Just a Moment in Time

What do you do all day?

2011-09-13T15:34:00.001-05:00

To be honest, some days more than others. I thought the few readers of my blog might appreciate an inside glimpse of what we do to fill our days. We happily started “preschool at home” on September 1st and I must say, having a routine is a welcome change from the lazy days of summer.

Here are some things we focused on for the first week.

-identifying and writing our names
-the letter A
-the colors red and green
-apples

And now in no particular order…

1. Our day usually starts with doing calendar. We talk about the month we’re in, count the numbers to figure out what day it is, talk about any special days coming up, sing the days of the week song, put up “today”, “tomorrow” and “yesterday” cards, talk about what season it is, sing the weather song and put up the appropriate card, graph how many days we’ve had of that kind of weather, review our address, phone number and 911.

2. For name practice, I bought 2 of those swimming noodles at the dollar tree and cut them into approx. 1-2 inch slices. I wrote a letter of their name on each piece and then had them string their names together using nylon rope.

3. For letter A practice, Garrett practiced his A’s several times with different colored crayons on this “bubble” paper.

4. For science, we talked about what would happen to an apple if we left it out, versus brushing lemon juice on it. Here they are brushing the lemon juice on.

5. I got this bag of glittery, foam letters at Michael’s and dumped them into a container. We threw a blanket out on the lawn and they had to find as many A’s as they could. It kind of morphed into a game as Garrett wanted to hide the letters and make me find them. The cool part about this is that I will keep the letters and repeat for every letter!

6. Coloring things that are red

7. Making a mosaic apple. Basically, the just tore pieces of red construction paper and glued them to an apple cutout. Good gluing practice for Colin.

8.We read the book Ten Apples Up On Top by Dr. Seuss and made these headbands.

9. We played with unifix cubes. Normally I would throw some counting and pattering in with these, but this time I just let them play. Austin was happy to be in on the action :-)

10. This is an apple grid game. It’s hard to see, but it’s just a piece of paper with 20 apples on it. Each player would spin the spinner and then put that many cubes on the apples. Teaches 1:1 correspondence and counting in a fun way.

11. Finger painting. They learned that blue + yellow = green!

12. Apple prints. Cut an apple in 1/2, stick a fork in it and have them stamp apple prints. When they dry, we will draw stems on them. If I were organized, I would’ve had them glue real apple seeds on them too. Oh well, maybe next time…

13. Here is a random depiction of the work they do in their “workboxes”. It’s meant to be independent work, but at their young ages, it rarely is!

Garrett is doing pre-writing practice with a dry/erase marker and Colin is sorting objects into cups according to color.

Garrett happily finished an alligator puzzle while Colin worked on his cutting skills.

Garrett doing a rhyming matching game and Colin doing a hot/cold sort.

Garrett doing an apple counting game. Count the apples on the tree and find the correct number.

And what is Austin doing during all of this? Well, either this…

or this!

So there you have it-some, a random spattering of our first week. I must say, the days are not going at all how I envisioned them, and that’s okay. With the nice weather we’ve had lately, I’m fine with taking a break and enjoying the outdoors. Or if somebody invites us to play at the park, we go. I have a general plan on what I hope we’ll accomplish in a day (and by day, I mean a few hours), but I think almost every day, that plan changes. In October, that plan will really change :-) But we’ll go with it and hopefully learn a few things along the way.

Thanks for checking in on us!

New Pics!

2011-08-18T22:09:00.001-05:00

Today, I braved it and ventured out to Sears with all 3 of the boys to get their pictures taken. Specifically, Colin’s 3 year pics and Austin’s 9 month. Thank God for my mom, who saved the day by taking the kids to the play area and getting them a snack after the shoot. Overall, I’m pleased. Not the most creative pictures I’ve ever seen, but I think we got a few good ones. Let me know what you think! If the grandparents are viewing this, feel free to let me know exactly what you’d like because I still have to place the order and I’ll get you the pose you like in the size you want.

My Handsome boys:

Colin:

Austin:

Done for another…oh 2 1/2 months until Austin turns 1 and the new one needs newborn pics!

Homemade Ice Cream in a Bag

2011-08-10T14:36:00.001-05:00

I’ve always wanted to make homemade ice cream with my kiddos, but have always been scared that it just plain wouldn’t work. So I was thrilled when our PAT educator came today with a tried and true recipe and all of the ingredients to make it! I thought I’d share this one because it is SO easy and you probably have most of the ingredients anyway.

What you’ll need:

* 1 tbsp. sugar
* 1/2 c. half and half
*1/4 tsp. vanilla or cocoa (see note below)
* 6 tbsp. rock salt
* 1 pint size plastic bag
* 1 gallon size plastic bag
* ice cubes

How to make it:

1. Fill the large bag half full of ice, and add the rock salt. Seal the bag. (the pic on the right is Katie teaching Garrett to figure out how many tbsp. is half)

2. Put milk, vanilla, and sugar into the small bag, and seal it.

3. Place the small bag inside the large one, and seal it again carefully.

4. Wrap a kitchen towel around bags. Shake until the mixture is ice cream, which takes about 5 minutes.

5. Wipe off the top of the small bag, then open it carefully. Enjoy!

NOTE: We skipped the vanilla in the original recipe and used a tsp. or so of cocoa instead. The result was kind of like a chocolate Frosty.

Also, don’t go cheap on the plastic baggies. You do not want any leaks for this one!

This recipe makes about 3 Dixie cups full of ice cream.

Hamburger Cookies

2011-07-12T10:55:00.001-05:00

I can’t take credit for this idea (see below) but I CAN say that I made these. This post is especially for my dear friend, Tara, because I just know you will want to make these for your next get-together in Delaware! They were literally the hit of my housewarming party. I actually didn’t even get one but from what I’ve heard, they not only looked great, but tasted great also.

I credit my success to the tutorial video below. You will learn everything you need to know to make these little yummies by going to http://family.go.com/video/hamburger-cookies-612093-v/

Here are my creations:
Don’t they look like real hamburgers? Enjoy!

4th of July Fun!

2011-07-06T18:04:00.001-05:00

Wow! This 4th of July exceeded ALL of my expectations. It was a sparklin’ great time, definitely the most fun we’ve had yet! It started with a grand display of fireworks, along with a fantastic air show that the boys adored. We were lucky enough to get a great spot right along the river where we enjoyed good company, food, and music. Thanks to the friends’ that squeezed us in their spot!

Here are some pics of that afternoon/evening.

On July 4th, we had a neighborhood party. I’m quite sure this MUST become a tradition as it was tons of fun for the adults and kids. Thanks to my fabulous neighbor, Tracy, for hosting. We had rootbeer floats and smores…yum! Have I mentioned how much I LOVE our new neighborhood?

And now for the best part of it all? Here are all of the little cuties!

New Pictures

2011-02-22T14:26:00.001-06:00

Here is our latest picture endeavor. I am SO glad they are over. More kids equals more stress!

Garrett-Age 4

Austin-3 months

* no individuals of Colin this time because it wasn’t a milestone for him.

The Kids

Family

Done for another year :-)

Doing Some Thinking…

2011-02-18T21:54:00.001-06:00

So obviously my blogging has taken a back seat lately…to what you say? Well, we are trying, and I do emphasize trying, to sell our house. About 4 weeks ago we found a house that meets our very high standards. We put in an offer, it was accepted, and now ours is on the market. Trying to keep a house clean, the stress of not having much luck, and a fair amount of sickness, are all reasons why I haven’t been blogging much.

The “doing some thinking” title is because I am contemplating ending this blog. I do enjoy doing it, but honestly, since having a 3rd child, I find that my “spare” time is so precious that I’m not sure this is what I should be doing. Plus, I’m just not getting a lot of feedback from my “readers”…which kind of fuels the fire in me to continue on with it. Sometimes I ask myself “does anyone even read this thing?” I don’t know…I’ll think on it. In the meantime, here is Colin’s latest endeavor. The boy knows what to do with a tube of lipstick!

TOS Review: Maestro Classics

2011-01-19T23:18:00.001-06:00

We were lucky enough to receive the Peter and the Wolf CD in the mail in exchange for my review as part of the TOS Crew. I immediately flashbacked to elementary school where I was first introduced to this charming story. I was excited to expose my kids to it.

What is it?

Maestro Classics is a series of CDs that introduce children to classical music through stories. Your 4-12 year old will enjoy brilliant performances by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the greatest recording orchestra in the world. The Peter and the Wolf CD and booklet package is party of their Stories in Music Series.

What do they offer?

Currently, there are 7 CD’s to choose from including:

Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel – timeless classic story

Peter and the Wolf – every child should own this great work

Tortoise and the Hare – a very fun version of this tale

Juanita the Spanish Lobster – sassy and funny from an English composer

Swan Lake – some of Tchaikovsky's most beautiful music

Casey at the Bat – everybody loves baseball, right?

Sorcerer's Apprentice – magical story and exciting music

Juanita la langosta española – great for anyone speaking or studying Spanish

What did we think?

I thought this product was excellent! This is a multi-faceted CD with much more than just the story of Peter and the Wolf. I loved that the CD came with an activity booklet with additional information about the story, composer (Sergei Prokofiev) and musical piece. It felt like a complete music lesson in itself.

Although my son is a bit too young for the activities, I thought they were wonderfully created. My 4 year old was very curious about the different instruments and he listened very intensely trying to follow the story and the characters. I definitely hope to add more of these to our CD library!

The CD’s are priced at $16.98 or 3 for $45 and can be purchased here. You can also listen to a sample of the CD and see a sample activity page here.

Also worth checking out is this great page to help you incorporate music into your family. This company is really devoted to promoting music in the family, and what’s not to love about that?

See what others are saying about Maestro Classics here!

Disclaimer: I was given a copy of this product for free as part of the TOS Crew and this review is my honest opinion.

Kool-Aid Ice Painting

2011-01-07T05:00:00.000-06:00

This little activity made for some very yummy smelling fun tonight! Here’s what we did:

1. Filled an ice tray with water
2. Inserted craft sticks into each section
3. Had a fun discussion about what would happen to the water if we set it outside
4. Watched and checked ice cubes periodically throughout the day
5. When frozen, we brought the tray inside and let the cubes melt slightly
6. Sprinkled 4 different colors of Kool-Aid onto a piece of watercolor paper (make sure you put newspaper or an old tablecloth down!)
7. Used the craft/stick ice cube as a “paintbrush”, and watched the powder magically turn into vibrant colors!

Don’t forget to smell!!!

Crockpot Turkey Macaroni Supper

2011-01-06T05:00:00.000-06:00

This recipe is from the Fix it and Forget it light cookbook. And since we are trying to “lighten up”, I thought I’d give it a try. It was actually pretty tasty! I will definitely make it again. Here it is with a side of cherry jello and peaches.

Ingredients:

1 tsp. vegetable oil
1 1/2 lbs ground turkey
2 cans tomato soup, undiluted
16 oz. can of corn, drained
1/2 c. onions, chopped
4 oz. can mushrooms, drained
2 tbsp. ketchup
1 tbsp. prepared mustard
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
2 c. dry macaroni, cooked and drained

1. Heat oil in medium skillet. Brown and drain turkey.

2. Combine all ingredients except macaroni in a slow cooker. Stir to blend. Cover.

3. Cook on high for 3-4 hours or on low for 4-6. Stir in cooked and drained macaroni 15 minutes before stirring.

Marshmallow Mania!

2011-01-05T21:24:00.001-06:00

So what does a mom do when her kids are totally off the wall and she has absolutely nothing planned for them? Get out a bag of colored marshmallows! This little bag kept my kiddos entertained for almost a whole hour!

We sorted them by color…

We made patterns…

We counted them…

We put them onto spaghetti and toothpicks…

We glued them to circles to make a snowman, which I didn’t take any pictures of.

And of course, we ATE them!

The Best of 2010

2011-01-04T21:59:00.001-06:00

It’s hard to believe 2010 has come to an end. Here is a short recap of our year. Now… don’t have too high of expectations! Heck, I decided not to write a Christmas letter this year because I didn’t think I’d have enough exciting events to write about. But if you’re a mommy, then you know that every second is precious and eventful, and so…I shall write!

January

The first thing that come to mind when I think of January is that we got pregnant! I remember sitting at our good friends’ house on New Year’s Eve and wishing and hoping that it would happen soon. Our miscarriage in September was surprising and heartbreaking. I was very ready to be a mom again.

February

Of course, me being impatient and anxious, I took a pregnancy test immediately and found out the good news right around Valentine’s Day. My hubby was out of town for work so when I got home, I shared the exciting news in a fun and interesting way. That, my friends, shall remain our little secret!

