I try to get my kids outside regularly to play, to be active, and to appreciate both the vastness, and intricacies, found in all of God’s creation.

One of the things they love to do is take grocery bags out into the backyard, and collect things they find interesting.

This week we found a way to incorporate this fun activity, into a Thanksgiving craft.

We gathered our supplies such as paper, nature journals, pencils, grocery bags, and Elmer’s glue. We packed them all up in a bag, and headed into the back yard. I told the kids that this time we were going to create a collage of a Thanksgiving Turkey, with whatever items they found, so to try and imagine the feathers, eyes, wings, feet, beak, and gizzard, as they looked for items to bring back.

I set out some blankets to sit on, and the kids set off in collecting whatever bits of nature interested them for the project.

It was so great to watch them, and listen to them work together to decide what parts of a turkey would be best represented by the things they found. I just love what they came up with.

This could be a really great activity for kids at a Thanksgiving Day celebration. Send them all outside with bags, and let some of the older kids or grown ups help oversee the assembly of a turkeys with glue and paper, cardstock, cardboard, or on paper plates.

Visit Tip Junkie for a list of 36 Thanksgiving Activities and Crafts to do with your kids.

This nature collage idea came from #28 on her list and we loved doing it! I’m sure we’ll do this activity over and over again, creating all kinds of different pictures, corresponding with other holidays and educational activities.

Happy Thanksgiving!

This post is linked to: Fireflies and Jellybeans, TidyMom, Finding Fabulous, Fun to Craft

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This week there’s a buzz going around in the home school blogging community, because it is time for the annual home school blog awards!

If you are here visiting from a link on the Home School Post nominations page, WELCOME! Thanks so much for stopping by to check out my blog. I’m so excited about connecting with more bloggers in the home school community through this event. If you are a home school blogger, please, please, please leave a comment on this post so that I can come by your blog and meet you! I will visit EVERY ONE who comments on this post!!!

This blog is listed in the home School Post nomination category for Best NEW Blog, and you can find my very first blog entry ever written, from one year ago, HERE. Please take a look around my site, and if you like what you see, throw a vote my way! If I win in my category, that will help me to find and connect with even more home school families, and bloggers online. The prizes are pretty awesome too!

Vote NOW! Click Here.

And now… let me tell you a little about myself and our home school.

I’m Rachymommy. You can read all about how I grew up, and who I am now, HERE.

In brief, I’m a Southern California stay-at-home, home schooling mom, with three little kids. I’m married to a Software Engineer, and we all live together with my in-laws. Sound crazy? It is… but it’s also a lot of FUN! To read about our family full of characters, visit HERE.

When my firstborn son Leo was two years old, he started reading. By the time he was four I realized a typical kindergarten just wasn’t going to work. You can read more about how I made my decision to start home schooling, HERE.

This is my fifth year of teaching home school to my oldest son who is now in fourth grade, and this is the first year I am officially teaching two children, at two different grade levels, with my daughter now in kindergarten. It’s a challenge, but day by day, I’m figuring it out.

If you want to read more about why in the world after five years, I’m still sticking with home school, visit HERE. The short answer is… I love it!

I favor a Classical Christian Education model but have also been greatly influenced by Charlotte Mason, and a Thomas Jefferson Education approach. I’m laid back in my style because I’ve learned a very, very important principle which is: life has seasons, and with each season comes change. My home school motto is: “Inspire and Require”. I mandate that my children learn the basics, and I strive to passionately lead by example through my own love of learning.

I use Singapore Math.

I have some opinions about Shakespeare.

Along with all the hard work and serious stuff, in our home school I love to have fun, joke around, and be artistic.

Laundry is my nemesis!! It is evil. But… I will never surrender. There must be some way to home school and get all the laundry washed, dried, and put away before the end of every day. If you’ve already conquered that one, please, please, please become my Facebook friend and mentor me through the process. I need help!

One thing I did finally get a better handle on this year is gardening. It didn’t come easy though. I have a deep dark past filled with murdering many, many plants. However, things have really turned around for me in the last few months while working on a garden with my kids. We actually managed to cause a few things to grow.  You can read all about our KinderGARDEN adventures HERE.

There’s a lot to see here at MommyTopics.com. I have cupcake recipes, ideas for family fun, shopping guides and product tips, bits of my love story, and even a MommyTopics Amazon store filled with products I recommend for home school, baking, family game night, and much, much, more.

