First Tea Party

I wanted to make Ellis' first tea party something that was very special and memorable.  I also wanted to make it something that we attempt to do in an annual fashion, like an "end of the summer tea".  Ellis and I have tea time every afternoon while we read books, but I wanted to take it up a notched and I thought she could handle it at her age (2.5 years old).  I shared the idea with her and she was excited!  Ellis invited her very special Aunt Grace, who is basically mama #2 for her.  I want Ellis to always be surrounded by wise godly women while she is growing up, so that if there is ever a moment when she can't share something with me, she has a safe alternative.  We can't have these special moments, like first tea parties, without all of the most important players.  Of course I wanted to make this a special day for Ellis, but also for the godly influences in her life, as they develop those special bonds. 
So the date was set. The invitations were sent.  She picked out her dress (and mine) and selected a new pair of shoes.  She brought one of my dress-up purses from when I was a little girl, and wore a new floral bow.  I bought her a new tea cup to commemorate the day, and gave her her first wrist corsage. 
We had 3 different kinds of tea, 3 different tea sandwiches, and 3 different sweet treats.  She is still talking about our tea party date, and we are both already excited about our next tea party.

Top 5 Picture Book Authors

I read A LOT of picture books these days (like, really, a lot!)  And since I read so many, I obviously have my favorites.  If I want to read so many books with my kiddos, I want to be able to enjoy the books that I know are teaching them.  Today I want to share my top 5 FAVORITE picture books with you, why I like them, & what I am looking for in a picture book.
What do I look for in a picture book?  I am not interested in twaddle.  I know that there is a time and a place for twaddle, but that is not what I want to be reading to my kids over & over again.  I know that children will often pick twaddle at the library and I do not want to squash their love for reading by rejecting their selections, but that is not what I am going to read over and over again.  I allow them to pick a few twaddle books, but I will assist them in picking the rest.  I am always on the hunt for books that are educational in some way.  Teaching a subject, character, life/Bible lesson, etc. are my main goals for content.  I also want beautiful illustrations that we can linger over well after we have finished reading the page.  There are many authors that fit my stipulations, but I want to share my favorites with you today. So, here we go:

Paul Galdone:  We all absolutely LOVE how he tells a story. I very much enjoy his illustrations of some truly classic stories.  We own the books in the images below, but we have also checked out The Three Billy Goats Gruff, Rumpelstiltskin, & The Monkey & The Crocodile from the library and love those as well.  The Gingerbread Boy was Ellis' favorite last winter.  I probably read it 4 bazillion times.

Henny Penny ~ The Magic Porridge Pot ~ Three Little Kittens ~ The Little Red Hen ~ The Gingerbread Boy ~ The Three Little Pigs

Chris Van Dusen: It's no surprise that The Circus Ship was such a big hit; it was such a wonderful book filled with a beautiful message, great art, & stellar rhymes.  We have loved it in our home! But did you know that Van Dusen has many other books?!  All of his books have great character elements like pride in King Hugo's Huge Ego & friendship in Hattie and Hudson.  I love all of the "If I Built..." series because it provides a lot of opportunities for conversations on critical thinking & creativity.  And lastly, the Mr. Magee Books, while we do not own any, we have read all of them from the library and they are so funny. I promise you can't go wrong with a Van Dusen book!

King Hugo's Huge Ego ~ Hattie and Hudson ~ Randy Riley's Really Big Hit ~ If I Built a House ~ The Circus Ship

Gail Gibbons: I have not found a Gibbons books I did not instantly fall in love with!  Almost anything by Gail Gibbons I love, and so do my kids!  I love that these stories are so educational.  Gibbons clearly does her research before all of her books and each book can easily be used to teach children so much about so many topics.  She will base almost all (if not, all) of her books on nonfiction and then use a story to teach something about the nonfiction topic.  These are the ones we picked up this summer for lessons this fall.  I already have several of her books on my wish list for the spring!

Apples ~ Tell Me, Tree ~ The Honey Makers ~ Knights in Shining Armor ~ Monarch Butterfly ~ Frogs ~ Emergency! ~ Fire! Fire! ~ From Seed to Plant ~ My Football Book ~ The Seasons of Arnold's Apple Tree ~ The Moon Book ~ Planet Earth/Inside Out ~ The Planets ~ The Pumpkin Book ~ Santa Who? ~ Christmas Is... ~ Christmas Time

Dianna Aston & Sylvia Long:  I heard a lot about these books over the summer so I purchased one just to see if I would like it.  Once I saw it, I knew I had to have all of them.  When they arrived my kids saw me open the package and we sat on the floor and read every single one, cover to cover. They are so beautifully written to teach science and character at the same time.  And honestly, you can't help but linger on the pages!  The illustrations are stunning, and the attention to detail and color is paramount.

