{embrace the camera} / Daily Photo – May 26th

We’re in Portland, Oregon for my sister’s wedding! Thursday we drove to the coast even though it was rainy and cold, being the tourists that we are. Kahlen (and Nate) had never seen the ocean, so we had to go. Kahlen thought it was the best. thing. ever. even though it was cold and windy while we were on the beach. We let the ocean wash over our feet as long as we could stand it before running back to the car.

We also went to Ecola State Park, but it was even colder and rainier there, so the kids stayed in the car with Aunt Ashley while we looked around quickly. It was still beautiful, just not the pleasant weather we were really hoping for.

We’ll be gone until late late Tuesday, so posting will be very spotty until sometime after that (Like it isn’t that way when I’m home…)

~S

Wordless Wednesday / Daily Photo – May 25th

On the way to Portland, Oregon.

~S

Linking up at:

Muffin Tin Monday–May 23rd

 

I haven’t done Muffin Tin Monday in awhile, and my kids definitely miss it. I pulled out the tins today and they cheered :) I didn’t have a theme, but we had fun anyway.

 

Noodles and sauce, peas, cojack cheese (for the boy) / string cheese (for the girl), and katsup.

It was demolished in a record amount of time! Must remember to do MTM more often…

~S

Daily Photo–May 21st

We went to the zoo a week ago with my friend from Denver. She only lives an hour from me, but we rarely get a chance to hang out. We went to the zoo last year too, it’s a good place for us to meet up. Didn’t get any pictures of all of us this time, the kids (and the mommies) were pretty done by the time we left.

Boys admiring the Komono Dragons

Trying to get my kids to pose in front of the snake proved challenging this time.

Can’t wait until next time when I’ll get to meet her new little one! (She’s due in 3 weeks)

~S

{embrace the camera} / Daily Photo–May 19th

This is my family and our good friends/neighbors who are moving to Rochester, MN :( We had a great (and huge) party for them last weekend and had a photo corner set up. Go here to see more pictures from the party. (Thanks, Claude and mom, for taking pictures!!)

~S

stART–The Name Quilt

This was a great project that tied in so well with our last letter unit! Our last theme was Q is for Quilt, so I checked out a bunch of books from the library about quilts. My daughter’s favorite was The Name Quilt. The story is about a granddaughter who stays with her grandma every summer. The grandma has a patchwork quilt with names embroidered on each square, and each name has a story to go with it. The little girl asks her grandma about each one as she’s there. Then the name quilt gets blown away in a storm, and they are both very sad about it being gone. They decide to make a new one, including all the names from before and adding the granddaughter too.

Kahlen asked me when we would make our own name quilt. Now, I am *not* a quilter, too much detail work for me, BUT I still came up with a great project for us to do: a paper name quilt!

Supplies Needed:

• Poster board
• scrapbooking paper
• white cardstock
• picture of each person
• glue stick or double-sided tape or both
• scissors or paper cutter

First, we came up with a list of 19 family members plus her made 20. I found a picture for each person and printed it on plain paper 3”x3” while she wrote their names on white cardstock squares cut to 4.25” x 4.25”. The writing was done in several shifts because that’s a lot of writing for a 4-year-old! She did great, though, and was very careful with each person’s name (I either spelled them out loud, or wrote them on a scrap paper for her).

Then she glued the picture to the correct white card. I collated them for her, but we could have made this a reading exercise too. Those had to dry because I let her use the glue stick all by her self…

Next, I cut the scrapbook paper into 6” x 6” squares. I let her arrange them on the poster board before gluing them down (I used scrapbooking double-sided tape, so I did that part). Then we laid out the people before gluing them on. I was being a little picky about this part and putting the pictures with the people they belonged with (like not putting my sister-in-law next to my dad), but if you aren’t picky that way, then she could have done that part too.

We taped all the people on and hung it up above her bed. Then we talked about how she can think about all her family now and pray for them anytime she thinks about them. She’s very proud of her work, as well she should be!

 

~S

Wordless Wednesday / Daily Photo – May 18th

~S

Linking up at:

Menu Plan Monday – May 16th

        
I have a recipe index, just for recipes that you can find on my blog. You can also get to it by going to the food tab above.

After planning a big party last weekend, and now getting ready to go to Portland next week for my sister’s wedding (hooray!!), my brain is a little fried. I probably won’t be posting much in the next two weeks, we’ll see…leaving next Wednesday to fly on a plane for the first time with both kids (I’ll have help from my dad and stepmom, which is good, since hubby will be no help, he hates flying). Wish me luck!!

Mix-it up Monday (something new) ~ Guiltless Alfredo with Chicken and Spaghetti (from Our Best Bites)  
Taco Tuesday (Mexican or Oriental) ~ Leftovers
Wow Wednesday (Date night or something like restaurant food) ~ Chicken Couscous 
Simple Thursday (Crockpot or less than 30 min prep) ~ Shepherd’s Pie 
Favorite Friday (A family favorite) ~ Southwest Chicken 
Lazy Saturday (leftover buffet) ~ Bacon & Egg Soup 
Saucy Sunday (Italian) ~ Basic Casserole or Leftovers

So, what are you having for dinner this week?
Link up at Menu Plan Monday over at I'm an Organizing Junkie or leave me a comment!
~S

The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew – I made it!

I made it through the try-out process, which means that you can expect to see lots of reviews on great homeschooling resources starting sometime in June, hooray!

~S

Wordless Wednesday / Daily Photo – May 11th

~S

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