear approach.

Mason had a random pattern in mind.

Ella was a fast painter as you can see with her blurred finger.


After the painting was done, we glued on some additional pieces. Which made....

The most adorable giraffes!

G is for Giraffe!

Monday, October 28, 2013

Pumpkin Party

     A few weekends ago I hosted a little gathering for the 8th grade girls I help to teach on Sunday mornings. The weather was beautiful and with it being prime Fall Time, we made our party a pumpkin decorating party!

First things first- food! I grilled some hot dogs and  many other goodies to stuff our faces with.

After we ate, it was time to get decorating. This was a perfect outdoor activity since there was painting involved.

Many of the girls looked at Pinterest for some inspiration for their pumpkins.

The Apedaile kids were of course invited as well and JT went quickly to work.

Courtney started out painting her large pumpkin a beautiful turquoise.

Erin getting started with some monster like green paint.

Abbey was inspired with some polka dots.

Danielle painted her pumpkin a deep purple.

Kaite brought two pumpkins and decided to start with her white gourd.

My co-teacher, Flo, decided to help teach JT how to throw a frisbee. He had a great time with Flo!

The Apedaile crew still at work. 

After JT coated his pumpkin with just about every color avaiable, he decided he wanted to place a hand print on it. Lindsay helped assist JT in making a "Cast Away" Wilson like print.

No craft is complete without a big mess from this guy!

The finished results! I made a simple ribbon design by hot gluing fall themed ribbons around my pumpkin.All of the girls showed their creativity and we all had a great time!

Courtney's "C", Lindsay's Owl, and JT's "Wilson" with his signature JT 4.

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

F is for....


It was a lot of fun doing our letter F craft!

JT started out brushing on some glue on his F.

He then started carefully placing all the feathers on his letter.

Very colorful!

Ella and Mason loved tickling their faces with their feathers before starting.

Placing their feathers in the perfect spot.

F is for Feathers!!! 

Monday, October 21, 2013

JT "No Hands" Apedaile

     My blogging time has been seriously impacted by a crazier than normal routine this school year. Up until a week ago, there were 4 sports being played by the 3 children at home! Also through God's funny sense of humor all 4 of those sports played/practiced every Thursday night, in addition to other days of the week where 1/2 sports had commitments. Combine that with a husband that is in high travel season, and you get a Mom who can take lots of photos, but not upload or write about them.

     We are now down to 2 sports for 2 kids and  the evenings are opening up. Not sure what I will do with all the extra time ;) For now, I will catch you up a bit on JT's soccer season. This post is about a month late, but it's all about the growth he's making this season I need to capture.

 Week Two brought more heat and a headband for our sweaty boy.

 What do 4 year old soccer players do before the game? Hit trees with sticks of course!

 Love this sweet face!

 Hands in... "Go Tigers!!!!"

Here is where the explanation of this post come in. This was a thankfully brief nickname I came up for JT after a couple of rough games (in this Mommy's eyes). While I love how aggressive and passionate JT is with just about everything, soccer came with a bit of a learning curve. 
In effort to get to the ball combined with the first year skill set (and being 4), made for a very hands on approach from JT. For two games JT was a bit grabby, push/pull, fight to get to the head of the pack mentality.

 Soccer is a physical game for sure.

 Thankfully he didn't have to use his hands in every situation.

 It didn't matter if he was near the ball or not sometimes.

 Go JT go!


 This next game during week 3 proved to be the most challenging week for hands.

 It didn't matter that it was a team mate, JT was grabbing jerseys to help maneuver around.

If  JT was going down, so was his opponent.

 This little boy was a tough match against JT.

I was pretty mortified with how many players JT was taking down that day. I kept yelling out to JT, "Dont use your hands, JT! No hands!!! No hands!!!" I was hoping that any parent associated with a "fallen" player would know I wasn't secretly coaching my child to take no prisoners and score above all else. 

JT ended up taking a bit of a break on the sidelines because he was so grab happy. After a pep talk from myself and the coach JT went back in the game and did much better!

 JT came back into the game and headed straight for the net.

 GOAL!!!!!

 It was so sweet that the first place JT ran after he score was to me. "I scored a goal! Did you see it Mommy?" JT exclaimed. Simply adorable.

 Post game ritual- snacks and juice box.

Coach as so happy didn't use his hands after his break, JT as rewarded with 2 stickers!

     Almost a month after this games, I am pleased to announce that JT's nickname has NOT stuck! He is doing so well with not using his hands as we continue to teach him about the game of soccer. I for one am so relieved this was just a learning curve.