Disney Family Night: Toy Story

One of the (many) things we're doing in preparation for our big trip to Disney World is to have a Disney Family Night about once a month until we leave . In short, we pick one of our favorite Disney movies and then create a themed night around it. It's a fun way to bridge the long wait!

Last weekend we celebrated Toy Story!

Toy Story is one of my favorite Disney-Pixar movies, and it's a classic in my book. I remember being amazed by how fluid and life like the images were. And I'm a huge Tom Hanks fan, too. Anyway... we had such a fun night with this theme. Here's what we did:

To set the tone, I printed out some posters from here and here, and I arrange various books and toys around the room. We happen to have a Mr. Potato Head, some green army men, an Etch-A-Sketch, and a Barrel of Monkeys on hand. We also had the soundtrack to Toy Story (the 1st) playing in the background.

We prepared dinner together - here's what was on our menu:
:: Make Your Own Planet Pizza - I bought mini Biboli crusts and set out a variety of toppings for us to make our own pizzas. James loved this and said, "Finally, I can make my pizza the way I like it!" which meant adding about 100 pepperonis to his pie. (Mommy vetoed 95 of them.)
:: Lotso's Strawberry Salad - this one is a family favorite. Baby arugula, blue cheese, candied pecans, and strawberries, topped with balsamic vinegar dressing. Y-U-M.
:: Galatic Goo - this was our dessert. It was purple grape jello with star sprinkles on top. Ridiculously easy to make and a HUGE hit with James!
:: Alien Juice - this was our beverage. Crystal Lite lemonade made with sparkling water and a few drops of green food coloring (to give it that alien color). :)

While the pizzas were baking, we played a few games. James received a Toy Story memory game as a birthday present, so we played a short round of that as well as a few turns of "Find the Moon Rocks". For that game I placed a chocolate Hershey's Kiss inside a small piece of tin foil and then gently crumpled it up to resemble a moon rock. I hid these around the house and James went in search of them. :) I also created an activity with the Etch-A-Sketch where we all took turns trying to make certain shapes. James and his dad also made chains out of the monkeys from our Barrel of Monkeys.

I also put together this little guessing game - "Guess How Many Army Men Are In the Jar?" James took one look and - no joke - guessed the correct number within 1. Even my sweet Hubs was off by 5!

Our favorite game was "The Claw Game". I assembled a mystery bag full of Mr. Potato Head parts and created a checklist to go along with it. James had to reach his "claw" inside the bag and without looking, guess which piece he was holding. He checked off the pieces as he went along and afterwards created a finished Mr. Potato Head. Let me know if you're interested in the printable I made for this game - I'm happy to share it!

We didn't use these resources, but I ran across them while planning this night. I thought maybe some of you might like to use them: Toy Story Pre-K Pack & Toy Store Fun Book. And of course there are TONS of ideas on Pinterest and DisBoards.

At the end of each Disney night, James randomly selects the next theme from a basket. Coming up:

101 Dalmatians!! (Awesome movie tickets from here!)

Click here to see our other Disney nights - more to come!

~Thank you for your comments!~

Along Came the Tooth Fairy

We received quite a surprise a few weeks ago when found out James had two loose teeth! I wasn't expecting this for another year or so as he just recently turned 5 years old. I suddenly realized I needed to put my tooth fairy hat on and plan out something special.

There are tons of cute tooth fairy pouches and boxes on Etsy, but I decided to make my own. I made this little pouch out of felt. It took my all of 10 minutes to do it, thanks to my handy dandy glue gun!

I modified the tooth chart provided in this post and made a booklet out of it, printing out a sheet for each tooth to be lost. James will color in which tooth he lost and write in the other information which includes the date, his age, and how the tooth came out. I thought this would make a fun keepsake.

I reached out all of you lovelies on Facebook asking what the going rate was for teeth. When I was little it was a whole quarter lol! I received a wide variety of responses - everything from $1 to a whopping $20. I think the majority of folks give $1-$2, with the first lost tooth bringing in a bit extra. Someone even had the lovely idea to give books instead of money!

Since James lost both of his teeth within 5 minutes of one another, we decided to give him two $2 bills (Bermuda has $2 bills as a part of their currency). We also included an old keepsake of my husbands - a silver dollar coin from the 1970's. He also received a letter from the tooth fairy (I used this one as a guide and altered it to fit our needs), and a little gift (some angry birds wall decals from our in-home store).