A Seed is Sleepy ~ A Beetle is Shy ~ A Butterfly is Patient ~ A Nest is Noisy ~ A Rock is Lively ~ An Egg is Quiet.

National Geographic Kids Books: I need to clarify, that these books are not like the magazine or the short reader books, they are National Geographic's Picture the Seasons Series.  National Geographic publishes them, but they are a bit different in the story telling aspect.  However, they are the same in that they have a similar style in the beautiful real photographs like the magazine.  I would say that these books are very educational, like the Gail Gibbons books, but these are completely nonfiction.  They are short and simple, but jam packed with educational information. Last year, I started with A Tree for all Seasons, but quickly realized that we needed the rest.

Everything Spring ~ Insects ~ Apples for Everyone ~

 A Tree for All Seasons ~ Seed, Sprout, Pumpkin, Pie ~ Pilgrims of Plymouth
Not pictured but we also have, and recommend, Winter Wonderland

Cynthia Rylant: If you're keeping track, this is my "Plus 1". I found it impossible to cap my favorite authors at five.  #sorrynotsorry Rylant is a brilliant writer that I know many of you probably know about, but I couldn't have a list with her not on it! We actually do not own a lot of her books, but we have checked out many from the library.  The Relatives Came made me cry because it reminded me of what our lives are like now living away from family & how precious those reunions are.  We loved the Mr. Poppleton series; such funny, clever, & engaging stories for little ones.

The Relatives Came ~ When I Was Young in the Mountains
Not pictured but we also have, and recommend, Let's Go Home: The Wonderful Things About a House

These are my favorites (for now hehe).
What are your favorites?
What are your kids loving right now?
What are YOU enjoying reading with your kids now?

I Am Boring

Twice last week I was asked, "So what's going on?" and "What's new with y'all?"  You know, it's just a common pleasantry that we say and ask, but gosh my answer really got me thinking.  Both times I answered "nothing." Nothing is new.  Nothing is going on.  I imagine that other people might perceive that as incredibly boring.  And you know what, they might be 100% correct.  I might not have anything new going on but that doesn't mean I'm bored.  I would say that as a family, we rarely, if ever, take a day off.  We always have something planned, but we are not busy.  Do you see the difference? We have things to do but it isn't chaotic.  It isn't overwhelming.  Does that make sense?  Hang on, let me just back up for a second.

I wasn't always a dud.  I promise.  There was a time where I was so busy that I had to pick and choose what events I could attend.  It was so much fun; thrilling & exhausting! At that time in my life I loved having my calendar booked continuously. 

At the time I had to choose what I wanted to do, and honestly, that has not changed.  I still have to choose.  I still pick between events.  But now I just say "no".  Folks, I say "no" A LOT (something my toddlers taught me? I kid.......kind of ha!) to outside events to focus on the events in our home.  Now this is not a dig at people who say "yes" to outside things, and occasionally we also say "yes" to extra things.  Alternatively, this is just my explanation for why my life is slower, intentional, simple, and might come across as boring.

But to simplify, is not to be bored.  

I promise we have enough to do, but we aren't anxious about doing it.  We don't cram 15 birthday parties into a weekend.  We don't have 400 games and practices to go to during the week.  You wont find us there.  We would much rather focus on our family goals than to rush all over town or make sure we have the right gift and card.  It's too much for us to do all of the extra things and still have an abundance of our desired quality time.  We can't juggle it all and still have quality time together.

Instead we are home, at the park, or at the library, but we are together as a family, moving at our own pace.  Learning together.  Serving together. Enjoying each other.  We say "no" to extra events and to a full calendar.  We simplify obligations.

This deliberate choosing to be present and say "no" to extra allows us to live a life more engaged & less-flustered.  So nothing is new; we do the same things we do all the time.  Honestly I think at this point in my life I CHOSE to be boring, and I am completely okay like that :-)

Autumn Acorns {Free Printable}

We have spent a lot of time outside collecting acorns lately, so we thought it was time to put them to good use.  I mean I love them sitting in a tupperware container my treasure chest on the counter, but I thought we could do something else with them that was fun and engaging.  I wanted to share some of our activities with you, and give you a FREE acorn printable with some activity inspiration.

I am a big fan of having one activity that can be used to teach multiple objectives. It’s a big perk, if that activity will grow with my child & I can use it at multiple stages of cognitive development. And if it is seasonally exciting, well then I. Am. Sold. This is one of those activities, and I have it for you today FREE!  Let me share with you all of the ways we use this in our home.
First get the FREE download, print, & laminate (or put into a page protector). We like to use acorns we have collected, plastic and felt acorns.

