Snowmen and Christmas trees

It was a quiet day here in our home the kind that allows for games and PJ's all day! Today we made snowmen out of shaving cream and decorated construction paper Christmas trees.  The shaving cream was fun to get our fingers into. We've used it to practice writing words, letters, but this was a new idea I thought turned out cute.   Thank you Highland Park Preschool for this fun idea!



Shaving Cream the snowman cut out.



Our snowmen, now they just have to dry

What you can't see in the picture is each snowman is sprinkled with white glitter, adding a more realistic look to the "snow".  The Christmas trees we did, were simple. I drew and cut out trees from green construction paper and had the kids decorate them. Then tonight we read the tale of Three Trees. I love this simple folktale and the kids did too, we had to read it twice. A nice quite day before heading back to work, school and oops! I forgot to check the backpacks and sign the agendas, Better take care of that.  ~ DeAnn 

Oops! You need to mix 50% glue with the shaving cream or your cute little snowmen "melt" when you go to hang them up. Minor details.....

Field Trip!

One of the things I admire about those who have choosen to home school is the creativity to make lessons come to life.  Though any of us can bring lessons to life and in my opinion we should.  Having the extra day to do a field trip was perfect! The girls are studying Native Americans, they've recently spent time learning different tribes and their homes. The girls loved the cliff dwelling and the hike to get there. It was fun to watch their eyes light up, as they explored and we discussed the dwellings.  Here are some pictures to bring the text book to life! They now want me to print the pictures to share with their classes.  Our field trip took us to Tonto Nat'l Monument by Roosevelt lake.  We all want to go back when we can do the tour of the upper dwelling, in which one needs reservations or early bird arrival.  The pictures below are of the lower cliff dwelling.

Make learning fun, its a gift to last a life time! ~  DeAnn

Thanksgiving 2010

Thanksgiving has come and gone but what sweet memories! It interesting how a few changes in routine can lighten the entire day. Part of our tradition is spending the afternoon putting up the tree after our Thanksgiving meal. This year we had the tree up the night before, so it was ready to be decorated. Then while the food was being cooked they decorated this years ornaments. Grandma brought out antlers for the kids too, they looked cute and had fun as they wore their antlers to decorate the tree. Santa hats and antlers may have to be a new tradition. Here is what Thanksgiving looks like at our house:

Blank ornaments from Michaels
The finished ornaments are fun to pull out

year to year!

Colored with permanent markers!







Tree Trimming after Turkey





Happy Thanksgiving from our home to yours!!

~ DeAnn



Nuts!

Its a blustery rainy day here in AZ canceling our trip to the zoo. The girls were driving each other and me a little nuts so it was time to get creative. I saw these cute little necklace charms at a craft fair. They were fun for the girls to make and didn't require a trip to the store to buy supplies. We used nuts from the garage,the girls picked out their gems and I glued them on. We used ribbon instead of a chain. I like the effect of the double ribbon.



~ DeAnn

Bread and Blankets...aaah!

Chloe has a cute little shirt, "So many Cupcakes, so little time." That is how I feel, so many ideas, crafts..so little time! November has been an off month for me, with being away and then a cold. I finally feel like me!

Today while I was catching up, the girls and I made bread! It turned out yummy and was a great activity as there was something all of them could do.

Here is the simple recipe we found!

3.5 cups all purpose flour

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup shortening

1 tsp salt

1 package regular or quick active dry yeast

1/2 cup very warm water

1/2 cup very warm milk

1 egg

Butter.

1. Mix 2 cups of the flour,sugar, shortening, salt andyeast. Add warm water, warm milk and egg. Beat with electric mixer on low for 1 minute, stir in remaining flour to make dough easy to handle.

2.  Turn dough on lightly floured surfae. Knead 5minutes or until smooth. Place in greased bowl, cover and rise in warm place about 1 hour. Dough should double. Dough is ready when indentation remains when touched.

3. Grease bottoms and sides of pans

     +we just used a cookie sheet and placed them close to each other.

4.  Punch dough down. Shape into balls. Place close together. Brush with melted butter. Cover and let rise in warm place 30 mins. Bake at 400 for 12-18 minutes. 14 minutes worked for us. 

This evening, we had our first marshmellow fight! The jellybeans didn't know what to make of  mom throwing marshmellows at them. Their first thought was to eat them, but then the war raged! Arizona's version of a snowball fight.  After the jellybeans mellowed Teagan and I worked on making a blanket. Popular a few years back, but I never think warm, cuddly and cute go out of style. Teagan enjoyed making it, and all the girls want one now. 

Enjoying the Simple Things! ~ DeAnn

Hidden Benefits

I just returned home from a conference in Houston, as part of my position as the district liaison to ensure the education of homeless youth. When the conference was approaching, I was dreading it.

When I arrived to the hotel, I was given a basic room key. I go to the elevator to ride up to the 23rd floor. The button doesn't work, I push and push, ride up and down, try a new elevator and really wish the people socializing would move so I wouldn't be so embarrassed. Just as I was about to give in...I noticed a slot in the elevator to put my key if I was riding to the club floor, so I try it, whats a club floor? It works! This exclusive floor was full of treats and benefits. I enjoyed sharing the benefits of my "club floor" with my other AZ counterparts and in return made great friends.

The conference was informative, the scholarship ceremony were homeless youth shared their stories, left tears in my eyes and my heart inspired. The conference kept us so busy, I didn't even get to step into the Galleria which was next door. I did get to see Walgreen's to pick up a few souvenirs for the kids. :)

I returned home to hugs, smiles and pictures saying I luv you mommy. Time away here and there proved good for my spirit benefiting my family not crippling it. I'm so thankful for my many blessings. Thank you Mom and Teagan for taking such good care of my jellybeans!

~ DeAnn

P.S At the airport, I picked up astronaut food, for the kids and I to try. I choose an ice cream sandwich, it looked like an ice cream sandwich. It was a good laugh to watch each child make the yuck face. I wish I had thought to have the camera ready.