{this moment}

Inspired by SouleMama, {this moment} is a single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Garden Update

The garden is looking pretty good, y'all.  Weirdly, one of the raised beds Matt built for me is performing much better than the other, but I think it's what I'm trying to grow in the second bed, and it's just not filling out as quickly.  I've had some trouble with weeds popping up - from our free soil - but hey, it was free. 

This is the one that's doing really well.

Lettuce!  I've been harvesting some every day this week to put on my sandwich or make a little salad.

Spinach!  And peas next to it!

On a whim at Wal-mart last week, we got a strawberry plant.  So far it seems happy, and there's several little white strawberries growing.

This is my low-budget seed starting operation.  I've got my tomato, peppers, and some other stuff starting here.  In old frozen dinner containers.  I couldn't see why I should pay for anything else to start them in if I'm just going to move them, but I guess we'll see how they do with this method.

I'm a really lazy gardener, but I'm having so much fun with this!

{this moment}

Inspired by SouleMama, {this moment} is a single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Cadence is 3.5!

Right now, Cadence has three phrases she says A LOT.  The first is "Hey, guys..." always followed by some sort of instruction or something for her listeners to do.  It's really funny when she tries this on her little buddies because they don't usually cooperate with whatever she's trying to get them on board with. 

The second is "Actually..." usually followed by her letting her listener know that whatever they just said, especially if it was a request from me to do something, is just not right.  Not always my favorite thing.

The third is "Speaking of..." I don't know where she picked this up.  But she really does use it to continue/direct the conversation. 

Also, interestingly, she has started calling me "Ma-maw" prounouced like she's British.  I promise I haven't been letting her watch Downton Abbey.  ;)

Theme of the Week: Cats

Once again, this is a Cadie-chosen theme.  I've found that realistically we can only do so much with our other activities of cleaning, storytime, playgroup, cooking, and shopping, so the activities are a little lighter than I've planned previously.

Reading: Mama Cat has Three Kittens by Fleming, Pete the Cat: I love My White Shoes by Litwin, and How Do Dinosaurs Love their Cats? by Yolen, Splish, Splash, Splat! by Scotton at Barnes and Noble Online Storytime

Letter Awareness: K for Kitten (because we've got C down, yo!)

Action Rhyme:
There was a GREAT BIG CAT (hold out one fist, use big voice)
and a TEENY LITTLE MOUSE (hold out other fist, use small voice)
who ran around and around (roll fists around each other)
in a tall, tall house (stretch arms above head)
Until that TEENY LITTLE MOUSE
got caught at last (have cat fist "catch" mouse fist)
Because the GREAT BIG CAT
ran around so fast (roll fists around quickly)

Extras: Feed Rainey treats, watch Dora and Blue's Clues episodes featuring cats

{this moment}

Inspired by SouleMama, {this moment} is a single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Theme of the Week: Snakes!

Reading: Small Green Snake by Gray, The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash by Noble, and one non-fiction snake book

Letter Awareness: S (Cadence has been able to identify the letter S for a long time, so maybe she'll practice writing it?  We'll see.)

Fine Motor Skill Activity: Button Snake

Art: Paper plate snake

Flannelboard: Five Little Snakes (leftover from my storytime days - find the rhyme and some other snake ideas here)

Piper at 6 months

This is one happy girl.  So easy to make her smile.  She loves to socialize and see what's going on.  She's gotten very active and wiggly.  Matt commented the other day that holding her was a workout. 

She's enjoying eating food, even if it is baby food and all squished up.  Her favorite song is "Mr. Golden Sun" and I think bath time is one of her favorite times of day.

She can sit up by herself for a few seconds.  I think she'll be crawling before we know it.  Actually everything about her seems to be happening before I know it.  It's going so fast, although I do look forward to not getting up at 6 to nurse her anymore (we do both go back to bed though).

{this moment}

Inspired by SouleMama, {this moment} is a single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Freebies!

Look at all this great stuff that came in the mail the other day!  I love freebies - we got a diaper, wipes, mouthwash, toothpaste, and more.  These were from P&G brand sampler - you can sign up here.

Theme of the Week: Fish and Sea Creatures

As Cadence requested, we're doing some fish and sea creature activities this week.

Reading: Hooray for Fish by Cousins, Fish Eyes: A Book You can Count On by Ehlert, I'm the Biggest Thing in the Ocean by Sherry, About Fish: A Guide for Children by Sill,  Swimmy by Lionni (which I think is just one of the most visually stunning picture books I've ever seen),  Wish for a Fish: All About Sea Creatures by Worth,  and Fancy Nancy and the Mermaid Ballet by O'Connor and Glasser (I grabbed this one off the new book shelf at the library because Mermaids! and Ballet!  A surefire hit that we've been reading over and over, though only tangentially related...)

Art: Paper plate fish (pictured below - we already did this activity) and maybe this jellyfish

Singing: Baby Beluga (Piper seems to really love it when we sing this to her, along with our board book), The Waves in the Sea (to the tune of Wheels on the Bus)

Letter Awareness: F
I've also been writing simple words on a piece of paper and then letting her find the matching letters from her letter puzzle pieces.  This week, we'll do fish and sea and maybe whale or shark.

These pics are from the children's museum in Tampa, because we took a whirlwind trip to FL last week for my little bro's 30th b-day.  Cadence LOVED the museum, and she was pretty good at catching the "fish" from the "dock". 

{this moment}

Inspired by SouleMama, {this moment} is a single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Cadence wrote her name by herself last week...