Oh the joys of traveling with little people...

At least we went to Disney... UGH.

For real now... It's A ...

Now, let's party!

Happy Birthday to Matt!

Horray! A day off! Now, let's go to Maggies!

Makin' it...

Trina requested I "make her into" a princess... challenge accepted.

Angels

A simple way for younger children to make an angel decoration.
What You Need:

* White poster paper. (or other heavy paper)
* Scissors
* White glue.
* Magic markers.
* Cotton balls.
* Yarn or cording - gold is best.
* Glitter.

What You Do:

1. Cut one large and two smaller triangles from the poster paper.

2. Cut out a head and two hand shapes.

3. Glue the pieces together (see diagram).

4. Using the magic markers and glitter, decorate your angel.

5. Glue or tie some cording or string to the angel so it can hang as a decoration.

Recommended Products:

My Little Heart-Breaker...

BUG started a three week summer camp program, through the Park & Rec and he LOVES it... It works perfectly with my work schedule, because I am able to drop him off on my way to work and pick him up on my way home from work. He grew rather attached to one little lady, and she him. But, she was not alone, he came home with phone numbers and pictures and little candies... The moms that I spoke with told me their little ones giggled about him for hours... OHHHH BOOOYYY!

Habachi!!!

Jack's decided that taking Matt to a Habachi would be the BEST choice for his birthday. Since "Dad likes fire and good food, its perfect!"

A New state!

For my birthday, Matt and the kids decided to gift me with a trip to New Hampshire... After a looong wait we were finally able to reschedule and visit the BEAUTIFUL STATE of New Hampshire. We ate at a yummy Pub, drove to some awesome sites, and even managed to visit Clark's Trading Post before heading back to reality.

Twirly Skirt

What little girl doesn’t love a good, twirling skirt? This tutorial will show you how to make one!

To make a twirly skirt you will need:

Main skirt fabric (between 3/4 and 1 yard, depending on size).
Contrast fabric (1/2 yard)
1/2″ elastic (enough to go around the child’s waist, plus a little for overlap)
Sewing machine
Scissors or rotary cutter and mat
Ruler
Thread to match
Pinking shears (optional)
Safety pin

This tutorial is meant for personal use. Please don’t sell skirts made from these instructions.

OK, then, let’s get sewing!

Cut your fabric according to the sizes below. ALL PIECES ARE CUT WITH THE CENTER ON THE FOLD. WHEN YOU UNFOLD YOUR PIECES, THEY SHOULD BE TWICE AS WIDE AS STATED. The pieces in this photo are still folded. You should have two pieces for each part: skirt, casing, hem. The waist tie is made the same for each size. Of course, you can always make your skirt longer or shorter to suit your own needs.

This pattern uses European sizing (similar to Hanna Andersson). To ensure a good fit, you need to know the child’s height.

90cm (34-38 inches): 2 skirts on the fold (19″w x 9″l each or 38″ wide by 9″ long each when unfolded)
100cm (38-42 inches): 2 skirts on the fold (19.5″w x 10.5″l each or 39″ wide by 10.5″ long each when unfolded)
110cm (42-46 inches): 2 skirts on the fold (20″w x 12″l each or 40″ wide by 12″ long each when unfolded)
120cm (46-50 inches): 2 skirts on the fold (21″w x 13.5″l each or 42″ wide by 13.5″ long each when unfolded)
130cm (50-54 inches): 2 skirts on the fold (21.75″w x 15″l each or 43.5″ wide by 15″ long each when unfolded)

For the waistband, cut 2 pieces on the fold 2.5″ long by the width of your skirt (e.g., size 120 = 21″w x 2.5″l)

For the hem band, cut 2 pieces on the fold 3.5″ long by the width of your skirt (e.g., size 120 = 21″w x 3.5″l)

For the waist tie, cut 1 piece on the fold 1.5 ” long by the width of your fabric (42-44″) and 1 piece (not on the fold) 1.5″ long by 12″ wide. Or you can use ribbon – approximately 65″ in length.

OK – let’s start. All seam allowances are 1/2 inch unless stated otherwise!

