Day 31: Round Up

I can't believe it! We're DONE!

Thank you so much for playing with us this month. We had a blast!

If you haven't seen all the fantastic fun we had this month, check out the links below!

Day 1 : Cloudette

 Day 2: Now It's Fall
Day 3: Blackout
Day 4: Applesauce Season
Day 5: If You Give a Moose a Muffin
Day 6: It Could Always Be Worse
Day 7: Who Ate All The Cookie Dough
Day 8: Flaptastic Shapes
Day 9: Rumpelstiltskin
Day 10: Giraffes Can't Dance
Day 11: One Yellow Lion
Day 12: Lousy Rotten Stinkin' Grapes
Day 13: Walter the Baker
Day 14: Goodnight Moon
Day 15: The Lion and The Mouse
Day 16: Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf
Day 17: Nuts To You
Day 18: Brown Bear, Brown Bear
Day 19: White Rabbit's Color Book
Day 20: Maisy Goes To Preschool
Day 21: Jumanji
Day 22: Bridget's Beret
Day 23: Little Duck
Day 24: A Sick Day for Amos McGee
Day 25: Ice Cream King
Day 26: Happy Birthday to You!
Day 27: How Rocket Learned to Read
Day 28: Science Fair Day
Day 29: Mouse's First Halloween
Day 30: The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Be blessed!

Heather

Day 30: The Very Hungry Caterpillar

READ.

Such a classic story book!  Just like Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see?, The Very Hungry Caterpillar is an Eric Carle staple I'll bet most of us have in our bookshelves (if not memorized) and read often.  I know it's been a favorite for my girls.

The story is told of a caterpillar that hatches from an egg, grows, and eats and eats and eats until he is so full that he becomes big and fat.  He builds his cocoon, stays inside for more than two weeks, and becomes a beautiful butterfly.  It's the classic metamorphosis story.

PLAY.

Create a "beautiful butterfly" with your child that they can play with over and over again.  Follow the simple steps shown below:

My girls love to make these, and they only take about 5 minutes.  I love them because they aren't messy, and they don't involve too much skill on the parent's part!  We have quite a collection, and my oldest daughter Grace plays with hers often.  She loves to hold the butterfly by the stick and swing him around to flap his wings.

It is also fun to make each one unique and different.  One thing we have done is make a butterfly for everyone in the family.  The kids have fun deciding which colors, patterns, and designs best reflect each person.  So fun!

EAT.

Make a healthy caterpillar for lunch!

Take a large strawberry and slice to create his head.  Next, create his eyes by using little bits of pineapple cut into circles and place sliced green jelly belly candies in front.  Form his body with green grapes , carrot feet, raisin mouth, and ham antennae.  He is walking on an oatmeal ground and taking in the cheddar cheese sun! 

Enjoy this post?  Check out the rest of our series!

Day 1: Cloudette
Day 2: Now It's Fall
Day 3: Blackout
Day 4: Applesauce Season
Day 5: If You Give a Moose a Muffin
Day 6: It Could Always be Worse
Day 7: Who Ate All the Cookie Dough?
Day 8: Flaptastic Shapes
Day 9: Rumplestiltskin
Day 10: Giraffes Can't Dance
Day 11: One Yellow Lion
Day 12: Lousy Rotten Stinkin' Grapes
Day 13: Walter the Baker
Day 14: Goodnight Moon
Day 15: The Lion and the Mouse
Day 16: Red Leaf Yellow Leaf
Day 17: Nuts to You
Day 18: Brown Bear, Brown Bear
Day 19: White Rabbit's Color Book
Day 20: Maisy Goes to Preschool
Day 21: JUMANJI
Day 22: Bridget's Beret
Day 23: Little Duck: Finger Puppets

Day 24: A Sick Day for Amos McGee

Day 25:The Ice Cream King

Day 26: Happy Birthday to You!

Day 27: How Rocket Learned to Read

Day 28: Science Fair Day

Day 29: Mouse's First Halloween

Thanks for following along with us!!

  

Day 29: Mouse's First Halloween

One of our favorite times of year has to be Autumn.  With Charlie's first year of preschool under way, his farm preschool is the perfect spot to catch all things nature. It even has it's very own pumpkin patch!  We traveled there last weekend and read Mouse's First Halloween to go along with it.

