Wordless Wednesday...Kind Of!

Welcome to our busiest season! I am trying so hard to keep up, but it seems to always get the best of me! We were out of town and just got back yesterday. If course I paid the house sitters and made plans for them to come back tomorrow! How on earth can we even get laundry done? Maybe we should just buy all new clothes! 

How was your Easter? It was absolutely fantastic for us! We had 4 stops to make but all worked out well and with great efficiency!

Our sunflowers are growing! Now if only it would warm up to allow us a transplant! I cannot wait to see these continue to blossom. The kids enjoy watering their plants every day and measuring their growth.

I love catching my children playing quietly. I always hear that quiet children are up to no good, but so far I have only found friends playing quietly and unwinding from long mornings!

This morning we are listening to Kingdom Keepers book I on CD. This is a great way to get them to settle in for a day of studying! We love our early and quiet mornings where we break a little from the routine!

Enjoy every minute my friends!

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Daily Moments...

My kids have been spending time reading to service dogs, during this time I am left to my own devices and though I have this time to myself, I often find myself peeking in on them and watching.
It's often in these moments that I think of:
~how big they are getting
~how old I am getting
~how life moves far too quickly
~how much my life has taken a path I never expected it to take.

During these moments alone, I am often faced with fears and questions
~When will they push me away to let them grow up
~Will they always need me, like I still need my parents
~Will they move far and not be afraid to live their dreams
~Will they be happy and love themselves as much as I love them 

Though these days may fly by, I love capturing them in photos as I can look back at these days and remember that I was always there for them and for that brief moment that I look in at the photo, I can see my children as little ones lost in a moment.

Did you know that the base of a celery bunch can be used as a stamp for a rose? It's perfect! Add a green stem using marker or crayon and you are all set with an easy and perfect project! 

Enjoy every minute my friends!

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WordlessWednesday...

March for Life, chilly but awesome... 

Just learned how to crochet and now it goes everywhere with her! 

Absolutely loving this from church and will definitely have to make my own! 

We went out of town this weekend for Monster Trucks! What fun!!

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About Last Week...

What a busy week of field trips and  classes and fun! I am sorry that I have been away but I will share some fun we have been having. Our favorite books are the Pigeon books by Mo Willems. They make us laugh so much that we read them over and over again! Here is a fun Pigeon craft that is completely edible!
What You Need:
1. (1)Graham cracker
2.(3)mini oreos
3. Vanilla frosting tinted blue & yellow
4. (1)Orange starburst cut in tiny strip
5. (1) chocolate chip
6. (3) check mix squares
What to Do:
1. Spread your graham cracker with yellow frosting
2. Add 3 check mix squares as windows
3. Add 2 mini oreos as tires
4. Add blue frosting on one mini oreo
5. add chocolate chip to the top of the blue mini oreo to look like an eye
6. Add starburst sliver to blue mini orea as beak
Now you have the Pigeon Driving the Bus!! OH NO!!!

My young engineers had a bridge challenge in their LEGO class this week and their group won! They were able to withstand weight and work together to build it! 

Enjoy every minute my friends!

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Picture Books & Meals on Monday

Happy Monday my friends, what a long and wonderful break. I needed a break from it all and found solace with my grandmother. She passed on 17 years ago, but I was so close to her that it was a devastating loss to me and she is one person that I think about daily. I really wish she could have met my husband and children. Sometimes a calming moment with her makes the start of the year something to look forward to. I hope you all are ready for this new year as well!

In this New Year I am hoping to spend more time with the Good Lord and reading his word. I plan on journaling more often and listening more. This is also something I am introducing into our religion class and hope that it makes for a very spiritual 2015

Why is it that we all begin to organize in the beginning of a year too? Our classroom is undergoing a makeover to adjust to our daily needs now that we have older students and no beginning readers or kids learning how to count and the like. One thing we still have though? Picture Books! We will keep these forever!! I despise book jackets though, they are too pretty to toss but to delicate for little hands that love to love books so what do we do? Use them as display, works of art and eye catching design in a library, playroom or classroom! Staple them up if you will not need them again or even frame them and hang them to preserve their life. Why hide the jackets, when they, like the books, are true works of art?!

Our oldest turns 10 today...double digits?! Where did the years go and how have I not aged a bit??!! Hahaha, well I will post more on this beautiful princess that captured our hearts upon her first breath and never really gave them back. She is our angel that continues to bring us so much joy and happiness.

Menu Planner!
Monday: Crockpot Herbed Pork Chops served with Green Beans and Rice along with a Garden Salad
Tuesday: Meatball Sandwiches on homemade bread w/ Tomato Slices sprinkled w/ Vinegar, Oil & Basil
Wednesday:  Loaded Baked Potato Soup served with Cucumber Slices sprinkled with salt & lime
Thursday: Chicken Pot Pie served with Ceasar Salad
Friday: Shrimp Scampi over Zucchini noodles served with a caprese salad
Saturday: Curry Chicken and Basmati Rice served with homemade naan and broccoli salad

Sunday: DIY Soup & Salad Bar (we are spending the day working on the attic project that we want something quick and easy!)

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Tip and Tricks of the Trade

Happy Thursday, it's time to share a round up of tricks and tips for the house, classroom and life in general! Book organization is HUGE in our home, mainly because every room in our house has a bookshelf or 2 or 3 or 6!! We love books here, even our benches and tables have stacks of books on them. For books that have spines that cannot be read, we put them in baskets and bins so that they face forward for easy finding. For larger books, they go in normally and then we use paint stir sticks to label the subjects. I also keep a master list of books so that I can keep track of what we have and where. Whenever new books come into the classroom, they sit in a basket until I can catalog them. I also use the top of the bookshelves as storage space to keep things organized and off the ground!