I hope you enjoy your time here, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

Don’t forget to leave a comment, so I can come and visit you too! And don’t forget to vote!

Pass a link to my site, on to some other home school families you know!

VOTE here !

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I’ve been through morning sickness three times while home schooling my oldest son through his elementary years. Two of those stages led to continued exhaustion as a sleep deprived Mommy with a newborn. The most recent stage of morning sickness led to several weeks of recovery both physically and mentally from a miscarriage.

I’ve had days during these difficult times, when I couldn’t do much more than make sure my little ones were safe, fed, and somehow entertained, as I lay on the couch trying to hang on until daddy got home. All this while I was supposed to be home schooling.

As I lay there unproductively on the couch, guilt and worry would take over my mind…

“What was I thinking deciding to home school? Clearly any teacher could do a better job with my child than I am right now.”

“My son’s entire education is hanging in the balance, and if I don’t get up and teach him something, he could be set back for life.”

“How could I have been so selfish thinking I was capable of home schooling? I can’t even get off the couch!”

“This is child abuse and neglect.”

“I’m a terrible mother.”

By now I’ve finally tucked one of the most important bits of scripture needed by a home school mom, into my heart, and am able to pull it out and stand firmly on it, through such difficult times.

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven – Ecclesiastes 3:1

Three children, one miscarriage, and five years of home school later, I’ve learned not only how to survive the difficult seasons, but even how to allow our home school to thrive in them.

Teaching our children at home does not always need to include mentally strenuous lessons, hours of preparation, and teaching from a standing or even sitting position. Slower seasons spent together cuddled up on couches can provide healthy amounts of laughter, wonderful opportunities for free and spontaneous discussion, and a season of less progress through chapters of curriculum, and instead more intimacy between the honest souls of mother and child.

Here are some of my recommendations on how to confidently progress in your pre-school and elementary home school, on those days when you just aren’t feeling yourself.

1. Get books on tape from the library, to listen to together, as you lay down. Choose age appropriate classics that will captivate your children, while introducing them to valuable treasured stories about virtue, honor, and responsibility (Classic Bible Stories, Mother Goose Rhymes, The Tales of Peter Rabbit, The Trumpet of the Swan, Farmer Boy, Little House in the Big Woods, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the original Pinocchio, the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe).

2. Play games that eliminate the need for any prep time, and allow you to sit still, but which continue to help your little ones in working on counting, spelling, calculations, and strategy. (Candyland, Sorry, Go-Fish, Rat-a-tat-cat, Uno, the Allowance Game, Monopoly, Quiddler, and Scrabble) Make sure to allow older children who are capable, to be the bankers and the score keepers, working on their math skills and penmanship.

3. Play Mad Libs, while you lie down on the couch, allowing your child to ask you for parts of speech and work on penmanship, reading, and spelling, as they write and read the nonsensical stories back to you.

4. Let them build with blocks and Legos.

5. Let them paint on their own with watercolors. It’s easy for them to set up themselves even as young as four years old, and it’s easy to clean up with the quick swipe of a towel, if they spill or make a mess. (Much easier to clean up than Play-doh in my opinion!)

6. Provide tracing paper and allow them to copy and color favorite pictures from story books.

7. Watch YouTube videos together that answer questions they have, such as: “How do Bees make honey?” “Where do dump trucks take our trash?” “What is lightning?” “What do tarantulas eat?”

8. Let them read stories to you, and for younger ones who can’t read yet, ask them to tell you stories from books based on what they see in the illustrations.

9. For children who can read, get some fun workbooks that include all kinds of skills he/she can confidently do on their own, and that they will enjoy. Independent time in workbooks like this will continue to strengthen their ability to read and follow directions, penmanship, math, etc.

10. “First Language Lessons” and “The Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading” are excellent reading and language arts curriculum, to take your child through using one short lesson per day. They are written in an extremely “parent-friendly” manner and require no prep time on your part. You simply read through the lesson together with your child in about fifteen minutes.

I’ve very successfully used both of these books as the central resource for teaching my son reading and grammar, and his state test scores have always been well above average. He’s a smart kid to begin with, but his scores are also a testament to the proficiency of these very-easy-to-use books.

11. Bob Books are great sets of early reading books for small children just beginning to learn phonics. They are easy to read together while laying on the couch.

