Another Lemonade Stand Award

This morning, I received another Lemonade Stand award. Thank you so much The Shafer Family! You are so sweet! I don't know how to thank you! You have all made my week!!! I feel so LOVED!!!

{In case you forgot}
Here's what it means:

The Lemonade Stand Award is awarded for being a blogger who shows great attitude and gratitude. The rules for accepting this award:

- Put the Lemonade logo on your blog or within your post.
- Nominate at least 10 blogs with great attitude or gratitude.
- Link the nominees within your post.
- Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
- Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award.

Here are my picks! I can't believe that I was able to come up with another 10 blogs!!! There are so many fabulous blogs out there & I find ALL of you inspiring!!!

Ramblings of a Crazy Woman
Oops, I Craft My Pants
A Feathered Nest
Controlling My Chaos
Domestic Fashionista
Poppies at Play
Cupkateer
Trey & Lucy
Somewhat Simple
Summertime Designs

Check them out!

2010 Banner

I wanted to make a banner for New Year's Eve with the boys. I considered a "Happy New Year" banner, but thought that the boys would lose interest & not really get it. Instead...we went with "2010". You could use felt, but we just used good old cardstock! I don't have a cricut...so I just printed out some numbers...we cut them out...glued them onto the banner triangles. Then I strung the triangles onto some ribbon. This is just for display...we plan on hanging it up on the fireplace at my parents' house, but this works for now!

Ribbon Spool Shakers

I have two sick little guys {with colds} but my baby {3} get pneumonia very easy. We are staying in for most of the week & it is harder on the kiddos because today is a SNOW DAY!!! I wanted to find something fun for them to make {with stuff I already had}. I came across this great New Year's shaker from Family Fun. Here is what you need:

paint
paint brush
stickers
ribbon spools
tape (masking--NOT PACKING)
dry peas, beans, or rice



Cover one hole of your spool. You will need the other hole to put your dry peas in.


Pour some DRY peas (DRY beans or DRY rice) into the open hole of your spool. Just enough to make some noise...not FULL!! If your spool doesn't have a hole..use a pencil to make a hole big enough to put the peas in.


Cover the other open hole in the spool with your tape (or a sticker like we used).


Paint your spools. Top, bottom, & the sides.


Let them dry.


Set the kiddos loose putting stickers all over the painted ribbon spool. This was probably their favorite part.


Ta-Da!!! The boys are so excited to use these tomorrow night! I'm so glad that we sat down to make these!

The Lemonade Stand Award!

Thanks Momma's Playground for giving me my very first award...the Lemonade Stand Award! You are awesome Jamie!

The Lemonade Stand Award is awarded for being a blogger who shows great attitude and gratitude. There are just a few rules for accepting this wonderful award:

- Put the Lemonade logo on your blog or within your post.
- Nominate at least 10 blogs with great attitude or gratitude.
- Link the nominees within your post.
- Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
- Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award.

I would like to pass the award along to all of these amazing blogs! Thanks for the inspiration!

The Masked Mommy
Fun Days with Mommy & Maddie
The Idea Room
Moments of Mommyhood
Naptime Journal
My Forever My Family
seven-thirty-three
Mother Is Not Concerned
The Activity Mom
Giggles Galore

Make a Time Capsule

I was looking up some fun things to do for New Year's Eve & came across a really cute idea {thanks Family Fun}. Have your child write a time capsule letter. They can write about the things that they like this year {food, toys, animals, color} & make predictions for next year {how tall they will be}. I also think that a good thing to put in the letter is their New Year's Resolution. Help them think of a goal that they want to work on this year. Then, you seal up the letter & keep it in a safe place {like with your holiday decorations}. On New Year's Eve next year...let them open their letters. It will be a fun little activity that you can keep doing from year to year. I can't wait to do this with my 5 year old who loves to write.

Once there was a snowman...

Life has been pretty crazy around here. I wanted to make something special for the boys for breakfast this morning...especially because it is Kaden's first day of Christmas vacation {& it is supposed to snow}.

My boys love "pancake balls" {also known as Aebleskivers}. So, I decided to make a snowman. You will need a pan that looks like this:



You can find them at Amazon & most specialty cooking stores. There is a special recipe, but I only use that on holidays. I usually just use my favorite pancake batter. Heat the pan & then pour a little oil {I use canola} in the bottom of each cup. Add your batter {about 1 Tbsp}. Once the sides get a little bubbly...take a fork or a skewer & turn the ball completely over to cook the other side. We usually serve ours with powdered sugar & flavored syrup.



