Rainy Days and Sundays...

We've had our bout of rainy days recently and you know what? We LOVE THEM! The kids like to snuggle up together on the couch and read as we all listen to the rain that falls on the roof. Once we get our outdoor curtains installed on the screen porch, that will be an AWESOME place to sit and read as the rain falls. 

A few weeks ago we won the BEST package of nature DVD's from our news station! We are so blessed to own these movies and I have already begun creating lesson plans around them! The kids are eager to learn daily. 

We have been on the go so much lately, it has been time to just take a break from being in the car ALL.The.Time. There really comes a time when you just need to STOP and put yourself first.

As I am sure you have gathered on your own, we travel a lot. Whether it be long distances or just a couple hours, we are always on the go. One of the things I LOVE LOVE LOVE to keep in the car is a coloring pack for each child. I got these cases at a library sale and they originally held books on tape! We kept those, but stored them differently and used these cases for this. The tape section is sunken in and helps keep the crayons and pencil in place, while the book clips on the opposite side are perfect for holding paper! 

Be Happy and Enjoy Every Minute my Friends!!!

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Weekend Wrap-Up

Happy Tuesday everyone!!! My days are all screwed up, because my husband gave me the greatest gift of all for Mother's Day & he gave it to me yesterday!!! We have hectic holidays with a lot of travel and a lot of hustle and bustling that makes it quite tiring. With all the running around and travel, our house takes a big the entire week before in preparation and my Monday is usually full of cleaning, and pulling my hair out, instead of relaxing and unwinding. Yesterday, my husband had the day off and he did all the cleaning and work for me! He allowed me to sit in our library and just enjoy. It was wonderful! 

Friday is when Mexico, where my family is from, celebrates Dia de Los Madres (Mother's Day) and I had been telling my husband recently how much I miss Mexico. He surprised me with a gift of  a Gardenia tree! This tree blooms everywhere in Mexico, but mainly in the parks where we stroll hand in hand every time we are there!! 

 Our pumpkin plants are sprouting like crazy!! It's so amazing to see them come to life and lean towards the sun, trying to get in as much as it can. The kids are absolutely loving the idea of a garden as it takes shape before their eyes.

Saturday, we were in the city of Chicago for National Train Day! It took place at Union Station, and we even took the train there! It was so much fun for everyone, that we still have not stopped talking about it! I love events like this, that are fun for the entire family.

I took the kids to have their pictures taken and because I matched them, the photographer insisted I get in the photo too, blahh! I hate having my photo taken, anyone else feel like that? I'm a fan of being behind the camera. 

Can someone explain to me why the coffee table ends up looking like a tornado blew through EVERY SINGLE DAY??? Oh and not at the end of the day, this is usually by noon!

I hope you all enjoyed every minute of your weekend!

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Sail Away With Water Play!

The water is warming up and the kids are eager to get into the water play! I am bringing back the boats we made a couple years ago! These are such a blast to make and play with! All you need is a straw and a piece of paper cut into a perfect square and decorated, Sponge cut into a boat shape. Assemble the parts and enjoy!!!

A quick tip for all! Keep your eyes open in all departments for the perfect items to put into your home! I love these darling little milk jugs for the kids to take their drinks on the screen porch as we read and enjoy the weather. I found these in VASE section of IKEA!!!

Take chances and enjoy every minute my friends!

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Summer Bucket List #6 - Lemonade Stand!

It's feeling like Summer, so it's time to get working on the awesome things that we plan on doing! Our Bucket List has 100 items on it and I am so glad to see us bumping them right off the list!

Want to print one out without the lines crossed out? GO HERE!

We started with this MARKET STAND from IKEA! This was sold flat, so it was easy to transport home and super easy to put together. My husband also added a shelf to the counter for spills and to make it sturdier. He is in the process of making a stand on casters for the bottom of the stand in order for the children to be able to push it around outdoors and to protect it from the ground.

I helped the kids make signage and decor using this awesome LEMON TEMPLATE from HERE! I altered it many times to fit my needs. Making the lemons smaller and then using different types and sizes of font. It was perfect!

We began decorating with the small lemons punched out with a Circle Punch and then glued on the sides of the stand. We used coasters with stickers to spell out the word LEMONADE. It still looked pretty plain, so we headed on to add more! We did add a working Cash Register from Learning Resources and it's absolutely perfect for this and holds real money.

As the stand will only be outdoors when it's open, we did not need a closed sign. I just taped this right to the register and it does double duty for role playing in the playroom and the lemonade stand!

