Book Shelf

I have loved the rain gutter shelves from the first time I saw them here. I planned on putting one by Ellie's bed so she could actually put books on the shelf after she reads them instead of letting them fall off the side of her bed. After seeing this post I decided it would be just as cute and much easier to just buy this picture shelf from IKEA. I just love all of the ideas I get from blog land!!

Alpaca Farm

We recently visited an alpaca farm with some friends. Alpaca's look very similar to llama's and are pretty darn cute. Everybody had so much fun feeding and learning about them.

Cow Appreciation Day

Chick-fil-a recently had a cow appreciation day where if you dress up like a cow you got a free kids meal. Chris took my little calves and they had a blast!!

Art Holder

I saw the coolest art supply holder on Homeschool Creations blog and I knew that I wanted to make one for the girls. It was pretty cheap and super simple. I bought a lazy susan at Ikea for $7.99 and the little metal buckets at the Target dollar section. I hot glued magnets on the lazy susan which keeps the buckets from falling off when they spin it. I put it on the breakfast room table so the girls could color, draw, glue etc. while I am cooking dinner or just whenever.

4th of July Cake

I made a candy cake for a 4th of July cookout we went too. It was so easy to make and very yummy! I got the idea from here and although her cake looks so much better then mine I was still happy with it. I just used a boxed cake mix and iced it with white icing. I lined the outside with KitKats and put red and blue M&M's on top. My travel cake plate broke so I had to put it on this busy tray which takes away from the cake but it was all I had!

Our Circle Time Board

We have always done circle time but I loved the circle time board that I first saw here. I wanted to make one for us because I thought it would be fun but the girls have loved it more then I thought they would! So on our board we have:

• Upper and lowercase letter we are working on and right beside it is a sign language picture of the letter


• Shape of the week


• Color of the week


• Bible verse we are working on (verses from AWANA)


• Skip counting chart that I printed from here


• 100's chart (we mark off a block each school day)


• Letter activity cards that I printed from Homeschool Share to get the girls up and moving. I also found another set here to print once we go through all of the ones from Homeschool Share.


• Laminated sentence strip. We write a sentence and we talk about how sentences start with capitol letters, have punctuation, how many words are in the sentence etc. The possibilities are endless. I got this idea from my wonderful teacher friend.


• Number of the week


• Today's weather

The letters, shapes, colors and numbers are laminated flash cards I was given and I just attach them with a Velcro dot. Our bible verses are on rings so I can easily review with them and everything else is attached with double sided tape. I still have several open spots for us to add to the board and I thought about jazzing it up and making it more colorful but I am happy with it for now.

During circle time we also have a calendar that we use to talk about days of the week and months of the year. I always try to incorporate songs, books or simple games. Circle time usually lasts about 15 min.

I got so much inspiration from here, here and here!

Carwash

Emily loved washing her car! I am not sure what she enjoyed more...filling the bucket with a whole bottle of soap or washing.

I had to throw in the picture of the girls playing superhero.

Yummy Breakfast or Lunch

I found this recipe for savory bread pies on The Magic Onions blog awhile back and Chris made it for us recently. It was so yummy!! The girls really liked it, especially Ellie! In the recipe you cut the crust off so my very smart hubby didn't want them to go to waste so he dipped them in butter than a cinnamon/sugar mixture and toasted them to make breakfast fries. As you can imagine they didn't last long!

Vacation

We spent last week at the beach it is was so nice to get away!! It was such a great break from the computer, chores, school, and work! The girls were so excited and I just love getting to spend quality time with them without thinking of all of the 100 other things I could be doing when we are at home. We spent lots of time at hanging out on the beach....mostly in the evenings when it was nice and cool

fishing at the pond

visiting the children's museum

and swimming at the pool....lots! Sorry no pics of me....I took a vacation from make-up and my hair straightener too so I will keep those lovely pics to myself:)

I am not sure if the if the girls enjoyed the actual beach more or the fact that we stayed up late almost every night and ate lots of ice cream but it was a great vacation!

Tot School

~Emily is 29 months old~

Felt board fun Working in one of Ellie's Workbooks. She loves loves worksheets!

Gluing cheerios on an octopus

Transferring water with a sponge

Circling farm animals

Putting stickers on her paper

Digging for bugs and worms

We had a random but fun week of tot school!