Happy Halloween!

Tot School: Halloween edition

Jackson is 16 months old.

This week in Tot School we focused on Halloween!

We read I See a Monster (A touch & feel book), Clifford's First Halloween, Ten Little Mummies, and Where is Baby's Pumpkin?

We played with our monster puppet

(a great find from the dollar section at Target).


We made a handprint spider.
(I've seen these all over the place and all I can say is
black paint & toddlers do not mix! I don't care how "washable" the stuff is!)

We made footprint ghosts (much easier and less messy than the spiders!)

We sang "If you're a ghost and you know it": (found here)
(to the tune of "If you're happy and you know it")

If you're a ghost and you know it,
Then say "Boo!"
If you're a ghost and you know it,
Then say "Boo!
If you're a ghost and you know it,
and you really want to show it
If you're a ghost and you know it,
say Boo!

Additional verses:
If you're a cat and you know it, then say "Meow"
If you're a bat and you know it, then flap your wings
If you're a skeleton and you know it, then shake your bones

This post was also submitted to Learning through Love.

WW: ROAR!

My mummy says I'm sweeter than this candy

My aunt getting Jackson ready for church this morning :)

Tot School: L is for Leaf

Jackson is 16 months old.

This week we did a leaf theme this week.

We went on a nature walk to gather leaves, then made some of them into a collage.


Handprint fall tree with finger paint.

Jackson enjoyed using the foam pumpkin stickers last week so much that I went back and got the leaf stickers too. I put glue on the paper in an L shape and he pressed the pieces of paper down on the glue for this picture.

We read Fall Leaves Fall! and Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf (mostly we just looked at the pictures and talked about them! The stories were a little too long for his attention span).

Fingerplay: (found here)
Little leaves fall gently down
Red and yellow, orange and brown (flutter hands as leaves falling)
Whirling Whirling around and around (turn around)
Quietly without a sound (put finger to lips)
Falling softly to the ground (begin to fall slowly)
Down and down and down and down (lie on floor)

Other skills:
This week we worked on putting his rings on and off of the stacker and putting his shapes in and out of his shape sorter (with the lid off...we tried with the lid on and he just got really frustrated). He did really well! Next week we are going to work on stacking and lining his blocks instead of just throwing them around the room!
We also went to the Hands-on Children's Museum. (I posted about this yesterday, check it out here).

This post was also submitted to Learning through Love.

WW: Children's Museum

We took a trip to the Hands-on Children's Museum. There was so much to do! We will have to go back soon. These are just some of the things Jackson did...

He played in the kitchen...

and in the castle...
and in the grocery store! and in the baby ball pit...(that was his favorite!)

Thanks for stopping by! And don't forget to enter my giveaway for a 3-month membership to BookSwim, the Netflix for books!

BookSwim 3 month membership GIVEAWAY! (and coupon code)

I am so excited about BookSwim, the new website that is like the Netflix for books! I'm sure if you've been reading this blog for awhile, you know I read ALL the time. I love finding new books and new authors, but I hate not being able to find the books I want at my local library, or having to wait weeks for books that I've put on hold! And I refuse to pay full price for a hard back book, unless it is something really amazing.

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Giveaway:

I am giving away a FREE 3-month membership to BookSwim!

To enter: Leave a comment below telling me something about books: your favorite book, what books are on your reading list, etc.

Additional entries: (leave separate comments for each entry!)
1. Follow me and/or subscribe to my blog.
2. Follow me on twitter and tweet about this giveaway.

Contest ends Tuesday, November 3rd.

Coupon code:
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Thank you so much to BookSwim for sponsoring this giveaway.

What makes you happy?

A few things that make me really happy right now....

Jackson sleeping. I say this because he hasn't been sleeping well at all these last few days. He has stayed up until 1 am for the last three days in a row and hasn't been napping either. I rock him and rock him, but every time I try to put him down he just cries :( So when he does sleep, it makes me VERY happy!My new camera! I got it for my birthday and I love it. It has this smile detection feature on there where you can press a button and focus on your subject, then as soon as the subject smiles, it takes a picture (and will continue to take them each time he/she smiles until you turn it off!) I had no idea you could do such a thing, but I am so happy to have it. You dont know how many times I have tried taking pictures of Jackson and been just a second too late or too early to get a smile, and end up with 25 bad photos! Plus it is such a cute color!


Also, my new favorite TV show: Glee! I finally started watching it. It's so corny and over the top, but so fun and catchy. I just love it! And if you like Glee, you should follow Sue Sylvester on Twitter. Yes I know that is a character not a real person, but her tweets are hilarious! Like this one: Sue Sylvester just found a solitary gray hair. I'm going to find the bastard who put it there and sue him for defamation of character...

A few other things that are making me happy today:

Jackson walking.
Taco soup.
Cooler weather.
My new jacket.

So bloggy buddies....what is making you happy today?

Walking

This is the best video that I have been able to get of Jackson walking so far. He's walking more and more every day. I am so proud of him!

