Keeping Active

So I said I was going to try to be better at house keeping, I am proud to say that I have done my dishes every day, and been doing at least a load of laundry a day too (that are not cloth diapers) I also decided it was time to lose the 20 some odd pounds I put on after Tiny was born, that's right AFTER I only have 4 pounds to lose from my pregnancy, the rest are from before and after. Le Sigh.

So I know that I am BAD at giving up food, and I remember seeing one of those "the more you know" commercials that said eating a healthy breakfast helps you weigh less, so do eating whole grains, and obviously cutting out "junk" now this is the hard part for me. "Junk" is not just sweets for me, or even potato chips, junk can also be me having a salty craving and eating an entire can of black olives on a whim. Yes I can see you over there making that disgusted look, but I don't say anything about some of the things you think are tasty and I think are beyond retched. But I also LOVE healthy foods like veggies and salads, my sister teases that I make them unhealthy with the amount of ranch I douse them in, and I always assumed she was right, but honestly I don't. I am also switching to "light" ranch as soon as I have finished using the 2 bottles in the pantry. I also stole her "secret" recipe for low cal veggie ranch dip, with is a 16oz tub of fat free sour cream and a packet of ranch dip powder, mix it up and leave it over night in the fridge to "get friendly", as those tv chefs say. I can eat 10 carrots and 10 green olives with a tbls and 1/2. That is a 107 cal snack. 50 of which is my green olives *Heart my vinegary foods*

So to help me on my journey to health I needed help. I am BAD at REMEBERING that I'm on a diet. I know I know I should remember, but then I get bored, or hungry, or have a random craving and find myself zombie like mowing threw something I really shouldn't eat, or should only eat so much of. So I made myself a "sticker chart" of sorts. I get X's in boxes for good behavior and get .25 towards a Mommy only fund. And I get blacked out boxes for bad behavior (junk food, ect) and I have to give up .50 from my mommy money. I also found a website and app called myfitnesspal. I LOVE it!

It helps you set goals and tells you how many calories you are allowed to eat in a day, you add in exercise you do and it gives you bonus calories. I think this is what motivates me. I'm given 1300 calories in a day. This seemed like SO MUCH, until I started adding "recipes" for my favorite foods. Yeah, no wonder I'm fat! If I don't go out for more walks (its summer and hot so our walks have tapered off) or SOMETHING then I don't burn calories and can't eat. Insert sad face here. So I look at that remaining calorie counter as a challenge. Hmm, well I just did house work, how many did I burn. Uh-huh, well I just spent 20 mins in the back yard WEEDING, what now. And then there is a feature that lets you see what fitness pal friends are doing, like Friend burned 700 calories today! and I look at my 300 and think, hmmm. What else can I do today to bump that number up. I am reminded of being in my weight lifting class in high school with 2 of my best friends. We were super competitive with each other. At first our teacher did not believe that we were doing reps of 300-500 calf raises, but we were, we had to one up each other constantly.

So to challenge my computerized nemesis (and new best friend) I chose to take the boys on a long walk today. At first I said 20 mins, then I pushed it to 30. I was SO proud of myself, pushing a 60 lbs load (preschooler and big stroller) and carrying a 19 lb baby on my back. I KNOW I burned more than the app is giving me credit for, but that's OK. I had my low cal veggie and vinegar snack, I am looking at dinner now. Im trying to add in more recipes that I can make quick and easy that are not canned. I also need to see about a few of my FAVORITES for this fall. During the fall and winter we are big on home made ground beef stew (my sister the genius because I hated the texture of beef chunks) and lasagna, shepards pie, ect, ect. These don't sound very healthy to me, I also have a hard time stopping when I start eating these delicious meals.

I guess I need a treadmill, then I can walk as I eat the bad stuff...

So how are all of you keeping active out there?

Motherhood Humor

I need to print this out and put it on my fridge, and door, and vanity mirror. Just to remind myself how true it is, and that's its ok not to be perfect.

