Wordless Wednesday: Zoo Fun

Today is my little sister, Holly's 29th birthday!  
Happy Birthday Holly!



--------------------------------------

We met my sister Heather and her boys Matthew and Andrew at the zoo yesterday.  Matthew and Abby haven't seen each other in a week and this was their reunion:

 So cute!



I'm not sure why these are so fuzzy, but I'm too tired to go back and find out.

We had a great time at the zoo.  The weather was perfect and the kids did so well together.  We'll have to go again soon!

For more Wordless Wednesday posts, head to:

Go Graham Go
5 Minutes For Mom
J. Leigh Designz

And since this ended up being a little wordy, check out Wordful Wednesdays at:

Easter Themed Activites

UPDATE:  I thought I'd let everyone know that Abby's dress was from Kohl's.  It was only $11 and then I used a 15% off coupon!

This will be a quick post, but I wanted to share some Easter related activities we worked on yesterday. 

Last year, we did Easter egg patterns, printable Easter activities and used plastic eggs for counting practice.

 

I decided to use the plastic eggs again this year, except I put sight words in the eggs.  The weather was nice yesterday, so I took Abby out in her Easter dress to get some pictures.  I then surprised her with an egg hunt. 

She quickly gathered up all of the eggs and then opened them one by one to read the words.  She did really well with this. Her reading skills get better every day!  I had 25 sight word eggs and I only recall her having trouble with 3 of them.  Honestly, I think it was my handwriting!  LOL!

Abby also did an Easter Egg printable from abcteach.  She really enjoyed this and did well at reading the instructions.  I forgot to get a pic, because I was making her lunch.  

Again no picture, but while Dave was making dinner we did another printable activity.  I found this bible verse related puzzle at Kid's Sunday School Place.  I was shocked that she listened so well to the bible verses and was able to answer the questions.  I'll have to find more of these, it's a fun way to get in a bible lesson.

If you've done some Easter related activities, I'd love to know!  We still have a few days to get in more fun stuff.

The weather is going to be in the 70's today and we are off to meet Heather, Andy and Matthew at the zoo!  

Links I Like: Edition 9

First of all, where did last week go?  The days seem to just fly by recently.

Last week, I shared some cool Easter/Spring crafts for us Mommas.  This week I've found some cute ones for the kids to make. 

Superheroes and Princesses made a very cool Sweet Smelling Garden with Kool-Aid paint!  What a fun idea!  Check out her awesome free hand flowers, mine would never look that fun.

Frugal Family Fun has a very creative idea for old soda bottles:  Flower Prints.  Genius idea and so fun!  Abby loves paint.

Silly Eagle Books always has some great book reviews. I really liked her post about Where I Find Books.  I think it's so neat the she finds some good vintage classics!  A recent post she did was about Easter Bunny Books & Painting Eggs.

I never thought of painting rocks, she's right they will last much longer than the real thing!  They look adorable in her garden too.

This craft idea is from Sugarplum Creations.  Liz and her girls made Bunnies. 

Liz has the bunny template linked up on that post.  Thank goodness, because I could never free hand a bunny! These were so cute, that Abby and I made them the other night.  

We used colored cotton balls that I already had for the bunny tails!  My bunny has his ear down.  Yes, Abby felt the need to wear butterfly wings during this craft.  LOL!

What My Child Is Reading: Week 1

This is my first week participating in this link up at Mouse Grows Mouse Learns.

Abby used to be very picky about which books she'd let me read.  However, recently I've been able to talk her into just trying them out.  We've found some great ones this way!  

This week, our favorite is Peeping Beauty.  This is such a cute book. Abby thought it was so funny! Against the advice of her friends, a hen puts herself in danger with a fox to try to be a ballerina. 

Another favorite is Russell the Sheep.  The illustrations are adorable.  A sheep tries to fall asleep, but can't.  Abby was almost crying, she was laughing so hard at the illustrations!  The book also came in handy on Wednesday night, when she started saying she couldn't sleep.  I reminded her about Russell and brought her the book to read in bed. She was asleep 5 minutes later!  LOL!

