Kitchen Play - Chef Hat

My boys are still loving kitchen play and so I am trying to come up with more things we can make that they can use in their kitchen play (in fact we have started a kitchen play box to keep all their kitchen toys in!)

Today we made chef hats - this ended up being more work for Mommy and not much that the boys could help with but they have sure loved playing with them once we got them made.

I took strips of cardstock and stapled them together to fit around their heads.  I put their names on them and had them color them.  (It was so exciting to see Seth write his entire name for the first time!!  We have worked on all the letters but S but he figured it out on his own!!)

Then I took a piece of fabric and stapled around the ring to make the rest of the hat (I forget what you call that part of the hat - HA!)  It didn't turn out quite like I thought it would...but it looked ok. 

The boys, of course, thought they were perfect!















Here they are playing kitchen with their hats...today Seth's bed was the kitchen.  (Please ignore his outfit...he picked it out last night for bedtime and did not want to change this morning...I didn't buck the issue since we weren't going anywhere today...one of the joys of homeschooling!)

 

 

Giveaways

You probably all know by now I love giveaways.

I just found another one that is ending tomorrow...you need to hurry on over and make sure to enter.

Sarah at The Fifth Street Academy is giving away sidewalk chalk!  My kids would love this.

Tot School - Field Trip!!

 

Aaron is 25 months old!

I hope yall like pictures because I have a bunch to share this week!!  We had a very exciting week this week.  

We started the week with a picnic in our backyard on Monday night!  Daddy had to work late that night and the boys have a tendency to get cranky when he is not home in the evenings.  I am trying to find ways to keep them settled and thought they might like a picnic.  We had a lot of fun!  The best part was when Daddy showed up...coming home a lot earlier than expected! 

Here are some picture highlights from that fun night!

On our blanket enjoying our corn dogs!

 

I sent the boys on a nature hunt.  Aaron was trying to grab leaves off the branches.

  

We had a fun time playing bubbles.  Aaron gets so excited with bubbles!

  

I LOVE this pic!!  (just wish I would have thought to wash the ketchup and mustard off his face before we started playing :-) )

  

Aaron loves his swing!

  

After our bath that night Aaron tried to get himself dressed for bed.  He wants to be able to do this by himself so bad but he hasn't quite got it down yet!

 

  

  

On Thursday we took a field trip to the Museum of Nature and Science and the Children's Museum.  The boys had an absolute blast!  There were so many different things for them to do there.

We got to see all kinds of dinosaur bones.

 

I LOVE this pic!!  Aaron was so excited in this room filled with different animals!  He absolutely loves animals!

  

Here he is gathering eggs  that the hens laid in the barn area. 

  

He ran right up to the tri-cycle but didn't want to get on...I don't know why...

  

Here he is milking the cow.

  

He loved the firetruck!  The only part of the fireman gear he would wear was the hat and he insisted on wearing it backwards!

  

They had all kind of animal costumes but he wouldn't try any of them on.  I finally got him to put this one on long enough for me to get a picture!

  

This has to be my favorite picture!  

  

He of course loved the water tables.

  

He was so excited that there was a room that he got to go to that Seth didn't.  This room was for ages 0-2.  He had fun climbing around on the soft pads.  

  

  

Of course I have to share a picture of Alyssa.  She had fun that day too!  She was a very good baby!  And Carissa, she is loving her baby doll as well :-)    It is so cute to watch her hug her baby.

 

 Of course we also colored, played and sang songs this week  It was a super fun week.  Can I go take a nap now?  :-)

My Phonics Activity I Made

Look at my new phonics games I made to help Seth learn his sight word groups!

I adapted this idea from Carissa's Bottle Top Names from 1+1+1=1 blog. She used bottle caps...I knew it would take too long to collect that many...we just don't go through bottles at our house.  But I did have a big bag of clear glass pebbles.  I thought that those could work!

I got name cards on the $1 aisle at Target.  I made a card for each of the different sight word groups and then made a set of alphabet letters using the clear pebbles and a sharpie (you have to be careful and write the letter backwards on the bottom so that when it is viewed through the pebble it is correct...that was a bit tricky).

I laminated the cards to help them last longer.

I think these will work great in practice sessions for our sight word groups.





Seth has already worked with his_at card and had a good time with it!

