"L" is the Letter of the Week

Learning Letter "L" 

    We are making great progress with our letters! My "littles" (the name I lovingly give to the few toddlers I babysit) have learned colors, animals, shapes, and much more. We have learned to sing the alphabet song and we have learned to identify each letter of the alphabet, but only the capital letters, so far. Our curriculum has graduated to the next stage of "big and little" letters, or as we call them "grown up" and "baby letters." We are also learning the sound for each letter. My goal by next year is to begin popcorn letters and early reading. 

    This week's letter is "L". I have found that spending a full week on one letter and trying a variety of crafts, games, songs, stories, and discussion helps us to really learn and commit our learning to memory... which is basically what learning is, right?... committing the information to memory.  For letter "L" we tried the following activities: L is for Ladybug, Our Favorite Reading List for Letter L, and Helping Baby Animals to find their Grown Up.

   Please scroll down to find each of these projects for the letter "L".

"L" is for Ladybug

This craft requires:

1. Red and Black construction paper for the Ladybug and Green paper (or any color) for the background
2. Scissors
3. Glue
4. Black glitter for the dots on the wings, or a black marker works just as well
5. I used a ruler as my straight edge to create the letters, it's also just as easy to find letter L to print out and trace for free in google images.
6. I used a cup and lid as circles to make the Ladybug wings, but anything round and approximately 2-3" in diameter will do the job.

Image with supplies shown here.

Image with paper colors shown here

I created the letter "L" with the assumption that a thickness of 1 1/2", a height of 5", and for the base a width of 3" would fit well on my background and it fit perfectly. The baby L is 1 1/2"x4". To use the least amount of paper, I tried to fit as many of the letters I need for three kids onto just one page.  

Image of ruler measuring letter base

Image of ruler on black paper

Image of letter outline

Image of letter flipped to trace again

I used all the pieces of scrap to make legs and antenna for the ladybug,

Image of letters cut out

Image of scrap paper

When I had finished cutting out the letters, legs, and antenna, it was time to make the ladybug wings. I used a kids cup to trace a perfect circle for the Grown Up letter L to have ladybug wings and a cup lid that was slightly smaller than the opening of the cup to make a ladybug wing for the Baby letter L.

Image of cup used to trace wings

Image of pencil tracing cup

Image of cup lid on paper

Once I had cut out the circles I had traced from the cup and lid, the only thing left to finish was to cut the circles in halves to have two wings for the Grown Up L and one wing for the Baby l. I had purchased these fancy edge scissors a while ago for scrapbooking and thought they would give the ladybug wings a fun edge that my littles would enjoy and let them try to use them to cut (which is not shown here for sloppy reasons..LOL). I also laid out the images for the kids so they could get an idea of the desired finished results before I handed them glue sticks and glitter.

Image of shaped scissors

Image of cut out patterns laid in place

For the finishing touch, the ladybug dots on the ladybug wings, we used Elmers glue to make the dots and sprinkled them with black glitter before brushing them off to reveal the final product.

Image of glue dots with black glitter

Image of finished Ladybug craft

Our Favorite Reading List for Letter L

     When using books to teach a letter of the alphabet, a favorite game the littles and I like to play is to do something silly whenever we here a word in the story that begins with our letter. In a few of these books there are several opportunities so they are not great "before bed" books. "Willoughby and the Lion", by Greg Foley is NOT one of these. The word "lion appears only once per page. While, in the book "I Love Lemonade", by Mark and Rowan Sommerset, the opposite is true. The word "lemonade" appears frequently. 

    Some of the silly things we've done is to try to say the word that we're waiting to here like "llama" in the Llama llama books, in a silly voice or with a silly expression on our faces while we say the word "llama". When we need to get out the "sillies" or move around, we might jump or wiggle when we here the word. Of course, the sky is the limit with how creative the littles and I can be on any given day of the week.

    I would like to add that the first book in my list, "I Love Lemonade" is a silly book that includes references to pee and poop. My littles and my biggies love this book and think it is hilarious, however it is not for all listeners as I imagine some kids would use the book as an opportunity to embarrass their grown ups. I know my kids well enough that I can trust them to enjoy the content of this book, responsibly.

    Our all time favorite, is "Leonardo the Terrible Monster". If you have the opportunity, I highly recommend this book. 

HELPING BABY ANIMALS FIND THEIR GROWN UP

     Kids love animals, especially baby animals. I couldn't find images to borrow, so I freehand sketched out the Lion, Sheep, LLama, cub, lamb, and baby llama. Because my littles are still working on their ability to draw a simple line, the object of this lesson is to draw lines (an "l" word) that connect the Grown Up animals to their babies. Also, with the exception of the sheep (grown up lamb) all the animals begin with the letter "l". I had the littles write the Grown Up "L" for the grown up animal and the Baby "l" for the baby animal, before drawing the lines to connect the grown animals to their babies.