I forgot to include it in the widget, but we also started reading our second Ramona book:  Beezus and Ramona.  Abby just loves these books!

To find more popular books this week, head to Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns.

Virtual Easter Basket

Katie from A Listmaker's Life has given me this delicious Easter basket:

Ok, I couldn't actually eat them, but Reese's eggs are my favorite!   Hershey's is partnering with bloggers to donate $5,000 to the Children's Miracle Network!  They are hosting a blog hop and for each blog entry, Hershey's will donate $10 to the Children's Miracle Network.  

I'm sending on this virtual basket to:

Jen from Tatertots and Jello

Cheryl from Tidy Mom

Beth at The Stories Of A to Z

Susana at My Family My Forever

MaryAnne at Mama Smiles

Cassie from Southern Domestic Goddess

And anyone who is reading this post! 

 

Hershey’s Better Basket Blog Hop Rules

1. Copy and paste these rules to your blog post.

2. Create a blog post giving a virtual Easter Basket to another blogger — you can give as many Virtual Baskets as you want!

3. Link back to the person who gave you an Easter Basket.

4. Let each person you are giving a Virtual Basket know you have given them a Basket.

5. Leave your link at BetterBasket.info/BlogHop in the comment section. You can also find the official rules of this #betterbasket blog hop and more information about Better Basket with Hershey’s there.

6. Hershey’s is donating $10 per blog participating in the Better Basket Blog Hop to Children’s Miracle Network (up to a total of $5000 by blog posts written by April 4, 2010).

7. Please note that only one blog post per blog url will count towards the donation.

stART: Crunching Munching Caterpillar & Angelina Ballerina and The Butterfly

Our stART project was a little different this week.  Usually we get together with my sister Heather and her two boys:  Andy and Matthew.  However, this week they are out of town.  

My cousin Jackie came over for lunch and then left her daughter, Lauryn with us for the afternoon.  Abby and Lauryn had so much fun playing!  The weather was pretty nice, so I took them outside to do our stART project. 

First, I read the books:

I then painted their feet to make footprint butterflies.  

This was a big hit!  A bit messy, but fun.  I kept wondering why our butterflies looked different than the ones on Just For Fun and last night I realized it was because I didn't put their feet back to back.  Oops!

For more stART projects, head to A Mommy's Adventures.

Wordful Wednesday: Humane Society Field Trip

Last Friday, Heather and I took Abby and Matthew to the local Humane Society.  For several weeks, we have been using coupons to stock up on cat treats for a donation.  We had about 10 bags.

Abby and Matthew were so excited to go to the Humane Society, they were squealing!  LOL!

This kitty was so cute hiding under a rug.

 Look at that face!

We also walked into the dog adoption area and it was SO loud.  I think my ears are still ringing from the barking.  Here's what Andy thought of it:



Seriously, he slept through the barking!  Abby and Matthew had their hands on their ears.  So did me and my younger sister Holly.  It was crazy!

The kids really enjoyed seeing the cats and we hope to make it to the main Humane Society location soon for a tour.  They also have some classes for kids.

What field trips have you been on recently?  I'm hoping to get out more soon, since the weather is warming up!

For more Wordful Wednesday posts, head to Seven Clown Circus.

Bloggography: Exposure Compensation

This week's Bloggography Tutorial was on Exposure Compensation. I was pretty happy about this, because I already use the exposure controls. When I first got my camera, I bought a book about the Nikon D40 and tried out several new things. I love the exposure compensation button, it makes a huge difference in your pics!

Our challenge was to use the exposure compensation button and catch signs of Spring.  Yesterday afternoon, Abby and I went for a walk and found some daffodils.

I didn't write down what the level was for these, but you can see the difference:

Normally, I would edit these to make the colors more vibrant, but I wanted them to be fresh from the camera. I just cropped them and made them a circle.

For more Exposure Compensation examples, head to Manic Mother and Better In Bulk.

Links I Like: 8th Edition

Friday was the first day of Educator Appreciation Week at Borders!   

It says just to provide proof of educator status.  I've participated in these before and no one has questioned us about being homeschoolers.  