12. Allow young children to watch one or two educational television shows or DVDs each day, such as Word World, Super Why, and Leapfrog Math Circus and Letter Factory. For older children look for science series from Discovery Kids such as Crash, Bang, Splat, and Popular Mechanics for Kids.

13. Allow your children time to develop simple computer skills as well as fundamentals in matching, phonics, math and more, by supervising their free time on websites like Nick Jr., Playhouse Disney, Kaboose, Brain Pop, and others.

14. Get the books, “What Your Kindergartener Needs to Know,“, “What Your First Grader Needs to Know”, etc.

Referring to these books will lighten your load of guilt as you realize how proficient your child already is, in several of their grade level requirements. Being provided with an overview of what still needs to be covered within the year, can help you to confidently pick and choose the things you can cover more easily when feeling ill or tired, and make you aware of what subjects must be covered as soon as you’re feeling better. You will gain assurance that your children are moving forward in their educations, even through a more restful season, and you‘ll have a mental game plan as to how everything will get done, by the end of the year, regardless of the order it is done in. Ahhhhhhh… sweet peace of mind!

MOST IMPORANTLY, don’t beat yourself up!!!

You can do this.

Just take things one day at a time and give yourself credit for each educational experience you are able to fit in. Your kids will be fine, and giving them a sibling is one of the greatest gifts you can offer.

This is only a season!

Pass this post on to a Home Schooling Mom who is pregnant, caring for a newborn, or struggling through some other type of wearying season.

To purchase items recommended in this post, visit the MommyTopics online store.

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A Guest Post by Lisa from Tales of A Soon to Be Soccer Mom

Lisa has just begun her first year officially teaching home school to her oldest daughter Chloe who is now in Kindergarten. Lisa also has a daughter  Ava, who is three, and a baby boy Silas who is six months old. You can read more about her family and home school adventures on her blog.

Whenever I read home school blogs or spoke with other home school moms, I always asked how they teach with younger siblings around. I hated the “Oh, it just works out….” answer. I wanted to hear specific ways “It just worked out”.

Here’s the secret we have learned after three months of homeschooling…..Ready??

Involve them.

Make younger siblings a part of your lessons as much, or as little, as they’re interested in being involved.

Five in a Row, makes that so easy.

The idea of homeschooling has always been appealing to me. Keeping my little ones with me, providing life-learning as well as traditional learning in our home environment, growing close sibling relationships, and building a strong foundation on Christ, were all reasons we decided to begin our oldest daughter’s education at home. But a few of the biggest unknowns to me, were what curriculum to use, how to do it with other younger siblings around, and how to make sure my children are developing a love for learning. So, when I began my curriculum research a few years ago, I was delighted when I stumbled upon Five In A Row.

FIAR is a literature-based unit study. Using a different piece of wonderful children’s literature each week assigned by the curriculum, you are provided with corresponding lessons for five days. Mondays are Social Studies, including geography and history, Tuesdays are Literature, Wednesdays are Art, Thursdays are Applied Math, and Fridays are Science. It is recommended that you supplement with other phonics, printing, and math curriculum

Each week uses a different children’s book, and FIAR has picked some wonderful ones.

My kindergartner has actually cried a few times when it was time to return one of the books to the library.

My three year old often joins us for the reading of the story, and loves doing geography with us on Mondays. We have two huge maps on our school room/play room walls and we put a sticky with the book’s title on it, wherever our story takes us that week. And let me tell you….three months in, and we’ve been all over the world!

We do our story and that day’s FIAR core subject lessons, and then we move on to our supplemental curriculum. Usually my three year old will stick around and do phonics memory with us, Play-Doh, count, sort and graph Skittles, or after her naptime, head out to the garage, and finger paint a picture similar to the ones in our FIAR books.

We’ve expanded many of the FIAR lessons during the week. We will use words found in the story for spelling, or point out words that have the endings we’re learning in our phonics book. We recognize flags from the countries we’ve “visited” when we’re out running errands. When we’re at the library, we’ll see another book by an author we’ve already read, and my kindergartner gets so excited. All in all it’s become a lot more “real life learning” than I had anticipated. But it’s helped my daughter to really understand and absorb the information I’ve taught her.

FIAR is the type of curriculum that you can take at face value, or expand it as much as you want. I feel like for younger elementary age children, this curriculum has so much to offer. It gives enough guidance that I’m not scrambling for information, and ways to incorporate fun activities, but it also gives enough freedom to adapt and change lessons, to suit younger learners.

