Tots and Me... Growing Up Together: May 2011

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Crafty Side Blog Hop- May 31, 2011

Hello and welcome to :

Show Off Your Crafty Side blog hop is hosted by Purple Froggie Clay Stuff and Tots and Me.

This week we're joined by our Crafty Co-hostess
Nicole from Plain Graces

And here's just a little "blip" (as the co-hostess worded it) about herself..

Plain Graces is the place where the graces of everyday items become special and deliciously blessed. Topics range from recipes, saving money, crafts, education, Nebraska tales, and the occasional Monkee post. Stop by for some midwest hospitality.

Nicole

OK, So who's up for some free advertisement for your Etsy and Artfire shops? How about free advertisement for your crafty-ness? So....

We want you to link up as many crafts, shops, recipes, sewing projects and DIY projects as you want..

This blog hop will be open all week long, starting on Tuesday night at 8 PM Central Standard Time, so be sure to check back often as more crafts get linked up with us.

This is a great way to show off and find some fun things to do.

Rules:

1) Link up your Etsy, Artfire, and any Crafty-ness. Not just your main blog.

2) As always, have a great time, share your links with us, as many as you would like to share.

3) If you would like to follow the 2 hostesses, and co-hostess, please leave a comment. We will always follow you back!

4) Please grab our button above and help us spread the word about this awesome blog hop. Have fun, visit other blogs if you would like and thank you for sharing your links with us!

**Each week we will choose someone from the link up to be our guest host. If you would like to be considered for the guest host position, just post something about this blog hop, include the blog hop button from above, follow both hostesses on GFC, comment letting us know you are interested in being a guest host.

Thank you for sharing with us! If you have linked up a craft with us, now you can grab the button below and add it to your blog if you would like..

Tiny Talk Tuesday: May 31, 2011

Tabitha had been drawing pictures on my back-smiley faces. They then became a family and then she drew a sky because they were outside then she wouldn't let me get up 'til she drew the grass. Suddenly it became a garden with swirls across my back, to which she added a square and said it was the park. It was about then that Amelia came and started rubbing on my back. Tabitha said, "I'm drawing a picture on your back and she's erasing it." Then they happily worked together.

I asked Amelia what cereal she wanted for breakfast yesterday, as I always do, and she told me "Honey the boats- bunches of oats." She has called it "Honey the boats" for quite a while now. This was the first time she corrected herself.

The girls now have a new nickname for Hannah (it actually originated from Amelia):
Hanny

Head on over to Not Before 7 to see what other's have caught their children saying.

Tuesday's Giveaway Link Up- May 31, 2011

Don't forget to check out my giveaway- It ends tomorrow, June 1st @ 11:59 pm.
Chicken Soup for the Soul: Shaping the New You (Low Entries)

Welcome to the NEW and improved and very exciting

Tuesday's Giveaway Link Up

with your hosts Purple Froggie Clay Stuff and Tots and Me
and Classified: Mom

This link up will be posted Monday at 8 PM Central Standard Time (CST) run all week, so be sure to stop in as often as you can to list your latest giveaways. The giveaway link up will be posted on Monday nights so be sure to follow Purple Froggie Clay Stuff, Tots and Me and Classified: Mom via email so you can keep up on all of the link-up-ed-ness.

Here is how to use the Giveaway Link Up

1. Post your giveaways, as many as you have, be sure to add the end date

2. Now you can post reviews and anything you would like (family friendly please)

3. Spread the word about the giveaway link up by Tweeting or posting on Facebook.

If you would like to follow the three hostesses, we will gladly follow you back, please be sure to leave us a message.

Thank you for linking up with Purple Froggie Clay Stuff, Tots and Me and Classified: Mom.

Tuesday Blog Hops May 31, 2011

Time for some fun blog hopping. Here are the Tuesday Blog Hops I have found. Won't you join us and make some new friends.
Later today I will be posting Tiny Talk Tuesday. Hope you can stop in for a look.
I also host Words of Wisdom Wednesday and Breakfast for Dinner Thursday. (These buttons are on my sidebar if you would like to check them out.) On Wednesday I will be posting my Wordless Wednesday photos. And the weekend will bring our school time wrap up.
Looking forward to visiting some new blogs.

And for some fun:

Questions will be up at Night Owl Crafting and I will post my answers here ASAP. Head on over to join the fun!

