Handprint Art

Every year I do one piece of Handprint Art. This is just such a visual way to see how your child has grown. I love looking at little ones hands and how tiny they are. The side by side comparisons of years can be striking. I am sad for the day when "A" will be too old/big to do our art tradition. His hand is already getting dangerously close to the edges of the paper. This year we did something different with the handprint ornaments, but here are some different handprint/footprint art from years past.

"B" Turns ONE!

This Monday my youngest turned one. He is such a sweet love and I can't imagine my life without him in it. The weekend was filled with festivities as my husband flew in from Alaska to celebrate. On Saturday, I threw a super cute Very Hungry Caterpillar themed party for "B". Then, like all good hosts I got hardly any good pictures or even had a chance to eat any of the yummy food I made. Argh! I wanted to share some of what I could capture though.

The Decorations

I wish I got a better pic of my hungry caterpillar balloons ;0(. The pic of "B" with Daddy is good though.

I got the idea for a photo montage of the 12months of his life as the caterpillar body from Pinterest.

The Food

I incorporated all the foods the caterpillar ate in the Eric Carle book.

I got the awesome printable labels from Polkadots and Puppies. Her party was way cuter so check it out!

I am super proud of my mini cherry pies (so easy to make). Mini muffin tin, refrigerated pie dough, and cherry filling.

Some other food I didn't get a photo of: veggie platter with dip in a lettuce bowl, fruit in waffle cones, PB&J cut into circles and shaped like a caterpillar and the same done with turkey wraps.

 The Cake

White cake cupcakes and chocolate cake face (to match two things caterpillar ate). Antennas are Dum-Dum suckers and face is Skittles.

He kept moaning! Yummo

Keepsake Table

Since I didn't have a baby shower with "B" I asked people to fill out these "Wishes for Baby" cards. Then people were instructed to pick one wish that they wrote and then write it with a black Sharpie in a keepsake Very Hungry Caterpillar book. I had two art pieces of the character with "B's" handprints and gummy worms near by.

You can find these free printables at Lauren Makes Wordpress. She has different colors too.

The cards and book turned out PERFECT. I can't wait for him to read it when he gets a little older.

52 Reasons...

On Sept. 8th it was my 10 year wedding anniversary. I always thought this would be a monumental occasion, but alas my dear husband and I were separated by more than 2400 miles. I am big on making gifts for anniversaries and Valentines Day because I think those events especially demand something a little more personal. I had to think of something that could be mailed up relatively easily as well. On Pinterest I found just the thing: using a deck of cards to make a book of reasons why you love someone. I have been dying to blog how cute it turned out, but I had to wait until my hubby got it so not to ruin his gift. He just got it today- a week late (Argh!). So now that he has it I can share it with all of you!

Finished Product next to our wedding photo.

The front of the "book" with embellishments hot glued on. Most books don't have the "Always Will" part but I added it.

Example of pages. The front cover is on a Joker card so there is still 52 cards to use for reasons.

I just typed the reasons in Word. Most people comment on how hard it is to think of 52-for me surprisingly easy.

Cut and Paste-very tedious done over a couple nights.

Good Tip: Use the other Joker card as a template for punching holes. Test it out with a card that has a lot of text to make sure you put holes far enough apart not to cut away any text. Also you can only hole punch 2 cards at a time max!

My gift you ask (or not but I will tell you anyway):

Beautiful flowers surprised delivered to my door! It is so reminiscent of the early years we were together!

Greeting Card Storage

If you are like me, you like to hold on to sentimental greeting cards you have received over the years. If you are like my son and husband, you want to hold onto EVERY greeting card you have ever gotten. This can be problematic with cards found all over the house and in multiple boxes, just taking up space. Also, when we hold on to them that way we rarely find the cards to enjoy reading them again. There are many ways to store these memories (keepsake boxes, scrapbooks, etc) but our way is on a ring. Each person has a ring and when we get a greeting card addressed to us we hole punch the corner and add it. That way we each have a compact, grab-and-go keepsake of our very own. Whenever you are having a down day or feeling alone you can look through your cards and be reminded of the special people in your life and how much you are loved. "A" does this a lot-especially when he has been sent to timeout! Last night I just updated and added cards because my hubby is going to be apart from us because of work for some time. When he packs those cards it's just one way he can feel a little more connected to us.

My hubby's ring and mine

The Boys ("B" only has three cards on his ring)

This is just to show you how many cards can go on a ring ("A's" ring isn't even half full)

American Symbols & Pre-Kinders

At the beginning of July, "A" and I decided to take a look at some American Symbols. I had recently picked up a used copy of Uncle Sam and Old Glory by Delno and Jean West for my classroom library, and thought it would be perfect for some quick home learning as well. I chose three of the symbols that are highlighted in the book and decided to do a craft for each one. The book has fifteen symbols that go into detail the history behind it, but with only one page and illustration for each it's not too boring for children. Some of the symbols in the book are obvious like the Statue of Liberty and the American Seal, and others were stranger like Smokey the Bear and Log Cabins. For my five year old I chose the American Flag, The Eagle, and Uncle Sam.

