It’s all worth it.

I have been blogging for years. Publicly blogging for over 2 years now, and have had a more private blog for over 5 years. This blog was my first public blog, and I NEVER could have imagined what God had in store for me here! As many of you know, hours and hours are poured into this blog and my online life in general and I have always seen this as my ministry for this season of my life. I love doing it and am thankful for the many blessings that come from it and for the ways I can serve others by sharing my gifts and talents.

I must say though, that God has blessed me beyond my wildest blogging dreams this past week. He has brought real LIVE friends into my life! Many of you reading are women I know by name and consider great online friends, and I was blessed this past week to turn 2 of those online friends into REAL LIVE friends!!!!!

First, I got to meet my Totally Tots partner (we are running the blog entirely as a team now), Jolanthe from Homeschool Creations (& No Ordinary Moments)…

Her husband was on a business trip in my area and she tagged along so we could meet! She came over on Monday and hung out with us for part of school (stay tuned to the Tot School post on Sunday), and she stayed throughout the day and evening, not leaving until 10:30pm…we had so much fun! We spent hours in the sunshine on my back deck like this…

We hashed out many Totally Tots things (big changes going on over there soon), and then had tons of fun just being friends. We went to Ikea and Target together and had a blast. We truly are two of a kind and I am so thankful God used this blog to bring us together. We have been online buds for over a year now and it is so nice to now know her in real life…love you Jolanthe.

As if that wasn’t good enough, I got to meet yet another wonderful friend I met online, who I have also known for close to a year! Jill from Forever n Ever n Always lives about 45 minutes from me and I have been trying to get my kids up there to visit for months now and it has just never worked out. With jolanthe being here, we just knew we had to make it work! Jolanthe picked me and my kids up and we drove up to Jill’s house for the day on Wednesday!

What a joy it was to meet her beautiful children, all 8 of them!!!! My 3 absolutely had a blast and have asked me many times since then when we can go back to Miss Jill’s house!

We enjoyed one of Jill’s healthy lunches…

We had a blast outside on a beautiful fall day! My inner city kiddos didn’t know what to do with all of that green open space!!!

Jill’s kids loved Ladybug, it was so cute to see her sweet face just light up for each of them…she’s a very friendly baby so she loved all of the attention she got…

Jolanthe didn’t have her 4 kiddos with her, but she had a great time playing with all of the rest of the kids, we had plenty to go around!

Thank you God for these two women you have brought into my life, and for the many others I know from my blog(s). It amazes me still that my blogs have led to these wonderful blessings!

Lapbooks ~ Dinosaurs

Pac Man completed his dinosaur Lapbook recently, he did it along side of Krash’s Dino Tot Pack. It was fun to teach him, and learn alongside of him! We used these 2 books; What Really Happened to the Dinosaurs?, and God Created the Dinosaurs of the World (Sticker and Coloring Book) as our guides for learning.

The entire lapbook was from Homeschool Share and I am ever so thankful for the awesome templates and information provided there for free! We didn’t use all of the templates they provided and did a bit of a modified lapbook. We learned SO much though, it was wonderful!

Raising Rock Stars ~ Abraham & Sarah

Bible Story… Abraham & Sarah

Daddy read the Bible story from our Read-n-See DVD Bible…

I couldn’t find anything online I really liked so I made our own printables for this lesson. They were very simple, reinforcing the simple facts of this story…

Love Krash coloring so intently here…

Krash had fun putting the star stickers on the Bible verse sheet, and on himself…

Resources used this week:

• Abraham & Sarah Coloring Pages
• Abraham & Sarah Books (from our theme bookstore)
• Bible Memory Verses
• Songs for Saplings CD

Visit the Raising Rock Stars Webpage to download your own notebook pages and to see links to previous Rock Stars posts! Please read there or here before you add your link.

Tot School

~Krash is currently 42 months old~

** links to all toys and books are at the bottom of the post

Learning Toys/Trays…

The How to Build an A book was put away but he asked me for it again, so of course I said, YES. What I didn’t realize, is what he had in mind to do with it {which had nothing to do with letters}. He asked me for the tape. I must admit I hesitated for a bit, but then thought-what damage can he do? I handed the tape over and he got to work…

Much, much tape later, I realized what his goal was…to make the square stand up! I had to help him a bit, but finally after much hard work, he achieved his goal and was SO happy! It was fun seeing him work hard to learn how to use the tape!

