Bookworm's Bookbag- Fun learning for little ones!

 

The Itty-Bitty Bookworm  just started a fabulous monthly e-newsletter that will feature lots of fun themes and ideas from great BOOKS for you and your little ones to learn and do together!  

I am proud to say that a couple of my ideas were published in the first edition 

that is now ready for you to purchase....

 

Just click here to check it out- you can see samples of the great ideas that are in each issue.  And you can also sign up to get the issues sent to you.  Let me know what you think!

Have a great weekend!

 

Three Cups-Teaching Children the Value of Money (Book Review)

I was asked to review the book, Three Cups,retold by Mark St. Germain.  The lovely book is fabulously illustrated by April Willy.  This book is based on a true story of Tony Townsley (self published by Tony Townsley and Scott Wily)  and how Tony was inspired to give back to his community.  So, in his own small way, he and his wife did just this with their children.  They created an allowance system to teach their children how to manage money but also they taught them the TRUE meaning of money - it is NOT important how MUCH money you have, rather what YOU DO with the money you have!

This book is very intriguing and though it is written with the intent to help children understand how to manage money, this book was so very valuable for me (and adult, a mother, and a teacher) to read as well!  I feel that anyone could gain knowledge about handling money from reading this book, but it is very helpful for parents who want to teach their children to be responsible about their savings and spending. When receiving an allowance the children then split the money up in to  3 Cups, which were Savings, Spending, and Charity.  I think this is such a positive way to reinforce great values and help children appreciate the value of money.  I feel that this book is a real "treasure" for families and will be a great asset for my little ones!

Three Cups is available to order on the Three Cups Website as well as Amazon.


Disclaimer:  I received a complementary copy of, "Three Cups" for the sole purpose of reviewing the book and offering two copies for a giveaway. This free book in no way affected my review. The review and the products were provided free of charge and I received no monetary compensation for this post.

Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution- looks interesting!

ARE YOUR KIDS...

getting 9-13 Servings of Fruits and Veggies every day?  

Jamie Oliver is talking about all the JUNK FOOD our nation eats- especially what our precious kids are puttting in their bodies! 
I am definitely to blame on this one...although I try I definitely fall
back on "easy and unhealthy" quite a bit!

ON a side note:  I have recently decided to become a distributor for Juice Plus- it is ABSOLUTELY AMAZING in what it has done for me and my two girls this fall/winter (about 5 months...) anyway I have been receiving lots of great information via email and saw this show.  I heard one of my friends talking about it the other day and it looks like it could be a pretty interesting show- here is what I saw- wanted to share it with you all:
Back to the show: 

I don't know if you all have seen the preview clips on television for this
new show airing for the first time March 26th, but click on the below link
to see what the "Food Revolution" is all about. Jamie Oliver is apparently on
the same mission that the Juice Plus community is because it is all about
awareness, education and parental responsibility.

Check it out...

http://abc.go.com/shows/jamie-olivers-food-revolution/about-the-show

If you are interested in information about what Juice Plus is and what it can do to help you with a healthy, happy family- let me know! :)

We said "I Do" In 2002!

Happy Anniversary to my wonderful, talented, husband.  I love you more every day-- and it is so easy to love you because all I have to do is look at our two little daughters- with God's help we have 2 miracles!!

Here is a look back at our special day 8 years ago:

St. Monica Catholic Church...8 bridesmaids, 4 hostesses, 8 groomsmen, 4 ushers... LOTS of family!

Blessings from Family and Friends during Mass.

 

My very big, but very sweet, Family 

My Husband's gorgeous family

 

OUR BEAUTIFUL wedding party

 

Husband and Wife

 

Going to the reception in our 1967 Black Mustang Convertible (my husband is so sad that we gave this away)

  

You have made me that happiest that I have EVER been.  I feel that where I am at this moment in my life is exactly where I should be- I'm not longing for anything- I don't feel a need to do or be anything more than I am.  Thank you for supporting me and all the crazy things I think about and do.  Thank you for being the best daddy to your two beautiful little girls.  Thank you for sharing your life with me and working so hard every day so that we can live a comfortable, happy life.  You ARE MY EVERYTHING!!  

IMADTLYF

xoxoxox,

Your Wife

Tot School Week 15- BEARS!

This week we learned about bears on Tuesday and Thursday Preschool Playdate... I had SUCH a busy week and sadly didn't plan as much as I usually do.  Generally I have so many fun things for the kids to do that I don't even get through all of it, but this week, not... so... much!
Anyway, here are some things we did:

 

While we were waiting for everyone to come to Preschool Playdate we made playdoh bears!

 

We even had some brown Playdoh... not purposely though- 

Scarlett has mixed quite a few playdoh colors together!!

 

We made paper bag Teddy bears!  Found a picutre online to use... then colored and pasted to paper bags.

 

Then we sang Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, Turn Around... they had fun acting out the motions with their puppets!

 

Then we listened to and acted out Going on a Bear Hunt!

 

We made peanut butter, rice cake BEARS- with bananas, raisins and a small rice cake for the nose. 

(We decided they actually looked more like pigs... or well!! )  They were yummy! 

 
( I have seen this idea a few places... but I can't find where exactly! sorry...)

 

Before eating their snacks, they followed some BEAR TRACKS...(see the brown tracks on the ground?)

 

AT the end of  the bear tracks was a Teddy Bear Picnic waiting for them... they sat with their bears and ate their snacks that they made and some teddy grahams too!

 

Eating their snacks!

 

We read a few bear books- such as Brown, Bear, Brown, Bear (one of Lily's favorites) and also The 3 Bears and Goldilocks (a version of Goldilocks and the 3 Bears.)

