Tips on Teaching Toddlers/Preschool age children

When teaching my little ones the ABC's I  found that repetition is the best approach. My daughters loved
The Letter Factory because it is funny and very 'animated'. The others follow right along. They even have math videos. These have been around a long while and I realize that there are new fangle-dangled learning toys out there. My kids have tried most of them but really loved the videos the most.

You can order the whole beginning set from Amazon here.

We also did simple workbooks from the dollar stores and Walmart. I found that with my children the books with colorful pages got the best response. Kumon workbooks are awesome. Every night my oldest daughter went over the alphabet and numbers to twenty with flash cards. Sounds boring and repetitive, right? Well, that is just what we did instead of reading bedtime stories because we read stories all through the day. She was still sleeping with us and I had to find something to help her relax enough to go to sleep and I wanted to overachieve..don't judge- we all do it with our first borns:) Anyway, we did the flash cards each night, stories and poems during the day, and colored shapes in between.

I of course, didn't do the flash cards at night with the second daughter because...well, I wanted my bed and worked a little harder on teaching her to sleep in her own bed. But she is doing well. She didn't know all her letters and numbers at fifteen months but she did by eighteen months. So, no harm done.

I hope this helps a little. I'll go into more detail next week.

~Mary

Web Search Wednesday - Valentines

Happy Valentines Day everyone! Here are a few cute ideas to share with your loved ones!

Martha Stewart

Heart Hot Cocoa

Lovely Raspberry Layer Cake

Lava Cake

 

 

 

All from Delish.com

Chocolate body paint

Baked

Lulee's Third Birthday

Bucky the Marshmallow Pop

Awesome Pumpkin Blondies

  

Rustic Apple Tart Baked in Pyrex Bowl

Mr. Turkey Cupcakes

Mint M&M hot cocoa

Raspberry filled Cupcakes with White Chocolate Raspberry Frosting

Fondant and Gum Paste Baby

Introduction

Hi. My name is Mary. I am most productive in chaos. Just so you know...
My husband is the best man I know. He makes his family feel protected, loved and secure. I don't think you could ask for any better than that!

My youngest daughter is a silly, tantrum throwing, kiss giving-stinker..and and when she gets angry, her little face scrunches up like she is trying to lay an egg=)

My oldest daughter is a sensitive, creative, smart, selfless sweetheart and we probably understand each other more than is normal for mother and daughter. I only hope it continues through the teenage years.

Our home holds a lot of memories for us. We built most all of it with our own hands. My car is a Subaru  something I said I'd never drive unless is was something like this. 'I'm not the wagon type!' I often whined.

But, here we are nine years into marriage, two kids, a wagon and a mortgage we do not in the least- feel burdened by. In fact, we are proud of each year, each child, the milk and mud stained wagon and our undecorated(still, after living here for over a year now) house full of toys and foot traffic. It is our life and we love it.

 Baking is my newest obsession. I am teaching my three year old at home until she starts kindergarten just as I did with her big sister. So for now, I am baking, teaching, chauffeuring, crafting, cooking, cleaning (or should be cleaning, as opposed to typing)...you know-- everyday mom stuff...But as busy as being a mom is, I need some kinda creative madness to drown myself in regularly to stay sane.


That's where you come in....I'll be sharing my madness with you. Please feel free to comment as comments encourage me to keep looking for new inspiration.

Through this blog, I'd like to share some of my inspiration in food and crafts as well as some of the tricks I've learned teaching my kids at home until kindergarten, budget shopping and sneaking healthy fruits and veggies into the occasional piece of cake.

I plan to organize my hodge-podge something like this:

Menu Monday - A meal of the week
Baked Tuesday - Something I have baked and or want to market
Web Inspiration Wednesday - Searching the web for awesome decorating ideas
Thinking on Thursday - Teaching  a preschool age child
Food Friday - More food, what else?

Here are a few pictures of my latest creation...actually my first attempt at Fondant sculpting..

There are several things I will do differently next time...but, I think he is still cute.

Miss Photogenic?

 

 I need some photos of Alex for the miss photogenic at school. They asked for candid shots. Problem is ...

Pull out the camera and she stiffens up and does this fake smile and come hither look all mixed together. What the heck is that?

  

 She looked like an angel about to take a nap. I made no noise. She sensed the camera and that was it.

  

This would be her giving her best attempt not to stiffen up like she has osteoarthritis.

 I love her sleeping face. Check out the flaming hearts tattoo. I think I'll keep this one so when she gets older she will believe me when I say flaming hearts and fancy gowns don't mix.

  

 Boy, would I love to have eyes like those. They are killer aren't they?

 

Maybe we should skip this part of the pageant.

Join MamaHen's Valentine's Day Meme

Celebrate your shnuckums, hunnybun, sweet cheeks......
with Long Days, Short Years in this fun Meme. 
Just go here to join. Be sure to read her sweet sentiments. Then copy and paste to your post and describe your Valentine!

MamaHen's Valentine's Day Meme
 
1. Describe your Valentine in five words or less.
Genuine, Handsome, Strong, Smart, Hard-working

2. Best Valentine present you ever received?
The typical flower, candy, card thing. But he had been working late and couldn't get me and the girls anything, so he got up at I think 3am and went to town because he had to be at work early, picked up our(mine and our two daughters) gifts and had them on the table when we woke up that morning. I cried.

