Our Year in Review

As 2009 comes to an end I thought I would take a look back at some of our highlights from the past 12 months. It snowed twice.

We made slime and soup.

Abby learned to swing all by herself, swim, whistle and chew gum without swallowing it.

We had visits from all our extended family. Enjoyed spending time with them so much.

I read some really good books. Click here to see a couple.

We had the best time touring a working cow farm while on vacation in Canada.

I went back to work part time after being home for 5 years.

Adam and Grandpa Warren built a great new deck on the back of our house.

Abby played the role of Mary in the school nativity play.

It really has been a great year. I have so much to be thankful for. Hope you have a wonderful New Year.

For Unto Us a Child is Born

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Weird Santa

Abby: That Santa was kinda weird.
Me: Well I think that was one of the guys that helps Santa. You know the real Santa is so busy this time of year.
Abby: Oh no, I forgot to ask him to make me be able to fly.
Me: oh well, maybe next year.

Wrapped and Ready

I pulled the holiday books out last week and wrapped them all in news print. I thought I would throw some number recognition in this year and numbered them from 1 to 24. The plan is to let Abby pick one each night after dinner for us to read. For a peek at some of our favorite books from last year - click here. What are your favorite holiday reads?

Counting Down till Christmas

This activity came from my first grade teaching days and I am excited to introduce it to Abby this year. Each day in December she will get to glue a cotton ball onto Santa's beard. When Santa has a full beard it will be time to leave out the cookies and milk.

Thankful Poem

Thankful

by Abby (age 5)

I'm thankful for my Mommy, Daddy, Cleo and myself.

I'm really thankful for dessert and cookies.

I'm thankful for my cousins.

I'm thankful for my friends.

I'm thankful for my grandparents.

I'm thankful for my school and my swing set.

I'm thankful for raspberries.

But most of all I am thankful for lizards and my bug catcher.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Meow!

Can you keep a secret?

I recently bought Abby a couple of books for Christmas that I am so excited about.

The Lion & The Mouse is a beautiful wordless adaptation of an Aesop fable. Abby has a thing for lions so I think she will really like this one.

How to build an A comes with a bag of foam shapes so the child can make each letter as they read along. Abby does not have a thing for the alphabet, so I am keeping my fingers crossed on this one. :)

Have you done any shopping yet?

Doing a Little Decorating...

carrots and black eyed peas ghost tree

apple print pumpkins and hand print Frankensteins.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

Tis the season for pumpkin goodies and do I have a treat for you. These Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins are so yummy. Thanks to my friend Beth for passing along this great recipe.

Wordless Wednesday

The Star

Abby was the Star Student last week at school. She had to answer the questions below and we sent in several pictures to go up on a bulletin board in the classroom.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

A firefighter

What do you like best about school?

School is fun and school is exciting. I like to go to Toys & Games and Centers and my favorite part of the day is snack time.

I am proud of myself when I ...

whistle or swing all by myself

I am good at...

catching frogs and lizards.

My favorite subject is...

lions

I am a star student because...

I don't cause no trouble. :)

Happy Birthday Johnny Appleseed

We celebrated Johnny Appleseed's Birthday this week by making Apple Faces. Just slice some apples down the middle (I had to cut a couple of seeds out), spread some peanut butter on them and add some fun toppings. We used craisins, raisins, and mini marshmallows.

And don't forget to say this prayer before eating:

Oh, the Lord's been good to me

And so I thank the Lord

For giving me the things I need

The sun and the rain and the apple seed.

The Lord's been good to me.

For more kids in the kitchen ideas head on over to A Little Fun With Me and Lu.

Kids in the Kitchen

I wanted to share a couple of kids cookbooks with you this week. Pretend Soup is a great cookbook for the preschool age. The recipes use very simple pictures that make it very child friendly to read. We just checked this book by Paula Deen out from the library. There are several recipes in here I want to try. I think this would be a great one to own when Abby is a little older.
Do you have any favorite kids cookbooks?


For more Kids in the Kitchen ideas head over to A Little Fun With Me and Lu.

I'd like to thank all the little people...

I just received my first blog award. Three Queens and a King gave me the Honest Scrap award. I am supposed to tell you 10 things about myself and then pass the award on to some blogs that I enjoy.


1. I taught kindergarten and first grade for 10 years before Abby came along.

2. I just started back to work teaching preschool 3 days a week.

3. I am a pastor's kid and a daddy's girl.

4. My husband and I compete to see who can read the most books each year but he will never admit that.

5. When I started college I planned to major in Social Work but switched to Elem. Ed after my first year.

6. My daughter and I have the same birthday - which is wonderful in some ways and not so wonderful in other ways. :)

7. When I was in first grade I erased a friends name off of their homework and put my name on it. (Dad - if you are reading this - it was a one time thing.)

8. One of the best books I have read this year is The Help.

9. I worry too much about lots of different stuff.

10. If I could travel anywhere my first choice would be The Galapagos Islands.

Now I would like to pass this award along to:

Eat, Drink and Decorate

A Little Fun With Me and Lu

Plays With Mud

I Blame My Mother

Felt-O-Rama

Paper-and-String

Back to School

Big week for the Clark girls. Abby and I both went back to school. I will be teaching a 3 year old class at the same school Abby is attending. I am learning how to balance work and home life and behind on lots of things (phone calls, emails, laundry). So things might slow down for a little while here in my blog world while I get caught up. Hope your September has started off super!

Kid Friendly Friday - Easy Puzzles

I realize this picture does not make us look like the healthiest eating bunch but these box tops were saved over a long period of time - at least 2 weeks. :) Anyway - I cut each one into 3 or 4 pieces, put them all in a pile and let Abby put them all back together. For more kid friendly ideas head over to see what is going on at I Blame My Mother.

Wordless Wednesday

Scenes from a 1600 Mile Roadtrip

Just got home from visiting family in Canada. We had a wonderful time and as you can see from the pictures we had lots of animal encounters.

Teaching Place Setting

My latest felt project: place mats for Abby's play kitchen.

Abby has a Pen Pal

Her name is Lu and she is from the great state of Florida. She made Abby a bookmark and even created her own stationary by painting with marbles. Her mom has a blog full of great ideas. She was so excited to get mail. We also had fun writing her back. Lu is a busy girl (as most 6 year olds are) but we can't wait to hear back from her.

Wordless Wednesday

ready to go snacks - Kid Friendly Friday

I get so many great ideas from Carisa's blog and here is one of my favorites - a bowl full of snacks. This stays in the pantry on a low shelf (as opposed to the chocolate that stays on a very high shelf). When Abby wants a snack she can go get one her self. If we are headed out the door and need a snack for the car - she can pick one or two real quick. To see more kid friendly ideas check out I Blame My Mother.

What is making your life easier at the moment?

Muffin Tin Lunch

This muffin tin meal was inspired by the book Apple Trouble. pear, apple, milk

cashews, black berries, leaf shaped peanut butter sandwich



These are all foods that the poor little hedgehog found stuck to his back. Thank goodness for a friendly billy goat that helps him out.

To see more great muffin tin creations click here.

Kid Friendly Friday - yarn

It's amazing what adding a little bit of yarn and glue will do to liven up drawing time.

For more kid friendly ideas go check out I Blame My Mother.