Motherhood and Serenity

Five days ago I packed myself and 2 small children, as well as all our luggage onto a train for a 4 hour ride. Yes I now realized the pure insanity in this! As the miles flew past my frustration grew and grew until I was ready to scream at the world. After our very very long trip I repack our little cart with all our luggage, strap the baby to my back and buckle the harness to Sam and we head to our destination, only mere blocks from the train station... All up hill. I don't mean, oh this is a little more difficult to walk. I mean bent nearly in half to have the leverage to push the cart up the hill, while wearing an 11 month old baby and leading a 5 year old child. I was already at my wits end by the time we stepped off the train. I am truly surprised I made it at all, but there was that stubborn streak that refused to be defeated.

We reach our destination, my best friend, and the boys' godmother's, apartment. A 3rd floor walk up with steep rickety stairs. For the first time in my life I stood waiting un awkwardly. Knowing I looked out of place, knowing that people were staring, and I didn't care. I didn't have the energy left for it. After what seemed hours, and was less than 10 mins, Bekah arrived home from work and carried most of the stuff up the stairs, giving me a much needed break. She even watched the children as I showered and washed off the sweat of frustration and exertion from my body.

But that night Sam regressed to his terrible bedtime behavior and I fought him for HOURS to lay down, eventually it was Bekah that coaxed and bribed him to bed. After a week of excellent behavior I felt like an utter failure again. Bekah reassured me it was the change of scenery and the new excitement that comes with it, but I was dubious.

I felt this was a less than good start to our 5 day vacation and that it all seemed so bleak as I could not handle this nightly. But finally he fell asleep, and eventually I did too.

The next day we went thrift shopping (a favorite pass time of ours) and I came across a book, one that is hardly a secret, but one I never thought to pick up before. "Chicken soup for the mother's soul" I had been deeply fond of the teenager ones when I was younger and grabbed it on a whim as it was only $1.50. I began reading it and with each story my stress and frustration building over the last year and a half slowly washed away on a tide of tears. I encountered women much like myself, imperfect and ignorant of what to do. Sharing stories that either touched my heart, or made me think of our lives. Others gave me ideas of how to be a better mother. As Bekah had to work much of the time we were there I spent my days making sure her immaculate home wasn't destroyed by my 5 year old tornado like ours has been. I  hand washed dishes each day and spent time with my children and time reading quietly.

I began to feel a sense of contentment and peace within myself, finding that I COULD be that kind of mother, the one that keeps a perfect home and still does other things (This has inspired me to try harder at home, you will likely hear my adventures in this endeavor) I felt myself reminded that I chose to have my children because I loved them, I remembered what a gift I had been given in these amazing little boys. I also got to enjoy a little Skype and see the love of my life and hear his voice for the first time in 2 months. I was better able to handle the things Sam did that had been causing so much anger and frustration only days before. On the long drive home (no train thank god) we played games like I spy and Highway ABCs and that peace in my heart and soul remained. I found more joys in the shear brilliance of my oldest son, and the heart warming love for my youngest at the sounds of his babble and snores.

I feel like vacation only gave me part of this serenity, I feel that reading this book has helped me even more. I wonder what other inspirations there are for me to find, I also wonder if I will remember to look for them when I feel that frustration building again.

"Bed Time" Warning: Slightly religious

 

I want to tell you about our bed time routine. Bed time since Justin left for Alaska has been HELL. Sam fights and misbehaves and does everything he can to make me angry in hopes that I will give up and let him stay up. I won't get into the frustrating details but it can take hours to get him t g to bed.

