First Game!

Aidman had his very first t-ball game today! He was SO stinkin cute dressed in his uniform!! The whole entire team of 4 year olds was as cute as it could possibly be!!

It was also the funniest game I have ever seen!! The kids were running in a pack to get the ball. One kiddo hit the ball and then ran to 3rd base instead of 1st (it was my very good friends child and she just laughed and said "that's my boy!"). It was such a wonderful morning!

Lyssy even decided to cheer for the team!

Ravishing Rainbows!

Yesterday we went to a Rainbow Playdate. My friend had her house decorated in Rainbow color streamers. We read a Great Rainbow book (the title is escaping my mind at the moment).

We made a Rainbow out of fruitloops.

We had Rainbow Jellow and Rainbow colored goldfish for snack.

We made a Rainbow out of a Train Track.

The playdate was filled with LOTS of Rainbow fun!!

THEN during nap time, Mama put up her new wall art!!!

It's a Beautiful Rainbow made out of our handprints! Every day we are going to write on a handprint something that we want to pray about as a Family, then we will pray about it together. This will be a nice way for us to pray together more. I am also going to add a cloud with the Irish Blessing on it.

Irish Blessing

May God give you...

for every storm

a rainbow,

for every tear

a smile,

for every care

a promise,

and a blessing

for each trial.

For every problem

life sends,

a faithful friend

to share,

for every sigh

a sweet song

and an answer

for each prayer.

Hh is for House

We did such a simple activity the other day. I gave the kiddos a bunch of shapes and asked if they could make a house for the letter Hh. Sure enough, they could! Aidman even made a tree next to his house. Of course, after they were done making the house they went on to making other things with the shapes.

The very next day I was cleaning out the craft closet and found an itty bitty set of shape blocks that I meant to add to our Operation Christmas Child shoebox. As soon as she saw it Lyssy said "a house!", so I let her use the set to make more houses in the hallway.

Hh is for Handprints!

Last night the entire family painted handprints on white paper. I figured out an idea for my wall using handprints! Can you guess what it will be? I'll post about it when it's up. In the meantime, here are some pictures of the fun.

Mommy's handprint.

Flower Power

In honor of Floral Design Day (it's this Saturday), today we went to a Flower Power Playdate!

First we read this cute touch and feel book called The Small Seed.

Then we made a floral bouquet. We got these cute buckets in the $1 bin at Target, green foam 4 for $1 at the Dollar Tree, and silk flowers for cheap from various stores.

The kiddos stuck their flowers in their buckets.

And WAALAA!! Beautiful flower bouquets!! All of the kiddos Loved the book and LOVED this project.

Home Sweet Home!

It has been a BUSY couple of days! We are home now after 2 weeks in TN visiting my grandparents and helping them after surgery. We got off the plane yesterday and went straight to the ball field for Aidman's practice since he missed 2 while we were away and his first game is this Saturday. Today the kiddos both woke up early, but Aidman got tired out after grocery shopping! He fell asleep while reading a magazine AND with something in his mouth. Poor kid!

The WALL

Forgive the few mixed up photos, I'm still trying to figure out how to do photos in a blog.


We have this big empty wall in our kitchen. I have looked and looked for something to put on it, but nothing ever jumps out at me.


This past November, I was feeling crafty and really wanted to do a fun Thankful Tree with my kiddos. I really had nowhere to put one since we have a small house, except for this wall in my kitchen. Well, what I expected to be a small bulletin board like display turned into a giant wall covering display. I LOVED it!! It added so much color and fun to my kitchen. Plus there was something wonderful to do with my kiddos everyday.


When it came time to take down the thanful tree I was so sad. S,o I made an advent calendar to replace it. It was also very cute and something fun to do with the kids everyday. Of course, after Christmas I had to take it down.


We had a very empty and very boring wall for a couple of weeks. Then, I saw these cute heart animals on a great blog and just HAD to make them. After we made them, we had nowhere to put them, so they went on The WALL. They have made a very cute display, but it will be time to take them down soon.


I REALLY don't want another empty wall!!! I NEED your cute and crafty ideas!! PLEASE help me find something to put up on the WALL for the next month or so!! I really like interactive things that I can do with the kiddos (like adding leaves of things we were thankful for, or opening an envelope every day to find a new fun activity that we would do with the family), but the child and mommy made was nice too. PLEASE help me!! Send me any ideas that you can think of!! PLEASE!!

Thankful tree when it frist went up.

Up close of our envelope advent calendar.

Thankful tree on Thanksgiving.

Advent Calendar.

WALL of Love!

My Little Girl!

Pa: "Lyssy are you my Little Girl?"

Lyssy: "No, Daddy is my Little Girl."

Hh Lessons

Don't say a Word!! I know... this weeks drawing is HORRID!!! But the kiddos liked it! They are really doing good at thinking of words that start with the letter of the week! I was afraid Aidman would never get it, but he finally is! And when they are having a hard time thinking of something they put their fingers to their heads and say "think think think".

I am cheating alittle this week. Since it is Hh week, I am reusing several of the heart activities used during Valentines, but I didn't want it all to go to waste! And the kiddos don't even mind.

This weeks lesson is...

Art:
-Hats
-Hand print Painting
-Hearts Hh

Lyssy did a great job with her hearts today!

Science:
-Hh body parts- head, heel, hips, heart, hair
-Examine hand and finger prints, see how everyone is different
-Listen to our heart beat
-Hay in the sensory table

Math:
-Measure height
-Make shape houses
-Heart counting- big hearts with numbers, kids count correct number of little hearts to put inside
-Heart patterns- conversation hearts glued to strips of paper
Lyssy is still new at patterning so she and Gran did it together and then counted all the hearts.