Pin skirt pieces right sides together. Using a 1/2 inch seam allowance, sew right side seam. On left side, start sewing your seam 1 1/2 inches from the top.

Press open side seams and pink or zig zap the edge

With right sides together, sew both side seams of the hem band.

Press seams open and pin to bottom of the skirt, right sides together, lining up side seams.

Sew the hem band to the skirt bottom.

Press seam toward hem band.

Turn edge of hem band 1/4 inch towards wrong side and press.

Fold hem band towards wrong side of skirt. Line up the edge you just pressed with the seam stitches.

Press and pin in place.

Staying 1/8 inch from edge, sew hem band in place.

Sew right side seam of waistband together and press open.

With right sides together, line up the seam you just sewed to the right seam of the skirt. Pin in place.

Fold back seam allowances on open end of waistband so that they match the skirt seam. Press and pin in place.

Sew waist band in skirt.

Press seam towards waistband.

Top stitch open end of waistband 1/8 inch from edge, pivoting at the bottom corners.

Now fold the waistband towards the wrong side of the skirt aligning it with the seam stitching – just like you did on the hem. Press and pin in place.

Sew waistband 1/8 inch from edge to form casing.

Using a safety pin, attach your tie (or ribbon) to the elastic.

Gather it up and pull the safety pin through the other open end.

Try the skirt on its new owner to determine where you should sew the elastic together. The ends should overlap about 1 inch. I mark the both ends of the elastic with a pen or pin them together so I know just where to sew.

Using a wide zig zag stitch, sew the elastic together. It’s a good idea to backstitch this so it doesn’t come loose.

Even out the ends of your drawstring, tie a bow and ta da….you have a twirly skirt!

SWIM Lessons

I signed up both littles for swimming lessons in order to make my life easier for next year.. just thinking ahead... BUG refused to "show" his teacher ANYTHING he knew how to do, so she ended up started at square one for two weeks in a row, until finally in his LAST week, he found a teacher he liked and did awesome with her! I signed BEAN up for three additional classes, thinking she is younger and is going to need more lessons. I guess that was poor planning on my part, in being I would be taking her without her brother... ya... She just screamed the WHOLE time for her "brudda"...

Little Fishes

Gather fabric scraps, 2 buttons, cardboard ‘tracer’ and a needle and thread.

Create a simple fish outline on cardboard, cut it and trace onto fabric or felt (2 times), sew together, attach the buttons and you have a fish!

Watermelon

What You Need:

* Red Construction Paper
* Black or Brown Paint
* Q-tips®
* Green Paint
* Real Watermelon Slice

What You Do:

1. First students draw a large triangle on a piece of red 9X13 construction paper.

2. Using a Q-tip®, they can dip into the brown or black paint and place dots onto the red paper. These dots represent the seeds.

3. Students then take a rind from a slice of watermelon (of course they have to eat the watermelon first!) and dip one side into the green paint.

4. They can then place the painted rind onto one side of the triangle - making a print.

5. Students can then cut out their "watermelon slice".





What a fun addition to your summertime picnic or party. These watermelon cookies are easy and fun and the kids will enjoy helping as well!
Ingredients:

* 3 3/4 cups all purpose flour
* 1 tsp baking powder
* 1/2 tsp salt
* 1 cup butter or margarine, softened (not melted!)
* 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
* 2 eggs
* 2 tsp vanilla extract
* 6 drops red food coloring
* 1 cup miniature semi sweet morsels

Directions:
Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium sized bowl. Set aside.

Beat butter or margarine, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and red food coloring in a large bowl with electric mixer until fluffy. Gradually add flour mixture and stir with wooden spoon until thoroughly mixed. Cover dough with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for two hours.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/4 inch thick. Cut out circles with a cookie cutter or other round object, such as a glass or round plastic container. Place circles on ungreased cookie sheet. With a butter knife, carefully slice circle in half and separate by at least 1/2 inch to allow for expansion during baking. Gently press miniature semi sweet morsels into each semicircle.