We got a “new” set of stacking cups from Nanee, who got them at a consignment sale for super cheap…he loved them! Who would’ve known a different version of the same toy would still be new to him! This is the first time he has attempted to put them in size order by himself like this!

Another consignment sale find, a cool magnetic transportation book, he played for so long with this…

Zoobs continue to be a favorite around here, K asked me to use the guide to build him the Luna Rover, it was a tad difficult but I succeeded and he was thrilled!

He had to match the colored ping pong balls into the correct colored craft cup…

We played with his geo sorter, actually working on putting them in the proper order this time…

Then we let our pilgrim walk up and down the steps…

Cutting, cutting, and more cutting…this boy loves to cut…

Thank goodness he loves to vacuum up his mess just as much as he loves to cut…

Coloring the entire Aquadoodle mat, again. I tried to interest him in sponge painting (see bottom right corner of the pic), but he wasn’t having it.

While cleaning the schoolroom (results post to come this week!), I found this game, Cariboo that we had picked up at the consignment sale. I had no idea what it was and am so glad that I opened it up, it is excellent!!! One of my favorites for Krash’s age! I played with the boys for awhile and then encouraged them to play just together, it went amazingly well! Krash is learning to take turns and listen, and P is learning to be patient and understand that Krash isn’t 7, he’s 3 (I feel like I say that many times a day!).

Theme…Thanksgiving

We made hand print turkeys, inspired from here. Krash cut his own shapes for the frame portion, and I helped him a lot with the rest ;-)

K’s is on the left, Pac Man’s on the right…

iTouch Learning Fun…

This might not have been K’s absolute favorite game of the week, but Mommy sure loved it, and he certainly enjoyed it! It is a letter tracing game called i Write Words, and is by far the best I have found so far (there are a few different apps like this one). They have a free version so you can test it out, and the paid version is $1.99. You can see this and other apps we love here on our website!

Life School…

Krash went roller skating at the rink for the first time! He didn’t LOVE it, but he did great! He had more fun hanging out with his friends and pretending to play the video games!

Mommy’s Favorite…

• Are you wondering where to start with Tot School? Read here!
• Read more about Tot Trays here
• Visit Totally Tots!!!
• Want to see more Tot School posts? Click HERE
• Visit our Tot School Webpage HERE
• Visit our Tot School Tools store HERE

If you have a tot (approximately ages 1-3) at home, join in the fun and share what you're doing with your tot! Here's how to get started if you're new... If you've never read this: Go HERE 1st for more details- please do (this is still linked to the old website for now)!!! Then if you have any ideas you'd like to share, link up your exact post to MckLinky (if you have questions about how to do that, let me know in a comment or email-links to homepages will automatically be deleted).

When you add your name(blog name) to MckLinky will you put your tot's age (in months) after it, like this: 1+1+1=1 (41 mos)? I think this will help new readers a lot as they look for ideas for their specific aged tot!

If you are NEW will you please leave a comment letting us all know so we can be sure to visit you?

Also, if you have not commented on my "Tot School List" post, please do ASAP so I can get the official list updated! Also ~ there was a great suggestion for us all to add our tot's bday month/year to the list. If you would like to do that, I would be glad to add it to those of you who comment there (yes again...sorry). Just put your blog name and then the age like this (6/06).

Behind the Scenes ~ 1+1+1=1.COM

The website is DONE (well close enough) and I am ready to publicly launch and continue to work on the pages that need updating. I couldn't hold off any longer, I was ready to get it public! I thought I would write a little navigational Behind the Scenes post to tell you what's on the site and how to get there!

First, the home page (partially shown above), is now www.1plus1plus1equals1.com. The blog will still be www.1plus1plus1equals1.blogspot.com, the website is an extension of the blog-2 separate web addresses. There is a link at the top of the blog that will take you there, that says 1+1+1=1 Website.

On the homepage I tried to link to a few main areas, also to a new about us page: Who We Are.

