Teaching Tips Daily my new blog launch

My MIL has told me on a few occasions that I should consider writing as a career. I have contemplated several times as to what direction I could take in the writing field. I decided that I would take my two passions and combine them into one: blogging and teaching. So yesterday I made my first post on my new blog: www.teachingtipsdaily.blogspot.com

I am hoping to post tips daily geared for parents with preschool aged children give ideas they can do at home to help their children learn. I am hoping to address all content areas such as math, reading, writing, social emotional, science, behavior, etc...

Eventually when my audience is high enough I may be able to earn a bit of money through advertising and links to products. We'll see. For now I am just going to have fun with it. If you have a chance stop by and check it out!

Our family celebration

We celebrated the girls birthday with just mommy and daddy tonight. I made each of them a cake. Aly wanted a frog cake and KK wanted an elephant cake. Aly wanted the same frog cake I had made her when she turned 3 so that was easy. However, I had never made an elephant cake before so I had to get my creative energy flowing.

For the frog I just used a 6" round cake pan and two cupcakes. For the elephant I used a 6" round cake pan, a banana for the trunk, and I took waffle cone bowls and broke them in half for the ears. They were both really excited about their cakes!

We made sure to have Aly blow out her candles first just so KK could watch and understand what it means to blow the candles out. We didn't want another repeat episode from the pool party on Saturday where she tried to eat the flame.

Fortunately KK did a good job and blew out one of her candles. She wasn't blowing hard enough to blow out all of them so Daddy helped. Aly really enjoyed her cake and for some reason was not using a fork????

KK used a fork on her cake thank goodness. Here is KK opening one of her presents. The plush dinosaur Cera from her favorite movie The Land Before Time.

Aly just opened her musical card that signs, "Bare Necessities" She loved it!

Pictures from the pool party

Aly and KK loved their pool party. In the beginning KK would only walk the perimeter of the pool holding some one's hand but within time she got comfortable and went in the water. Aly requested that I make frog cupcakes this year so I did but decided to make them frog cookie cupcakes instead. I have to say they were so YUMMY! Best tasting cupcakes I have ever made. I won't show you the picture of my green teeth from eating them!

Aren't the frog cupcakes cute? I used mini m&m's for the eyes. It was so much fun making them and I know Aly really loved them so it was worth the time and effort!

Both of the girls have their Minnie Mouse suits on. KK is playing with her little friend Kristi and Aly is playing with her friend Dylyn.

Check out their green faces from eating the cupcakes. KK actually started eating her cupcake before I could even put a candle on it. She wouldn't stop eating it either until I got the candle on it.

Sticker Grandma put a party hat on and joined in on all of the fun. The girls were tired after their party and climbed into bed with Sticker Grandma. Aly read the story "Go, Dog, Go" by Dr. Suess to Sticker Grandma and KK.

Happy Birthday Video of the girls--KK tries to eat the flame!

The girls birthday party at the activity pool went great. All except one thing, blowing out the candle or should I say eating the candle. Poor KK didn't understand that she was supposed to blow the candle out so she tried to eat it instead. Thankfully my friend Cathy was in arms way and pushed her head out of the way just as she was trying to eat it. Watch the video and see!

Fairytale Tea Party Professional Pics Please Vote

We got our Fairytale Tea Party Pics back today. I am not quite sure what I think about them. Not sure if I like Aly's. I mean it is cute and all but I wish that in the picture on the left she was looking just a bit more in the camera's direction and the picture on the right she had a better smile.

I like one of KK's pictures but the critic in me thinks they should have zoomed out just a tad bit as they cut off the Teddy Bear.

So please help me decide if it is worth it to pay $20 to purchase an 8X10 of any of these pics. Let me know which ones you like. Tell me your favorite one for Aly and your favorite one for KK. They gave me one copy of each of these pics in a 4x6 so they are quite small.

Laptop Lunch boxes can't wait to get them

Last spring while I was surfing someone's blog I learned about Laptop Lunches. I really liked them but since I didn't need any at the time, I forgot about them. Well, now with Aly attending Kindergarten in August which will be a modified full day, they will need to take a lunch daily to school. With KK going to preschool on Tue/Thurs. she will need to bring a lunch as well. So I remembered Laptop Lunches. I couldn't remember the name and I didn't have it bookmarked but after doing a few quick searches on ebay I found them.

While they are not very stylish I really like the Tupperware in them, the fact that they don't contain any harmful chemicals found in many plastics, and the fact that I am not using a bunch of plastic ziplock bags for their lunches. I was sort of thinking though, my friend Annette has an embroidery machine so maybe I could buy the embroidery floss and template and have her embroider the girls names on their lunch bags and a frog for Aly and maybe an elephant for KK. We will see....