Going forward we'll give him $2 per tooth, and a collectible coin. No other gifts or letters. We just did that because it was the first loss. :)

Now... what to do with the teeth that have come out... does anyone know the best way to store these little guys? What do you do when your children lose their teeth?

~Thank you for your comments!~

Disney Family Night: The Lion King

One of the (many) things we're doing in preparation for our big trip to Disney World is to have a Disney Family Night about once a month until we leave . In short, we pick one of our favorite Disney movies and then create a themed night around it. It's a fun way to bridge the long wait!

Last weekend we celebrated The Lion King. (cue the music: "...it's the circle of liiiiife and it moves it us alllllll....") :D

Here's what we did:

While dinner was grilling, we listened to The Lion King soundtrack and looked through the contents of our Africa Continent Bag.

~photo taken by Mstr. James, Up and Coming Photographer~ :)

James and The Hubs also enjoyed a few rounds of "Find the Lion Cubs". They took turns hiding James' little stuffed animals around the house and went on "safaris" to find them. :)

For dinner I decorated the table with some straw mats and giant placemats shaped like leaves. I've had those leaf mats for YEARS (like, over 10!) and this is the first time they'd been used! I also created little cards for each food item.

Here's what was on our menu:
:: Savannah Salad (mixed greens with various veggies)
:: Zazu's Chicken Legs (grilled drumsticks)
:: Pride Rock Potatoes (roasted rosemary potatoes)
:: Broccoli Tree of Life (steamed broccoli)
:: Timon's Grubs Under A Log (aka ants on a log... you know - celery, peanut butter, and raisins. I turned the celery over to give it the "under a log" effect. :D)
:: For dessert: Rafiki's Banana Pudding (instant pudding with a few animal crackers on top)
:: To drink: Jungle Juice (I used this recipe from Disney World's Animal Kingdom Lodge - YUM.)

Since our menu was so large, I only made a little of everything. And we still had left overs. (Score! No cooking for me the next day!)

After dinner we had a look through the Africa pages in our favorite Children's Encyclopedia.

Then we watched the movie. And what a good one it is, too. I created a game for us to play while we watched: I selected and printed out various memorable quotes which we all had to listen for. If one of us heard a quote, we'd "steal" the crown from the last person who heard a quote. It was fun and a neat way to really listen to the movie and the message.

Here's my favorite quote:

Ah yes, the past can hurt. But the way I see, you can either run from it or learn from it. ~Rafiki

At the end of each Disney night, James randomly selects the next theme from a basket. Coming up: Toy Story!

Click here to see our other Disney nights - there are more to come!

~Thank you for your comments!~

Kindergarten Graduation

Since you all have been with me during my homeschool journey thus far, I thought it fitting to share our special day with you...

James has officially graduated from Kindergarten (a year early!) and we couldn't be more proud of him. He has evolved so much this year and not just academically, but emotionally, physically, and spiritually too.

I look at him now and it's hard for me to image that tiny baby I held in my arms for the first time 5 years ago. Time is going by a little too quickly.

~receiving his diploma from the school principal :)~

I can't express just how much I love homeschooling and being James' teacher. It's incredibly rewarding to watch him learn and grow, and to know we're doing all we can to provide a positive and enriching learning environment for him. I thank God that we are able to homeschool - it's been a total blessing for us.

First grade here we come!

By the way, we made a big deal out of this special event. Hubs and I took James out for a special dinner. This was a special event in and of itself as it was just the three of us (baby sister stayed home with a sitter), a thing that hasn't happened since Juliet was born 10 months ago. I also baked a cake, printed a free diploma from here, ordered a graduation cap from here, and took LOTS of photos (graduate sign printed from here).

~Thank you for your comments!~

Disney Family Night: The Three Caballeros

One of the (many) things we're doing in preparation for our big trip to Disney World is to have a Disney Family Night about once a month until we leave . In short, we pick one of our favorite Disney movies and then create a themed night around it. It's a fun way to bridge the long wait!

Our first DFN movie was The Three Caballeros. Here's what we did...

We decorated with homemade paper flowers, a FIESTA banner, a photo of the 3 Cabs. While we made dinner we listened to Mexican & Cuban music and later we had a little dance party with our maracas (which are actually from Mexico!) while listening to the movie soundtrack.

