Finger Painting Page

I came across these pictures today so I just had to scrapbook them!

Snowman

Finally we have good snowman making snow!  We rolled him while playing outside after lunch and then I decorated him during nap time. He leans a bit to the right...hopefully he stands long enough for me to pack some snow around him on that side tomorrow afternoon.

Hmmmm...

Someone's been sitting on my laptop & even took a picture of himself with the webcam and saved the file.

Shower Curtain

This project's done. It went smoothly & I'm happy with it {although I wish I made it slightly fuller now that we have a curved rod.}  It's totally fine though. I bought all the fabric there was - I couldn't have made it work with any less length {without really piecing it together}, and thankfully it was just enough. I could have added a few more inches on the sections I added on the sides {54" width & added 7" on each side}, even doubled it to add fullness but you wouldn't have known that if I hadn't said. I'm not really a sewer so no one has permission to look it over too closely but I guess if someone locks themselves into my bathroom and does, what can I do?? 

Resikcling

I loved this journal page Brett brought home a few weeks ago. He wrote about recycling. It says
"It is good to resikcl.  I wish I cood resikcl every day. But their are spiders and cicits in my grog." Love it!

Hearts & Straws

Here's one of the valentine necklaces the kids made on party day. I found one that was left behind so I got a picture of it. These are Red Robin straws...some recycled & I requested a few extras that were new...worked perfect!

President's Day Activities

President's Day isn't a very exciting "holiday"....but I kind of enjoy this one.  It's different & there's plenty to be learned. We learned about "heads" & "tails", Washington & Lincoln, looked at coins, talked about George Washington & the cherry tree, Lincoln living in a log house, and general discussion about our President.  These kids know who Obama is!  Then we washed coins in water with some vinegar & baking soda (mostly water).  We also painted cherry trees and made edible play dough to make Lincoln logs. I remember doing that in school! We thought it was just great & my kids did today too.
Just mix:

• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 cup honey
• 2 cups powered sugar
  

Roll out on wax paper. The kids played with it, ate some & then I wrapped up the rest for them each to take home. I didn't tell them they could eat it {yet} but they discovered it while I went to change the baby. They thought they shouldn't tell me lest I be mad.  : )  Fun day!
Other ideas:
cooking activity: mini cherry pies
games: Hi-ho Cherry-O
manipulatives: Lincoln Logs

Scholastic Book Fair

The Scholastic Book fair at Brett's school won first place in the fall contest!  I really liked last years better with the Lights/Camera/Action theme but they must have sold more books this time.  Pretty neat!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Congratulations to the Winners of our Fall 2009 National Elementary School Contest!
Our first-place winner and recipient of a visit from best-selling author Roland Smith, plus a $2,000 shopping spree for books is:

First-place winner

Harmony Elementary School
Chairperson: Kim Moistner-Bartlett
Janesville, WI

A hot air balloon greeted students at the school on the morning of their Book Fair kickoff—with Clifford and the principal on board! The surprise visit was the reward for meeting a 100,000 minute Read Around the World challenge. To meet the challenge, each of the school’s 260 students received a reading passport to log their minutes. The result? 105,548 total reading minutes logged in the three weeks leading up to the Book Fair!

Also visiting the students during the Book Fair were a group of international students from a nearby university. They introduced Harmony students to customs and cultures of their homelands. Meanwhile, the Fair was transformed into 10 different countries. Each destination featured decorations and flags, bringing a little bit of the world to Harmony students.

Two different fundraisers helped raise needed funds. Classrooms were challenged to raise loose change for One for Books!, with a party given to the class which donated the most. A total of $1,495 was raised in less than two weeks. Book purchased from the Fair were donated to a local agency supporting children and a school in Calauag, Phillipines. Despite a poor local economy, $1,000 was raised through the school’s Partners in Reading program. These funds were used to enhance classroom libraries.

A Family Fun Night was the premier event of the Fair and featured many fun activities for everyone. An International Breakfast with Someone Grand drew a large audience of appreciative guests who would otherwise not have attended the Book Fair. The school’s Teacher Preview event had 100% participation and raised another $1,300 in books donated through the Classroom Wish List.

Congratulations to Harmony Elementary students, staff, and parents for making their Book Fair such a great event!

