Easy DIY Christmas Keepsake Ornament

On Sunday, the day directly following Halloween, I saw my first Christmas commercial. And when I ventured out to the grocery store, the shopping center was just finishing hanging up their Christmas wreaths and lights. If that doesn’t send you into a panicked tailspin, I am not sure what will! I am trying my hardest to stay way ahead of the game this year because on top of the holiday season, we are getting married in January ten hours away in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Didn’t really think that one through, did we? Actually, it’s all falling into place and we’ll get there, figuratively and literally, hopefully. But I still need to stay ahead of the holiday craze for my own sake which is why my Christmas cards are done and partially addressed, thanks to the lovely Kate Hall and her photography skills/talents and Shutterfly. Hashtag LIFESAVERS.

Sidebar: I used two “Ten Free Cards” specials and one $20 credit and I got my 30 cards for the price of shipping, which totaled out to about $18. Not too shabby. Shutterfly is great with promotions that can range anywhere from a free magnet or calendar to a fun gift like a free pack of customized playing cards. Those are also great for stocking stuffers or teacher/grandparent gifts. I received 2 separate offers for ten free cards and then got the $20 credit from Kellogg’s rewards. Kelloggs also sends you great offers and free gifts from Shutterfly and product coupons with barely any effort on your part. This will motivate me to get my act together early each year so I can take advantage of all these offers!

As much as I want to avoid jumping into the holiday season, I am starting my DIY projects early this year. A simple and fairly cheap keepsake idea are handprint ornaments. Now, I have done the salt dough deal, and I can never get them to be thin or attractive enough. I gave those bricks out (to those who really love and won’t judge me) for Lily’s first Christmas. Her footprint was so tiny! Last year, Ash got us kits to make ornaments so I combined the basic idea of that with store bought ornaments I found in my Christmas Box of Wonders.

My mom gave me two packs of these glass disc ornament last year that she didn’t use. You can find these (and bulb shape ones) at A.C. Moore, where you can also almost always find a 50-55% off coupon or some sort of great deal. You can also usually find acrylic paint 3 for $1 there so stock up on some red, green, white, and whatever other holiday color your heart desires. I used some bright blue to make the snowmen really pop on a few of the ornaments. This is a simple project that kids can help out with for almost all the steps, and is a great way to throw in a little lesson about Christmas coming from the heart and home and not just the store. Plus they’ll be so excited to show off what they made on the tree.

Step 1: Remove the top of the ornament. These things are cheap and bend, so be careful with them when you take them off and even more careful when you put them back on. Keep some damp paper towels or wipes handy cuz this could get messy. 

Step 2: Squeeze some paint into the bottom of the ornament and PUT THE LID BACK ON. I will let you learn from my mistakes (and paint soaked hands). There is a slit in the top of the lid so be careful not to let any paint leak out of there. Or just be aware that it could happen. 

Step 3: Rotate the ornament around and around and around and watch the paint move like that gooey stuff inside a lava lamp. It’s actually pretty soothing. If you need to multitask, fill up a few and just rest them upside down or on their sides. Or give them to your big helper to twist and rotate. If the paint seems to have stopped moving, add a little more. With the bulbs, you can sometimes shake the paint around, but these discs did take some time to fill. If it seems there is an excess of paint inside, remove the lid and let the excess paint out onto a paper towel or into another ornament. 

Step 4: Clean off the top of the ornament. There is a little slit at the top, so some paint may have found its way out. A damp paper towel is all you need to wipe it off.

Step 5: Have your big helper spread out their hand and paint it white. Keep their fingers spread slightly and have them press their palm towards the bottom of the ornament and their fingers toward the top. It should look like five happy snowmen on a winter’s day!

Step 6: Once the white paint is dry, you (or your helper) can add eyes and buttons and a carrot nose. I added a top hat and some bows.

Step 7: Add a ribbon and shamelessly wrap these bad boys for Grandma and Grandpa and anyone else who may enjoy them. Make sure to save one for your tree as well!

You’ve got 50 49 days left to make these. So get on it. :) 

Space Unit Part 1

Last week I went ahead and prepared a fun unit of projects, crafts, songs, and even some simple science experiments all about space! I decided to try and get back on the ball of actually writing out lesson plans and prepping for projects for the fall. We have some workbooks I will be breaking out that help with tracing shapes and letters, and attempting writing on our own. Hopefully I can keep this up (and keep the blog updated as well)! Enjoy your sneak peek into our week!

Finished products!

Tuesday

We had a slight rocky start since we all haven’t been together since Friday. Once our sharing issues were under control, we were ready to roll. We did our usual routine and update our calendar. I had to dig through my month signs to find the one for September. It is unreal that this month is here! Tristan will become a big brother at some point this month and yet it seems like just yesterday Ash told us she was pregnant! Where did this year go?! Anyway, we updated our calendar and had some free play time while I got myself organized. Then we climbed up in our chairs and talked a little bit about outer space and what we thought was out there. They knew stars were in the sky and we named some planets. I read them “The Three Little Aliens and the Big Bad Robot” while they colored in pictures of astronauts. I snapped a quick picture of them to put in the astronauts helmet and we moved on to our next project---Rocket Ship Footprints! Later today, I will be cutting out the finished products and they will be gluing these onto one big picture of space. We headed outside to soak in some rays and play in the pool while the weather is still warm enough. As a refresher of what we did a little earlier on, I asked them while they were having their popsicle snack if they could name some of the planets we talked about. They managed to remember Earth and that it was blue, the red planet Mars, and…Anus. Wow. So we need to work on that a little bit more before we start sprouting facts to the public. At least that’s a start!