 

Tonight we followed his bedtime routine that he set. I carried him to bed (yes, I carry a 40 lb boy to bed every night) I gave him hugs and kisses, then he gave me hugs and kisses, and then I snuggled him for awhile. As we lay there he told me that we hadn't prayed yet. I want to let you know that this isn't something that I started. I have taught him about God through the bible stories that I grew up reading, but we are more of a spiritual family than a religious one. But last month we were very tight on food and money to get food until the next pay day. So we prayed over every meal that God would help us make it last until the next time we were able to buy more. We never an out and I kept coming up with random ideas to use what we had. But after we were able to get more the prayers tapered off. Until 3 nights ago. Three nights ago as we lay in his bed snuggling he said "Mommy, we haven't prayed in a long time" I had thought he said PLAYED, so I was hurt, we had played with blocks with his brother earlier that day. And eventually he took my hands in his and made  circle and said "no mommy, when we hold hands at the table and make a circle and talk to God"

 

That night he asked me if we could talk to God more, and we did, we prayed that Sam would be able to control himself and behave well and stay in bed, and that God could help mommy not to be angry as often (over his misbehavior) and we closed the prayer with "Amen"

 

Last night Sam started asking to say a part of the prayer, I always say th same thing, more as a reminder to both Sam and I then as a true prayer. I want Sam to remember to control himself (he says that he can't) and I want to remember to take a few deep breaths and to hold my temper that has become shorter lately. But he adds in his 4 year old Sam things, like getting to see Auntie tomorrow, even though he knows he can't. I will direct him to be fair to God and not ask for things Sam knows cannot happen, and simply to ask to see Auntie again soon. Tonight he asked God to give him magic, I had to laugh, because it's so Sam, he believes in the magic of the world and God, and so do I.

 

I think this is the continuation of him wishing at the fountain at the hospital and doctors office we take his brother to. Each time he always wishes that brother will get better and not have to get poked any more. So I just want to remind you that whether you are religious or not, children believe in magic, whether its fairies or God. So make this part of your routine, whether you are making firefly wishes or prayers, let your children express what is in their hearts, it will help you to better understand them, and tem to understand you.

The Good Behavior Store

So I have been telling you about our Behavior Bucks (BB) and that Sam can earn these with good behavior and by helping around the house. He also had to behave really well for the store to open. Today we opened the store and he had nearly earned all of the BB I had. He had been fined for bad behavior in the last few weeks, but after 3 nights in a row without fighting bed time I felt it was time to show him what he was behaving for.

 

As you can see we didn't do anything fancy, I have been hiding these in the trunk of my car and just pulled them out while he was eating dinner and priced them. I KNEW he had earned a lot so I priced the ones I thought he would want pretty high, but he surprised me.

 

We have been working on our counting and numbers so he actually recognized the number 5 an that the others were MUCH higher than that, so he decided that he would buy as many of those as he could!

 

 



I made him count out his money and pay (each bill I worth 1 as I didn't want to confuse him at only 4 years old) and he did great the first few times, when he chose to buy a few things over 10 BB he lost interest in counting in his excitement over his new toy.

 

 



Styling is new shades

 

 



Even though it was late by the time we finished I felt he needed time to whined down and play with his new toys. So we set up his Snakes and Ladders game and played. He actually won with no cheating and without me letting him, then he very sweetly asked told me that he as sorry that I lost. I haven't spoken much about it but Sam has been acting out like crazy in the last few months, and behaving poorly for the last year. It all changed after we moved. This little boy who told me he was sorry I lost is the first glimpse I've had of the Sam from before.

Summer

Who knew summer would be busier than any other season? I sure didn't. I also never took into account that it would take more than a simply sign up form to get my son into preschool. *Sigh* I have all the paperwork at long last. Sort of. I need to find and make copies of his birth certificate... Yeah, so once I find that I send it all in and he's in right? I sure hope so. Its not like I'm applying to a high class private preschool with a long line of Ivy league grads marching through. Its a simple program put on through the college.

Now you might be wondering why I am putting him into a public school even though I have been home schooling him. The answer is simple, my sanity. Sam is a very active social child. I am not an active social person. I am very happy to stay home with my babies and not talk to a real person (sorry online mom friends, you're not real if I cant see you in person) Tiny (the baby) and I are both happy to be less social, but Sam was a day care kid for 3 years, he thrives of interaction with other children his age.