For example… I’ve found much of the Literature activities to be a bit difficult for kindergarten. (I feel like they would be perfect for 2^nd-3^rd graders.) But it’s easy to find something in that lesson to focus on. Often times its learning who the author of the book is, where he/she is from, and the background they took from in writing the story. We’ve also memorized terms found in the Literature lesson such as “personification”, and “alliteration”, and thrown in a lesson on rhyming, using text from our book. While my four year old doesn’t have the ability to do her own writing assignments using personification, she can now identify it in a story we read.

FIAR has other curriculum in the Five in a Row “family” as well. There is “Before Five in a Row” (ages 2-4), “Beyond Five in a Row” (8-12), and “Above & Beyond Five in a Row” (12 and up). The literature used in FIAR is not religious in nature, but it does provide examples of good values and morals, and it does not contain any questionable subject matter. However, if you are looking for a specifically Christian curriculum, FIAR does offer a supplemental Christian character curriculum.

We are loving home school and with using the Five In A Row curriculum, so many of my questions about how to home school have been answered. My kindergartener is thriving, my younger ones are involved when they want to be, and the whole process for us now seems to… well… let me tell you… it just works out.

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For my daughter we did a Candyland theme. First I used tiny colored hair bands to divide her hair into fifteen different little pony tails all over her head. Next, using the same kind of colorful little hairbands, I attached four Candyland characters, four Candyland game cards (with a hole punched in the corner), Tootsie Rolls, Smarties, and Tootsie Pops, each to a different pony tail. At the end for some extra color and sparkle I wrapped a few colorful bows we already had, around some of the ponytails.

For extra fun she wore striped rainbow leggings with a jean skirt and bright pink shirt that matched the Candyland theme perfectly! It was so fun getting her ready, and at the end of the night when I came to pick her up, she was standing in a huddle of kindergarteners passing out candy from her hair.

And for my son we did a soccer field. A playable soccer field!

First we grabbed some green hair color spray from the store ( a great thing to buy now… in October, when it’s readily available) and we picked up the soccer goal and soccer ball from a cake supply store.

Once we were home I sat my son outside on a chair, covered him with a trash bag with a hole in it for his head to stick out but his clothes to stay covered, and sprayed his hair completely green. It only took one can of spray color, but I bought two… just in case.

Next, using dental floss, I tied the goal to pieces of his hair, all the way around in six places, to secure it tightly to his head. Finally I attached the soccer ball to the front of his head by slipping the floss through a green rubber band which I used to make a small ponytail (more like a sprig of grass than a ponytail) in a front section of his hair. He was able to flip his head back and score a goal. His friends at church also lined up to each take a turn at getting to flick the ball into the goal.

So what did each of my kids win for having such spectacular hair?

Mega sized candy bars and glow in the dark silly bands. Of course!

What great ideas have you come up with for crazy hair and dress up days with your kids? Share your great ideas in the comments!

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Let me start off by telling you, I am NOT BEING PAID FOR THIS POST. I just think we parents need to stick together and be honest about what’s workin’ for us and what’s not, and this bib has been working for me, better than any other bib I’ve ever tried, for eight years, with three children.

Truth be told, I haven’t used the exact same bib with all of them… the dishwasher has destroyed two of my most favorite froggy bibs, but a couple weeks ago I hurried out and purchased a brand new one, because I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT IT!

This bib washes off in the kitchen sink after a meal as quick and easy as a plastic bowl does. Unlike using cloth bibs, you are never wandering around searching for a clean and dry bib to use. This plastic one is always a quick rinse and paper towel swipe away from being ready to use again.

There are other bibs on the market that are plastic like this, and that turn up at the bottom to “catch” what misses baby’s mouth, but most of those don’t turn up this high. I’ve tried other wipe off plastic bibs with a turned up shelf at the bottom, but because the shelf was so shallow, goop would drip right out and all over the place if my baby leaned forward, or sideways.

I’ve even used this bib like a hands free snack tray while my babies have been in the bumbo and car seat, by placing cereal purposely in the catch all bottom, and letting them fish it out with their fingers and eat. I’ve found it works better than giving little hands a snack cup that is easily and often fumbled, and then becomes unreachable when they are strapped in somewhere.