March

All I seriously remember about March is feeling absolutely lousy, and wishing with all my might that the 12 weeks would be up so 1) I would start feeling better, and 2) we could TELL someone! It was so difficult to keep the big secret. Morning sickness takes on a whole new meaning when you have other kids to take care of!

April

The news is out! We told my family at Easter. I had concocted a plan-Garrett stood up on a chair and said “My mommy has a baby in her tummy”. Of course, in the midst of the choas nobody heard him, so he had to repeat himself. We told my in-laws by writing a note with sidewalk chalk on our driveway. I can’t remember exactly what it said, but it was some cheesy poem that I made up.

May

I can’t think of anything for May! I guess nothing too exciting happened this month.

June

June is always busy. Both of my nieces birthdays are in June and Colin turned 2! We celebrated each with a party. We also took a fun camping trip to Jellystone park. It was the boys’ first camping experience (other than my parents) and besides the train 50 feet away and the unbearable beds, it was fun ;-) June 14th was also the 1st anniversary of my brother’s death. Time does not heal by the way…

July

One of the highlights of July was camping with my parents and my brother’s family. We stay with my parents in their camper and the kids absolutely adore it. Garrett has already started asking when this year’s trip will be. There’s just something special about a campfire and kids…magical almost. I hope to continue the tradition. (ahem..mom!)

August

My 33rd birthday-not too exciting. Just a reminder that I’m getting older and the big 40 is getting closer every year. Sometimes it’s hard to believe how quickly time goes by, but it also reminds me to treasure the time that I have and live in the moment. We also took a trip across the state for my nephew’s birthday party. We had a fun time going to the zoo and also the State Fair. Staying in a hotel room with 2 (now 3) little boys is always an adventure!

September

Garrett started preschool! This was tough decision for us, but 4 months in, I think it was the right one. 2 days a week for 2 1/2 hours is a great outlet for him. He loves going and I’m confident that a little time away from home is good for him. He is my little socialite after all. I also joined a local moms group (formerly MOPS) here in town and have met some fabulous women.

October

Welcome baby Austin! We were blessed with our 3rd little guy on the 25th. My labor and delivery was a piece of cake (at least compared to the other two) He was and still is, an absolute delight!

November

November was just kind of a blur. I think most days were spent just trying to keep my head above water. Getting used to 3 kids was quite an adjustment. I was so so blessed to have 30+ meals delivered after Austin’s birth which I am so incredibly grateful for. That was a huge help. Grant also turned 34 this month.

December

We had lots of fun getting ready and preparing for Christmas. The kids were at a great age for projects, crafts and lots of time snuggling on the couch reading. We also had a bunch of snow dumped on us this month, which gave us a good reason to stay home. Grant and the boys made one heck of a snowman! Garrett turned 4 towards the end of the month, but we still haven’t had his party. The poor guy-his brother woke up at 6 a.m. the morning of his party and puked all over his bed. Needless to say, the festivities were cancelled. We’re shooting for this weekend and hopefully mother nature will cooperate. Grant and I also celebrated our 5th anniversary. Our weekend getaway was unfortunately canceled because of the snow. Big bummer.

Final thoughts

All in all, a wonderful year at our house. I am so grateful for the health, both physical and mental, of my family. Raising these boys is the greatest challenge and joy of my life. If I could have wished for my “dream” life 5 years ago, this would be it. I’m living my dream! How many people can say that? Some days are rough, and God knows I get stressed and lose my patience. But at the end of the day when the house is quiet, I just feel overwhelmed with joy and happiness at what is my life.

Welcome 2011!

My big boy is 4!

2010-12-29T14:19:00.001-06:00

Has it really been 4 years? Has it ONLY been 4 years? In some ways, it seems like yesterday that I was rolled in for a c-section, and yet in other ways it seems like these 4 years have lasted a lifetime. One thing I do know though- I have a few more gray hairs than I did 4 years ago!

Here is my sharp, witty, affectionate, cookin’-loving, story-loving, train-loving 4 year old!

Here are a few shots of how he got here…

1 day old

Age 1
Age 2

Age 3

Happy Birthday, Buddy! We love you.

Hearty Oatmeal Pancakes

2010-12-18T05:00:00.000-06:00

These healthy pancakes might not appeal to everyone, but I was pleasantly surprised that these are moist and delicious. Also, my #1 criteria was met for new recipes-my kids ATE them! Well, one of them that is. So I think it’s a keeper . YAY! I love when I find healthier versions of their favorite food.

1 cup quick-cooking oatmeal
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 cups buttermilk
2 tbsp. canola oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Assorted berries, optional

In a large bowl, combine the first seven ingredients. In a small bowl, combine the egg, buttermilk, oil and vanilla. Stir into the dry ingredients just until moistened.

Pour the batter by 1/4 cupful onto a hot griddle coated with cooking spray. Turn pancakes when bubbles form on top. Cook until the second side is golden brown. Serve with the berries if desired.

*For the busy moms out there, I measured the dry ingredients in a bowl the night before. Then in the morning, all I had to do was add the wet stuff. My boys are hungry in the morning and like to eat right away.It made things go much smoother.

Peanut Painting

2010-12-17T05:09:00.000-06:00

We got a fun package in the mail from Grandma and Grandpa which had packing peanuts in it. So we did a little peanut painting! I filled a muffin tin with 6 colors of glitter paint and stuck a peanut in each.

I gave the kids a piece of construction paper and let them go to town. Garrett’s approach was to smear and mix the colors while Colin preferred to “dot” the color.

When dry, I cut Garrett’s into a Christmas tree shape…just because it was green and almost Christmas!

Oh-and I just have to share this picture. Totally unrelated, but I told the kids before dinner they could help me bake cookies tonight. When I finished cleaning up, I turned around to call for them, and this is what I saw. I’d say they were ready :-)

“Puffy” Christmas Scene

2010-12-16T05:01:00.000-06:00

In our area we have a program called PAT, or Parents as Teachers. We have a wonderful young lady come to our house 2x/month and do activities with the kids. Today we did a fun craft that I thought I’d share. You can’t tell from this picture, but the white and green is raised and puffy-very cool!

You’ll Need:

Cardstock or tagboard
Dark blue or black construction paper
White glue
Shaving cream
Tree decorations
paper plate and plastic spoon
green paint

1. Have the child cut out a tree shape by first having them fold their cardstock in half and tracing a tree template that you have prepared. Then have them cut it out, unfold and wa-la…a Christmas tree. (this introduced the concept of tracing and offered cutting practice as well)

2. Mix equal parts of glue and shaving cream on a paper plate. Mix with a plastic spoon.

3. Have them create a snowy scene on the black construction paper. Despite our encouragement, Colin just wanted to do 2 blobs. Okay buddy!

4. Set aside. Mix green paint in to tint the glue/cream mixture green.

5. “paint” tree with green mixture

6. Stick tree on top of construction paper. It will stick because of the glue.
7. Decorate with “ornaments” or anything you can think of. We had pom poms, jewels, foam cutouts, etc etc.

8. Wait to dry completely before you hang. I learned this the hard way :-( My husband came home to green glop on the carpet. When it dries, the glue/cream mixture will rise and be puffy for a very cool effect.

A fun multi-sensory activity that the kids loved. I would highly recommend it!

Frosty is His Name

2010-12-15T05:06:00.000-06:00

I promised Grandma and Grandpa that I would post a picture of our first snowman of the season…so here he is. Well, actually his name is Frosty. Isn’t every snowman named Frosty? We’re very into Frosty right now.

Here is the work in progress…

And here is the finished product. Daddy is very creative-look at that hat!

Then they wanted to make Frosty…so I drew a few circles on construction paper, found a bag of cotton balls and let them have at it. Who knew they’d be gluing for 30 minutes? Whoo hoo! Only I forgot to take a picture of the final product. Oh well…

And just because Grandma and Grandpa are probably going to see this, I have to include a picture that I took today. The first recorded Austin smile.

Craft Stick Christmas Trees

2010-12-14T21:54:00.001-06:00

I would love to wake up 20 years from now and have a bunch of homemade ornaments hanging on my tree from when my kids were little. Here is our first one this year. They were fun to make and I think they turned out good.

You’ll need:

1 large craft stick
5 small craft sticks
green paint
brown paint
jewels
yellow wood star
ribbon

1. Have the kids paint all of the craft sticks green and let dry.

2. Line up the sticks on the large craft stick and mark with a pencil where you want to cut them to make a Christmas tree shape

3. Cut with a strong scissors. I used kitchen sheers. Tip-cut fast or there’s a better chance the craft sticks will crack
4. Glue the small craft sticks on the larger one with clear tacky glue.
5. Have the kids glue the jewels on with clear tacky glue. ( I know they make self-adhesive ones but I wasn’t sure my kids would have the dexterity in their fingers to do that, so I opted to go with the regular ones)
6. Glue the star to the top.
7. Paint the bottom of the “trunk” brown.
8. Hot glue a ribbon to the back.
9. Hang and admire!

Peppermint Playdoh

2010-12-14T21:38:00.001-06:00

I found this recipe online somewhere and thought I’d share. It makes for some very delicious smelling fun!

You’ll need:

2 cups flour
2 cups water
1 cup water
4 tsp. cream of tartar
4 tbsp. oil
4 tbsp. peppermint extract
red and/or green food coloring

Mix all of above in a heavy saucepan. Cook on medium heat stirring constantly until mixture starts to pull away from sides of pan. When the right consistency is reached (playdoh like) remove and form into ball. Let cool on wax paper and store in ziplock bag.

Since we just made sugar cut out cookies, my kids had fun with the Christmas cookie cutters and pretended to make cookies.

A Picture Says it All

2010-12-11T14:34:00.001-06:00

I admit, our lives have been pretty chaotic this month. Maybe it’s the new baby, maybe it’s December…but whatever it is, I haven’t been coordinated enough to snap pictures of what we’ve been doing. So I thought I’d do a post of my favorite snapshots from this month. I hope you like them too!

This is going to come back and haunt him someday ;-)

“Whoa…who are all of these people staring at me?”

My 3 boys-adorable if I do say so myself!

Baby, it’s cold outside! (coming in from 1st time in the snow)

Having fun in the snow!

Daddy made these hats after Garrett was bummed about his pilgrim hat going in the recycling bin. Oops! But didn’t dad do a great job?

I hope to do a few posts about some Christmas projects we’ve been doing so stay tuned!

TOS Review: Apologia Good Morning, God

2010-12-10T21:19:00.001-06:00

Apologia Educational Ministries sent me their new book, Good Morning, God to review. In case you don’t know already, I love children’s books so was thrilled to receive this in the mail as I am trying to add some more Christian books to our collection.

This hardcover book is one of those warm, cozy stories that you love to read as your “littles” are cuddled up around you. I wasn’t sure how my kids would like it, but my soon to be 4 year old requests it at least every other day, if not more. And that is saying a lot since we have SO many books to choose from….

The book shows a young boy going through each day of the week, and on each day, he learns about God. It’s repetitive which is great for little ones, and it really is quite charming. I also like how the pictures display a Christian family incorporating God into their everyday lives. The watercolors pictures are very beautiful and really seem to keep my kids’ attention.

This book retails for $14.00 and would make a great gift for any preschooler. I am happy to add it to our collection.

Click here to see what others are saying about this book!

Disclaimer: I was given this book free of charge in exchange for my honest review.

Austin’s Big Day

2010-12-05T16:10:00.001-06:00

Today was Austin’s Baptism Day. Wow, what an awesome thing it is for your child to become a child of God. It is my honor and privilege to be his mother and have the opportunity to bring him up in the Christian faith. We were blessed to have both sets of grandparents there, as well as Grant’s brother and family. Here he is in his special outfit (the same one his brothers wore) all ready to go.

The Baptism

Afterwards, we had a celebration at our home, which Austin pretty much slept through!

Thank you, Fr. Don, for baptizing Austin! We are so blessed to have you in our family.

God bless you, Austin!

Finally…a Solution!

2010-11-24T22:20:00.001-06:00

To my “artwork all over the fridge” problem. Now that Garrett is in preschool and Colin is old enough to DO crafts instead of just eat them or destroy them, we have been doing a lot more. Along with that came a big problem-what to do with all of the artwork. I brought up the problem to my husband, who came up with the system below. Simply a thin curtain rod with rings. Genius! Now when a piece of artwork needs a home, we just stick it up for all to admire, and rotate when we need to. The kids love to see their hard work displayed, and I love that my fridge is now clutter free!

