Tot School Week 6

I mentioned last week that we were starting Before Five In A Row but have decided now that I am going to hold off on that until we are finished with the bible cirriculum for 3 year olds from abcjesuslovesme. I am still very excited about B4FIAR. However, as I was praying about God being in the center of our homeschool, I heard His voice and know that I am supposed to be prioritizing teaching my children about Him above anything else. I know that me teaching them about Him can occur every moment of every day. But, I wanted to start structured bible teaching too. Something really neat is that the abcjesuslovesme cirriculum has a book of the week with suggested activities (conceptually like B4FIAR). So, we get to do a lot of literature based learning outside of the bible.
A couple of highlights:
I found pencil top erasers in all different colors and I thought it might be something new and different that Kaley would be interested in. I gave them to her with a clear plastic container and she loved them...and so did her big brother. I ended up having to divide them up so they could each have some to play with.
She took the lid off and on.



She dumped the erasers out and then put them back in.


Then, she picked up the itty bitty shovel that was laying nearby and started putting the erasers on the shovel and dumping them in the lid.

First, Braedon put the erasers on his fingertips.

Then, he stuck them all together and made a big long string.

Lastly, he stood them all up by color in a long line.


By then, it was time to switch Kaley to a different activity. I have this neat piece of cardboard with small holes in it. I got the pom poms out and showed Kaley how to put a small pom pom in each little hole. She liked it...


and so did her big brother.


Then, I thought to myself that I really need to figure out the balance between sharing and working together on something and being firm with Braedon about not dominating everything I try to do with Kaley. Any suggestions?
We did some more painting, Here is Kaley taking a brush to a Totally Tots printable.


Braedon and I played letter bingo, which he loved! I got this letter printable from Early Childhood Printables.
See what other moms are doing with their tots at Tot School.

(Un)Forgetful Friday

• Sitting at the table during lunch, I handed Braedon one of my potato chips. He said, "Wow Mama you gave me a chip." I said, "Yes, I did." He said, "Awe, you are sharing your chips with me. That is so nice of you. Thank you."
• Kaley is so compassionate. If Braedon is crying because he is in trouble, Kaley will go find his blanket and take it to him...even if she is crying from being hurt by him. It just about makes me want to cry!
• Kaley will also spontaneously come up to any of us and give us hugs and kisses. She is so sweet!
• Braedon and I have read God Gave Us You by Lisa Bergren a few times, which is about a mama polar bear telling the story of being pregnant with her baby polar bear. It is such a sweet time to be reading a book like that since I can explain to Braedon that is where he came from and now his baby brother is in my tummy.
• Braedon waves to or kisses my belly and says "Hi, Baby Garrett!"

There are tons more things to write about but they will have to wait for the next edition of (Un)Forgetful Friday!

Tot School Week 5

The highlights from our week:
Our attempt at Memorial Day rice crispy treats since we were scared away from our picnic at the pool due to a high chance of thunder storms. I saw this cute idea at No Time For Flash Cards. It has been a very long time since I have attempted to make rice crispy treats. They tasted good but did not turn out quite as cute as hers. They never actually made it into stars and Braedon just ate the m&ms off the top of one of the sheets of treats. But, it was fun and yummy!





I heard about a free bible cirriculum for three and four year olds at abcjesuslovesme. While browsing the website I found this cute apple tree counting workbook.

I printed it off and we have been having fun painting it. Of course we could always color it but since Braedon is getting a kick out of painting with a brush now I figured it would be nice to have him paint something with lines. Also, I painted some with him and realized that I really enjoy painting myself.

I love the intensity on his face!


Of course, they also stuck stickers on dot pages from Confessions of a Homeschooler.

I actually got Braedon to look at me and give me a normal smile for this picture.

And, I think it is cute that he is still grinning in this one because he knows I am taking another picture.

I was a little surprised (not sure if I should be or not) that Kaley actually stuck quite a few of her stickers inside the circles on the dot pages.


We started Before Five In A Row and we LOVE it so far. We started with The Little Rabbit and it has quickly become Braedon's favorite book. We have quite a few activities to finish up in that book so it will be next week before we move on.

We also did finally enjoy our first pool trip of the year on Saturday.

Mama's favorite:
I know the quality is awful but it is such a gift that my children LOVE their uncle so much. They crawled up in his lap and cuddled so I had to snap a picture. Unfortunately, the lighting was horrible so it didn't turn out too good.
See what other moms are doing with their tots at Tot School.

(Un)Forgetful Friday (Flirting Babies)

Recently, I was cuddling with Kaley on our bed. She kept pointing at something and bashfully smiling and cooing. I realized that she was seeing pictures of herself hanging on our wall and "flirting" with them. Which totally reminded me of when Braedon was about 8 or 9 months old we were sitting at the table eating breakfast one morning. He was having rice cereal. I noticed that he was staring at something and smiling and cooing. It was like he was seeing himself in the mirror except there is no mirror in our dining room. So, I tried to follow his line of sight to figure out what he was staring at. I noticed that the object of his affection was the Gerber baby on the box of rice cereal that was sitting on the table. He was totally flirting with the Gerber baby! It was too cute.

Mahi Mahi, Penne Pasta, Asparagus

Disclaimer: I am not a nutritionist. What I deem as healthy for me and my family may vary from yours depending on your family's nutrition needs. Let me also add that these meals are healthy for the most part. However, they may still contain some ingredients that aren't necessarily that good for you.

Our neighbors had tons of crawfish a few weeks ago and we ended up getting some shells from them. Chef Andrew made a crawfish stock by simmering the shells with water.
Fish:
Seasoned with a variety of seasonings and drizzled with crawfish stock (slightly thickened with cream)
Asparagus:
Sauteed with butter, garlic, salt, pepper, drizzled with crawfish stock (slightly thickened with cream)
Pasta Sauce:
Corn
Red Pepper
Onion
Mushroom
Crawfish Stock
Slurry A thin paste of water and flour, which is stirred into hot preparations such as soups, stews and sauces as a thickener. After the slurry is added, the mixture should be stirred and cooked for several minutes in order for the flour to lose its raw taste (definition from Answers.com).