Elephant!

This past week we did the Letter E!

I did activities with Eggs and Elephants.

I got all my art idea's off of

http://www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com/blog/2010/04/prek-letter-e.html

I LOVE this website!

We did the color by number. My printer was out of colored ink so I just took markers and

did the squares next to them. The kids LOVED doing this! Only the 3's and 4's

did this one. I gave the 1's a blank paper and crayons.

The next art activity we did was from Confessions of a Home Schooler was the Elephant Craft.

As you can see we did it a bit differently. I wanted all of the kids to be able to do

this one. So we used dot paint to color the elephants. The 3's and 4's were sure to stay inside the lines or close to it and the 1's did the whole paper. We then let them dry.

We finally got to finish them today! I cut the 1's and 3's Elephants while the 4's did there own.

I clued the 1's together and put the clue down for the 3's and 4's.They then placed the pieces.

Although I did cut the 3's pieces out I gave them the scraps to cut so they could still practice cutting!

What is your favorite art project?

(will post what else we did with the letter E another day!)

Life Lesson

Sometimes Life Lessons come from a paper fish bowl

 

Wouldn't it be nice if things worked out exactly how you

picture it in your head?

Sensory Bottles

I used to make Sensory bottles all the time and if you deal with kids 4 and under I am sure you have too! I used pop bottles but I feel like these get yellow over time and leak. I saw on Pinterest (http://southernthomas.blogspot.com/2011/08/discovery-in-water-bottle.html)

Somebody using clear water bottles.I decided to give it a try!

 I went to target and bought some

Water bottles. I found them in the workout section.

For the stuff in it I went to the dollar spot and the party section.

I later was given the idea to use the Naked Smoothie bottles.

They worked just as great and gave me an excuse

to be able to buy the yummy drinks!

Here is what I decided to put inside my bottles:

For this one I used rice and little cars being are letter

that week was C.

I used Elmer glue on these bottles but hot glue would also work.

For the Second bottle I used glitter and water.  If you have

it put some food coloring in or oil.

For the third bottle I used pom poms and rice.

I did this one because I wanted to work on colors with the one year olds

and counting with the older ones.

For the forth one I used monkeys and marbles.

This one was the kids favorite one!

And here is the box of things to do with the kids for the next day!

My morning went so much smoother being I had some new stuff for the one year olds

and also the preschoolers!

I made these bottles thinking it would be something fun the the one year olds but it turned out all the kids enjoyed it.

What have you done with your kids this week?

How to give new life to an old chair

I bought this chair for a dollar at a garage sale.
Bought  three cans of spray paint for 2.50 each at ACE

It was time for a new sewing chair!
The one I have now is on wheels and being
our basement floor is not even it makes sewing
even more difficult then it already is for me!
So When I drove by a garage sale and saw this I HAD to buy this. I think my husband thought I lost it!

I took off the seat and it was ready to spray paint

While I let the paint dry I worked on the seat.

I didn't take pictures of this process.
I bought some seat foam at Joann's and Cut it to size. I then took
some scrap fabric I had and cut that to size. Because I do not have
a staple gun I went ahead and used a hot glue gun......I really wished I had a staple gun!
But it worked alright.

Once The painting was done
I went ahead and screwed the seat back on!

I was pretty pleased how it turned out for my first time!

This picture makes it look better then what it really is. The fabric is pointing

out on the sides and the inside of the chair is not painted cause I ran out of

paint. I bought silver instead of gray for my third bottle....grrrrr. Being I was too lazy to

go back to the store I left it the way it was!

 I am just putting it down stairs where it is dark anyway!

The total project cost me about 7 dollars . It took about 2 hours

 because I had to wait for it to dry. So I was able to do little stuff in between. I spent about 15 min. on the seat itself.

If I would to do this project again I would first get the same color of spray paint :). I would also sand

down the chair and use regular paint and brush to give it a cleaner finish.

When it comes to the seat I would of taken more time to make sure all my edges were flat. I would also made sure I had a staple gun!

