Mondays Come Too Fast...

I honestly believe that I ask myself 'how is it Monday already' every single week. We like to stay busy constantly and even steal away sometimes and I think that keeping busy 24-7 is what makes time fly by too quickly. My fit bit logged in so many steps each day this weekend, I honestly thought that I was on a Disney vacation! Do you know how many miles you log on those trips?! One thing I ALWAYS do when we steal away is bring a bag of school work and books, the kids moan and groan about it, but late at night when we are in the room, they are often found snuggling up in bed with a book and reading or playing some type of game. TV is a luxury that sometimes gets turned on the minute we get into a room, but they love going back to the books after the initial excitement!

Joann Fabrics has these adorable sleighs made of wood that your children can paint and they are the PERFECT size for your elf pet and Elf on the shelf along with some friends!!

St. Nicholas Day came and as we read all about him, the kids had fun exploring their new goodies! Books and candy and games along with a few other goodies!

Our elf has been having a war with the nut crackers every year since he arrived and this time they caught him coming back!! He is in popcorn jail, but it worked out just right as he brought along a family movie and a bag of popcorn!!!

Our book of the day is Courduroy's Christmas Surprise by Lisa McCue. I have been a Courduroy fan since I was a little girl and am always eager to share a favorite story with my kids. My husband knows of him, but he was never a fan, I think it's great that as an adult he is discovering an old friend and seeing him in a different way!

The silly elf took our coloring book that ST. Nick brought and he started coloring the pages we left blank!!

Enjoy every minute my friends, it goes far too quickly!

   Follow Me On Facebook!
   Follow Me On Pinterest!

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!!

   Follow Me On Facebook!
   Follow Me On Pinterest!

Christmas & Birthdays & School...Oh My!

WOW, it came and it went all so quickly didn't it?! We managed to celebrate the Christmas holiday with friends and family, rush in a birthday celebration for a very special 9 year old and even did some school work! Just because your friends are off of school, does not mean that we have to be! I am one of those parents and it drives my kids insane. Even while out of town for a few weeks, we are still doing school. Oh woe is me..I mean them! How was your Christmas? I am NOT looking forward to finally getting home and having to clean out toys to fit in new ones...oh and my kids all got tablets from my father...so I need to look into filtering them and doing something with those as well.

While getting ready for friends to join us in an evening of games and exchanging gifts, I needed the kids occupied and didn't have time to put anything together. I handed them scissors, tape and coffee filters and told them to create a table runner for me! The result was this snowflake runner and I LOVED IT!!

Being out of town results in a lot of eating out and sometimes even that loses its luster for children and I am so glad my purse is always full of entertainment! (No cute clutch over here) Games, cards, dice, cars, figures, tape...you name it, I have a variety in there. I like to use brain games as much as possible or even just hand them a few things and tell them to create their own games. Keeping them thinking is key.

School on the road needs to be quick and handy as well as not take up too much space so these Folders are perfect for flashcard learning! We made these folders out of cardstock and are perfect for the flashcard kids in your life. The folder closes up and stays closed with a rubberband. This makes them portable for a quick run through on the go! It's also a great visual reminder on what your child/student needs to work on. Visual enticements keep the kids eager to keep going, because they see how much they know and want to add to it! My boys are visual and tactile learners and this works so well for anything they are doing. They are always eager to fill in that KNOW column. I tell them that the know column is their brain and the more they put in that slot, the more they are filling their brain with awesome information.

With a new year on its way, I remind you to enjoy every minute my friends!

   Follow Me On Facebook!
   Follow Me On Pinterest!

Review It: Spectrum Workbooks

 

Hello friends, it's Finally Friday! Early last month I posted about our great mail day arrival, where our Spectrum Workbooks for review arrived! I decided to truly bring these into our curriculum, which as many of you know is a box curriculum. It took some work to get them to fit in, but I wanted to give a proper review. After once month of using them,  I am happy to say that we will continue using the rest of these books as a supplement for what we already use.

Using Spectrum was a great idea, as new books are like new toys and right away everyone wants to check them out! The kids absolutely loved the titles I chose for them to work on and so did I! My 6th grade got Writing & Science, 4th grader got Writing & Language Arts and my 2nd grader received Math.  We did not go right in row through the book, instead I poked through and picked and pulled what lined up with what they are working on or what they needed a little additional help with.

