Tot School - Uu is for Umbrella

Munchkin is 32m, Little Bear is 13m

The Week at a glance:

Theme: Fall

Letter: Uu

Word: Umbrella

Color: Brown

Shape: Circle

Number: 21

Last week in Tot School we focused on U is for Umbrella.  I didn't find a lot of U or weather books in my stash so we continued to read Things That Go.  Munchkin loves this book so he  didn't mind.  He had a lot of fun using the dot marker i have.  I haven't gotten a chance to get the do a dot markers, but I found this bingo marker at the Dollar Tree last week and it works fine.  This was Munchkins first experience with a dot marker and he loved it.  He really was attempting to get the U's but his aim is a bit off... lol.  I got the printable for free from here.  

We played a fun game I've dubbed "Under"  we walked through the house (okay it was when I had some cleaning to do) and Munchkin crawled under things... he had a blast, and Little Bear just giggled in delight at watching his brother be so silly.  Unfortunately I wasn't carrying the camera around (cleaning remember?).

I also brought out the stacking blocks I have.  When they come out, Munchkin always requests the magnetic letters too.  He loves pouring them from container to container.  I try to get him to sort the colors into the different blocks but he is totally uninterested in that.  Sometimes he serves me up a yummy letter soup as he calls it.  I was pretty happy that he was able to correctly put them back nestle them all together in the correct order when it was time for clean up.  Usually he asks for my help.

We also played with our wooden color blocks.  I am trying to practice AB patterning with Munchkin.  Sometimes he says "wook mommy I made a pattern".  He gets the idea of the two colors, but doesn't quite have the idea of patterning yet.  He'll have lots of fun while we practice.  He loves driving his little cars on wooden block roads.

He loves it even more if there is a tunnel to drive under.

While Munchkin drove on wooden block roads, I practiced in and out with Little Bear.  I am super excited that he is finally putting items in and taking items out on command.

We used brown finger paint (chocolate pudding) to have some fun.  I really focus on colors for Little Bear.  Munchkin is very good at colors so we have started working on shades; light, dark, bright...etc.

They look like they're having fun here right?  Not so much, about a minute after I snapped this shot, Little Bear realized there wasn't much more to eat so he started screaming.  Please understand anyone who has heard his scream walks away with ringing ears.  I'm pretty sure sometimes only the dogs can here him it's so high pitched.  Simultaneously, Munchkin started asking for another pudding.  When I declined he threw a fit that could have earned us a spot on Super Nanny.  So basically we won't be doing this again for a while.

On Friday I decided to reorganize the storage closet where I keep our Tot School things.  When I organize I typically pull everything out and place everything back in.  I wanted Munchkin to be able to reach the activities and toys he's allowed to use and get the other items out of his reach.  I found a roll of blue ribbon from Munchkin's birthday party (seems like forever ago).  Little Bear enjoyed playing with it longer than I thought he would. 

I usually only take out one learning toy or activity at a time so the boys were pretty excited and (I think) a tad bit overwhelmed at having everything out.  It did give me an opportunity to do a bit of review and find a lot of things I forgot I had.

Join us next week for Vv is for Vegetables.  Want to see some other fun Tot School Posts?  Check them out here.

Friday Five

Hellooooo (in my Mrs. Doubtfire voice), welcome to the very first Friday Five! I'm just about wrapping up my Master Binder Series and I actually enjoyed it. So it thought wouldn't it be cool to do a weekly feature or series. And thus Friday Five was born (yes yes I know, no Ands at the beginning of sentences, but this is my blog and I can be grammatically incorrect if I want to... But I digress)

Anyway, Friday at five (at least I will try my hardest to be at five, tonight I had a bit of an issue with the scheduling so we're a tad bit late) I will post five things.  Perhaps five random facts, or five favorites of mine,  maybe five things I ate.   Who knows, I just thought it'd be fun and perhaps you can get to know me a little better (this is of course assuming you do want to know me better..
 ; )
So here it goes. The first (slightly late) Friday Five: Random Facts

1.  I love pink (but I'm sure you can tell looking at my blog)

2.  I hate to iron.  I have since I was a kid and my father used to make me iron his shirts.  It is a true testament of how much I love my husband that I iron his shirts.

3.  I played on the girl's state soccer team when I was a kid. It was awesome, our uniforms were hot pink (no kidding) and I still have my jacket in the closet.  I secretly (well.. Maybe not so secretly) hope one of my boys loves soccer as much as I did.

4.  I'm not a huge fan of chocolate.  I mean I do love a good brownie sundae, but given the choice between a slice of chocolate cake and another dessert... Chances are I'd go with the other.

5.  Christmas is my absolute favorite time of year! I love the cheesy movies, the good will toward all, cookies, giving (and let's be honest... getting), and I am extra excited because Munchkin is at an age where he understands the whole idea (of presents... But you know what I mean).