Add to my non active (this does not mean lazy, it simply means I don't feel the need to run around, or go out to places. I am a bookworm at heart and have always been the one to sit and play to read quietly) and the fact that it is hot outside (I don't do well with heat, it makes me grumpy and sick) This makes for a very unhappy Sam. He wants to run and jump and yell. I want us to snuggle in the air conditioned room with books and quiet movies. This also means not talking through the movies. We are not a "good fit" as they put it. our personalities are very different.

I'm sorry if this sounds like I'm complaining, I just want to be as honest as I can be here. I feel like we are expected to smile and pretend that its easy to be a parent and that we still live in the 50s where mom got up, dressed, and all make-up'd before she made breakfast and got the family off to school. I can't do that. I can't even remember to set the table and do the dishes daily.

Behavior

Now we all know that kids act out when their world changes, whether it be moving, a new baby, daycare, teacher, ect. In our home its Justin going to Alaska and other family related issues. He has been acting out since Justin left and has expressed "hating" Alaska because it take shim away from us. Now I tried punishment, time outs, corner time, ect. I even tried spanking (no judgment form you non spankers) none of it worked. I started taking classes in Love and Logic parenting and they make a big emphasis on rewarding positive behavior, so we came up with a sticker chart.

Now sticker charts are great for keeping track of things, whether it be chores or simply good behavior. Sam loses toys for bad behavior or not treating them properly and then has to earn them back with good behavior. It worked for awhile, but we needed something a little more tangable for him.

I got the idea while we were in the dollar store a few weeks ago. He kept asking for things, things I would normally get him, but after his HORID behavior the week up to that day it just wasn't happening, then I saw a package of play money. And thus behavior bucks were born. He earns very real rewards towards "buying" those dollar store goodies he so desperately wanted, including more fun art supplies.

Now we have a little store set up and he earns BB for good behavior at the doctors office, in the grocery store, in the car, ect, and for helping with chores around the house. He gets more for behavior than chores. And here is the important part, he gets fined for poor behavior. If he refuses to listen and time out isn't working he gets fined. Even worse (to him) is the fact that bad behavior makes it so the behavior store stays closed longer.

Don't be afraid to over price those dollar store toys either. He sure isn't getting them for a single BB, I made that paint set he wants 15 BB. For simplicity's sake all play dollars are worth 1 BB regardless of value printed on it. When he gets older, if this is still needed, it will become more complex.

All of this does more than just teach him to behave better. I am helping my 4 year old learn some economics, as well as consequences. Teaching him about not following rules resulting in monetary fines will help teach him to follow the rules of the road BEFORE that first speeding ticket.

Give it a try. I started all of this for under $20 and you can too. Let me know how it works for you!

Letter of the Day

I should just change my name to Mia, I've been MIA for so long! Its been pretty stressful over here the past few weeks. With Justin going to Alaska and the baby's health and dealing with family problems it was easy to not get on and post. But I am back (for now) and have something fun to share!

The Letter of the Day!
Nope, not just for sesame street any more folks! We were wondering the schools and art supply isle at walmart and found notebook paper size magnetic white board for only 50 cents! So I grabbed it, there are SO many things I can do with that. And its been sitting in the walmart bag for the last few days. Until Sam was watching some leapfrog show today and it was teaching about letters. The only issue is I want him to have practical experience. Not to mention we have been having some minor behavior retraining going on here (more on that later) so an idea formed!

We now have the magnetic white board stuck on our front door and a tall laundry basket next to it. I write the letter of the day on the board and 1 word that starts with that letter. (Today is "S" so I wrote Sam) and his goal is to spend the day collecting "s" things. Snakes (stuffed ones) socks, shirts, soap, ect. but I want him to be a more abstract thinker. So I let him look in my fabric collection and pick out stripes, stars, skulls. I taught him about scabbards for his sword, and he came up with "sports drink" for my Gatorade. We found a reusable Safeway Sack that even had socks and shirts in it.