Cooking:

-Haystacks- Chocolate and peanut butter melted and tossed with chow mein noodles

-Ham Sandwiches

Movement/Outside:

-Hop

-Hula Hoop

-Hopscotch

Songs:

-If You're Happy and you know it

-Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes

Bb is for Banana Bread and Butter

Last night we made the yummiest Banana Nut Muffins and butter! This is probably one of the best banana recipes I've ever had!!

3/4 cup butter or margarine
1 1/2 cups granulated white sugar
1 1/2 cups mashed bananas -- (3 medium bananas)
2 eggs -- well beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup buttermilk or 1/2 cup milk soured with 1 teaspoon vinegar
3/4 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 325°F. Cream butter and sugar together thoroughly. Blend in bananas, eggs and vanilla. Sift flour, baking soda and salt together. Add to banana mixture, alternating with buttermilk and mixing thoroughly after each addition. Add nuts and gently mix. Pour batter into greased muffin tin. Bake for 25 minutes, or until done. The recipe comes from recipe source.

Then we made our very own butter to go on our muffins! Here is a great how to.

Smoothie Smorgasbord

Today for Muffin Tin Monday we had a Smoothie Smorgasbord! The theme was things you can drink with a straw, so we had a breakfast of peach smoothie, blueberry smoothie, pineapple banana smoothie, and banana muffins. Oddly, neither of my kids wanted to use a straw, they wanted spoons. Aidman and Pa Loved the blueberry smoothie, Gran and I Loved the peach smoothie, and Lyssy didn't really care for any of the smoothies (which is weird since she's the good eater and since she helped to make them). As usual the kiddos helped to prepare the muffin tins and Lyssy was VERY scared of Granny's blender, it is much louder then the one we have at home. It was a fun breakfast, we just LOVE muffin tin Mondays!!

What a Handsome Boy!

Look at my Handsome Boy! I just had to share this great picture of my little man.

Snow

Those of you who are knee deep in snow are going to roll your eyes about this post, but us Floridians are So Stinkin Excited!! AidMan got his wish!

We woke up this morning to snow. The kiddos were squealing and just so happy! We were dressed and out playing in it before 8am. The biggest thing for the kiddos was to get the car cleaned off, they were just so occupied with the car. Here are their hand prints on the hood.

Here we are throwing mushy snowballs.


Here we are making footprints in the snow.

And her is Aidman eating the snow. He wouldn't stop, seriously I couldn't get him to stop eating it!

Bears at Night

Since our other Friday Book Feature didn't go so well, we decided to try another. We read Bears at Night by Stan and Jan Berenstien. The kiddos LOVED this book! We read it earlier this week and when I opened it up today Aidman "read" it to me!! It is so simple and the pictures are so good that he knew what it was going to say. I was so impressed.


We decided to do our own obsticle course and do the exact things that the bears did. So we went...
1. In the chairs
2. Out the door
3. Down the stairs

4. Over the box

5. Under the pool table

6. Around the chair

7. Between the couches

8. Through the kitchen

9. and finally, up the bed.

Then they got spooked by mommy and had to go...

1. down the bed

2. throught the kitchen

3. between the couches

4. around the chair

5. under the pool table

6. over the box

7. up the stairs

8. in the door

9. and in the chair

They LOVED this so much that we did it back and forth 3 times!!! I loved it so much because they we learning directions and they were having fun.

Head over the Just for Fun for some other awesome book features!

Projects Don't Always go as Planned!

For our Friday Feature the Kiddos decided that they wanted to read this beautiful picture book by Brian Wildsmith. I just LOVE the colors and pictures in this book. The kiddos really liked seeing the different types of birds. AND since it was Bb week and we've already been talking alot about birds this was a great book pick.


The only problem was the project. After snack the other day we threw the leftovers of our popcorn out for the birds and they gobbled it up! So we decided to string popcorn for the birds to eat. We tried using our big fat plastic blue needles and the popcorn just broke because the needles were too fat. Then I tried using pipe cleaners and the kids still had trouble. So we decided to let the kids try real needles. With the first itty bitty finger prick, they gave up. So, Granny and Mommy ended up making the popcorn strings for the birds while the kiddos ate the rest of the popcorn. The kiddos STILL loved hanging the popcorn string on the tree and have been watching all day to see if the birds were eating it. I think this project is best for older kids!

Bb is for Binoculars

We are a VERY active family! We like to get out of the house often to go to playdates, to the park, or to the Library for story time. Since we live in FL and in a VERY family friendly town, that is not a problem. But when we are up here in TN visiting and helping family, we really don't get to get out of the house often due to weather and no places to go (and also the fact that we are spending precious time with family). This leads to a very restless mommy and kiddos that are itching to get out of the house. Granny and Pa have 5 acres of beautiful land that we LOVE to run around, but honestly we just aren't used to weather that is below 50 degrees.




So as a way to run around alittle today, we went on a hunt. I placed Blue circles all around the house (actually the circles were supposed to represent bubbles and the prize would be bubbles to blow outside, but it rained all day so mama had to change plans), that had phrases like "go to where you brush your teeth". They had to go to each place to find another blue circle (there were 10 in all), so they were running all around the house going to the next destination. The last circle said "Bb is for binoculars" and had supplies to make our very own: 2 toilet paper tubes, markers, stickers, and tape.

After they made their binoculars, they ran to the porch to watch the birds. And boy did they not disappoint! We must have seen about 15 different birds out enjoying the 20 minutes of no rain. We are so excited to see them eating off of the pine cone bird feeders that we made earlier in the week too.