What We’ve Been Up To

2010-11-13T22:35:00.001-06:00

Surviving mostly. These past few weeks have definitely been a transition. My little guy will be 3 weeks old on Monday. He has already changed so much I can hardly believe it. Everyone that sees him says how small he is, but to me, he is already huge. Here are a few updated pictures of our new little guy.

I’ve been trying to keep some kind of routine with the other two. Before the baby was born, I was trying to introduce a new letter every week or two to Garrett. So continuing with that, we started talking about Rr. My goal is for him to recognize all of the letters in his name. At this rate, we will get through the alphabet in about 2 years, ;-)

So in between changing diapers, potty training my 2 year old, feedings, breaking up fights, etc etc… here are a few things we’ve done. Nothing major, but enough to keep them somewhat busy.

Rainbow Necklaces
I just had them string fruit loops to a lacing string to make a necklace. Colin actually kept with it for a long time and made a very long necklace. I gave Garrett the pattern for a rainbow and had him follow the pattern. Of course it ended with them eating the cereal.

Ribbon Rainbow
This idea came from Mama Jenn’s blog and is based on the book What Makes a Rainbow.

My kids love this book, especially the ribbons. (When you open each page a new colored ribbon is added to the rainbow) I got a bunch of ribbon on clearance at Michael’s a long time ago, cut it up into 1 inch pieces, and pulled it out for this project. First, they sorted the ribbon into bowls. Then, I just drew 6 lines on a piece of construction paper and had them glue on the pieces of ribbon to make a rainbow.

The finished project. Notice the 2 year olds “rainbow” ;-) He just had fun gluing the pieces on.

Pumpkin Counting
I never did get around to do this in October, but it was just as big of a hit in November. I found this pumpkin patch counting mat here and bought a bag of candy pumpkins. I had Garrett draw a number card and count out that many pumpkins to put in the patch. Anything with food is a hit with him. He asked to do this every night for a week, of course eating a few pumpkins each time.

And finally…just because, here is one of my favorite pictures of the week. The older two trying to console Austin. Precious!

TOS Review: Collectorz.com

2010-11-05T08:56:00.001-05:00

Are you a book lover? I’m guessing if you have children, you have a pretty big selection of children’s books. Being a mom and a former teacher, I admit I am slightly addicted to children’s books and have several bookshelves and bins full to the brim.

Wouldn’t it be nice to know which books you own and even have them digitally organized? I would! So when I heard I’d be reviewing Collectorz.com, an on-line cataloging website, I was pretty excited.

What is Collectorz.com?

In an nutshell, it is a way for you to see which books you own, even while away from home. You can browse your book collection, sort and search your database, view statistics of your database, export to your iPod, iPhone, or Android, and print your book data.

How Do You Add Books?

In 3 easy steps!

Step 1. Type or scan the book's ISBN
Book Collector will use the ISBN to search the Collectorz.com book database

Step 2. Select your book from the Search Results
When searching by ISBN there often is only one result, so you just have to confirm it's the right one.

Step 3. Click Add to add the book to your database
Book Collector will now download all book data, including Title, Author, Publisher, Publication Date,
Number of Pages and, when available, the cover image.

Scan the ISBN with a barcode scanner (seems like this would be the way to go if you have as many books as me. Of course, you’d have to invest in a scanner.)

Catalog books by entering author and title

Key Features:

1. You can put in much more information than title, author, publisher, etc. The website allows you to enter so much more about a book including series, volume, edition, printer, paper type, dimensions, original title, original language etc…as well as more personal information such as owner, purchase data, value data, rating, location, book characters, editor, translator, cover artist, etc… Here is an example for the book Carrie.

Of course, there are a zillion other cool features about this website that I didn’t have the opportunity to explore. I encourage you to visit their website features page to see more pictures and examples of the depth of this program.

How Much Does it Cost?

Book Collector Standard Edition-$24.95
Book Collector Pro Edition-$49.95

My Thoughts:

I would love to have my books catagorized so that I could see exactly what I have for each holiday, season, theme, etc. The only thing that concerns me is the time that it would take to enter all of my books. Collectorz thought of this and provided a way to scan the ISBN with a barcode, but that would require an additional purchase.

I really like the features of this website; they really did seem to think of everything. I am familiar with a few other free websites that also catagorize books, but the features do not match up to Collectorz. You have to decide if you need all of those features. If so, it might be worth paying for.

Click here to see what others are saying about Collectorz.com

Disclaimer: I was given a free trial subscription to Collectorz.com in exchange for my review as part of the TOS Crew.

I am Falling in Love…

2010-10-31T23:21:00.001-05:00

with my new baby boy that is! Austin Reid was born Monday, October 25th at 12:27 p.m. He weighed 8 lb 11 oz and was 21 inches long. Here he is just a few seconds old.

I went into labor at 5:30 a.m and headed to the hospital shortly after. After Colin’s “fast as lightning” birth, I knew I wouldn’t have much time. After 1 1/2 hours, I was elated to get the epidural this time. Can I just say God bless the person who invented that? Once again my labor was intense but quick. When I was 10 cm I pushed for a little over an hour. When all is said and done, this labor and delivery was much less traumatic than the other two. I was so afraid to go through it all again, but I am so blessed that everything went well and this little guy was born healthy.

Here he is with his big brothers.

I’m not brave enough to share any pictures of me. Again, I went into labor during the night so it’s not a pretty sight! But here is daddy holding his new son for the first time.

This was taken at 5 days old. They change so quickly!

As I sit here and write this, my heart is filled with so much love for this guy. The miracle of new life amazes me. For 9 months I felt him inside of me, imagined what he would look like and dreamed of who he will be. When I look at him, and I do that often, I am filled with so much emotion. The precious innocence of a newborn child represents everything right in the world. From his kissable cheeks to his tiny toes, he is God’s perfect creation. The one I am entrusted to love and raise on this earth in hopes of being reunited in the next. I hope I can be the kind of mother to him that he deserves. Mostly, I am just so thankful for this healthy, precious baby that I have the privilege of loving. I am so blessed.

TOS Review: PGKey SafeKey

2010-10-27T21:36:00.001-05:00

As part of my participation in this year’s TOS Crew, I have been given the opportunity to review PGSafeKey, an award-winning device that plugs into your computer that immediately creates a safer and more “kid friendly” online environment.

After teaching technology for 4 years at an elementary school, I was very curious to see how this product would protect our kids. I know when the time comes, I will be very apprehensive about my children being unsupervised on the Internet in this day and age. There is just so much scary stuff out there, and yet the Internet is the greatest technological innovation of our time! PG SafeKey offers “Protection for Your Children. Peace of Mind for You!”

What is it?

PG SafeKey is a patent-pending device that plugs into your child’s USB port. It was designed and endorsed by a team of professionals to give parents the tools they need to keep kids safe online.

What it Offers:
(taken from their website)

Access Control
Control computer use by inserting or unplugging PG Key.

Time Allowance
Decide the amount of time the computer can be used daily.

Content Filtering
Eliminate unwanted results from innocent searches.

Site Blocking
Block sites you decide are inappropriate.

Activity Tracking
Review all activity on the PC with a DVD-like interface.

Activity Notifications
Be informed via text message or e-mail of any flagged activity.

Chat and E-mail Logging
See both sides of chat and e-mail conversations.

Computer Configuration
Properly configure all users of the protected PC.

User Name and Password Logging
Keep track of user names and passwords.

Inappropriate Activity Evidence
Use video recording to show obvious or suspected inappropriate activity.

The Positives:

First off, I thought it was very easy to install. It literally took me just a few short minutes and I think just about anyone could do it. I went through the initial set up and entered the websites and words that I wanted it to “flag”. Since I don’t have any little people using the Internet yet, I just typed in some generic terms that would be inappropriate. The program claimed that it would email me if anyone tried to search for those things. It worked! I was happy to see several emails in my inbox immediately notifying me that someone had typed in those words and/or tried to get on those websites. The program also gives you the opportunity to be notified by phone which would be a huge benefit I think.

The other feature that I think is wonderful is the activity tracking. You can literally sit back and watch every website that someone went to, in a DVD like format. This would be HUGE in my opinion if you had an older child using the computer. No need to hover over their shoulder, just review the sites they went to. Genius!

Although I didn’t try the email and chat part, the program claims that you can “see both sides”. Wouldn’t you love to know what your children are emailing? Of course you can turn any feature on or off as you desire or as your child becomes more independent. I also loved the timer feature. Working parents might especially appreciate being able to monitor their children’s time on the computer.

The Negatives:

There really aren’t many to speak of. The only thing that concerned me was that the program claims to block inappropriate content. I did a search of what I consider “inappropriate content” and several hits came up that I would never want my child to see. So I’m not sure if it was me, or if there is a glitch somewhere.

Also, I sort of wish there was some kind of way to tailor the program depending on your kids’ ages. What I consider inappropriate for a kindergartener is different than what I consider inappropriate for a highschooler. It seems that everyone is treated equally for that specific feature. You can however, block each users websites, but the general filtering seems to be the same for everyone.

Overall:

I think this program is VERY worth it. In fact, for $49.99, I would definitely recommend it. It seems like a small price to pay to keep your kids safe online. If my kids were older I would definitely be using it on a daily basis. I think so many of the features are wonderful. Most of all, I think this program protects kids from a world that they might not yet be ready to dive into. Highly recommended!

Cost:
The PGKey retails for $49.99 and can be found here or on Amazon.com

Click here to see what others are saying about PGKey!

Disclaimer: I was given this product free of charge in exchange for my honest opinion as part of the TOS Review Crew.

TOS Review: Brill Kids Little Reader

2010-10-22T04:00:00.000-05:00

As part of my participation on this year’s TOS Crew, I have been given the opportunity to review the Little Learners Reading System by BrillKids.

What is it?

Little Reader is a software system designed to teach your baby or young child to read, that “delivers lessons in ways never before possible, making reading engaging for your child and easy for YOU”. Here is an example of the screen for a typical lesson.

According to their website, Little Reader is different because…

1)The lessons are never the same
There is immense variety in the lessons. The lessons are presented with different fonts, styles, pictures, audio and video so that your child is never bored.

2) It has a comprehensive curriculum
Little Reader uses 2 methods: the flash (right brain) method and the multisensory method. It claims to provide visual, auditory and kinesthetic stimulation. The key to success however, is parental interaction. Parents are encouraged to engage with their child throughout the lesson.

3)It offers personalization
Parents have the opportunity to customize almost every lesson. For example, you can download a picture of Uncle Jon when the word “Uncle” is presented.

4)It is easy to use
That is always good news for busy moms!

Apparently, there are two other components to the program that I didn’t get to review: the Presentation Binder and Little Reader Storybooks. You can find videos with more information about these components on YouTube.

My Impression:

Since my youngest is almost 2 1/2, I didn’t really have an authentic “baby” to try this out on. However, my son is a little delayed in his speech and I saw a golden opportunity with this program to expose him to language in general.

Every day, for a few minutes at the beginning and end of each day, we did a lesson. The lessons consist of 3 parts: A, B and C. He seemed to really like the 1 on 1 time with mommy doing the computer. Even my 3 year old wanted to do it! He smiled when the pictures and words flashed across the screen and seemed to enjoy the program. Did it work? Hmmm. Well, it didn’t teach him to read unfortunately. But it DID encourage him to “use his words” to communicate. I would often ask him to say the words (which I’d never heard him say before) and much to my surprise, he could say it. That part was exciting.

I found the program to be a little sparse in content-at least without the other 2 components. As far as teaching a baby to read, I really can’t comment on if this program would work. I find it a little hard to believe (esp. as a former educator) that babies can authentically learn to read this way. This program seems to rely on memorization and since I’m a big believer in phonics, I have doubts that they would retain what they’ve memorized. Of course, that’s just my opinion and their website claims otherwise.

Click here to see what others are saying about Little Reader!

How Much Does it Cost?
Little Reader starts at $149 and goes up from there depending on which package you choose. Click here for ordering info. Pictured below is the deluxe kit for $360.

Disclaimer: I was given this software free in exchange for my honest opinion as part of the TOS Crew.

TOS Review: Digital Frog International

2010-10-09T07:52:00.001-05:00

As part of my participation on this year’s TOS Crew, I was given the opportunity to review this award-winning educational software that brings science to life.

About the Company:

Are you looking for a way to bring science to life? To get your middle schooler or high schooler excited about the natural world? Well, look no further! Digital Frog International has been around for almost 20 years, and has built a great reputation for bringing the world of natural science back into classrooms and homes.

From their website: Our focus is on biology and ecology. Our goal is to make a difference to the way that people view the natural world. Our computer-based learning tools encourage a lifelong interest in, and respect for, the world around us. We believe people cannot care about a world they do not understand. To this end, our products present accurate, detailed information in an interesting and engaging way.

