Monday, August 31, 2009

Friend Makin' Monday ~ 20 Questions


This week's Friend Makin Monday is a fun "game" of 20 questions!

1. Do you cook every night?
Nope. My husband does the cooking. I know, I know, don't hit the screen...I am aware how blessed I am. However I am in some serious prayer right now (that has been spurred by having a daughter of my own) about taking this responsibility from him as I am feeling led by the Lord (thanks Proverbs 31). The problem is, he used to cook in a restaurant and is really good at cooking. I on the other hand, am not.

2. What kind of laundry detergent do you use & why?
Charlie's Soap...love it, great price and totally safe-a big key for me. We cloth diaper too so it's perfect for the dipes and other laundry. I use a small amount of EcoSaver fabric softener in regular clothes loads. I get both at Wegmans, or Whole Foods.

3. Do you do laundry every day or loads at a time?
Everyday.

4. How often do you eat out per week?
Maybe once per week, if that. We are eating at home tons more now that we have 3 kiddos!!!

5. Where do you usually eat out?
Applebees is close by, we love the salad bar at Ruby Tuesday's. Longhorn is nice and close...but our all time favorite as a family is to go eat sushi-even the boys!!!

6. What is your favorite retail store?

♥Target♥

7. What's your favorite thing to drink?
Water, coffee.

8. Do you take vitamins? What kind?
Nope.

9. What percentage of the household chores to you do?
70% My husband helps out a lot, I am blessed. The only reason it isn't 50/50 is because I am home more and handle all of the day to day stuff. He always helps with big things, like vacuuming, bathroom cleaning, etc. I am the organizer and picker-upper. I am also the 100% laundry gal, which is fine with me, laundry does not bother me at all.

10. Do your children do chores? {Or will they, did they, etc}
Yes. We use Accountable Kids, which has really helped a lot with this. Pac Man just recently learned to unload the dishwasher and I personally LOVE that he does this! He also does lots of other things.

11. Do you go to church?
Why yes, of course we do. We wouldn't be very good missionaries if we didn't, huh? ;)

12. Do you have a housework schedule?
Nope, I just do it. I tried Fly Lady but I just couldn't do it. My house is pretty clean though.

13. Do you keep a working budget?
Not anymore, we did for a long time, but now we are just "trained" I suppose. We never spend more than we make and we have no credit card debt.

14. What do you do at night as a family?
My husband works away form home leading ministry 4 out of 7 nights and I am away 1 night, so that only leaves 2 nights at home together and we love it!!!!

15. How do you prepare yourself for a new week?
I just do as much as I can to be more prepared. How's that for a generic answer ;).

16. What do your mornings look like?
Hmmm, in transition now. I am starting my new fall routine when we return form the beach mid-Sept. However, the main things: I usually get up before my husband, he then gets up and feeds the boys breakfast. I nurse Ladybug and get her dressed. I am on the computer for about 30 minutes or more if I get up earlier. My hubs leaves around 8:45am, then it's me with the kiddos!

17. What time do you get up in the mornings?
Goal: 6 or earlier
Actual (many days): 7-8

18. What time do you go to bed at night?
Usually between 11-1

19. How do you manage all of the paperwork that floods into your household? {bills, school work, magazines, ads, etc}
I got a Neat Receipts scanner and I love it!!!! I got the 4.0 version from Costco. We also shred anything with our name and we recycle!!!

20. How do you keep your household organized? {calendars, charts, etc}
Computer mainly.

There ya go, I'd love to see your answers, join up here!

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Saturday, August 29, 2009

Tot School

~Krash is currently 39.5 months old~

Learning Toys/Trays...


This was K's least favorite tray this week, although I thought it was pretty snazzy. I made him a file folder game with paint cards from the local hardware store!!! Frugal Tot School Choice! I put little Velcro pieces on them so they wouldn't wiggle.

He loved playing with his new wooden blocks, which were a cheap consignment sale find!

We used his ZOOBS to sort by color and style. He really enjoyed this! We built an airplane too, his favorite thing to build!