Image of grown animals and their babies

Copy of image from above with completed work by little

THEMED FOOD ALWAYS SUPPORTS THE LESSON PLAN! 

Even when I worked in an office, the best way to attract an audience was with food. It works well with kids too.

Image of Lemon Jello and a whole lemon

Owen's Dump Cake

My middle child, Owen has been dying to star in a YouTube video. While I was trying to determine what would make a great first film for his debut, I remembered a super-simple recipe that I've seen on Pinterest and has been shared on Facebook. There are several variations of this dish and I have made a few of them. With each variation I try, my family has devoured them in one night. I like this version of the recipe because using diet soda allows me to watch my calories and still get to enjoy dessert with my family.

In the video Owen makes a mixed berry dump cake so I felt a cherry flavored diet 7 UP would be a great swap for the usual can of diet 7 UP or Sprite. However, when I had no soda in the house but instead had a few flavored wine coolers, a single cooler was also a great substitute for the soda in this recipe. Finally, if I ever decide to jump on the wagon with those who've sworn off soda pop all together I will try soda water and natural fruit juice as a substitute. However, I haven't built up the courage to take that step, so for this recipe diet Cherry 7 Up!

The other two ingredients are simple enough. Owen and I picked up the generic bag of frozen mixed berries from the freezer section at our local grocery store, which happens to be Acme Fresh Market, so this is the Food Club brand carried there. We also used a box of Duncan Hines Yellow Cake Mix. Again, these ingredients can easily be swapped out in a number of combinations. We used canned apple pie filling (sugar free) and a box of spice cake mix for our first attempt and it was amazing. I've also tried frozen cherries and white cake mix. While I'm typing, I'm wondering if this works with chocolate cake mix.... I guess I'll have to try that too.

Without further ado, here is Owen's Dump Cake video:

https://youtu.be/PiuV_ANs3FQ

The full recipe:

Frozen Mixed Berries
1 box Yellow Cake Mix
1 can Diet Cherry 7 UP

Preheat Oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit

In a 13x9 baking dish, dump and spread out frozen berries. Open cake mix and dump mix over frozen berries. Spread cake mix over the surface of the berries allowing some to fall between berries. Open can of diet Cherry 7 UP and dump evenly across cake mix and berries. Do not stir... this is dump cake. Finally, place in preheated oven and bake for 40-45 minutes or until surface starts to brown and berries are bubbling. This dish is great served warm with light whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla frozen yogurt.

St. Patrick's Day Sensory Activity

It's here! It's finally here!

Not only do I enjoy St. Patrick's day for the funky green dress up opportunity, the green flair added to food and the excuse to just be silly with games and jokes.... I enjoy this day because it is a a reminder that spring is so very close. I think Shamrocks and my mind whisks away to spring fields covered in clovers. It may be snowing outside, but spring is not far away.

Today, I am not alone. I have my youngest home with me and two other toddlers I babysit, part time. To celebrate the day and keep these tots smiling, we started out with a sensory activity I'm calling "Sweets and Treats Treasure Hunting". The activity consists of Lucky Charms Cereal or the generic bag of marshmallow cereal (fruit loops would also work as they rainbow colored), gold coins (toys or chocolate), and a bin. We also have Handy Scoopers to help us dig for gold without sticking our hands in a shared dish of food.

 After these kids collected the gold coins from their scoops and snacked on the cereal, we counted our gold coins to see who had found the most gold coins. Then we tossed the coins back in and started over.

EasterEggPillows

Easy Yarn Wrapped Easter Eggs

About Me

This is my "About Me" page, in case it wasn't evident by the title. I try at sarcasm, but I'm not as talented as others, so please forgive the dry humor. I am in my thirties, which is still too young to be considered old, unless you're asking my children. I have two children, a boy and a girl and I have another one on the way. Today, I am just 12 weeks pregnant so it's too early to tell the gender of the third. What I can predict is this will be my last pregnancy. I am going to write about it to ensure that I don't get a dose of crazy two years down the road and try to convince myself that I enjoyed being pregnant.

I have been happily married for eight years. But I have been in love and committed to my husband for roughly sixteen years. We met when I was just sixteen and I will enjoy being five years younger than him, forever. If it feels right, maybe I'll tell the tale of how we met and where it went from there, but this post is all about me.

I was not discouraged from living with my boyfriend before marriage, but I will probably discourage it for my children. Not because I had a bad experience, but because I think back and wonder "what the jelly beans" were my parents thinking. So many mistakes could have taken place but thankfully, we are okay and I'm still here to write about it. There are several other fun facts I can share about my parents and my siblings that will probably remind me that I often question "what the jelly beans" were my parents thinking.