Digital Frog offers a variety of products including a full, interactive virtual frog dissection and anatomy program, to teaching about the world’s most fascinating ecosystems. I was given the following field trips to review:

-The Digital Field Trip to the Desert
-The Digital Field Trip to the Wetlands
-The Digital Field Trip to the Rainforest

My Impression of the Software:

Let me first start out by saying that Science is not my area of expertise. Having said that, I was looking forward to reviewing this because I wanted to see if it would be able to truly engage this unscientific reading teacher.

The website claims their product can be used for anyone from 3-90, but I’m not sure about that. From my experience teaching 6th grade reading, I’m not sure that 6th grade or below would be able to digest this information. I think there is a lot of information and sometimes the way it was displayed on the screen was a little too much even for me. I wish the resolution was a bit bigger and the text presented in a clearer way. I could just see kids (esp. struggling readers) getting really frustrated.

Having said that, there is a wealth of information here that could be of great use to an older audience, as a supplement to a core curriculum. I think middle schoolers and high schoolers could find the information very useful.

Price: The DVD’s range in price from $40-$125 depending on what you buy, and can be purchased here.

Click here to see what other TOS Crew Members think!

Disclaimer: I was given these items free of charge in exchange for my honest review as part of the TOS Crew.

Apple and Halloween Activities

2010-10-07T22:08:00.002-05:00

October is finally here! My, we’ve been waiting for it for a long time. For one thing, the boys are so excited for Halloween. Of course, our new little arrival will be coming in a few short weeks as well, which makes it even more exciting.

Here are a few of the activities that I pulled out for this month so far. Garrett has been enjoying them so much; I’m so glad I put in the time and effort to make these last year.

Apple Patterns
I just “read” the pattern with him and had him tell me which color apple came next. He’s been doing very well with the ABA pattern. Sorry, I can’t remember where I got this! (I am going to try to be better in the future telling you where I find this stuff…I made this long before I thought I’d ever have a blog…)

Alligator Puzzle (in correlation with our current letter, Aa)
I scored a bunch of these 9 and 12 piece puzzles at a garage sale a few weeks back for a quarter. They are the perfect level of difficulty for him.

Apple Size Sorting
He put these in order from smallest to biggest. This continues to be a challenge for him. Download these here.

Big A and little a Sort
Match the uppercase A’s and lowercase a’s to the apple tree.

Ghost Numbers
I found these on clearance at Michael’s last year and thought I’d find some kind of use for them. I wrote 1-20 on them and first laid them out on the floor. I called out a number (like a ghost of course) and he had to jump to that number. Next, I had him line up the ghosts in numerical order.

Finally, I had him “feed” the ghosts with unifix cubes according to the number on their belly. Later, I found these really cool flies at the Dollar Tree that we used, but didn’t get a picture of that. He thought the flies were much cooler :-)

Halloween Clothespin Game
I found this download from one of the Yahoo Groups I belong to. You just count the objects on the card, find the number and put the clothespin on it. Daddy had the pleasure of helping on this one.

Ghost Memory
I think this came from Childcareland.com. Garrett loved this game! It’s played just like traditional memory.

Applejack Necklaces
I gave them a piece of string from our lacing cards, a bowl with Applejacks in it and told them to string them. No kidding, it was quiet for about 10 whole minutes while they diligently worked. They wore them when they were done, but then of course had fun eating them off of their necklace. I might consider doing patterns with this sometime. Great fine motor!

I’m sure I’ll be adding to this page as the month goes on. Until then….

Fall Leaf Mobile

2010-10-07T21:27:00.002-05:00

One of my favorite websites is childcareland.com and they have a daily art project on their website. They are usually just simple, quick little crafts. This is one that I found and I thought they turned out really cute. The only thing is, I’m not sure where to find the template once the day has passed…so I can’t help you there. But I’m sure you could find a leaf template online somewhere that would work.

First, we painted the leaves red, orange and yellow which I printed out on cardstock.

Then I cut them out, punched holes in them and used yarn to string them into mobiles. We hung them from our front window for a nice Fall decoration.

Sharing Saturday: Gg and Apples

2010-09-25T08:30:00.001-05:00

Gg is for Garrett after all!

If you’re reading this and you know my little Garrett, you know that he is a busy, busy little guy. He wakes up in the morning bright-eyed and ready to go. He usually asks what we’re going to do that day before he even has breakfast.

I decided that I better have an answer for him! I started planning a few little activities for him to do each day. Nothing scheduled or too serious, but just something I can pull out for those down times when he needs a little stimulation.

One of my goals is for him to be able to recognize the letters in his name. I’ve been using Erica’s Letter of the Week Curriculum (you can purchase it all together or just download what you need for FREE) to print some activities to help with this. I also have some theme ideas (apples, pumpkins,etc) collected from my teaching days that I will be pulling things from.

Here are a few things that we’ve done in the past week. By the way, it’s imperative that I be able to tweak the activity so that my 2 year old can do it-he MUST not be left out ;-)

Kool-Aid Playdough
(this was supposed to be green apple playdough but I couldn’t find the “electric apple” jello that it required…so I nabbed this recipe from the Internet-see separate post)

Apple Counting Game
He just counted the apples and matched them to the correct numbers. He knows #1-10 so far, mostly just from reading number books. Then we arranged the numbers from 1-10 and played “which one is missing”. I would take a number and he would have to figure out which one was missing. Then we’d switch. He loved this! The apple game and numbers can be found here.

Apple Suncatcher
A fun craft to dress up our windows. Draw an apple out of cardstock and then cut the inside out. Lay it flat on a piece of contact paper and stick little squares of tissue paper on them. Lay another sheet of contact paper, cut out and voila! Instead suncatchers!

Do-a-Dot Markers with the letter Gg
These are super fun little markers that my kids LOVE. I got them at Michael’s with a 40% coupon. The letter printables can be found here.

Apple Shake-Up Snack
Just cut up an apple into bite-sized pieces and sprinkle sugar and cinnamon over them. Let the kids shake and then enjoy. Hey, any new way to eat something is bound to be fun, right?

Fine Motor-Cutting up Straws
I just put a package of neon straws into a container, gave him a scissors and told him I needed help cutting them. This kept both of them busy for quite awhile, for several days. Definitely worth the cost of the straws! Of course Colin had to find some way to put them in his mouth. Is it me, or is that picture just adorable?

Number Game Matchup
Awhile ago, I printed out this game but I can’t remember where from. He had to count the objects and then find the correct number. Notice he’s in his pajamas in the next few…yep, BEFORE breakfast!

Lacing a Necklace
I found this little foam necklace kit at the Dollar Tree awhile ago and knew it would be good eye-hand coordination practice. Shhh…don’t tell him it’s a purse!

And lastly, just some good old-fashioned painting.

We’ve also been doing all of the letter “Gg is for Gumballs” activities found in the Letter of the Week Curriculum. Garrett asks to do an activity at least once a day, if not more. As long as he keeps interested, we’ll keep doing it. I hope to do a “sharing Saturday” post from this point on. It’s so worth the time to plan when I hear “Mom, this is fun”!!! I love it!

TOS Review: Schleich

2010-09-24T15:19:00.002-05:00

Do you appreciate toys that don’t beep, whistle, require batteries, wear down, or annoy you? I know I do. That’s why I was thrilled when I found out I would be reviewing a fabulous product as part of my participation on the TOS Crew. This one is a winner!

About the Company:

Schleich is a German company that was founded in 1935. The now famous Schleich figurines first came to life in the 1950's with comic characters such as the Smurfs, Snoopy, and the Muppets. Since the 1980’s, they have expanded into the animal kingdom, dinosaurs, knights, pioneers, Indians and the magical world of Bayala. Even better-they have many buildings and accessories to go with them. There are over 500 different figures available (Target and Amazon included) and the prices range from $2.29-$180. Check the website for pictures of what they offer.

Our Experience:

8 beautiful hand-painted, animal figurines were delivered to our door and enthusiastically dumped out on the living room floor. The next 30 minutes or so were filled with two little boys opening, examining, and playing with each of the animals. I watched them line up their animals, feed them, and many other imaginative things that I love to see as a mom.

The package also came with a catalogue that they devoured. We had such fun finding all of our animals. I even learned about a few animals that I’ve never even heard of! I have to admit, I also enjoyed looking at all of the options and planning which ones I wanted to add to our collection. Christmas maybe?

The thing that impressed me most about these animals is the quality. They are solid, sturdy and most of all, detailed. These are the most detailed high quality animal figurines I have ever seen. Here are a few pictures of some animals so you can see just how beautiful they are.

My boys ( ages 3 & 2) played with the figures a lot the first day, and then the play tapered off a bit. I think this is a toy that will grow with them and they will appreciate more in the future. I also plan to add some of the accessories to our collection which I’m sure will be a huge hit.

Overall, a simple, beautiful toy that any family would enjoy!

To see what others are saying about Schleich, click here.

Disclaimer: This product was given to me free of charge in exchange for my honest review as part of the TOS Crew.

TOS Review: Salem Ridge Press

2010-09-22T19:42:00.002-05:00

As a member of the TOS’s Review Crew, I was given three books to review. Being that my children are so young, this review is based solely on my personal experience as a mother of potential future readers and previous middle school reading teacher.

About the Company:

Salem Ridge Press is a publishing company, established in 2005, dedicated to bringing back quality children’s books of the 1800’s and early 1900’s for a new generation of readers. It was started by homeschooling graduate, Daniel Mills, and it strives to incorporate Godly character and high moral values into it’s literature.

When I first read about the purpose of this company, I was very excited because let’s face it, the world is full of bad influences and negative things for our young people. I was looking forward to literature that was uplifting, positive and most importantly, that which helped teach the character traits that we so desperately need to be teaching. The three books I reviewed are entitled Soldier Fritz, Young Robin Hood, and Down the Snow Stairs.

My Thoughts on Soldier Fritz by Emma Leslie

This book is wonderful historical/church fiction. In fact, I learned quite a bit about this period in history. Fritz, a young man, wants to follow in the footsteps of Martin Luther, and be a soldier for the Lord. He chooses a bible from from the peddler’s pack for his birthday gift. Fritz and his mother (the countess) take a powerful stand against organized religion. I found it be an interesting read and would love to someday try it out on my boys. A synopsis and ordering information for Soldier Fritz can be found here.

Young Robin Hood by George Manville Fenn

This is a cute story for younger readers about a boy named Robin who gets lost in the forest. He is taken in by Robin Hood, Little John, and Maid Marian. What I liked most about this book was the moral: that man should be judged by behavior and how he treats others. It also encourages the traits of kindness, hospitality and forgiveness. What wonderful morals to instill in our kids! Click here for a more detailed synopsis and ordering information.

Down the Snow Stairs by Alice Corkran

In this allegory, young Kitty struggles with being obedient. Isn’t that a subject all kids can relate to? She travels to a dreamland where she learns what becomes of contentment, vanity and greed. Overall, I thought this book had a great message. I only wish the author would’ve left out words such as “stupid” and “idiot”…the message could’ve come across without using those words. Overall, a delightful adventure the whole family will enjoy. Click here for for a synopsis and ordering information.

My Overall Impression:

It’s evident that Salem Ridge Press has very high values and standards as a company. Their desire to be a trusted source for the kind of books parents can feel good about giving to their children, is invaluable in today’s world. We need more companies like this and I applaud Daniel and his mission.

Because these books were written so long ago, you might find the language to be difficult for children. To me, this makes for a perfect read-aloud. Take the time to discuss the language and unfamiliar words with your kids, and their world will be expanded because of it. As a former 6th grade reading/language arts teacher, I can see a definite advantage in using these books. After all, well-written books that teach godly content and morals are hard to come by. I believe so much can be taught through literature, and these books would be a wonderful resource for any family.

Click here to see what others have to say about Salem Ridge Press.

Disclaimer: Salem Ridge Press provided these materials free of charge in exchange for my honest review as part of the TOS Homeschool Crew.

Our Calendar Setup

2010-09-16T14:32:00.002-05:00

I’ve given in. Anybody who knows me knows that I don’t believe in pushing formal education too early. However, this summer my 3 1/2 year old took an interest in days of the week and was asking questions related to “what day is today” and “what day is after Monday”, etc etc. It was hard for me to explain to him without a visual. Since we had a very busy summer, it was also difficult to explain to him how many days he had to wait for camping, vacation, and other fun things in his world.