And what's fun without learning something in the process?! :) I gathered some materials from our North America & South America Continent Bags, bookmarked a few pages in our Children's Encyclopedia, printed out a map of Mexico, and put together a list of common Spanish phrases for James to learn. He particularly enjoyed the Spanish phrases since he L-O-V-E-S anything to do with foreign languages.

While dinner was cooking, we played "Donde este Donald?" (where is Donald). I hid a rubber duck as we don't have an actual Donald duck. :) James had lots of fun with this and we all took turns playing and telling the seeker if they were "hot" or "cold".

For dinner we enjoyed some Mexican fare. Chips & dips for appetizers, tacos for the main course, and Dulce de Leche (ice cream) for dessert. Oh and I found some imported Mexican juice in the ethic section of the grocery store. Hubs and I may or may not have splurged on a margarita (or two). :) I made little signs for each food "station", and we used special drinking glasses and place settings.

After dinner we watched the movie during which we made sombreros. SUPER easy craft and even my non-crafty boy had fun making it!

(BTW, for our banner and dinner signs I used fonts from here.)

We had an absolute blast during our Disney Family Night and we're excited for next month's fiesta!

Click here to see our other Disney nights - there are more to come!

~Thank you for your comments!~

Our Littlest Coconut

She's here! She's here! Ohmygosh she's here!!!!

(clearing throat) Sorry, I'm still just a little excited. Our sweet and wonderful baby girl is finally here with us and let me tell you she is nothing short of amazing! Of course I'm not at all biased. ;)

Meet our little Juliet

Juliet came into the world on August 22nd at 12:52pm. She weighed 7lbs., 8oz. and was 18.5" long. She has soft brown hair and the most kissable cheeks ever!

James is absolutely head over heels in love with her. His first words to her were: "I love you, baby sister!!". He has showered her with so much love and affection that it has brought me to tears on more than one occasion. It's heaven seeing the two of them together.

My husband and I are just as proud as can be and feel so very blessed to have these two loves in our lives.

PS: I am beyond happy to report that, despite a very rough start, exclusive breastfeeding is going beautifully!! I owe so much to my friends and local La Leche League consultants for their support!

~Thank you for your comments!~

My 4 Year Old!

I can't believe my baby has turned 4 years old today... where did the time go?!

We love you, little man! Happy birthday!!

It's a...

GIRL!

SO many of you guessed a girl and I just love that James knew it all along, too. :) My husband and I are overjoyed, and not just because we were both longing for a little girl, but because all went well during the scan and the baby appears to be perfectly healthy. Here's a photo of our little babe...We had our scan early this morning, but didn't find out the gender until this evening because we wanted it to be a private thing. Here's what we did: instead of having the ultrasound technician tell us the gender during the scan, we prepared a piece of paper in advance that read:
"I am going to have a baby______!" The tech was to write in "sister" or "brother". Eight (loooong) hours later, when my husband got home from work, James opened the envelope and read the completed sentence to us. It was such a special moment and one, thanks to our video camera, we'll never forget.

Oh happy day! Off to shop for pink things now!

PS: We've had a name chosen for a while now, but we'll be keeping it a secret until she's born. :)

~Thank you for your comments!~

Psstt... Guess What?!

I'm taking a step away from the norm for this blog and sharing with you some personal and wonderful news... we're expecting kiddo #2!! We are thrilled to the gills about it and can't wait to meet him or her in August!

~mama made booties just waiting for sweet little feet~

I'm now 17 weeks into my pregnancy and, aside from daily nausea and vomiting, all is going really well. My sweet husband has been SO good about nagging me making sure I'm eating enough protein and greens. Unfortunately, our little B is a picky eater and vetoes just about anything I put in my stomach. I haven't been able to gain any weight yet as a result (in fact, I've lost 10lbs.), but my OB and I are not worried. The same thing happened with James - I was sick 24/7 for the first 5 months and he still weighed in at 7lbs. 11oz.! Despite the weight loss, I'm already sporting a lil' baby bump, which I am SO excited about! With James I didn't start showing until I was 6 months along, but I did hear you pop out a bit more quickly with subsequent children.

