Building, Playing, Creating, Learning

I've heard so much about people making their own homemade pizza that I finally gave it a try. Mostly because I'm looking for quick, cheaper meals for the weekends so I can take a break from real cooking, but also I thought the kids would really like it. I threw some dough mix in the bread machine, and when it was done, we worked together on the pizza. It turned out ok, but it needed WAY more cheese. The crust was great, but the rest of the pizza? Ehh.

Jared's been working hard on his creations this past week. Here's one where he put the play table upside down and tied his snake and ropes around the legs.

Jared has the most amazing ability to come up with new things to do all the time. My daughter is a great reader and she blows some people away on the computer even at four, but Jared is incredible in his self-direction and imagination.

We had been watching old family DVD's and saw how we had a birthday party for Curious George around this time last year. So Jared found some Christmas wrapping paper and started wrapping some of his toys. He worked so hard at cutting and taping those presents. It made me think of how I hated sitting in kindergarten class around the table where they made us do these artificial cutting and pasting exercises. I've never show my kids how to cut, paste, color, or tape, yet they do it just fine on their own because they've practiced for hours by coming up with their own projects.

Alexa's been enthralled lately with Jumpstart Grade 1. She would play for hours and hours on that computer if we allowed it. When she starts getting too cranky and impatient, we try to gently guide her into something else. Plus, I worry about her eyes.

Here's one more game Jared made up this week. He dragged all my Tupperware out to the living room. Then he took out all his animals and started placing each animal under a Tupperware and calling them the animals' cages. I just love my kids!