I absolutely loved that their pages were perforated and allowed me to pull out the pages needed, staple them and stick them in one of our decorated folders to take on the go with us. I have mentioned before how portability is very important to us and these fit the bill!

Spectrum workbooks have very clear and concise explanations for all of their sections and that is VERY important for those that wish to use them as more than a supplement. My 2nd grader was able to look at the examples and figure it out on his own. That is great when I have 2 other children that need my attention every now and then as well. Thanks so much Spectrum for this wonderful opportunity! Be sure to follow THEM ON FACEBOOK, where they share great ideas and awesome free activities as well!

Enjoy every minute my friends!

   Follow Me On Facebook!
   Follow Me On Pinterest!
**I was compensated for this review but all opinions are my own!**

Wordless on Wednesday...

   Follow Me On Facebook!
   Follow Me On Pinterest!

Wordless Wednesday

-------------------------
Wordless Wednesday - A moment to let your photos do the talking.
Link to your wordless posts in the comments please!
---------------------------

Enjoy every minute my friends!

   Follow Me On Facebook!
   Follow Me On Pinterest!

Happy Saturday!

Today was our Sams Club stock up day, you know the type...load up the top and bottom of the cart so high that you can't see and then have a minor coronary when the total rings up? The ones where you start out so great with boxes and organized packing but then eventually you run out of boxes and are just shoving stuff wherever it fits! This is our one weekend a month that we spend at home deep cleaning, working on another remodel on our list and shopping. 

Today was the start of winter project #1. We finished half of the attic when we bought the house for our daughter to use as a room, the other half remained unfinished. Today the old subflooring was torn up and a new one was put down along with running new electrical. This will be a project that will most likely last all winter but I am glad to get it started. This half of the attic will become a hang out room for the kids and their friends. It will house comfy chairs, bookshelves, a table, tv and game consoles along with board games, a minifridge and other odds and ends. 

Enjoy every single minute my friends!!

   Follow Me On Facebook!
   Follow Me On Pinterest!

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!

   Follow Me On Facebook!
   Follow Me On Pinterest!

Lost Art

Do you have a problem with storing artwork? That little part of you that feels bad when tiny drawings are tossed out? You don't want to become a hoarder but at the same time, you need to let some go, right? Well I have a system...(of course I do!). I have these BIG YEAR BINDERS where all the school work goes and larger art pieces and then they get labeled with the current school photo the year. At the end of the year, I file them into a large rubbermaid bin (Future post coming on this one). For the really neat and colorful pieces that evoke emotion or make me smile, I put those on our Gallery Wall (Future post coming on this one too!!!). Then there are those tiny little photos or just random ones done on the back of a menu at a restaurant or on a sheet of notebook paper. They would easily get tossed but they are art none-the-less!

I have a daily planner, my personal 'bible' of sorts. It goes with me everywhere and has everything tucked into it. It's stuffed with appointments, business cards, tickets, money...you name it! Without it, I would be lost. When the year is over, I keep them in my Rubbbermaid of memories for the year because it is fun to look back at. What is that I look back at exactly??? Well lost art of course!

Instead of throwing these little bits and pieces out, I tape them into old pages of my planner! This is yesterdays page, because I found these little guys in a notebook and in a pad of construction paper. Whenever I see tiny little pieces of drawings or something catches my eye in the van that has been curled up, I cut it out and tape it in. They are memories that would be tossed, it's awesome to see their faces light up when they see their old works treasured in a book that I always keep on me. If that planner page had something recurring or a note on it, I just copy it over to the next day or put it on a post it that can just stick on.

The smallest of photos on the back of a receipt is something that I want to treasure forever. The kids and I always get a kick of seeing who did what and how long ago. It's so fun to try and guess and just remember days past.

If a paper gets torn in the backpack or too curled up for the binders, we cut out the important parts and I tape it in. There is such a collage of items on these pages that it's a cheaply done scrapbook that still captures moments in our lives. When they make confetti with scissors, I even keep some of those and tape them in. It gives my past days some punch <3 p="">

How do you store your art? The bits and pieces? 

   Follow Me On Facebook!
   Follow Me On Pinterest!