Wednesday

Today started off a little lazy. Lily didn’t wake up until after 8, and Tristan was actually very content sitting on my lap and snuggling, so I ate that up and resisted the urge to run around doing a hundred other things. We watched Miles From Tomorrowland, so that at least went with our space theme! After breakfast, we did our calendar and then had some free play time while I got our project and experiment for the day ready. We used watercolors to paint different illustrated space words for a mini book we are making. I let them have the water and paints to themselves and it worked for a little bit without a mess or a fuss. We switched gears to talk about experimenting. I found one called Fizzing Jupiter that looked like fun. I didn’t quite have all the right ingredients, but I thought it was worth a shot for entertainments sake, at least. You start by mixing water and baking soda until it becomes moldable, then you add drops of vinegar until the ‘planet’ fizzes. I started off with a cup of baking soda and ¼ cup of water. I had to add a little more water slowly until I was able to mold them. The recipe called for liquid paint, which I did not have, so we just kept it white. It also called for vinegar, and all I could find was extra stinky red wine vinegar. We still tried it! I molded the dough into three balls each, all while asking what they thought would happen when we added the vinegar. I prompted them with questions like “Do you think the planets will pop, fizz, or explode? Then I gave them a dropper to drop the vinegar on. They were very serious while doing it! I would like to try this again this week with a bigger dropper, slightly less stinky vinegar, and I might use food coloring to make the balls look like planets. I think they would get a bigger kick out of it if it was on a larger scale. I also might let them mold their planets themselves, depending on the mess level the food coloring leaves behind. Always room for improvements! We cleaned up and went outside for some fresh air, then came in to get ready for nap, and read our book Earth Space Moon Base.

Thursday

I have mentioned it before and I have tried to fight the powers that be, but Thursdays are so rough! Even with tons of activities planned and constant switching gears, we get lost in the whining and hitting and being mean chaos. I was sure this week we could get past it because we weren’t together on Monday, so today would feel like a Wednesday and I had enough projects and hands on activities for the whole week but nope. You win, Thursday. We did manage to make some pretty cool alien robot spaceships out of a paper plate and a plastic cup. They decorated them with markers and stickers and were very proud of their work. We were going to make some Alien Slime/Goop or retry our experiment from yesterday, but I just couldn’t take the whining and fighting over who was singing what song. We got bathing suits on a swam a little instead. We tried reading our space story for the day, Skippyjon Jones and the Spice, but that book was kind of long and they were kind of all of the place still, so I skimmed through and then we headed for some naps. Maybe after lunch we can attempt to do some experimenting or Alien Slime play. Or they just nap until everyone gets home.

Friday

Ah the most beloved day of the week has arrived. It started off slightly rocky, but we got into gear and started with a good breakfast and some giggles, and we were back on track. We got dressed and had some free play time while I got my stuff together. I am pretty impressed that we got most of the projects and sensory things I had planned done this week! I have a few more projects and ideas for our space unit that I think I am going to carry on into next week because it is another four day week. We used our big kid table today to do our projects. We used foam circle brushes to stamp white paint on a circle to look like the moon and all of its craters. After our moons were done, we practiced writing and tracing the letter A and tracing circles. I don’t expect them to be able to write right away but they are doing such a good job trying and get really excited to use a pencil! We climbed up into our chairs for our next task---making goop. I used a different recipe than the last time I made it, so it took a couple tries of adding more of this and that (cornstarch and water) to the mixture. I added a couple drops of green food coloring and we called it our alien slime. It kept us entertained for quite some time! And the cleanup is fairly easy. You can add water and make it more like a liquid, or add more cornstarch and solidify it a little more. I stored some in a plastic bag to use next week, and it is a fun but tricky task scraping it into a ball then quickly adding it to a bag before it liquefies again! We had some snack and then headed outside for some fresh air. We read our remaining two books before nap, Harry and Horsie and Light Up the Night. We need to venture to the library and trade in some of these space books for new ones!

Have a good LDW!

Books we read:

The Three Aliens and the Big Bad Robot by Margaret McNamara and Mark Fearing

Skippyjon Jones Lost in Spice by Judy Schachner

Earth Space Moon Base by Ben Joel Price

Light Up the Night by Jean Reidy

Harry and Horsie by Katie Van Camp

Resources:

Fizzing Jupiter Experiment: http://fun-a-day.com/fun-science-space-theme-fizzing-planets/

Goop Recipe: http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Make-Goop/

Pirate Week!