Bake for 6-8 minutes, checking after 6 minutes. Cookies will be done when edges are lightly browned. Do not allow cookies to get too brown. Remove from oven and allow cookies to cool on cookie sheets for 5 minutes. Remove from cookies sheets to aluminum foil on a flat surface and allow to cool completely.
Glaze

* 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
* 2 tbsp water
* 15-20 drops green food coloring

In a small bowl mix together all ingredients to form a glaze. You may add drops of water to thin glaze if it is too thick.

To decorate the cookies, roll the round end of the cookie in the glaze, allow excess to drip off into bowl. Place cookies back on foil until glaze dries. Eat!

Regaining & Maintaining Attention

Give Me Five

When it’s time to begin an activity I sometimes hold up my hand and use
Give Me Five
to get the attention of my students.

Eyes are watching
Ears are listening
Mouth is quiet
Hands are to myself
Hearts are caring

Hold up 1 finger as you say each rule. You’ll soon find your students reciting these with you.

...of the Day

Each day has a theme… basically following REAL holidays: http://brownielocks.com some are a bit ‘tweaked’ or a day early or late, to be sure EACH day has a theme. My favorite themed days are: Talk Like a Pirate Day Johnny Appleseed Day Teddy Bear Day Candy Cane Day Rubber Ducky Day Tooth Fairy Day Each day has several other focuses as well:

Letter (recognizing, printing, sounds, words)
Shape (identifying, counting sides/angles, drawing)
Number (counting,naming, printing)
Color
Graph/Tally/Chart/Question (based on the theme)

Displayed each day are a series of poems or books based on the theme, often the children are able to select which will be read and shared aloud.

To Start Each and Every Day...

I remind the children that the “learning” will commence and usually give a “five minute wrap up play-time” warning. Throughout the ‘meeting’, I refer to the children by a different adjective (smarties, sillies, super readers) and proceed to follow the THEME of the day (in some cases week) in a short hint of what’s ahead.

Throughout the ‘meeting’, I refer to the children by a different adjective (smarties, sillies, super readers) and proceed to follow the THEME of the day (in some cases week) in a short hint of what’s to come for the day.

(ex.: balloon day — “Good Morning Aviators, we’ve got to fly through our work today so that we are able to float way up to the clouds).

Opening Circle Song:(sung to – Farmer in the Dell)

Hello to everyone, ( wave to children)

and how are you today?

We come to our circle time,
to laugh and sing and play.

And when you’re up you’re up, (hold hands in the air)

and when your down your down, ( place hands on floor)

and when your only half way up, (hold hands about chest level)

your neither up nor down. (throw your hands up and down quickly with words)

So roll your hands so slowly, (make fists with hands and roll about chest level like your punching a bag)

and roll your hands so fast, ( same action as above except fast)

give your hands a clap clap clap and fold them in your lap tap tap. (follow directions in this line)

Once the song is complete, and we’ve stretched some stretches, we take a look at the calendar, and weather and make predictions of the activities we’ll be doing for the day.

Calendar Song: (Sing to the tune of “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star”)

When we do the calendar
We learn the month the date the year.
Every weekday has a name
There are lots of numbers that look the same.
So let’s begin to show you how
We do the calendar right now.

Identify the MONTH of the year.

~~Month Chant~~

January,February,March,April,MayJune,July,August~~Hooray! Hooray!

September,October,November,DecemberThese are the months that I CAN REMEMBER!

Identify the DAY of the week.

~~The Today Song~: (To the tune of “Frere Jacques”)

Today is _______.
Today is _______.
All day long, all day long.
Yesterday was ______.
Tomorrow will be _______.
Oh what fun!
Oh what fun!

Weather

Weather Wheel

What is the weather the weather the weather
What is the weather like today?
(Childs name) says its (weather)(weather) (weather) (childs name) say its (weather) out today!

Once the calender and weather is completed, we do a little movement.

Form a Circle by joining hands. The children take a step
back until their arms are fully extended. Drop hands.
Say the following poem with activity motions:

Two little hands go clap, clap, clap.
Two little feet go tap, tap, tap.
One little body turns around and around.
One little child sits quietly down!