And now that I'm in my 2nd trimester I'm feeling less tired and sore, too, which is great and makes chasing after a preschooler MUCH easier. Oh, and I've already been feeling the nesting urge! Actually, that's an understatement. I'm practically busting with the need to unpack and organize (eee!!) all of James' old baby clothes! Alas, I must restrain myself for another few weeks until we find out the gender of our little B. Yes, we will be finding out the gender... I'm just WAY too much of a planner to not find out and I think the surprise is just as wonderful if it comes sooner than later. :)

We have yet to tell James the wonderful news and we have a fun idea for how we'll tell him. Funny thing is, we have a feeling he's already aware of what's going on... he said to my husband the other day, "Well, I'm going to go sit by my mom and my sister..." (!) and when a flabbergasted me asked him, "Where's your sister?", he pointed to my stomach and said, "There!". We haven't really discussed the baby in front of James and we do not yet know the gender, so it kind of gave us chills to hear him talk about it so matter of fact! It will be SO cool if he's right and it is a girl!

Ok, enough baby talk (for now!)... you may notice me posting a bit less frequently going forward. In an effort to appease my nesting urges, I've been using most of my "free time" to knit booties and blankets for the B. :)

~Thank you for your comments!~

Where's James?

Some of you have very sweetly told me you've missed seeing James' photo on this blog and asked why I no longer share photos of him "in action" during our schooltime. I should say up front it's not because I'm trying to protect his identity (too late for that, given all my previous photos). :) Rather it's me trying to respect his space during our school time. I realized a while back how distracting it must be to have a camera clicking away while you're trying to concentrate on school work. I also felt like I wasn't able to be really present with him during our lessons because I was too busy trying to capture that perfect photographic moment. There was also a period of time when James would instinctively wait to begin working on something because he assumed I wanted a photo first. That just seemed odd to me and I felt like I was the paparazzi in that sense! I now take photos only if it seems comfortable and easy to do so, and I always ask James beforehand, "Do you mind if I take a picture of you right now?".

All that said, I have felt my blog is lacking a little sparkle now that the star rarely makes appearances. So, I wanted to share a few recent photos of James taken inside or outside of the classroom, and always during times when there was some learning fun taking place!

~new wheels~

~creating a masterpiece~

~feeding a dolphin~

~doodling~

~throwing a snowball at mommy in Central Park, NYC~

So there you go! Thank you again for asking about my little guy - it warms my heart to know you care! And maybe I'll try to include a few more casual photos of him from now on. :)

~Thank you for your comments!~

Our School Week

Because of our move we started school a bit late this year and yesterday was our first day!

I'm thrilled to say it went extremely well, too! Surprisingly, I found myself to be a little nervous in the morning as we got dressed and ate our breakfast. I actually had butterflies in my stomach! I've been doing learning related activities with James for over a year now, so in theory this day shouldn't have been that much different to me.

But it was. Because this day marked the true beginning of our homeschooling journey and I logged in my first hours as a homeschooling parent. Yes, I realize it's "only preschool", but since we've decided to homeschool indefinitely I have the larger picture in my mind and heart.

It was an exciting day and I'd say we're off to a great start. While I'm sure we'll make changes to how our days run as we see the need (reason 1,001 why it's SO nice to homeschool), I wanted to share an overview of how our school week runs.

We have school Monday-Friday, 8:30am-12:00pm. (Note: the following times are approximations - flexibility is key.)
Before 8:30am: We're early birds so we're up and at 'em by 7am. I'll have tidied the house, we'll have made our beds, eaten our breakfast, gotten dressed and brushed our teeth before school starts at 8:30am.
8:30-8:50am: 1st Circle Time. We cover topics on our school calendar, sing songs, etc. I'll write more on this in a couple of days.
8:50am-10:00am: 1st Work Time. This is when James works on whatever he chooses from our shelves. I'm in the room the entire time to guide him as needed and to work with him on new concepts.
10:00am-10:15am: Snack Time. We go to the kitchen where James chooses a snack and prepares it himself (he LOVES doing this). He has a shelf in the fridge and a drawer in the pantry where his food/bowls/utensils are stored.
10:15am-11:00am: 2nd Work Time.
11:00am-11:20am: 2nd Circle Time. We come together for a story, another song or two, a prayer and a few minutes of mindful rest.
11:20-12:00pm: Recess Outdoors. We might play movement games, explore the yard, go for a walk, play with our animals and if it's warm enough we'll swim in our pool.