So I did an Internet search and the best rate I could find was on ebay. I spent $29 plus shipping and tax on each box. Since I wanted two it came to a total of $72. OUCH! Not something I normally splurge on but I think in the long run it will be worth it. I think these will last a long time. I could always just replace the cover or whatever begins to wear out each year. We will see. I should receive them within a week so I will let you know what I think. Check out their website if you are in the market for a lunchbox for your child. They really do look great!

And the mail came........

As I am sorting through todays mail I see the dreadful jury duty envelope. I know before even reading it that it is mine. Hubby just had jury duty a few months ago. I must admit I have been lucky the past two times I had jury duty. The first time Aly was 12 weeks old and I was nursing. Since nursing is a valid excuse I got out of it. Just as timing would have it around the time KK was four months old I got another jury duty summons. Of course I was nursing then so I got out of that one.

Now I have no excuse. Well, at least no excuse that they will accept. I have no physical or mental incapacity, I don't have verifiable obligation to care for a sick or aged dependent, I am no longer nursing, I haven't served on a Trial or Grand Jury in the past 12 months, I am not in the military, and I am not 70 years old. However, I am a full time SAHM and I really don't understand why that isn't an excuse. Who am I going to find to care for my girls for anywhere between 1 day to three months! I don't have childcare, I don't have family living near by, and my hubby works more than a normal full time job. I really do question why being a SAHM isn't on the list. I could definately verify that one. Look at my tax returns!

Well jury duty starts the week of July 8th and I am one of the early groups. So chances are I will be called. Maybe they won't select me though. Maybe I will not be what they are looking for. Only time will tell......

She tells no lies

So Aly just turned five years old this week and I am still waiting for her to go through her lying phase. It is so funny how honest she is. Today has been one of those days where the girls are fighting quite a bit. Each time KK usually gets hurt and every time I can count on Alyssa to tell me exactly what happen with every little detail. Each time she is totally tattling on herself. I quietly chuckle inside as I can't believe how honest she is. I can't believe she hasn't learned to fabricate or point the finger or place the blame elsewhere. I used to teach preschool so I remember that 4-5 year olds are very capable of lying, fabricating, and manipulating so I guess I should be thankful we haven't started that here.

Here is an example of what happened today:

I hear KK crying upstairs in the playroom. I call Aly and ask her what happened.

She says, "KK had a spider that I wanted and I tried to take it from her. She wouldn't let go so I got mad and pushed her. She fell down and hit some toys on the floor and that hurt her. I really wanted that spider!"

So I ask her, "Did KK have the spider first?" Aly replies, "Yes"

So off to a timeout she goes.

Aly's Fairytale TeaParty

Aly had her Fairytale Teaparty for her birthday at AnnieBerries and the girls had a great time. All of the girls arrived dressed up in the pretty dresses and were given fairytale wings and wands. Aly chose pink wings and KK chose purple. I really think KK enjoyed being with the big girls and doing what the big girls got to do. Although she liked shopping in the store a lot too!

We were able to have four people at the party so of course Aly and KK got to go. Aly choose her friends Jaiden and Maya to join her.

Jaiden picked the blue fairy wings which went so well with her dress. I believe Maya picked the purple ones.

The cookies were so good! I don't know who enjoyed them more, the girls or me! The picture on the right is Aly posing in their studio. We get a free 5x7 picture too. I will pick it up on Friday.

The girls colored fairy pictures at the table while they were taking pictures. After that they got to eat those yummy cookies while listening to a story.

Next they got to play Fairytale bingo using M&M's as their markers. Of course KK just ate the M&M's and she ate them so fast! I think she was afraid I would take them away from her!

Next Aly got to open a present from her friend. Check out the cute little frog on it! After presents the girls walked over to an ice cream shop and got to have cupcakes and ice cream. Yes, more sugar. Can you believe it? I forgot to mention they did have sandwiches and fruit. KK didn't eat any as she only had an appetite for SUGAR!

Aly actually didn't eat any ice cream and I think she only licked the frosting of her cupcake. KK was already on a sugar high at this point and she didn't end up eating any ice cream or the cupcake either.

The girls had a great time and will probably remember this forever!

The Stages of a Moth

Last year Aly was really into collecting caterpillars in her bug box and watching them. We typically let her keep them for a day or so and had her release them so they would live. Well one of the times she had some caterpillars over night they spun a cocoon. We were shocked and Aly was thrilled. So of course we let her keep them and to our surprise we were able to see them emerge as moths just two short weeks later. It was really a learning experience for all of us. Hubby said when he used to see those sacks around the yard he would smoosh them because he thought they were spider sacks. So know that we know what they are we leave them alone. Aly collected caterpillars again this year. Here are the pics: