Patterson Farms

My sister Lisa, invited Virginia, me, Susan, and Samantha along to go strawberry picking. A good way for all of us to hang out and for the girls to have time with their Aunt Lisa. We all met up at Patterson Farms in Mt. Ulla. 

Virginia and I got there and Lisa was waiting. We had a few minutes before Susan, Samantha, and Zach got there so we made our way up to the animal barn to see all the animals. Virginia was fascinated with the rabbits and goats. The peacocks were also beautiful. 

Once Susan and the crew arrived we all headed out to the strawberry fields to pick our strawberries. This was tons of fun watching the girls pick the strawberries. Virginia was good and was starting to fill her basket until she saw Samantha. Yeah Samantha caught on quick that you could eat the strawberries too. It wasn't to long until both girls had red faces. 

After picking for awhile we headed in and made our way back to the animal barn. Once Samantha and Virginia got to feed the animals we headed to the play ground. There really is so much to do at Patterson Farms. they have many little play areas for the kids to enjoy. Virginia and Samantha ran all over the play grounds. After we had wore ourselves out at the play ground we made our way back to the market for some ice cream. What better way to wrap up our visit then sitting in the shade and eating ice cream. The girls even met some new friends and ran and played tag with the girls. 

I am so thankful that Virginia has two wonderful Aunts. They both are great with her and really make it a point to be apart of her life. What can I say my sisters Rock! And now that I have tons of strawberries, someone needs to give me some awesome strawberry recipes. 

My Creations

Last week as I was reading some of my favorite blogs. I ran across TinkerLab and their Double Page Spread Challenge. As parents we tend to focus on our kids creative experiences and forget about feeding our own creative minds. TinkerLab has set up a challenge where you get a sketch book and each day you do something creative on a double spread. It can be anything you wish or you can look at the weekly suggestions that TinkerLab posts. Oh and if you are looking for some cool art projects to do with your child stop by TinkerLab for tons of ideas. 

Here is my first day of the challenge. I decided I wanted to try to reproduce a cover from Virginia's library book, Bubble Bubble by Mercer Mayer. The book is wonderful and the illustrations are beautiful. It has been awhile since I have sat down myself and drawn or painted. I actually found myself having fun and remembering the days of college when I would stay up late finishing a project in my dorm room. It was alot of fun and as I finished the two pages Virginia jumped on the bed and started drawing with me. That was the best part, just Virginia and I creating art together. 

Moments from MawMaw's

 I believe we have made it a tradition now to go to my parent's house every Wednesday for dinner.  Here are a few moments from MawMaw's house this week.

It had been raining all day so MawMaw pulled her car out of the garage and let the girl's hit the christmas ball that hangs from the ceiling. Virginia loves this game.

Big Man got to test out MawMaw's swing and loved it so much he fell asleep.

Two little munchkins found MawMaw's weights.

Who needs a playground when you have PawPaw

This is the part I love most about MawMaw's I get to put my feet up and read my book in peace and quiet. 

Books, Books, and more Books

This year I have found myself  reading more and more books. I am usually not one to read a ton of books. Really I am lucky if I read two in one year. But with many things I tend to get on a roll and go with it. It has helped that I have joined two books clubs. 

I am in charge of the CentralPiedmontMommies book club and I joined the Kannapolis Paranormal Booksuckers group on Goodreads. Both groups work well for me. It gives me a nice mix of books to enjoy each month. And the nice thing with the Goodreads group is that I can read at my own pace. After I finish a book I go online and post my thoughts in the right thread. 

The Kannapolis Paranormal Booksuckers group basically lists almost the whole years book choices at the beginning of the year. That way fast readers can move ahead and slow readers don't have to rush. There are threads set up and as people finish a book they go online and start discussing their thoughts on the book. I have started to take the same approach with the CentralPiedmontMommies group. We were running into the same problem each month.  Not everyone was able to get the book at the library in time before our meeting. So this approach has been nice because now if one person can't get the book for this month. They can move on to the next month while they are waiting for last month's book to come in.  And we don't have to stress over picking a certain day and time that works well for everyone's schedule.