Tt is For Transportation

Munchkin is 31.5m

During our Tt is for Transportation week we didn't follow our normal schedule, so I didn't get too many pictures.  I was in the process of redoing our laundry room and it proved to be a big project (which everything is when you have 2 toddlers).  I also (for some strange reason) decided to start potty training Munchkin. Yes I'm insane... I know that now.

Anyway we did get to read Things That Go fifty million times. Munchkin was also able to play with the Cars Tot Book I made for him (which I didn't take a picture of... duh). You can make your own... It's pretty simple I made it on Sunday night while I watched Jersey Housewives (sorry... I love the drama).

For snack one day I made graham cracker traffic lights.  I saw a similar idea using sugar cookies and frosting, but I didn't feel like baking (remember... busy week?), plus I thought the graham cracker and peanut butter would be a bit healthier.  I used chocolate sprinkles and peanut M & M's (yes full of sugar but hey... whatever)

For cooking day we made orange wheels (homemade potpourri).  Not sure if I did it correctly but I was expecting a much stronger orangey cinnamony aroma. It smelled great while baking (really great), but after that it was (still is..) a bit of a disappointment.  But Munchkin enjoyed himself shaking cinnamon, and that's what really matters.

I find when I read posts about what other kids are doing I imagine how Munchkin will play and learn.   It seems as though the kiddos follow the directions perfectly and clean up nicely.  Munchkin almost never uses activities the way I planned.   Sometimes he literally is only interested for a minute or less, then he turns it into his own game or activity.  Take this muffin sorting activity I put together.  I found these transportation erasers at the dollar tree.  I thought perfect for sorting.  Munchkin thought perfect for piling and driving.  I just wanted to add this bit of info because I can snap pics of him doing the activity for one second (which I did).  Then the next second he's is doing his own thing and I just wanted to keep it totally honest.

This week is Uu for Umbrella(weather). We will be following a Fall Unit during all of October.   For more great Tot School posts and ideas check out 1+1+1=1.

Thanks for reading,

Leiah

Potty Insanity

So to prove that I am absolutely insane I decided to start pottey training the same time I decided to redo the laundry room. Uh... Yeah... Nuts I know. I just can't help myself. I have crazy amounts of patience when it comes to situations. You know; tantrums, long lines, annoying people. However I have no patience when it comes to things I want or want to do. I've wanted to do this for a while.

Lol.. I just erased a super long rant about messy diapers because it seemed a bit too gross, so let's just say I'm tired of changing messy diapers. Munchkin is 32 months old now and I know some will say wait till he's 3, but I can't wait. He'll be 3 in only four months and I figure not much will change in that time.

Anyway, I've googled like crazy (haven't read any books because I feel like you can find anything on the net). I've found some great info and some funny stories. So armed with some fun potty books for Munchkin, the Elmo Potty DVD, a sticker chart, big boy undies, and a few potty chairs... We started. So far things are going. He hasn't been in a diaper in almost two weeks, only pull-ups when we leave the house and nap/bedtime. We've gone from quite a few accidents to only one per day. At some point I have to ease up on taking him to the potty and let him tell me (which he hasn't done yet), I don't see that happening in the near future.

Wish me luck... No seriously I need it. Do you have any advice or funny stories about potty training? I'd love to hear them. Thanks for reading.

Leiah

Tot School - Ss is for Space

Munchkin is 31.5m and Little Bear is 12m.

                                 

We've been doing Tot School for 3 weeks now and we are going strong. Munchkin looks forward to "table activities" every morning. I try and stick to a weekly routine. It helps me plan and helps to teach Munchkin the concept of days of the week.

Music Mondays - we get out the instruments and rock out... Seriously, we rock.
Totally Technology Tuesdays - Either we explore on the Internet, or they get to use the iPad.
Nature Walk Wednesdays - sometimes I get lazy about getting the boys outside, I make sure we get out and stay out for a good amount of time.
Cooking Time Thursdays (I couldn't think of anything with a TH)- We make something that goes with the theme or letter of the week.
Fun Project Fridays - I actually used to do this in my classroom as a teacher and the kids really looked forward to it. Munchkin loves it too, well he likes anything to do with glue.


Here's our Ss is for Space week.


We put A is For Astronaut and Kitten's First Full Moon in our book basket.  I thought Munchkin would love A is For Astronaut with all the great outer space pictures.  He instead preferred the adventures of a cute kitten chasing the moon with all black and white pictures... go figure.

I also put together a letter S basket. Munchkin is really into pretend cooking these days and used it to make me lots of pretend meals.

 Little Bear was not interested in the strings I cut for him at all.  He did love the shake bottles though.

Munchkin had loads of fun dressing in a space costume I made... As you can see he wouldn't slow down for pics.

He also practiced matching planets.  This is one of the few activities that he completed start to finish.  These print outs are from 1+1+1=1. Carissa offers awesome printables which are mostly free.

We also played with a semi-sensory bin. It should have had more items in it, but I only put in stars and black beans. Later in the week I added pom poms for the planets. Both kiddos played with this everyday.  I think I'm going to make one for a fall theme.