Decorating for Fall

Last year I was in such a funk that I didn't decorate for any holiday all year long. I was such a Grinch! (I was also sleep deprived from having a baby with colic and hated the super small apartment that we were living in!) But this year I'm so excited by all of the holidays coming up. Here are a few of the decorations that I've put up so far. (I haven't even tackled the holiday boxes in the storage space yet...I might just wait for Christmas to bother with those!)

Tot School: P is for Pumpkin

Jackson is 16 months old.

We did a lot of pumpkin activities this week! We talked about pumpkins, the color orange, and the letter P.

We read "Where is Baby's Pumpkin" by Karen Katz.

He made a pumpkin patch with foam stickers. I got a huge thing of them at Walmart for $5. We made a pumpkin patch for all the grandparents! I got this idea from Little Moments.

He made handprint pumpkins.
He sponge-painted some P's.

He had a pumpkin/orange-themed dinner.Sweet potato jack-o-lantern, pumpkin shaped grilled cheese, & orange pudding (sugar free vanilla pudding w/food coloring).

And of course, we visited the pumpkin patch!

WW: Pumpkin Patch

Fisher Price Review & Coupon: $20 off!

The Laugh & Learn™ Fun With Friends™ Musical Table is an interactive learning table that teaches letters, numbers, counting, colors, shapes, more. It has settings for both English and Spanish. The table has a variety of music--from sing-a-long songs to instrumental sounds. This toy is recommended for children 6 months to 3 years old. Jackson LOVES this toy. It is one of the only toys he has that keeps his attention for a long period of time, and no matter what he is playing with, he will keep going back to the music table throughout the day. I like it because the music isn't as annoying as the music on many of his other toys!

The Laugh & Learn™ Smart Bounce & Spin Pony™ is a fun toy that hooks up to the TV. There is a wireless connection that allows your child's movements on the pony to change the music and scenes on the TV. There are 3 levels. Level 1 teaches action and reaction, level 2 teaches letters and numbers, and level 3 teaches game play, word recognition, and counting. This toy is recommended for children 12 months to 3 years old.

Jackson has been playing on level 1 and he loves the farm animals! They sing and make lots of sounds that really keep his attention. He hasn't really figured out how to bounce on it quite yet, but he loves using the rolling thing on the pony's head to change the music.


Just in time for Christmas shopping, Fisher Price is offering my readers a special coupon! Go here to receive a coupon for $20 off your next $100.

Thank you for letting me share my honest opinion of these toys with you.
Thank you to Fisher Price for providing me with these toys to review.

Maybe he knew we were decorating for Halloween

This? This is what I came home to the other day. He was sitting on my front door frame. The scariest thing is that I didn't even see him until I was unlocking the door and he was thisclose to my face! I was too scared to try to kill it, and so was my husband, so I just used the back door (TWSS!) until he went away. Well, he's still hanging out on my front porch but I'm trying to ignore him.

I wanted to put my hand up next to it so you could see how gigantic this thing really is (bigger than the palm of my hand), but I'm not quite that brave stupid.

Action Jackson

Jackson has grown up so much in just these last two weeks! In addition to walking, he also got 2 new teeth AND weaned himself off of his pacifier (I gave it to him one day and he just threw it on the ground and never cried for it again. no pacifier fairies necessary!)

A few pictures from our time at home...

At the train show with Pop Pop.

Getting tickled by Granny.

Playing ball!
(Aunt Jamie showed him how to bounce it like a basketball and that's all he wants to do now!)

TMI Thursday: A weekend with the girls...

Join us all in humiliating the crap out of yourself every Thursday by sharing some completely tasteless, wholly unclassy, "how many readers can I estrange THIS week??" TMI story about your life. Or hell, about someone else's!

I spent this past weekend with my college roommates. It was amazingly fun. Here are some of the quotes that I remember/wrote down.

Kristin, me, Liz, Em

Me to Kristin: I'm gonna cuddle with you later tonight ;)
...a little while later...(right before bed)...
Kristin: I've gotta fart. and poop. at the same time.
Emily: Don't shart!
Me: I changed my mind about that cuddle time.

Talking about the crotch of her panties...
Emily: "So that's why I'm not changing in front of you guys. Because no one should see that unless we're in the clutch."
Kristin: "Where the hell is the clutch? Tell me, because I don't ever want to go there with you."

Liz (i.e. the only one of them who has never seen me butt nekkid): Cassie, I wanna see your boobs.
Me: Nah. You don't want to see them, they're just not the same anymore. They're a little saggy since I had the baby.
Emily: I've always had saggy boobs. Good thing I have big nipples to compensate.


Kristin (while taking a shot): Goodbye night! I'll hear all about you tomorrow.
Liz: "It's not you, it's the fact that you don't have a penis."

And some random Emily quotes, taken completely out of context, of course.

I wanna be WILD!
I've got something funky on my finger.
I just got wet and I don't know why!