Yellow Ball / My Blue Boat

I combined these books because I was under the mistaken idea that I had fallen behind. I've come to realize that I can't be behind...

1. I set the schedule
2. Grom is just 3 years old
3. This is supposed to be fun and if fun takes longer than a week - so be it

From the outset I need to confess that these books didn't do a whole lot for me. Maybe I've been spoiled with Goodnight Moon and Blueberries for Sal.

We followed some of the curriculum ideas for both of the books.

Here is some extra stuff I added...
The Yellow Ball - About the Story (mollybang.com) - more interesting for me than Grom
Sailboat Coloring Page
Another Sail Boat Coloring Page

Books we enjoyed that tied to these books...

• Scuffy the Tugboat - video (there are multiple stories on this tape - one of the stories has Scuffy dreaming about going to the sea and then going)
• Tub toys by Terry Miller Shannon & Timothy Warner ; illustrations by Lee Calderon
• Goose by Molly Bang
• Captain Bob sets sail by Roni Schotter ; illustrated by Joe Cepeda.
• The red ball by Joanna Yardley - Grom immediately started finding the red ball on each page
  
• Jesse Bear's tra-la tub by Nancy White Carlstrom ; illustrated by Bruce Degen
• Bathtime piggywiggy by Christyan and Diane Fox - this is a cute book with fold out pages - including a page about SURFING!

We had a great time making boats out of aluminum foil with paper sails. We sailed them in our jacuzzi. I was surprised at how I could blow the boats around the pool.

Blueberries for Sal

Blueberries for Sal at Wikipedia

We did many of the activities from the Before Five In A Row Curriculum. We ate A LOT of blueberries.

From the library...
Blueberries for Sal - read-a-long book
Baby Bears (video)
A day in the life of a baby bear by Peter and Susan Barrett.
Jamberry by Bruce Degen.
Jamberry - read-a-long book
Scolastic's Make way for ducklings--and more Robert McCloskey stories (video) - includes Blueberries for Sal
One Day in Maine by Robert McCloskey - Grom realized it was the same Sal quickly but this longer book lost his attention.

We did this project. I drew a simple bush. It wasn't a blueberry bush until Grom added the blueberries. We colored his fingertip and he stamped the blueberries on the bushes.
Grom made a similar picture using blue dots for the blueberries. He loves sticking stickers.

Works for Me Wednesday - Laundry Prayer

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NKJV

I found an easy way to put part of the command of 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 into (unfortunately) daily practice.

I wrote things I want to pray for on my clothes pins / laundry pegs / whatever you call them.

I list family members, character traits for myself, Surferman and Grom, even President Bush has his own clothes pin.

It adds to my laundry experience. I never know who or what I'm going to pull out of the pocket of my apron. I add to them when I think of it.


Works for me!

For more tips from Bloggityville - head over to Shannon's.

What's for Dinner - Week of August 20th

Here's my menu plan for the week. For more menu plans go see all the participants of Organizing Junkie's Carnival.

Monday - Ravioli Bake - Salad - Garlic Bread

Tuesday - Surferman and my Grandmother are prepping for their colonoscopies (that's another blog post I guess). We're having clear liquids to commiserate with them.

Wednesday - Ham Bone and Bean Soup - Salad - Biscuits

Thursday - Pork and Veggie Stirfry - Rice - Fruit

Friday - Steak and a Movie Night

Saturday - John and Janelle's Wedding!

Sunday - Dinner with my folks.

Smart Habit Saturday

Not adding any new habits this week. I'm still struggling with going to bed and getting up for time with God.

Habit 7 - Wear earrings daily - HABIT! I need some new earrings.

Habit 6 - Lotion feet nightly - doing well, my feet are still really beat up from flip flops though

Habit 5 - Write down all food eaten. Evaluate food list for healthier choices in the future and ways to avoid problem eating. - not so good this last week - a focus habit this week.

Habit 4 - Daily, early morning devotion time. I want to be out of bed at 5:45 am every morning for 45 minutes with my Lord for reading of the Word, prayer and book study. - I stink at this habit. I'm being rebellious and would appreciate your prayers.