Monday

Whew it is a hot one out there. We ate breakfast, watched a little TV and had some free play time, then put on our bathing suits and went outside to water the flowers and play in our pool. We were in by 9:30 but it was worth getting outside before it got too hot for us. We got dressed into our clothes for the day and updated our calendar. I cannot believe it is July 20^th already! Where is this summer year going! We did a good job counting all the way to twenty and we even remembered that it was July. We had some snack and read our first pirate book of the day, Twenty-Six Pirates by David Horowitz. Each pirate starts with a different letter and there is a cute rhyme for each one. Of course “Pirate Lee has to pee” was their favorite. After we met all twenty six pirates, we assembled our own paper plate pirate, complete with a bandana and an eye patch. Then we got ready to do an experiment. We talked about how pirates sail on the ocean and the ocean is full of saltwater and then we talked about when we swim in pools or our bathtubs, we are using freshwater. We filled two clear Tupperware containers with water, then took turns adding salt to one. We (carefully) dropped an egg into our freshwater container and it sunk straight to the bottom. But we (carefully) dropped our egg into the saltwater container, it bobbed and floated! I was all ready to tell them about how once salt is added to the water, the water’s density becomes higher than the eggs causing the egg to float, but for the first time ever, they didn’t ask why. We did practice saying the word “buoyant” a few times though! Before settling down for a story and nap, we pretended we were pirates and ran around the house looking for land, treasure, and crocodiles.

Tuesday

Today was another pleasant and fun day! We barely had any issues or fights. It’s slightly bugging me out. But I am enjoying it while it lasts. We ate breakfast, had some free play, then got dressed and started our first project/experiment of the day---making salt dough. We’ve made this before so I knew they could handle it. I got out their Mickey table and let them be ‘free’ aka non-high chaired. They took turns measuring out and pouring in the ingredients and then stirring and then rolling the dough out to a flat pancake. We took one of our play-doh toys and cut circles out of the dough and put them on a cooling rack to dry out. We are in the process of making our own treasure to fill in our not made yet treasure chest! Once the dough dries (in about two days) we will paint it gold and use it as our gold debloons, just like Jake and the Neverland Pirates (and meeeeee). After our dough was all cut out, we had snack and read our book of the day, Class Three at Sea by Julia Jarman. Another silly book about pirates trying to overtake a ship, complete with seagulls pooping and booger-nosed pirates. We finished snack and our book and played a little more. Then we were on to our next project, coloring a treasure chest and filling it with gold. While they were coloring their chests and gluing on some gold coins, I asked each of them what they would keep in their own treasure chest and I got everything from race cars (Tristan) to dog food (Lily). Then I asked where they would hide their treasure and Lily replied with “in the sea” while Tristan made me cover my eyes while he said “over there”. We did some paintings of pirates and pirate ships to complete our craft time, had some free play and TV time, then read a story and took some naps.

Wednesday

The humid sticky weather finally broke last night so we were able to really enjoy the morning today. After we ate breakfast and got dressed, we lotioned up and traveled to a new park. We played there for a good chunk of time using our listening ears and having fun. They actually put themselves in a timeout during our walk around the path. They weren’t listening to my directions to FREEZE and wait for me, then they started swatting at each other, then they both started crying they didn’t want to leave because they were being bad. But we took some deep breaths in the car and headed home for ice pops. I was proud of them for recognizing they weren’t being nice, but I felt bad for the unneeded crying and tantrums. We came home and ate some popsicles, then headed inside to talk about treasure maps. I drew up a quick one of the living room and we colored it in. Tomorrow we will be using those maps to find our treasure!

Thursday

Oh what a beautiful morning! Oh what a beautiful day! If the weather could stay like this for Lily’s birthday party Saturday, I will be as happy as a clam. We ate breakfast, did our calendar, had some free play fort building, then we sunscreened up and headed outside to enjoy the day! I wanted to assess the yard and straighten it up a little bit for the party, so we brought out the bubbles, sidewalk chalk, and opened up the sandbox. We ended up slaying bubbles for a good half hour until the bubbles ran out. It was the perfect day for bubbles! We came inside for snack and a story. Today’s story was Pirates, Ho! By Sarah L. Thomson. We talked about how pirates treasure is often called “booty” and giggled over that for a bit. Then I gave them the maps they colored (and I laminated) yesterday. On the map, there were 3 X’s where the treasure could be found. In one tiny treasure chest (made from a recycled amazon box and some hot glue) there were two packs of fruit snacks. In a second tiny treasure chest, there were ABC puzzles for us to do, and in the third large (recycled box from our case of Not Your Father’s Rootbeer) chest, was tons of booty in the form of costume jewelry, crowns, and septors. I also brought down a large Amazon box that we turned into our pirate ship! They had fun pretending to sail and loot and wear their booty. We read Pirate Boy by Eve Bunting before we took our naps to conclude our Pirate Week. Tomorrow, we are having Field Trip Friday for Lily’s 3^rd birthday! Still not sure where we are going for the day, but I am sure we will have fun

Books Used:

Twenty-Six Pirates by Dave Horowitz

Class Three at Sea by Julia Jarman

Pirate Boy by Eve Bunting

Henry and the Crazed Chicken Pirates by Carolyn Crimi

Pirates, Ho! By Sarah L. Thomson

Ode to a Saturday Morning Shower

Ode to a Saturday Morning Shower

Oh Saturday Morning Shower

I love thee so very much

The absence of a monitor

No child cries and such

Monday Tuesday Wednesday

Thursday Friday Sunday too

I usually nick my legs all up

And use soap instead of shampoo

Midweek, I do pine for you

The week almost complete

To air dry at my leisure

And put lotion on, so sweet

But Saturday showers are the greatest

While Jordan’s making eggs

My hair gets washed and conditioned

And I can shave both of my legs.

