Happy Halloween

Just a quick post to show my cute little trick-or-treaters. Well one was cute the other was creepy. Now that "A" is getting older it is goodbye to sweet little costumes and on to the scary ones. It was a great night and I hope everyone had as much fun as we did.

Without Spooky Mask

My little pumpkin in pumpkin glow

Too Creepy...I miss my little sweet boy.

Getting ready to go out ("B" hates hats, can you tell)

"B" with hat his Grandma knitted

"B" is so excited for his first trick-or-treat experience

My mom joined us as Cleopatra.

Sorting the loot

All tuckered out!!!

Handprint Bats

Sorry I haven't been blogging much this week. It has been crazy with parent/teacher conferences, working, and an audit for school. I am one busy girl. I have eight more assignments due before Thanksgiving and then I FINALLY get to student teach. I will try to balance my time, but I have to push through that last month.

Last week I had the privilege of subbing in my friends Learning Support classroom. I happen to be there on Wednesday Art day. No complaints from me!!! My friend had found a cute handprint bat project and I spent all day cutting 30 little hands out of construction paper. Not a bad day of work.

It was so cute I brought one home for "A" to do. It was so fascinating to see how all the kiddos chose to decorate their bats. Some did whimsical colors and yet some chose to make them realistic. When I told "A" that he said "I'm not a black sort of kid so I am going to use colors". Right he is-that boy loves himself some color. You can find the bat printable at DLTK. Just color, glue together, and make handprints out of construction paper for the wings. Cute-Cute!

Owl Lapbook

A few posts earlier, I had mentioned that "A" and I were going to do a mini learning unit on owls. I found a short but cute lapbook on Homeschool Share. I love this place for free printables when it comes to lapbooks and mini units. So after reading Owl Babies by Martin Waddle and All About Owls by Jim Arnosky we got down to working on the lapbook. This is probably the smallest lapbook we have done. I was sort of bummed that they didn't have a math component. In fact, unlike most lapbooks there isn't a lot of subject crossover. There was some good information to be learned though.

The best ways to share a lapbook is on video. So if you wish I included one...

 Not wanting to end any major learning unit without some art or craft I took advantage of the toilet paper rolls my sister-in-law has saved up for me. I found some sweet, colorful owls on Pinterest and they were just too easy to make. So now they join the owls we made from pinecones and feathers in our Learning About Forests unit.

The books we read:

"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.

Book Character Pumpkins

I was feeling nostalgic last month remembering when as a child, my elementary school had us decorate pumpkins as our favorite book characters. I think I made Pipi Longstockings, and my brother made the man with a yellow hat from Curious George. I don't recall why we loved these characters and chose them, but how proud we were of the finished project. The same week I was telling "A" about it I discovered my son's school does the same thing, called the Parade of Pumpkins. Well, tomorrow is the big day when the pumpkins are do. "A" chose Chester from Melanie Watt's books. If you have not read the Chester books they are hilarious. It is a cat who has a red marker and writes over Melanie's book to create a book with him as the rightful main character. Arguments and mayhem ensue. Melanie Watt is one of my favorite picture book writers and her Chester books, along with Scaredy Squirrels series are a must read.

Without further adieu our Chester Pumpkin...

TA DA! He has his red pen and graffitied all over Melanie Watt's Picture

Chester is mad that Melanie finally let him be the main character only to put him in a pink tutu!

The mouse had to get his vengeance too!

Ghostastic Science

Over at The Fantastic Five I saw a spooktacular science experiment I couldn't pass up: making ghost out of coffee filters dance and float by static electricity. All you need is a balloon and a good rub of the old hair trick. We couldn't stop playing!

Halloween Hanging Decorations

My son and I are starting a lapbook on owls (should post later this week) and as I was searching for fun owl crafts I cam across some cute Halloween hanging decorations. Over at Ramblings of a Crazy Woman she has five different hanging creatures: spider, bat, owl, black cat, and pumpkin. In her post, she claims how easy it was to make by just making fans, stapling together, and decorating with facial features. I, on the other hand, struggled with the project. I don't know how she got the facial features to stay on? Anyhoo, I stuck with it and they are cute.We only made three: pumpkin, spiders, and an owl. I recommend crafty people give it a try-they may find it easier than I did. For now, they are hanging on our chandelier. I hope they last til the big day.

5 A Day Books: Transporation

It is another week of choosing five books to read to baby "b". The whole family has Strep Throat so there will be lots of time for cuddles and reading books. The theme for 5 A Day books was actually chosen by my older son. He chose transportation (he says, "Things that have wheels"), one of his favorite things. 5 A Day is the idea that if you read the same five books for a week to your infant/toddler you can form a bonding ritual that provides language acquisiton. To learn more about this idea read over at the Imagination Tree. I can tell you that two months ago my infant would have nothing to do with books, but now he is grabbing books and handing them to me. A small step towards a lifetime of loving books.

1) What Am I? by Salina Yoon. This book my 5 year-old son found at the library and fell in love. He begged to have this be one of the books we read to "B" this week. It has a shadow figure and you pull away the shadow to see the vehicle behind. Each page has a fun rhyme to help little ones guess the hidden picture.

2) Inside Freight Train by Donald Crews. I love the colors and illustrations of the original Freight Train by Crews so when I saw the board book companion I had to buy it. It also has a pull out tabs to see what is inside the freight cars. Train lovers will appreciate this book.

3) Baby Beep! Beep! by Dawn Sirett. Another adorable lift-the-flap book. Each page has a question and you see a toy block set-up. You lift the flap and see a toy vehicle behind the blocks.

4) That's Not My Train (Usbourne Touchy-Feely Books) I am so in love with this series of books. We own about four different ones. Infants and toddlers love the textured pages.

5) That's Not My Car (Usbourne Touchy-Feely Books) Another one in our collection. I can't recommend these books enough!