Now the goal is that at the end of the day he will have a basket full of things that start with the letter "s", if a tad abstractly. He gets points for the number of things he has placed in the basket and that translates into "behavior bucks" (I will make a post about this whole thing) and he gets to keep them in his wallet.

Remember, I would Love to hear from all of you out there in the real world about how this works for you, and if you have any ideas for ways to make it better. Any even other ideas for using the white board!

Yard Sales and Schooling

So our weekend was filled with a yard sale (that was moved into the garage for fear of space issues in our front yard) Its all set up like a little boutique and he spent our time bouncing babies, chasing toddler/preschoolers and refolding the clothes people unfolded and tossed in a pile. I now have new found respect for those working in soft lines at Walmart, kmart, sears, target, ect. its frustrating!

Our sale is to fund a new washer since ours is leaking horably, and new dryer since the drum is coming apart and starting to rustm and there by ruining our clothes. We have made about 1/3 of what we were told a used set will cost, so hopefully we can do better next week.

On to school! Sam has been doing so good with his workbooks, on Friday he did them without me having to tell him how or which to do! I was SO proud when I saw his math workwork page done and he had connected all the right dots. Good job Sammy! You are a super star. Now off to let him explore ABCmouse.com some more!

Health & Family

As many may not know my partner in life, love, and family works in Alaska in a processing plant, he left on June 2 until Early november. Also as many may not know our 9 month old son has severe chronic anemia, not the low iron anemia, but the critically low red blood cell count that leads to blood transfusions, which is very scary for a baby so little. On wednesday we had an appt with his hemotologist and his counts were so low that he needed an imediate transfusion, which ended with a night in the hospital and a sleepover for Sam with my cousin and her family. My sister even drove up to be with Sam.

As parents you can imagine how scary it is for us to have a child that is ill and not have a full diagnosis yet. But it's even harder for Justin to be in another state and know that he can't be here when he is needed, like he was this week, and how scary it is for his parents that live across the country in Georgia. Tiny (our 9 month old Lucas) is doing fine for now. His doctor wants to send us to a Diamond Blackfan (one of the diagnosis options) specialist in Seattle WHEN (not if) his levels go low again. So a diffucult situation is going to get more complicated and more difficult, and we could use thoughts and prayers from everyone.

On a brighter note we are holding a multi family yard sale this weekend (and likely every weekend this month/summer) to raise the money for a new washing machine. And I am going to start packing Sam a mini back pack when we go to doc appts with his school stuff so that he can have everything just in case we have to be away from home during school again.

Busy Busy Mommy

So it has been a heck of a week. As well as being a stay at home mom to Sam who is nearly and Lucas (aka Tiny) who is 9 months, I am also a WAHM (work at home mom) and make creatures, cloth diapers, and so, so much more. So this week on top of schooling with Sam I have been busting my butt doing laundry and sorting things in our house for a yard sale, and my nights after bedtime are full of working on little creatures so there hasn't been much time to update here.

Monday We had a normal school day, tuesday we played hooky from school work for the first sunny day in weeks and went to the playground with our friend and her son and they had a blast, then went out to my sister's house for dinner and smores, wednesday we finally didn't have a doc appointment for the baby and did the school work from tuesday. Thursday was more school work as well as going out to my grandmother-in-laws house because my brother-in-law are visiting from Georgia. They are 10 and 13 and its always a blast to spend time with them, friday we had a very tense playdate after school and then went back to see my BIL, Sam said he thought they were his cousins and they are his friends, so we call them his uncle-cousin-friends, that night he went to my sisters and I played catch up while the baby slept, then Saturday (yesterday) I worked even more while the baby napped in the morning (since that is the only time he ever naps for any length of time these days) and then had our friend and her kids come over to hang out in the shade out back and just have fun. Today is supposed to be the day of rest, but I have a feeling it wont be very restful. I still have a pile of laundry, ok blankets, that need to be washed, diapers that need to be folded and put away, move everything for the garage sale to the actual garage, and then to work on my orders as a WAHM. I wonder if I'll have time to eat! I hope every one else has a great day today! I will try to be better about keeping up with our blog with pictures and crafts

