School Themed Play Area

I love, love, LOVE to play school with my kids! You would never guess that, once upon a time I was a teacher! In fact, every playroom I have ever created has always included some type of "classroom" setup. This one is no exception! Now that all three kids are at varying levels of learning, there is even more of a need for everyone to have there own space with their own resources.

Now that Drew is in first grade he is writing a lot more. I wanted to be sure that he had a spot just for that.

 

 

This is Drew's Writing Center

In the cubbies are some of his workbooks, blank books and graphic organizers.

He also has a paper roll to work on illustrations or to just draw pictures.

 

 

He has a poster to help remind him to add details to his paragraphs

 



 

And two more posters, one for word families and the other filled with descriptive words

 

 

Max is in preschool for a few hours each day but when he comes home he loves to have learning time! For Max, learning time consists of calendar, counting, touch point math,  letters/sounds and A LOT of fine motor activities. For that reason it made the most sense for Max to have our art studio as his area.

 

 

Max has a basic number line with star stickers added for touch points. He has a poster of beginning sight words that he is starting to learn and a "name train," that is made up of our family members. He also has coloring books, handy helpers (tweezers, clothespins etc) and all sorts of writing/coloring resources.

 

Our calendar area is where we practice counting, patterns and learn our days of the week and months of the year. It is also the location of Arabella's desk. She doesn't really have a need for a desk but she loves to sit there and color every so often. I think it makes he feel like a big kid!

 

Some other elements of our school area are shown here. We have the felt FAO world map that the boys got for Christmas a couple of years ago. Not only is it educational it makes for great playroom décor! Our alphabet lines the top of the wall and our bookshelf is home to encyclopedias, dictionaries, puzzles, flashcards. The basket on the bookshelf is filled with matching and spelling games and picture cards for our pocket chart.

 

 

 

The great thing about having a school themed play area is that it allows the kids to learn more about the things that really interest them. I hope that my children will always love to learn new things. A lifelong learner will never be bored!

 

 

"I am still learning."

                                          -Michelangelo age 87

 

 



 

Luck of the Irish

Green, green, GREEN!!

Green is not a color I typically wear, so when it comes to creating new headbands and bows, I am always forgetting about it! With St Patrick's Day right around the corner I have thrown my typically pinks and purples to the side and have fully embraced the color of the season!

Here are a some of the pieces created for St. Patty's Day!

 

Fancy Green headband

 

Over the top shamrock bow

Woven headband

 

Shamrock headband

 

 

 Shamrock bow headband

 

 

 

Time to Get Organized!

The best part of Andy going to school full time for his Master's? School breaks! Right now he is on winter recess and it is fantastic! He makes breakfast for the kids every morning (on a normal work/school schedule he is gone well before anyone else in the house is up) does pick up/drop off, joins me at the gym and best of all....helps with all of the honey-do stuff!

Soooo, while I have him home for the next two weeks I have big plans!

1. Side tables for our guest bedroom

2. My craft room needs a full makeover!

3. The playroom needs some major work

4. Paint the Master bedroom

5. Organize, organize, organize!

Check back for pictures and progress! ;-)

New Year New Goals

It's 2015, where have the last 10 years gone?

Just to date myself for a second, I graduated college in 2005, it does not seem possible that May of this year will mark 10 years! In that time I have started and ended a career, gotten married, had 3 children, moved 6 times, lived in 4 different states and started Arabella's Bows. It has truly been a whirlwind! Before the next ten years pass me by I want to be sure to prepare myself.

When you move as often as our family does it is easy to get caught in the upheaval and lose track of the time that is passing. Like any family I think we take for granted the everyday moments and wish away the more difficult times. But what happens to all those moments in between? The "big" things are a given; birthdays, first days of school etc. But what about the in-betweens the idiosyncrasies that make your family yours?

My favorite picture from Thanksgiving is this family picture. We did get some that were better, but I think this is a better glimpse into our life.

