Magneatos

I pulled out the Magneatos I got for Caden last Christmas. They are magnets that the kids can easily put together to make shapes and other designs. Caden loves making lines out of them. Hannah loves pulling them apart and taking them out of the box. Caden gets pretty upset. Fun and educational.

Daddy's Little Girl

Such a cute picture, just wanted to share!

Zoo trip-Plan B

We said this duck was sad because all the birds were getting to the food first.  When I showed Caden this picture he remembered and said, "Sad Mommy"!  Oh, and yes Caden was eating what he was feeding the ducks.  So we also talked about sharing.

Hannah enjoyed watching all the ducks and birds!

Our friend Ra Ra feeding the ducks!  She is a pro!

Last week we went to the Zoo with our friend Ra Ra.  When we got there there were tons of school buses and me and Liz looked at each other and said, "Plan B".  We were not about to go into the Zoo with all the schools that seemed to be on field trips that day.  So we decided to feed the ducks, go on a train ride, and have a picnic at the park.  The kids didn't know any different and plus they had a great time.  

Easter Photos

Caden running away from his Aunt Paula!  This happens all the time!

Wow, he actually got a little closer!:)

Found one!

Caden and his favorite cousin Zoe!

Caden and Hannah with Mee-Maw.  Hannah sneaking in some candy.

Hannah is saying, "Yeahhhh"!  She has been taking about 3-4 steps at a time!:)

Caden and his favorite Aunt!  Mee-Maw made a cute bunny cake and Caden and Aunt Jill had a blast playing with it, eating, it, and basically anything they could do with it to have a good laugh.

Aunt Jill making Caden laugh!

Caden not quite sure with the negotiation we kept giving him about which part of the cake he could have.

Hannah in her adorable Easter dress her Aunt Teen gave her.

We had such a great Easter Weekend, but it wore us out.  We had a birthday party Sat. morning across town and then to my parents for Easter.  The next day was church, then Aaron's parents for Easter.  I really enjoyed the message at church that morning  because it really encouraged me to really teach my children the true meaning of all the holidays and not get so involved in the "things and stuff" that can blog down the true meaning of the holidays.  Here are I've posted a few pictures of our Easter with our family!

Thumper's Fluffy Tail-Day 1 and 2

Today we started a new lesson from The Itty-Bitty Bookworm.  Our book is called Thumper's Fluffy Tail.  At first Caden wasn't interested but as I kept reading he enjoyed the cute story.  

Group Activity:

• Vocabulary cards for the day were the "forest" and "butterfly".  We talked about what do you see in the forest?  What types of animals live in the forest?  With the butterfly card I asked if they fly or crawl?
• Shape and color cards-We hung up the yellow balloon with our green balloon from last lesson. Caden told me that he wanted blue next.  

Creative arts:

• Bunny ears- While making the bunny ears hat Caden insisted on gluing the bunny ears where he wanted.  I had to hold myself back and let him put them where he wanted.  He glued cotton balls on the ears and we talked about how a bunny would feel by touch if we got to pet him.  We also colored the ears.  He loves markers, not interested in crayons.  I think he likes markers better because he gets to pull the tops on and off. 
• Bunny Puppet- Caden enjoyed making the face of the bunny.  I was impressed that he put everything in the correct spot, even the whiskers.

We also had some animal and vehicles cards, we talked about what sounds they make.  That was pretty cute watching him make the sounds.  

Puddles and Bugs

Last weekend we went to the most creative birthday parties ever.  It was our best friend Halle's 5th birthday party.  Her Mom Elsie sent out seeds and inside the seed package was the cutest little invitation to Halle's garden party.  At the party Elsie set up stations...the main station was painting a flower pot.  Another station was play-doh...it wasn't just any play-doh...it was home made and it had sparkles and it smelt so pretty...just like a flower.  There was a cookie decorating station.  Face-painting and the last station was shaving cream fun.  At the end of the party the kids got to plant there flower in the adorable little pot they painted.  Caden had so much fun...Hannah...well wanted to get down and play.  Of course she did what every little kid loves to do...eat play-doe.  

The whole point of the story...in our little take home bags were shovels and a container to collect bugs in.  It was such a pretty day today so that is what we did.  Caden liked looking for them but did not want to put the bugs in the container!  Hannah wanted to put the bugs in her mouth!  Then we found a puddle from the next door neighbors sprinkler.  Boy was that fun!!!!  We have really enjoyed being outside since the weather has been so nice.  I can't wait to see what is in store for us this summer!

Weather Classification

I made 3 pictures:  rainy, sunny, and snowy.  I discussed with Caden what each of the pictures were.  Then I used the weather pictures from The Itty-Bitty Bookworm and had Caden stick them under the correct picture.  He did really well.  He really enjoyed sticking them on the wall.