On the quest to discover all the sounds of Halloween, Mouse stumbles upon a friendly pumpkin. In honor of this carved creation, I thought it only fitting to feature pumpkin carvings!

First, pick your pumpkins

Then, wash and admire their beauty.

 Prepare the workspace.

This is the perfect time to get your kids involved.  Draw a pumpkin shape and let them draw the perfect pumpkin face for you to carve.

Charlie's perfect pumpkin.

And here is is come to life! (Why yes, that's a birthday candle inside...)

Mommy's classic

 The Jack O'Lantern Family

Carving pumpkins is always a fabulous tradition. Take it one step further, let your kids get creative and draw what they want you to carve even if it's not "perfect."  Swooped eyes and a crooked smile are all the better! If they are still too little, consider stickers, paint, and crayons! 

Do you love to carve? What's the greatest you've seen? (And Mr. Goomba is a hint at our Halloween costume this year...)

Samantha at The Peanuts Gang

Day 28: Science Fair Day

Hello friends!

I can't belive I'm writing my last post for this series! We've been having so much fun!

Our book for today is Science Fair Day by Lynn Plourde.

This is a very cute story about a little girl who might be just a little bit TOO curious, at least on Science Fair Day!

Abbey LOVES science experiments. I ask her every day what she did at school, and usually get "nothing" or "I don't remember" (I think she's training me for high school). BUT, the day they did Sink-or-Float, she went on and on about it. She has so much fun exploring the world around her.

I found this little magnet set on clearance (woot!) at Target not too long ago.

It came with three little magnets, and some goodies to explore them with.

The magnet stand was great for letting Abbey see how the magnets attract or repel eachother.

It was even better when she got to make the guy "float" over the table!

We dug around in the junk drawer, found a bunch of stuff, and set up a little experiment.

First Abbey predicted if the item she was testing would stick, or not stick. Then we tested each object to see what happened. Apparently she didn't have much faith in these magnet things!

Isn't exploring fun?


Just joining in? Make sure you check out the rest of the series!

Be blessed!

Heather




It's A Long Story: blog. facebook. twitter

Day 26: Happy Birthday To You!

Today is all about birthdays! This month is a big birthday month for members of our close family and so we love to celebrate all month long. I thought it only fitting to capture it with this book:

Happy Birthday to You by Dr. Seuss

“Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.” 

I thought it might be fitting to include some wonderful ideas from Pinterest on how to celebrate special birthdays in your own home! Finding traditions that work for your family are special and fun. My favorite tradition in my family (from when I was a little girl myself) is that on the morning of your birthday, your "breakfast" is a tower of Hostess treats - cupcakes, Suzy Q's, twinkles, etc. with a rousing birthday song & candles. My boys were literally shaking last night as we ate these delicious treats.

A yummy looking cake!

How about a beautiful balloon wreath when you enter your home?

Tissue Paper Chandeliers

Rainbow cake? Yes, please!

Birthday Cake in a Jar

Make an Entrance!

Celebrate milestones in a big way!

Do you have special birthday traditions that you love to pass on to your kids now? How do you make the birthday boy or girl feel extra special?

Samantha at The Peanuts Gang

Day 25: Ice Cream King

Hi friends!

I can't believe we're almost to the end of the month! I hope you have been having as much fun as we have!

Today's book is another library favorite, The Ice Cream King by Steve Metzger. It's a cute story about a little boy who get's to have his own ice cream world, but discovers that it's no fun without someone to share it with.

We have a tradition around here called Daddy Queen (like Dairy Queen, if you're not familiar). My dad started it when I was little, and now we're passing it on to Matt. Basically, instead of going out for fancy ice cream treats, you take a trip to the grocery store and stock up on all sorts of ice cream and goodies. Making your own fancy ice cream is so much more fun!

What could be better than seeing all of these goodies and knowing that you get to pick whatever you want for your ice cream. This is certainly not an every night dessert, but it's fun every once in a while.

Abbey chose Strawberry ice cream with pretzel M&Ms, brownie pieces, chocolate syrup and whipped cream.

