A Funfilled Weekend!

My niece Laneybug had her 6th Birthday this week, so yesterday we went to her party.




The kiddos had a great time playing on Laneybugs new swing set.

Then everyone got into the bounce house.

Aunt Sherryberry and Aidman jumped together.

Daddy and Lyssy jumped around.

Granny and I decided that this was hard work and great exercise.

Grandaddy wrestled with all the kiddos.

After the party was over, Laneybug got out her new slip and slid and the kiddos played more.

Today we went to the beach with Granny, Papa, and Aunt Brit.

We had a great time building this awesome sand castle.

It was a really fun weekend!!

Tea Time Thursday

Today for our Tea Time Thursday with On a Whimm we had a veggie platter to go with our veggie teapot. We ate cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, sugar snap peas, carrots, broccoli, green bell peppers, cantaloupe, watermelon, crackers, peanuts, and peach tea.

Aidman stirring his peach tea.

Lyssy only likes sugar snap peas when she can dip them in something.

Aidman LOVES tomatoes and ate most of them.

LOOK!! We ate almost everything!!! I pretty much knew they wouldn't touch the bell peppers, but I had to try them.

It was a great lunch and they were so happy to have a tea party with it!!

C is for Clouds

Today we read It Looked Like Spilt Milk by Charles G. Shaw. I love this book because of it's repetitive nature and how easy it is to identify the pictures. The kiddos feel like they can read it all by themselves which is a big self esteem boaster.

Then we went outside to look at the clouds.

The girls enjoyed talking about what they looked like.

Then we made out own clouds. We squirted glue onto blue paper.

And added cotton balls to it.

They said that AB's (top) looks like a basket, Lyssy's (middle) looks like a pig, and Aidman's (bottom) looks like a baseball.

ABC Picnic Table Talk

Today's picnic talk over at ABC and 123 is the Alphabet. I don't even know where to start!! At the beginning of the year I decided that I needed to put my early childhood education to better use in my own house and do more organized lessons with my kiddos. Aidman was really struggling with the alphabet at school, so I decided to start with that. I wanted to give myself a doable plan of action so not to overwhelm myself. The plan was to have one activity a week in each area (art, science, math, cooking, and movement), now it has turned into about 3 activities a week in each area (with more areas added from time to time ie: social studies, plus table top toys).


I can't pick just one letter that we have liked doing, because we have loved SO MANY!!!


Every Monday to start off the new letter we sit down together and brainstorm all the words that start with that letter. I draw all the easy words on a paper. The kiddos LOVE this!! I hang that paper on the wall for the entire week and then we add it to a book we are making of all mammy drawn letters.

Letter Rr

Letter Hh

Another thing we LOVE doing is the letter art project. I always give the kiddos an object that starts with the letter and have them apply it to the letter that has been written on the paper.

Velvet Vv

Koolaid Paint Kk

If you look at my side bar you can see all the different letters and what we have done with each. This plan of action has REALLY worked well in my house and it really helps us to be on purpose with what we do.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

Today we made Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies for the letter Cc.

The kids love mixing!

And pouring.

And stiring. Cooking is FUN!!

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup butter, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 3/4 cups flour

2/3 cup cocoa powder

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Beat butter, sugar, egges, and vanilla until fluffy. Stir in dry ingredients. Mix in choclate chips. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 15 minutes.

Splash Day and Last Day of PreSchool

Today was Aidman's last day of preschool for the year, so they had a water splash day to celebrate.



He loved the slip and slide.

He thought he looked like a snowman with shaving cream all over himself.

He was full of smiles and just LOVED this day!

Aidman has had a GREAT year of preschool! His teachers have been so thoughtful and have helped to make some wonderful memories.

Mom's Weekend Getaway!

I have NEVER been away from both my hubby and kids. So this weekend I decided it was time to go have a girls weekend. Me and 7 of my good friends went to Sarasota to stay at the Hyatt. The picture above is the view from our room.

It was the most relaxing weekend EVER!!! Look how pretty the pool is!

We spent an entire day to swim m at the pool, with NO kids to watch after. We read. We talked. We Laughed. We ate.

We went walking on the beach late at night. We went to Siesta Key (#2 rated beach in America) and spent the entire day (with NO kids to chase after) dirfting in the water and sunbathing.

As you can see, we just had the most fantastic time! Oh and I got a BEAUTIFUL tan! Honestly, I can't even sit at the beach when we go as a family, so to just sit and read was SUCH a treat!


Thanks to my friend S, there are lots of pictures of me to pick from for 10 of 52 weeks of getting mom in the pictures at Forever in Blue Jeans.

Letter Cc Muffin Tin Monday

The theme for Muffin Tin Monday this week is letters of the alphabet. Since we are working on the letter Cc and there happens to be a ton of food items that start with that letter, we decided to do a Cc muffin tin.

The kids were so excited to get candy in their muffin tins!

Do your kids switch food? Every time we have a meal that has items that one kid likes and the other doesn't, they switch. Today, Aidman gave Lyssy his carrots and she gave him her cherry tomatoes.

Crayon Colored Cc

I LOVE how Lyssy hangs all of her art work on the fridge, with tons of magnets. Does she think it is heavy and will fall off if it doesn't have a lot of magnets?

The plan was for the kiddos to glue cotton balls onto the letter Cc. But when I got out the materials Aidman made this giant fuss about how he didn't want to glue and of course Lyssy joined in the fuss. So I quickly searched my brain for another Cc thing to do. I asked if they wanted to color with crayons and there were cheers all around.

I'm glad that I gave them the option because they spent a really long time coloring and really enjoyed themselves.

Aidman was trying to make a Gators Cc with Blue and Orange.

Cc Lessons

I am feeling very Calm and Collected today due to my moms getaway weekend. Hopefully we will not have a Crazy week!

Art:

-Cotton ball Cc

-Car tracks painting

-Cut with scissors (TTT)

-Color with Crayons (TTT)

-Play with Clay

-Chalk

-Collage art (TTT)

Science:

-Caterpillar life cycle

-Clouds

-Grow Crystals

Math:

-Count Cars

-Cards, number recognition (TTT)

-Games: Candy Land, Chutes and Ladders, The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Cooking:

-Chocolate Chip Cookies

-Cc Muffin Tin Monday- carrots, cheese, crackers, cherry tomatoes, crasins, candy

Movement/Outside:

-Crab Craw

-Cat stretch

-Catch Ball

Social Studies:

-Canada

Cc Words:

cabbage

clown

cucumber

coconut

celery

circle

corn

cage

circus

Christmas

children

chop

cobra

crocodile

clean

cry

cook

cough

craft

can

cheerleader

cactus

cane

castle

clock

cones