Our day of "rest" June 1, 2013

So it was nice but not sunny and Sam asked to go for a nature walk. And since this was the first day since my other half left for Alaska I decided to take it one step further and take him to the park for "squirrel hunting" we LOVE squirrels, it must be a loeft over feeling from my childhood watching squirrels in my grandparents back yard. So this was our amazing day, we saw 2 squirrels, though it may have been the same one since the sightings were an hour apart.

We finally caught a bird on camera, sort of

SQUIRREL! We had a blast going super slow trying to get close enough to take a decent picture of this guy

Ducks in the pond

And on the far shore

We went done on the stone steps to see if we could find any finsh swimming, we found a dead one and we aslo found a little girl named Sophia and her grandpa finishing. They were on their last worm since the fish had eaten and ran on all the others, and after quite awhile this is what they puled up.

Sam drew a picture (well, colored in a fish he aked me to draw) then drew a rod sand line its attached to.

After Sophia and her grandpa went home we continued our nature walk adn found a stump, that Sam played king of the stump.

from the otherside of the pond, these are the steps we fished off of

 

Another squirrel just as we were walking to the toys.

 

We had a blast finding mroe animals at our local park (one that actually has trees as well as toys) and then playing on the toys. Sam still hopes to run into his new friend Sophia some day.

Animal Hunt

It was finally sunny today! So we took a nature walk and hunted for animals. We live in a normal neighborhood (for washington) and down at the end of our cross street is a family that raised horses, but we didn't start down there, we went around a loop street that doesn't have many pets and we found quite a bit.

Baby birds in a tree that we could hear but not see, and a dog on a porch that was too far from the road to picture, but as we came around the first corner we found this

this is a small pony with 3 other horses in the back ground tethered to a horse trailer by the side of the road

 

We then found a few butterflies but they were also too far away from to get good shots but we did catch this guy

 

 

And don't even get me started on photographing birds, this is the best bird picture we got today

 





LOL, I would love to see your faces right now, it really was the ONLY picture of a bird we got today, but we did find a nest, in our own backyard, its right outside my window so our cat goes CRAZY in the morning when the babies start chirping

 

 

 

The best part about nature walks is that our 8 month old gets to go too, since I wear him even when its cold he can go and i just zip my coat around him too. Today he was SO excited to see all the bright colors and fun new things

ABCmouse.com

So many of us have watched the Spout channel and have seen the commercials for ABCmouse.com and have heard tales that someones 2 year old was reading, writing, ect. I brushed it off even though time and again my 4 year old has asked to go to ABCmouse like the tv says, he also thinks we NEED everything in the comercials including coolers and lunch pails. But for some reason today I listened, and I signed up. Warning, it is NOT free. It is a monthly subscription for 7.95 but the first month is free, so we are testing it out to see if it's worth it. I LOVE the way it is set up, it even has a mouse tutorial for kids (like mine) that have never touched a computer. I love that they have 3 ways to learn, a step by step program (more on this soon) a free for all where the kids get to pick what they do and when, and a parent guided lesson plan where the parent takes control of what they learn when. All of these are available at all times so you can't miss out on anything.

Step by Step:

Sam LOVES this. There is a map with stepping stones, each step has 4-6 lessons in it, when all of the lessons are completed the child earns a prize.

This step by step goes from toddler to age six and this is the second map of the preschool 3+ level. San is having fun and interacting in a way I haven't seen him do before. Even watching things like Super Why on PBS and other interactive shows on Sprout. He has fun listening to the stories and trying to sing along to the songs, putting puzzles together and painting by numbers.

Free for all:

this allows the child to decide what they want to do instead of following the lessons plas set either by parent or program. When Sam got bored of following the pathway he did this.

