Hello Sunshine!!!

Thankful for the sunshine this week. Looking forward to beautiful spring weather and more sidewalk chalk time!!!

Of course, there was some Ice Cream time too!!!

Happy Easter Weekend Friends!!!

Sunshine!

Despite the snowstorm we are due to get later this week, our spring break weather has been quite beautiful.

On Tuesday, we went to this super cool park downtown, it is right outside the Devon energy building. You can't miss it, tons of people, and really modern/abstract climbing equipment.

Right when we drove by, the girls immediately begged to stop. I had one of those moments where I almost said maybe later, and kept driving, but I remembered something I read on Pinterest about saying yes more than no, maybe, or later (see Pinterest is good for something).  So, we stopped and the girls had a blast! 

Hope you are all having a fantastic spring break!!!

Monday Funday!!!

What a day, we got so much accomplished today. We started our morning out with the Kiwi Crate. We got this package on Saturday and Londyn has been eager to open it up and find out our monthly activity.

  We started off by completing the "Our Disguise Kit!!" 

L&L loved it!!!

 The finished product!!!

We also completed day 1 of our weekly lesson!!!

We completed our daily lesson with a science experiment!!! Making Colors!!!

We made cookies too, sister loves to cook!!!

We went to a birthday party this past weekend, how cute are these race cars?!?!

Hope you had a fabulous Monday!!! 

Hello Friends!!!

Hello friends!!! I am so thankful for this blog. For L&L's first two years of life, I was so good at writing on this blog, recording many milestones of their life and it was the most perfect way to keep in touch with our family and friends. Last year for Christmas, Allen gave me one of the best gifts ever, he had my blog printed and now I have it in hardback book form, I am so excited to share this one day with my girls. I know they will love and appreciate if as much as I do. The most perfect gift! 

I must preface this post with, I have decided to start a new blog BUT no worries, I will continue to blog about my family and our everyday life here on this blog. I just got a new laptop so I know it will be SO much easier to update my blog now and in the near future!!! Thank you for currently following me and if you decide to follow my new blog, I hope it brings a little sparkle and shine to your everyday wardrobe.

I have recently decided to start a fashion blog, and I would love for you to follow me along my way. My blog is all about my everyday runway. You'll see my favorite looks, what works for me, splurge vs. steals, budget friendly fashion finds, and it will of course have s&d incorporated within it. I am very excited to share this blog with all of my blog followers! So, if you will, follow this link, enter your e-mail into the box below follow and you will be updated whenever I post to the blog. I hope you love it!

Follow Me Here: http://fashionablycasual.wordpress.com

Lessons!!!

Hi friends, I thought I would share some different activities that I do with L&L. =) One of my absolute favorite things that I do Monday thru Thursday (on a good week, sometimes, we only get to do a couple of lessons, depends on how the week goes) with the girls is our lessons. On Sunday evenings (after the girls are put to bed) I get the lessons planned for the following week. I follow several different blogs and pinterest boards that have incredible resources, I tailor most of those ideas and accommodate the lessons to L&L's level. I am constantly picking up supplies (target, dollar spot, hobby lobby, mardels, etc). that I think I can add to our lessons. Anyone can do this, you will love it and your little ones will love it!!!

EVERY morning, first thing, Londyn says, mom, can we do our lesson? Typically, on Monday and Thursdays we do the lesson first thing after breakfast but on school days we do it in the evening (after dance, gymnastics and dinner).

We always start our lesson off with a book (L&L love the routine of knowing what to expect when we start a lesson, and a book is easy to start with). Sometimes I use books that go with the theme for the week and sometimes, I pick random books (depends on how well in advance I have planned the lesson for that week).

I am a pretty routined person so I usually stay consistent with my order of the lesson (not always but sometimes). Typically, we start off with some sort of name practice. In this activity, I wrote their name and had them choose foam letters to match  the letters and place them below. I also encourage them to write their name on the back of their paper when they are finished. I do not recommend putting all of the abc letters out, I put out the letters in their name and four additional letters that are not in their name.

Each week I choose one letter which we talk about each day but, most of our activities we do involve several letters. I only recommend adding in several additional letters if your child has mastered recognizing the majority of their letters. There is not a particular order that you should go in, I simply chose letters that L&L see most often (example, letters in their first and last name). This week we are working on the letter f.

This is one of my FAVORITE activities and the girls loved it. We went letter fishing (borrowed this idea from a homeschooling blog that I follow). I put pom poms (I incorporate pom pom in their lessons each week) in a bowl and with 16 letters and gave them a measuring cup. As they scooped out letters (and pom poms) they would match it to the letter on the paper. When they finished fishing, I would have them tell me each letter and the sound that they make. This was a hit, we will do it again, probably every other week. It will also be a great way to start building words.

 

 Magnet letters are awesome, I have a giant bag of them and we use them all of the time. 

More work with letter sounds and recognizing the initial sounds of words. In this activity, I got 6 flashcards with a picture on the back and had the girls say the word out loud and asked them, what sound did they hear first. (Example, dog, d, d, dog, what sound did you hear first) then they would put the magnet letter on the picture. I try to use the word initial, beginning, and first when I am asking them about the picture they see, this will expand their vocabulary. I often notice, if they aren't understanding what I am asking, if I rephrase the question, they figure out what I am asking.

Math Fun! I got these super cute number blocks at barnes and noble and we use them every week in our lessons. In this activity, I simply printed a worksheet (superteacherworksheets) and instead of writing, we used the blocks to count (still working on writing our numbers). Example, Liv would count the jets aloud, 1, 2, then find the 2 and put it on the line. When this was completed, I had the girls put the blocks in order from 1 to 10.

Shape Recognition: I got this puzzle document from the homeschooling blog that I follow, I printed it and had the girls use the foam shapes to match them correctly, then I have them tell me all of their names and we discuss how many sides they have, etc.

Then, I let the girls play on the ipads (which they love) I encourage them to choose an app that will reinforce the skills that we are working on that week. Most of the time, they want to watch Disney Junior first... pick and choose your battles, watch one show then choose a learning app.

It takes me about 1 hour to plan the lessons and each daily lesson takes about 30minutes to 1 1/2 hours to complete. I hope this gives you all some ideas on things that you too can do with your kiddo's. Again, almost all of these are borrowed ideas and I hope this encourages you to borrow mine and tailor it for you. If you have any questions, let me know. By the way, I am not going to homeschool the girls, just preparing them and letting them guide their learning. In my opinion, the most important form of learning at this age is through play; puzzles, games, dress-up, dramatic play, blocks, reading, sidewalk chalk, bubbles, arts and crafts, etc, etc. etc.

Have a great day friends, sorry SO long!!! =)

Lately...

Lately we have been...

Playing in the snow!!!

 Dress Up, Everyday!!!

Sent out some sparkly gifts!!!

Games, Games, Games!!!

Hope you have all had a great weekend!!!