If you are interested in printing any of the signage I made, please HEAD HERE!

This is the view from the back! On the bottom is a small bucket with a towel to keep the stand sticky free and clean! On the shelf are cups and straws. Beneath is a jug from TARGET (5.99) and a flower pot from IKEA with lemons and limes for slicing.

The left side of the stand has a shelf for a small container holding cut limes and lemons (IKEA), a tip jar also made from a flower pot from IKEA and a sign that I slipped into a page protector! A small jar of cookies holds a treat for the kids as they work but they also plan on selling them for .25 if someone asks!

So what do you think? I hope they do alright today, I am so nervous for them! I just don't want all their energies to be wasted on a slow day and then for them to be too disappointed.

I had absolutely nothing to worry about! The community turned out in full force and the kids sold almost 100 glasses of lemonade! Count in the tips and it was near 200! I was amazed and so proud of the people that stopped. The children had a blast and learned so much. When it started out slow, Autumn knew we needed a sign to draw in the crowd and boy was she right!

Always do more than you think is necessary and it will make a difference! Enjoy every minute my friends!

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Wonderful Weekends

Happy Monday my friends! How was your weekend? What did you do? Please share! We spent the weekend outdoors getting the garden ready and harvesting things that came back up from last year. I love beautiful weather!

The first 2 strawberries of the season have everyone clamoring to have a taste! I hope the animals stay away as we wait for more of them.

The oregano & chives came back full force! It's fantastic to see and the kids were so excited to begin chopping! I love fresh herbs in the kitchen and in all of my cooking.

Our celery that we are growing from the stump of the last batch is starting to sprout, how cool to grow things from cut off ends.

We made our own popsicles with fresh fruit and juice that we squeezed ourselves. I love getting the kids involved in the kitchen.

I made up these fantastic tickets to use in many different situations with the kids! I edit in their names if needed or we print them and the kids make their own things for birthdays and such. So fun!

Enjoy every minute my friends!!

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Mother's Day Fun!

With Mother's Day coming right around the corner, I have had my thinking cap on. For myself? No way, for the grandmothers! Isn't it amazing that on Mother's Day, we still can't kick back and enjoy? I think I get a 5 minute celebration but it's hurrrrryyyy uppppp the rest of the day as we rush to Mass and then off in the car for a 1 hour and 30 minute drive to meet Nana and take her to brunch to celebrate, then a hurried phone call to Mexico to wish my grandmother a happy day. Grab the check from brunch and hop in the car for an hour to the cemetery to drop some flowers off to my other grandmother. A full speed drive for another 40 minutes to see my mother-in-law and husband's grandma for dessert before the final 1 hour and 20 minute drive back home, where we arrive exhausted and a bit late for people that must be up early for work and school the next day. Insanity is the true word.

We are keeping the gifts fairly small this year as the budget is tight with property taxes being due! In place of the cards, I made up these cute little newspaper templates for the kids to write personal notes to their grandma & nana!

The Grandma Gazette was done first and I printed them on manila paper to give that aged look. The kids used colored pencils, markers and crayons to brighten the pages and even used real photos on some.

The Nana Gazette was next! I was going to make it the Nana News but the kids just learned the word Gazette and it stuck, they liked saying it and wanted to keep it again! 

Enjoy every minute and try to take at least 10 minutes for yourself!

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Sight Word Tracker

The weekend is near, I can feel it! Something this family loves to do, is read! With our youngest starting the world of reading, I truly enjoy tracking his progress. It's a great way for him to grow confidence as he sees how far he has come!

*I started by making up an awesome game board to make the tracking progress seem like a game as opposed to just a plain chart or checklist. I wanted to theme to be travel related as opposed to racing, because I wanted him to feel as though he were taking a leisurely stroll through the words, as you would do on a trip and it was not a RACE TO THE FINISH. I do not like putting undue pressure on them. 

**After creating the board, I filled it in with some sight words that came from his next set of phonics readers that he is moving on to. I saved the blank template, so that I could change the words as needed. Each time he fills the board, he gets to pick out a special literacy field trip for our group (Library, Book Store, Story time).

As Roman completes each group of words, he colors the block and adds a sticker to it. This is his way of visually tracking all that he knows and since we sit and do it together, I can hear how he sounds out the words (he was born deaf in one ear, so I have to make sure that it does not affect his speech).

Enjoy every minute my dear friends and remember that we have been given one more day, so make the most of it!

*Blank Board Template can be found HERE*

**Filled in Board can be found HERE**

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