Ocean Unit Part 1

We started an Ocean Unit this week. Here are some of the books we read and some of the fun activities we did!

Books:

Curious George Chasing Waves by Alessandra Preziosi

My Octopus Arms by Keith Baker

Mister Seahorse by Eric Carle

Tuesday

Today went pretty swimmingly if I must say. (Slight pun intended for the ocean unit we started today)! We ate breakfast and got dressed BY OURSELVES which deserves a round of applause. Then we updated our calendar and talked about the month of June and the summer season. We had some free play time inside and then headed outside for some sandbox time. Some days that sandbox is not big enough for the two of them, so after three chances to get along better, we moved back indoors. We had some cups, took a few deep breaths, and got ready for snack. While the kiddos ate, I read My Octopus Arms by Keith Baker. We talked about all the things we do with our arms every day. It was very cute to watch them think about how they use their arms. We also counted our arms and compared them to the eight arms an octopus has. Then we started our TP Roll octopi by painting them purple. I am not sure why I always associate purple with octopi but both crafts I have pertaining to them are being done with purple supplies. We listened to some octopus and ocean related songs like Octopus Garden by the Beatles. After we cleaned up our trays and hands, we watched some Bubble Guppies and brainstormed what other animals live under the sea. I was shocked and proud of how many they came up with that I did not think of first and I only had to give a few hints out for the ones I was thinking of!

During nap time, I printed out a fun new game for us to try. I copy and pasted pictures of different sea creatures and under each one put an action that we all had to do. Most were things the creatures actually do, but I took some liberties, i.e. “Gallop like a seahorse!” I colored them and backed them with construction paper, and knowing how not so gentle a two year old playing a game can be, I used my Scotch Thermal Laminator to seal the deal, so to speak. I absolutely love this laminator. It was an impulse Target buy for myself and I am so glad I did. You use laminate pockets that you can buy refills of, and it is perfect for small stuff, like the projects I want to be able to hold on to for a while. After lunch and nap, we completed our octopi by gluing some googly eyes on them and then I asked if they wanted to play a game. I placed the cards faced down on the ottoman and they took turns flipping one over at a time after all three of us completed the action. It was so much fun that we played three times! My personal favorite on round 3 was “Lay like a star fish!” Hopefully this can be a game we can use for this unit, and I can add to it for other units as well as just for a fun extra game when we’re all a little bored!

Wednesday

Whew we had a non-stop morning! I wanted to make oceans in bottles as our science investigation yesterday, but I did not have enough vegetable oil for us. After we ate breakfast today, the kiddos helped me funnel our ingredients into their tiny water bottles. I sealed the cap with a layer of Elmer’s glue followed by a layer of glue gun glue. We let those dry while we got dressed and had some free play time and updated the calendar. Then we started on our second project of the day which was gluing suction cups (Cheerios) onto our octopus drawings! Lily kept breaking her Cheerios so she could eat them and Tristan’s strategy was to stare at me until I turned my head, then would pop one in his mouth real fast. They came out cute and we practiced our counting by first counting the arms, then our suction cups. Once we were finished eating our leftovers, we got our bathing suits on and headed outside. I had filled some water balloons for something new to do, and they could not wait to try. We had a water balloon toss briefly that turned into chucking the balloon at the opponent’s feet so it would explode. There were no tears or tantrums when the balloons were gone, which I was very thankful for, so we had a nice snack of popsicles, then headed inside to get changed and warm up. We played a quick round of our Animal Creature Action game, watched a little bit of TV, then read My Octopus Arms and got ready for nap. After nap and lunch, I painted their piggies for a little Father’s Day project I am working on.

Thursday

It has been a gray and rainy day around these parts and we’ve all been sluggish because of it. I am pretty sure the clock stopped a few times too. Lily even slept in until 8:30 which is pretty rare nowadays during the week. Usually she’s up once Tristan gets here. We ate breakfast in shifts, then got ready to do our calendar. It’s the perfect day for some free play and some TV time so I let them pick out what toys they wanted and what show they wanted to watch. Usually I use this time to run around and get things done, but today, I sat with them and finished a cup of coffee before 9AM, which is also a rare occurrence. I spread some poster paper on the floor and we drew an ocean scene on it until we started fighting over the crayons. We did manage to talk about what lived in the ocean vs what does not live in the ocean (like cows, monkeys, bears, etc). We cleaned up and at some snack and then while the kiddos played with some play dough, I put the finishing touches on our Father’s Day projects. We played a few rounds of our Ocean Creature Action game (not sure what to call that thing) before picking books out to read before nap. Hopefully tomorrow is nicer and it motivates me to get my butt moving!

Friday

Every week should be a four day week! This morning had its ups and downs. We ate breakfast and got dressed, then stripped down to our undies and smocks to paint in yet another new way…with water guns! I used powered tempera paint mixed with water to fill little water guns and they aimed at their targets—seahorses cut from paper plates. I used a trifold project board (from the Dollar Store) as a back drop and they had a blast! The purple was very vibrant, whereas the green was a little faint, but they both still had fun. I need to find more of this stuff to use for painting. We came inside and put our bathing suits on and then headed back out to play in the pool and water the flowers. After we had our popsicle snack, we came inside and read Mr. Seahorse and settled down for our naps. We might venture to the library after nap to pick up some books I put on hold for next week’s lessons. But we’ll see how motivated we are after nap! Today’s naptime agenda includes putting the final touches on our Father’s Day presents (you can read about them here) and maybe sneaking in a chapter or two of my book.

