Tot School: Camping

~Girlygirl is 33 months~

Last week we had a great week of Tot school that ended in a great camping trip. Girlygirly has a hard time learning new things. She likes do everything right and will not do it if she knows it is wrong. This makes it hard for me to know the right way to teach her. Any tips let me know. Here is our great week.

We got sand on Sunday after church to put in a sandbox we found in the trash. Playing with mom in the sand. We played in the sand together a lot this is the only day when Sweetdude got a pictures.We went to a small free zoo close to our home. She loved see all the baby animals.We have worked on learning to buckle up. She is good at trying but gets mad when she doesn't get it. She loves acting like a frog right now and playing with her stuffed frog so we made a frog tot book. I will blog more about it soon. Here she is coloring pictures for her book.Playing with the book. She played with it a lot this week.Bubbles. We do them lots but I think I am like them more than her so I don't often take pictures as I am too busy playing.Stencils I got from a kid resale only $1 for 4. She loved it this day. I tape the paper to the stencil so it wouldn't move. Gluing caps to foam. She loved it.Match colors using color cards and chip clips from the Dollar Tree.She played in the dirt a lot while camping. She was good at getting others join her.Her favorite was with the boys. Here she is singing Happy Birthday with her dirt cake and stick candles (she loves Birthdays right now). She played games each night after dinner. She loves her doctor game. It is so cute and even better I got it from a church children resale for $2. Just like at home if she sees someone cooking she is there to help. Her she is make breakfast with her Auntie.This is quite time after lunch in the tent. She loved to play in the tent. Here she is playing with her Christmas gift from Gammy. It is a magnet Build a Bear dress up Bear and Bunny. She hasn't liked it much before now but loved it when camping. She learned to climb up the slide from watching the big kids. She got it on the first try. She stood on watch the older kids playing for about 20 minutes and then she tryed it and got it. I was happy to see her do it "wrong" something Girlygirl has a hard time with. She likes to so everything "right" all the time. I encourage her to try things a different way to see that it can be even more fun. Teacher her little cousin to play the drums with spoons. (At first she was mad. But then had tons of fun.) Cheek out what others are doing for Tot School by clink the link.

20 Minute Cleaning

I hate to clean. If I could I'd never do it. Even now at home all day. I don't keep my house clean. I play so much with Girlygirl, do stuff outside, cook dinner everyday but I have a hard time cleaning. I know it is number one on Sweetdudes list to come home to a clean house. I know this so I try hard to clean my house house most days. My style of cleaning is well odd. Here is how I cleaning our living room.

My living room really did look like that. I set my timerSo I set the timer for 20 minutes. I got this idea from the FLYlady. She says 15 but I never finish in 15 minutes so I do 20. Then I pick up and put away all the big stuff that I can't sweep and put the dishes. 5 min in and one call from Girlygirl for help. My living room looks like this (picture below).Now what to do with that big pile in the mild of the room? I just put into smaller piles. Each room has a pile then I bring the whole pile to the room and put each thing in its place. After each pile has been put away the right way I clean the couch and sweep one more time to get the small stuff left. As you can see my room is not prefect but 90% better than before I started. 20 minute cleaning works for me. Go to We are that Family to see what works for others. Today I am going to say remember it is more fun to play in a clean your living space and enjoy it.

Free Bowling/Summer plans

I found this great site the other day. If you even like to bowling a little you should go sign up. Across the county each child can get two free games of bowling a day all summer. I have been looking for ways to save this summer and still have tons of fun. This summer my little house will be over flowing with kids. Just like last summer I will taking care of my dear friends kids. Tom Boy and Mr. Man will be back but this year their sister will be coming too. That doesn't worry me at all. I love the kids and I think the more the merrier. What does worrie me is me not working. I am not use to living on little money for the three of us and three more will make it harder. Their my is blessed with a little money help and food stamps so will be helping us out. But staying home all the time is hard so I need to find fun cheep things to do. Free bowling will be great. Above all I know God is in control and has a great plan for me and the kids. Remember to find ways to have fun with your family every month, week, or even everyday.

Tot School Starting Over

~33 months~

We are back in the game of blogging. Here is the highlights of the last week. I did a letter A day. I first planned to do it for a whole week but that didn't work out.At touch a truck last weekend. Sweetdude and I took Girlygirl and our two nephews to touch a truck in Lombard. They all three loved it. Not sure what they are learning but it was fun. We planted seeds in front of our house. We are still waiting for them to grow but it was fun. We found a worm. Girlygirl won't touch it but she like looking at in on her shovel. Mixing paint in a bag. Play dough. Girlygirl favorite she could play for hours. Working on letters while fishing. Rug time. Really it is a towel. More about it soon. This day she got her stacking cups, Elmo ( like Mr. Potato head) and Doodle Pro. Giving baby bath in the sink. She loves it. Making apple prints. She didn't like it at first but when i got her to do it she had fun. Working on opposites puzzle. We did this a few weeks ago and she didn't get it. Matching socks. Works great it helps me do a job I hate and helps her learn to match and the life skill of laundry. Rug time again. This day she had Mr. Potato Head, three books and a box of little dolls. Letter A lunch. She didn't like most of it but she did try everything. Playing with Tupperware learning to share. Not easy for a only child. "Reading" books to her frog. Getting dressed. She is good at when she want to change in the mild of the day but I am now making her in the morning and at night too. Without help. She knows how and I don't want to have to do it all the time. Cheek out what other are doing for their Tot School Click the link above.