So I gave in and set up a calendar in our sunroom. Notice I’m a little behind on this post :-)

I went out and got a bulletin board from Wal-Mart and the calendar came from Michael’s (40% coupon of course!) The rest of the printables came from Erica at Confessions of a Homeschooler. If you have little ones, you MUST check out her blog. You will spend hours devouring all of her free printables.

So basically we “do calendar” after breakfast as a way to start the day. It’s nothing formal. We discuss:

-the month and year (I still need to get the year up)

-the day of the month
*to practice ordinal counting, we always count the days and then he tells me which number comes next.

-the day of the week
I always say “today is Monday, September 30th, 2010”
*we sing the days of the week song to the tune of the Munsters (click at the bottom for the words to this song)

-the season (see spinner above)

-the weather
*they go out on the front step to check the weather and tell me if it’s sunny, partly sunny, cloudy, rainy, snowy or windy. Then we find the card and someone puts it up. That is the printable with the rainbow on it. We then chart the weather on the graph and compare at the end of the month.

-Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow
*we discuss the day that was yesterday, today and tomorrow. This part is a little beyond him so I don’t spend too much time on it.

-Links for patterning
*I got these learning links from Amazon and use them to make patterns on the calendar. This is awesome and I’m psyched that I won’t need to have 12 different sets of numbers. We’ll focus on the AB pattern for as many months as it takes, and then branch off from there. We do the same as the numbers, he goes through and tells me “green, yellow, green, yellow, green,yellow” until we get to today’s.

-Address, phone number and 911
*I just review with him our address, phone number and what number to call in an emergency.

So there you have it. At this point, it is just a way for me to introduce what’s going on that day. We also put special days on there to see what’s coming up in our lives. I’d say about 70% of it goes over his head, but that’s okay. I don’t push anything and figure it’s just a starting point.

We always end calendar with story time. It’s become a nice morning tradition to get us all going. And Garrett really seems to like doing it, which is the most important thing.

Click here for more pics from Erica’s blog and details about how to set up a calendar.

Kool-Aid Playdoh

2010-09-15T14:40:00.002-05:00

Today I tried a super easy new play-doh recipe and thought I’d share. It doesn’t make a ton, so I would recommend making a double batch if you have more than 2 kids, or want to make multiple colors. Here is what you’ll need:

Ingredients:

-2 1/2 cups flour
-1/2 cup salt
-2 cups boiling water
-2 tbsp. vegetable oil
-2 packages kool-aid (any color)

How to make:

Mix all dry ingredients together until blended
Add water and oil and stir
Knead with hands when mixture is cool
Divide dough in half
Knead on pack of Kool-Aid into one half, and the second pack in the second half. Store in airtight container.

I had tropical punch and lemon-lime flavors on hand, that just so happen to look like Christmas colors, but that wasn’t my intention! Also, I thought the dough was a little sticky so I added a bit more flour.

Here they are rolling, mixing, cutting to their hearts content. This is Colin’s best “smile” :-)

*Tip-2 year olds don’t understand “don’t mix the colors” so we ended up with one light greenish-red color. Oh well!

Muffin Tin Monday

2010-09-14T14:26:00.002-05:00

I’m a day late with this post, but wanted to share a fun way to spice up a Monday. The concept is “Muffin Tin Monday” and although I can’t take credit for the idea, it’s a great one that my preschooler is very excited about. In fact, today he asked if he could have Muffin Tin Tuesday…so I know we’ll be doing this for awhile.

The idea is simple…you just serve lunch in a 6 cup muffin tin pan. Yes, you have to come up with 6 different things, but I’ve found it’s a great way to introduce new food that you just want your child to try a few bites of. There are some things I know he won’t eat, but I at least feel like I tried and exposed him to it. Here is what our muffin tins looked like last week.

Now, I’m not saying this is the most nutritious meal, it’s more like what I had on hand. I had been forgetting to do it all summer and just remembered that day, so I just pulled some things together. You could theme the lunch any way you like…red food, food that starts with a certain letter, etc. This was our first go at it so it was just a hodgepodge of things thrown together. They LOVED it! Check out these faces!

For more information and more creative ideas, check these links out.

Muffin Tin Moms
Another Lunch (this is star themed)

“Playing” with Marshmallows

2010-09-07T14:46:00.002-05:00

When I asked my 3 year old what he wanted to do the other day, his answer was “play with marshmallows”. That is the last thing I expected him to say, but luckily we had a half-stale bag on hand and here is what we did. Nothing extravagant but then again, that is what they usually think is the most fun anyway!

The first thing we did is just glue the marshmallows to paper. Simple, but good practice with making glue dots.

Next I challenged him to make things with the marshmallows using toothpicks. I started making shapes and then he did too.

Here is what my 2 year old was doing most of the time…that’s right, eating them!

But he did make a few things and he was quite proud of himself.

So if you have a day where you can’t think of anything to do, just get out the marshmallows!

TOS Review: Time4Learning

2010-09-03T14:50:00.002-05:00

As part of the TOS Homeschool Crew, I was given the opportunity to review Time4Learning Preschool with my 3 1/2 year old son. Initially, I was a little apprehensive about doing this because up until now, he has had no exposure to the computer. I don’t think 3 year olds typically need loads of screen time, but after trying out this curriculum, I can see that there might be a place for it. Plus, it’s just plain FUN and he loved it!

About Time4Learning:

“Time4Learning is a technology-based online educational program that teaches preschool to eighth grade curriculum using a combination of animated lessons, interactive activities and reinforcing worksheets.”

Being that my son is only 3, we used part 1 of the 2 preschool components for 4 weeks. It was nice that the program figured my child’s level based on a simple quiz. Because the preschool pages are colorful and simple, it only took my novice a few sessions to learn how to navigate and use the mouse. This pleasantly surprised me. The preschool pages have icons (such as letters, numbers, colors, garden, tools, etc) and the child just clicks on whatever interests them. From there, they are taken to a page where they have 4-5 activities related to that theme. Garrett’s favorites were the stories, concentration type games, and coloring. After a child completes all of the activities in that category, a red check mark appears so that the parent can easy check to see what they have done.

Time 4 Learning is not just for preschoolers. It is a comprehensive on-line program for PK-8th with thousands of interactive lessons.

The Cost per month is $19.95 for the first child, and $14.95 for each additional child. They offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee.

What I liked:

I really liked that it was simple for him to use. I also thought most of the “games” really reinforced what I was doing with him at home. Anytime you can approach something in a fun, new light = success. Plus, he loved it and asked to “do computer” every day.

What I disliked:

There’s very little that I disliked in the preschool program. The only thing that would keep us from purchasing it is the cost. For our family, the price is not feasible.

If you’re looking for a fun and educational activity to add to your preschooler’s day, I would highly recommend Time4Learning!

You can see what others are saying about Time4Learning here!

Disclaimer: Time4Learning was provided free of charge for my review as a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew. I received no other compensation, and this review is my honest opinion.

State Fair Trip

2010-08-22T16:33:00.002-05:00

We recently took a trip to our state’s State Fair and it was such a good time that I thought I’d share some highlights. The first thing we went to was called “Little Hands on the Farm”and it was soooo cute. They had several little barns set up that the kids went through, each serving their own purpose to teach about what happens on a farm. Here are the kids equipped with their hats, baskets and aprons ready to begin.

I can’t remember the exact order, but here are some of the different activities they got to do: plant a seed, choose produce for their basket, pick an apple off the tree, choose an egg, milk a pretend cow, drive a tractor, sell their produce and eventually sell it back. Then they got a dollar to buy one item at the store. That was their favorite part I think.

There were so many things to do/see at the fair, but of course the kids were most interested in seeing the animals. I didn’t get a picture of it, but we saw baby chics hatching out from their eggs and many more mama animals with their newborns. Very cool!

Here is the infamous “Big Bohr” weighing in at 1220 lbs! Garrett asked “how does that pig get up?” I wonder too!

Of course, the John Deere tractors were a big hit as well.

A fun day!

Pizza Casserole

2010-08-21T22:00:00.002-05:00

This recipe came from a church cookbook, and looked yummy so I gave it a try. It was delicious, very easy, and went over well with the whole family. Plus, it makes a lot and is budget friendly. It’s not terribly nutritious, but you could could certainly make it more so if you choose.

Ingredients:

2 pkgs. macaroni and cheese
1 26 oz. jar spaghetti sauce
1 lb. ground beef
1 pkg. (2 cups) cheese
*I used pizza cheese, but it called for mozzarella

Directions:

Brown beef and drain. Add spaghetti sauce and simmer. Prepare macaroni and cheese acc. to the package directions. Grease a 9x13 pan and spread macaroni and cheese on bottom. Spread meat sauce mixture over top. Sprinkle cheese over all. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes and allow to sit for 10 minutes before eating. Enjoy!

TOS Review: Travel Kits

2010-07-22T14:06:00.002-05:00

As a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew, I was given the opportunity to review the E-book Travel Kits: A Simple Way to Bless Others, published by the The Old Schoolhouse Magazine.

This 91 page downloadable E-book is brimming with wonderful ideas of how to create a travel kit for others, or for your own family. What is a travel kit you ask? In a nutshell, it is a “blessing in a box”—or bucket, or bag, or basket—tied up with ribbons and bows! Or even tied up with colorful shoelaces!”. It is compilation of things created by you for a specific child or family, in order to entertain, excite and make the travel time go more smoothly.

The thing that impressed me most about the e-book is the detail that the author goes into. She really equips you with everything you could possibly need to create a travel kit. It is overflowing with detailed information, tips, vivid photos and specific examples of things to include in the travel kit you create. After reading it, I felt ready to put it to the test with my own kids.

Our Experience:

Last weekend was a great opportunity to see if I could keep my 3 and 2 year old boys content during a 2 hour car ride. I love that this E-book gave me specific ideas for what to put in the kit. After thinking about my own kids and their interests, I went to the Dollar Tree and a few other stores to put together my kit. Here is what I came up with…

The kit included some stickers, a snack, a new CD, water balloons and a water ball (for our camping trip), some new books, a dry-erase board, and some preschool activity bags that I had already made up. I wrapped up all of the “gifts” and gave the first, the snack, about 20 minutes into the trip when I sensed they were hungry. Just unwrapping it alone was a huge thrill. I spaced out the gifts about every 12 minutes and handed them out 2 at a time. I quickly learned that they both had to have a gift or there would be major tears. The second gift was the CD, and I told Garrett to listen for “Itsy Bitsy Spider” etc. and when he hears it, to ask for his next gift. This went on until we reached our destination.

My Opinion:

I think most of us know to throw a thing or two in the car when we’re traveling with kids, but this really gives you specific ideas and takes the guesswork out of it. There is valuable information and tons of additional travel tips. It was successful with my kids and I honestly think I will do it again. They really loved opening the gifts and looked forward to receiving the next one. The 2 hour ride honestly didn’t seem so long.

The only thing I was apprehensive about was the “clutter” that it might create in my already packed car. Camping with 2 young children is already challenging, and I wasn’t sure I wanted wrapping paper and other little gifts cluttering it up. Honestly, I would have to say that it didn’t bother me too badly, and we just pitched the paper when we got there. Also, I tried to make sure that the “gifts” were practical, usable things and not just junk that I would throw away when we got home. I would highly recommend this resource to anybody who travels with children, or anybody who wishes to bless others. No doubt, to receive a travel kit would be a huge blessing!

The Travel Kits E-book can be found here for $12.45. Go to the TOS Homeschool Blog to see what others are saying about Travel Kits.

The Old Schoolhouse Magazine Customer Service line is
1-888-718-HOME

Disclaimer:The Travel Kits E-book was provided free of charge for my review as a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew. I received no other compensation, and this review is my honest opinion.

Marshmallow Painting

2010-07-06T14:11:00.002-05:00

Here is a cute, simple activity we did this morning. Below are their “masterpieces”. (Garrett’s is on the left, Colin’s on the right)

I just put tempera paint on paper plates and plopped a large marshmallow in each color.

Then I gave them each a white piece of paper and let them do whatever they wanted. I was surprised that for the most part, they kept the colors separate and returned the marshmallows to the correct color.

They loved it! (That is Colin’s new smile by the way :-)

I’m on the Crew!

2010-06-28T14:25:00.001-05:00

I’m excited to announce that for the coming year I have been chosen to be part of the TOS Homeschool Crew, and will be reviewing educational products from various vendors.

Stay tuned for future reviews!

Dyed Pasta

2010-06-26T15:49:00.008-05:00

About 3 weeks ago, our PAT (Parents as Teacher) educator brought a bin of colored pasta to our house. It was a BIG hit! The boys loved scooping, manipulating and just playing with it. I thought “I could do that”and so here is my feeble attempt. The end product turned out great, but see the bottom for some tips from someone who really didn’t know what she was doing :-)

When searching the Internet, I found all kinds of recipes for how to dye pasta. They were all so different so I just figured I would throw a little of this and a little of that in and see how it turned out.

