Lemonade Stand Award

I would like to give a BIG thank you to Momma's Playground for giving me the Lemonade Stand Award. Thank you Jamie.

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.

I have chosen the following fabulous blogs, written by even more fabulous women, to pass this award on to...

The Adventures of Bear
A Mommy's Adventures
Confessions of a Homeschooler
Counting Coconuts
I'm living Proof that God has a sense of Humor
Our Country Road
My Boys
The Shafer Family
A Little Love, A Little Laughter
Chasing Cheerios

TOT SCHOOL - WEEK ELEVEN 31 MONTHS

This was a very busy week for Tot School...we had a lot to do to prepare for Christmas...a lot of family activities...projects to do...Santa to see....a stART project...and Dance class.... these pictures are a little out of order...

Ryleigh helping to decorate our tree...

Waiting in line to see Santa...
It did not. go. well....maybe next year :)
Ryleigh playing with her present from Uncle Kris and Aunt (Mel)lissa... baking utensils that kids can also play with....so fun!!!! I think I love them as much as Ryleigh does!

Dance class

Time at Granny & Grandad's House...and Aunt Laura...who is visiting for a whole week...YAY!!!!

Tracing...Michelle printed these (I think they were supposed to be cutting practice)...and brought them over when the girls were here this week...we put them in page protectors, had the girls use white board markers and felt to erase....great idea!!!
Ryleigh doing activities from a Christmas Tot Pack that I got from 1+1+1=1. I laminated them for her and she requested to do them every day this week...her favorites were the Christmas Tree matching/sort; matching the letters for Merry Christmas; Where is the Gift?; and the Shapes. She had a lot of fun with these.

For the Letter of the Week we did "H". I had the girls do H is for Hand-print(s).

Since I love hand-print art...and Christmas Crafts...I had the girls do Shape Hand-Print Angels. I started out by asking the girls to find the different shapes (and hold them up)...then we glued the shapes into place and finished with hand-prints for wings.

I had Ryleigh do Hand-print and thumb print snowman ornaments....I love them....

Ryleigh...fast asleep with Grandpa...and Elmo too of course... they were going to watch a movie...I don't think she even made it through the opening credits...

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!!!
For more fun Tot School activities check out 1+1+1=1.

stART - Hanukkah

A Story + Art = A great stART!
This week we read Hanukkah by Roni Schotter. It is a cute story about the holiday with great illustrations. For our project Ryleigh made a hand print Menorah. We used her hands for the base and candles and then used her finger print for the flames.

For other great activities check out A Mommy's Adventures

Sick Again....

We were all sick again this week...fevers and all...good times... anyway.... we didn't really do a lot of projects...or go anywhere...or do much of anything for that matter...here are some pictures of Ryleigh and Braeden from this week... they are both feeling much better...and my fever is gone...and has settled into a wonderful head cold...outstanding....

Braeden...the beginning of the week, before he got sick....

Ryleigh....thrilled to be awake...

Both Sick....Ryleigh got a lot of Tigger and Pooh in this week.... :)

TOT SCHOOL WEEKS NINE & TEN - 31 MONTHS

Here are the highlights over the last two weeks...I was going to post about everything we did, including Thanksgiving....but the length was getting a bit ridiculous....so I curbed it at about 1000 photos...your welcome :)

We had Musical Mondays and did a stART project...we also did a lot of baking, the letters F & G, some holiday crafts... and a lot of fun!

WEEK NINE:

The girls made cupcakes and decorated them with different kinds of sprinkles

They did the Letter F...F is for FLAG...I got this idea from No Time For Flashcards. I had them put star stickers on top and glue the stripes on :)

Shape Turkeys...also from No Time For Flashcards. The girls had fun with this- I asked them to find specific shapes on their trays...which they then held up....pumpkin stickers make up the background...

Michelle brought over pipets and colored water. Ryleigh and Emily had fun mixing blue and yellow to make green. Besides being a great fine motor skill practice, it also reinforces colors... good idea Michelle!

Ryleigh with her cousin playing barbies...well actually Marc is playing barbies...I believe they were having a dance party...

Waiting for Thanksgiving Dinner...always time to fit in some Tot School.... here Ryleigh is stacking physical therapy cones with Aunt Lisa...

Braeden with his cousin...they are 3 weeks apart... how cute are they together? :)

WEEK TEN:

We worked on the Letter G...G is for Garden....I had them glue "garden items...aka...abstract tissue and construction paper items...and beans" onto brown construction paper. We had lettuce (green tissue paper), tomato (red circle), corn (yellow oval-ish item) and carrots (orange triangle)... you might have to use your imagination with it, but I think the end result was cute...

The girls strung beads onto pipecleaners....

Braeden...waiting for the ladies to finish the proects....or waiting for Juliette to finish eating... so they could play on the gym mat together...

Making chocolate chip cookies....as a special "surprise" I had them use the white chocolate with red and green swirl chips in addition to the regular chocolate ones.... I believe it was a hit!

We did the water project again.... Ryleigh is getting really good at transfering with the pipet...

Michelle had the girls make a Star and Paper Chain Christmas Countdown. For more on this project go here. Ryleigh has a lot of fun removing one chain each night before bed.

Ryleigh did a sponge print snowman...I cut out the shape of a snowman from a piece of construction paper and taped down the outline. My grandmother had brought over sponges that expand in water, so I thought Ryleigh would get a kick out of it....which she did... I had her put the sponge in the water... then I cut a small piece of it and let her paint with it. We then glued on pom poms, pipecleaners, googly eyes... and a nose, mouth and hat....
Ryleigh putting the sponge in the water...

Watching it expand...she really thought this part was neat...

The finished snowman...

We then did handprint snowman...Ryleigh did her hand prints...then I painted the details on...

She worked on her shape puzzles....two at a time...

Braden's first time in the high chair...he loves to be near Ryleigh-pretty much at all times...

Ryleigh joining Braeden with some tummy time...

To see what others are doing for their tot school go to 1+1+1=1.