After recess is lunch and then 1 hour of quiet time where James plays quietly in his room (or naps on very rare occasions).

Each week day afternoon is planned as follows:
Mondays: Baking Day
Tuesdays: Grocery Shopping Day
Wednesday: Playgroup Day (I run this group and it's a great place for James to hang out with some friends).
Thursday: Kindermusik & Errands Day
Friday: Field Trip Day - we'll do any number of things on this day, such as take a bus or ferry trip to another part of the island, visit the aquarium or plan a get together with friends.
And our weekends are all about family time (and laundry!). :)

Our week has a really nice flow to it and I'm thrilled about having our rhythm back. During the 3-4 weeks when we were moving, I was amazed at how differently James behaved. He wasn't naughty or anything, but he was definitely "off". He seemed aimless and wasn't listening as well as he usually does and was totally forgetting all the wonderful habits he had (such as cleaning up his toys without asking). Like all children, he craved structure and routine. I'm glad to be able to provide that for him once again.

Linking up to The Preschool Corner & Montessori Monday.

~Thank you for your comments!~

Tiny Talk Tuesday

I just found out about a fun blog carnival called "Tiny Talk Tuesday" hosted by Not Before 7. James says so many cute and funny things (at least they are to us anyway!) and I think this would be a great way for me to keep track of them!

~James is 3 years and 3 months~

• "Well... I think I need a blue popsicle." ~ First thing out of James' mouth the other morning.
• "May I be excused? Yes I may, yes I may." ~ What James says before he leaves the dinner table.
• "This doesn't taste like chocolate!!" ~ So says James after tasting potato salad for the first time.
• "His name is Mr. Pocodeeo" ~ The cute and totally random name James assigned our adopted fish. :)
• "Baa baa black sheep happy happy wool..." ~ I LOVE James' version of this song!

~Thank you for your comments!~

Shiny Happy Paper People

James and I had so much fun making paper people together. Before I tell you how we made them I hope you'll indulge me by letting me share a personal story with you first...

One summer, I think it was the summer of 1986, I was a huge fan of the cartoon, "The World of David the Gnome". (Does anyone else remember this show? Here's a YouTube clip.) Anyway, it was all about gnomes and the adventures they had in the forest in which they lived. I loved the show and so I decided to make a set of paper gnomes to play with whenever I wanted to. They brought me such joy and provided me with many, many hours of magical play. Would you believe I still have them? I *wish* I could share a picture of them, but they are locked away in a storage facility in the US. :( Anyway, I tapped into that memory the other day when James and I were coloring together. We started drawing little people and it suddenly dawned on me that we could cut them out and laminate them.

Moments later I had my scrapbooking paper out and I was busy cutting little shirts, pants and heads. I don't think I stopped smiling the entire time!

James was SO excited when he saw what I had set up. I told him we were going to make some paper people and he enthusiastically said, "Great idea, Mama!!"

James had such fun choosing the outfits (which matched surprisingly well!)...

and he took great care in gluing each piece onto the white cardstock.

I was beaming at the thought of sharing this special memory with my son. And, for old time's sake, I made myself a little gnome.

After we created the bodies we drew on some hands, feet, facial features and hair. James decided what color eyes and hair everyone should have. :)

Back in the 80's I had to use tons of scotch tape to get the laminating effect, but now, 30 years later (gasp!) I simply slipped our little creations into the laminator and voila! out came a set of 10 sturdy paper people!

We'll use these "friends" (as James calls them) for imaginary play, for story time, and even for counting. I numbered the backs of them so James, my number-loving maniac, could put them in numerical order if he feels like it.

I'm linking this post up to a few of my favorite blog carnivals: We Play, Sharing Time, and Tot Tuesday.

18 Miles!

This is just a quick post to say THANK YOU to all of you lovely bloggy friends for wishing me a happy birthday on here, through emails and on Facebook!

And, because some of you asked...

I spent my 34th birthday walking 18 miles for the island's annual charity walk. I've been training for this for over 5 months, and having had 4 knee surgeries with one still pending, I feel so happy about completing this goal with both knees perfectly intact! :) It was a beautiful day and I enjoyed every minute of it!

A Special Day

Happy 3rd Birthday, Sweet Boy...I love you more than I could have ever imagined.