Here is what I did:

1. Separate pasta into 6 plastic bags, or however many colors you want.
2. Put a little of each kind of pasta into each bag.
3. Put about 2-3 capfuls of rubbing alcohol into each bag of pasta.
4. Drop food coloring into the bag and toss and turn to coat. Keep adding food coloring to achieve desired color.

5. Put paper towels on cookie sheets and let dry. I just left mine for the whole morning since we had plans that day.

6. When dry, put in bin with bowls, spoons, containers, etc. and hopefully you will see smiles like this…

My first-timer tips:
* put on old clothes that you won’t mind getting food coloring on (why didn’t I think of that?)
*Put newspapers down on counter
*when drying, pasta color will bleed through paper towels/newspaper so I thought of the cookie sheet thing, but not until my counter was covered in color
The kids sure do enjoy this, now I just have to figure out where to store it. ;-)

Happy Birthday, Buddy!

2010-06-23T14:14:00.002-05:00

Today my little Colin turned 2. Let me tell you, it feels like he’s been 2 for about 3 months now. He is my spunky, fearless little daredevil and already I’ve caught myself saying “the terrible twos are upon us”….he has a mind of his own and he wants what he wants, when he wants it. Hopefully someday that strong personality will be of good use to him.

Just for fun, here are a few pics of the day he was born.

and him at 1 year…

and now at 2 years old…

Mommy loves you “Colin-boy”…mwaaa!!!!

Our Camping Adventure

2010-06-15T23:15:00.002-05:00

I wouldn’t really call myself or my husband “campers”, but with two boys, I thought we’d better start getting used to it as I think camping is so great for kids.

Our first trip of the season was to one of the infamous Jellystone Park Resorts starring Yogi Bear himself. It is actually the same park that I went to as a kid so it was kind of a blast from the past. All in all, the experience was positive and the kids had a great time. Plus, it’s always nice to have a break in the routine and just do something different. Here are a few of the highlights from the weekend.

Swimming! We got the kids these nifty puddle jumper flotation devices that I just LOVE. For the first time, Garrett felt comfortable being in the water by himself and that itself made it worth the price. They also loved jumping into daddy’s arms.

And here’s Yogi Bear, the star of the show….

The campground had a great little play area for kids with a playset, sandbox and jumping pillow. The jumping pillow is kind of like a giant trampoline and the kids loved it. Oh and at dusk they had what else? Vintage Hannah Barbara Yogi cartoons. FUN!

Then there’s the campfire…the kids were infatuated with making, poking and tending to the fire. I guess that’s to be expected, but it made for one stressed out mommy. It was also a wet day so the fire was not “roaring” to say the least, but it did the job for smores.

Every weekend has it’s own theme, and this weekend happened to be the Easter weekend, so the kids had an Easter egg hunt and made a few different types of bunny crafts. We also did an egg toss (which Garrett and I almost won coincidentally-our egg would NOT break!) and he had a chance to hit an egg pinata. We also took a wagon ride with Yogi. They loved the activities. I’m not going to post those pics just because I have so many but it was just fun, especially since the weather wasn’t cooperating.

Here we are eating breakfast in front of our cabin.

And my favorite picture of all…don’t you wonder what the kids are doing? Well, we found out shortly after we arrived that we were about 50 feet away from a train track. And oh…there were about 25 trains per day AND night that whistled each and every time it passed the campground. WHHAAAT? I am still in shock about this because isn’t the point of camping to relax? And still, there were people with seasonal sights even closer to the tracks than us. I guess there are some things in life I am not meant to understand, and this is one of them. We now see trains in a whole new light.

All in all, a nice weekend. Even if we don’t end up being lifelong campers, at least we can pull out the pictures someday and say that we gave it our best shot. I can always blame it on the trains…or the bird that pooped on me.

Remembering Keith…

2010-06-14T15:31:00.002-05:00

Today is a hard day. Exactly one year ago, my brother took his own life. He was 33 years old and seemed to have the world at his fingertips. He had a great job as a military contractor, a girlfriend whom he had just introduced us to, and a loving family.

Keith was such a fun person. He was often the life of the party and had a joyous, infectious way about him. If you were his friend, he would do anything for you. He would definitely “have your back” if he trusted and respected you.

He also had some rough times and we know now that those rough times probably were the result of some kind of depression. How tragic that he couldn’t ask for help and didn’t feel that life was worth living. We just hope that he has finally found the peace that he longed for, and that he is up there looking down on us. I miss him and what he brought to our family terribly. Rest peacefully brother-I will see you again someday.

June Fun in the Sun

2010-06-09T15:07:00.002-05:00

It was a rough winter (being newly pregnant and all), and so I am thrilled that the sunshine is here and we can enjoy the great outdoors. After all, what else should two boys be doing? Here are just a few of the things we’ve been up to lately.

Grant and Garrett’s Fishing Trip
This was a huge success. I knew Garrett would enjoy it, but I had no idea just how much. Thank you to Hy-Vee for sponsoring the free fishing derby. This could very well be a family tradition.

So when I asked Garrett “Did you catch a fish?” The response was rather unexpected. He said “I caught a turtle”. What? And so here is the picture of the poor turtle and the proud fishermen. Not exactly what we told him he’d be catching, but oh well.

I love this shot…my peaceful boys. How Garrett sat so patiently remains a mystery to me, but Grant said he did a great job.

The Children’s Zoo Fun Day We’d never been to this zoo before, but it’s been on my to-do list for a few years now. It is a cute little park and perfect for younger kids. They enjoyed seeing sheep, goats, calves, peacocks, and chickens. Can you see the animal behind the kids?

There is also some very fun "old-fashioned” play equipment to play on.

This particular day was the park’s “fun day” and so there was much fun to be had. First there was the Storybook Express train that took them around the park. (that cute little blonde is our neighbor!)

There were fun games such as the tractor pull. I’m proud to announce that Garrett went 15’5 feet and has the certificate to prove it. (See the tongue? That’s what he does when he’s nervous or when people are watching) Colin? Well he tried :-)

And finally, a free lunch. We also got bags of goodies. I’m not sure who was in charge of this day, but it was a very good time and we’ll be back next year!

Time to Get the Pool Out! This actually happened in May, but I’ll post a few pics anyway. All of a sudden, the temperature skyrocketed to 90 degrees and so we thought it would be fun to get wet.

Why are there no pictures of Colin? Well, I guess he was tuckered out :-)

More fun to be had this weekend as we venture out to Jellystone Park!

A little Embarrassed…

2010-05-07T14:48:00.001-05:00

Well if there is still anybody reading this, obviously there must be some kind of explanation why I haven’t posted in a VERY long time. Here is the reason!

Yes, you are correct. We are expecting a new addition to our family in October. We are so very excited and blessed.

We found out Valentine’s Day weekend and to be completely honest, the next 3 months were..well, very difficult. I was extremely sick, tired and just overall a mess. It took a lot of effort for me to just keep the household functioning and so blogging took a back seat. Well okay, it wasn’t even in the car! But I am feeling now (at 16 weeks) MUCH MUCH better and more like my old self. I really hope to continue blogging because I really do enjoy it. So stay tuned; I really hope to blog at least a few times a week. And Happy Mother’s Day to all of the mothers out there!

Jumping Numbers

2010-03-16T20:46:00.002-05:00

I can’t take credit for this activity at all since it came from my PAT (Parents as Teachers educator) but I thought I would share because I thought it was so darn cute and G-man loved it. Plus, it would be very easy to do yourself if you wanted to.
The objective is to recognize the numbers 1-6. This is a new concept to Garrett, but surprisingly, he is very into counting lately, wanting to count everything. It was perfect timing. She brought a large foam die and Garrett first had to roll it and count the dots to determine the number.
Once the number was determined, he had to find the page with that number on it, and count those dots to make sure it was the right number.

Then he had to jump that number inside of the circle (made out of a heavy yarn type).

We ended the hour with a book about…counting of course! Thanks for a great activity Stacy.

Accountable Kids Review

2010-03-14T12:06:00.003-05:00

A few months ago, I stumbled upon a family blog that used a program called Accountable Kids. I’m always interested in things that other moms have used and recommend and so I studied their website and decided to give it a try. I am so glad I did!
I will attempt to give a simple review of the program, but please visit their website at http://www.accountablekids.com/ for a more complete description of the program.

Accountable kids is in my opinion, a wonderful program to teach kids accountability, work ethic, and positive values. It is more than a chore chart; it is a comprehensive 4 step program where children learn exactly what to expect from their day, and are rewarded for their compliance. Being a former teacher, I was initially skeptical of the “rewards”, but soon found out that the rewards were just things that Garrett was already doing (like videos, etc) but now he has to earn that privilege. Goodbye entitlement!

Here are the tools that you get with your order. The AK progress board is the central part of the program. You can order it personalized or you can choose to personalize it yourself.

The responsibility reminder cards hang on the first knob. For example, here are the responsibilities that I want Garrett to do in the morning, afternoon, and evening. Notice the color coding.

As you can see, these “chores” are really things that he already does, but now instead of me reminding him to do it, he just has to look at the board and then it’s HIS idea. There are a ton of cards to choose from. Since Garrett is only 3, we are doing a VERY simplified version of the program. The great thing is that the program will grow with him. It’s designed for kids ages 3-14. Obviously, the older he gets the more responsibilities he will have.
Here is how the cards hang on the board…also notice the “tickets” hanging on the center hook.

When Garrett completes ALL of his morning, afternoon, or evening responsibilities, he will earn a ticket. You as the parent would decide which activities are ticketed. Generally, they recommend ticketing activities that you wish to limit, such as t.v., computer, etc. We are doing it a little differently, just because I felt like I needed to modify to make it work for our family. For example, Garrett watches 1 30 minute video every afternoon, and so if he does a good job during quiet time (stays in his room and is quiet) and then picks up his room, he earns a ticket. He then turns in that ticket to watch his video. He knows that if he doesn’t stay quiet or stay in his room, no video. In the morning, he uses that ticket for special time with mommy. It usually ends up being a game that he loves, an art project, etc.

Now onto the part that I really love about the program. We use the 1-2-3 magic system for discipline, which has worked wonderfully with him. I sometimes feel though that time-outs are losing their effectiveness. And when he gets 3-4 in one day (which has happened) it seems like they don’t affect him anymore. You can use the tickets for discipline. Just as easily as he earns them, they can be taken away.

For example, maybe he completed his morning responsibilities and earned a ticket, but shortly thereafter, he hurt his brother or was sassy to me. I would then quietly go over to his board and take away a ticket. Then in an hour when he asks if we can play his favorite game, I ask him to hand me a ticket. He will then notice that he doesn’t have a ticket. Bummer!

This is only step 1 of the program. There are actually 4 steps and there is MUCH more to the program. Like I said, we’re only doing the simplified version.

One thing really like is that there are “date cards”. You can see them hanging below.

If he completes all of his responsibilities for the day, he would earn a star on the card. After 10 stars he can cash it in for “date night” with mom, dad, grandma, whomever. It teaches delayed gratification and also strengthens the family by giving him some 1 on 1 time. Examples are going to a movie, going out to dinner, going to the museum, etc.

Overall-I give it a 5 out of 5 rating. It’s a great way to teach your kids accountability while at the same time, strengthening your family. Thank you Accountable Kids!

The Long-Awaited Coffee Cake!

2010-03-08T20:48:00.002-06:00

I say long-awaited because I promised this recipe to my MOPS table and friends over 2 weeks ago. I must give credit where credit is due-and that is to my mom. I was fortunate enough to have enjoyed this coffee cake for well…my whole life. It is HER recipe and one that I haven’t seemed to perfect just yet, but I will keep trying. It is so yummy-I think the yumminess is due to how moist it is. Enjoy!

Ingredients for cake:
1 box Duncan Hines yellow cake mix
3 oz. box vanilla instant pudding
4 eggs
8 oz. sour cream
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 c. water

Ingredients for topping:
1/2 c. margarine (see note at end)
1/2 c. flour
1 tbsp. cinnamon
1/2 c. sugar
1 c. brown sugar

Ingredients for frosting:
1 tbsp. soft margarine
drop vanilla
1 c. powdered sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Combine cake mix and pudding together. Add eggs, oil, sour cream, vanilla and water. Mix gently. Put 1/2 of batter in pan and carefully cover with 1/2 of topping. Repeat with rest of batter and rest of topping. Bake in angel food cake pan or 9 x 13 greased/floured pan for 30-40 minutes. Drizzle frosting on while still warm.