And there’s more…

This best bib ever does not come alone. It is sold as part of the MATA 4-piece dinner ware set for baby at IKEA, which includes the bib, a bowl with a suction cup on the bottom for staying power on the high chair tray, sippy cup, and spoon, all for $2.99.

$2.99 !!!

Can you believe that?

I was at Ross today and couldn’t find a single bib for less than $3.99.  I sure didn’t see a whole set of bowl, cup, spoon, and bib for anywhere near that price. Seriously… what can you buy for baby these days for only $2.99? You can’t even buy a set of 3 pairs of socks for that price.

And guess what else…

It comes in pink.

PINK!!!

I may or may not currently own six of these sets.

I know I inferred that you only need one because they’re so easy to wash, but…

a. I’m a little obsessed… as you can tell.

b. I’ve been through the trauma of losing this bib twice in eight years, to a meltdown when flipped onto the dishwasher heating tube.

c. You can buy six sets for less than $20 and I use the bowl and sippy cups for all three of my kids, all the time.

I should totally be getting paid by IKEA for this post, but I’m not. IKEA doesn’t know I’m alive.

But YOU do! That’s why you’re here.

And that’s why I love you! And… I love this bib.

Ribbit!

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This is my fifth year teaching home school and I now have a fourth grader, a kindergartener, and a toddler. The schedule and process by which our home school runs has to be rethought and re-plotted each year depending on the ages and stages of each of my children. Our daily schedule now runs very differently than how it ran when I first began this journey of home school, with simply myself and a four year old.

Preschool – While doing preschool at home with my first born, it was just the two of us. I managed every day with very few distractions or obligations. We did playful learning activities and outings constantly, whenever we felt like it, without interruption. This one on one time with my first born gave me a fantastic opportunity to get ahead with his learning which I had no idea at the time, would become a tremendous advantage over the next few years as I continued teaching him at home, while also taking care of my added newborns and toddlers.

Being sensitive to my son’s early cues for readiness in reading and math during those pre school years really helped me to start Kindergarten and First grade ahead of the game. When I had days or weeks where I was suffering from morning sickness, newborn induced sleep deprivation, a toddler discipline issue, potty training time, or a house in such disaray I could no longer take it and MUST devote an entire day to getting caught up in housework, I didn’t feel huge pressure to keep chugging forward or else we’d fall behind. I didn’t know how much I was helping myself out at the time, but starting Kindergarten with my first born already able to read with comprehension, count, add, and subtract, created an atmosphere that has carried over to this day, where I always feel ahead and able to take time out to focus on heart issues, pressing discipline needs, or sometimes just plain old much needed rest or fun.

Year 1 – The year I began teaching Kindergarten at home, included the addition of a newborn into our daily schedule. Once I got the hang of things, I nursed, rocked, and changed diapers while I taught and read to my kindergartener, or listened to him read to me. We studied a lot about animals in books and visited aquariums and zoos. For math we played a lot of games at home like golf, bowling, and cards, where he would be in charge of tallying up (adding) our scores. Three days a week we did curriculum based lessons in math, handwriting, and phonics in the mornings, midday naps for everyone including a very tired Momma, and more relaxed educational games, activities, crafts, and play time in the afternoon. The extra two days a week were used for running errands, housework, and field trips.

Year 2 – Our second year of official home school, as my firstborn entered first grade, included my now needing to supervise a very mobile toddler, and in the spring doing it all while managing three months of morning sickness. Once again midday nap time for all, including me, was strictly enforced. Housework? Ha! It happened, but this was the year I came to terms with the idea that our lives function in seasons, and some of those seasons are less tidy than others. I made the commitment to making the shepherding of my children’s hearts and educations, a consistent priority over the appearance of my home. As long as things were clean enough to be safe, healthy, and functional, I allowed toys, laundry, and clutter to linger longer than some (non-home schooling mothers) might approve of.

Now that I have an eight year old and a four year old, we get a lot more housework done each day as a team… Although, that hasn’t exactly made my home more clean or organized because now I am completely outnumbered by mess-makers… but that’s another story. And have I mentioned the additional laundry that comes with a family of five? Don’t get me started. I’m trying. I really am.

In those early days however, when I had two little ones and another one on the way, I put tidiness on the back burner, out of necessity, and told myself repeatedly, “It’s only for a season.”

