Upcoming...

National Corn Dog Day is on Monday. Either buy corn dogs, or try your hand at homemade corn dogs. I have made them before & they are so fun. Stay tuned for a recipe.

Reminder...

The 18th is Incredible Kid Day...make your little one feel special!

Muffin Tin Monday...GREEN

In honor of St. Patty's Day...the theme is Green. I wasn't very creative on this one. My little bottle of green food coloring was VERY helpful. It wasn't the most appetizing thing..but I colored our hamburger helper green.

So, we had green hamburger helper, peas, a green airhead, & a blueberry muffin with green butter.

Tot School...Patterns

Today we decided to work on some patterns. I had some felt shamrocks & gold coins for St. Patty's Day. I put them in separate bowls & then started 2 patterns.



Then, Preston finished the patterns that I had started. At the bottom of the tray...he got to make his own pattern. Preston had a blast with this one. He kept playing & making patterns after our first set.



This is such an easy activity because you can use ANYTHING that you already have. He also got to sort the coins & shamrocks when it was time to clean up.

It's the little things...

We went to the library yesterday. We love going to the library. Kaden picked the "If you give a pig a pancake" book.



In honor of this book, we decided to read it & eat brinner {BReakfast for dINNER}. The boys were so excited to have pancakes for dinner, but they were even more excited that it went along with the book. It is something so simple & easy, but it made their day!!!

Tot School...The Letter 'C'

Today is another page for our Alphabet Book. Today's post is brought to you by the letter 'C'. The 'C' is for cookie song will NOT get out of my head today! I was undecided on what 'C' was going to be for so I gave Preston his choice:

'C' is for cookie
'C' is for cat
'C' is for car

He chose car. I wasn't surprised. He is all boy! I did my best to come up with a car. I am not the best artist & have never been able to draw cars very well. I took a white gel pen & drew lines on the 'C' to make it look like a road.



Here is Preston's finished page.

Tot School..The Letter "B"

Ok, I have to give this boy a bit more credit. He knows more about the letters than he has let on! He surprises me most of the time. Today, he was showing off a bit & I got to see how much he actually knows.

We decided to add to our alphabet book this morning & then we will do a craft with Kaden after school. Today's letter is the letter 'B'. I want to teach him the phonics of the letter along with the name.



Here is Preston's finished page. He had fun drawing on the bear's face. He gave the bear "two snots" or nostrils as we like to call them. Then, he got carried away & gave the bear two smiles. It was fun.

Muffin Tin Tuesday...Yellow

I did manage to get Muffin Tin Monday into our week {on Tuesday}..a day late, but it still works. I really was stumped on yellow food. I could think of a few, but none of them really went together. Everything else was orange. I planned dinner without even thinking about MTM, but it worked! It was a little whitish/yellow. So, here is our Muffin Tin Meal:



Top Row: rice with gravy from the chicken on it, pears, roll
Bottom Row: cream of chicken chicken, more rice with gravy from the chicken, & yellow M&Ms.

{We added peas after the picture because that is our veggie of choice for this dinner}

Tot School...The Letter 'A'

I have been wanting to start "Tot School" for a few weeks now. I have seen it on other blogs & really liked the idea! Today is our first day. I am not exactly sure of the logistics of tot school, but for us...I just wanted something more structured for Preston & I to do together while Kaden is at school. Preston goes to Preschool twice a week...so my goal is to do it at least 3 times a week {on the days that he doesn't have preschool}. I am going to plan my ideas a week at a time.

I have also been wanting to make letter pages with Preston. Then, some other bloggers mentioned an Alphabet Book. BINGO!! That was exactly what we needed! I plan on doing other books with Preston too. Preston is a very smart kid, but doesn't like to preform & show off what he knows. If you thinks that you are trying to teach him or get info out of him...he will tell you the wrong answer until you leave him alone. It can be frustrating. I want to reinforce what we have taught him, but in a fun way.

We started today with the natural choice 'A'. {I have a thing about going in order!} I wanted his book to be something that he can use & even take with him...so I cut an 8 1/2 by 11 piece of cardstock in half. That size would be more manageable. Then I cut an 'A' out of gingham cardstock. {It reminds me of a picnic table cloth.} I put his papers & some paint {& glue..not shown} on one of the trays that I bought HERE.



Preston glued the 'A" onto the paper & we talked about what it was. He does know 'A' already. Then we got some of the paint ready. Preston ♥ sticking his finger in the paint & making little ants. He got pretty carried away. We love the Letter Factory movie by LeapFrog...so while we made the project we sang:

"The 'A' says AHHHHH
The 'A' says AHHHHH
Every letter makes a sound
The 'A' says AHHHHH"



I hurried & took this picture before the "ants" were dry. We will add legs & feelers to them later. :)
My plan is to punch holes in it & using loose leaf rings to attach them together.

Crayon Roll

Hubby officially flew out yesterday. We are trying our best to keep busy around here. Last week, I got my first REAL sewing machine. I am trying my best to figure out what I am doing. I enjoy the "self taught" way of things. I decided to make a crayon roll for the boys today. I was planning on making a very "boyish" crayon on roll. Cars, Trucks, Guitars, something along those lines...but Kaden had a request. He wanted one that looked like a flag. I found the PERFECT fabric this morning. I used THIS tutorial from Skip To My Lou. It was the easiest that I have seen to follow.

Here is my finished product:

Muffin Tin Monday...Fiesta

Yes, I am posting & I ACTUALLY cooked dinner last night {gasp!}. I have had an easy week & not had to cook dinner for OVER a week. It was a nice break, but I am ready to get back in the swing of things {for a few days anyway}. I decided to cook one of KC's favorite dinners...tacos. Easy & tasty! A while back, I had bought some fun decorations for a Fiesta. I thought that these would go perfect with our dinner tonight. Life is a Party! So, here is our Fiesta Muffin Tin Monday:



Top Row: sliced olives, taco/burrito, cheese
Bottom Row: spanish rice, taco/burrito, grapes

Then, for dessert we had Nachos Dulces. Yum!

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss

I just wanted to stop in & say

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

We are off to Daddy's farewell ceremony today!

National Peanut Butter Lover's Day

We had a bit of down time today while Daddy was off "playing soldier" for the day. This is the PERFECT holiday for Preston. He HAS to eat a pb&j {peanut butter & jelly} everyday for lunch.

I have been feeling a bit guilty over the last few months. Things have been so crazy & I haven't done as much with the kids as I would like to. So, I thought making some peanut butter cup cookies together would be a fun {& tasty} activity for us to do together.

Here is the recipe we used {from allrecipes.com}

You need:
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons milk
40 miniature chocolate covered peanut butter cups, unwrapped

To make the cookies:

1.Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2.Sift together the flour, salt and baking soda; set aside.
3.Cream together the butter, sugar, peanut butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Beat in the egg, vanilla and milk. Add the flour mixture; mix well.
4.Shape into 40 balls and place each into an ungreased mini muffin pan.
5.Bake at 375 degrees for about 8 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately press a mini peanut butter cup into each ball. Cool and carefully remove from pan.

**A tip that I read was freeze of refrigerate your peanut butter cups. It makes them easier to unwrap & they don't break apart when you press them into the cookie.

I have seen a few people doing "tot school". I think that I am going to try to set that up in the next 2 weeks with Preston. That way I will have a planned activity to do with Preston on days that he doesn't go to Preschool. So, stay tuned!