Keep recyclables handy for storing items!  I use upcycled containers in my large bags to store bandaids, hand sanitizer, bobby pins, chapstick and anything else that is too small and gets lost easily. I don't like using cosmetic bags because if something leaks it makes a mess & I don't like using ziplock bags because they are still hard to find in the bag. These make it easy to grab something! 

I saw this on a blog earlier in the week and could not wait to have the kids try it out for the train village! All it takes is an open window car, an ornament hook and pliers. Thanks All Things Beautiful! 

Our library sells magazines from .10-.25 each and many are just last month's editions! I pick up a few every month just to cut up for collages and the larger letters for our letter box. Perfect for spelling words and other fun things! 

As daddy gets our tree in place, the most important part is the train board. It is a week long process that has my kids giving their undivided attention to Daddy as he tells stories of how this train used to belong to his grandpa and all the memories he has. In the background you can see Charlie, our Elf on the shelf taking advantage of the free train play! See what else Charlie has been up to this year HERE!

Remember to enjoy every minute!

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Round Up!

Fall seemed to have arrived while we were on vacation and we came home to a yard full of leaves, the sky turning dark super early, a chill in the air and pumpkin everything...it is an amazing transformation to leave sand, sun, tank tops and shorts to come home to leaves, darkness, long sleeves and jeans! I love Autumn (why we named our daughter that!), don't get me wrong, but it takes some getting used to! We collected leaves in all of these clear cylinders to decorate the house for the season and they looks so cute! We put them on the fireplace and peppered throughout the living room.

The Day The Crayons Quit has to be the most AMAZING book we have read in quite awhile! It is hilarious and sooo cute that we bring it everywhere and have people read it. Have not read it yet? Get to your library or even just head to Barnes & Noble, you will love it!!

With Autumn sneaking up on us, I knew I had to start preparing for Winter. One of the kid favorites is painting in the snow. These squeeze bottles are the perfect size for little hands. My kids absolutely love doing this, even making the paint with food coloring and water is a fun project in itself! You can even use squeeze bottles with food, check this out HERE!

One thing my kids loved in Disney World was the Pirate Map treasure hunt. They had so much fun following these maps that it has inspired our next birthday party coming up in December! We plan on having a treasure hunt themed party, with maps and hunts and prizes in trunks. The kids are so excited and I can honestly say that I am too! Follow my Pinterest Board for this Party HERE!

When we take on new studies, I love to use things that I can find around the house, are inexpensive and can be taken on the go! Learning the 50 states and capitals is made fun with this double sided-popsicle stick game. One side has the state and the other the capital. It can be played like a game of pick up sticks, can be used alone as flash cards. My kids also love making up their own games to play, the have added in a timer and give a time limit, added in a note pad and had each person pick 10 and lay them flat, then write down what would be on the opposite side of the stick, they sometimes grab them and use them to quickly decide who goes first, second and third in other games! I keep them accessible at all times and the kids gravitate towards them every now and them outside of class.

Our car ride was electronic-free and the kids didn't notice one bit! We had card games, travel games, homework and plenty of chatter. We all had a blast and in all honesty 20 hours went by in no time at all! One thing that we always keep on hand are chip clips, they are perfect for holding cards for little hands when playing games!

Remember to enjoy every minute my friends!

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Menu Plan Monday!

It's Menu Plan Monday! What is on your Menu for tonight? The rest of the week?
Monday:
Grilled Pork Chops & Baked Potato Bar with Cucumber & Tomato Salad

Tuesday:
Hot Dogs over the fire pit & Garden Salad

Wednesday:
Bean Burritos & Potato Wedges

Thursday:
Chicken Stir Fry over Rice

Friday:
Italian Sub Sandwiches & Chips with Pasta Salad

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Thrift Stop!

After writing this post on thrifty teaching aids:

http://michellescharmworld.blogspot.com/2011/03/thrifty-teaching-aids.html ,

I have gotten many e-mails, to keep updating my fun buys! Remember that you don't have to go to a specific charity shop, just go into one! I for one can be a total store snob, I admit it, but thrifting is FUN! There are so many treasures you can unearth and believe me, I've often times found new in box toys and books and game sets that are perfect for lessons or inspire new ones. 

Today, I ran in just to do a quick check at the local Goodwill (snob about to come out here). I cannot stand this Goodwill and if I were the company I would invest in making it as nice as the others I have been to (every single other one) AND be more careful about what they put on the shelves (stained items, torn items, broken stuff etc.) The minute you walk into this one, you just get that ick feeling, BUT I figured I will give it a shot, since I struck out at my 2 other local stops.Go figure I found some great stuff!! 

I did take the time today to write them a customer note on their website with my receipt information, so hopefully that will help somewhat! haha!!On to the good stuff!

Goodnight Moon is HUGE, it's the Lap Size for the classroom and perfect for all 3 kids to see while I read at bedtime! The Vintage Clock is a puzzle too! This is going to be very helpful in teaching Roman the Time basics and we can also use the numbers in different games too! My favorite purchase was the magnetic Pattern Blocks and Book, these were in a ziploc freezer bag, so I put them in the red pouch to make it more portable. I then dug through my supplies and found a cute little iron on to pop onto the pouch to make it cute and my youngest son fell in love! 

I took an iron on patch that I had in my supplies and put it right on this drawstring bag I had and now this little set looks good as new and Roman has already started carrying it everywhere to play!

Goodnight Moon .79

Magnetic Blocks and Book .99

Clock .99

Total spent today under 3.00!!!