Year 3 – Our third year of home school involved the birth of my third child, two weeks into our second grade school year. The balance of caring for a newborn, while trying to discipline and train a very active toddler, and teach second grade, once again took some adjustments, and getting used to. The year began with the continued focus on the strictly enforced napping schedule for ALL, still including me, for mere survival. I taught whenever, wherever, and however I could fit it in. Some nights I slept, some nights I didn’t, which meant some days I taught, and some days I didn’t. But I set goals within our curriculum regarding how far I needed to be by the end of each month, and the school work always, somehow, got done.

By the spring semester, once my newborn was mostly sleeping through the night, I dropped naps for my oldest and myself, and we were using that time alone while the other two were napping, to get a bulk of our daily lessons done. When the little ones were up in the afternoons, my second grader had started to become independent enough to use that time to do math assignments, writing, studying, and reading on his own, while I did housework and played with the younger two.

Year 4 – Last year I taught third grade to my oldest while adding preschool activities for my three year old and entertaining my baby. Our home school schedule had gone through a complete conversion from how it functioned during our first year. Mornings were now used for play and housework, then lunch, then naps for the two little ones and for my third grader, nap time was when our lesson time began. After nap time my third grader continued in his work-alone school assignments and reading, while I played with the other two, and tried to do more housework.

During the second half of the year I started integrating my three year old into table time with workbooks, after her nap, as her interest in being part of school increased. Mondays were reserved for the bulk of my weekly house cleaning, while my oldest attended a full day of enrichment classes with peers outside our home, and my two little ones played and watched tv or videos. Thank you Leapfrog DVDs, PBS, Nick Jr., and the DVR!

Year 5 – This year we have morphed the entire daily structure once again. We are using mornings for an all inclusive family lesson time in Bible, history, and geography. We take a two hour mid day break which includes lunch, chores, and play time. Then when my toddler goes down for a nap, my kindergartener works on phonics, math, and other kindergarten skills by herself on the computer, while I teach math, grammar, and creative writing to my fourth grader. After an hour we swap, and my fourth grader does his independent work and reading, while I teach lessons in phonics, math, and handwriting to my kindergartener. At the end of all of that, I usually have about an hour to do housework before I have to start making dinner and getting everyone ready for their evening sports or church activities.

The key for me has been to be flexible and to be willing to change and adapt my schedule to the immediate needs and priorities of each season. And my heart’s desire is to always keep the mothering of my children’s souls at the forefront of my priority list. After all, they are only little for a very short while. I’ll keep a sparkling home in my fifties.

Next week I hope to fill you in on more details about how I am now, and will continue to be able to teach multiple grade levels, in one home, with one teacher, every day, and how I decide what to teach my children each year.

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Recently we celebrated Llany’s 2nd birthday.

I went with a robot theme because Llany LOVES robots. It all started after he saw a Bachyardigans episode called, “Robot Rampage” about a robot repair man. He was hooked… instantly. He wanted to watch that episode all day, every day, from then on. Lucky for him he has a responsible mother who would never allow such a magnitude of irresponsible TV watching.

Huh!

All day, every day. Not on my watch!

Just a couple times every day is plenty.

Llany just so happened to have one single shirt with a robot on it, and once he knew what a robot was from the Backyardigans cartoon, that became the only shirt he wanted to wear.

Check out this awesome new robot shirt I found for him on Zazzle.com. He loved it!

Sadly my local party store didn’t have any robot balloons, so naturally I did what any intelligent parent would do… I opted for one of Mickey.

Cause who doesn’t love Mickey? Right?!

Just because I’m throwing a robot birthday and didn’t plan far enough ahead to find a robot balloon like an organized, party planning maven of a mother would have, doesn’t mean there’s no room for Mickey. Mickey is always welcome.

And besides, Llany loves Mickey. And Llany doesn’t know anything about the silly adult world with confining rules such as, “Pick a party theme and stick with it.”

My husband does a great Mickey impression and calls the kids on the phone once in a while pretending to be Mickey. They love it. They really think Mickey calls them.

I know… we’re liars. We’re terrible, dark, evil, deceptive, Mickey liars.

We’ll come clean with them soon.

I promise.

I decided to take some pictures of the party this year from the perspective of the birthday boy. I thought it would be fun to have some photos to remember the day, that show him his birthday, from his vantage point at the time.

Try it. Just lay down and shoot your party from the ground up. It’s fun… If you’re weird like me.