Back Pack

I have chosen to teach Girlygirl to be responsible for herself from a young age. One way I have done this is by giver her a toddler size back pack. The whole thing is her responsibility. Before going out she needs to pack it with the right stuff. At this point I still do guide her as she packs her bag. Here is what she has in her bag: • 2 change of pants and underwear • only because she still likely to pee in her pants • 1 change of shirt and socks • 1Subway bag (I save Subway bags for wet clothing when we are out) • 2 toy or toy sets- One stays in her back pack all the time. It is a set of Pooh characters for the Dollar Tree. (It is great fun when wait for food at restaurants or when mom and dad are talk at church.) The other she picks it must fit in her bag. If she picks blocks the she can have 5. (Look for a blog to come soon about great toys to bring when going out) • 1 or 2 books- They change from time to time as Girlygirl chooses. The only rule is it must fit in her bag. • Her wallet which holds her money that she gets each week. • Her special blanket. • Snack -I put one snack in her bag and a cup of ice water It is Girlygirl stuff and therefore her job to hold it. I will help her sometimes but most the time I make her do it.

Free: Table time/ Tot School Tools

As I was looking at blogs this morning I saw a few people use droppers for different things. Like the water transfer over at My Montessori Journey and marbleizing paper over at Chasing Cheerios. You can get free eye/med droppers from your Pharmacy. I have gotten them from Walgreen's without buying any meds. You just have to go ask. I ask for 3 and they just gave them too me. I have not done this because I got paint cups for $2 at a garage sale last year but Michelle over at Her Cup Overfloweth had a great idea to use Ice coffee cups as paint cups. Take a look here. Just some good ideas to have good cheep fun with your little one. As always remember to play with your child today.

March Top Ten: A Little Late

Girlygirl top ten of March has changed a lot since February but have a little. Here the are in no order.

1. Bubbles
2. Dolls
3. tongs: we use for table time and move things with them.
4. cutting and pasting
5. books: favorite seek and find books. Like this one we have a few different kinds. I also found a few I Spy board books at the Good Will. I she likes a lot too.
6. play dough
7. cleaning stuff.
8. Dora and Diego puzzle
9. Car/bikes outside
10. wagon

I am glad I started this to see Girlygirl's taste change from month to month. I would love for you to join me. Sorry it is late I hope to get up on time next time.

Reasons to buy a Gallon of Ice Cream

I have been buying gallon ice cream for about a year now. It is not as good as the name brand ice cream so from time to time I do still buy the name brand stuff when it is on sale. I have found lost of reasons to buy a big tub of ice cream.

1. It is cheaper: There for I get it more often.
2. The tubs make great buckets for cleaning, play in the sand, etc.
3. The tubs are a great place for small toys or stuff for table time
4. I can afford to get topping for my ice cream and it is still cheaper.
5. I use the tubs for a GB (garbage blow when cooking)
6. I have a tub with cat food in it.

As you can see I mostly love all the things you can do with the tubs there for saving me even more money. I am glad I have started buying gallon ice cream to save money. What is something you buy and reuse the container it came in? Tell us about it.

Gone

I am going out of town for and will be back next week. I will not be blogging this week. I will be back middle of next week.

Tot School: Week Nine Spring is Here!!

~31 months~

We spend a lot of time outside this week. The weather was great. Girlygirl loves it so much more than last year. We also got some new Tot School table time toys. Girlygirl loved them.We brought Girlygirl's little people to work. The Twins loved playing with them. Girlygirl had to work on sharing. I played with them for a long time and we talked about jobs, animals and colors. The kids all three loved it.Tuesday we went were Larger motor skills are learned endlessly. Here she is on the stairs. Here is she balancing. She spent about half the time at the park walking around she improved her skills a lot by the time we left.shorting Pompoms with tongs. Raping gift for our friends new baby.Gilter Glue. I am not sure why she had to do it on the easel it was not easy. Showing daddy her hard work.Twin Boy has the great marble maze. Girlygirl loved it. I want to get one of these. We worked with our Color Bags. We love them. I don't get picture of them much because she always wants to sit on my lap when we do it. (if you are wonder I am sign shoe in the picture)Girlygirl cleaned she loves to clean. We started talking about Easter and hung some stickers in the window.I bought plastic tooth picks at the Hobby Lobby. Girlygirl match them by color in the plant foam stuff. (FYI: I got the plant foam stuff for a good deal but not worth the mess I would get the regular kind next time) Girlygirl loves the foamEgg match.Thursday she sleep over at my sister's. She is always great at planning things for Girlygirl to do. As a former preschool teach she is great at it. And I think Girlygirl wants to be her when she gets big. We went to the Morton Arboretum (which will be doing a lot of we got passes for Christmas) to ride bikes. We stopped and talked about the buds on the trees. I explained that it was the tree waking up. A closer look. I will be doing more this later. Looking at another tree.Up in the trees. The first time around she was scared and only daddy could help her over come those fears. And by the third and last time around she just followed behind him.

If you are looking for what other are doing just click on the link below.