Enjoy the weekend! And Happy Father’s Day out there to all those dads, granddads, goddads, moms who play the role of dads...etc! 

Simple Father's Day Craft and Card!

As usual, I start pinning for holidays and events far in advance and then a week before it's 'due', I make a mad rush for the Dollar Store or a craft store to whip up something fun and creative. Not much has changed about me in my procrastination ways since college. Or elementary school. For Father's Day this year, I had a few ideas pinned that I wanted to try, mostly involving footprints. Cliche, I know, but I think about how fast they are growing now and soon they aren't going to want me painting their feet for cards and projects. And to be honest, their feet are starting to stink a little more each day!

During my recent trip to the Dollar Store, I managed to snag the last two DIY-decorating travel mugs on the shelf. It was fate. I decided to make Tristan's foot into a tractor and Lily's into a guitar. (I wanted to include some sort of pun on Jordan's and found a cartoon of a piano telling a guitar not to fret. This turned into "Don't fret...I love you Daddy!") I know, I am a nerd. Anyway, the travel mug came with a paper to decorate, so I simply traced that and used that as a guide for making a picture to put back in. Well, as usual, I wasn't running on all cylinders and managed to design BOTH papers upside down. I cut and trimmed and glued to a different piece of paper and BAM crisis averted. They came out pretty cute and I am excited for the kids to give them to Jordan and RJ. 

We also made simple cards that look like a shirt and tie. I did all the cutting and gluing and then the kiddos did all the decorating. The construction paper is also from the Dollar Store. Simple, easy, and adorable and affordable. The way we like it!! Happy Father's Day!

Little Red Hen Unit

Monday

Oh Mondays. We started off a little shaky this morning, but we managed to turn things around pretty quickly with help from YouTube, G-ma’s Kindle Firestick and some shows that are not available on our TV for free. Crisis averted! We all cheered up and ate some breakfast, then got dressed and hung out a little bit longer, watching some TV and videos we liked. Some days you just have to go with what will make everyone happy! I had written lesson plans and had ideas in my head for project prep, but we had a busy weekend so I never got around to it. Oops! I had quickly cut out some shapes for the kids to glue together with glue sticks to make their very own Little Red Hens when I woke up this morning, which wasn’t the first project I had planned but it was the simplest. After we did our calendar, I got out the little table for them to use for project. Another quick fix for grumpy moods is slightly changing up the routine to something they enjoy doing or using. We read The Little Red Hen, then started our project. I helped them place the bodies on their papers, but let them decide where everything else went. I love seeing their final abstract creations. We tried to have some piano time while I searched for worksheets on sequencing events of the book for them, but that ended quickly once a fight broke out, so we just colored some blank pages instead. They drew me their adaptations of the books and then explained to me what each line on the paper was. We had snack and then got our bathing suits on for some pool time. Jordan had let Lily cross contaminate the pool and the sandbox this weekend so of course she wanted to do it again. I gave in because I am trying to work on my OCD. And I knew they would really enjoy it. Don’t get me wrong, I love the beach and I love sand and water, and I don’t mind getting dirty or letting them get dirty, but not so much when it comes to trying to get it out of every crevice before returning inside. We finished the morning off with some popsicles in the sun while we dried off, then came inside for some stories and nap.

Tuesday

Today was definitely a relaxed one to start. The weather is gray and yucky and we were all feeling a little lazy. We watched some TV and had some free play time for a little bit after breakfast. Once we got moving, we cleaned up and did our chores and then watched Super Why’s episode about the Little Red Hen. It was very cute to see them compare Red’s problem with Little Red Hen’s problem, and then compare the story we read with the story Wyatt helped retell. In our story, there is a pig, a duck, and a cat, and in this story, the pig was replaced with a dog. It was slightly mindblowing at first for them, but they moved on! While they watched the episode, they colored a worksheet I found on sequencing the events that occur in the story. The pictures are a little different than what our book shows, so I am not sure when we attempt to put them in order how it will go, but the fun part is trying! Our second project of the day was talking about the life cycle of a hen via pictures then gluing those pictures in order on a large egg. The hen stage was completely by painting their hands and using their handprint. They came out really cute and it was a simple project to explain the life of a hen. We read some books and took some naps.

