Holiday Art Wall

We have this small blank wall in our hallway that you can see from our dining area. At first, I had a bookshelf against it and decorated the wall with seasonal art work. Then I had this family tree up for about a year or two.

It said: Like Branches On A Tree, We May Grow In Different Directions, Yet Our Roots Remain As One.

I really REALLY liked the family tree so I will be finding another spot to put that back up. (Probably in our living room) I have to update the photos any way ;p

Halloween/Autumn 2013

Winter/Christmas/Valentine's Day 2013

Winter/Christmas theme

Photo banner I designed and printed.

Valentine's Day Theme

Hand print and foot print "LOVE"

Hand print heart

Hand print tulips

Finger print leaves on a tree

Click these links to see detailed posts!
Halloween/Autumn 2013
Winter/Christmas 2013 pt.1
Winter/Christmas 2013 pt.2
Winter-Valentine's Day 2014

Quick Family Park Trip

The weather has been totally weird lately. Uncomfortably hot and humid one day and then rainy and dreary the next. Despite the cloudy weather, (which, by the way, I actually love, as the sun gives me headaches) Doogie and I took Trey to the park for a little bit. First Little Man wanted to play on the actual park, Then when that got boring, Trey got his bike, I got the Razor scooter (haha) and Doogie got his skateboard and we went below the playground to ride on the tennis court.

 Smile!

Coming up from the "big slide"

Through the fence.

Resting

Seesaw with mama, haha!

Why so serious?

Scootin' with daddy

Trey decided to walk laps around the tennis court.

Silly faces!

Sneak Peak at Our Garden

Here is some of our garden. Excuse the crappy pictures. Also, I apologize for not getting all of our food. It was a super hot day and Trey was running wild in the front yard. Our garden is in the back, so I didn't want to leave him out front alone, Haha. Side note: All the produce and herbs we grow is certified organic and gmo free.

Basil

Mexican Cilantro

Cherry Tomatoes

Not pictured are our Kamuela tomatoes and our roma tomatoes.

This summer, we managed to get 300+ tomatoes off our 6 plants.

Purple Sweet Potatoes

Carrots

Beets

We also have kale, salad greens, thimble berries, surinam cherries,

Hawaiian chili peppers, sweet bell peppers, onion, radish, lemon grass,

ginger, celery, pineapples, green onion, aloe and taro growing in our garden.

We still have green beans, purple eggplant, black eggplant, red onions, arugula,

yellow squash, jalapenos, sweet corn, banana peppers, zucchini, peas,

yellow sweet peppers, orange sweet peppers, cauliflower, baby spinach,

edamame, summer squash, Japanese cucumber, romaine lettuce,

red lettuce, honeydew melon, strawberries, watermelon and cantaloupe

to plant. Aghhhh, we had better get started!

We'll probably clean out another garden area for that tomorrow and start

some seed since hubby is off! We'll be doing these next seeds in big containers

since we have a piggy friend that likes to come out at night and eat

our yummy plants. 

I really can't wait until all the seeds are growing nicely and we have a nice, full garden to show you!

Math and Phonics Fun Kit - Grade 1

Hi all! We found this little kit at Costco. I thought it'd be a fun way for Trey to brush up on his math and phonics. It not only came with two workbooks, it also came with a phonics BINGO game and math manipulatives as well as a small clock for learning to tell time. I'm not using these as a curriculum, just a small "refresher" for Little Man. Trey is only 4, but I noticed these kits are really easy. I got him the 1st grade level only because he would've been bored with the kindergarten kit and it would've meant money wasted.

The kit. Includes a phonic workbook, math workbook, parent's book,

snap cubes, a clock, addition puzzle cards

and word family BINGO.

Some pages he did out of the math workbook.

 Riddles identifying shapes. (See, I told you it is easy.)

Some basic addition using the snap cubes.

Some pages out of the phonics workbook.

Filling in the missing alphabets. (Again, Trey was super bored with this. 

Seriously, this cannot be first grade work.) I remember reading in first grade.

Learning long and short vowel sounds.

 We haven't gotten that chance to play the BINGO game but we are excited! All in all, I felt these kits are too easy for the grade levels on the box so maybe try getting a grade (or two) higher than where your child is at.

Trey's Autumn Crafts 2013

It's here again! Our favorite time of year! Autumn and winter! Besides the cool air and cozy feel, we love this time of year because of all the holiday crafts we get to do! If you look back to 2011, you'll see our fall crafts and things. I'll post links below. Now for the pictures!

Hand print tree with finger print leaves. 2013, age 4.

Here is Trey's finger print tree from 2011

If you can't already tell, we LOVE hand/finger/foot print crafts! As a mom, I love these for keepsakes. Can you imagine when he is 18, looking back at how much his hands and feet grew every year?!

Hand Print Wreath

Black Cat Hands 2013

And his black cat hands last year. 

Owl Hand Print

And his spider hand prints from 2011, 2012 and 2013!

Hand and Foot Print Turkey

Hand Print Turkeys

How cute are these little turkey friends?! Look at how small Trey's hands were in 2011.

We will definitely be making a whole lot more! When we are finished, I will post a picture of our craft/art wall. It changed with seasons/holidays.

Till tomorrow,

-tishaandtrey

To view our other holiday wall art, CLICK HERE!

File Folder Games

File folder games are one of Trey's favorite ways to learn. I love them too because they are easy to make and fun to use. Below are pictures of some of our file folder games. I will post the links to where I downloaded the printables.

Sort The Animals

I downloaded this free file folder game from Homeschool Creations. It's such a cute game and Trey loved it. He even challenged his dad to see who was faster at sorting the animals to where they live. (Zoo, ocean, farm.) Please excuse my crappy photos.

The cover. For this file folder game, I put one file folder inside another one and

glued the backs together. That way, I'd have a page in the middle.

The first "page". A pocket for the little animal pieces.

 The second "page". The Zoo.

 The third and fourth pages. Ocean and farm.

Beginning Sounds
This was actually not originally a file folder game. It was a free rhyming words printable from 1+1+1=1. I downloaded it and printed it out. Glued it in a file folder and came up with ways to use it. One way is letter recognition and beginning sounds. Here is how we do that.

The cover, with a pocket for the foam letters.

 The inside. I have Trey place a foam letter on the correct picture. 
(In this case, it's the first letter of each word.) He then has to say the sound that letter makes.

I think that helps with beginning sounds.



I try not to spend too much time making the file games all "fancy." It creates a distraction, IMO. At least for Trey it does. I DO add some colored paper to the background to add some fun contrast:) Sorry this was so short! The next blog will be about or fall crafts! Stay tuned!

-tishaandtrey