Rainy Day Quilt and a Pirate Skirt

I was looking through some crafty websites and I found this quilt pattern that was just calling my name. Did I really need another project to add to my list? (I think I have craft ADD) Probably not, but I knew this one would not take too long to finish and I felt like my heart quilt needed to be changed. In one rainy day afternoon, while my Kaleb was sleeping, I worked on these projects.

I found the free pattern  here. It isn't quilted yet but I love the colors. Most of the fabric I used came from America. It was easy to put together. It is not perfect but I like it. I hope to have it finished by this weekend. (J is singing a rainy day song for you)

This was definitely on my project list. I had the sewing machine already out and Kaleb was still sleeping (for another ten minutes). The bandanas came from America this summer. That's how long I have wanted to make this pirate skirt. It was easy to do although I didn't have a t-shirt to cut up for the waist band. I used the left over sheet from Keke's Red Riding Hood cape that I made in October. The idea came from alphamom.com. I think she likes it but she is now asking for a pirate hat and sword.

It is pretty short, I should have made the waist band longer. She will probably only wear it for dress up or over some black leggings. It turned out cute and it IS in her favorite color.

A Frog in the Bog (part 2)

We are still learning about frogs and reading our core book. We read a book about the life cycle of a frog and J completed a picture life cycle worksheet.

We did some fishy things to go along with our Nursery Rhyme. J made a fish pop-up book.

I brought out a number fishing game that I made last year. We practiced our numbers and fished for our dinner.

I also made alphabet match fish game last year when we were working with letters. We played that as well but this time I had J tell me what sound the letter made rather than the letter itself.

Lastly, J worked on writing her numbers, She made rainbow numbers. She traced the number over and over using colored pencils to make a rainbow effect.

J informs me that we are off to learn about horses. So I guess I better get to work. Hope your day is awesome. 

A Frog in the Bog (part 1)

I asked J what she wanted to study after we were done with space. Her answer was frogs. So I went through my books and found a great core book - A Frog in the Bog by Karma Wilson (the same Karma Wilson who wrote Bear Snores On series). This book is in the style of There Was an Old Lady Who... The frog is sitting on a log in the bog (-og word rhyming, I can just see it) and he eats just about anything that is near him. He gets bigger and bigger until the "floating log" notices him. Needless to say, he didn't keep his lunch!

After reading about frogs, J painted a red-eyed tree frog using watercolor paints that I made. I noticed some our markers were getting dry and I just hated to throw them out. (you can't get the Crayola markers here, if you do find them, they are so expensive) So, I found a website that offered a solution - put your markers in water for a day or two and you have paint! Recycling the markers idea came from here. The red-eyed tree frog printable came from here.

We played a froggy game - get your frog to the other side. It came with three dice to make depending on the player - easy, medium, and hard. The hard die sends you back to the beginning of the game.

Our rhyme of the week is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Once I Caught a Fish Alive. J is coloring the wall card so we can add our new rhymes to the others for easy review.

We played a fishing game that I found at Education.com. You roll the die and you choose a fish. Each fish has points and you may even have to give up one of your fish (J did not like this). Here she is cheering because she believes she is winning. Can you tell she likes to win?

Another Finished Project!

Sunday, I had a couple of hours with the kids. This gave me the opportunity to start and finish a project that I have been thinking about for awhile. We have tow IKEA chairs that I absolutely love but with Kaleb always climbing up in them when he was not necessarily clean, the cushions have become yucky. So, I finally found some fabric that I loved at IKEA - I broke down and bought it. I used my free hours to cover the chair cushions while watching The Three Musketeers. I like the way they turned out. I know the fabric is a little busy but I love the colors. Now, the covers are removable and washable. What's better than that?

The next project that I finished was my table runner for my buffet. It has been waiting to be finished for a couple of months, probably closer to a year. I finally sat down and sewed the binding on. That is all I needed to do to finish but it seems that sewing binding is tedious for me. I really have to make myself do it. And this project was so long, that it took quite a while to do that, through a movie and a half! But it is done. My project list to finish is still long and my bin is full, but I am working my way through it. One more down. Yay!

Monday's Discovery

This week's discovery was more of an accidental one. We (the kids and I) were cleaning up after a cold but fun hour on the balcony playing in the sand when I noticed Kaleb extremely busy. He found a bucket of large letter magnets and he was taking them one by one across the room and placing them on the magnetic board. I probably should have taken pictures of that because he was so intent on walking them across the room but I didn't. I made it easier for him by placing the magnets by the board and then I began taking pictures.

Love those letters. After eating sand, these must taste great. Happy Day.

It Must Be Spring!

One thing I have always disliked about living here is the lack of screens in our windows. Screens are not extremely popular so when you open your window, you tend to get little flies that enjoy your house for awhile (these drive me crazy). I never had anything but flies or mosquitos. J and I were looking through her spring/summer clothes and I kept hearing this constant cooing. I couldn't figure out where it was coming from - until I went into my room.

Imagine my surprise when I found this! A pair of pigeons had made their way into my room and took a liking to DH dollap (his closet). A pair - you can't see the other, she is hidden behind the bag. I think it is nesting time. Now here is the kicker - this is the second time today, they made their appearance. The first time I was so shocked that all I could do was make some noise and they flew off. Thinking they wouldn't be back, I left the window open. Then, to my surprise, they came back. They can't be serious about making a nest here and I can't keep my windows shut all of the time. I would really like screens. Perhaps now, DH would see a reason to install them. This s a definite first for me.

There's No Place Like Space! (part2)

We are continuing our study on the planets, reading all of the books on planets that we can find. J is doing well with remembering most of the planets. We are also reviewing skip counting by 2's, 5's, and 10's.