Since I have been reading more I decided to start keeping track of my books read on Goodreads. This has been fun because I enjoy seeing all the books listed and I get to see what my friends are reading. A bonus also is on Goodreads the Kannapolis Paranormal Booksuckers are doing a Book Scavenger Hunt for the year. They have a list of things that you have to find by the end of the year. You can only use one book for each item. 

Along with Goodreads I got the idea from my good friend Katie, I thought I would add a page to my blog to keep track of my books  read and to give a short review for others to read. The link to my bookshelf is at the top right of my blog. I am slowly adding the books and my reviews. I hope you will check them out and share any books that you have read that you have enjoyed. I need some more suggestions for the rest of the year.

Pleasant Surprises

Today started off like normal. Virginia drags me out of bed kicking and screaming. I don't really like getting up at 7:30 or 8:00AM. I know it could be worse. I usually try to talk her into climbing into my bed and watching Caillou on netflix. But most mornings it doesn't work. We end up in the living room watching Caillou or Max and Ruby on the tv. I end up crashing for an hour on the couch. Until it is time for Virginia to take a bath and get ready for her speech class.

During speech is when I get about an hour of freedom. I usually grab a drink and snack and either listen to my audio book in the car or read my book. Today I headed to the library to pick up my books on hold and pick out a new audio book to read. Lately it seems all my library holds are coming in at one time. Guess I need to learn to read faster or I am going to just have to turn one or two back in and get them later. No big deal really. 

I pick up Virginia and we grab a bite to eat for lunch. Then we head out to Village Park to play on the play ground. The weather today couldn't have been better. It wasn't hot or cold, it was just perfect. After she played, she decided to head over to the Kannapolis library. The kids area at this library is pretty fun. It has tables of puzzles. Tables set up with paper, crayons, and stencils. Even as a few other toys for the kids to play with. Today she made her way to each table and played with the computers for awhile. 

We even stepped out onto the patio and enjoyed the cool breeze. Once we stepped back inside, Virginia spotted the board games. There is a table of board games in the library for people to play. I always assumed they were all teen and adult games. Turns out the Virginia sees a game for kids, AB Seas. 

It turns out to be a really fun game. It is basically a ABC fishing game. The child picks a game board that has different letters on hooks. In the middle of the board is a box that holds all the alaphabet fish. Your goal is to fish out the letters that you need to match the letters on your game card. We played this game for awhile. Virginia was having a blast and of course not realizing that she was also practicing her ABC's. I was surprised that she knew most of her letters. She only got stuck on a handful. I may have to look to buy this game or make a similar game at home.

Once we were done at the library I managed to drag her to the grocery store to pick up fish for dinner. Once home she crashed out on the couch. I cleaned up a bit and sat down and enjoyed some peace and quiet reading my book until it is time to cook dinner. Pretty nice day all in all.

Foot Sponge Painting

This week I pretty much raided the art section of my local library. I was delighted when I found a bunch of MaryAnn F. Kohl books. She has written a bunch of books on art projects to do with kids. I found the Foot Sponge Painting idea from The Big Messy Art Book.

Supplies:

Big Butcher Paper ( I used my roll of Ikea paper )

masking tape ( I used some blue painters tape I had on hand )

tempera paint

sturdy, shallow pans ( I just used paper plates)

big sponges ( found mine at the dollar store )

Velcro straps ( I just used the painters tape to hold the sponges onto Virginia's feet )

plastic dish tub of warm soapy water ( I just had a wet towel on hand to clean up any spots )

old towels

First I rolled out the Ikea paper across my living room floor. I used the painters tape and taped down both ends of the paper.

Next I took two paper plates and the paint. I swirled two colors on each plate.

