Monday, October 31, 2011

Saturday, October 29, 2011

art for the wall

The girls painted these great mosaics for our masterpiece wall that we are creating.  We used a stretched canvas board and taped a design using masking tape.  Then the girls painted in the shapes with different colors of acrylic paints.  After they dried we removed the tape and voila, instant masterpieces.
Do you remember scribbling on white paper as a kid and then coloring in the shapes?  It is still one of my fave things to do when I am coloring with the girls.

Friday, October 28, 2011

autograph books


I am full swing Disney mode.  I recreated these autograph books using 50 cents spiraled-index cards, mod podge, and scrapbook paper (added the mickey sticker to red/white pocket dot).  I turned the spiral over so the back cover is the front.  In doing so the lines are now on the back side of the paper and the blank side will be for the character to sign.  I ran a ribbon through the spiral to keep the pen handy.  I think I am going to purchase retractable sharpies for the characters to sign with.  Now all I have to do is make sure LE gets over her fear of characters before we leave.  Total project cost - $1.00 (by using craft supplies out of my craft closet; before purchasing pens). 



Thursday, October 27, 2011

fall backyard campout

Cooler weather = Daddy and girls camping in the backyard.  R2 and I enjoyed our own beds.  All 3 of them stayed out all night and I woke them with the camera around 8:15 a.m.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Monday, October 24, 2011

Missions Monday - Christmas at the Care Point

It's time to start Christmas shopping - here is what I want...give $10 for a child to attend the Christmas Parties in Swaziland and Mozambique.

Friday, October 21, 2011

expect the unexpected

To say, I overbooked last weekend would be an understatement.  It drives Ben nuts when I try to do too many things in one day, mainly b/c things always come up unexpectedly that throws 3 blondies and a Mama out of sync.
I met Mom and Ben's Mom on Friday in Marble Falls, so the kids could spend the weekend away while we were traveling out of town for a training.  R2 was fed and ready for a nap and I had it timed perfectly to arrive and feed him.  Unexpected incident #1 - major wreck on the way which left us sitting on the highway for 45 minutes next to an idling semi-truck.  R2 does not like to be in his car seat; he does not like to be anywhere that has him immobile.   Needless to say there were a few too many tears on that car ride.  We decided to do the pumpkin patch to break up the car rides and burn some energy (pics to come later.)
After my incredibly long afternoon drive, I had to pack up and travel to Houston for an early morning Zumba training.  We spent the night with my aunt in Katy and Saturday morning we headed into Houston for my class.  We stopped at Cracker Barrel for breakfast and then Unexpected Event #2 occurred.  TomTom did not have the correct address for the location, it was Lane not Boulevard.  I arrived 30 minutes late b/c we could not figure out the area (one way streets). 
After class, we drove back home and decided to go out for a late date.  We had an appetizer at Pappadeaux's and then headed over to Cheesecake Factory to split dessert.  Five hours of zumba, I may have broken even on calories.
On Sunday morning, we decided to burn off the remaining calories mountain biking walnut creek, but only after sleeping in.  Unexpected event #3, Marissa my SIL was in labor and a certain PawPaw wanted to share the news at 8 a.m.  We went ahead and rode b/c the little Miss was not supposed to make her entrance until late afternoon.  Unexpected event #4 - she came before noon.  We had a quick bite and drove to Fredericksburg to meet my new niece, Avery Grace and grab our bundles of joy.  Great weekend, and after 13 years of marriage I am trying to learn to listen to my husband.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

got bored


before

inspiration



after


apple juice slushes

I am not sure why I did not think of this, oh let's say 5 years ago, cannot imagine the money I could have saved.   About year ago, our Sonic stopped serving the apple juice slushes.  Light bulb moment - we decided to make our own for the cooking lesson this week.
Toss 4 cups of ice cubes into the blender, add 1 1/2 - 2 cups apple juice and blend.  Taste much better if you have a curly straw to serve it with.  (oh and it tastes better than the real thing - L.E.)

