Children's Book Tuesday - The Big Red Apple

Time for another Children's Book Tuesday!

We are beginning several weeks of fall books and activities, starting with apples, so we brought home this book from the library:
This is an old favorite of ours that we have checked out at least 2-3 times a year for several years. First for Dale, and now for Alan.

In addition to the story being very simple, easy to follow, and easy for beginning readers to read, the book is filled with bright, pretty pictures!
But even better than them being bright and pretty, they were all made from fabric and then printed into the book. They look so dimensional you'd think you could touch them. And even knowing you will only feel a smooth page, you still can't resist running your hand over those stitched rain drops, or the tiny felt apples!

Or even this happy little guy:

Stop by The Joyful Chaos for more great children's books, and be sure and wish Suzanne well while you are there... their new baby arrives later this week!

The Outside Jar

In my mind, there isn't much that is better for a kid than spending as much time as possible playing outside.
I remember hours spent out in our back yard when I was a little girl!

For some reason or another, my boys have gotten off to a slow start when it comes to outdoor playtime. If Dale has his friends to play with, he is off without complaint, and for a whole afternoon or evening - or both! But at home with just he and Alan, that is a different story, and a vague, "go outside and play" from me is often met with whining. Either that or he comes traipsing back in a few minutes later because there is "nothing to do."

Yeah, right.... there is plenty to do! So I decided they might need a little help.


Which brings us to ... The Outside Jar.


With a little help brainstorming, I came up with a list of around 15 thing to do outside, cut them into strips, and put them into our fancy little jar.


Now, when the day is pretty and the boys need some directed outside time, they love drawing out an activity suggestion. If it is more complex, we brainstorm together about what they might need, and pack a bag or box together before they set out.

This has definitely helped me get them outside to play, and has helped them enjoy it more! My hope is that they will begin to have favorites from the jar they play without me (or the jar) suggesting them, and then start coming up with their own ideas more often.


At the very least, the Outside Jar has been a jump-start to more imaginative play that has totally changed how my boys look at outside time. Now they get excited when I send them out to play!

Some of the activities in our Outside Jar:

Play in the Sandbox

Go on a daytime camp-out (one of their favorites so far)

Draw with sidewalk chalk

Blow Bubbles

Hunt for Treasure

Play Rescue

Play Store

Pretend you are on a wagon train

Go sailing to discover new land

Fly airplanes

Play dinosaurs

Do you have any suggestions to add to our jar?

Ahhh... glitter!

Today was one of those days. I was cranky, they were whiny, and things just weren't going right. After our first attempt at starting over - a walk outside - didn't go so well (too many mosquitoes!), I said the most insane thing an impatient mother could: Let's make a craft!

We are studying butterflies for science this week, and had been planning on a craft or two to go along with it, and Dale knew that. I was trying to make amends for the walk going bad. After I was committed to crafting, I was a little nervous. Not much takes more patience than a craft project with small kids!

Nevertheless, I formed a rough draft in my head (going into this cranky crafty thing without a solid plan? What was I thinking?), and off we went.

I set the boys to work cutting strips of colored tissue paper into approximately 1" squares.
I cut out a butterfly template and traced it onto a sheet of white paper for each boy.
We covered the butterflies with dots of glue and started sticking on the tissue paper bits.

It was at this point my already recovering attitude made a quick swing in a good direction. They both asked for glitter on their butterflies. Oh be still my heart! I had just wondered earlier this week if boys liked glitter or not.

It appears they do. At least mine do! For now, of course.

We smeared more glue here and there across the tissue and let the glitter fly over those butterflies.

That important step done, I traced two butterfly bodies onto black construction paper.

I put a small slit in the middle of each and threaded through one end of a ribbon* (cut around 2 ft long). Tape would be preferable, but since I didn't have any I glued down the end of the ribbon.
I then slit a small 'x' in the head of the butterfly body and threaded through half a pipe cleaner. (Dale did his own.) We gave it a half twist to secure it, and curled the ends.
With that the body was ready to glue to the wings.
Once completely dry, the butterflies were ready to fly!
I can't tell you how happy it made my insides to look at those colorful little scraps of paper with that fine dusting of iridescent glitter over them. It was so pretty and calming!

And the best part: We did something fun together and salvaged our day!

*Another option would be to put two slits in the wing section of the butterfly near it's head and tail ends. Thread the ribbon through from the plain side (the back) and glue down the ends before gluing the body over them to make a hanger. The butterfly can then hang overhead, mobile style. Seeing as how my two are outside running full speed with their butterflies trailing behind them, we'll save that option for another day. ;)

A Day in the Life

Thought I'd document an average day at our house. Every day of the week is different for us. Monday is often our appointment & errand day. Tuesdays and Fridays are our travel days (to and from our "2nd home" close to Greg's job) and Wednesdays and Thursdays and more relaxed (ha!) and more full-of-school days.

Here is our Tuesday for this week:

Before daylight Alan came and got in bed with me. He is my early riser. Thankfully, this morning he went back to sleep.

7:45 - I woke up. Alan was still sleeping. Unusual! Dale was already up (early for him) and reading a book. Not unusual.

8:00 - Breakfast for me (croissant w/cream cheese & orange marmalade) and Dale (cereal).

8:20 - Alan up, ate breakfast (croissant).

8:30 - Dale got dressed, made his bed, and started a load of laundry.

8:45 - Speech with Dale, memory verse box, couple of phone calls.

9:15 - Handwriting for Dale, shower for me, Alan played happily on his own. Naked, as a result of recent potty training habits.

9:30 - I got Alan dressed (he insisted on shoes, too!). Transferred laundry to dryer. Dale took a potty break from handwriting. I packed clothes for the week.