Then I started off by taping just one sponge to Virginia's feet. That way she could get a feel of how it is walking on sponges. Then after she was fine with one I taped the second sponge to her feet. I would say that when your child steps on the plates, it is helpful that you help them step on and off. It can get a little slippery when they are stepping onto the paint plates and off. Also you have to pull the paint plates off their feet before stepping down the paper. 

I did this project inside and at first was a little worried about the mess. But Virginia was super careful and really the spots she did make on the hardwood floor were easy to clean up with just a wet towel. Now if you have a bunch of kids or young kids that like to run all over the place. Then I suggest moving this project outdoors. 

I think this project has to be my all time favorite so far that we have done. Virginia had a blast and was amazed that I was letting her paint on the living room floor. That was the first thing she said to me was, " We are painting on the floor?" I always love mixing things up and trying new things. I plan to look deeper in MaryAnn F. Kohl's books and find some more new projects for us to do this week. 

Glasses, Glitter, and the letter A Oh My!

Today has been a pretty fun filled day other then me still recovering from my three ragball games. I do believe this is a sign I need to exercise more. Since I was still pretty sore I decided to take it a little easy today and do some fun things around the house with Virginia.

Lately she has shown interest in wanting to do the letter of the week activity again. We have been trying out ABCmouse.com this month since it is free for one month. Virginia loves playing on my computer so this website is perfect for her. I like that you can control the level of difficulty and it shows the progress your child is making. It is also a mix of math, art, music, and natural facts. So far she has been studying the letter A. I believe she enjoys the art and music the most. But I am surprised how much she has enjoyed the small books that are on the site too.

Going with the letter A I decided to see if she would want to do some printables from my favorite Homeschool Blogs 1+1+1=1 and Confessions of a Homeschooler. She jumped right into the activities and loved them. I decided to do a few each day this week. As long as she is interested in doing them. 1+1+1=1 also has a few slide shows in their member only section. I wasn't sure if they would keep Virginia's attention, but to my surprise she wanted to watch them over and over again. The thing I love about 1+1+1=1 is that her lessons also tie in scripture. We played with both sites and activities for awhile until she lost interest and wanted to watch Caillou.

Once we grabbed a bite to eat, we were off to pick up my new pair of glasses. I finally went to the eye doctor and picked a pair to replace my old scratched up glasses. I had been wearing contacts, but I had run out of them and let my prescription expire as well. So I had been wearing my back up glasses that are about 6 years old. They are pretty beat up and were not pretty. I knew once Mia, my daughters best friend, told me I needed to go to the doctor because my glasses have boo boos, it was time for a new pair. 

With Virginia in tow we stopped and picked up the new glasses today. After wearing glasses or contacts since sixth grade. It still amazes me how it feels when you get a new pair and you can see so clear all of a sudden. It is like wow there are leaves on those trees. And I don't have to strain to read the menu up on the wall. I promise to post a picture tomorrow once I actually do my hair and not just throw it up into a pony tail.

After the eye doctors we made a stop at the dollar store. I wanted to pick up a few craft items for a project. There has been one craft item that I have seriously avoided using with Virginia, Glitter. I am not sure why I have not brought glitter before. I think it is just my fear of how messy it is. But at one of Virginia's play dates, they used glitter and I have to admit it was fun. So I grabbed a pack of 10 glitter glue sticks today. I pulled out some paper and let her go to town. It wasn't a mess and it kept her entertained for awhile. She used card stock and even tried it on the paper plate. 

Another great find at the Dollar Store was water beads. I have seen them on so many different blogs and used mostly for sensory play. I was thrilled when I found them at the dollar store. I grabbed up two bags, one are red and the other is blue. They are mainly used in vases and distribute water to the flower.  They are also great sensory play. They fill super funny and are loads of fun. While I washed dishes, Virginia enjoyed feeling the beads and pouring them from one container to another. 

So all in all today turned out to be a pretty good day. Tried a few new crafts and have a fun painting project lined up for tomorrow.