Thankful Thursday

I have been slacking again!! At least this time its only been a couple weeks since I did this post lol!

I am so thankful that we found a place to buy relatively cheap trees! So far we bought 4 White Pines for $100. Three of them are about 4 feet tall (one is actually 5 ft because of the tall top shoot!), we paid $50 for 3. The 4th tree is over 6 feet, taller than Jim and it was $50. We are planning on going to the actual farm (we got these 4 from the guy at the flea market, I had also seen his ad on craigslist) in the fall to get more. Our property needs trees desperately and this will help tremendously!

Jim left this big one tied up because he wants it to get a little more established in the ground so it doesn't blow over or anything...

So what do YOU have to be thankful for this week?

Tot School - Letter "F"

 

Jimmy is 27 months old

Last week we focused on the Letter F. Jimmy is making the "fuh" sound pretty well, but he still hasn't said "Ef" though he is the same way with the letter A. He says "Ah" but not "A." I am not complaining, I am super excited with his progress, he is saying so much more than he was before!

Alright, so here are the activities we did.

Letter F on Starfall.com

We made a letter F Fox like the one on Totally Tots, just made a couple modifications. 

We made a "Fish" suncatcher modeled after this one. I have been wanting to do this craft for a long time, it turned out so pretty!

I made this flower for Jimmy to match the petals with lowercase and capital Fs. I made it in Photoshop, but I wish I had Illustrator, would have been a little easier/quicker!! (Anyone have an older version they don't want anymore? ;-)

We read some letter F books:

We tried color matching with pompoms, but Jimmy was more into playing with them. He definitely knows the different colors, but we are working on following directions and "structure" lol. I thought this was pretty cute though, he comes up with some funny stuff!

We didn't get to play outside too much this week, it was just too cold and rainy. Ohio needs to make up its mind on the weather!

Hope you enjoyed Letter F week. See you next week for fun with the Letter G!!

Make sure you head over to 1+1+1=1 to see what other tots are doing!

Tot School - Letter "E"

 

Jimmy is 27 months old

We focused on the Letter E last week. We didn't do too much, but here are a couple activities we did. 

 

Letter E on Starfall.com.

Letter E Color Matching from Homegrown Hearts. Jimmy wasn't too interested so I helped him. he just wanted to throw the cards around, silly toddler ;-)

 

 

 

And we made this letter E elephant from No Time for Flash Cards. It turned out pretty cute! Had to add the huge google eye, Jimmy just loves those =)

We also did lots of random playing and learning. Jimmy played with his Melissa & Doug blocks and he has gotten really good at putting them away! We played outside tons because it was super nice! I didn't take a pic because I don't always lug my camera with us outside, but Jimmy had a container that one of my little Lilac bushes came in and he filled it with some pine cones from our pine tree out back. Then he kept Emptying the container and filling it back up again. I counted the pine cones out loud each time he put them back in. He really enjoys doing that. 

Well that's it for Letter E week. See you next week for fun with the Letter F!!

Make sure you head over to 1+1+1=1 to see what other tots are doing!

28 Weeks!

Wow!! I am in my third trimester! Sorry I have been so lax with the updates, when I was pregnant with Jimmy I made sure we took a pic EVERY month!! But this time around I guess I got lazy. Poor baby #2 =( Everyone always says you take tons of photos of the first and then it dwindles with each one after....I am starting that early!! I am sure I will be taking a bazillion pics when he/she arrives though =D

So I had a dr. appt. today, this starting my every 2 week visits. Everything is great according to the dr. I remembered to ask about the heart rate when I was there 2 weeks ago. At my previous dr. they told you the heart rate, but my new dr. never says what it is, just if it sounds good or not. So I have to remember to ask what it actually IS. So of course I forgot to ask again today, but on my first visit it was 160 and after that they were around 154-58. I think the last appt. was 156. And my dr. said that the baby is growing very well...hmm.....yep, sure seems like it to me!! I feel like a blimp and I still have 3 months left!! Are we sure its not TWINS?? lol  I have been looking at belly pics on babycenter.com though and I think I am pretty average compared to the others due in July. But still...

Here is a baby bump pic. I know some of you have been wanting to see, so here ya go!

I will try to do better with updates, even though there prolly won't be much to tell, assuming all is going well. Oh and tomorrow we go to the hospital for our orientation/tour of the natural birthing center. This is a different hospital than we went to with Jimmy and I am super excited to have a jacuzzi available this time!! Hope I actually get to use it. I will try to post an update about the center tomorrow night or Wednesday. TTFN!

Tot School - Letter "D"

 

Jimmy is 26 months old

Last week (not this week we are just finishing) we worked on the letter "D." Jimmy did very well, he says "D" very clearly. I am so happy with his progress!

Here are our activities:

We did a letter "D" matching game and a puzzle, both found at Home Grown Hearts along with tons of other great activities. I just love this blog, she has so many great printables to share!

We made a letter "D" Duck. I came up with it myself. I had seen the letter D dinosaurs, but Jimmy is really into Ducks right now so I wanted to make one. It turned out so cute if I do say so myself! I am sure I am not the first to do it, but I haven't seen another one, nor did I search for one. I was proud of myself for coming up with it on my own! Click here to see how we made it.

We read lots of books including these featuring the letter "D." One of Jimmy's favorites (and mine!) Go Dog Go! by P.D. Eastman and Duck Learns to Swim.