3. Worst Valentine present you ever received?
A boyfriend got me a perfume that was totally not me.


4. Your favorite Valentine candy?
Dark chocolate, the darker the better.


5. Would you rather receive chocolate or flowers?
Flowers. Just because I get them less often.

6. A dress-up candlelight dinner out or a movie snuggling at home?
Stay in!

7. Your favorite romantic movie(s)?
I'm with MamaHen on Sweet Home Alabama, I also like French Kiss, You've Got Mail, The Notebook

8. Your favorite romantic song(s)?
Your Man by Josh Turner, I just call you mine by Martina McBride, Making Memories of Us by Keith Urban, Only You Can Love Me This Way by Keith Urban, You Save Me by Kenney Chesney. Guess I'm stuck in Country mode today....

The reason OCD is on the rise

I got this email  this morning. I'm pretty sure this is why we've all become a little OCD over the years.

I just want to thank all of you for your educational e-mails over the past
year. I am totally screwed up now and have little chance of recovery.



I no longer open a public bathroom door without using a paper towel or have
them put lemon slices in my ice water without worrying about the bacteria on
the lemon peel.

I can't use the remote in a hotel room because I don't know what the last
person was doing while flipping through the adult movie channels.

I can't sit down on the hotel bedspread because I can only imagine what has
happened on it since it was last washed.

I have trouble shaking hands with someone who has been driving because the
number one pastime while driving alone is picking ones nose (although cell
phone usage may be taking the number one spot).

Eating a little snack sends me on a guilt trip because I can only imagine
how many gallons of Trans fats I have consumed over the years.


I can't touch any woman's purse for fear she has placed it on the floor of a
public bathroom.


I MUST SEND MY SPECIAL THANKS to whoever sent me the one about poop in the
glue on envelopes because I now have to use a wet sponge with every envelope
that needs sealing.

ALSO, now I have to scrub the top of every can I open for the same reason..


I no longer have any savings because I gave it to a sick girl (Penny Brown)
who is about to die in the hospital for the 1,387,258th time.

I no longer have any money at all, but that will change once I receive the
$15,000 that Bill Gates/Microsoft and AOL are sending me for participating
in their special e-mail program.

I no longer worry about my soul because I have 363,214 angels looking out
for me, and St. Theresa's Novena has granted my every wish.


I no longer eat KFC because their chickens are actually horrible mutant
freaks with no eyes or feathers..

I no longer use cancer-causing deodorants even though I smell like a water
buffalo on a hot day.

THANKS TO YOU I have learned that my prayers only get answered if I forward
an e-mail to seven of my friends and make a wish within five minutes.

BECAUSE OF YOUR CONCERN, I no longer drink Coca Cola because it can remove
toilet stains.


I no longer can buy gasoline without taking someone along to watch the car
so a serial killer won't crawl in my back seat when I'm pumping gas.



I no longer drink Pepsi or Dr. Pepper since the people who make these
products are atheists who refuse to put 'Under God' on their cans.

I no longer use Saran Wrap in the microwave because it causes cancer.

AND THANKS FOR LETTING ME KNOW I can't boil a cup of water in the microwave
anymore because it will blow up in my face.. Disfiguring me for life.

I no longer check the coin return on pay phones because I could be pricked
with a needle infected with AIDS..

I no longer go to shopping malls because someone will drug me with a perfume
sample and rob me.

I no longer receive packages from UPS or Fed Ex since they are actually Al
Qaeda in disguise.

I no longer shop at Target since they are French and don't support our
American troops or the Salvation Army.

I no longer answer the phone because someone will ask me to dial a number
for which I will get a phone bill with calls to Jamaica , Uganda , Singapore
, and Uzbekistan ...

I no longer buy expensive cookies from Neiman Marcus since I now have their
recipe.

THANKS TO YOU I can't use anyone's toilet but mine because a big brown
African spider is lurking under the seat to cause me instant death when it
bites my butt.


AND THANKS TO YOUR GREAT ADVICE I can't ever pick up $5.00 dropped in the
parking lot because it probably was placed there by a sex molester waiting
underneath my car to grab my leg.

I can no longer drive my car because I can't buy gas from certain gas
companies!

I can't do any gardening because I'm afraid I'll get bitten by the brown
recluse and my hand will fall off.


And I now keep my toothbrush in the living room, because water splashes over
6 ft. out of the commode. 
 
If you don't send this e-mail to at least 144,000 people in the next 70
minutes, a large dove with diarrhea will land on your head at 5:00 p.m.
Tomorrow afternoon and the fleas from 12 camels will infest your back,
causing you to grow a hairy hump. I know this will occur because it actually
happened to a friend of my next door neighbors' ex-mother-in-law's second
husband's cousin's beautician .. .. .


Oh, by the way.....

A German scientist from Argentina , after a lengthy study, has discovered
that people with insufficient brain activity read their e-mail with their
hand on the mouse...
Don't bother taking it off now, it's too late.