Mommy went with strawberry ice cream, brownies, strawberries and whipped cream.

and Daddy doesn't believe that fruit and ice cream should go together (he's obviously wrong), so he went with vanilla ice cream, brownies, M&Ms, chocolate/caramel syrup and whipped cream.

Now, dig in!

Yum!

Just joining in? Make sure you check out the rest of the series!

Be blessed!

Heather




It's A Long Story: blog. facebook. twitter

Day 24: A Sick Day for Amos McGee

READ.

By Philip C. Stead

"Sick Amos McGee is a man who works at the zoo taking care of the animals.  Day in and day out, he feeds the animals, plays with them, talks to them, and is a constant source of companionship in their lives.  

Every day Amos does the same thing.  He wakes up at the same time, takes the same bus to work, and visits the same animals in the same order.

One day, Amos gets sick.  He cannot go to work, so he stays home and takes a sick day.  He is not there for any of his animal friends.  Each of them waits for Amos but he never shows up.

In the end, the animals all take a trip over to Amos' house to find him and cheer him up.

Even though Amos is just one man, his actions meant so much to those around him each day.  He didn't realize the impact he made on so many until the day he didn't. 

This is a great read with wonderful pictures and thought-provoking themes. 

PLAY AND EAT.

Today we will be making "Sick Day Chicken Soup".

Make this soup with your kids anytime you hear of a friend or family member who is sick. 

This particular version of chicken soup is so great for three reasons:

1) It's made in the slow cooker, so you can deliver it any time you are ready in the afternoon: take some for the sick person you are going to see and keep the rest in the slow cooker waiting for you when you return home!

2) Kids can help with adding slow cooker ingredients and you don't have to worry about an open flame on the stove to burn them

3) All of this soup's ingredients are bite sized (i.e. no long noodled, long shreds of chicken, etc), making this soup very kid friendly.

And, by the way, it TASTES . . . . AWESOME.

HERE is the recipe I found awhile back on Food Network upon which the following recipe is based.  I found it several months ago while searching for healthy meal ideas for my family.  Since then, I have never made another version of chicken soup.  This one is just too tasty and easy for me to do anything else! 

"Sick Day" Chicken Soup

Ingredients:

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cooked and diced (I like to slow cook mine in the morning for 4 hours on low, remove them, dice them, and then add them back into the soup with the rest of the ingredients)

3/4 cup diced carrots

3/4 diced onion

7 cups chicken broth

4-5 tablespoons of chopped fresh dill (2 teaspoons dried)

zest of one lemon, or 2 teaspoons lemon juice

3/4 cup frozen peas

3/4 pasta (Ditalini is awesome)

Place chicken in slow cooker with 1 cup chicken broth and cook on low for 4 hours.

Remove chicken, place on cutting board, and dice to your size preference.

Saute carrots and onions in 1 T olive oil for 5 minutes until onions are translucent.

Slide diced chicken back into slow cooker along with sauteed carrots and onion, {then let the kiddos add} 6 cups chicken broth, dill, and lemon, and cook 3-4 more hours on low.

About 20 minutes before serving, add pasta and peas to soup (again, these two are good for the kids to add).  Stir all together well.

Serve and enjoy!

Create your card by using leftover craft supplies like scrapbook paper, and markers.  Punch a hole, tie some twine around it and attach to your container of soup!

Adorable and personal!

  

Check out the rest of this series!

Day 1: Cloudette
Day 2: Now It's Fall
Day 3: Blackout
Day 4: Applesauce Season
Day 5: If You Give a Moose a Muffin
Day 6: It Could Always be Worse
Day 7: Who Ate All the Cookie Dough?
Day 8: Flaptastic Shapes
Day 9: Rumplestiltskin
Day 10: Giraffes Can't Dance
Day 11: One Yellow Lion
Day 12: Lousy Rotten Stinkin' Grapes
Day 13: Walter the Baker
Day 14: Goodnight Moon
Day 15: The Lion and the Mouse
Day 16: Red Leaf Yellow Leaf
Day 17: Nuts to You
Day 18: Brown Bear, Brown Bear
Day 19: White Rabbit's Color Book
Day 20: Maisy Goes to Preschool
Day 21: JUMANJI
Day 22: Bridget's Beret
Day 23: Little Duck: Finger Puppets