 

 

 

I will admit that I told my brother NOT to photograph our feet (I was wearing hot pink fuzzy socks). However, Andy's face is perfect, picture taking with three kids and a crazy wife is NOT easy! Our mantel wasn't perfectly decorated and most of the kids are looking elsewhere or being securely held into place. I mean seriously, what's not to love about this?

 

 

These are the things I want to hang on to. Rather than struggling through and shaking my head (I do that often) I want to embrace the crazy moments with my wild and crazy kids and laugh at the absolutely ridiculous life we live. We can't slow down time but hopefully we can remember all the laughter!

 

Max's Birthday Party Mishap

Max recently turned 5! Every year, rather than buying gifts we throw the boys a birthday party. They get to choose the theme/location and then I spend weeks scouring Pinterest for ideas. This year was no exception! Max wanted to have a Superhero birthday party. We invited his entire class and were planning all of the superhero activities we would have. Everything was coming together and then one week before the party......

We had a leak in the kitchen that destroyed the floor..

  and the basement walls!

 

 

After A LOT of discussion we decided to keep with the original plan and we had Max's superhero birthday party at the house. I threw up some tacky fringe to cover the doors to the kitchen and didn't take ANY pictures.....oops!

 

But, the kids had a blast! They shot "webs" at targets, leapt over buildings, demonstrated their "super power" and earned their very own cape!

 

 

You never know where you'll spot a superhero around here!







 



Here are some pictures from Max's previous birthdays!

 

 

Taking Pictures with Babies

Christmas is rapidly approaching! I am always caught off guard at how quickly Halloween turns into Thanksgiving which turns into, "Oh no, we forgot to bake cookies for Santa!" Luckily, that only happened once and the boys were half asleep as we opened the cookie platter gift, we had just received, to set a plate for good ole St Nick. This year, however, is a whole new ballgame.

Now that I have an Etsy shop, I am prepping for Holiday items a lot sooner than I ever would have imagined. As the days pass I am shipping more and more orders and continuously creating new items to photograph and list. Sounds pretty straight forward, and it is, except for one thing....my model is a DIVA! Kidding! It's actually even worse than that, she's one and a half! So, without further adieu....here is a glimpse of what you don't see.

 

Whenever I take pictures in a tutu I give her the chance to wear it for a bit. I thought I would try to get some headband pictures in, but after one awkward pose the headband was off and so was she!!

 

 

 

More often than not, the accessory is thrown to the wayside as she takes off out of the room.

 

 

 

Other days she is eager to have her picture taken, but the "costume" is not quite right!

 

Then there are times like this. It's not something I would use in my shop but I LOVE it!

 

 

Arabella's 1st Birthday Party

As I mentioned in my previous post, Arabella's birthday party was held a month late.  Due to the move, we didn't plan anything!

 

Her actual birthday was spent sitting through a six hour trip back up to NY for the boys' last tee ball game.  Thankfully, our old neighbors are awesome and gave us a place to stay and baked Arabella a totally allergy-free cake!

 

Fast forward to our two-week long vacation back home and Arabella's 1st birthday party!!

 

Truth be told I love parties, kid parties especially. Throw in the fact that this was my first girly party and you have one excited momma! 

 

 

 

Since Arabella LOVES to dress up, that was the idea/theme behind her party.

 

Did I mention days before the party Andy suggested we have it at the park?!? Well, I agreed with him....BUT that meant I had a tiny table in a gazebo to work with!

 

The table featured rings, necklaces

bracelets and butterfly chalk.

 

 

Plus, dum dums and lip whistles!

(We couldn't forget about her brothers!)

 

Each guest got a plume wand

 

 

And a marshmallow pop

 

The marshmallow pops were a HUGE hit! Especially with my 85 year old grandmother who enjoyed eating all the "ugly" ones the night before!

 

 

 

Arabella enjoyed her watermelon "cake." This was NOT what it was supposed to look like. A total Pinterest fail!!

 

Overall, I think she had a good day!