Then we talked about hibernation.  The kids were really interested in what bears do in the winter... we pretended to eat, and eat, and eat.  Then we crawled into our "cave" and fell asleep. 

(I covered the table with a blanket- so creative, huh?  But they seemed to like it!! LOL)

 

Happy Hibernating!

 Look below for more GREAT IDEAS:

SNOW ON THE FIRST DAY OF SPRING?!!! In TEXAS??

This is what I saw out my window this morning... It was rainy and windy yesterday... then last night the snow flurries started.  This is CRAZY I tell ya!!    (Plus, I am ready for springtime weather!)

Happy Spring???

New Friend Friday (yes... a day late)

I just found this new way to meet some fabulous bloggers!



click the Link above to read the rules.... I am supposed to blog about the new "friend" I found that was right above my link- her blog is called Life as Lori and it is SUCH a cute blog!  This is a Mommy who is very crafty- and I LOVE it!
Check out her blog if you get a chance!!

Have a great weekend,

Tot School Week 13 &14 (LETTER G)

First some thoughts:  I combined the past two weeks of Preschool activities into one blog... I may start doing this because it makes me less stressed about getting everything posted so quickly and I have been trying to be more mindful of when I am blogging lately ( in case you don't know blogging can take up a LOT of your time if you let it!!)  I feel that I have fallen victim to this for the past few months and I am trying to make sure I am using my time wisely.  It is so much fun to read everyone's blogs and see all the great ideas that are out there... however if I am on the computer looking at blogs how often do I get to put those great ideas into effect?- Lately that answer would be not-so-much.  My Evernote (which I absolutely love by the way... ) is chock FULL of AWESOME ideas.  But I waste too much time looking for ideas and reading all the blogs out there to get to do many of these things- soooo I am reassessing my blog and looking for ways to STEP AWAY FROM THE COMPUTER!- more often.  LOL!
The past 2 weeks were dedicated to the Letter G! We were so excited because it just so happened that my girl's grandma- G.G. came to visit- what a perfect week for that, huh? Do you know what G.G. stands for? Take a guess- and let me know what you think! :)


Here are some of the fun things we did!

G is for  Green Grass (using easter grass)

 

Mixing Blue Marker and Yellow Marker on a coffee filter...

found this at Under the Table and Dreaming- so cute!

 

Add a spray bottle and soak the coffee filter... so the blue and yellow make- GREEN!

 

Rainbows from pipe cleaners (or the fancy name- chenille sticks- LOL!) 

(I have seen this on quite a few blogs but here is one...The Schafer Family)

 

Pipe Cleaner Rainbows and Rainbow Pom-pom art celebrating St. Patrick's day coming up!

 

This one I made up myself... because I had the tools already!  Match the colored pom-pom to the correct color in the rainbow!  The girls seemed to like this- and they turned out pretty cute!

 

Click here for the other St. Patrick Day activities 

that we did at Preschool Playdate!!

Snack Time- GRAPE Kool-Aid and Graham Crackers

 

We read Goldilocks and the 3 Bears... here are some activities we did.

Match the bowls, chairs, beds with the correct bear.

 

(Yes my daughter is wearing her Jasmine costume that she wore for Halloween- but HAD to wear it today)  

Goldilocks Pattern Activity

 

Goldilocks Puzzle- the 3 Bears house

  

Goldlocks Counting activity-

Later, I laminated this and she LOVED doing this over and over with a dry erase marker!

 

And OUR FAVORITE Letter G activity this week--- Playing with GG!!  In this photo, Scarlett is actually playing Games with GG.   Lot's of G's! YAY!

 

Don't forget to tell me your guess for -

"What do the initials G.G. stand for in Scarlet's grandma's nickname?

Look here for More GREAT Preschool and TOT ideas:

St. Patrick's Day activities!

I put a few of the activities we did for Thursday Preschool Playdate on my Tot School blog... but here are the other things we did at Preschool Playdate for St. Patrick's day (which is next Wednesday the 17th!)

 Both girls were ecstatic that little leprechauns came to our house and left a trail of little green shamrocks for them to follow...

 

and follow...

 

and follow some more...

 

until they found the POT OF GOLD!!

 

Those silly leprechauns sure know what little girls like!! (Princess stickers, a tootsie roll pop, and chocolate chip cookies! YUMMY)

 

Then for GOOD LUCK we decided to make some Blarney stones.

Paint a little watered down glue on some stones...

 

Then shake on some magic blarney stone GLITTER (green or gold)

 

TA-DA!  BLARNEY STONES- May the Luck of the Irish be with you!!

 

Finally, we read about St. Patrick.  There are 2 books I would like to recommend:

1.  Patrick, Patron Saint of Ireland by Tomie dePaola

AND

2.  St. Patrick by Ann Trompert

After reading about St. Patrick- we colored pictures of Saint Patrick and the shamrock.   

We talked about the 3 leaves on the Shamrock and how it represents the Trinity- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

 

We practiced the Sign of the Cross...

 

 I have to brag a little bit and say the Scarlett can recited, Hail Mary, Angel of God, Now I Lay Me, and the Meal Prayer all by herself... I am so proud of her... and when she isn't being totally finicky at church she sings the Alleluia and some of the other parts of the Mass as well... I love to hear her sweet  little voice, and I am definitely one to believe that God hears the prayers of a little child so much louder than my own (sometimes selfish) prayers... I really like to pray with Scarlett just for this very reason!

 

Have a Blessed Saint Patrick's day!!