Habit 3 - Lights out by 11 pm nightly. - See habit #4

Habit 2 - Drink 3 qts of water daily. Back to baby stepping - goal is 2 qts this week.

Habit 1 - Wash my face every night. HABIT!

Check out what habits the other SMART gals are working on at Lara's - the Lazy Organizer.

I WON! (ok tied)

I entered my Momo cupcakes for the Summer Cupcake Caper and I won! Well I really tied in the category - "Most Likely to be Enjoyed by Children"

I am STOKED!

What's for Dinner - Week of August 13th

Welcome to the first normal week around here since the beginning of July. I'm looking forward to normal.

Here's what we're eating this week.

Monday - Leftover Veggie Spaghetti (actually Macaroni) - Spinach Salad - Fruit

Tuesday - Grilled Chicken Breast - Brocolli - Salad

Wednesday - ARsh Msick (EAT OUT!)

Thursday - Chicken Caesar Salad - Fruit

Friday - Fish and a Movie Night (we're trying to eat healthier and we've already had red meat this week) - Zucchini - Fruit

Saturday - CORD or punt.

Sunday - Dinner with my folks

Check out all the participants of Menu Plan Monday at Organizing Junkie's Blog

Smart Habit Saturday

I would have never guessed that my last SHS post was on July 21st. Where did the time go? Check out Lara, The Lazy Organizer for more Smart Habits Saturday.

I've continued with my habits and have added a couple more.

Habit 7 - Wear earrings daily - doing well with this, I have found I have lots of earrings that I really like.

Habit 6 - Lotion feet nightly - doing well, my feet are still really beat up from flip flops though

Habit 5 - Write down all food eaten. Evaluate food list for healthier choices in the future and ways to avoid problem eating. - about 50%, I need to be better about writing things down as I eat them and not waiting until the end of the day when my memory gets fuzzy.

Habit 4 - Daily, early morning devotion time. I want to be out of bed at 5:45 am every morning for 45 minutes with my Lord for reading of the Word, prayer and book study. - I stink at this habit. I'm being rebellious and would appreciate your prayers.

Habit 3 - Lights out by 11 pm nightly. - See habit #4

Habit 2 - Drink 3 qts of water daily. Back to baby stepping - goal is 2 qts this week.

Habit 1 - Wash my face every night. HABIT!

Goodnight Moon

Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
Pictures by Clement Hurd


Goodnight Moon - about Goodnight Moon from Wikipedia

Here are some things that I found in addition to the activities listed in the curriculum.

Goodnight Moon Counting page, Goodnight Moon online coloring activity, Goodnight Moon coloring page - Printable and online activities from the Harper Collins website.

Moon rising. - points out how the moon rises through the story and how it corresponds to the time changing on the clocks.

Hey Diddle Diddle Coloring Pages - We've had a lot of fun with this nursery rhyme. Grom colored the pages once and then we made this folder book of the rhyme using the coloring pages.

Here are some books we enjoyed that tied to Goodnight Moon.

• Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me by Eric Carle
• The Napping House by Don and Audrey Wood
• Read-a-long version of Goodnight Moon - Grom loves these in the car.
• Goodnight Moon (video) - we only watched the Goodnight Moon segment (it's at the very beginning). The movie came in after we had been rowing the book for a few days. Grom was very excited to see the story come to life.
• Scholastics' Red Riding Hood--and more James Marshall fairy tale favorites (video) - this video includes the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

I stayed away from other Margaret Wise Brown books. I'm saving that for when we row The Runaway Bunny.

Preschool with Grom

Grom and I are starting Before Five in a Row. I'm very excited to see how it goes.

I have the book and have collected most of the stories we will be reading. I've been planning our activities and requesting books from our library like crazy.

We "rowed" (which I have found out means going through a particular book) Goodnight Moon first. It has been fun to see Grom's excitment. Truth be told, I think he's enjoying the focused attention from Mommy.