For the snowman...I just stacked three "pancake balls" onto a small sucker stick. Then I used regular chocolate chips for the eyes & buttons, mini chocolate chips for the mouth, & an orange starburst shaped into a carrot. I sprinkles "snow" {powdered sugar} over the snowman. I also attempted to "stick" him to the plate with blueberry syrup...it didn't work {in the picture...he is in the process of falling}! The boys LOVED it. They were so excited to eat their snowman. {I don't think that they cared that some of the mini chocolate chips melted away.}

I found it!

I found the post with our finished product from our salt dough ornaments. I guess I am not as behind as I feel this year...we finished these last year on Christmas Eve. Here it is:

So, we got our Salt Dough ornaments finished on Christmas Eve...nothing like cutting it close!! I love how they turned out & we will definitely make more for next year!!







{reposted from December 2008}

Crazy...

This just has not been our typical Christmas season. Hubby was gone for nearly three weeks & thanks to the storm in the Philadelphia...he almost didn't make it home for Christmas. After HOURS on the phone, having 3 flights cancelled on him, & then being delayed for over 4 hours making him miss his connecting flight...we FINALLY got him home yesterday. It has been crazy. Our salt dough ornaments are still not made. We saved seeing Santa & the lights until Daddy made it home. So, this should be a crazy few days. On top of all of that..my amazing brother & sil are in town for the week. If I don't post until after Christmas...I hope that you can forgive me! Have a Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year.

Christmas Morning Pull Aparts

Today, one my FAVORITE local show Good Things Utah...they had a fun Christmas Pull Apart that you can make ahead of time on Christmas Eve. HERE is the link to the recipe.

Here is the recipe:

bundt cake pan sprayed with non stick spray.
Rhodes rolls frozen rolls
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 small pkg butterscotch cook pudding {NOT INSTANT}
1 cube margarine or butter, melted

Place 21 frozen Rhodes rolls into your greased bundt pan. Sprinkle brown sugar over the frozen rolls. Pour butterscotch pudding powder {dry} over the rolls/brown sugar. Pour butter or margarine over the top of everything. Spray plastic wrap with non stick spray and cover the pan and leave overnight to rise. {Don't refridgerate}
Bake at 350 degree for 30 mins.
Check at 20 mins.. if getting dark cover pan with tin foil until done cooking.
I cover a cookie sheet with tin foil and cook this on top of it so it doesn't get all over your oven.
Pull it out and tip over on cookie sheet and you are ready to eat!

Bake Cookies Day

Today is "Bake Cookies Day". Get in the kitchen with your kiddos & bake up some cookies!!!!

A great gift...

Last year, I wanted the boys to make a gift for their grandparents & great grandparents. We decided to make ribbon bookmarks. These were very easy to make & everyone loved them {& they are still using them.} I am reposting this from last Christmas. This year, I think my kids could do almost everything.


First, I gathered my stash...



Then, I cut the ribbon to the right size (I did just a bit over 12 inches). I layed out my ribbons & matched up the buttons that I wanted to use.



My last step was trimming & burning the ends so that they wouldn't fray. I had to trim the thicker ribbon down so that the corners didn't show.



Here is my ending product. I am pretty happy with how they turned out! I knew that my dollar ribbons would come in handy some day!! Tomorrow morning we will sit down & glue all of the buttons on & decide which bookmark is for who. If you get one of these, just act surprised for the boy's sake! Thanks!

"National Maple Syrup Day"

Today is "National Maple Syrup Day". We are planning on having "brinner" {breakfast for dinner} tonight. It is a family favorite to have "brinner" & I love it because it is pretty easy! I'll post what we did after dinner! Happy National Maple Syrup Day!!!!

What we did...

I was pretty excited about National Chocolate Covered Anything Day. I have a little fondue pot that I have NEVER used. It has sat in it's cute little box & never been touched. I had some milk chocolate melts from another project. So we melted them & used them for our fondue. I didn't want to go to the store, so we used what was in the pantry.