Feelings Theme...

We read the book, How Are You Peeling?, in honor of our Feelings Theme. After reading the book, we did this great file folder game, sorting the fruits and veggies.

Krash played with his Kimochi Cloud...

He worked with his new Feelings Tot Book...

ABCs...

I finally decided on Mickey Mouse for Mm! I printed up little Mickey's from a clipart site and gave him a whole bunch of them.
He is really good at gluing with just one dot now...
His finished Mm, he lined them all up and told me they were all friends!

Tot School Organization...

I have made a change to the way Krash is doing Tot School, and it may change again soon (I am always adjusting as I see a need). This week, I began with a full shelf of trays like this...Usually I just let him play with something, then put the tray back, and go back to the same item again. Now that he is older and eventually he will be transitioning into Workboxes (a ways off still), I wanted him to get used to completing all of the trays offered. He still chose which trays to do, but when he was done, he took them off of the shelf...I had him stack the empty trays (which for some reason he really loved), put the work in the basket, and then look to see what he could do next. We kept it like this until he completed all of the trays, which for him was a few days. Then I surprised him the next morning with all new trays!

He seemed to really like this and it helped me make sure he was working with all of the trays.


Life School...

Playing with his sweet sissy...

His first time on the camp waterslide (where we go for our summer staff retreats)...

Crazy times with Daddy at camp...


Mommy's Favorite...

I love this shot of K, which was taken the hour before we left camp. He was WORN OUT. I love how he has his little head all curled up on his beloved blankees, and how his sweet little legs are laying...

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 (36 mos)? I think this will help new readers a lot as they look for ideas for their specific aged tot!

MckLinky closes on Friday now, if you are a late-in-the-week poster, just add your post the following Sunday, so it will be seen by more people!


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Friday, August 28, 2009

1000 Subscribers Celebration ~ Giveaway #5

Krash is working pretty hard, and he loved what he was doing! If you'd like to see what he is playing with and possibly win these for your tot, head on over to our latest giveaway!

Sunday, August 23, 2009

1000 Subscribers Celebration ~ Giveaway #4

Want to meet K's new friends? Want to see what awesome toy we are using along with our new Feelings Tot Book? Want to WIN ONE for your kiddo? Go here to see our next giveaway!!!

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Tot School ~ Finally Normal!!!

~Krash is currently 39 months old~
I am so thrilled to be back to Tot school with Krash!!! Even though we haven't officially kicked off our new school year, we got back to doing our everyday Tot school this week!

Learning Toys/Trays...

We've been reading this great book, I'm Your Bus, which was sent to us for review from Scholastic! Both boys really enjoy this cute rhyming story. I added a bus puzzle from his Vehicles in a Box Puzzles for him to work with after we read the book together one day! He ended up doing ALL of the puzzles in the box, he LOVES this puzzle set!!

Automoblox are always a hit with K. If you don't have these, be sure to put them on your wish list! They are a toy neither boy ever tires of, and I love them because they are so open-ended!

My mom collected these neat tile samples for me and got us matching ones. I was thrilled to have K string the matching ones on to corresponding colored pipe cleaners. The boys thought it would be much more fun to make a "campfire" in the bucket and then pretend the tiles were marshmallows to roast. After trying to get him to play Mommy's game for awhile I finally let them just go to town with their campfire idea!
We added a new toy to our collection this week and we all love it! The boys got the ZOOB ZOOBmobile Racer Set. It is a bit hard for K to do by himself, but it is great for them to work together. Krash could do some of the creating, and he really enjoyed P making him stuff too! K would make a simple little thing and would play with it all night...his favorite was the little airplane he made! We hope to get another big bucket of these, they are really neat.
Krash worked with this neat file folder game. He loved matching the farm animal hineys ;)

Alphabet...


We didn't make a letter this week (I couldn't decide what to do for Mm), but we did work with our How to Build an A book. K's favorite letter to make is always O ;)...
Itty Bitty Bookworm...

