Having Trouble

I've been having the hardest time posting lately. I'm not sure if it's my computer or blogger acting up again. I'm continuing to work on the problem. Bear with me! =)

Balloon Painting

It's so much fun to paint with things other than paintbrushes!

This pretty flower was made with an almost deflated balloon that I found on the floor of our sunroom.

Bekah picked her paint colors and went away creating pictures with her balloon and paints.

I think it came out so adorable! Can you tell Bekah's favorite color is orange!

Worm Tunnels

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We are big fans of worms in our family. Bekah loves to find them digging in our garden and has never shyed away from holding one.

One of her favorite books is Bob and Otto by Robert O. Bruel. It's a book about a worm and caterpillar who are best friends. We've read it many, many times!

This may not be the prettiest craft, but Bekah had so much fun making it. We mixed brown paint with a little bit of flour to make our "soil". Bekah painted this on brown construction paper and then we added pieces of tan yarn for our worms. Very easy and very fun!

I am linking to stART over at A Mommy's Adventures.

Playing with Baby

Sarah is now 6 months old! I don't know where this 1/2 of a year has gone! She is such a joyful baby, we feel so blessed.

Now that she's 6 months she's able to do so much more that just sit and stare at us. She's rolling over, scooting herself across the floor, babbling, giggling, and more.

All of this activity caused me to look into some fun things I could do with her. I got The Baby's Game Book by Isabel Wilner and Sam Williams from our local library. We've been having so much fun trying out the different "games" in this book. Sarah especially loves the knee ride games.

Her favorite one is this:
(Bounce the baby on your knee)
Trot, trot, trot.
Go and never stop.
Trudge along, my little pony,
Where it's rough and where it's stony.
Go and never stop.
Trot, trot, trot, trot, trot.

The picture above was taken when we were doing this little knee ride/chant together. She giggles so much!

Pyramid Game

Bekah has really started enjoying the show The Backyardigans. I printed this pyramid game from http://www.nickjr.com/printables/index.jhtmland we had such a fun time playing it.
I made a book full of different fun printables inside plastic page liners and included this fun game. When Bekah say's the famous, "Mom, I'm bored...." I just pull this book out and she can find something fun to do inside. We call it the Bekah's Bored Book. I'll share more about our "I'm Bored Book" in another post.
For the pyramid game, we would take turns rolling the die (I found our big green ones at the dollar store).

We would then color the numbered line that matched what we rolled. For example, if we rolled a 2, you would color in the 2nd line of the pyramid. We used dry erase markers so we could play again and again.

You win by being the first one to color in your entire pyramid.

Sesame Street Felt Characters

I made these Sesame Street felt characters after seeing them on My Two Happy Homeschoolers awhile ago. Bekah loves playing with felt and these were very easy to create.

Word Ending Match

I printed this from Preschool Post when we did our transportation unit awhile ago, but didn't get to it until now. Bekah needed a little help getting started on this, but once she understood what to do she did great!

We watch Super Why on PBS kids a lot, so Bekah related this activity to Wonder Red's song. We had a great time learning!

Fly, Butterfly, Fly

One day last week Bekah and I made some butterflies using coffee filters, clothes pins, markers, and a spray bottle filled with water.
First we flattened out the coffee filters and colored them with markers.

Once that was done we sprayed them with water until the colors blended together. (I put paper towels under them so the marker didn't bleed onto my table.)

After they dried, we drew faces on the top of a clothes pin and attached it to the middle of the coffee filter.

Then we hung them up in our dining area for all to enjoy!

Daniel in the Lions Den

Bekah and I had recently had a lot of fun learning about Daniel in the Lions Den. We read the story from her childrens Bible and then made a cute craft I found at DLTK-Kids website.

After we finished, Bekah wanted to act out the story of Daniel in the Lions Den. We had so much fun taking turns being Daniel or the lion! When Daddy came home we even performed it for him. I think Sarah was one of the lions!
Bekah loves to paint and this project had her painting the lion's mane with a toothbrush, which she thought was great!

U is for Umbrella

We're finally continuing on with our alphabet crafts. With the rainy weather we've been having I thought U is for Umbrella would be perfect!