Pretzel Sticks
Animal Crackers
Marshmallows



The boys loved it. Preston used the stick & loved dipping his marshmallows in the chocolate. Kaden started using his pretzel sticks to dip his marshmallows in the chocolate. What a fun holiday!!! {Please ignore the fact that my children look homeless. They have been wearing their beanies today & that doesn't work well with their hair. Haircuts are next on my "To Do" list.}

National Chocolate Covered Anything Day

Just a heads up...tomorrow is "National Chocolate Covered Anything Day". So start melting your chocolate! Stay tuned tomorrow night & I will show you what we did!!!

Muffin Tin Monday...Christmas Story

Each night we are reading a Christmas story for a Christmas Countdown...so this theme went along very well. Except for the fact that most stories don't have food in them too much. Luckily we had one book that focused a little more on food so I could use a little less imagination. We used the book "IF YOU TAKE A MOUSE TO THE MOVIES". Here is what I came up with:

Green cups: popcorn, snowman {jumbo marshmallow on a sucker stick}, & Christmas tree cheese.

Red cups: a carrot, candy {to decorate their snowman including an orange tootsie roll shaped into a carrot}, & lil' smokies on picks {a microphone}

Kaden decorated his snowman while I read the book to them. Preston didn't mess around with decorating...he just ate the marshmallows. Now...we are watching a Christmas movie while we eat...because after all...our book was "IF YOU TAKE A MOUSE TO THE MOVIES".

See Ya!!

I am taking off for the next little while. We are getting away to Las Vegas for a much needed break. I will have my computer, but not sure if we will get to any activities that are post worthy. If not...I will see you in a bit!!! I am even accepting that MTM will NOT be happening!

Santa's List Day

Today is "Santa's List Day" on our silly holiday list. Help your little ones write a letter to Santa. Little Man's preschool is mailing out letters to Santa, but a lot of post offices & other places do too.

Simple Traditions

I get very excited about Christmas. Not the actual day, but the whole month of December. Family time is an even higher priority & the traditions are so fun. One tradition that I started 3 years ago was sitting down with the boys & watching a Christmas show. Not necessarily every night, but when we could. Hubby was away at an Army training & I love the moments snuggling with the boys watching the movies. Sometimes we would lay out a blanket & have a picnic/movie night in the family room. The boys love it & ask to do it frequently. ABC Family has the 25 Days of Christmas & other channels play the old fashioned Rudolph & Santa shows that I remember watching while I was little. I love making snuggle time a priority & it sparks so many conversations with the boys.

A New Tradition

Last year we made salt dough ornaments. HERE is the recipe that we used. They were pretty simple to make. The boys had a blast cutting the dough with cookie cutters & watching them bake. HERE are the ornaments that we made last year {not painted}. We painted them {I'm not sure why I don't have a picture} & strung them with a string. I kept a couple for our tree {with their name & the year}, but we also attached them to the grandparent's Christmas presents.

I have already had requests from the grandparents to make some more this year & the boys LOVED seeing what they made last year. We are going to make this a Christmas tradition. What a treasure these ornaments are & will be forever! I will make a post for the ornaments we make this year, but I wanted to give you a head start if you wanted to make some.

Muffin Tin Monday...No Theme

I was very grateful for the "no theme" this week. It has been CRAZY around here. We had one of our new favorite meals...Ranch Chicken & I surprised them with a playdough cookie. Here is what they ate:



Top Row: Ranch Chicken, Mac & Cheese, & Playdough Cookie
Bottom Row: Ranch Chicken, Mac & Cheese, & Green Beans

If you want recipes...here you go:

The Ranch Chicken recipe is posted HERE.

I found the Mac & Cheese recipe on KEVIN & AMANDA.

The Playdough Cookie recipe is HERE. I just colored 1/2 of the dough red & left the other 1/2 regular & twisted them together as directed in the recipe.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. A few tips to make the wait for dinner more pleasant with little ones:

♥ cover the "kiddie" table with paper & set out some crayons or markers. Then..let the little artists get busy.
♥ have a few simple crafts for the little ones to do like these finger puppets or this cute SIMPLE craft for a plastic spoon turkey. {We are doing the plastic spoon turkeys this year.} We also have Thanksgiving coloring pages/games {try HERE, HERE, or HERE}.

The Flu...

I promised a few commenters that I would put up step by step directions on my Thanksgiving finger puppets, but I have come down with the flu & have no idea when it will be over. I did find the original place where I found the turkey idea though. Here is the link:

http://www.skiptomylou.org/2008/11/21/turkey-finger-puppets/.