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I found some super mini planet stickers and had J place them in order by the sun. Then she added star stickers as well. You can tell these are really small. She is concentrating on finding the correct planets with the clues that I am giving her - this planet starts with a m and ends with a y, etc....

Our rhyme this week is Little Bo Peep. We also read Sheep in a Jeep by Nancy Shaw. On a sheep picture, we added all of the words (that we could think of) that rhyme with sheep. The book really helped with finding rhyming words.

J made a sheep with some cotton and card stock. 

Her finished product. She cut out all of the patterns herself.

She made a mini book based on the rhyme. She colored it, cut it out, and we added it to her Nursery Rhyme book that we are making. While in the car today, after grocery shopping, J was reciting all of her rhymes that she has learned. She is doing pretty good in remembering them, I was happy. One last item - J was a ballerina today in her pink tutu. She always wants to wear her tutus and dresses - she loves them. I was folding the clothes and I come out to find this....

She made Kaleb a ballerina as well! It was so funny with them running around the apartment. I don't think he liked the feel of it. He was a little distressed that this bushy thing kept following him so I made her take it off. Oh, what happens when I am in the other room! Kaleb will enjoy this pic when he gets older - haha. May your day be filled with frilly things!

A Little Bit of Spring Fever

I am truly tired of the winter weather we are having and I am ready for spring to arrive. Last weekend, I went to the outlet mall with my daughters and I found this awesome toy. I probably paid too much but I envisioned much play out on the balcony when the weather got warmer. J was excited and begged me to put water in it now, she just couldn't wait. So I did but it didn't take long before the water was gone - thanks to Kaleb. He had a ball splashing in it, so much that he was soaked in a matter of minutes.

Notice the towels, three of my best, biggest, beach towels and they were soaked through in a matter of minutes. But it was worth it, they had fun. This will be great on the balcony as soon as the warmer weather appears (it seems to be taking its time this year). Enjoy your day.

There's No Place Like Space! (part1)

Our book, There's No Place Like Space by Tish Rabe (under the Dr. Seuss label) is perfect since we are learning about the planets in our final week of our space unit. This book has the rhyme like Dr. Seuss but is packed with planet information. There is also an app with the same name for the I-Pad. We don't have this but it looks like fun.

We reviewed number order up to 20. I made stars with numbers on them and placed them in a random order in front of J. She then had to put the stars in order.

We read about the planets and put our flashcards and planet cut outs in order from the sun. We discussed the gaseous planets and the reasons why no other planet could support life. I don't expect her to know all of the planets but she just might by the end of the week.

J colored a planet poster that she will hang in her room along with the penguin items she created. Here, she is checking to see what color Venus is.

Here is her finished product.

One craft that she did was a sun catcher I found marked down somewhere. It is Saturn. She begged to do this but it was probably a little too difficult since the spaces were really small that you had to fill. J finished anyway and we baked it in our oven.

To visualize the distance of the planets from the sun, we made a planet string that stretched across the room. It was so big that I couldn't get a whole picture of it. The string was 12 feet long and we talked about how cold the planets that are farther from the sun were and how warm the others were.

Our rhyme of the week is Little Bo Peep. We used a stuff sheep and played hide and seek with it. J now calls the game "Hide and Sheep." We actually had a warm day today. We celebrated the idea of bringing out our spring/summer clothes. If it was up to J, we would do it today. But I am not sure the warm weather is here to stay (I hope it is).  So we are waiting a little longer for our short sleeves. We enjoyed the day nonetheless. I hope your day is full of sunshine.

Monday's Discovery

This week's discovery can be a messy one but it is a must - spoon skills. I have been putting this one off for awhile because I knew what was going to happen - it was going to be messy and most likely end up on my curtains.

Kaleb is at breakfast when I handed him the spoon and a small cup of yogurt.

He liked being able to do it himself. He probably wore most of it but it was worth it. He is learning how to use a spoon to feed himself. He gets soo excited now when I bring out the yogurt and one of his spoons. Clean up is not too bad and he spends the rest of the day smelling like the flavor of yogurt that he ate. I guess he could smell worse!

Twinkle Twinkle (part2)

We are still learning about stars in our week long adventure. We discussed the beginning letters that made up the word star and J worked on coloring all words that began with st.

J used stickers and drawings to illustrate the rhyme Twinkle, Twinkle.

J then made a star twirly thing - sorry, can't think of a better word. She colored the star on one side and the rhyme on the other. We taped it to a stick and recited the rhyme while twisting it in her hands.

She colored and cut out a start night puzzle. This will go into her Nursery Rhyme book. I am adding all of her crafts and pages to a book each week.

We practiced beginning sounds by playing a game that I printed. J chose a card, said the sound it began with, and placed it by the corresponding letter.

This activity will be used again. J can determine the ending sounds or the vowel sounds of each picture. She surprised me by remembering certain sounds that used 2 letters such as st, or dr.

This is a funny from my week. J found a mini package of Swedish Fish candy that Keke received for Valentine's day. She asked me if she could see if the fish floated. I gave her a bowl of water and she discovered they did not float. Regardless, she enjoyed playing with her non-floating fish. The super funny thing about this was that Kaleb has been extremely quick in pulling things down from the kitchen cabinets. We have to be careful what we put in his reach. Well, he grabbed the bowl and didn't expect the consequences. He got a face full of water - head to toe! He stood there screaming at the surprise/shock (and it was probably cold, as well). I wish I could have gotten a picture of that but I had to help Kaleb    calm down. I am hoping this will teach him a lesson - to not grab things off the counters. I had to laugh.

In case you want to know - Swedish Fish get slimy in a bowl full of water. J is truly wanting some kind of pet - can you tell?