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 I had to watch Little Bear like a hawk, because of course he wanted to taste things. This is Little Bear after I told him "No Mouth!" lol... I told him again just so I could see the cutie pouty lip. Mean mommy.



Just an FYI, sensory bins can get pretty messy.  be prepared with the vacuum or a broom.  The beans on the carpet were not too hard to get up.  As you can see I tried to keep this activity on paper.   Not so much.

For lunch one day I cut Munchkin's sandwich into a spaceship and also made a star from a leftover pancake.  Grapes are his favorite fruit (this week) and I almost couldn't get a picture before he had to eat them.  Needless to say the S went first.

We cooked Moon rocks. It's just canned biscuits cut into pieces, rolled into balls, fried, and covered with powdered sugar. He of course loved them.

Munchkin had a great time shaking them in the sugar.

 For art Munchkin painted with orange and yellow, when it was dry I cut stars and a moon shape. Munchkin likes using the glue stick. Lol... I thought I had black card stock in my scrapbook stash... Turns out he didn't mind it being brown.

Munchkin actually took two seconds out of his very "busy" schedule to work in his Kumon book.  He literally has a two minute attention span which I suppose is normal.  We managed to complete two pages!

My Tiny Tot.  I attempted to get him to put pom poms in the cups.  Nope... he prefers to eat them.  Oh well. : )

 I'm a bit behind on my Tot School posts so look forward to Tt is for Transportation later this week.  Check out more Tot School here.

Family Master Binder: Part 2

Welcome to part two of my Family Master Binder Series.  If you missed Part 1: Getting Started, check it out here.  In this post I will focus on the first two sections of my binder.  When I was creating mine, I found it difficult to decide what to add to each section (even with my google stalking).  So here are a few pics and ideas of what to put in yours.  Of course every family and house hold has different needs, so tweak yours to fit your family just right.

When I first open my Family Master Binder I have a cover sheet.  In the pocket to the left are forms that I need to file on my filing day which is Wednesday.

My first section in my binder is my information section.  I used file folders as my section dividers even though I have plastic folders.  I wanted to be able to put a cover sheet for each section and I didn't want to just put it in the pocket.  To make them I just cut the tabbed half of the file folder off (I let Munchkin color on the other side).  Then I used scrapbook paper to cover them.  Last I added my cover sheet.  Extra work?... Yes... worth it for me?... Yes.  Well here is the run down of the information section:

 1. Town Info: the numbers to the police, fire dept., and 2 of my close neighbors.

2. Medical Info: the numbers to our family Dr., pediatrician, dentist, as well as the phone numbers and member ID# to all of our insurance carriers.

3. Employment Info: both my husband and my work numbers and addresses (technically I am still on family leave... we'll see if I ever go back; )

4. Home Info: the numbers/ and websites to our electric, gas, water service, cable Internet & Phone companies, as well as our landscaper and anyone else who we use for service.  I still have to add our plumbers number.  For now it's taped to the plastic folder in this section.

5. I also keep a community guide we received when we moved into the area.  I have also placed the poison control sticker in this section.

 My second section is titled Agenda, let's take a look.

Week at a Glance sheets.  As you can see my weeks are pretty mundane. I suppose once the boys get older and have their own schedules outside the home things will get pretty hectic and these sheets will become more important.  The top portion are blank days of the days of the week boxes.  The bottom portion has quick reminders, a Daily cleaning list, and a weekly chore list for me. 

My daily schedule (I find if I write it down then I'm more likely to stick to it).  BTW, no... I don't always wake up at 6 and work out.

I also keep calendar sheets that I printed for free from Organized Home.  This site is quickly becoming one of my favs.  These are some of the few pages I don't keep in page protectors.  I need to be able to write things down quickly with a pen, sliding them in and out just doesn't work.

  

I've found that there are lots of resources for print outs for your own binder.  If you'd like more professional looking pages you can purchase some from iheartorganizing.  Mine are similar, just not as nice... lol.  Also Organized Home has some for free but you can't edit them on your computer.

Anyway, thanks for stopping by!

Next week in Part 3, I'll show you my Home Keeping, Food Planning, and Family sections.

Happy Organizing,

Leiah

Rainbow Fish Craft

     

The week before last we did Rr is for Rainbows. We did lots of fun things including reading the story The Rainbow Fish (of course) then making cute rainbow fish out of coffee filters.

You'll Need:
A coffee filter
Washable markers
One wiggly eye
Glue
Tin foil
Water

Start by coloring patches of color all over your coffee filter. Use bright colors for best results (yellow doesn't show up well on the brown coffee filter).  Once your coloring is complete use a spray bottle to wet your filter. I let Munchkin shake An old sippy cup full of water on the filter (this worked fine).

 Once your filter is saturated the colors will begin to run together (I had to help it a bit with my finger).  Let it dry completely.  The colors will be much lighter.  Cut it into the shape of a fish.

Then add scales with the tin foil. I put little dots of glue and let Munchkin add the tin foil. Last add the eye and draw a small mouth. Done.  Aren't they cute?