Sorry! Now, I will go back to laying in the fetal position sipping on special daddy juice {Gatorade}. I am hoping to convince hubby to do MTM for me, but I'm not sure if he will have time to run to the store. Oh winter...how I dislike you!

Want to enter?

I recently found this great blog called A LITTLE TIPSY. Today she is giving away a great Melissa & Doug cutting food play set. I love Melissa & Doug puzzles & play sets. They are great quality! If you would like to enter. Just head over by clicking the link above (the blog name)! If I don't win...I hope you do!!!

Homemade Bread Day

Today's "holiday" is "Homemade Bread Day". We bake all of the time, but I realized that I have never had the boys make bread (or anything with yeast) before. What a magical experience for them.



Here is the recipe that we used:

Traditional White Bread

2 (.25 0z) packages active dry yeast
3 Tbsp white sugar
2 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F)
3 Tbsp lard, softened (I used butter)
1 tsp salt

1. In large bowl (I used my Kitchenaid w/ dough hook)...dissolve the yeast and sugar in warm water. Allow to proof (get foamy). Mix in lard (or butter), salt, & 2 cups of flour. Add the remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time.
2. Lightly oil a large bowl. Place dough in bowl & turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp washcloth & let rise until doubled in size (about 1 hour).
3. Deflate (or punch) the dough & turn onto a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough in half & form into two loaves. Place into 2 lightly greased loaf pans. Cover with a damp washcloth & let rise until doubled in size (about 45 minutes).
4. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
5. Bake at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes or until the top is golden brown.

It was pretty easy for the kids to do. I explained about yeast (what I know) & then they got to see the yeast proof. Then, we made the bread dough. They added everything & used the mixer. They were excited to see the bread dough double in size. It was like magic to them. Then, they helped form it into loaves & got to watch it rise again. When they got to touch the dough...they were surprised at how "squishy" it was. What a fun learning experience for them! If you haven't made bread with your kids before...DO!!!

The bread itself is pretty basic as baking bread goes. The flavor is very tasty & it is really moist.

Button, Button, Who's Got the Button

Another holiday for today is "Button Day". I have a baggie full of buttons...so we went to work. We made THESE cute little guys from Family Fun...nothing like pipe cleaners, buttons, goggle eyes, & some beads.

Get out your buttons & see what you can make!

Sorry...

I really had crafts lined up for the Thanksgiving holiday, but there are circumstances in our family that are making it hard for me to focus on that. So, instead...our crafts will be a little more random. I have a few crafts planned for the kids to do...not much in the Thanksgiving department. I hope that you can be patient with my lack of Thanksgiving posts & there will be plenty more for Christmas. I am hoping to do a few this week, but we will see! I will also post some pictures of our Thankful tree soon.

Party Time

Today is "have a party with your Teddy Bear" day. I was grateful for something to do fun with the boys. Kaden is home from school with strep throat & pink eye. Preston also has pink eye. YUCK! So, for lunch...I put out the table cloth & a tea set. For lunch they had crescent dogs, oranges, teddy bear crackers, & strawberry milk. I set the table for four, but gave the bears "pretend" food. I just couldn't bring myself to waste real food. The boys had no clue what I was doing. I invited the boys to go & get a Teddy Bear & come to lunch. Kaden picked "Elmo Teddy"...his favorite bear since he was 2. Preston picked "Preston"...all of his stuffed animals are named Preston. I put some puzzles under the bears to prop them up & make them at table level. The boys loved eating with their bears.





After nap...we are planning on building a fort {with our bears} & reading stories & doing puzzles. Why not have a party with your bear...even if it something simple!

Muffin Tin Monday...Foods We Are Thankful For

I loved the theme for today's Muffin Tin. I had each munchkin tell me 3 foods that they were thankful for. Then, I made their muffin tin with their 3 thankful foods & then their sibling's thankful foods. The boys always surprise me at the simplicity of the foods they choose. It just goes to show that they don't need anything extravagant (not that it will stop me for future tins)! Once again...my memory card decided that it didn't want store our picture...so I will just have to tell you!

Kaden picked: cheese sandwich, milky way, kettle corn
Preston picked: PB&J sandwich, raisins, & string cheese

Sorry about the picture, but by the time I went to retake...it didn't look appetizing anymore!

Silly Holidays!