I am currently a full-time secretary, but I pray and hope upon hope with this baby, I will get to quit the full time hustle for just a few, short years. There is absolutely nothing I dread more about having another baby than having to turn them over to the care of the cute "college-aged" daycare "room moms". That title is NOT fitting. Their bodies have not been disfigured enough for them to possibly earn a title that even resembles "mom". Secondly, I dread the thought of pumping breast milk in my office with the incredibly loud breast pump pulling at my body, making me feel like a modern day dairy cow. Hopefully, in a few months, my title will be "Housewife" or even "Virtual Office Assistant", because I wouldn't mind working from home.

In addition to the primary hats of "mom", "wife", and "employee", I am also an individual with likes, loves, dreams, desires, and faith. What I wish I had time for includes learning God's Word (I have started, finally), Pilates (I want a rockin' body, like everyone else), and cooking and eating (I really love eating). If I had infinite amounts of money and time, I would get as close as I could to warmer weather to walk trails in the woods all year round, because I love the fresh air, the sites, and the sounds. I do not, however, love the bugs. I still have yet to think of any purpose God may have had in mind when he made mosquitos. I really wish they would become extinct and nothing worse or remotely close to how awful they are would replace them.

I also love barnyard animals. I raised goats, pigs, chickens, ducks, turkeys, rabbits, and pheasants while I was young. If I didn't also love to go on vacations, I would probably try to convince my husband to build a goat barn.

Well, if more comes to me, I'll write a new post. For now, that's it and that's me. Thank you for visiting my blog and taking the time to give it a read. God bless.

New to Blogging

Okay, so I didn't do much homework before picking a host site for my first blog. I just knew I didn't want to pay anything for something, I knew could be free. However, that statement contradicts the intentions of this blogsite. When I decided to start one, I intended to share my stories of learning about anything and everything that comes my way (and Thank the Lord for all these I'm given). I am still learning about most of the so-called "hats" or titles, I have been given and I love learning about whatever else I can.

One of these hats is the "wife" hat. This one seemed simple enough, he liked me and I liked him so we spent a great deal of money, memorized vows for a day or two, and dressed the part for a beautiful wedding ceremony. I didn't really overthink it. Fast forward eight years into marriage and I've learned a thing or two. I am still married and given the context of the day, sometimes happily and sometimes wishing I had given it more thought. Don't get me wrong, my husband and I are stil very much in love, but no one has a perfect life. ;) This is one thing, I am still learning about and probably one I will continue to learn about until death do us part. I look forward to writing about and sharing my experiences and life lessons, as I learn to be a wife. Okay, not just a "wife," but a fabulous wife!

I also wear a "mommy" hat. I did overthink becoming a mom and had my mind made up about many things I later learned, "only people without kids think this way!" A good example is the schedule I insisted I would keep... yep, threw that one out the window early on. I have two children and presently, one on the way. With a girl and a boy already, I'm calling this one the ty-breaker. We'll find out the gender, soon enough. Ultimately, parenting has been my most difficult learning challenge. Kids have personalities that books on the subject, don't always address. Attempting different styles of obedience on my son, for example has taught me one very important thing about my son, I have to absolutely stop everything I'm doing if he gets too far into a fit or tantrum. He's adorable, but don't let his looks fool you, he's persistent and incredibly stubborn. While learning to be "mommy" is challenging, it's one of my favorite continuing education topices.

Additional hats that have been given to me include "employee", "gardener", "household maintenance technician", "college student", "painter", and "crafter extraordinaire" just to name a few. With each new project I take on or each new product I try, I hope to write and share my experiences with hopes that in some way, I am giving something back that is beneficial to someone else.

Thank you and happy reading,

Lizzy

Shamrock Pillow

I love to add little items to my home, here and there, to help celebrate holidays. Some holidays are enormous productions of lights, gifts, decorations, and food. St. Patrick's Day, at least in my home, is usually much less to do than more notable holidays like Christmas, Halloween, and Easter. Still, I like to enjoy a few of the customs of St. Patrick's Day like wearing green, serving green eggs for breakfast and enjoying corned beef and cabbage for the rest of the day. My husband and I will even have a green beer, if we can escape the kids.

This year, I thought having a few extra touches around the house would help to get us into the spirit of St. Patrick's Day. Below, are a few images of the handmade decorations I've put up around the house. For this post, however, I'm sharing a very special pillow that I made out of an old maternity sweater. I'm sharing just how easy it was to make and maybe this will inspire someone to make one for their home, as well.

