Winter “School” Days

Winter Fun

I have been lacking in my posts due to the holidays and such.  But this is what we have been up to the past couple of months with school.  We have been working on our letters and have really enjoyed a new site with great lesson plans called www.abcjesuslovesme.com.

Kinley has been starting some Tot School activities and doing some busy work:).  Here is one of her favorites.  Pushing pom pom balls through circles in a tupperware bowl or putting them on her head. 

Here is one we found on Pinterest: Pipe cleaners in a colander.

Eli has been working on his letters and numbers.  We have also been doing some fun winter crafts and art.

We had a caterpillar theme one week and here are some fun crafts he did.

Fingerprint Caterpillars

 

 

Toliet Paper Roll Caterpillar

 Thanks to my parents for keeping this wonderful Bed Bugs game all these years.  It helps us work on fine motor skills and colors.  Eli loves it!

Bed Bugs

We played in the flour (snow) and made letters and shapes.   We also did a little face painting.

Flour on your Face

He had fun making these simple marshmallow toothpick sculptures.

We have really starting working on using scissors and cutting too. I forget that it is the little things that I have to teach him too. I love when they stick out their tongue our open their mouth. It shows how hard they are working to use the sisscors.

I have been working with Eli on good behavior and earning smiles on his Melissa and Doug Responsibility chart. This week we went to the dollar store, and I gave him a dollar to choose whatever he wanted.  He chose glitter glue to make some fun pictures.

Glitter Glue Creation

I was washing the dishes one day and realized there was silence.  I ran to find the kids sitting in our room doing this:

Brother & Sister

These are the moments I treasure and I know they will too!:)

Christmas Advent 2011

This year we are doing Truth in Tinsel it is a great 25 day Bible an ornament advent with a special activity each day. We are doing the  Book Advent theme with some new books this year too.

I also got some great advent ideas from some of my favorite blogs like A Year With Mom and Dad and Passionate Homemaking.  I have been finding a lot of great ideas on Pinterest too! 

We are doing some free Christmas Printables from 1+1+1=1,and  Confessions of a Homeschooler.

Light Bulb Letter Match

I printed up a Holiday Bucket List from here.

Every night we will be doing our Chocolate Advent and Star Advent from My Hubbard’s Cupboard.

Star Advent

Day 1:

We made our candle ornament, wrote Santa a letter, and sang carols by the Christmas Tree.

Santa Letter

Day 2:

We made our crown ornament and some Christmas cards with fingerprints.  We visited our new favorite cupcake shop Jamie’s 14K Cupcakes and got a holiday treat:).

Crown

Christmas Lights Card

Day 3: We made our Zechariah ornament, went to see some trains, and watched a Christmas Movie. Santa Buddies was a big hit.

And a cute pic of brother and sister.

Cyber Monday with Melissa and Doug

 

Cyber Monday is Giveaway Monday on Melissa & Doug’s Facebook Fan Page!

“LIKE” us on Facebook to be eligible to win! Answer the active giveaway’s question, to enter that giveaway. At least one random entrant will be chosen to win each giveaway.

JOIN THEM BEGINNING at 8am EST for the FIRST GIVEAWAY…OUR TRAIN TABLE!

They’ll be giving away terrific educational toys from 8am EST, right up until midnight!

Check out Melissa & Doug’s Terrific Twenty Holiday Toys to see some of the great prizes they’ll be giving away!

Get a Melissa & Doug 25% Off Coupon When You Take the North “Poll”

Melissa & Doug want you to tell them which of their educational toys you think is the best! Just click on the image below to place your vote in the North “Poll!” You’ll Get a Melissa & Doug 25% Off Coupon** to use at MelissaAndDoug.com just for voting!

Camping Out in the Backyard

Camping Out

Next on my to read list is: Last Child in the Woods.

My husband has enjoyed it so much, that it inspired him to camp out with our son in the backyard.

They set up the tent, grabbed a good book (Bear Snores On By: Karma Wilson), and snuggled in their sleeping bags for a father and son night.  They survived the night and my son had a big smile on his face.  He asked if they could sleep out in the tent again the next night.  Good times!

Pumpkin Pancakes and a Smoothie!

Yummy!

So here is our third Pumpkin recipe!  I think I am going to make them tomorrow too.

Pumpkin Pancakes Recipe from The Curvy Carrot

Servings: 2

Ingredients

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1 tablespoon sugar (or use honey for healthy version)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup skim milk

1/2 cup pumpkin puree

2 large eggs, separated

2 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, sugar, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, and salt.

2. In a separate bowl, combine the milk, pumpkin puree, egg yolks, melted butter, and vanilla extract together, mixing well until smooth.

3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, mixing with a spatula until just combined.

4. In another small bowl, using an electric hand mixer (or whatever you have on hand), beat the egg whites until thick and stiff.

5. Gently fold the egg whites into the pancake batter, mixing until smooth.

6. Meanwhile, heat a frying pan over medium heat.

7. Lightly spray the pan with cooking spray, and, in 1/4-cup increments, cook each pancake until lightly browned on each side, about 1 minute per side.

8.  Repeat with the remaining batter.

9.  Top with your favorite syrup, and enjoy.

I am crazy about smoothie and have been trying to sneak some veggies in them for the kids.  I just like to throw a little bit of this and that in them and the kids love them!

Smoothie Recipe

Fresh Spinach Leaves

Raspberries

Banana

Strawberries

Milk and a little yogurt

Blend and enjoy!