Wednesday

We made it to the middle of the week! It also happens to be absolutely gorgeous out right now so all is good in the world. We had a busy morning and stayed on task pretty well! We ate our breakfast then we helped bake a cake, unlike the characters in the Little Red Hen story. Lily and Tristan were both big helpers making a cake so we can celebrate Tristan’s mommy’s birthday later tonight! They also helped clean up and got dressed with being asked only half a dozen times versus the usual four dozen. After we were all dressed and ready to go, and the cake was out of the oven, we took a nice long walk in the stroller. I cut down our time from last week by 2 whole minutes, so we were flying! When we got home, we loaded up into the car with our new balls from Aunt Lyss and headed to the ‘spider web’ park. The grass was a little high (and we have noticed a lot more ticks this year) so we opted to play on the playground and climb the spider web for the majority of the time we were there. We played catch for a little bit and had some snack, then went right back to climbing. I am so impressed with how fast they caught on to climbing the ropes and also how brave they both are! We came home and read some books and got ready for nap. After nap and lunch, the kiddos helped me shuck some corn. They pretended to be the Little Red Hen’s friends and say “NOT I” when I asked, which was fun, but they were so excited to be able to help!

Thursday

The only thing worse than a Thursday is a Thursday that feels like a Friday. Whomp whomp. We ate breakfast and got dressed this morning while watching some TV. I asked what they wanted to play with and they chose our play food to have a picnic. I took this time to straighten up and decide what my plan for the day was. It already started drizzling and was quite chilly so a walk was out of the options, along with the park. I was considering a trip to the library, but I ran out of my allergy medicine yesterday and my head was feeling it. I decided to skip to Friday’s lesson plan and make salt dough, and just to switch things up a bit, we ran to Giant to get our ingredients along with more Allegra. I curse the car carts at food stores. Luckily there was one in the cart return so I parked right next to it and snagged it. Then inside, I set out with my plan but as usual got sidetracked. Of course because it’s Thursday and we’ve had enough of each other, every time one of them moved a foot or arm too close to the other, head butting or pushing occurred, causing me to almost slam into random displays set up in the aisles. We stopped at the lobsters before jetting out of there before we caused any more chaos. Once we were home and snacked, we took turns helping stir up the salt dough. There was a slight mishap with the flour and Tristan ended up covering half himself, but we laughed through that and shook it off literally (outside). We used our play dough toys to cut out shapes and I had intentions on baking them and letting them paint what the made later today, but that didn’t happen. I was also trying to make their foot print or hand print of thumbprint to bake, but the dough wasn’t cooperating and I gave up. The best laid plans or whatever that saying is. We shall try again someday! 

Friday

Woo! Nothing sweeter than the Friday of a nice little three day weekend AND Jordan and Ash will be home early! Clearly, we kept it simple today. We hung around and packed for the cabin and cleaned up around the house. I’ve been trying to give them more responsibilities, like wiping their trays or moving their high chairs back, or helping me sweep. They love to help so I really need to utilize that and train them young! We took a nice long stroller walk and returned our library books. They were pretty good considering the detours we took to make sure I got my 3 miles in so we played outside in the sandbox and with hula hoops when we got home. We read The Little Red Hen again before nap, except to see if they were paying attention, I would add in different events or animals. They were cracking up and also very focused on the story.

Have a fun (hopefully) three day weekend! 

Little Red Hen Unit Lesson Plans

Since we’ve finished our ABCs and are using our calendar to learn our 123s, I decided our next focus will be on different books we can get from the library, using ones with a lesson that we can use in our own day to day activities. For the first unit, I have chosen The Little Red Hen. We are using Byron Barton’s version. We read his adaptation of Goldilocks and the Three Bears a few weeks ago, and I like his simple pictures and easy wording. I found a bunch of activities via Pinterest to pair along with the book, and I looked up some other titles that also have a ‘helping others’ theme. I wrote up some lesson plans for the week (that I probably won’t follow in order) to keep me on track for what projects I want to do, what fine and gross motor tasks I want to work on, and a general focus skill for the kids to pick up on. I included my plans and I will update at the end of the week with pictures of our finished projects, and how things went!

Helping Others

May 18-May 22

Book of the Week: Little Red Hen – Byron Barton

Related Books for the week: Little Blue Truck, Little Miss Helpful

Monday May 18

Art & Sensory: Making our own Little Red Hens out of shapes

Fine Motor: Using a glue stick to glue the hen together

Language: How did the Little Hen feel when her friends wouldn’t help her?

Music & Movement: Hellabaloo Game

Focus Skill: Helping others

Tuesday May 19

Art & Sensory: Life Cycle of a Chicken (gluing)

Fine Motor: Gluing parts of the life cycle to another paper

Language: Talking about the life cycle of a chicken

Music & Movement: Walking on a ‘tightrope’ (carpenter’s tape) across the floor

Focus Skill: Helping others

Wednesday May 20

Art & Sensory: Coloring in pictures of events that happened during the book

Fine Motor: Using glue sticks to glue the events in order

Language: Talking about the order of the events in the book, using key words like first, second, last

Music & Movement: Chicken Dance

Focus Skill: Helping others

Thursday May 21

Art & Sensory: Red Hen Handprint Picture

Fine Motor: Putting up the pieces of the story on the felt board

Language: Retelling the Little Red Hen story ourselves with the felt board

Music & Movement: Cosmic Yoga

Focus Skill: Helping others

Friday May 22

Art & Sensory: Making bread like the Little Red Hen (salt dough)

Fine Motor: Kneading the salt dough to the right consistancy

Language:  Who will we share our dough with? Who helped us?

Music & Movement: Shape and Color Hunt

Focus Skill: Helping others

Another week in the books...