There are 4 main sections to the site, which can all be reached on every page using the top navigation menu:

• Raising Rock Stars
• For Tots {Tot School, Tot Trays, Tools 4 Tots, Tot Books/Packs, iTouch Apps}
  
• For Big Kids {Lapbooks, Workboxes, Printables & More, iTouch Apps}
  
• For Moms {Blog Buttons, Behind the Scenes, From My Inbox, Randomness}
  

Here's a few pages that might be searched for that didn't really fit nicely into one of those categories, but will probably interest some of you...

• Calendar ~ The Homeschool Way
• iTouch/iPhone Recommendations...For Tots, For Big Kids
  
• What We Love (our toy recommendations)
• Support (if you are interested in supporting 1+1+1=1 by shopping our affiliates)
  

I am really excited to make the whole thing public for you! Obviously there is bound to be a typo or two (probably many more actually) and a few links that don't work ;), would you be so kind to email me to let me know so I can fix it? I am not offended at ALL by this, if I spell something wrong-please tell me! If a link goes to the wrong place I want to know so I can fix it!

I am still working on getting all of the old Tot Books/Packs transferred over, so expect some of them to direct to the old site if you click on them. I am also not completely done with all of the pages, so more will be added and updated over the next few weeks. I also have a whole Behind the Scenes post coming about the new Calendar page, but I didn't want to delay any longer sharing the new site with you all!

Once the basics are done, I will then just continue to add things as I create them, I will let you know here when something new is added, possibly with a little website updates post each week or 2. Thanks for being such great readers and supporters, I appreciate you all so much-even those of you who I know are out there but I don't actually know!

Visit www.1plus1plus1equals1.com HERE!

Up For a Challenge? ~ Bridge Builder

When I saw Up For a Challenge I just knew I had to join in, for Pac Man's sake. He is a challenge kind of guy, and I was right-he loved the idea!

The first challenge was Bridge Builder, you can see other solutions here.

Now, I must say, I am not a challenge type of gal, so I barely even understood the directions. But, we eventually figured it all out. Although, at first I thought he was a genius, completing the task with 100 out of 100 points in under the time limit.

Here's the 1st bridge he built, which was eventually disqualified after I re-read the rules-duh-it couldn't touch the floor between the white circles. Like I said-I am no engineer.

He handled it well though (knowing he was getting attitude points), and got right back to work on the bridge with the correct directions...
He did manage to create a bridge...
But, it did not hold any weight, here is his expression when it collapsed!!

Thankfully Daddy had just walked in the door and was all about bridge building. He worked on it with Pac, and they failed a few times ;), then Daddy kept working (yup by himself)...not about to be beat by other homeschooling kids (who I told him DID create bridges that help weight). Daddy created his own bridge that held all 10 pennies...YAY Daddy-you get lots of points!

It was fun, next we're gonna give the Boat Race a try!

Voting has Begun!

I remember how it felt last year when I was nominated for the first time, I was blown away, shocked, excited and felt so honored! We were in the middle of my husband's cancer and I remember feeling so encouraged with the HSBA, which allowed me to focus and be excited about something ;).

I can't tell you what an honor and surprise it was to wake up this morning to see that I am nominated again this year and in several categories...THANK YOU!!!! We have no cancer, or difficult pregnancy going on this year, just a house full of God's blessings. It is a joy to add these nominations to the list of blessings!!!

Not only am I honored to be nominated at all, but to be nominated for BEST and SUPER and Cyber BUDDY~meaning someone wants to actually meet me in real life ;), is a HUGE honor.

1. Best Homeschool Mom

5. Crafts. Plans & Projects

18. Best Cyber-Buddy

20. SUPER Homeschooler

22. Nitty Gritty

25. Homeschooling Methods

And if that weren't exciting enough, Totally Tots is nominated for Best Group Blog AND Best Curriculum Blog! Whoa...God is good, I am just glad that some of you feel this and my other blog have helped you in some way...thanks!

Before voting, click here to see the rules, then vote away!

Raising Rock Stars ~ Tower of Babel

Bible Story...Tower of Babel

Daddy began by reading the kiddos the story from a printed copy, since we didn't have a story book about the Tower of Babel. The best part was when Daddy demonstrated different languages, as you can see...

Of course we had to build towers as we reenacted the story!

We also looked at an image of a painting showing what the tower is thought to look like...

I helped the boys put together this Tower of Babel craft...