 We played with Jimmy's Melissa & Doug shape puzzles. He loves them but he does them very easily so I think it is time to move on to something more challenging.

And we spent as much time outside as we could. This is just the best time of year with the flowers blooming, its not too hot, not too cold...just about perfect! The fact that its been a little bit warmer than normal around here helps too!

Next week: Letter E!!

Please make sure to visit 1+1+1=1 to see what other tots are doing!

Thankful Thursday

Ok, lets try this again!! I AM going to get back on track, I won't give up!! If anyone is still reading, thanks for sticking with me lol!

I am once again SO thankful for all this beautiful, unseasonably warm weather we have been having. Today it got into the 80's!! In APRIL! Wow! Little Jimmy and I have been playing outside every day this week I think.

I am also SUPER thankful for our new (to us) recliner. Jim's parents are moving into a smaller house and they gave us theirs. It is so nice and cushy....Luke approved of it right away. I know, I am one of THOSE people that lets their dogs on the furniture. I really try not to, but there is a certain hubby who does not enforce it on his end so its like fighting a losing battle. So he gets to be the one who brushes the dogs so they don't shed as much on my furniture!

Anyway, I am excited to have this recliner because I am getting to the point in my pregnancy where it is becoming uncomfortable to sleep. I am a back and tummy sleeper so sleeping on my side starts getting old after a while. That and my hips don't appreciate it much. So I am hoping that I will maybe be able to sleep on the recliner if it gets really bad, I at least have the option this time around. I really wished we had one last time!

D is for Duck

I came up with this all by myself!! I kept seeing the D is for Dinosaur projects, but Jimmy loves ducks right now so I wanted to make a duck with him. I am sure someone else has done this before, but I didn't even search for one and was proud of myself for thinking of it =)

Materials:

• Yellow Foam sheet or construction paper
• Orange Foam sheet or construction paper
• Scissors
• Googly eye
• Glue

How to make the Letter "D" Duck

1. I outlined a capital D onto a sheet of yellow 5x7 foam - I just used the scissors to make an impression and then cut it out. You could also trace a letter D onto the foam or paper with a pen.
2. I used the extra foam from the inside part of the D for the duck's head. I just free handed a head shape and cut it out. I also free handed a beak and 2 feet on a piece of orange foam and cut them out.
3. Glue the head, beak and feet onto the D as in the picture. 
4. Add the googly eye and voila! A cute letter D Duck!

Tot School - Letter "C"

 

Jimmy is 26 months old

I am super late getting this posted!! We had an appraisal done today so I have been cleaning the house like crazy! We are trying to get refinanced...so anyway...we didn't do as much as I had wanted last week, but here are some highlights of what we DID get accomplished.

Letter "C" Crab from Totally Tots, a really cute craft! Jimmy loves his little crab. We have kind of had a thing for red crabs since he was a baby and his favorite button on his LeapFrog mirror was the "red crab."

We reviewed the letter C on Starfall.com. Jimmy got to play with the barn Cats a lot, he really enjoyed that. =)

 We Colored Easter eggs with some friends. THAT was fun, the kids just went crazy and were dunking the eggs in dye left and right. My awesome friend Katie is cool like that. She just put down some plastic and the kids went to town. I was the "protective" mom, trying to keep Jimmy from making TOO big of a mess....I guess I am kind of a neat freak, though you wouldn't really know it from seeing my house!

 (gee, I wonder who's child put all those eggs into one cup? Not Jimmy, never MY child! lol)

We also colored eggs at home, just mommy, daddy and Jimmy. Yes, mommy took over and didn't let Jimmy get too messy like with his friends! But I didn't have any plastic to put down (wait, I think I do have a drop cloth, doh!) ah well. But he did get to help and then put stickers on the eggs when they were dry! We had fun.

This isn't really anything letter "C" related, but Jimmy got to play with play dough for the first time this week. He really enjoyed it. Again, I was trying to keep everything neat and tidy (I know, I have a TODDLER, good luck to me right?? lol) and I tried to show him how NOT to mix the colors, we didn't want brown play dough! He actually did pretty well. And he only tried to eat it once I think... ;-)

 Well, that's about it. I finally got new ink for my printer so hopefully I can get some fun activities that I have been seeing printed out for Jimmy. I know he will love doing them! See you next week (in just a couple days I guess!).

Please make sure to visit 1+1+1=1 to see what other tots are doing!

Magnetic PomPom Giveaway, Ends Tonight!

Hurry over to Home Grown Hearts to enter to win a set of magnetic pompoms! If you have small children, these are a wonderful learning tool! Hurry, the deadline is tonight!

Thankful Thursday

Its been way too long since I did a Thankful Thursday post so here we go!

I am Thankful for the awesome weather we are having!!! Oh praise the Lord, it just makes me feel SO much better! I have been in the worst funk since our dog Duke died and then winter was just horrible for me. I have not had it diagnosed or anything, but I am pretty sure I suffer from that Seasonal Affective Disorder. That or I just really get the winter blues, I never feel like doing much of anything and don't have any energy. It really stinks. I need my sunlight!! And now I have it, yay! It got up into the 70's yesterday and is supposed to reach close to 80 today!! And tomorrow...oh, its supposed to get into the 80's, I can't believe it!!

And with this nice, lovely weather comes something else I am very thankful for...my spring flowers, trees and bushes are starting to sprout and bud! The birds are singing, the robins are hopping around looking for worms, the sun is shining and the horses and animals are frolicking. Oh spring, how I love thee!