Bekah loves doing the letter crafts. I hope to complete the alphabet with her soon!


Here is our U is for Umbrella inspired from No Time For Flash Cards.

Easter Egg Game

After playing this game for the 5th time this morning I thought I should post about it. I actually put it together last year after seeing it on Tired, Need Sleep. I was so sure I had already written about it, but when I looked I was shocked that I couldn't find it. It was as well loved last year as it is this year and easy to put together. The instructions are included on the game, but it's pretty simple. You make a colored egg dice, roll it to see what color egg you get, and see what animal you get inside the egg. The goal is to be the one with the most chicks at the end of the game.

Bekah thought it was hilarious when she would get a cow or zebra in an egg! We also left some empty and she thought that was so funny!

Bekah's Bakery

After seeing this great idea on Frugal Family Fun, I couldn't wait to try it with Bekah.

I got out some playdough and some baking items (cupcake liners, rolling pins, cookie cutters, and birthday candles) and told her this was her very own bakery. I also set up her play oven next to her, so she could "bake" the items she made.

She got her animals out and they were her customers. It was so cute seeing her animals wait in line for their bakery order.


Bekah had a blast making cupcakes and cookies and it kept her entertained for a long time.

Love's Power to Multiply

I asked for Stacy's permission to make a guest post on here. I'm grateful for the opportunity, especially because of the topic that I get to write about.

If you have read even one post on this blog, you would be able to see that Stacy is a very special woman. She is smart, creative, and one of the kindest, most giving people I know. Alright, I admit that I am quite partial. We have been married for nearly seven years, and it has been a real joy. No, we are not perfect, but perfect for each other and very much in love.

Honestly, when our first daughter, Bekah arrived, I thought that having children would compete with Stacy's affection for me and mine for her. The opposite happened - our love grew. I admire Stacy so much more as a result of sharing the wonderful adventure we call parenting.

When we became blessed with our second daughter, Sarah, love multiplied in our household once again. There some doubts about how Bekah would react to a baby sister. Would she be jealous or resentful? While there are times that Bekah craves attention from us (often at inopportune times, like Sarah crying for a bottle or needing a diaper change), she has adjusted very well. She loves her little sister. We can tell from the many moments of tenderness shared between our girls. One such moment is shown in this photo that we took a few weeks ago. It just melted our hearts.



Thank you for reading and God bless you.

~Nathan

Sarah's First Tastes

Last week Bekah came down with strep throat and Sarah has had a stuffy nose. Now my camera is giving me problems. Thankfully, Bekah is on medicine and is feeling much better and Sarah seems to be on the mend. Unfortunately, Nathan worked on my camera last night and then started looking at new cameras on ebay.....not a good sign! =)

We've also had some big moments around here. Sarah had her first taste of food yesterday. Thankfully the video function on my camera worked!

She's growing up so fast!

Airplane Snack

Here's a cute snack Bekah had during our transportation week. She absolutely loved it and gobbled it up!

All we needed was a banana, round cookie (which I broke in half), chocolate graham crackers (you can use regular), and we used some whipped cream for the clouds. Simple!

stART - Bear Snores On

One of our favorite authors is Karma Wilson. Bekah just loves her books! Bekah loves having Bear Snores On read to her, so when I saw this book and craft at Army Angels I made a mental note to do it soon.

I had cut 2 circles for the head, 2 ovals for the body, 2 shapes for the arms, and 2 for the legs. Then, Bekah set to work on the bears face. She added googly eyes, small circles for the ears, and drew a face on him.

I stapled around the two ovals and the two circles until they were just about closed all the way around. I was going to use cotton balls to stuff him, but realized we had a big bag of shredded papers to use (go recycling!). So, we stuffed his body and his head. She loved this part!

Then we enjoyed reading The Bear Snores On.
I'm linking to stART at a Mommy's Adventures as well as Kids Get Crafty at Red Ted Art.

Wordless Wednesday - My Silly Girl!