9:42 - Dale back to handwriting.

9:50 - Handwriting finally done. (This is why we usually use a timer and incentives!) I packed our food box & ice chest. Dale swept carport & front porch. I started more laundry.

10:00 - Gave Alan paper towel and windexed the front door for him to clean.

10:07 - Helped Alan choose something to do from toy closet.

10:15 - Bible lesson with Dale.

10:40 - Math

10:55 - Set Dale to sorting / folding / putting away clean laundry. With the timer!

11:10 - Gramps stopped by. Loaded the heavy stuff for me. :)

11:25 - Dale played online addition game, his prize for finishing laundry before timer went off.

11:40 - I put away laundry.

11:45 - Quick mid-day phone call from Greg.

11:50 - Lunch (leftover veggie soup)

12:00 - Alan played with playdough. Dale loaded dishwasher.

12:04 - Alan threw playdough ball he made into the empty soup pot. I cleaned it up, gave it back to him.

12:10 - Dale helped Alan play game on NickJr online. I packed.

12:30 - Put on my makeup. Dale vacuumed.

12:35 - Put more stuff into car. Washed remaining dishes. Gathered up odds and ends. Boys played.

1:30 - 3:00 - Driving.

3:00 - 4:00 - Sat outside for a little while. Too many mosquitoes! Did a few things on the computer. Should have taken 15 minutes. Took way longer for some reason.

4:00 - Snack with Alan. Dale out playing with friends.

4:15 - 4:30 - Alan and I wait outside for Daddy to come home.

5:00 - Unpacked. For as smooth and 'together' as my morning seemed, it is now I discovered I forgot our cereal (big deal at our house), towels (kind of important, ay?) and.... ALL of Dale's underwear. The only underwear here is what is on Dale body. Oh my. The pregnancy brain has officially set in.

5:15 - Started blueberry syrup to go with supper. Worked on Dale's new New Testament (highlighting key passages). Daddy and boys played outside.

5:45 - Dale ran in with skinned knees. Ran back out to play more with Daddy.

5:50 - Finished highlighting book of Mark. Started waffles.

6:15 - Guys came in, washed up, set table, and started on waffles.

6:20 - I joined with my waffles.

6:45 - Washed dishes, cleared table together. Realized we had forgotten to say blessing with our staggered supper start. Dale volunteered and said it right then.

7:00 - Did our own things together in living room: books, toys, internet.

7:30 - Shower for boys. Washed Dale's undies (with real detergent!) in shower with him. Hung them in window to dry. (They were in his drawer waiting when he went to get dressed this morning. Don't tell him... he doesn't know!)

8:15 - Boys tucked into bed. Greg and I spent an hour reading and interneting, separately and together. Went to bed.

Children's Book Tuesday - The Reluctant Dragon

I love it when you find a gem you didn't know you were looking for. That is what we got with The Reluctant Dragon!

I was browsing the library shelves looking for things for Dale to read and for possible new read-alouds for us.

A book with 'dragon' in the title caught my eye, as I try to look for things that may have boysome adventures. Dragons and knights and castles usually make good stories, anyway.

What I didn't know was that I selected a book by the same author as "The Wind in the Willows".

"The Reluctant Dragon" was originally published in 1898 and was made into a Disney movie in 1941. We are reading an abridged version.

I can't vouch for the story line, because we haven't finished the book yet, but I love the language Dale is being exposed to, and I love that language that rich is holding his attention!

A quick excerpt:

A cool breeze played over the surface of the grass and the silver shoulder of a large moon was showing above distant junipers. No wonder the dragon seemed in a peaceful and contented mood; indeed, as the Boy approached he could hear the beast purring with a happy regularity... The dragon, on hearing the approaching footsteps, made the beginning of a courteous effort to rise. But when he saw it was a Boy, he set his eyebrows severely.

And a few examples of the vocabulary:

noxious

avenge

distinction

exterminated

inquiries

Even with all the 'big words', the abridged version is less than 100 pages, which makes this book very do-able. Like I said, we haven't finished yet, but so far, this has made a great read-aloud!

See more children's book at The Joyful Chaos!

Bedtime Reading

For a little while now I have wanted to let Dale have some reading time before bed each night.

I have always enjoyed settling into bed with a good book, and as much as Dale loves to read I was ready to give him a chance at that too.

And thus the change in our bedtime routine. It has been nice for Daddy and I to get both the boys tucked in a few minutes earlier, and for them to have the time to unwind quietly.

We leave them reading and then go back 10-20 minutes later to turn off the lamp and give a final kiss for the night.

One of the reasons I put off a bedtime reading time was because Dale and Alan share a room. But it finally occurred to me there is no reason Alan can't lay in bed and look at a book, too!

And so he does. As often as not he has fallen asleep by the time we turn the light off.

I thought that was the case tonight when I went in for lights-out and to give him his medicine.

But just as I got ready to take a picture of him curled up sleeping he turned over and gave me a grin.

I love the coziness and calmness (and the extra reading time!) our new routine has given us. Hopefully it will be here to stay for a while!

What about you? Do you like to read in bed? Do your kids read at bedtime?

Not Me Monday

I did NOT take my boys out in PUBLIC in the following mismatched, worn-out 'outfits':
The still-potty training littlest was NOT naked under those shorts (as in NO diaper, training pants OR underwear).

And that door they are standing in front of is NOT covered in fingerprints.

I did NOT sit down one afternoon and color a page from my boys' coloring book just because it felt good.

It did NOT sooth my nerves and calm my racing mind.

I did NOT catch a grasshopper one day, just to take a picture of it.
That would just be gross.

Head over to MckMama's to see what others have NOT been up to this week!