Letter U-Umbrella & Underground

We only had preschool once this week, so we squished all our activities into one day.

 Gluing U shaped macaroni on to the letter U

 I had the kids use q-tips to dab the glue on to the paper.

 Each week we do a file folder for the letter.  This week we made UMBRELLAS out of cupcake liners and pipe cleaners

 On the other side of the folder we drew things we find underground.

 Each child picked out a bug from the treasure box--because they are found UNDERGROUND too.

The kids loved this activity.  Then they started drawing force fields around their bugs too.  I love little boys.

Letter V-Veggies & Valentine's

Our preschool day fell on Valentine's day.  I let the kids know ahead of time that we would do a party for the second half of the day.

First up---VEGGIE stamps...

 I rolled out long pieces of paper on my table, then put paint and cut up veggies for them to stamp with.

They all had a great time stamping away.

Then it was time for our VALENTINE'S party.

 We played kiss the frog-way back from when I hosted a playgroup

 Then we colored and put together some fun Valentine's.  Hearts found here, butterfly found here

 We also decorated cookies--I gave them pre-frosted cookies, they loaded them up with juju hearts, m&m's & nerds.

For our last activity we passed out valentine's to each other.  I covered each kids plate with press-n-seal (the best stuff ever!)  They were able to put their plates in their bags without spilling anything.  It was so fun and really easy to pull together.

Letter V-Volcano & Vase

Another week of fun letter activities.

 We made a VOLCANO out of an upside down letter V.  The lava was made out of red and yellow tissue paper.

We made VASES for our mom's.  I used construction paper folded in half length wise, pipe cleaners, paper flowers taped on.  The kids taped the flowers on to the pipe cleaners, then I helped them tape the pipe cleaners on to the big paper.  Then I rolled up the paper into a tube and taped the outer edge--then we had a fun VASE.

Letter T-Treasure Hunt

We get to do preschool twice a week this month.  First we focused on Trains.  This time we did a TREASURE HUNT.

Our TREASURE map.  We were on the hunt for letter T's

 We found TIGERS, and made stripes on our tiger masks

 We found another T in a TENT and read a book about TURTLES

Then we went outside to look at TREES.  We came inside and used q-tips to paint leaves on our file folder Tree.

Letter T-Trains

During the month of February I am in charge of my little guys preschool.  We've been participating in a co-op with 5 other mom's.  Our first letter this month was T.  We had a fun time learning about all different things that start with the letter T.

 1st up we played Mr. Potato head while waiting for everyone to come.

 Then I pulled out a train whistle and my conductors hat and we started going on a train ride.  I had all the kids line up behind me and we chugged around the house to different railroad crossings and learned about all the T things.  First up was TRAVEL.  I had a globe and several books about things found around the world.

 Then we were off to learn about TIERS and TRIANGLES

 Then we measured how TALL we were and compared

 The next stop was all about TRACING.

We traced small toys and our hands.  While they traced away I put the snack together.  They were all excited when they got to eat apples, cheese, pepperoni & fruit snacks with TOOTHPICKS

Once snacks were done I surprised them all with our bin of TRAINS. 

I pulled one child away at a time to work on our T TRAIN TRACK.

Whew!  It was so fun, I think they all had a fun time learning the letter T.

Spruced and Hung

A couple of years ago my brother and his wife stayed with us for a few days.  My brother went on to a sign painting convention and his wife hung out with us for a bit.  When he came back he gave us a gift that I posted about here.  After I painted my dining room I didn't have many decorations up.  I finally hung up the sign...but it was bugging me a bit.  The sides weren't painted and I wanted it too look crisp.

So I complicated things up and painted it while it was on the wall.  Then I added washi tape to the edges.

You only notice if you are sitting at the table and have nothing else to look at.

Now on to the other things I want to put on the walls.  After almost 4 years of living here I think it's time to start hanging things.

Shirt to Cardigan

Being tall is great most of the time. But being tall and busty--while nursing-- makes it hard to find shirts that are long enough.  I've had a bright blue shirt for a few years, and usually just pair with some jeans.  This winter it just wasn't working.  The length is just too short and I'm not comfortable in it.

 I lined up the seams, then cut down the front middle.

I could have just left it here, but I wanted to make sure it looked nice.

 Using some neon green bias tape I had on hand I stitched it on each side of the cut.

 Then I folded the sweater to the inside and stitched it again.

 To make sure the bias was secure and would look nice I followed the first line of stitching again.

 You can barely see the two lines of stitching, but is gives it a nice weight.  I ironed both sides of the front.

 And there you have it, a nice bright shirt turned cardigan.

And if I remember I got this shirt for $2 at old navy!  When my hubby got home from work he said it looked really nice too!