I love funny, silly holidays. I was surprised to see how many there are out there. One day..I made an list of all of the fun holidays that I would use. I am going to start updating these holidays on my sidebar monthly. So, for now...you will have November's holiday list. If you need some inspiration or just want something fun to celebrate...check these out.

A great deal!!

If you want a great deal on Disney's UP. Click HERE to get your coupon for $10.00 off a blue ray 4 pack. It comes with the normal DVD also. I went to Target with my coupon & paid $9.99 for the movie. The normal single DVD is $15.99. Hurry...the coupon expires November 14, 2009.

Happy Veteran's Day!

I can't help but want to thank all of the men & women who protect our freedoms. We have been touched by so many wonderful people through the Army & have so many new friends since our adventure started.

I feel very blessed to have a husband who chose to volunteer & protect our country. I think of all of the men & women who are overseas & their families who are home worrying about them.

Please take the time to tell our Veterans how much you appreciate their sacrifices. I want to thank Grandpa Foster, Grandpa Morgan, my sweet & courageous husband, Chris (KC's uncle), Ken (Becca's husband), Jason, Morgan, Dejan, Farah, Jamie, Mary, & other other service men & women that I may have forgotten. Being on the other side as the veteran's spouse...I also want to thank all of the wives & husbands who hold down the fort while their spouse is gone. These are amazing people & they deserve our support. THANK YOU OUR VETERANS!!!





This is one of my favorite pictures. Kaden & his little friend Noah were sitting outside of Walter Reed Army Medical Center watching their Daddy's doing flag duty. It was such an amazing thing to watch. This is the kind of impression I want to leave with the boys about our service men & women.



{reposted for our family blog November 2008}

Muffin Tin Monday...

I FORGOT!!! I have never forgotten MTM. What is up with my head? My poor, sweet boys were so understanding. As we were finishing dinner & remembered. Oh boy...I will have to fix my MISTAKE tomorrow.

Thankful Tree

I saw this last year & really wanted to make one. We are loving the Thankful jar. {Today is "I am thankful for mom" day...I can't wait to see what they come up wth!} I wanted to "inspire" the boys to come up with their own thing to be thankful for. We will each {including hubby & me} write on one leaf a day until at least Thanksgiving. I would like to take it to the end of November, but I may change to Christmas before then!!! Then we will stick the leaves on our tree. By the end of the month..our tree should be FULL!!!

First, I used a roll of kraft/packing paper to make my tree. I just drew a tree freehand onto the paper & cut it out. I used tape to hang it up on a closet door...so that we could see it often. (Sorry about the picture...it is on a really strange angle.)


I used construction paper for the leaves. At first, I wanted to cut out cute oak leaves, but decided that I would get tired of cutting those out. I went with a very simple leaf. After I cut out the leaves...I creased them down the center for a bit of dimension. I will show you the progress of our tree in a bit!

Festive Finger Puppets

Now..I want to start out by saying...I DON'T SEW!!! We made these cute finger puppets last year as an activity for the kids to do while they anxiously awaited Thanksgiving dinner. It went great & the kids loved the activity & then they had something to play with.



As I said...I did this last year & didn't do a tutorial or anything. It was pretty easy. I just started with felt & cut out a finger puppet shape. You need a front & a back. If you want to get really fancy...use pinking shears. Sew around the edges leaving the bottom open.

Then cut out your embellishments. I am not an artist, but it was really simple. We just attached the embellishment with felt glue.

**If you want step by step directions...let me know.

Done...for now!!

Ok..I finally got all of my changes for the blog finished! I have a few things that I would like to do down the road...but I am happy for now!

Thankful Jar

This Thanksgiving month..I really wanted to make my boys focus on being thankful & giving. AND we ♥ countdowns in this family. So, when I saw this super cute thankful jar idea...I was SOLD!! I have seen this at 3 different places, but can only remember 1. Sugar Doodle has cute cards that you can print out. My printer is currently having issues...so I just wrote mine out on paper strips. Then I folded up each word strip.



Then, I took a cute jar that I had & tied ribbon around it. I was going to decorate it all up, but decided that I wanted to be able to use the jar for other things too.



Everyday the boys will pick out one word strip & we will do whatever activity the strip says. I am also excited to do these things as a family!

Stay tuned...

I have some fun fall/Thanksgiving crafts coming, but we just haven't had a spare moment to work on them. I promise to get some done in the next couple of days...so please stay tuned!!!