Monday, May 30, 2011

Muffin Tin Monday: Patriotic Tin

Well, we didn't go to the parade today (Krystal decided she didn't want to be in it this year, something about getting heat stroke wearing their new uniforms). But I told the girls it was Memorial Day with an itty bitty explanation. So, bring on the patriotic tin:

They had

Red beet stars

White cheese stars

Peanut butter sandwich stars

Red fruit burst (grapes and strawberries)

White cool whip

Blueberries (not very well received because they are the frozen kind)

And a yummy patriotic sugar cookie

Hannah got the scraps from making the stars, plus strawberries. And yes, I let her have some cookie.

Head on over to Muffin Tin Mom to see what other's have given their children to eat in a muffin tin.

Menu Plan Monday: Week of May 30, 2011

Well, we have decided we don't like catfish. That was the fish I bought for last week's pan fried fish. We usually use haddock and I think I will stick with it. I did pretty good following the menu this week, though I forgot to take the pork chops out of the freezer so we had to change that up. I used chopped up leftover chicken in the spaghetti sauce which was really well liked. Have to remember that one. Then, because we had the spaghetti a day early we made cheeseburgers and homemade fries the next day. Hubby had mentioned that we hadn't had them for a while. Was a great suggestion. I added Worcestershire sauce, steak sauce, honey barbecue sauce and garlic powder and the family said they were the best I have ever made. Though they did tend to burn faster.

Here is this week's menu:

Monday: Cook out (weather permitting) with hot dogs and potato salad and macaroni salad

Tuesday: Tacos (using last week's leftover meat)

Wednesday: Crock pot pork chops in cream of mushroom soup with rice and green beans

Thursday: Breakfast For Dinner Thursday: Pancakes buffet

Friday: Sloppy Joes with pierogies and side salad

Saturday: Homemade chicken nuggets and homemade macaroni and cheese with glazed carrots

Sunday: Leftovers

Don't forget to join my on Thursdays for Breakfast For Dinner Thursdays

Head on over to I''m An Organizing Junkie to check out other's menu plans.

Learning Fractions with Hershey's Chocolate

We had another spontaneous activity at meal time this week. I had recently read part of The Hershey's Milk Chocolate Fractions Book by Jerry Pallotta that I had actually planned on doing when we discussed fractions while doing F. (I found this book a while ago over at Ticia's blog Adventures in Mommydom)

I just kept putting it off, but decided I needed to read it before having to return it to the library. We only got a few pages in and the girls were getting really frustrated that they couldn't eat their chocolate. So, I let them eat them, sharing them out evenly. What amazed me, was that Amelia wanted to do it again after I returned the book. So I simplified it a bit. We talked about the bar being 1 whole bar (in the wrapper and out of the wrapper). Then I broke it into 2 pieces, putting half on one side of the paper and one on the other. I wrote the fractions above the candy, telling the girls they had 1 of two parts. Then we pushed them together to show two of two parts make one whole.

Then I broke each half into half giving us 4 quarters. Once again I wrote the fraction, explaining we had 1 of 4 parts as I wrote.

Then we put them back together and I showed them 4 of 4 parts added together make 1 whole bar.

Then we shared them out and ate them:

Mommy and daddy had to share 3 pieces, so we got 1 and a half rectangles, while the girls each got 3 rectangles which were 1/4 of the bar.

Linking up to

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Science Sunday: Exploring and Enjoying God's Creation (Nature Finds, Dandelions and Snails)

Now that the weather is warmer we have been having a great time getting out, taking walks, going to the park, just enjoying exploring God's creation. The girls have enjoyed gathering nature objects for our "science table" that they would like to create. For now they are in one of our old Easter baskets.

A while ago my girls brought me a nice bouquet of dandelions. I have never really paid attention to the details of dandelions going to seed. It just seems one day the yard is a carpet of yellow and the next we have white puff balls all over our yard just begging to be blown by the children. While these dandelions stood on our counter I finally was able to notice some things I never noticed. I am not sure if the time frame is different for dandelions that are still growing in the yard, but they didn't go to seed near as fast as I thought they would. I always thought the yellow petals turned white. We were able to see the yellow wither up and drop off so the seeds underneath could spread forth.

In fact, we stood there pulling some of the withered yellow parts off.

Here they are ready to get thrown out. I have had them too long. I am thinking of picking some new ones and getting pictures each day, so we can truly see the progression.

As we were sort of studying dandelions I decided I wanted to take a picture of the dandelions while we had our picnic on Wednesday.

Then Tabitha wanted to take some pictures.

I figured it was a good way for her to observe nature.

Then Amelia wanted a turn of course.

I shared about our snails last week in my weekly school time post.

Today I decided it was time to let them go. We opened the jar and set it down in our greenery. I was surprised to see several other snails on the leaves.