I made the boys this tower craft. They each had a stack of bricks (printed on cardstock), and created their own tower. Then we talked about the type of character qualities God DOES want us to possess and glued words representing those qualities on our bricks. We discussed how the people in the story were building a tower for THEMSELVES and we were building our towers for GOD! You can download the PDFs for the whole activity here on the webpage.

We colored our coloring page and mini book about the story...

Not pictured is a cute little song I found called "B-A-B-E-L" that the boys enjoyed singing with me!

Resources used this week:

• Godly Tower Craft
  
• Tower of Babel Craft
  
• B-A-B-E-L Song and Tower of Babel Artwork
• Tower of Babel story from Danielle's Place
• Tower of Babel Coloring Page (scroll down to T)
• Tower of Babel Mini Book
• Tower of Babel Books (from our theme bookstore)
• Bible Memory Verses
  
• Songs for Saplings CD
  

Visit the Raising Rock Stars Webpage to download your own notebook pages and to see links to previous Rock Stars posts! Please read there or here before you add your link!

How Clean Are They?

Would you be willing to stick your face in my stack of clean cloth diapers? I would! Head on over to my latest giveaway to see my new favorite cleaning cloth solution!

Tot School

~Krash is currently 42 months old~

** links to all toys and books are at the bottom of the post

It was a short Tot School week for us because my mom came to visit on Thursday!!! We took the next few days off to just enjoy Nanee! Before Nanee got here, we did have some Tot School fun!

Learning Toys/Trays

Krash is finally old enough to actually play Leapfrog Bingo. We played the shape portion and he did really well!!!
A little fun with How to Build an A...
I made him a simple tray with wooden spindles (some type of sewing gadget my mom had), and colored chips...

ABCs...

K made a snake for the letter Ss...



Theme...Dinosaurs (last week)

This was our final week of dinos, we had a few things left to do! He worked with the make a dino shape puzzle from the Tot Pack...
We made eggs for our dinos...

Pac Man's on the left, K's on the right...


iTouch Learning Fun...

Yup, a new Tot School category has entered our home. Would you believe I had never even seen an iPhone OR even knew there was a such thing as an iTouch? My mom has a new iPhone that her work gave to her and we all played with it while she was here! This gadget was MADE for someone like me, I fell in love!!! Thankfully my mom decided to spoil our family near the end of her visit and combined some of her money with some of ours to make it possible for us to get this awesome treat!!!! I feel so spoiled and so do the kids, thank you Nanee! We got the iTouch since we have no need for the phone, and the iTouch does everything we were interested in. So, I will try to share Krash's favorite App of the week here, as we are having fun learning about all the neat things that are out there for kids his age!

His favorite app so far...

Blowfish

Thankfully this is a free one ;), and one I downloaded on a whim! Of the 10 or so we have so far, this is by far the one he loves the most! You'd have to see it for me to explain it, it kinda didn't make sense at first, but once I figured it out, we all loved it (including me and Daddy!). It's a great freebie!

Life School...

A little fall leaf raking...


Mommy's Favorite...

He found his beloved froggy boots, and decided to holster his bug zapper ;)

• Are you wondering where to start with Tot School? Read here!
• Read more about Tot Trays here
• Visit Totally Tots!!!
• Want to see more Tot School posts? Click HERE
• Visit our Tot School Webpage HERE
• Visit our Tot School Tools store HERE

If you have a tot (approximately ages 1-3) at home, join in the fun and share what you're doing with your tot! Here's how to get started if you're new... If you've never read this: Go HERE 1st for more details- please do!!! Then if you have any ideas you'd like to share, link up your exact post to MckLinky (if you have questions about how to do that, let me know in a comment or email-links to homepages will automatically be deleted).

When you add your name(blog name) to MckLinky will you put your tot's age (in months) after it, like this: 1+1+1=1 (41 mos)? I think this will help new readers a lot as they look for ideas for their specific aged tot!

If you are NEW will you please leave a comment letting us all know so we can be sure to visit you?

Also, if you have not commented on my "Tot School List" post, please do ASAP so I can get the official list updated! Also ~ there was a great suggestion for us all to add our tot's bday month/year to the list. If you would like to do that, I would be glad to add it to those of you who comment there (yes again...sorry). Just put your blog name and then the age like this (6/06).