1. The American Flag: This craft was purposely super simple. I just found a free coloring page online of a flag and had "A" color it. I wanted him to really see that the colors and amount of things had meaning. We talked about that when we left England we wanted to not follow a King so far away that didn't understand us. We wanted to follow people we chose (the President). We fought the King and said we will be our own country now. When we won we had 13 states so we had 13 stripes and stars. We add stars for every state since then. We have 50 states. So now we have 50 stars and 13 stripes to remember how far we have come and to show honor to our country. "A" seemed to understand it even if he pronounces America-Hermerica! To make his flag a little more fun we used glitter paint for the stars. We added popsicle sticks for the pole.

2.) The Eagle: This was my favorite craft and page in the book. Did you know our national bird was almost a turkey? The craft idea came from Family Fun. I am a sucker for pictures using handprints. I think they are great for keepsakes, as a measure of growth. Family Fun has the craft done on T-Shirts which I think is super cute and will most likely do next year so the boys could have matching shirts (I'm sick-I know)!

3. Uncle Sam: This symbol "A" didn't truly understand why we had or the importance (truthfully neither do I). However, we made a cute little craft from Family Fun all the same. Family Fun has this being a pin using craft sticks. I couldn't find my craft stick (Argh) so I just used card-stock and made the face a little larger (not by much though). Other than that we followed the instructions. He turned out pretty cute.

We finished up this study with "A" playing President of the United States of "Hermerica". My 1st grade teacher friends do this with their students on President's Day and I wanted to try it with my little man. I made a silhouette of him by having him stand with his profile being against a white piece of paper tacked to the wall. Then by placing a lamp on him I was able to trace around his shadow. Then I cut the white paper and used it as a template to cut out his silhouette on black construction paper. It turned out really nice. I had wanted to do this for years but was afraid I couldn't do it properly. It always seemed too hard. Let me tell you, it was so super simple and I am kicking myself for not doing this years ago. Then I put the silhouette on card-stock and typed out "If I was President I would..." and made lines for printing. "A" first said he would help a person in a car accident. I then explained that the President is so busy and important that although he cares about people who are hurt he has to help large groups of people like older people (grandparents), women , children, etc. So then "A" decided he would "make sure all children have toys". Ha-something we discuss when we donate toys or talk about how lucky we are. "A" refuses to try to sound out words when spelling, even though he knows the phenomes. He is a perfectionist and can't stand the idea of words not being correct. So after I wrote the words he copied them in his own print on the page. What a great keepsake!

Lapbooks Galore

I discovered lapbooks back in February. I can't get enough of them. The homeschooling community uses these as tools for their curriculum. I may not homeschool, but I find them perfect for supplemental learning with my preschooler. A lapbook is a folded up file folder that you put pocket books studying a theme in. One of my favorite things is how you can have a keepsake of your learning that touches all subjects in one folder. I get almost all of my lapbook ideas and printables at Homeschool Share, an amazing free resource. There are tons of websites and ideas out there if you Google lapbooks, I just think Homeschool Share is the best. The ideas are endless and it's fun trying to find ways to be creative and add more to the lesson.

I wanted to include some of the lapbooks I have done with "A". I have done more than the ones included but they were a study on holidays, so I will save them for other posts. I hope this gives you an idea of what lapbooks are and what you can do with them. To get started on how to make a lapbook watch this YouTube tutorial.

Little Toot Lapbook (Homeshare Printable):

 

Watched movie for book comparison

 Video of our lapbook

Officer Buckle and Gloria Lapbook (Homeshare Printable):

Video of our Lapbook

Pirate Lapbook (Homeshare Printable)

 Video of themed lapbook "A chose-pirates

 

Japan Lapbook (LapbookLessons Printable):

 Our study of Japan

 

Human Body Lapbook (Homeshare Printable):

"A's" life size human body held in pocket in the back of book

Close up to see labels and organ print-outs

 Our biggest one yet

 

All About Me Lapbook (homeshare printable):

 No supplemental text for this one, since it is just about your little one.

These are the ones we have done so far. Phew, that was a lot!!! I am trying to find ways to incorporate these into my classroom with older children. I think lapbooks may be a fun way organize and teach social studies units. I am thinking in particular The Colonies, Native Americans, Revolutionary War, etc. Let you know if I complete one. They also have them for older children literature studies. In fact, "A" and I are doing one now for our read-aloud of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis.

A note on storing these bad boys: They are pretty compact but they can pile up. I have seen some people put duct tape on the edge and then three-ring hole punch the tape. I don't really like that. I think it takes away from the look of them. Let's face it, duct tape is ugly (except the cool new ones in craft stores). I saw one person who didn't keep them in a lapbook form but put each individual page in a plastic page protector, so all the books where in a binder. I like that idea and may switch to it later on down the road. I tried to put them in the page protectors as they are now and they don't fit, so I need to do some problem solving...another day!