The Big White Farmhouse | intentional living, little by little

April 10, 2012

{family favorites} Magic Treehouse & Learn to Draw Books

This post could also be called “How We Managed Morning Sickness and Still Did School”!

PreK had a different look during my first trimester. Instead of art projects and thematic units, we pared down to the bare minimum. Honestly, if I had it my (selfish) way, I would have stopped completely. Fortunately for me, I have very persistent and eager to learn children. It’s really because of them that great memories were still created.

So today, I wanted to share two things that really got us through March!

(1) the Magic Tree House Series

We spent a lot of time cuddling together on the couch reading this series aloud. The boys were enthralled with the stories and we had a lot of great discussions afterward. With the exception of a few “animal spirit” references (which I just omitted), I think these books are a great way to introduce history and science to my kids.

(2) What Shall I draw? and Ed Emberley’s Drawing Book of Animals
Need an activity that your kids can do on their own? Pull out these books! At first, I wasn’t sure M was old enough to really get the process, but after a quick run through, he was off! The little brothers would sit next to him, watching quietly as he created sea monsters or castles, birds or helicopters. These were so helpful when the nausea was especially bad.

April 9, 2012

{family} A Spring Adventure List

Source: thenaptimechef.com via Ashley on Pinterest

Springtime is here and the weather is amazing. Is it the same where you live? I want to take full advantage because I know we’ll be sweating bullets before long, which is something this pregnant Mamma is not looking forward to! So in an attempt to maximize our fun during this always-way-too-short season, I created a “Spring Adventure List”! (You may recall the Fall Adventure List I made last October.)

Just like last fall, I’ve included a bunch of
things and I’m sure we’ll only be able to do portion of the list. But I’m
sure it will become a nice resource for our family to come back to year after
year…I’m thinking this is how family traditions are made, right? Let me know if you have any must-do activities for spring!

2012 Spring Adventure List

Play soccer as a family in the backyard

Go through the boys’ clothing and toys and donate unused to charity
Make Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake Cupcakes

Plant flowers in the front yard

Go strawberry picking

Go on a hike

Have the boys each pick a vegetable to grow

Bake a peach cobbler

Visit the local Children’s Museum

Buy a new kiddie pool

Have a picnic outside
Make homemade popsicles

Discover a new park

Go peach picking

Enjoy a dinner date with the husband on the back deck (with candles!)

Search for rocks and then paint them

Go to the zoo

Buy seed for the bird feeder

Choose a new read-aloud chapter book for bedtime

Blow bubbles

Create a care package for a far-away friend
Make peach lemonade

April 4, 2012

{kids crafts} Mosaic Rainbows…in Pictures

Signing off for the rest of the week to prepare for Easter. Blessings to you and your family. See you Monday!

April 3, 2012

{recording life} Project Life: Week Thirteen

Last week’s Project Life was a lot of fun to put together. I finally bit the bullet and purchased the Variety Pack of new pages from Becky Higgins. LOVE all of the different options!

Week 12 was the first week I used Design F, so I knew going into Week 13 that I wanted to include a lot of little pieces of life to fit all of the pockets. Always a good idea to plan ahead of time, so I’m not scrambling for stuff at the end of the week!
A look at the whole week:

Left side. I love how this design allows me to include so many little stories. This week, I have a couple of M’s drawings, a grocery list, my latest pregnancy craving, and a few pictures trimmed to 3×4″.

I also love to include little notes to my boys, so I have one to M explaining the back story of his drawing and a secret one for Baby #4. I always loved those secret flap books growing up, so I imagine it will be fun when my kids are older to discover all of the secret letters I include in the Project Life books.

Right side. A postcard sent to us from Disney, a little love note to D, and the rest of the page is all about M’s first soccer game. Have I mentioned I’m a brand new soccer mom?

Insert for the week. I used Design D and just cut off the two vertical 4×6’s at the end. I wanted to include some of the fun projects we did for school (finally back to a little more structure!) and the back is full of sidewalk chalk pictures. I’m loving printing the horizontal 3×4″ size!