I can't believe it's already March.  Before we know it, this school year will be over!  The Homeschool Classroom has a great post on putting together Homeschool Portfolios. How to Start Planning For Next School Year is another excellent post from The Homeschool Classroom. 

This week, I've also found some cute Easter projects!

Aren't these Jelly Bean Topiaries from Crafty Sisters the cutest?!

I also love these Carrots from Sassy Style. What a creative idea!

And finally, Capture The Details has made the most adorable Spring Baby Grass Wreath. 

I'm so ready for Spring!  How about you?

I'm Lovin' It Friday

I am linking up to Tidy Mom's I'm Lovin' It Friday!

This week, Abby and I are LOVIN' the beautiful weather!  Yesterday was in the upper 50's and the sun was shining.  It felt like Spring has finally sprung.

Here are a few pics from the park yesterday:

Abby doesn't have makeup on here, but it sure looks like it.

That cute face was immediately followed by this one:


Apparently Abby has no time to stop for pics!  LOL!

I'm going to enjoy Friday's weather,because we are supposed to get rain and snow on Sunday.  What a nice way to start the beginning of Spring.

For more I'm Lovin' It Fridays, head to Tidy Mom.

stART: My Garden & St. Patrick's Day

First, I want to say Happy 10th Anniversary to my sister Heather and her husband Bill!  

I have two stART projects to share this week.  Last week, Abby was sick so we didn't get to our project until Saturday.  I read My Garden to Abby.  This is an adorable book.  I really like the feel of the pages.  They aren't the typical feel.  We also both enjoyed the illustrations.

After reading this book, Abby drew a picture of what her garden would look like:

She's in the blue dress and there is a carrot, bunny, bananas, a snowman, an orange tree, a cute flower, a butterfly and a  happy sun!  That flower is my favorite part!

  This week was Heather's turn to plan our stART project.  She read St. Patrick's Day to the kids.



They then made shamrock prints from green peppers.  Heather cut the peppers in half and they stamped them in glue, then onto the paper and put glitter on them.

These were really fun.

Note:  These pics were taken on my younger sister's camera and I could not figure out how to get it to work!  LOL! 

Here's a funny story about the peppers:   Heather stopped at the grocery store to pick them up and was telling the check out lady about how she was going to use them to make shamrock stamps.  There was a very elderly couple behind her that seemed very interested in this and even stopped her on the way to her car to get instructions on how to make them.  This  made us giggle pretty hard.  I can just see an 85 year old couple making shamrock prints at their kitchen table...too cute!  
 For more stART projects, head to A Mommy's Adventures. 

Wordless Wednesday: Kako The Clown

 Kako got neutered and got his hernia removed yesterday.  They had to put a collar on him, because he started biting at the stitches.

For more Wordless Wednesdays, head to:

Go Graham Go

5 Minutes For Mom

J. Leigh Designz

Links I Like: 7th Edition

I don't know about you, but I really need to do some Spring cleaning and organizing around here.  This idea for Storing Little Art Supplies, from In Everything is genius!

Who knew there were Almost 2,000 uses for WD40 or 1001 Uses For White Distilled Vinegar?

  I sure didn't!  I don't like the smell of vinegar, but I might have to try a few of those tips.  Click the top tabs for more tips.  I need to try the drain cleaner in the master bath.

I try to go through Abby's markers every few weeks and throw away the ones that don't work anymore.  I had no idea you could Revive Markers. Thanks Practically Spent!

Homeschool Creations has posted pictures of her Homeschool Calendar and Morning Board.  She has several links to printables, including weather graphs, temperate charts, calendar pages and more!

In unrelated news, Abby and I have just completed Ramona The Pest by Beverly Cleary. She loved this book!  

 
 
I already have Ramona and Beezus on hold at the Library to pick up.  My sister sent me a link to Drop Everything And Read.

 

Drop Everything And Read day is April 12th.  It is also Beverly Cleary's birthday.  For more resources on D.E.A.R, click here.

Also of note, Beezus and Ramona is being made into a movie that will release in August!

Do your kids like Beverly Cleary books?  It is so funny to be reading the book to Abby and be able to recall all of the details from when I read it years ago.