Christmas Cards, anyone?

It's time for the annual debate with myself. Photo cards? Whole family or just kids? Newsletter? DIY or buy them already done?

This year, I think I've found the perfect solution! The gorgeous cards at Shutterfly. I'm planning on getting one of the folded ones which have lots of room inside for extra pictures and words! Brief updates on each kid will just be included on the card! No need for a full newsletter--which is good because some years, that takes me far longer than addressing the cards and getting the family to somewhat cooperate for pictures.

Now, I've just got to decide which one to choose. I'm thinking this one or maybe this one or perhaps this one. They're all gorgeous! I can barely wait to get them out in the mail to my family and friends. Maybe I'll even beat my personal deadline of December 1 this year. Maybe I'll feel really inspired and make a mail merge file finally so I can just print the address labels!

Family photos taken? Check! Card decision underway? Check! Most of my addresses saved in an excel file from last year? Check!

Don't worry, though, my sweet daughter's still keeping my humble. No matter how hard our photographer tried, she couldn't get a picture of all three kids in the same shot. I wonder if Shutterfly has a way to help with that?!?

Big Button Matching

A few months ago, I ordered these really fun big buttons. We've had lot of fun sorting them and looking at them together, but I wanted to also be able to use them for more self-directed activities for C's tot trays and R's workboxes. I made up some little cards that we can use. I thought I'd share them here, as well.



I put them in two separate files as the shapes are all black and white. The colors are, of course, in color. Simply click on shapes or colors to download a pdf file through google docs.



For c (now 22 months), I'll have her search either by shape or color. For R (4yo), I'll have him search for both at the same time.

If you don't have the big button set, you can still have lots of fun. Just have your child do a scavenger hunt for anything that meets the criteria. Here, R went through our box of play-doh tools.



Hope you enjoy it!

Fun Puzzle Find

Look what I found at Walmart last night when I was out grocery shopping. My boys LOVE puzzles, so I knew they'd be excited about these.

A color wheel puzzle-my favorite. $10



Luckily, the designer of this puzzle was very kind, and it has the names where the pieces should go!




Butterfly Life Cycle $6

The boys' were really excited about this one as we just finished memorizing a caterpillar poem in First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind.




Finally, a frog life cycle. $6 I'm saving this one for when we stufy frogs more in-depth. It's incorrectly labelled as is the actual Solar System puzzle at WM.



There were other great ones, too, and I'm sure I might have to pick them up if they're still there when my homeschooling envelope gets refilled.

Curriculum Chosen...

for the most part.

Q (6.5 years old, would be first grade)

Math: RightStart Level B
Core: Sonlight PreK 4/5 beefed up with extra books and unit studies about his extra interests at the moment (I'm doing this with the goal of getting him and his brother on the same core. I may have to reevaulate.)
Handwriting: A Reason for Handwriting: Manual A
Spelling: All About Spelling
Reading: He's a pretty good reader, so I'm planing on just continuing with read-alouds of me to him as well as him to me and his siblings
Language: First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind
Art: Family projects 2X a week
Science: Sonlight books plus a special project 1-2 times a week

R (4yo-PK4)
Core: Sonlight PreK 4/5
Participate in art, science, and readalouds with Q and I

I'm prepared to start him on A Reason for Handwriting Level K if he shows interest in it. Also, we'll be doing lots and lots of math and reading readiness activities.

Morning Muffin Math

Real life word problems

6.5 yo Q calls to me as I'm upstairs dressing the toddler: Mom, How many 5s are there in 12? 2?

Me: Yes, Q, there are 2 and then there'd be 2 extra.

Q: So, that means that 2 of us can have 3 muffins.

Me: (realization dawning) I'm guessing you want to be one of those two people, right?

Q: YES!!

Family Faves...

We're settling into a busy and happy summer rythym around here. The kids are busy playing with eachother and "help"ing me. I'm busy spending time with them and getting the house in order for our official start to our homeschool in a few weeks.

Here are some of our favorite things at the moment.


*Washable Dry Erase Crayons by Crayola. I found ours at Walmart. They're perfect for writing on white boards and laminated projects. They're chunky enough that even C (our 19mo toddler) loves using them. They're washable! Hooray! They even came with an erasing mitt which my kids loves to use.

*Watermelon. I think we're going through 2 a week. Yummy!

*Grilled cheese sandwiches with garden tomatoes and avocado. Seriously good.

Quick Toddler Birthday Gift

We're off to celebrate the first birthday of an adorable friend tomorrow. I whipped this up for him.



-a bucket with his name applied in vinyl lettering
-8 bean bags (made from minky and polka dot scraps)
-a ring full of bean bag ideas found here I simply printed, cut them out,laminated, and punched a hole to put them on a binder ring.



Hope he likes it!