Evenutally he clicked on the little Avatar of himself and found this page:

and if you can see there is a way to change the way he looks (kids earn tickets for lessons and games completed and the prizes they earn in the step by step can be clothes as well as other relavent things on this page) here he can change his clothes with prizes he earned or things he bought with tickets earned. The next is "My Room" also something that can be customized by your child with prizes and things purchased with tickets they earn. "My Aquarium" is just that, a virtual fish tank where they feed and care for virtual fish, and there are learning games attached, and last but not least here (at least in this section) is "My Hamster"

Meet Boulder, hes the cute little guy in the bubble near the middle. This is Sam's virtual hamster, he used all his tickets today to build this habitat for him, everything that isn't pink (6 of the pieces) and the bottom cage, were things he bought today, we worked together to put it together, though he did quite a bit himself. When he ran out of tickets to buy things for Boulder he went back to his lessons to earn more. I'm confident in saying this is Sam's favorite part of the program. I have a feeling that we may end up keeping the subscription.

Sam playing today.

Auntie Day

We cut school work short today, just the 3 work books, so that he could go spend the day with my sister. They are honest to God best friends. They had a great day and wne tot see Iron Man 3. I think I will have him make a page for his journal tomorrow, I'm glad it's Saturday and we dont have school work! But I am hopeful that tomorrow will be as nice as it was today, we even got some sun, so we can go take a nature adventure.

May 30, 2013

No nature walk, yet again there is too much rain, so I had Sam draw a picture of it for his craft journal, after school he just colored and played with his brother. Better luck this weekend!

Spring Mobile

 

Supplies: Yarn, tape, construction paper, safety scissors(Note: in the pictures you will not see safety scissors, Sam has hidden them and I need to get a new pair), hanger or sticks

How to: Discuss with your child what is part of spring. Every area is different so your child's answers will vary, in our area there are lots of flowers, grass, green leaves on trees, bees, and sometimes the sun.

Once your chld has decided on what they want to have hang from their mobile draw very simple shapes of these on colored construction paper and have your child cut them out (you may need to help them) You may want to have a few extra pieces to tape to the hanger, or even one big one.

while your child cuts these you may want to grab another pair of scissors and cut the pieces of yarn, one for each cut out your child will have hang. Also cut and tie the larger piece of yarn to the stick if you are using one as a hanger.

Once cut out tape a piece of yarn to the cut out, then tie the other end to your hanger/stick.

When done you can then tape the extra cut outs to the stick.

Here are our finished Spring Mobiles. Mine is rain because, well, it rains a lot here, LOL

We chose to hang our here, its a great thing to have a covered porch here as even on rainy spring days we can still do our crafts outside!

May 28, 2013

Today we started our math book and Sam was SO excited for it. Its actually kindergarten level, but hes doing great so far. All he had to do was trace the number zero and then write it himself, and then trace the word zero and then write it himself. As long as I help him place the pencil in the right spot he can do it himself. Though he had an issue with "Z". He has started having to repeatedly write a letter each day on his penmanship paper. since his letter workbook focus on the same letter for 2 days (2 pages) He will do a letter a day until he catches up then do the repeated writing the second day. I think he needs the practice right now.

Since we woke up late (the fact that our 8 month old alarm clock didn't go off this morning!) I did breakfast and school Daddy read to him while I ran the errands I was late for. When I got home we worked on our craft today. He had a blast making a "Spring Mobile" (I will post a step by step run through and hung them on our covered front porch.

As tomorrow is doctor's appointment day for the baby we will be taking a break from school. All we do is read and he gets to use his Leapfrom Tag reading pen that Santa brought him and he will be working on a math book, as well as some stories. I know that many SAHMs and WAHMs have busy days, this is a great way to keep to your non school schedule and to allow them to still learn something new.