Muffin Tin Monday...Outerspace

Today's MTM theme is Outer space. Kaden was out of school today...so I decided to do ours for breakfast.

Here is what they ate:

Top Row: planet (pancake "balls"), space rover (egg), alien (chocolate chip, banana, & strawberry) with space rocks (raisins), above that is the milky way
Bottom Row: planet (pancake "balls"), outer space with stars (blueberry yogurt with yellow sprinkles), meteors (hash browns)

Check out other Muffin Tins at Her Cup Overfloweth.

Under Construction

In between family time & trick or treating...I will be changing around the blog. Please don't be alarmed with what you see..no matter how scary it may look. I should get it all finished by Sunday. Thanks!

Ooooooooo...Muffin Tin Monday

Today's Muffin Tin Monday theme is Halloween/Fall. I have to admit...I got carried away! I found so many fun ideas that I couldn't choose...so I used all of them! We had a FUN lunch!



Top Row: witch hat (crescent roll w/ cinnamon & sugar), witches finger (string cheese & airhead finger nail), Frankenstein brownie (recipe linked a few posts down)

Bottom Row: witches broom (pretzel sticks & fruit roll up), Ogar's Q-tips (marshmallow/sucker sticks/PB), Mummy (hot dog wrapped in a crescent roll), ghosts (strawberries dipped in white chocolate), & spiders (olives)

AND...



Hot chocolate with eye balls (mini mallows & mini chocolate chips)

The boys LOVED this one. Kaden laughed & laughed about the Ogar's Q-tips. It was so gross that I knew the boys would appreciate it. I gave them honey butter to dip their witch's hat in. Yum! We may have to repeat a few things this week to keep it festive!

Check out other muffin tins at:

Postive Reinforcement Update

We have been rewarding the boys with "POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT" since August. I have loved the idea & it has worked out AMAZING for our family. The boys love to get smileys & are so happy to help. Rather than always punishing the bad behavior...I feel like I am focusing more on rewarding the good. :) Click on the link if you want to see what we have been doing. It works great for littler people.

We have added a new twist to our rewards recently. My kiddos are used to getting smaller things that they ask for. We have started to include their requests into our reward bucket. For example, Kaden's school has school t-shirts & sweatshirts that the kids wear on certain days. Kaden really wanted to get one. So, I ordered a t-shirt & a sweatshirt, but now he has to earn it. When you do this...make sure that you set it at a goal that they can reach. My guys typically earn 20-25 smileys a week, but they have gotten over 30 before. I put his shirt at 25 & the sweatshirt at 30..that way...he has to work a bit harder to reach his goal, but it is within his reach. I see him going out of his way to earn those smileys & when he earns his reward it means so much more to him. I feel like he is learning so many great lessons from this & we are all HAPPY!!!!

Spookley the Square Pumpkin

We read Spookley the Square Pumpkin today, so we made our own Spookleys. We talked about the pumpkins & their shapes & why Spookley is different.

Writing Worksheets

I found a link a while back & bookmarked it, but I have NO idea where I saw it! I have made a few different post about working on sight words & writing. I was going through my bookmarked favorites tonight & found THIS WEBSITE. You can actually MAKE your own writing worksheet. I am going to start making worksheets for Kaden's sight words! What an amazing tool.

Notebooks

For Kaden's birthday, my SIL made a cute notebook. It has come in SO handy when the boys want to draw, write, or color on something other than a coloring book. He loves it & uses it often. He is now using it to write his sight words that we have been working on.



I decided to make Preston one. I bought him a really cheap notebook & used scrapbook paper to cover it. I used stickers & paper embellishments that Preston chose to decorate it. I used regular glue for the main stuff & then I cover it with Modge Podge just to seal it.

Nature Walk

We live in an older neighborhood with a TON of different mature trees. On the way to school we were talking about how all of the leaves look different. All of the leaves are falling on the ground right now. Kaden had a homework assignment to collect a leaf, pine cone, or acorn, so we went on a nature walk to see what we could collect. Preston was picking up handfuls of leaves & Kaden was more selective. We talked about what we had. How leaves from different trees have different shapes & change to different colors. We found berries, seeds, & pine cones. The boys had a great time collecting different items. I had fun getting out of the house & spending some time outside. AND they were learning!!! Head outside & see what you can find before it gets TOO COLD!!!