And my Shamrock Pillow, of course:

To make the Shamrock Pillow, I sifted through some clothes I planned to give to Goodwill, for something bright green. I found an old, maternity sweater that was perfect for this project. I turned the sweater inside out and using fabric markers, I freehand drew a chunky shamrock shape.

Next, leaving only one side of the shamrock stem alone, I used my sewing machine to sew the front and back of the shirt together. Then I cut the shape out, leaving a thin edge of fabric around the stitched line. If you try this, make sure you leave the small opening in the stitches so you can turn the fabric right-side out again and stuff the pillow.

I had an old bed pillow that had a big tear and was otherwise going to be thrown in  the garbage. So, I took the stuffing from the old pillow and stuffed it into this one.

Finally, using just a hand needle and thread, I stitched the small opening after I had stuffed the pillow to the thickness I wanted for softness and pillow shape.... and viola!

My Dream To Manage My Life, My Home, My Family

This is just a dream, for now. I want to be present in my home, my cooking, my family, and have a social life. What I mean by "present" is being able to focus on and give my attention to all these things. It can be hard to wear several hats and be expected to be in different places, at the same time. I believe this is just the way it is for moms. But, I also believe it doesn't have to be that way.My dream is to work within my home, to live on a somewhat managed schedule with time for everything, including what I want to do and love to do. I'm guessing that a shared dream for most people, even non-parents. Rather than being stuck in an office from 8 to 5 with lost time traveling and picking up kids, imagine the freedom of scheduling doctors appointments during the work day, other than your lunch hour. Imagine getting your errands accomplished and still finding time after to pull those pesky weeds from your garden or flower bed. Imagine additional time for a  hobby, time for activities with your kids, and evenings with friends. Okay, now add a paycheck. It could happen.

I consider this the life of a "house employee." This is what is available for those with an aptitude for ignoring the television and their overwhelming lack of personal drive and self discipline. A structured schedule helps to set  a routine into place and the routine is necessary if the house employee expects to get any work accomplished. But, it can be done. If done correctly, it can set in motion a trend for others to follow opening up opportunities for others who share this crazy dream.

A big set back to requesting to work from home is the current, negative examples set by others who have tried it. Yet, business owners do it all the time, successfully. I believe the variable that makes a difference is ownership. Business owners are aware that they will not see a profit if they don't put in the time and attention. House employees, on the other hand, slack off. They can be less efficient and waste time because they know no one is watching. They clock in and out regardless of whether or not they are doing the work.

A solution could be for employers to pay their employees by the task, rather than by the hour. Additionally, if the employee is using company equipment or accessing the companies server, their activity can be tracked. The employee can even allow for remote access to their company for periodic "check-ins". These can both take time from the employer and time is money. However, paying per job to employees who are willing to work from home can save the company money. Even employees in the office slack off talking, playing solitaire, and shopping online. They still do these things on company time.

What I've mentioned so far, is just my argument to try to accomplish my personal dreams. I have two children and a third on the way. I work full time in an office and fight daily to leave exactly at 3:25 pm to get to my daughter's school before she's taken to "the office", where kids wait for "late parents". Then it's another race against traffic and time to arrive at a daycare center to pick up my son. If' I arrive after 3:45 pm, I get lectured on the difference of paying double tuition because we have part time care and the extra few minutes is pushing into full time hours.

Because I am the first to arrive home, it's my job to figure out "what's for dinner". I hate stories about the old time German and Italian moms who started their day with meal planning so they could have something on the oven, slow-cooking and simmering the day away with an amazing traditional family recipe. Given my schedule and the amount of time I have for cooking, my family is lucky if dinner doesn't come from a pre-mixed, packaged meal-in-box, with a "just add chicken" special. Every night I hope that the leftovers will at least be appealing enough for my packed office lunch... YUCK!

When I do arrive at home, after work the chores begin immediately. We at least, let the dogs outside and hopefully feed them something. Then it's time to sort through mail, homework, the family and friend updates or invites (that we probably won't get to attend or not have enough time to bring a covered dish), and so on. Because I try to be a good mom, I also try to follow some sort of routine with my kids while trying to work in something, every now and then, that is special or different to break up routine. How on earth do I have time to visit a park or a library? Honestly, I still don't know.

 

To solve these problems and to realize my dream, the solution should be a flexible schedule that allows me to work between jobs and give me the most amount of freedom to balance my time. If employees could work all day, NOT in a 8 to 10 hour marathon but instead in several short sprints, I believe we could output more creativity, focus, and effort into our tasks. If I did't waste the last fifteen to twenty minutes of the day, staring at a time clock, I could instead manage the many tasks I have to complete daily.If you happen to read this, thank you and best of luck with your own dreams.