Painting with leaves

This morning was so pretty and it felt so good outside. I just had to get Hadley outside and find something to do. I decided we would paint leaves. She loved this! This turned out to be a great lesson in going over her colors and sharing. Sharing? Yes, she asked if she could share white with me. I am all about anything that teaches sharing, as Hadley has an issue with that recently. 

 

 I'm trying to think of something fun we can go with them when they are dry. Any ideas?

Also, some pictures from the weekend.

Long time no post

Don't worry, we are still here. There just hasn't been anything new and too exciting going on to really blog about. I have majorly slacked on preschool lately, so I don't have any of those posts for you. We have been spending most of our time being lazy around the house. Going for runs, playing in the pool, and just being plain ol lazy on the couch. 

When we do get out of the house we it's a real treat. We have made some really great friends that we see weekly and that has become the highlight of my week. I am so happy I finally found somebody and Hadley finally has somebody to play with. I am going to be really mad if we have to move.

A rare picture of all 4 kids together.

 

Hadley loves Krys' dog. This is very shocking because Hadley has always been scared of dogs.

 Did I mention Krys has twins that I get to cuddle all the time? They are so precious!

 

Hadley and Jackson love each other, except that they fight sometimes because Hadley is bossy. They are like a little married couple.

And our guinea pigs are still alive!

I can't believe that Hadley's birthday is less than a month away. I haven't talked much about it because I think we are just going to have a little get together we her friends. We were going to go home and have her a party, but that didn't pan out. I am hoping to maybe go home in October and around that time I should find out where we are moving. It's down to here or Washington. We are really hoping to stay here. Cross your fingers for us!

Preschool lesson I,J, and K.

I really slacked this past week or so with preschool, but I had vacation as an excuse. I haven't done any fun crafts for these lessons, but am getting back into it hardcore this upcoming week. Also, I usually have way more activities and printables that we don't always get to because Hadley gets tired of learning or doesn't want to finish something we are working on.

Lesson"I"

"I" worksheet from education.com and ice cream color by numbers from abcmouse.com

I actually thought of the ice cream craft myself, which is why it looks so crappy.

Lesson "J"

 "J" tracing sheet and #1 tracing sheet both from abcmouse.com 

Jellyfish coloring page from education.com 

Notice how she got tired of coloring it.

Lesson "K"

"K" tracing sheet and #2 tracing sheet from abcmouse.com

"K" worksheet from education.com

Myrtle Beach trip #2

This past Sunday night my mom, sister, and nephews traveled all the way from TN to come see us. 

Warning: photo overload!!

Hadley was so excited to see her Nana, Crystal, Hunter, and Ethan! That night we ate some yummy dinner at Cheddars and then the kids played and had ice cream at the house.

The next morning we got up and headed for the beach. We finally made it there around 1 and set off to the pool.

 

 

 

 

We went down to the ocean for a minute and as soon as Hunter stepped in the water he got bit by a jellyfish, so the ocean was short lived that first day. That night we ate at Carrabas and it was SO good!

The next day we spent half the day at the beach and half the day at the pools.

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 After all that playing we went back to the room to get ready to eat and play at Broadway at the Beach. We ate at Hard Rock and then did some carnival rides and got ice cream!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next day was our day to leave, but we spent a little bit at the beach. It's a shame that it was cloudy the whole time because I really wanted to come back with a tan, but that didn't happen. Nevertheless, the kids had fun and that's all that matters!

 

 

 

 

New friends: Furry and not so furry

Over he past couple of weeks we have made some new friends. I finally broke out of my shell enough to talk to a couple other moms at the library and one in particular, Krys, was very welcoming to me and invited me to her playdate group. First, we met her and her son Jackson at the movies for the kids to watch Despicable Me together and share popcorn. They both did really well!

Next, after story time on Tuesday we went to her house to have a playdate with a few other moms and their children. I was so nervous about going because I am shy and tend to say things I shouldn't ( I have no filter), but all went well! The kids made pizzas, played in the pool, played on the swingset, and then came in and played inside. Hadley did really well! I could tell she was overwhelmed, but she never stopped moving. She's not used to all the kids and excitement! We only had 2 incidents and those happened within the last hour of being there and it had to do with sharing. It always does..

But, as soon as we got in the car and she stopped crying she passed out. Successful playdate I say.

Isn't he adorable? I should also mention that his mama has 3 week old twin girls and is pretty much supermom. I am so impressed with her because I'm sure I would be in a corner crying.

Next, we Adam decided to add guinea pigs to our home. 

You may already know that we have 2 dwarf robo hamsters. The hamsters have been sharing a nice comfy home until I noticed that Gaspard's butt was raw and missing hair. We took him to Petsmart and they seemed to think it was mites. Well, I didn't see any mites so I decided to just separate them and see what happened. Turns out they just didn't get along and listen was biting him. I guess. So, now we have 2 cages for 2 hamsters.

Fast forward to our visit to Petsmart on Saturday and $140 later we have guinea pigs and everything to take of them. We gave the guinea pigs the hamsters old cage because it's pretty big, but we plan on getting them a huge one soon so they can have more room. Guinea pigs are high maintence little creatures and need a lot of attention. So far I'm the one giving all the attention. Thanks babe.

Meet Sammy. Again, Adam named them.

 

Hadley with Sully.

These actually are the perfect animal for Hadley because they just like to sit in your lap.

 

Preschool lessons F,G, and H.

This past week has been crazy here. Nothing out of the ordinary happened, but Hadley has turned into a crazy lady, so teaching has been extra hard and took me all week to get her lessons done. Here's what we did.

Lesson F

"F" fire craft idea from here.

Frog coloring sheet and "F" word find both from education.com

Lesson G

Giraffe craft idea from here.

"G" printable from here.

Pretty sure my grape printable came from education.com

Lesson H. This one was the real struggle of the week.

Find the "H" sheet and the horse coloring sheet both from education.com

"H" tracing sheet from abcmouse.com

I should update that I have decided to quit abcmouse.com. The fact that she couldn't use the mouse and that it bored her made me decide to cancel it. I really thought she would have liked it. Oh well.

I picked up a Leap Frog pre-K lesson book from Target's school section this week and I love it. I use it daily to go over numbers, colors, shapes, alphabet, etc. You should check it out!

We are also still using our flash cards daily. I can tell they are making a difference.

How we do preschool

When I first had the idea to do preschool at home I took to Pinterest and my mind was exploding with a million ideas of stuff I wanted to do. I wanted to transform Hadley's whole playroom into a classroom, but realized that's not necessary. I jumped into this earlier that I had planned, so I don't have all the supplies I want or her room decorated with anything at all really, but that's ok. 

Our school is mostly done at Hadley's little table.

We use our easel a lot. I am so glad we have this thing. We use the chalk side a lot to practice our letters.

Our house has a little hallway half closet that I use to store all of Hadley's supplies. I spend a lot of time looking for printables and wearing out my printer. I foresee going through a lot of ink. 

As for our schedule, we don't really go by one. I try to do formal school at least 3 days a week, sometimes more. On days that we do school I usually start the day with a lesson or 2 on ABC mouse and then jump into teaching her myself. I try to have 3 or 4 activities planned for the letter we are learning that day and then something with math, shapes, etc.  I like to have everything done before lunch because Hadley has a short attention span and we she starts to get tired she doesn't pay attention very well. 

When we are having an off today, like today, I still like to break out the flash cards, books and ABC mouse.

You definitely don't have to have a structured schedule for your child to learn. That's what I have realized the most in the short time we have been doing this. 

Any questions? Feel free to ask.