Monday

Wow what a beautiful (and warm) day! We started off by taking our long walk while our mini pool warmed up! We have a bigger tarp + PVC pipe pool somewhere in the garage, but for now, this baby pool and recyclables will do just fine! When we were finished with pool time, we filled our bottles up and watered all G-Ma’s plants! Then we finished off the fun with ice pops. The sights, smells and tastes of summer are upon us! We came inside and painted a little more of our Mother’s Day presents, and then settled in for some nice, long pool induced naps!

Tuesday

Another warm day! We took our walk while our pool water warmed up a bit, then we came back and got changed into our bathing suits. It wasn’t quite as warm as yesterday, so we didn’t stay in too long. We had some popsicles and watered the flowers and then came inside to play with our stacking/building manipulatives. I picked up two more sets of them from Target’s dollar bins so we made a big bridge and a very tall tower. These are a toy that I probably enjoy more than they do, but they had fun waiting til I built something tall so they could smash it.

Wednesday

It was slightly chillier today so we opted for some sandbox time after our walk. We used our new trucks to push sand around and build castles. We played with our hula hoops for a bit. We all need some practice with those and I am sure any car or person passing by got quite a show, but it was silly and we had fun! We saw two bunnies hiding under the boat, so we practiced sitting very quietly and watching them before having our snack outside. We’ve been practicing sitting at the big kid table vs our high chairs for snack, and it makes me appreciate everything the high chair does for me i.e. keeping them in one spot so I can pee/clean/sit for a moment. We came inside and took good naps after reading a few stories. We have to get to the library soon and pick out some new books to read before nap!

Thursday

We started off today by rocking out with our instruments. It got quite loud and crazy in here, but Thursdays stink so I thought maybe switching up our game plan would negate some of the crazy that occurs. I was sort of wrong, but they were able to channel their energy into pounding on drums and crashing symbols. I was able to sip my coffee and get to my ohm place before that started, so it was all good. We did some projects to help out prep for VBS. We created some campfires using different materials. The first one we did was simply construction paper that we glued together with gluesticks and then glued onto a toilet paper and paper towel roll set up. For the second one, we used markers to color on coffee filters and then sprayed them with water to spread the color around. That was a little messy and a lot of fun! We glued that fire to some popsicle sticks we colored brown. We took a walk after that and then played outside in the sandbox for a little bit to finish other projects. We put the finishing touches on our Mother’s Day projects, and got ready for nap. While the kiddos were asleep, I put my finishing touches on their Mother’s Day planters! They came out very cute and I can't wait to give them to our Grandma's!

Friday

Alas, the weekend is just about upon us! We started today off with a nice three mile walk! Tristan now loves to keep track of how far we are going (29 miles) and in which direction we are headed. I use my Fitbit app to keep track of how far we go, and he loves hearing our mile mark and the time. After we (well, I) got some exercise and steps in, we headed back home to fill up the pool and go swimming! We have been using recycled items for pool toys, and they absolutely love pouring water from their ketchup bottles to their creamer bottles and onto G-Ma’s flowers! My goal for this weekend at some point is to explore and reorganize our summer swag and brainstorm new and exciting things to play with outside. I think a sprinkler and some water guns are needed this year! Our snack of choice now is popsicles, obviously so we ate those with some juice boxes while we dried off. We came inside and warmed up by snuggling, then read a book and got ready for nap. Hopefully this afternoon is an easy one and we can start the weekend with big smiles!!

Have a fun weekend! And happiest of Mother’s Days to all you moms out there! 

Lazy Week!

Tuesday

After being a part for a few days, Frick and Frack were right back on schedule, playing together like they hadn’t seen each other in years! We had our breakfast and got dressed, then did our usual quick house clean up. We had a mini dance party and then got our shoes and socks on and went for a nice walk. We stayed outside and played in the sandbox and with chalk and bubbles for a little bit until we got chilly. We came inside for snack and added a second coat of paint to our clay pots. We had our snack and read some of our library books and then got ready for a nice nap. 

Wednesday

We started today off with breakfast, piano time, and then a nice long walk! On our way home from our walk we stopped at the playground and ran around a little bit. They love to climb the ‘rock’ wall and slide down the big slide now. It is also amusing to see how they interact with other children. Lily usually tries to get someone to follow her, while Tristan is busy policing the area, telling kids to do the right thing and “no sit on the slide!” He is also Lily’s protector when she is talking to other kids. He stands and glares at them until Lily introduces him. We walked back home and continued to play outdoors. The weather is back to being just how we like it! I attempted to have them paint some clay flower pots red for more Mother’s Day gifts, but it’s so hard to stay in your chair when the sun is out and the wind is blowing! We ate our snack and had some juice boxes, then came inside to nap. As soon as nap, lunch, and potty time was over, we headed right back out to soak in some more rays!