The party store also did happen to have one balloon left of a Backyardigans character… when I called to order them… the day of the party…. like three hours before the party… because I plan… because I’m awesome.

See?

See!

Here’s where I planned.

I ordered these robot cupcake toppers from Amazon.com, totally before the party. Like, entire days before the party. Like I wasn’t waiting, clenching my teeth, praying they would arrive in time for the party, at all. Nope. Not me.

Nope.

What could be better for a two year old birthday than confetti cupcakes arranged as a robot army right?!

Using the display tree made them appear a bit more peaceful and ready to party.

Although, up close they still looked pretty serious.

And look what else Llany got as gifts…

Another robot shirt…

Robot pajamas…

An actual robot…

A robot Super Why…

This guy is really cool. When you push the button on his chest, his cape flies behind him while he talks. He was almost the favorite present of the birthday boy, but…

This robot Mickey Mouse Club birthday card was hands down Llany’s favorite gift.

I call it a robot card because it’s one of those that sings a song when you open it. Llany already knows the old school Mickey Mouse Club theme song, because I sing it to him often during diaper changes. A few other old school and out of date diaper change song selections I provide my children are, “Take Me Out to the Ball Game”, “How Much is that Doggy in the Window?”, “Rise and Shine”, and the “Bear in the Big Blue House” theme song.

He opened this card first and we thought we would never get to any of the other presents. He just wanted to keep reopening the card and replaying the  song.

“Who’s the leader of the club that’s made for you and me, M-I-C-K-E-Y… M-O-U-S-E….”

Even after all the presents were open, Llany left them at the table and went marching all around the living room singing and dancing with this birthday card. He was still doing that very thing with the card today in our school room.

Llany also received these robot dinosaurs. This was unquestionably my favorite gift of the night.

These dinosaurs are AMAZING!!!

They’re from the PBS kids show, “Dinosaur Train.” What’s amazing about these particular dinosaurs is that if you have more than one of them, and you set them near each other, they begin a dialogue back and forth. Each of these dinosaurs individually says over fifty different things. And the conversations they have are so educational. An example of some of what I’ve heard between the two of them goes something like this,

“Hey Borris, I’m Morris.”

“Hey Morris, I’m Borris.”

“Hey Borris, what do you eat?”

“I’m an herbavore which means I only eat plants.”

“Whoa, cool. I’m a carnivore which means I eat meat.”

“I weigh seven tons, how much do you weigh?”

“When I’m full grown, I’ll weigh seven tons.”

They go on and on, and on, back and forth. Sometimes they ask each other questions, and sometimes they say things together.

Someone out there has got to take this technology and create some talking Tea Party friends. Can you picture it?

“Trixie, it’s fine weather we’ve been having.”

“Oh yes Pixie, I just adore the Spring.”

“Trixie would you pass the sugar please?”

“Of course, do you prefer one lump or two?”

To any toy manufacturers out there reading this, you can email me about where to send the royalty check, and… you’re welcome.

There are more ideas where that one came from people. Lots of  ’em!

Just ask me about the machine idea I have that will revolutionize the laundry dilemma… oh yes… there are sketches available.

So, that was my weekend.

What did you do?

Have you read these other posts yet?

• This Dad is Taking Pancakes to a Whole New Level
  You have got to see these pancakes!...
• 2009 Christmas Cookie Extravaganza – This is it!
  Here they are in all their glory!...
• BACK 2 HomeSCHOOL Next Week
  I have one week to get organized and prepared for another year......

Gratitude that makes me cherish every day, and grateful to the God who gives all good things, continues here…

377. the availability of any book at any time

378. amazingly created bugs that look exactly like leaves

379. little boys

380. the toddler stage

381. cupcakes

382. air conditioning

383. Facebook

385. Redbox

386. Flip-flops

387. Toys-R-Us

388. a new cell phone

389. a night out with a friend

390. talking dinosaur toys

391. clearance sales

392. department store customer price scanners

393. egg rolls

394. straws

395. bibs

396. music that no longer takes up shelf space but is purchased and played with the click of a button

397. world maps

398. three day weekends

399. the parrot stage of small children

400. boogies boards, platform dollies with wheels, steep driveways, children, and daddy

401. the Google Sky app on my phone that helps me see the stars and planets

402. those who walk before us and share wisdom

403. One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are – the book by Anne Voskamp

404. Ann Voskamp

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