Cute as a button

I'm teaching 4th Grade, 3rd Grade, and Kindergarten.  

I'm teaching Preschool.

I'm a mommy to a fast, intelligent 10 m. old.

I have to get creative to keep my sanity.

Having activities to keep them occupied make our days go a lot smoother.  

When I was a little girl, I would go to my Great-Grandma McNamar's house after school on most days.  I have so many good memories of evenings spent with my Grandma Chickens.  She would serve me homemade chocolate chip cookies and Hawaiian Punch, we would play Bingo and Hide the Thimble, and watch the Price is Right.

Grandma taught me to sew cross stitch and sew buttons.  She had jars of buttons and she would get a long piece of colored embroidery thread and I would sew buttons in pretty patterns and designs.  After I was finished, she would cut the string and we would put the buttons back in the jar to start over another day.

My mom has 2 large jars of button that were Grandma Chicken's.  I was so happy to look through them recently and enjoy remembering the exact buttons that Grandma and I used years ago.

When I first brought out the pretty colored buttons,  all of my daughters had to take turns sewing them.  I loved their enthusiasm.  This simple activity is teaching them a trait, a hobby, and good housekeeping skills all at once.

Love my kids,
 

preschool in the driveway

another reason that homeschool is awesome.....the giant chalk board.

School is in full swing and the we enjoyed a few learning sessions outside today.

My kids (like me) learn better if they move around and learn using different methods.

We wrote the vowels on the driveway and practiced their names, their sounds, and words you hear them in.  The 2 little girls hopped on each letter as we reviewed it.  We drew simple pictures using the sounds we heard. Star has the "a" sound in it.

Brynlee, 2

 Eden, 5

John Truman, 8m.

I says "i" as in Indian.  Do you know how many thousands of times I've heard this phrase?

I Love this time of year.

Jesus Loves me with a bag of Skittles

 I recently bought a bag of {American} Skittles for my princesses to share.

  Sweetie is a treat and especially American candy because it's imported and expensive.

  The girls loved them.

  When we poured them on the counter to separate them the colors struck me and I noticed this......

Oh, how He loves you and me,

T' Time {#49}....from Kansas

My Take the Time to guest poster today is one of my best friends (and next door neighbor) growing up.

"Hi!  I am Christina.  I am a Missouri girl through and through...but am currently loving life in Kansas!  I am married to a gorgeous man named Zach and we have 3 super ornery children.  Ok....they are cute too (they look just like their daddy).  We've got Caleb who will be 8 in a couple weeks.  Riley Jo is 6, and Silas just turned 4 in October.

I am a lucky girl who gets to be a stay-at-home mom and homeschool all 3 of them.  And in my spare time I love Photography, Music and Art.  If you were to walk in my house right now...you would be tripping over my Ukulele (that I just got this year...and am still trying to find time to learn).  As well as my camera equipment laying all around my desk.  (I know.  I really need to get organized!)....and probably about 5...make that 6 unfinished art projects.  There are just not enough hours in the day!  {smile}

Today I thought I would share with you a craft we did last week.

  My  kids really enjoyed it...and it was super simple!

First.  Run up to Salvation Army or Goodwill and buy an old hymnal!

Tear a few pages out and let your kids cut them into strips.

* Tip of the day: Glue sticks work much better than Elmer's

Put a dab of glue on one end....and push the other end onto of the glue.

  Hold for just a second...and then loop the next strip through and repeat.

This is SO old school...I know....but I love the vintage Music paper!

   I really like it when the kids can do a craft...that I am not embarrassed to hang up!

  LOL  And this is one of them!  {smile}

The next thing I thought I would show you how to make..are Pom  Pom's!

This was a first for me...and all you need is yarn, scissors and a fork!

Then cut another long piece of yarn.  (from #3) Wrap around the fork until you reach the end.  (#4) Pull one of the short yarn ends up and over through the middle of the fork.  Now you should have both strands on one side.  

(#5-7) Now you get to choose!

You can either cut the loops on either side while on the fork...

or you can pull the yarn off....and cut the loops.

  Once all the loops are cut....you will have a pom pom!

I tied my 4" strands...so that they could either hang on the tree...or you can attach them to a ponytail holder...or make the loop small...and the kids can wear them as rings!

