Learning to tie

When I rotated toys over the weekend I brought up this activity & Brett was ready to learn. Last time we tried he was just frustrated and had no patience for it. He's always had slip on or Velcro shoes but recently he asked for tie shoes. He picked it up right away & can tie with a good amount of success. Just needs to practice! ***This "learn to tie" set is by Alex & I got it at Target.

Summer Fun

It's finally summer & it's hot!

What I'm working on

I'm taking a class & creating a portfolio for my preschool credential. In this class we review the 5 others we took and put information together to create a portfolio. After it's complete, I can schedule to present it to a commission to receive the credential. Thankfully I've only had to attend 5 classes so far on Mon/Wed nights from 6-9 p.m. Most nights we got out early. Next Monday I present it for my grade so I have *a lot* of work to do before then! The instructor doesn't require everything that the commission wants thankfully. I need to have 85-120 observations of a preschooler along with analysis & a response for each one, 3 video clips and lessons plans, an observation, self assessment and more... I like projects like this but time is running out! I will still need to take Health, Safety & Nutrition in August - I was supposed to take it before the capstone class but I thought I could test out of it - The Registry doesn't allow test outs for the credential.

Father's Day

Salmon on the grill for lunch - I just salt & peppered it & topped with lemon slices. We had fruit salad, lettuce salad & potatoes. Strawberry shortcake for dessert. Father's Day pictures

Tonight we were invited over for supper with some good friends. These two boys are so much alike. Busy little ball players & just six months apart in age. I can just picture them eating everything in sight & causing a stir among the girls in a few short years!

Father's Day Cards

Today we made Father's Day cards. I was fresh out of ideas for gifts (it's hard enough to figure out something for my own Dad & Damon besides for everyone else's dads!) so we just did cards. The parents really like these with the paintings, pictures and interviews. They do make nice keepsakes. D said her dad's favorite thing to cook is zebra. I love asking the 2's & 3's questions and hearing the answers just pop out of their mouths! I always write the first thing they say because it's usually the best answer. The paints used are Handy Art liquid watercolors. They have a pearl and a gold metalliac paint that looks great on projects. It's inexpensive & lasts a long time.

Pirate Week

I'd have to say this was such a fun week. Very busy, but the pirate theme was great. The kids really enjoyed it and it was something different. No swords, guns or fighting - just "playful pirates". Everyone got a bandana, eye patch and two fancy gold earrings made from key tags.

Paper plate pirate - from Mailbox Magazine

Painting paper towel tube "spy glasses"

Pirates can read!

As a group, we didn't make flags but Brett made his own. I'm not even sure when or where he found his supplies but he put it together himself. Love it!

Cute girl pirates!

Walking the plank! There's just a couple of bricks under the board. The kids were disappointed it wasn't up higher. Treasure box & map book E making a map of where she hid the treasure box

Brett leading the group of younger ones - studying the map. Brett said it didn't look like anything. E's map was actually very good so I encouraged him to look for color clues and he found the box. After that he caught on very quickly and was excited about making maps. They played for at least an hour and filled the map book. Great activity! Brett & E had drew all the maps but the younger ones took turns choosing the spot to hide the treasure.

Sample map by Brett: fence, sandbox, blue tarp that covers sand box and of course the black dotted line to follow. Great map!

5 Little Pirates fingerplay

Guess who

has all the time in the world now in the morning? Everyday (during the school year too) this is what Brett does - he wakes up and comes to the living room. Usually he sits in the big chair with this blanket. This time he laid on the floor which really reminded me of when he was a baby - content and bundled up, laying on the floor & flailing his arms around like that!

So many flowers

I'm not finding it to be a problem!

Just like Jughead

Brett layed down like this & said "Mom? Don't I look just like Jughead?" I can totally see it!

Picnic Week

Last week was picnic week. First we had a pretend picnic. As a group we decided what to bring & packed our picnic basket. We found a spot after going through "the woods and around the lake". Then we played a game trying to find an item in the picnic basket by touch only.

Ants in our pants finger painting. We also marched to the Ants Go Marching & learned this song:

Ants at the Picnic

sung to "Skip to My Lou" Ants at the picnic, what'll I do?

Ants at the picnic, what'll I do?

Ants at the picnic, what'll I do?

Guess I will eat real quick! ~Betty Silkunas

picnic table cloth weaving

Ketchup & mustard paintings.

On Friday we had a picnic & wrote a group story about going on a picnic.

Fun Day

Today we were back up at Mom & Dad's for mtg. this morning, dinner with them, relaxing outside until going over to Mark's for a get-together. We took the chicks to them which was the main reason for our trip up. What a nice day! Lots of laughs so we got home later than we wanted to be. Mom & Dad's dog Dayna, very interested in the chicks! I let her sniff one but all she got was a little lick, not a chomp!

Just like the "big bad wolf"! She tried very hard to get in the cage.

Dad & Dayna

The guys hit a little wiffle ball with Brett

Dorena & Eric!

Brett loved this cat! She is pretty easy going as you can tell!

The chicks new home!

Keith & Darrell trying out the double bike. Funny!

Brett learned how to ride a two-wheeler last time we were visiting & couldn't wait to ride it again today! This bike is the perfect size for Brett. His at home is a couple sizes bigger & a bit much for him to control. He did wipe out & get gravel in his knee but it wasn't too bad.

Dinner on the deck with the boys

On the way home - immediately he crashed in a very uncomfortable position, holding onto his motorcycle and full of grass stains.