Overall I am VERY Happy with the chair. You know Being I had no clue what I was doing and probably did not do it even close to how you are actually to re-finish a chair.I have not had a chance to use it yet but every time I walk by it I smile :)

the 1-800 number

It has been one of those mornings I am tired, my heart is heavy for those I know that will have a hard day today. I am trying to get everyone breakfast and I have not even had my coffee yet! Then the phone rings, seriously! thought about not answering but then I have to listen to it ring. I picked it up with not a very welcoming hello. I noticed it was a 1-800 number and I am prepared to hang up.
The guy on the other line states he is from a charity we have given to in the past. They are always sending or calling for more donations. I was just about to say not at this time sir but decided to let him continue to speak as the kids had their food and were busy eating. He stated that the money would go to feed children that otherwise would not get a meal. He went on to speak about these children not knowing where their next meal would come from and I looked over. I had three kids stuffing their faces. Not a worry about them in fact one of the children was getting their second breakfast of the day. How humbling to  know we are one of the "lucky ones". It is so easy to say I don't have enough money, my house is to small, we need this and they need that. But really we have enough. I am rich. I have a roof over my head with central air and heat. It keeps me dry and safe. My kids are healthy and fed daily. I never have to worry about putting food on their table and where the next meal will come. We have everything we need right here. Our house is filled with love and laughter. Which is the most important thing in my opinion.
 I am rich I have enough to give. I am one of the "lucky ones". 

Baking muffins

I am no good at baking. I honestly really dislike it. But we are working really hard around here on spending less on groceries. And when picking up our snacks for the week I realized we were spending almost 20 dollars! I like my 100 calorie packs, Jon enjoys chips or crackers and for savanah I try to buy organic crackers or fruit snacks. So I have decided to make our own snacks!
I have started weight watchers so I got on there website. I picked out a muffin recipe which  was AWESOME The first time I made it. So the second day I decided to make double the amount to freeze.............they were HORRIBLE! No one would eat them. One of the children I watch said:
 "Miss Lisa do I have to eat this?"
I said "No if your not hungry"
the child said "no I am still hungry but I don't like this muffin"
 me {dieing alittle inside}

Not wanting to give up easily I decided to try again a few days later. They turned out pretty good however when I went to serve Savanah the muffins Saturday morning
 she said "mommy I don't like those muffins"
me "no I made new one"
her "where r the new ones?"
me "there on the cabinet"
her "where are the old ones?"
me "they are in the three seasons, I am going to see if the ducks will eat them."
her "show me"
me "Savanah don't you trust me"
her "no show me"

I have decided the recipe is very sensitive. If you don't make them just right they taste funny. So I will not be sharing this recipe. Well really people do you want to eat these muffins after hearing the doubt and disgust that three year olds have for these muffins :)
I have found a few good cookie recipes and will share in the near future!

I'M BACK....for now

Wow it has been over a year since I posted anything. I have written a few things but never got them up! I stopped posting cause I didn't know how I wanted this blog to go and honestly I was just trying to keep up with everything that was going on!
 Now that my life has settled down I will catch you all up!

•  We found out we were preg. on Christmas day!
• Savanah started speech thearpy
• we found out we had lead in our house and had to get in removed
• The SNOW MELTED!
• May we took Savanah in because she would stop breathing in the middle of the night
• Savanah got her tonsiles and adnoids out two weeks later.
• 1 1/2 weeks after her surgery we moved out of our house into a hotel for 2 weeks. so they could do the lead project
• Savanah gets kicked out of speech cause she was doing so awesome!
• My pregnancy was going awesome and we started preparing for our new baby
• One night in August savanah puked for the first time ever(glad I had my mommy there to help!)
• one day after she started feeling better I got the bug and was put into the hospital overnight to get an IV to keep miss or mr. no name healthy.
• Jon went home to sleep and got sick himself
• Savanah turns 3! with two parents that have never been so sick. Luckily others made that day very special for her!
• Sept. 2 we welcomed Natalie Anne Pope into our family.
• That night Miss Savanah met her sister and hasn't stopped being proud of her little sister.
• We suffered many a sleepless night and days.
• 4 weeks after Natalies birth the kids came back, I was now watching 6 children total
• Jon and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary
• Savanah was a monkey  and Natalie was a banana for Halloween.
• Jon's grandpa was welcomed to heaven
• A week later We said goodbye to one of the strongest women I know, My grandma Hoeger
• Natalie had her first Christmas
• We welcomed in the new year
• We decided to put our house up for sale
• we did lots and lots of house projects with lots of help
• Jon got a raise and we decided to down size my childcare a little.
• Natalie decided to finally roll over and sit up at 8 months
• Savanah's favorite activity is to draw pictures for daddy and put them under his pillow
• our house is still up for sale!

Well that brings us up to date! Hopefully I can find more time to write!

Oh I almost forgot anyone need a house I know of one for sale?