Memorial Day

Schools are closed today, but we still did our school work! We had also planmned to go to the park and add a page to our craft journal, but the day dawn cold and rainy, like Noah's Ark rain! So we just did our school work today and went to the cemetary where my little brother is buried. I was worried it would be hard to explain to my 4 year old how MY little brother passed away when he was a baby but that doen't mean HIS brother will pass away, but thankfuly it wasn't as big an issue as I thought it would be. He thankfully didn't make the connection between them and I didn't have to explain that even though brother is sick he won't pass away. He picked daisys for the marker and we didn't stay long given that it was raining so bad. I have chosen not to have him journal it today, it's still a sore spot on my heart.

But after we went to Walmart for some groceries and I found a kindergarten level math book for under $4 and picked it up for him to start tomorrow. I'm so glad he is having fun with learning, i can only hope that he continues to enjoy it through out school and doesn't burn out like I did.

The Day of Rest

Religious or not I suggest having a few days a week you aren't focusing on schedule, I take Sunday completely off from this, and wednesdays are much less scheduled due to our younger child having weekly appts out of town. So we take wednesdays easy and just read before we leave, he does some math with his tag pen while we are in the doctor's office and then we may have a craft when we get home again. Yesterday was a fun day for him and he just played with his toys and helped me organize some things.

Craft Journal

This activity helps a child not only keep track of their lives, but it feeds their creative side and helps to keep all their art in one place. This project is one part journal, one part scrap book, and 2 parts creativity.

This is a great way to have a pre-literate child keep track of their day. They can draw, paint, cut out papers, paste in leaves, and other things. When you go on walks let them pick of leaves to do fun things with, or cut out things that they saw from construction paper, like flowers, birds, ect. If you go to movies or the zoo, save the tickets from this.

What you will need: 3 Ring Binder(I sugest at lease 3 in as some pages will be thicker), 3 hole punch, tape, glue, safety scissors, contsruction paper, and printer paper (since its $3.00 for 500 sheets) crayons, markers, paints, the normal crafting materials.

How to:

• hole punch several pieces of printer paper (or you can punch them each time you add a page)
• help child choose type of craft (paint, marker, cut out, ect) and then start on the project.
• Example: Today we went on a nature walk and Sam chose to bring home souveniers. He wanted to make a tree with them, so on today's paper I drew a tree and Sam placed his leaves and I taped them down, then he placed his flowers and I taped them down. And then he chose to draw houses we saw on our walk in one corner .
• Talk with your child (if they are not old enough to do it by themselves) to see what they want their art to look like. If they want to have you cut shapes for them to paste, or if they want to finger paint, or draw what they saw that day. Remember if there is paint or glue involved allow it to dry before placing it in the binder.
• The most important part of this is simply to have fun doing it and to let your child go through what they've made and remember the great days they had!
 

May 25, 2013

As it is Saturday I would normally give Sam a day off from school work, but he was so excited he didnt want to wait til monday, so he did a page in each of his workbooks, then we started the "chapter book" for our story time. We read chapter 1 of "How to train your Dragon" and he loved it so much he doesn't want to wait for story time tomorrow for the next chapter! As I only have the first one and can't find all the other "chapter books" I've been collecting we'll go a chapter a day for now. I am looking for the other how to train your dragon books, as well as all the spiderwick chronicle ones. I'm also thinking of leminy snickets, I remember those being interesting, but I think they were really dark too.

AFTER story time today we went on a nature walk, which was excellent timing because it started to rain right after we got home. On our walk Sam collected things like flowers and leaves to use in his craft journal today (I will have a post on what this is a bit later) We also made sure to listen to the sounds we heard. As we live in Washington state its pretty green and there are plenty of animals, but living in a suburb limits the chance if seeing fun ones. We heard several types of birds and saw a few dogs though, which was a blast for Sam, we took pictures of some of the fun things we found to share as well.

When we got home we put together our prizes as a picture and put it in our craft journal

 



Then came our craft for today, we made a pop up castle!

And wrote his own name^^^^