Roll. Use foam dice to roll a number in the top 2 boxes. If your child is not counting above 6 yet, you can use a single dice.
Add. Ask your child to count up the dots, or to add them together for a sum. If you’re past addition, try subtraction. Comparisons also work great here (write greater than or less than on the sheet, or “write the number of the dice with more dots”).
Write. Your child could write the sum as a digit or a word, both numbers presented on each dice, or trace the digit or word. We use dry erase markers since they erase well on the laminated material.
Count. Using manipulatives, get your child to count out the number that was presented on the dice.
Fun. Enjoy!!!!
If you think your little one would enjoy learning with this, get your copy here for free!

How Can it Be?

I am guilty

Ashamed of what I've done, what I've become

These hands are dirty

I dare not lift them up to the Holy One

You plead my cause, you right my wrongs

You break my chains, you overcome

You gave your life, to give me mine

You say that I am free

How can it be? Yeah

How can it be? Yeah

I've been hiding

Afraid I've let you down

[Album version:] Inside I doubt, that you still love me

[Video version:] Inside I doubt, that you could love me

But in your eyes, there's only grace now

You plead my cause, you right my wrongs

You break my chains, you overcome

You gave your life, to give me mine

You say that I am free

How can it be? Yeah

How can it be? Yeah

Though I fall, you can make me new

From this death, I will rise with you

Oh, the grace reaching out for me, yeah

How can it be, how can it be?

You plead my cause, you right my wrongs

You break my chains, you overcome

You gave your life, to give me mine

You say that I am free, yeah

You plead my cause, you right my wrongs

You break my chains, you overcome

You gave your life, to give me mine

You say that I am free

How can it be? Yeah

How can it be? Yeah

Pumpkin Seeds {Free Printable}

We are all things pumpkin over here these days, and probably will be through the end of November.  We have been using this activity already (gasp!) to work on math concepts and handwriting, while also chatting all about the seasons and pumpkins.  I'm sharing it with you today, FREE, along with some ideas for how to use this in your home or classroom.

I am a big fan of having one activity that can be used to teach multiple objectives. It’s a big perk, if that activity will grow with my child & I can use it at multiple stages of cognitive development. And if it is seasonally exciting, well then I. Am. Sold. This is one of those activities, and I have it for you today FREE!  Let me share with you all of the ways we use this in our home.
First get the FREE download, print, & laminate (or put into a page protector). We like to use pumpkin seeds, white beads, buttons, and small pom poms.

Roll. Use foam dice to roll a number in the top 2 boxes. If your child is not counting above 6 yet, you can use a single dice.
Add. Ask your child to count up the dots, or to add them together for a sum. If you’re past addition, try subtraction. Comparisons also work great here (write greater than or less than on the sheet, or “write the number of the dice with more dots”).
Write. Your child could write the sum as a digit or a word, both numbers presented on each dice, or trace the digit or word. We use dry erase markers since they erase well on the laminated material.
Count. Using manipulatives, get your child to count out the number that was presented on the dice.
Fun. Enjoy!!!!
If you think your little one would enjoy learning with this, get your copy here for free!

It's Apple Time

It's that time of year when apples are ev-er-y where!  We did not get to do a unit on apples last year, so I had a year to dream up ways to make this unit fun & engaging in our home.  I shared this apple printable (free) with y'all back in August, but still had so much more left.  This unit did not disappoint......well except that I would do almost anything to have orchards in Texas to take our kids to for apple picking!  One day.....one day :-)  In case you plan on talking about apples with your kiddos, here are some ideas!
Here are some of the books that we focused on for this fun apple unit.  And while we've already moved onto the next unit, I have to admit that we are still reading these because they are just so good!

Apples ~ It all Starts with a Seed ~ From Seed to Plant ~  A Seed is Sleepy ~ A Picture of God 3 in 1 ~ Apples and Pumpkins ~ Autumn is for Apple Pie ~ Secrets of the Vegetable Garden ~ How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World ~ The Giving Tree ~ These Colors are Bananas ~ The Seasons of Arnold's Apple Tree ~ Johnny Appleseed ~ Apples for Everyone

This unit allowed for objectives for so many content areas.  We spelled works with apples, counted, played apple bingo, talked about historical figures with apples, geography with apples, sorted colors, practiced fine motor skills, practiced handwriting, measuring, addition, patterns, made our own fun apple stand, some fun arts and crafts projects, learned the science and sequence on the life of an apple, practiced sight words, & of course baked an apple pie (which was actually my first ever apple pie!)
This truly was such a fun unit that we enjoyed so much that we lingered around the topic for a couple weeks after.  It was too much fun not to!