{be mine}

Valentine's Day was a hit this year! Cassidy & Kalea decorated the house with pink, red, purple & green construction paper hearts & 99¢ Super Girl Valentine decorations from Michael's craft store. We spent at least four nights making Valentine's boxes, bags, little gifts to share with friends and made, upon Cassidy's request, pink lemonade cupcakes to share at school.

Michael took off work for a couple hours to help in Kalea's Valentine party & I helped in Cassidy's party the same day. It was fun to have some special time with just the girls while Cade stayed at a friend's house for the morning.

{the mitten}

Remember when I said I wasn't making any New Year's Resolutions, kinda? Well, other than this being the year I blog for real, regularly, with words and not just all pictures? So far - 22 days in - I'm having trouble finding topics that make my mind run & my fingers fly. Thus, there's been a lot of pictures. But honestly, most of the people who read this are family & they really just want to hear about the kids, see how they're growing & that's ok. They are growing, learning, playing, fighting, acting silly, dancing & doing all the things you do (& sometimes do not) want a 1, 3 & 5 year old to do. 

Last week a storyteller visited preschool & read The Mitten, by Jan Brett. It's a Ukranian folktale, rotold by the author, about a young boy who drops his snow mitten while playing &, unbeknownst to him, animals seek shelter inside. The end is funny & the story lends itself to a lot of easy little follow up projects. Kalea was sent home with "homework" of making a mitten (from paper!) and putting the animals inside in the proper sequence. Cassidy got in on the project & they had a fun time decorating & ordering the animals as we re-read the book. (It is amazing just how many children's books I just happen to have leftover from teaching. This was one of them!) 

Doing the craft reminded me how fun it is to "lesson plan" around a good children's book, to find a good project to go along with it & to throw in some math or reading objectives too. I'm thinking about trying to find a book every week or every other week to plan around & give the girls something to do in the afternoons once that "witching hour" hits. Anyone have some good, pre-made ideas, blogs or Pinterest boards devoted to this?

{week 2}

{last day of summer art project}