Thursday

Thursdays are our tough ones. We started out a little rocky and cranky this morning. They forget how to use their words by this point in the week and it takes some reminding. It’s so frustrating to watch them fight over basically nothing, but they’re two, so we’re trying to work on taking a step back and calling for me, or using our words to work out the problem. I have also been trying to keep a calm and even tone while resolving these issues even though sometimes they make me want to scream. Or cry. We found some yoga OnDemand that we tried, but it wasn’t as fun and exciting as the Cosmic Yoga we’ve come to love. It did calm us down though. I decided to cure the morning grumpies with a nice long stroller walk. I also promised Lily and Tristan if they were good, we could stop at the playground on the way home. When we were almost home, I asked if they wanted to try a new playground for a change. We grabbed our cups and my keys and bag and headed down the road to a new playground that other than one little girl, all ours! It doesn’t have too much equipment, but it has a huge rope spiderweb for the kiddos to climb. It also is next to a huge field, and the picnic tables now have tents over them. We had a lot of fun running around and playing. On the way home, we all got a special treat at Dunkin Donuts. I filled up my iced coffee cup and Lily and Tristan shared some munchkins. We came home and took very good naps!

Friday

Today started off a little shaky again. The lovelies are at the point where they get mad at the other for looking at them or singing or talking to them. Always a good time that ends with high pitched screams and crying. We are working on a way to calm ourselves and I am working on ways to distract them when I see those moments on the horizon. It is a work in progress for all of us! We got dressed and had some free play until we couldn’t handle that anymore. I put on a few songs for the kids to dance to while I got in a few exercises. It’s next to impossible to do any sort of exercising without one of them hanging on me or poking their little face under me while I plank or attempt a push up. But it makes it a little more interesting and fun because working out stinks! After we grew bored with dancing, we put our shoes on and went for another looooong walk. They were very good during the whole trip and let me take the long way, so we stopped at the park on the way home and did some climbing, swinging, and running. I cannot get over how big they are and how much more than can do on the playground without help. They used the big kid swings today and I got a little teary eyed. They were ready to leave without an issue and helped me push the stroller back to the road. We were going to paint when we got home, but we ran out of time. I have some projects and activities for next week that we’ll start doing after we get dressed that way we don’t waste any of our outside time that we all enjoy so much! We ate snack, did our potty routine, then read a few books before getting ready for nap. I love how this outside time makes the naptime easier. And I love that I can get to almost 10,000 steps before noon! Double bonus!

This weekend is supposed to be beautiful so hope you all can get outside and enjoy it!!

Earth Day and other spring projects

Monday

Nothing like a rainy Monday to provoke a sluggish start. We stayed in our PJs a little longer than normal and watched the rain soak the patio from their window seat. They were pretending to feed each other popcorn as if they were an old married couple at the movies. Once we got moving, we cleaned up our weekend messes and shook our sillies out. We brought out all of the dress up clothes and played with them for a little bit. Then we ate our special mini cupcake snack and started painting our birdhouses.

Tuesday

Another beautiful day in the neighborhood. While we waited for the sun to come out this morning, we painted our birdhouses and talked about what birds or animals might come eat there. Tristan is convinced a tiny goose with inhabit his. And I hope one does! We took a nice walk and then came home to play in the sandbox, with bubbles, and with chalk. Their new favorite thing to do outside is talk to ants and bugs. After we were tired out from outside, we headed in for some snack and to read our book of the week, Alphabet Trucks. It's become Tristan's favorite!

Wednesday

Happy Earth Day! We have been talking about flowers and how they grow, and painting bird houses to help the birds, so I tied this in with a mini Earth Day lesson. We talked about cleaning up after ourselves (inside and out) and how to recycle things that can be used again. We even walked some cans and bottles out to our new recycling bin. We also used pipe cleaners and cheerios to make some bird and squirrel feeders. We sat and waited sort of patiently for them, but shockingly no animals came near the window with two kids yelling for them! We took a nice long walk and pointed out the different types of flowers we saw, and then played in the sandbox until nap time.

Thursday

Sometimes Thursdays are the roughest! We started out okay but then had to

make a run to Giant which was slightly chaotic. They are usually pretty good 

listeners when it comes to getting dressed, putting on shoes, and picking up their toys but today it was like pulling teeth. Getting them to the car 

was pretty easy, as was getting them in and back out and into the cool car

shopping cart that I can never steer without knocking into something took a little work, but we made it to self checkout without an issue. Then I couldn’t find my bonus card, the woman was trying to give me a free disposable bag (?) for 

Earth Day as Lily was trying to climb out of the car and Tristan attached 

himself to the woman’s leg. Whew. We came back home and considered outside time but it’s pretty windy and chilly today. Once we were inside and settled, they managed to keep themselves entertained for a little bit while I did some chores. Once fighting started to happen, we moved to our seats and ate some 

snack and got ready to do project. Today we made some spring wreaths to 

hang on our doors. I had large foam flowers and foam stickers we glued and 

stuck to a circle I cut out of cardboard. They came out pretty cute!

Friday

Alas, Friday. Yesterday was a rough one. But we made it and now we are that 

much closer to the weekend. A three day weekend for us complete with 

Sesame Street Live tonight and then the cabin until Monday. It is very much 

needed! Today was a free play kind of day. We sang some songs and did our 

exercises after breakfast. We played with some toys we haven’t seen in a while. 

We even tried to watch a new TV show or two, just to switch things up. For our 

project, we began to paint clay flower pots for some cute Mother’s Day gifts we 

will be mass producing! Hopefully the rest of the day will go on pretty smoothly 

and we can get the weekend started!

Have a good one everybody! I am going to attempt to get a chunk of wedding related things situated and hopefully one of those things will include a blog update for all of you who are on the edge of your seats! :)