Merry Christmas!

I can't believe its been OVER a month since I blogged. Well the truth is, my laptop died. Totally Crashed and died. Even my superstar husband could not get it revived. He was able to get most of my files and my pictures! The good news is............I have a laptop coming from my MAMA! I just have to wait until Christmas to take ownership. So.....I have been using an old computer that Gordon put together for the boys to play with...and realzing how much we take technology for granted these days. This computer takes HOURS to do what my laptop could do in minutes. Blogging being one of those things.
So for now.....I hope you are having a wonderful Christmas Season with your family. I read something recently that a mamas attitude is more important that all the "stuff" we think we have to do during the Holidays. So just relax, set some new traditions...and enjoy each other this Christmas Season! Try to remember, your house will still be that, just a house in 10 years...it won't care that you cleaned it. The laundry won't care that you folded it.....but your kiddos! Take time to invest in them, teach them, spend time with them. HAVE FUN and MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Pumpkin Fun!

I love fall….and pumpkins. I love pumpkin soup, and the temps in the Dallas area, are finally inviting some into my kitchen.

A few weeks ago, I took the boys to Ardmore, Oklahoma to enjoy a charming pumpkin patch owned by the couple who introduced us to Zach’s birthmother. They invite us every year and its a super fun tradition. Ava had to miss out this year because she was recovering from tonsil surgery.

   

All though these pumpkins we SO much fun…..something else is where we spent most  of our day!

I snapped this ADORBABLE shot of my 2 guys!

Zach must have ridden this ride about 20x. Luckily , this is where it comes in handy to know the owner!

 

After Ava was feeling a little bit better, or so I thought when we headed out…..

We went to Cinderella’s Pumpkin Patch at the Dallas Arboretum.

 

 

Another great TripleSmile!

Kindergarten Fun!

I have mentioned before that Zachariah is in a 4 day kindergarten program. The wonderful thing about that is I get to teach him on Fridays. I was too excited when Carisa introduced her Kindergarten Curriculum. It has been the PERFECT fit to fill up a Friday…and I’ve been able to make it follow his teacher’s instruction as well.

He is working on a Phonics Lesson

Then he writes the same words that he just identified on his phonics page.
I LOVE these pictures below because BOTH boys are working TOGETHER on a Math lesson.  I was giving oral directions and problems they had to solve together. It was a number line activity.

SUPER Sweet….don’t ya think?
 
After all this table work, we headed outside for a movement break on the trampoline.

We used our Education Cubes for some sight word jumping fun!

The boys would jump until I said “land”, they each had to grab a cube and read the word they landed on.


Be sure  to visit Show and Tell for lots of other great ideas with Education Cubes.
This activity was cut short by the cries of my little girl who is recovering from surgery….so we didn’t get to the You Can Read work until the next day…..but thats ok! We got it done!

A Bed for The Twins

I have wanted to write this post (and others) for a while now…but my laptop has been a little bit under the weather.

I finally got my husband to take off this t-shirt that his mother in law bought him and help me out!

I first posted here about an amazing opportunity that God has given us to help a set of twins in Kenya, Africa. I wanted to first give an update…that I did make enough money at the consignment sale mentioned in the earlier post to support the twins for a full YEAR. However, I did spend some of the money I made on clothing for my own children, so I have only sent 6 months of support to Orbit so far.

I was then given an incredible opportunity to partner with a church and provide a mattress and a blanket for the twins for only $30. Amazing!

In America…..$30 buys…..

-a medium sized new toy

-a game for a gaming system

-an American Girl Doll Outfit…with shoes if your lucky.

-a halloween costume

-a Starbucks coffee drink for 4 days.

-a steak dinner for 1

With that same $30 God was able to supply this need……

and these precious children were taken off of a cement floor….and given a soft place to go to sleep.

I write this post….to simply raise awareness, not to shine any light whatsoever on me.  So what could you do?  Click here to see the many ways this village can use YOUR help.

“Can” your child have fun with sight words? YES!

Last week, Zachariah’s book bag featured books with the sight word can in it.

First of all, I was so excited when Carisa “rolled out” (no pun intended) this cool sight word graphing game in her You Can Read Bundle Download.

After rolling the cube, the boys would take turns putting a green triangle on their graph.

The winner was…… YOU!

(Ava’s job was handing out the green triangles!)
Zachariah also  wrote his word on the mini easel,then added  magnetic letters.

Coloring the word can by number…..

Using our new Melissa and Doug stamps to stamp the word can…..

He cut out and then put together a puzzle of the word can….

And lastly, his favorite…..
Building words with Playdough

If your early reader is just learning to read, or your 1st or 2nd grader is struggling with reading at all….I highly recommend this hands on sight word program! Super fun!