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Friday, October 14, 2011

in the details


filler time shelf

lesson bulletin board

filler time cans

manipulative jars
Pretty sure de-cluttering the homeschool classroom was not on the Shileen's de-clutter list.  Especially after the jackpot we hit after visiting her pre-garage sale.  She let the girls "shop" and insisted she was blessed to know our girls were using her girls' outgrown items.  Needless to say I had to make room for some new books, games and science experiments. 
I have been getting restless with the classroom.  In particular the daily clutter on the girls' desks.  I have been looking into workboxes, but I am not sold on the idea of having 2 more shelves in the room to hold their daily assignments.  Ben started designing my dream classroom, but truth be told I like our set-up, it just needed some cleaning out. 
I organized the 2 bulletin boards that used to be one for each girl to now hold lesson items on one and crafts/art on the other.  I also repurposed our truvia jars (remember they once held I spy objects) to hold a whole new collection of manipulatives including keys, bottle caps, beads, magnets, pompoms, to count, sort, classify and create with.  LE has been on a real recycle kick, so I up-cycled formula cans to hold a "special" project for each girl (Bella's numeral flowers were found in hers this week, LE's held these).  I covered soup cans to hold pencil, scissors, etc to free up some room on their desks.  I also moved their desks so they face the windows now instead of the bulletin boards.  It settled my restlessness for the week, so we can hold off spending a small fortune at Mardel's and Ikea; for this week any way.

Thursday, October 13, 2011

flower math

Another pinterest steal with my touch-
I used my SU! scallop and circle punch to create 10 flowers.  Then I attached green pipe cleaners for the stems.  On each flower I wrote a numeral 11- 20.  Object is to put the correct # of beads on the flower.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Wordless Wednesday

my perspective

I hear on a pretty regular basis that people do not know how I do what I do.  I guess I don't know how to not do what I do. 
I in sense get paid for my workout and I get to change people's lives while I do it.  My kids get to go with me for free 7x a week and they finally LOVE it again. 
I go grocery shopping every Wednesday, and God bless HEB for rotisserie chickens b/c grocery shopping day = rotisserie chicken day.
Wash day is once a week, Fold day is some other day in the week.  Bathrooms get cleaned once a week by 2 bathroom fairies (toilets & tubs are done by the queen fairy. And they have their calendars marked b/c it is their favorite chore to do, who knew a spray bottle could be so fun?!).
I love to cook, but hate to clean up afterwards. So, the dishwasher is unloaded when school work  is complete. It's re-loaded as I dirty up the kitchen while Word Girl and Kratz Brother's entertains and teaches 2 blondies and another dreams of puffs and dogs (his new fave word).
I homeschool 4 days a week from 1-4 p.m.  I get the joy of seeing my first grader learn to tell time, write her name in cursive and tie her shoes. I heard my 4 year old read her very first book and then heard her run up the stairs to read to her Daddy, who also gets to work from home.   I got to see my baby sit up, roll over, crawl, pull himself up and say dog the first time. 
So, I guess I was a tad offended by that remark as I sat on the stairs and cried to my husband today at the thought of me not being here to live this most blessed life that I get to live. 
I would not have my life any other way.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

self portraits

We made self portraits this week for our family night.  I purchased these Crayola brand oil pastels crayons and multi-pack canvas for $7.99 (don't forget your 40 % coupon) at Hobby Lobby.  I recommend practicing first with the pastels on scratch paper and  do not outline your drawings with the darker colors first b/c these pastels are meant to blend.  The girls really enjoyed this medium.  Our next project is to use acrylics, our other canvas and masking tape to make a shape collage. 

Monday, October 10, 2011

happy little helpers

The girls "helped" Daddy hang my picture collage on the stairs, complete with pencils tucked behind their ears.  (That's how all worker-guys work).  I kept thinking about a finger play we did when I was teaching the preschool Sunday School class at age 12.
Jesus liked to hammer, hammer, hammer.
And he liked to saw, saw, saw.
A happy little helper was he.
He carried the boards to Joseph.
A house they were going to make.
A happy little helper was he.

Saturday, October 08, 2011

a rare occurance

a pic with all of the Richards Family 5

Friday, October 07, 2011

Thursday, October 06, 2011

Tuesday, October 04, 2011

all boy

Because he turned 10 months old over the weekend and I forgot to update his info.  This pretty much sums up the past month.

the birthday party

What a great birthday party.  The girls had a blast, all of them.  Manicures, Pedicures, make-up, fancy hairstyles, goodies, and a red carpet runway oh my.  Mimi made the cupcakes, Mommy made the pink cookies, Mommy's friend, Erica created the invites. 

Saturday, October 01, 2011

fishing for knowledge


We are learning about ocean life through books, our field trip to Sea World, craft projects and more.  To tie in our spelling words, I wrote all of the letters on bottle caps that I have been collecting and she fishes for the letters.  Both girls have a set.  Bella's words do not change, we just add a new word each week (does, and, she, he, i.e. sight words).  She loves this project.  I also have shaving cream , magnets and cookie sheet, and dry erase board and markers for her to write in/on each day.  She has her own set of readers (where I get the words).  She is well on her way to reading!!!