Homemade Chocolate Cupcakes and Buttercream Frosting

One day last week Bekah insisted it was one of her stuffed animals birthday. She used some scraps of wrapping paper to wrap them a (recycled) gift and wanted to make them a birthday cake. I had to admit, cake sounded pretty good to me and I had just seen this awesome buttercream frosting recipe on Good Cheap Eats. So, we set off to make these homemade chocolate cupcakes and buttercream frosting.
The chocolate cake/cupcake recipe doesn't have any eggs in it, so I didn't feel a bit guilty letting Bekah lick the beaters. (I know they say since they eggs are pasterised, they won't hurt you, but I still worry).


Bekah had a great time adding the sprinkles!

These were so much easier than I thought they would be and so delicious. My husband claimed they were his favorite part of dinner that night and he is not a big sweets eater!
Now for the recipes:

No Egg Devil’s Food Cake

Mix together:
3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
6 Tbsp. cocoa
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt

Add:
3/4 cup oil
2 Tbsp. white vinegar
2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups cold water

Bake at 350 for 50 minutes or 15-20 minutes for cupcakes.

Homemade Buttercream Frosting

1 cup butter, softened
3-4 cups powdered sugar
1-2 Tablespoons milk or half and half
1 teaspoon vanilla

In large mixing bowl, beat butter until fluffy. Add three cups sugar, 1 Tablespoon milk, and vanilla. Beat until combined and fluffy. Adjust with more sugar or milk, depending on what consistency you’re looking for.

Transportation Fun

We had a great time with our transportation unit. We didn't get to everything this week since Daddy was home Monday and we pretty much relaxed that day. We hope to finish up next week.

We did get to do some great things, though.

Bekah had a great time with this transportation matching game printed off from Homeschool Creations. You can find a whole Transportation packet here.
We also a painting activity with our cars and planes. Bekah really loved making tracks with the cars and planes wheels.
Bekah sorted things that go onto these printables I found at Printable Share.

Bekah's favorite activity this week was the craft we did to go with the story of Jesus calming the seas that I found at I Can Teach My Child.
It was a great week.

I'm linking to Preschool Corner at Homeschool Creations.

stART - Jesus Calms the Sea

This week we read the story of Jesus Calming the Sea from our Young Readers Bible. Bekah really loves when we read her Bible to her. I saw this great idea at I Can Teach My Child. She has tons of great ideas on her site. We had a great time doing this story and craft together.

First, we read the story together. Bekah then decided that the stormy side should be black with blue rain drops, black clouds, lightening, and purple waves. She loves to paint, so this was a perfect project for her. We added a boat attached with a brad so we could rock the boat and Jesus sleeping (which I drew for her). She helped color him and thought he looked great in his "yellow jammies."

You've gotta love her placement of the lightening bolts and the rainbow blanket! I love the imagination of a 4 year old!

Then instead of waiting for it to dry and doing the calm seas on the other side of the paper, we just did another one. (what can I say, we were in a hurry since baby sister was napping!) =)

Bekah made a beautiful blue sky with pink clouds (I guess she's heard that pink skies are a sailors delight!) and blue water. We added another boat, Jesus calming the sea, and a sunshine.

I am linking to stART at A Mommy's Adventures and Kids Get Crafty at Red Ted Art.

Indoor Car Wash

Just recently when we were coming home on a bitter cold afternoon, I pulled into the garage and Bekah spotted her blue ride on car. She looked at me and said, "Oh, we should wash my car today..." Um, Bekah it's 10 degrees out....I don't think so! But, then I saw this awesome post on Frugal Family Fun and KNEW she would love it! It only too a few minutes to put together with things we already had and there we had an indoor car wash. Now, I won't lie to you, this made a bit of a mess, so next time I will put a towel under the water dish and that will help that problem. However, this entertained her for AT LEAST an hour. This made me a very happy Mommy!
I cut a few car shapes out of foam.

I then filled an 8x8 dish with warm soapy water and put a piece of sponge and towel next to this.

Bekah used her washable markers to make the cars dirty.

Then she used the dish of water to wash them. We had fun listening to the Car Wash song as she cleaned them.

So fun!

Things that Go Sorting

This week we're working on a transportation unit. One of Bekah's favorite Baby Einstein videos has been On The Go, so she is really enjoying this unit. Today we did a Things that Go sort. It was pretty easy for her, but she really enjoyed doing it.

I printed these off from Printable Share and just used her toy cars, planes, trains, and boats.