Note-I can’t seem to get the topping just right, and my mom can’t quite explain it to me :-) I don’t advise melting the butter or having it too soft because the topping will bake into the cake. The goal is to have the topping “crumbly” when you put it on the cake. I think it has something to do with the amount of margarine and the temperature of it. If anybody figures it out, PLEASE leave a comment.

What We’ve Been Up To…

2010-03-03T21:10:00.002-06:00

Ah…well, I thought I better do a little blogging before I forget how to. I’m so sorry it’s been so long; my camera has been acting up for one (as you will see from the pics) and we’ve just been trying to get out a little more now that the weather is at least a little nicer. Here is a glimpse of the past few weeks.

Trip to the Museum/Aquarium

We are fortunate enough to live in an area that has a wonderful museum and aquarium. They also have a program for 2-4’s once a month called “Toddler Tuesday” that we try to get to. The best part is that after the program you can just visit the aquarium. My 3 year old loves to see all of the fish, lizards, frogs, otters, etc etc!

Trip to the Waterpark

Again, we have this great indoor waterpark that has $5 Mondays. This past Monday we spent 2 1/2 hours there and this mama was exhausted when we got home. G-man is little timid of the water so I try to get him in it as much as I can. The little guy on the other hand, is a daredevil. So much so that he sat on the edge of the pool and flopped right in. Of course, I then jumped in to save him and have a pancake size black bruise on the backside of my thigh to prove it. Thank God, he is fine.

Odds and Ends

Here are just a few fun pics. The kids have taken a liking lately to trying on my high heels…I’m definitely thinking they’re going to love these pics when they are say…16 :-)

One of my oldest friends in the world came by for a visit with her two kiddos Bridget and Will. Don’t they look cute together?

When mom is busy, this is what my kids do to entertain themselves…

And finally, I found these cute mitten playdoh mats at childcareland and they were a big hit. G-man keeps asking for those “mitten things”.

That’s it for now-MOPS tomorrow, storytime Friday. Busy busy :-)

Clip the Squares

2010-02-16T14:42:00.002-06:00

I thought I would share this little activity because it is great fine motor practice that you could pull out at anytime. It definitely surprised me how difficult this was for my 3 year old. This activity bag was given to me as as part of my preschool activity bag swap.
First we sorted the paper clips by color and then I told him he had to put them back on the appropriate colored square. His little fingers had a hard time doing this, but he eventually started getting the hang of it. But then he decided he was done and so that was that!

To make your own bag
-Cut squares of colored construction paper out and laminate for durability
-Get multicolored paper clips (my Dollar Tree has them)
Then have your kiddo clip the paper clips onto the appropriate color square

Heart Window Decor

2010-02-11T21:27:00.002-06:00

G-man is 3 years, 1 month old

I’m loving tissue paper after we did the Mitten Suncatcher and so I thought we’d try a similar idea to make a heart for our front window.

What You Need:

colored tissue paper (we used red and pink)
contact paper

What to do:

1. Cut the tissue paper in 1 inch squares.
2. Cut contact paper to whatever size heart you want to make
3. Have your child stick the tissue paper squares onto the contact paper

4. When done, cut a similar size contact paper and press it onto the top of the other one
5. Fold it in half and draw a half heart shape

6. Cut out heart and hang in window. An inexpensive window decoration that your child can be proud of. While making this my 3 year old said “Mom, this is so beautiful”.

When he gets a little older, I think it would be fun to do several of these in different sizes and colors and decorate the whole bay window!

On a side note-today the kids got Valentine’s from Grandma and Grandpa in the mail and just in case they check this, here they are opening them. They were so excited to get their own mail. My 18 month old took 5 minutes to get the envelope open and he would NOT let me help him. :-)

Translucent Hearts

2010-02-09T11:21:00.002-06:00

It’s been a crazy few days around here and we just haven’t been around to do anything. Now we’re snowed in AGAIN and so here we are.
This little craft was fairly easy and yet kept his little fingers busy for a few minutes.
Supplies:
wax paper
vegetable oil
cotton balls
red tissue paper
What We Did:
1. I cut a heart out of wax paper
2. I had them tear the red tissue paper into little pieces.

3. I put the vegetable oil in a shallow bowl and had them dip the cotton balls into it and rub oil onto the wax paper heart.

*tip-be generous with the oil as it takes a lot of oil in order for the tissue paper to stick.

4. Press tissue paper pieces onto heart.
I assume it will somehow dry and we’ll put it up somewhere to admire :-)

Conversation Hearts

2010-02-05T13:39:00.002-06:00

There are so many things that can be done with these little hearts…other than eat them that is. First, I had him sort them by color with this little tray that I got from the Dollar Tree. I put one of each color in each slot, but then he wanted to do all of the colors so we added those in too.

I found this candy heart counting mat at Totally Tots and even though I’m not too concerned about him knowing his numbers at this point, I just thought I would see if he could actually count out the hearts. He did pretty well up until 5.

Next, he glued the little hearts on to a heart that I drew on construction paper. And of course, he ate a few along the way…(and one got away as you can see)

Finally, I cut up a heart into puzzle pieces and hid them around the room. After they found all of the pieces, they attempted to put them together to form the heart. I say attempted because I made the puzzle way too hard. Next time I would do only a 4 piece puzzle. Here are a few pics of them looking/finding the pieces.

Now this puzzle doesn’t look THAT hard does it? My husband wouldn’t let me take his picture, but he was the one who ended up finishing it after the kids and I gave up. :-)

My Favorite Things

2010-02-03T22:15:00.002-06:00

I thought I would comment on a few baby/kid related things that I have fallen in love with. Maybe something will strike your fancy and you will love them as much as I do.
1. Halo Sleepsack

This is by far, my most favorite thing ever. My kids have been wearing these to bed since they were born, and now the oldest is 37 months and we just upgraded to the “big kid” sleepsack because he insisted. It is worn in place of a blanket and it zips top to bottom. They can never kick the covers off and stay warm and cozy all night long and it reduces the risk of SIDS. They come in fleece or cotton and go from size NB to 4/5. A genius invention!
(you can also get these at Babies R Us, Amazon, One Step Ahead)
2. Clock with set wake up time

This has been a HUGE lifesaver and really, is the reason that I’m still sane (well, mostly anyway). We were having big problems with my oldest waking up at 5 a.m. and thinking it was time to get up for the day. This went on for a good month, one day getting up at 5, the next 6…I just never knew. And of course he didn’t understand when I said to go back to bed and so he would start bawling…and then surprise, I would have TWO kids up at 5 a.m. Sometimes I wonder how I survived that. And so when I saw this at One Step Ahead and knew I had to have it.
It WORKED! We set the wake up time for 7 a.m. and by golly, he faithfully waits until that little clock turns green to get up. It’s yellow all night long (hard to see from the pic above) and then magically turns green at whatever time you set it for. It also doubles as a nightlight.
Note: I just went to One Step Ahead’s website and can’t seem to find it anywhere…but I did just see it in Sensational Beginning’s catalog too.
3. Preschool Activity Bags

Last summer I found this website and held an activity bag swap with some friends. As a result, I now have lots of activity bags that I can bring out at any given time.
These have really come in handy now that my 3 yr. old is in a big boy bed. When he wakes up in the morning (while waiting for his clock to turn green) he can do some of these activities by himself to pass the time. I just make sure to rotate them every 3 days or so. I’m kind of become addicted because I’ve made about 30 more on my own so I should be set for a good while :-)
4. Firefly Toothbrush

Santa brought these and you can’t tell from the picture, but there is a light that flickers on and off for 1 minute. This has come in handy because I just tell him to brush until the light goes off, and then I press it again and help him for another minute. No more arguing about how long we have to brush! BTW-“Santa” got them at Wal-Mart.
5. The Laurie Berkner Band DVD

Another blog (sorry, I can’t remember who) recommended this DVD and I have to say my kids love it. The first time I watched it I thought it was 3 crazy people jumping around and I didn’t think they would like it at all…but there is something that is VERY catchy about these songs. And I’m not embarrassed to admit that I find myself singing them all day long. It’s just super cute and if you live where I live, it’s at our public library!
Have you discovered something that would make your favorite list? Please leave a comment and tell me about it!

The Tiny Snowflake

2010-02-01T21:34:00.002-06:00

Today was all about snowflakes…and it it fit perfectly as it snowed a little today.

This is a sweet little book about Lacy the Snowflake who doesn’t think she is special. She later learns that she was created to be a sparkle snowflake and that God created every snowflake to be special.

After we read the book we talked about how each of us was created by God to be special, no matter what our differences. I dowloaded this little book below from 1+1+1 to read after the story. G-man was tickled to see his picture on the last page.

Then we did these cute little snowflake puzzles, again from 1+1+1.

Finally, I drew a snowflake on white paper and had him use his do-a-dot markers to make a snowflake. (btw-these markers are at Michael’s and if you use the 50% coupon, only about $7)

Is it too early to say I’m getting tired of the snow???

Crockpot Chicken

2010-01-31T21:11:00.002-06:00

I am so excited about this recipe! It is SO easy and SO delicious and if you are a busy mom, I think you’ll agree. The best part is that you don’t even have to unthaw the chicken.

Ingredients:
6 boneless skinless chicken breasts (frozen)
4 oz. cream cheese
1 pkt. Italian dressing mix
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of celery soup

Sprinkle Italian dressing mix on frozen chicken and place in crockpot on low for 6-8 hours. Do not add any water. Break up chicken. Add cream cheese and 2 of the 3 cans of soup (your choice) and let cook 1 to 2 more hours. Serve over noodles or rice.

Note: I used 1 can cream of chicken and 1 can cream of chicken and mushroom and it was delicious. I also cooked on low for 6 1/2 hours and then almost 2 after I put in the soups. I served it over buttered egg noodles…yummy!
This is going to appear many times; I can’t believe I’ve been living without it!

Snow Painting

2010-01-29T21:51:00.002-06:00

I got the recipe for “Snow Paint” from the wonderful book First Art by Mary Ann Kohl (which I would highly recommend for toddlers…focuses on the process rather than the finished product)

(It’s called Snow Paint because when it dries it’s supposed to look like snow; it has salt in it)

What You’ll Need:

1 c. flour
1 c. salt
1 c. water
Whisk together

What We Did:
I gave my 3 year old a piece of dark paper first as I thought it would make the paint sparkle more, but I can’t really say that it did.

So then I just gave him paintbrush type things (see above), an old toothbrush and whatever else I could find…

Honestly, he wasn’t very thrilled with this until I added the food coloring. Then the fun began and he started mixing and swirling.

I was bummed that my 19 month old slept through this. I think it would’ve been perfect for his age. Overall-not what I expected but a valuable art experience nonetheless!

Mitten Suncatcher

2010-01-28T13:42:00.002-06:00

We’ve been enjoying Jan Brett’s The Mitten for a few weeks now so when I saw this idea on childcareland.com, I thought we’d give it a try.
What You’ll Need:

any color cardstock or construction paper would work too
different colored tissue paper squares
contact paper or laminating machine
optional: markers, jewels, glitter, other decor

What We Did:
1. First, I drew a mitten on a piece of white cardstock. I then drew a 1 inch border around it and cut out the middle.

2. My little guy wanted to color it in with markers, OR you could paint it, or just use colored paper to skip this step.

3. Next, I put the mitten inside a laminating pouch, but if you’re using contact paper, just set it on top of the sticky side.

4. Have your little one put the squares of tissue paper in the inside.

5. Close the laminating pouch and laminate, or put the other piece of contact paper over the finished design and seal. Cut out and put on window to admire.

Lacing Beads

2010-01-26T20:38:00.003-06:00

Here is a very simple way I kept my 3 year old busy while I folded a basket of clothes...and worked on his fine motor skills at the same time.
I bought these craft beads at the Dollar Tree…

then gave him an old shoestring, tied a knot on the end, and had him lace the beads. He thought he was making mommy a necklace :-)

These can also be used for sorting by color, and in a year or two-patterning. I put the beads into a plastic zipper top bag with the shoestring for him to get out when he wants (providing that little brother is asleep).

Gingerbread Fun

2010-01-24T21:24:00.003-06:00

I’ve been promising my 3 year old since December that we would make gingerbread cookies and so we finally did it today. We’ve been reading this version over and over again to the point where he can almost retell the entire story to me. We got the recipe from the back of the book. Here are my little chefs all ready to go…

Gingerbread Cookies

Sift into a big bowl and mix:
2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. ground cloves
1/4 tsp. ground allspice

Beat together in another bowl:
1 egg
1 c. firmly packed dark brown sugar
2/3 c. molasses
5 tbsp. softened butter
Add dry ingredients slowly to wet mixture until well blended.

Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour. Preheat oven to 350 F. Sift flour onto your board and your rolling pin as you work to keep the dough from sticking. Roll out a portion of dough 1/4 inch thick. Cut out with your cookie cutter. Decorate with raisins or other candy. Place 1 inch apart on buttered cookie sheet. Bake 8 minutes, or until slightly firm to the touch. Cool on wire rack.

Can anybody else get away with baking and NOT giving their kids the beaters? I surely can’t! The best part was when G-man kept watching to see if the gingerbread man was going to jump out of the oven (like in the book) …

and so when they were baking and he was in the bathroom, I took one out of the oven and put it in the living room. He was SO excited and was running around trying to find it. He was surprised to find it on the couch!

Then I pulled out some other gingerbread stuff I have gotten online or through my Yahoo groups. I’m sorry I can’t give you the links as I didn’t save these and can’t remember where I got them. But I will try to be better in the future so I can provide resources for you all.

Gingerbread Memory and Gingerbread Shadow Match

At bedtime Garrett said “Mom, that was so fun making gingerbreads”…it made the big old mess totally worth it!

Gingerbread Playdoh

This recipe came from a fabulous website Hubbard’s Cupboard. If you’ve never been there, you should check it out! Tons of activities for little tots.

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
2 tsp. cream of tartar
Spices-Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Ginger, Allspice (to your liking)
1 cup water
1 tsp. vegetable oil
Food coloring-green and red to make brown (I used a ton!)

1. Mix the dry ingredients together
2. Mix the liquid ingredients together
3. Stir together the dry and liquid ingredients

4. Add food coloring to make brown
5. Cook the mixture on low-medium heat for 3-5 minutes, stirring constantly.
6. Knead the dough until it is soft and smooth.
7. Cool and store in an airtight container.
* Makes enough for 2 balls of playdoh, each fitting into a small butter tub .

Play! (notice the tongue? He sure is concentrating!)

Gingerbread Mosiac

This is simple, but kept his little hands quite busy. I just drew a gingerbread man and cut it out.

Then he cut brown squares out of strips that I made of brown construction paper. Good cutting practice!

Next, he glued the squares to the gingerbread.

Finally, we put on googly eyes, raisins for the mouth, and gumdrops for the buttons. On the left is the newly finished…and then about 30 minutes later with his mouth full, he told me that he ate the smile and the buttons. I wasn’t surprised. On the right is the poor gingerbread with nothing at all!

Friday Fun

2010-01-22T13:38:00.003-06:00

If you live around here, you know that we have been “iced in” for 3 days now, which means we haven’t been out of the house since Tuesday. I knew I had to come up with something today. Here are a few things that have filled the past few mornings…

Finger Painting with Chocolate Pudding
(on waxed paper)

I’ve had this idea on our “to do” list for a long time, so today we finally did it. They giggled and smiled the whole time.

Of course, half the fun was eating it, which of course led to a big mess…

Which then led to this….

Snowman Snack
What eat a plain banana when it could be a snowman? I didn’t plan this so just used whatever we had around the house. Nobody seemed to mind it wasn’t perfect.

Chalk Writing

Just another way to practice fine motor skills. My 3 year old doesn’t care too much for writing or even coloring so I thought maybe this would excite him-something a little different. It must not have been too exciting because it lasted about 30 seconds. But he did say he made a fish..do you see it? Ha ha.

Ice Cube Painting

2010-01-20T14:54:00.002-06:00

Ironic, I had this planned even before I knew of our impending ice storm. The kids really liked this one!
Supplies:
Ice cube tray
Food coloring
small popsicle sticks (I happened to have colored…)
Coffee filters
Kool-aid
White paper

Directions:
1. Fill ice cube trays the night before and drop 1 drop of food coloring in each.

2. Insert craft stick into each ice cube

3. Freeze overnight
4. Watch your child’s face light up when he sees all the colors. “Paint” on coffee filters (see tip below).
5. When that gets boring, sprinkle Kool-aid on paper and have them “paint” the Kool-aid. They’ll be amazed at the pop of color.

Of course, I had to make this educational so we talked about melting and spent the morning checking on our ice cubes to see if they had melted yet. Guess what color it ended up being when they all melted together? That’s right-brown! (G guessed red and yellow…)
Tips-if you try this I would recommend waiting about 5-10 minutes for the ice cubes to melt before you give them to your child. I didn’t and it was kind of disappointing that there wasn’t any immediate color. Also, if you have a 1 year old..take note that he/she will probably try to eat the ice cube which means food coloring all over the face! And the Kool-aid..well I’m sure you can guess what happened there. Icy fun on an icy day!

Pasta Snowflake

2010-01-20T14:35:00.002-06:00

I debated whether or not to blog about this craft, because well…it didn’t turn out anything like I planned. But oh well-I’ll know for next time!

Supplies:
Wagon wheel pasta (we used Fiora b/c I that’s all I could find)
White spray paint
glue
White glitter (optional)
Snowflake template from here ( cut it out beforehand)
Blue construction paper
Directions: Spray paint the pasta white. Sprinkle with glitter while still wet. Glue onto snowflake template.

So what was the part that didn’t work you ask? The spray paint did NOT stick to the pasta. I had no idea on that one. So as you can see, we had to imagine that the pasta was white. But…G didn’t seem to mind at all, AND it kept him gluing away for 20 minutes.

Edible Snowballs

2010-01-17T21:43:00.006-06:00

While playing outside yesterday, I threw a small snowball at my 3 year old. It didn't take me long to realize that he didn't know what a snowball was and based on the look on his face, he certainly didn't know why I was throwing it at him. So I explained it which led to an idea..making snowballs!

Edible Snowballs

Supplies:

3/4 c. peanut butter
1/2 c. honey
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3/4 c. oatmeal
1/4 c. graham cracker crumbs
powdered sugar

Directions: Mix until well blended. Form into balls. Roll in powdered sugar. Eat-yummy!

Fun with Frosty

2010-01-14T14:37:00.013-06:00

My 3 year old has been infatuated with Frosty the Snowman for well over a year now. It started last year when we literally read (sang) the book a zillion times. This year, it is my 1 year old's favorite book. The pic on the left is us last year, and the right is from today.

Santa brought the DVD for Christmas and it is still going strong.

He woke up asking to make a art project so we decided to make..who else? Frosty.

Supplies:

• 1 Sheet Blue Construction Paper: For base

• White construction paper: cut in wave for snow base
• Orange Construction paper: cut in triangle for nose

• Black construction paper: hole punch for eyes and buttons, trace hat shape and cut out

• Brown Construction Paper: Cut twig arms 2/snowman

• Several Cotton Balls

• Sparkly fake snow for sky decoration, or snowflake stickers, or just draw them on with markers! (we hadn't done that yet when I took the pic)

• Glue

Instructions:

I traced 3 circles onto the blue construction paper so he would know where to glue the cotton balls, then showed him a finished one so he had something to work from and let him have at it!

I had to include this little story...I was washing dishes and heard my 3 year old say "You shouldn't bounce with a poopy diaper". I walked in and this is what I saw...poor guy! (and it was a bad one!)

Bavarian Meatball Stew

2010-01-12T22:01:00.001-06:00

Well, if I'm not feeding my kids, I'm usually at least thinking about what they're going to eat at the next meal or snack. Did I mention they eat 5 times a day? So I'm always trying to find new things to add to "the book". By the way, "the book" is where all of the good recipes land if we like them. This one made it!

I found this one at Taste of Home and thought it sounded good and a little different, so I tried it. It was a huge hit so I thought I'd share. It even passed the test at my parent's house. Let me know what you think! Oh-and yes, even the kids ate it!

Bavarian Meatball Stew

1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 soft bread crumbs ( I wasn't sure what this was so I just used regular bread crumbs and was fine)
3 tablespoons dried parsley flakes
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon pepper
______________________
1-1/2 lbs ground beef
2 cans (14.5 ounces each) beef broth
1 can (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can (14 ounces) Bavarian sauerkraut, rinsed and well drained
2 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed (I think I used 3 or 4 because we wanted more veg.)
2 medium carrots, sliced (same here)
2 celery ribs, sliced
1 envelope onion soup mix
1 tablespoon pure cane sugar
1 bay leaf

Directions: in a large bowl, combine the first six ingredients (above line). Crumble beef over mixture and mix well. Shape into 1 inch balls. Place on a greased rack in a shallow baking pan. Bake at 400 for 15 minutes; drain. Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, combine the remaining ingredients. Add meatballs. Bring to boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 40 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Discard bay leaf before serving.

Enjoy!

3rd Bday Party

2010-01-11T14:08:00.003-06:00

Last week my big guy turned 3 and we celebrated with a family party here at the house. It was very special because our whole family was there. He was so happy when everyone sang Happy Birthday to him; he grinned from ear to ear. Also, when it was time to open presents he kept asking "Is it MY turn"? He was still in Christmas mode and thought he had to take turns. It was adorable.

Since I still haven't gotten the cake decorating thing down yet, I decided to do cupcakes. I wrapped a piece of cardboard with sky-like wrapping paper and arranged the cupcakes like balloons. The "Happy Birthday" is just letter stickers and then I used blocks to spell his name. Here is a close-up. I decided to change the blocks after I took this picture.

Here are the answers to his 3rd birthday interview questions. The answers are exactly what he said.

What is your name? Garrett
When were you born? a little baby
Who is your mommy? (pointed to me)
Who is your daddy? Grant
What does your mommy do? plays with me
What does your daddy do? plays with me
What is your favorite color? m & m's are favorite color
What do you want to be when you grow up? I want to be tall like daddy
What is your favorite food? broccoli is my favorite
What food do you not like? cauliflower
What is your favorite animal? animal crackers
Where do you want to live when you grow up? daddy's apartment (no idea on that one)
What do mommy and daddy do after you go to bed? talk
What is your favorite song? ABCD
What is your favorite movie? Frosty
What is your favorite flavor of ice cream? I like ice cream
Who is your favorite person? mom
Who is your best friend? Laken (neighbor girl)
What is your favorite book? monkey book
Where did Colin come from? in heaven
What is your favorite thing to do? play pizza (Melissa and Doug pizza set)
If you could do anything you wanted, what would it be? play and have vitamins

10 Minute Time Filler

2010-01-10T19:22:00.002-06:00

Here is a neat little fine motor activity that we did today. I got the idea from someone else's blog, but I can't remember as of now. I just put a raw spaghetti noodle into a piece of playdoh. I then gave them cheerios and pasta to string on the noodle. It was a tad too easy for my 3 year old, but a tad too hard for my 18 month old. I think the perfect age for this would be 2 to 2 1/2. About half of the cheerios made it on-the other half ended up in someone's stomach!

All Bundled Up

2010-01-10T18:54:00.002-06:00

The first big snowfall of the season. This my 18 month old's first time out in the snow and he didn't care for it a whole lot. Of course, he was bundled up like that kid in The Christmas Story and yes, he fell just like that kid and couldn't get up. He didn't like that at all.

My 3 year old wasn't too excited about touching anything cold and wet either, but wanted to help daddy shovel so we put him to work.

The snow was just perfect that day to make a snowman, so we set out to make "Frosty". We had to improvise..tootsie roll pops for the eyes, celery for the nose, and raisins for the mouth.

Finally, we brought the sled out and hoped our little side hill was enough to give them a thrill. Well, it did just that, except they both ended up crying. I think it was time to go in at that point.

Nothing like hot chocolate in a sippy cup!

That was their favorite part I think.

Bringing the Snow In

2010-01-09T23:33:00.004-06:00

Today my little guy was begging to go outside, but I just couldn't justify bundling him up in below 0 weather..and so we improvised. I got out a big Sterilite container, went out to the deck and filled it with snow. The look on G-man's face was priceless. They weren't exactly sure what they were supposed to do with it, but it wasn't long before they thought it was a totally cool idea.

I started out by giving them measuring cups, bowls and kitchen utencils. After awhile they got more comfortable with the sensation and got a little braver as well.

After the novelty wore off, I introduced the water bottle and most importantly-COLOR! It wasn't long before they wanted another color..and another...and another. Then G-man had an idea to go get some water and he started putting the yellow snow into the water. (is it me or does yellow snow bring anyone else right back to their childhood?) This transferring of snow/water went on and on.

All in all, this little activity consumed 1 1/2 hours of time. If you know G-man, this is pretty much equivalent to an eternity.

The cleanup was a breeze-a definite hit!