Help! Gifts kids have made for you

I'm back on doing the newsletter-hopefully just until May-for our local child care provider organization.  I also volunteered (because the rest of our board will be at CPR certification - what was I thinking?!) to present a workshop this week on Creative Gifts Kids Can Make.  I would appreciate any & all ideas on things your child has made that you've liked or something you've seen/done that's been successful. I will be putting together a handout with a list of ideas & websites so I will give you credit & share it with you. I have a good start but I'm afraid I'll go through it all too fast & then.... {crickets}  Thanks!

Valentine Cards

I was thrilled to find this decorative packing tape at Michael's for $1/roll in red & green. I knew I needed some but wasn't sure how I'd use it so just bought the green. When I went back in & saw it again I thought the red would be pretty to use on valentines! Simple & fun to make!

I found the felt hearts at Pier One last year on clearance for .25/bag. I bought them all & used them for a heart garland, on the cards and I punched a hole in a bunch of them for the kids to make necklaces with.

*I love deals! At Target this weekend I found the Up & Up Target brand of fabric softener for $2.48/bottle (originally $5.08 & last week I bought one on sale for $4.31) so I bought 4. There were more but I decided that would be enough.  At the "dent & bent" grocery store last weekend I found stacks of the small sized paper cups (in perfect shape) I use for day care snacks - 100 for $1.25. I bought all they had, 500 cups! They are .01/cup with tax! The ones I bought at the grocery store are .03/cup for 70 cups or is it .04/60 cups? (can't remember) so good deal.  It's the little things that excite me!  : )

Bathroom

We've moved past inspired & now we're just anxious to get this room together. We have everything we need but we weren't able to finish it yesterday. Too much going on & then we had to travel out of town to find the light we wanted. Also because the mirror is taller than the old one, the light fixture needed to be moved up 3" requiring some drywall repair before painting. I can't wait to see it come together!

The new mirror (Hobby Lobby), rugs & towels (Sonoma Aybss from Kohl's) and shower curtain fabric (JoAnn's). The clock & towels bars we already had & will keep.  I know the fabric looks pretty fancy for a shower curtain but we really like it! 

Bathroom before: I'm not tired of the wall color or the pictures (moving them to my bathroom), even the shower curtain. I've been wanting the mirror & light fixture to go for quite a while though & it's time for an update. It's been like this for 7 years. We can no longer match the paint for touch ups - it's a Ralph Lauren suede paint & they no longer make it. Any attempts to color match it are not even close!  We're going to try the new Behr Ultra paint with the primer already mixed it {since we accidently selected a color sample from that collection}. We're thinking we may need it with the sueded texture anyway. We're going to leave one wall {the shower area} gold since it coordinates so well.

Valentine Dinner

Whew, I made some magic in the kitchen tonight! I didn't really plan ahead  - just grabbed a few things at the grocery store & came home and made it quick - in 45 mins. we ate! We had the leftover punch/heart shaped ice cubes & Jello from the day care party, baked potatoes (in the microwave), steak on the grill, breadsticks, (the heat up kind with butter & parmesan) and strawberry tossed salad. I made one of our favorites for dessert: brownies with hot fudge sauce & raspberries.  I knew my boys would appreciate it! I like Valentine's day & doing things for others. Sometimes we give gifts ~ or  should I say I receive gifts ~ but this what we like to do, have a special dinner at home together.  Last year I had a little more time (or probably started earlier!) Brett helped out & set the table. I love how he put one candle by each of our plates. ♥

Valentine's Day Party

For our party on Friday:

• laced felt hearts & red straws for necklaces
• ate pink cupcakes & punch with heart shaped ice cubes
• exchanged valentines and enjoyed treats
• played musical chairs
• painted/glittered heart shaped valentine's with pictures on them
• made candy heart patterns with conversation hearts
• lunch was pizza hotdish with heart shaped breadsticks and strawberries & Jello

Fun but exhausting!

There were two more but I must not have taken pictures of them. They turned out cute!

Hanging out

What's keeping me busy

We've been learning about mammals including: cheetahs, dolphins, opposums, orcas and goats.
Playing in the snowLearning about the ♥ shape
and other shapes

Painting with valentine colors (this is so much more beautiful in person!)
Learning about stamps and the post office

Making and mailing valentines ~ shhh! It's a surprise! At least one told though.

Playing with play dough ~ pink sparkle dough of course
Playing flower shop


Melting ice



and then there's this one....

Cookie Dec

Handprint Hearts

Brett's Valentines

We used the Dino toppers from The Celebration Shop.