We will be doing components of the Itty Bitty Bookworm every now and then. I am not using the entire program, but choosing books I want to use and using the ideas. Tara generously sent us the curriculum to review for our upcoming giveaway, we are really enjoying it! Here's one of the activities we did from the book, I Like Me! K had fun making a paper plate "me." He mostly liked playing with his and mine afterward!!! Pac Man loves crafts so he always joins in with stuff like this!
Life School...

Cars are a way of life for Krash. He plays with them every day and even sleeps with the chosen few each night. This particular day we had fun spontaneously working with colors. He lined them all up for the race and then asked me which ones should go. I would yell out the color and he would find all of the cars that color and race them out. It was really fun and educational!!!

Arts & Crafts...


We read Joseph...K loves Joseph. Krash has a thing for naughty stories and people who are mean. He talks a lot about the brothers throwing Joseph in the hole. We decided to make Joseph a new coat. K worked on gluing...just ONE drop...Here's Joseph's new coat...But what Krash really wanted to do was RIP Joseph's coat!!! Since I didn't want him ripping his cute creation, I cut another coat out for him to rip. This was his favorite part of the whole activity!
Mommy's Favorites...


It was a roller-blading (drive Mommy nuts) week for K. He is such a dare-devil, I finally told him he could only skate when Daddy was home ;). My nerves can't handle his no-fear attitude.
This is SO Krash!!!! He wet his bed accidentally so we put him in a robe. He went back in his room to play while he was waiting to go downstairs for breakfast with Daddy. When he came out, this is what he looked like...hat on, carrying 3 blankees, a big Shamu, and his dino (you can't see that one). He wouldn't let me take his pic, so I got this on-the-fly shot!!! He's always dragging his whole world everywhere with him. I call him my little toy-migrator. All of our toys seem to migrate to wherever he is!

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 (36 mos)? I think this will help new readers a lot as they look for ideas for their specific aged tot!

MckLinky closes on Friday now, if you are a late-in-the-week poster, just add your post the following Sunday, so it will be seen by more people!

**If you haven't linked up to my 1000 Subscribers Celebration ~ Introduce Yourself post, be sure to join in here!


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Feelings Tot-Book Update

As I was working with Krash today I realized I had 2 Scared and no Sad in the "book" that uses the rings. He also asked me where jealous was...too funny! (that's his favorite Kimochi character) So I added Sad and Jealous and changed the other Scared to Surprised.

I also had to change the font for that book, it came out all funny in the PDF doc. So if yours looks different than mine, that's why! If you downloaded yesterday, you might want to go back and get the updated pages!!! I changed the font yesterday, so most of you probably have the right one for that edit.

Here's the Feelings Tot Book if you have no clue what I am rambling on about.

We Won 3rd Place!

Here's the photo post if you missed it!!!

Friday, August 21, 2009

Feelings Tot-Book...

I did it! You all inspired me, especially Kristi! I am so glad to be starting Krash's new school year off with a unit on FEELINGS! Of course he had to have a snazzy new Tot Book to work with so I got to creating. I got going and decided he was ready to try a full sized folder this time, plus I had a few ideas in mind that would need more space than the 1/2 sized folder. Here's how we are laying ours out...

The cover...The Middle...Here you can see what I made, I will tell you a bit about each one...

  • Top Left: I printed these cards on cardstock and did not laminate. I am going to have K color the feelings faces. After he is done I may laminate them.
  • Top Middle: These pages can either be made into a book unlaminated or you can laminate each one like I did and hook them with rings at the top of the folder. I did this so we can take them out and work with them. I made the first letter in each word bigger so we can get a little bit of Letter ID in too! Mine are printed on regular paper and laminated.
  • Top Right: Laminated mini-cards for matching.
  • Bottom Right: a mini book about feelings (printed on paper, unlaminated)
  • Bottom left/middle: The base is laminated and so are the little faces. They all have velcro dots on them for K to put the feeling faces on the boy and girl. I also made a small discussion card to give some ideas for questions to ask your tot.
The back, K's isn't stuck down yet, I will have him choose a feeling to draw when we are all done and put this on the back.
You could easily leave some things out and make the traditional 1/2 folder Tot Book if your tot isn't ready for a big one. Or you could always just use different components and keep them in a manilla envelop (like I do with some of our Activity Packs)

You can download all of the pieces in PDF form here
. Also on the webpage are links to many of the books we will be reading to go along with our Tot Book, and also our new Kimochi friend we are using!