  Fun stuff!!!

There are so many different crafts out there for Christmas...but I hope this one is simple enough for everyone to enjoy...as well as for the momma's to enjoy displaying!   {smile}"


You can see more of Christina's beautiful photography HERE.
I {love} Christmas time,

Cool Boy Goop

Well, I'm kinda determined to be the coolest sister out there.

I'm enjoying spending time with my 3 little brothers. 

Mom and Dad went somewhere yesterday

and the boys and I had the run of the house. 

What to do?  What to do? 

I know...let's make slime!  I know...I'm really cool.

I've made this with my princesses a few months ago and they loved it.

I was kinda unprepared for the goofy "boy" jokes

that went along with the slimy, squishy substance. {grimace}

This stuff is really easy and makes a fun touchable oozy stuff

that is great to play with.

I take 1 cup of water and dissolve a teaspoon of Borax in it.

Then, in a seperate container I stir together

 1/2 a cup of Elmer's glue and 1/2 cup water. 

We add the food coloring to this. 

 Combine the 2 containers together and stir...stir...stir.

After it starts to come together, we use our hands to squeeze it.

This part takes awhile...perfect time for the goofy jokes.

I slowly pour off the water as it forms into the firmer "substance".

Levi found that a straw makes really big bubbles.

 Jacob's had a harder texture. 

Not sure why.  He found out his worked like a bouncy ball.

Cool Boy Goop Recipe

1 1/2 cup lukewarm water (seperated)

1 teaspoon Borax

1/2 cup Elmer's Glue

food coloring (optional)

Have a lovely day,

 

count your blessings

#70 young men with sandy blond hair

#71 disposable containers

#72 food coloring

Remember "whoo" loves you

Let me start off with expressing my love for "felt".

It's pretty awesome stuff.

Inexpensive, comes in a bunch of great colors, easy to cut, doesn't unravel,

 I {seriously}could keep going.

My girls love tiny little things, so a few days ago, I cut them out small animal shapes

 and had them sew {itty bitty} little stuffed animals.

So keep in mind, these were mainly sewn by a 6 and 7 year old.  

We did a few redo's to make them look "the best they could".  

Felt is really great for teaching little kids to hand sew with.

I think they turned out precious.

Princess Alexis came up with the idea of making little finger puppets with them. 

She made this to send to Aunt Monica....very fitting.  If you know Aunt Monica. {snicker}

Moriah wanted a hoot owl.  These turned out to be really simple and adorable puppets!

The girls wanted the wings to be able to "flap".

Their creative little  minds decided to hide a secret "love note" inside.

little homes from coffee tins, scrap paper, and modge podge

count your blessings

#64 fresh coffee smell in the kitchen...reminds me of my dad

#65 a pack-n-play crib to hold busy little people

#66 my living room rug

loop di loop tutorial

I realize this is probably nothing new

moms have been making pretend shoes to teach the tying technique since shoelaces were invented

but, this is my version

Princess Eden has been asking me to teach her to tie laces for a long time.

Know what I discovered?

My kids all needed help in this area....something about living on an Island and wearing flip-flops or barefoot in' every day kinda put us behind.  

Who would have thought?

Princess Moriah can tie a dress bow (behind her back) as pretty as you please...but not her "tennies".

I started with a wooden board and had a willing little helper paint it her favorite color

I cut out a shape that vaguely resembled a shoe

oh...and the hole at the top

I used scrapbook paper that had a print and some cute vintage sayings

good ol' modge podge, where would I be without you?

a layer under neath and a layer on top

used the {scary} staple gun to hold my lace in place 

"hey, mom, that rhymed!"

cute rhyme for tying shoes

A Indian made a teepee (pull lace up and cross one under the other) 

and it collapsed! (pull first "knot" down). 

So he started another, (make first loop for bow) 

and he took this string and went around it, (wrap other lace around loop) 

and went inside, (push lace under new loop) 

and there he had it! Two Tents! (pull loops for bow) .

"loop di loop
and tie them up
tighten it
and then get up"

Have a lovely day,

count your blessing

#37 the feeling after the end of school time

#38 cold cup of water

#39 baby scented wet wipes