Tot School - Spring/Easter

 

Jimmy is 39 months & Matthew is 9 months

Its been so long since we joined in with Tot School! I hope to get back into the letters so next week we will post our Letter M activities. 

Last week we worked on some Spring and Easter activities. Jimmy loved this flower matching game from Lawteedah. Check it out, she put together a great Easter tot kit!

We also did a couple of activities from 2 Teaching Mommies Easter kit found here.

Jimmy enjoyed doing this Easter egg matching game from Confessions of a Homeschooler.

 And of course, we colored Easter Eggs! Matthew's first time, he played with a plain egg ;-)

We did a couple more activities but I didn't get photos. I have been so lazy lately! I need to get out of this rut I've been in for a long time! Posting this is a step in the right direction....see you next week! =D

HSV Garden Challenge

Today is the first day to post for The Homeschool Village Garden Challenge. If you haven't heard about it, go check it out!

We live in Ohio where the weather has been super crazy to say the least. I haven't been able to do much outside to prepare our garden yet, but Jimmy did help me start some seeds a couple weeks ago. Here is what we have so far:

We planted tomatoes, eggplant, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, bell peppers, jalapenos, dill and a couple others. The rest of the seeds will go directly into the garden.

And here is the area where our garden was 2 years ago. We didn't have a garden last year because I was super pregnant and I couldn't till it and my hubby wasn't home enough to do it for me since he coaches HS track (throwing). So it needs a lot of work. I am hoping to have a raised bed in there and add one or two each year until it is all raised beds...we'll see if that happens! I am also working on a fence to put around it so you may see parts of that in future posts, but I don't expect to have it done this year since I am building it from pallets as we get them (taking pallets apart takes a lot of work!!).

I don't have any photos of Jimmy helping me plant the seeds because I didn't think about taking any and I didn't find out about the HSV Challenge until just a few days ago. But I will be sure to get a bunch when we actually get to go OUTSIDE! ;-) I heard its supposed to hit 50 degrees tomorrow, so here's hoping! Jimmy absolutely loved planting the seeds and watering them and he is such a nature boy that I know he is going to have a blast!

As far as lesson plans go, I have been super lazy lately about Jimmy's schooling, but I am hoping this challenge will help me get back into the swing of things. We will definitely be using Homeschool Creations Garden Pack and as far as other resources, if anyone has any online recommendations for a 3 year old boy, please let me know! We are down to one vehicle right now, so I am limited on being able to go to the library, etc. I am SO thankful for the internet! I will need to go through all of our books and see what I can "rediscover" and we will be spending lots of time on our property exploring the growing things.

Do you have any tips for gardening with a 3 year old? What to do or what to definitely avoid? We will definitely be planting some strawberries because they are Jimmy's favorite. I can't wait for him to be able to pick them right off the plant!

100 Followers!

 Luke is so excited, he can't wipe the grin off his face!

 Wow! I finally reached 100 followers, thank you all so much for sticking with me! And welcome to my new friends, I hope I don't disappoint! ;-)  Please know that I do not post all the time, I tried and I just can't do it. I am trying to at least get into some sort of regular schedule, but I am a major slacker. I have lots of make-up posts to do, especially about Matthew's milestones! Hopefully I will get some of those posts up, and the bathroom reveal, soon! And since I have reached the 100 follower mark, I might just have to have a giveaway soon....I will let you know when I come up with something =D Thanks again everyone, I appreciate each of you so very much!

Main Bathroom Before

Here are the before photos of our main bathroom that I was going to post, oh, a couple MONTHS ago! Wow, is it really February? I can't believe how fast this winter is going by! Usually it just drags and drags. I have been trying to embrace it and enjoy it this year though so maybe that has been helping! Time flies when you are having fun, right? ;-) Alright, without further ado, here are the before pics! Prepare to be disgusted! =D

This is pretty much how the bathroom was when we moved in. The only thing I did (besides cleaning) was to attempt to remove the border at the top. That wasn't very successful....

Ok, entering the bathroom....lovely rust-stained bathtub to the right, sink to the left just past the door. The toilet is behind the short wall at the end of the tub, in front of the window.

The lovely toilet area.

 Above the toilet area...again notice the mildew everywhere, yuck!! I had to bleach that pretty regularly. See how the corner is slanted? There is a big pipe back there that runs up through the roof and down into our basement. I think Jim said it was the exhaust for the septic....or something like that...

The beautiful peeling paint covered-I-don't-know-what above the tub...note the nasty mildew on the ceiling/walls.

 Here is the door to the nice big closet, it runs the length of the room.

 Looking into the closet.

 Looking at the bathroom from the toilet area. Horrible old sconces, pedestal sink, old medicine cabinet with the mirror finish coming off under the glass...blech!

 The bathtub. You can just see some of the orange stain (see first pic) from our rusty water. 

I didn't bother cleaning it before the tear out ;-)

So that's pretty much it! Pretty gross, we had to live with this for almost 4 years!! WOW! I can't believe it was that long! Though it wasn't usually this yucky (I just stopped caring there towards the end lol) it was just plain old and ugly and peely and in desperate need of HELP! I can't wait to show you the after pics! But I still have a couple of decorative touches I want to get finished before I show you. So until then, here is a teaser to hold you over!

Then he turned 3...

 Today was Jimmy's 3rd birthday!! I can't believe it! It seems like just yesterday we were bringing him home from the hospital, all tiny in his car seat, too small for his Winnie the Pooh bunting. Now he is a rambunctious toddler, learning how to use the big boy potty and starting to ask "Why" about everything. He is such a sweet little boy, I wouldn't trade him for the world. He has a slight obsession with a certain blue talking train...and mommy and daddy did not disappoint with his presents. I found this awesome Mega Blok set at Christmastime on amazon.com for $14.99 so I HAD to buy it. It was hard, but I kept it aside for Jimmy's birthday, even though I wanted to give it to him at Christmas! Glad I did, because it was a hit! Here is a photo of it all set up and Jimmy & daddy having fun with it:

We are having a tiny get together for Jimmy with my dad and Kathy and my brother, sister-in-law and nephews on Saturday (which is actually MY birthday!) so I will have more pics and one of Jimmy's Thomas cake that I am making later. And then we are having a little party at Jim's parents' house on Sunday, so I may have MORE pics for ya ;-)

Happy Birthday Jimmy!