If you share this with others, please link to this blog post or to the webpage, but not directly to the PDF files. Also, remember if YOU make this Tot (Lap)Book with your tot, I'd love to see it, email me and I will add your link to the webpage!

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Thursday, August 20, 2009

Gearing Up for the START

I am in BIG TIME planning mode, especially with Workboxes in mind for Pac Man. Thought I would share a bit of what I have prepared for him this evening. I am still gathering, printing, laminating, cutting, etc. I was trying to rush to being our school year but have since given myself a break and have decided to allow myself the time I need to prepare and be FULLY ready to begin. Once I made this decision I have been excited again. We'll officially begin when I am ready, in the meantime he has 6 workboxes and we do a very relaxed form of school.

Here's what I have been working on tonight...

One of my all time favorite homeschool blogs, Walking By The Way, had this great post, which led me to this awesome site. I have printed some of the posters and most of the Crazy Cat Tales (similar to MadLibs) for Pac Man's workboxes. So excited about these, thanks Ami for sharing this great site!

Ami also shared some math fact cards she was using for her son. I quickly went into Publisher and made some for Pac Man (I will upload mine when I get time...sorry I am too busy planning right now!). Pac Man needs tons more practice to memorize his facts.

Awhile back, Jolanthe shared a review about the Write Shop: StoryBuilders. In her post she mentioned a free download for one of their Ebooks. I finally got around to printing it all out and preparing it for Pac Man to use. Thanks Jolanthe!!

Another great one from Jolanthe, this Notebooking page for the book Children Just Like Me. We have had this book for a LONG time and now I finally have a great idea to go along with it!!! Thanks again Jolanthe!!! I have put our book and some blank pages together so I can give him this for a workbox every now and then.

Barker Creek offered this great ebook for free awhile back and thankfully I downloaded it then! I finally got a section printed out and ready to go into Workboxes for Pac Man!!! He will be doing the section on Homonyms first.

I also had another free USA ebook (which I cannot find online now) and I got it all printed and ready for the boxes also!!!

I am so excited to be planning again, I LOVE planning (am I weird??). I will share more as I go...

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Tuesday, August 18, 2009

1000 Subscribers Celebration ~ Giveaway #2


Something Lil' Ladybug is wearing is up for grabs!!! Wanna know what it is? Head over to our Celebration to see and enter to win!!!

Subscribers vs. Followers...

I have gotten this question from a few readers and I guess there might be even more of you out there wondering about this...

Are Subscribers and Followers the same thing?

NO, they aren't! I will do my best to explain the difference and try to point you in a direction of people WAY smarter than me when it comes to understanding things like these!

To start, here's a screen shot of my sidebar, showing you where each are located on my blog. You can see my subscribers count at 1207 and my Follower count at 305-these are 2 completely different sets (although some could possibly be the same people both subscribing and following).

Followers are what most Blogger blogs have shown, since it is very easy to install since it is an optional widget in the blog template. I personally do not use the follow feature to follow blogs so I am not sure how that works, but I think it makes the blogs show up on your dashboard. I use a blog reader to read blogs I subscribe to. You can read more about how I organize that here, and also here.

Subscribers are readers who get an RSS feed of your blog. They are reading via email or via blog reader usually. You can read more about RSS feeds here. They get an update either in the r email or reader every time your blog is updated with a new post.

The next big question is...how do I know how many subscribers I have?

You have to install Feedburner (which is now owned by Google-imagine that!?!) into the html of your blog. It's not hard, but it does take some time to learn about. You can go here to read the help and info page. I am no expert and it has been a long time since I installed it onto my blogs, so I can't be technical help to you from here, but I promise it isn't hard to learn.

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