Fall Fun

I love FALL and everything that comes with it.  We have been celebrating Fall this past month with some fun crafts, recipes, outings, etc.  I thought I would share some with you.  We have gotten a lot of ideas from pinterest.  Follow Me!

Here our some of our Fall Crafts.  We made thumbprint apples, q-tip painted trees (my favorite), tissue paper stained glass leaves, painted a pumpkin, and made a crushed leaves mosiac.

Apple Thumb Prints

 

Q-tip Painted Fall Trees

 

Fall Tree

Tissue Paper Stained Glass Leaf

Painted Pumpkin

Crushed Leaf Collage

We live close to some wonderful parks, so we took our pumpkin buckets and collected leaves and acorns, we went on a fall scavenger hunt, had a family fall picnic, played in the leaves, made leaf angels, and much more. 

Making A Leaf Angel

 

Leaves

 

 

Talking to the Bugs

Swing'in

We made some pumpkin muffins, and I found the recipe at Smitten Kitchen.   We made some Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies too! The house smelled so good!

Making Muffins

More Fall fun to come!

Pumpkin Recipes

Pumpkin Muffins

We have been craving pumpkin around here! 

Here are two recipes we have tried so far.

Pumpkin Muffins

Recipe from Smitten Kitchen:

Pumpkin Muffins
Adapted from the American club, in Kohler, Wisconsin via Gourmet Magazine

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup canned solid-pack pumpkin (from a 15 ounce can)
1/3 cup vegetable oil*
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pumpkin-pie spice
1 1/4 cups plus 1 tablespoon sugar**
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Put oven in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Put liners in muffin cups.

Whisk together pumpkin, oil, eggs, pumpkin pie spice, 1 1/4 cups sugar, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl until smooth, then whisk in flour mixture until just combined.

Stir together cinnamon and remaining 1 tablespoon sugar in another bowl.

Divide batter among muffin cups (each should be about three-fourths full), then sprinkle tops with cinnamon-sugar mixture.

Bake until puffed and golden brown and wooden pick or skewer inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes.

Cool in pan on a rack five minutes, then transfer muffins from pan to rack and cool to warm or room temperature.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Recipe from All Recipes:

Ingredients

• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1 cup white sugar  (I used a little less about 1/2 cup)
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 2 cups all-purpose flour (I used 1 cup whole wheat flour and 1 cup white flour)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (I used 1 tsp cinnamon and 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon milk
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Combine pumpkin, sugar, vegetable oil, and egg. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon, and salt. Dissolve the baking soda with the milk and stir in. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture and mix well.
2. Add vanilla, chocolate chips.
3. Drop by spoonful on greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for approximately 10 minutes or until lightly brown and firm

We have already made two batches of the pumpkin cookies.  Next on our list to make: Impossible Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes and Ooey Gooey Carmel Pumpkin Blondies. Oh Yeah!

Etsy Love

I am crazy for Etsy!  If I had of extra money,  I would support all of the amazing and talented etsy artists out there.  I have a lot of my favorite etsy shops listed under my cool stuff link, but thought I would share some of my  favorite purchases, shops, and things.

I hope that one day I can host some giveaways and support the Etsy world; but until then, I will just browse all these wondeful shops!

MommaNMiaQuilts-These were the car seat strap covers I got for my kids.  They protect them from the red marks and are adorable!

I could not resist this adorable craft bucket too!

 

Little Green Earthling

 

This was the nursing necklace I got.  My daughter loves it, and I love knowing it is safe for her to chew on! 

Icing on the Cupcake

I got a cute crinkle corner toy for my daughter when she was a baby!  It is true, the simplest things make them happy!

Mojo Creations-I have one of her sandwich bags.  They also have giveaways on their Facebook page all the time.

 

 

Handmade Recess-I am blessed to know this talented mom and love all her stuff.  I got a hand towel and a stuff your change bag for gifts from her.  Here is one of her beautiful purses.

An everyday bag.

 

Marine Parents- I won a giveaway to her wonderful shop and got her knotted necklace, sophie leash/toy saver, and rosedrop headband.  I love winning giveaways!  Thanks So Easy Being Green!

Sophie Leash and Nursing Necklace

Handmade By Britt-I got my son a great CARS crayon roll for Christmas.  He loves to color, and we take it everywhere.  Here is another one that I know my son would love:). Go Gators!

 

Bambino Galleria-I ordered the cutest tutu for my daughter’s birthday from her.  It was perfect and adorable.

Pretty Tutu

Pineapple Spice- Has some great snack bags with clips in cute patterns.  I ordered some for gifts.  I cannot wait to own one! I want this one!

Pineapple Spice.

There is a great site calles Heartsy that is like groupon or other deal sites where you can get vouchers for less for some great etsy shops.

Also, there are some great blogs and sites that have giveaways for Etsy shops like:

A Little Etsy Love

Love Hate Reviews

Happy 1st Birthday, sweet girl!

We love you!

We celebrated her birthday with her favorite breakfast, an omelet with cheese, spinach, and blueberries on the side. 

Birthday Breakfast

We went to Wee Rock and Kinley showed off her moves and played instruments.  Big Brother had fun too!

Dancing w/doggy

We went to Carmen’s Cupcakes and picked out some delicious cupcakes for dessert.  She ate her favorite dinner peas, carrots, and corn.

We sang to her again.

Happy Birthday to you!

The birthday girl was not interested in the cupcake.  She could not stand to have the icing on her, so we gave her lots of watermelon instead.  Big brother chose the cookie monster cupcake, and could not finish it.  He finished his watermelon instead, and I finished off their cupcakes:).