Puzzles

Today was a sick day for both of the kids.  They both have a cough and runny nose!  Yuk!  Yes we did just get over the stomach bug.  Boy am I tired!  

Caden is really good at puzzles.  I help him put the side pieces together and he does the middle of each of the puzzles all by himself.  It is so funny, one of Hannah's puzzles has 3 pieces and Caden says, "too easy".  One of the puzzles we used today I got online.  It's pretty cute!  It has cards that you  try and find what is on the picture.  Kind of like Where is Waldo, but a puzzle instead.

When Hannah "does puzzles" she just takes all the pieces out and puts them in her mouth!  She is very good at that!

Row, Row, Row Your Boat

On Monday's we go to story time at the library and return old books and get new ones.  What fun!  I feel like I am buying something and then get to return it.  This week Caden picked out his books.  What I mean by that is he just pulled them off the shelf and put them in Hannah's stroller.  I didn't really care what he grabbed.  Well I told him to pick one out for Hannah and this is the book he chose:  Row, Row, Row Your Boat.  Both kids were sitting in my lap and we read that book over and over, I think about 15 times.  By the fifth time we did the motions and the sounds.  It was fun.  Hope you enjoy!

Easy Chicken Cordon Blue

Easy Chicken Cordon Blue

Ingredients:

• Chicken Breast sliced in half so they are thin
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 2 cups Italian bread crumbs
• 1 cup Parmesan cheese
• Diced ham
• Mozzarella cheese
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup of milk

Directions:

• Preheat oven 400 degrees and get a casserole dish and drizzle extra virgin olive oil at the bottom of pan so the chicken will not stick.
• Slice chicken so it is thinner
• Prepare wet and dry batter.  Wet batter-in a bowl crack one egg and add milk.  Dry batter- I guess about 2 cups of bread crumbs and 1 cup of parmesan cheese.  (Sorry I never measure I just eye ball it).
• Dip the chicken in the wet batter and then dip it the dry batter and place it in the pan.
• Do the same for the rest of the chicken and then drizzle a little more olive oil over the top of the chicken.
• Place chicken in oven.
• When the chicken is 5-10 minutes from being ready (my chicken took about 30 min. and the last 5-10 minutes was when I added the ham and cheese) sprinkle the diced ham over the chicken and then sprinkle the cheese.  

Coupon Savings

This weeks savings was a little less than last week but this week was diapers and wipes week.  Yuk!  Can't wait until both kids are out of diapers or at least one.  Remember I just started useing the Grocery Game to help me get all these great savings.  I just started playing so I am sure I will get better with time.  

Coupon savings: $14.65

Bonus coupon savings:  $2.65

Kroger savings:  $26.13

Total: $43.43

My total bill was $184.27.  I go grocery shopping once a week and I spend about $130-200 a week depending what we are out of that week.  I cook dinner everynight with the exception of one night a week we go out to dinner or good old Grandma's house (Mee-Maw or Nona).  Which is our very favorite!

Umbrella-The Itty-Bitty Bookworm

Umbrella Activity-

• Used the umbrella cut-out with the 3 on it.  I also had 3 raindrops that I cut out and we counted them together.  I labeled them 1, 2, and 3 so he would recognize the number. 
• I asked Caden what color the raindrops were and we also colored with the same color (blue).
• We discussed when we use umbrellas and if it helps us stay wet or dry.  

Rainboot- The Itty-Bitty Bookworm

Rainboot Activity-

• I had Caden use two different tools to paint his rainboot.  The first was a cu-tip and the second one was a sponge in the shape of a raindrop.  
• We pretended that we were splashing in a puddle (yellow paint) and that it got all over our boot.

Listen to the Rain-Rainbows

More fun with the Itty-Bitty Bookworm today!  In case you aren't aware of what Itty-Bitty Bookworm is I will explain:  It is a Literature-based Preschool and Toddler Curriculum For Young Minds Everywhere.  Caden is a very active 2 year old and he loves books and loves hands on activities that are fun and challenging.  This curriculum does just that.  

Right now we are reading Listen to the Rain.  Today our lesson was about rainbows.  

Group Activity:

• Sorting Rainbow colors-  I bought Fruity O's cereal at Kroger's for 99 cents (what a great buy).  I put the Fruity O's cereal in one large bowl and had little dixie cups and labeled them with a picture and the color of that picture.  I asked Caden to put the correct color in the correct cup.  He enjoyed it at first but was more interested in pouring the cereal from one cup to the next.  Hannah was interested in eating them.  Haaa!

Creative Art:

• Cereal Rainbow- With this activity we were asked to make an arc with glue and take one color of the cereal and have them put it on the glue and continue with the other colors.  But I was searching the internet for coloring pages of rainbows and found this rainbow.  So Caden was able to place the correct color cereal on the correct color of the rainbow.  Then we used cotton balls for the clouds.