Our First Field Trip

Yesterday we went to the Museum of Science and Nature and Children's Museum with some friends.  It was a fun fun day for the boys!  Here are some of the pictures from the day...I will show more pictures in my weekly Tot School Post :-) 

Seth digging for dino bones

 

Alyssa and her dolly :-)

I love this picture of Aaron...he was in such awe in this room of animals!

Seth of course ran straight to the dog!

and the tricycle too!

He loves tractors!

I just love her smile!

playing on the firetruck

playing construction!

ROAR!!!

milking a cow

My little astronaut!

Playing with the water!

My little fire chief!

Like I said...more pics will be in the Tot School post!

We also got to go to the IMAX and saw a movie on the coral reefs!

The kids had tons of fun!

More Giveaways

Here are some more giveaways I have entered!!  (of course I get extra entries for blogging about them!)

1) Two Of A Kind, Working on A Full House has several giveaways going on right now.
            a) A double stroller from from Zooper
            b) a splasmat from Mimi the Sardine  (I could SO use one of these for Aaron)

2) Baby Loving Mama has several giveaways going on as well!!
         a) a COOL prize pack from Yoplait
         b) a double reversible bib from Bebe au Lait

3) Blessed with Full Hands is giving away a $25 gift certificate to Lilly Ellen Designs

4) This Mom can shop has several wonderful giveaways going on too!!  (and since I am a breastfeeding mom this just might as well become a new favorite blog to follow!!)
      a) a Mommy Necklace.
      b) These products from Lansinoh - Lansinoh Lanolin, Disposible Nursing Pads, Latch Assist, Manual Breast Pump, and their wonderful Lansinoh storage bags.  (probably the most practical giveaway for me yet!)
      C) 3-n-1 Body Wash from Cookies for Kids for cancer

5) MoMo's Bows and Flip Flops is giving away a 1 year subscription to the bow of the month club!!  This would be so much fun for Alyssa!!!  :-)

6) A Nut in a Nutshell is also giving away a Summer Cool Pack from Yoplait.

 7) Ice Fairy's Treasure Chest is giving away a $30 gift certificate to Sweet Pea Baby Designs

8) Minnesota Mama's Must Haves is giving away a Feeder Frocks nursing cover!.

9) Me and My 3 Boys is giving away a Summer Cool Down Pack from Yoplait

10) Smart Cents Mom is also giving away a Summer Cool Down Pack from Yoplait.

11) Sticky Feet Reviews is giving away a Boobs Nursing Dress!

Gotta Love Homeschooling!!

I just had to share what a fun evening we had yesterday!!!

Daddy had a late appointment last night so we had our supper for lunch (since he was home for lunch) and I decided that this would be a good night to do a picnic in the backyard with the boys.  (The only problem was we had to wait until 7:00 for the outside temps to be bearable!)

So we had a light day of school during the day...just focused on our phonics (by the way, Seth is reading his at words already!!  - bat, cat, fat, hat, mat, pat) and our handwriting (Seth can now write his T, I, E, and F!!) and thought we would save the rest for our "field trip!!"

So we cooked our corn dogs, gather our items and headed out the back door.  We found a nice shady spot.

I think Alyssa loved the idea!  She had been pretty fussy but was instantly quiet once we went outside!

While we were eating we took care of story time!  We read one of our library books. 

Since in Science we are talking about plants we had a conversation about all the plants and trees that are around us and where they came from, how they grow, etc.

I then sent the boys on a nature hunt.  They came back with a bag full of sticks :-)

We then had our tot school/activity...playing with bubbles!!  The boys of course loved this!!

(ignore the ketchup and mustard on Aaron's face!  I forgot to clean his face before our activities!)

Of course the neatest suprise of the night was Daddy showing up!!  His meeting ended up being short (I was thinking he wasn't going to be home until bedtime or after!!)  The boys were so excited to see him drive up the driveway and come join the fun!

Alyssa decided the best thing to do outside was sleep!

We also had fun on the swings!

We then came in and got our baths and then we had one final activity before bed - and incorporated a math lesson!  We played hide and seek in the dark (everyone had flashlights!)  Since Seth is trying to master his counting to 20 when it was his turn to count...he had to count to 20 until he got it right! We had so much fun.  Unfortunately we couldn't get pictures in the dark!

It was a fun day of school yesterday!  Gotta love homeschooling :-)!!!